Adipose

Ya know, when compared to Skyrim, Fallout 4 has much better animation, particularly when it comes to combat and other movement in general. I've used very few mods in this game. There are a few changes that I'll make after I've played through all the way. One, I'll figure out how to install F4SE. Two, I'm an old guy so I'll make the game a bit more mature. Three, I'll hunt around to see if there's a mod that enables me to keep rain out of my housing constructs. Four, I'll hunt around to determine if there's a mod similar to "instincts" from Skyrim. I lose too many dead critters and people in the brush, particularly when I snipe them at long range. Five, there needs to be a mod that enables me to stop fights that break out between my followers and the settlers. Six, there needs to be a mod the makes sure that AI character commentary is less repetitious...or not repetitious at all. Wouldn't hurt for there to be a mod that expands dialogue as much as possible. Seven, it wouldn't hurt for there to be a mod that enables dead bodies to rot away, though I do like the fact that they attract flies, etc. Eight, I'd like for there to be a mod that enables the "Sole Survivor" to hook up with a new mate and start domestic life over. I kinda feel for the character. I didn't like the whole Institute, Minutemen, BOS relationship, so I downloaded the Valkerie mod. While I feel that using her combat prowess is a cheat of sorts, I do like the way in which the mod attempts to retain the useful aspects of the Institute. Now there's the BOG to deal with, but at this stage I plan on ignoring them...assuming that I can. So far, the few mods that I've chosen to use are very well done and mesh nearly flawlessly with the vanilla game. Since I've not played all the way to the end as yet, I've no idea how the game'll come out, though I am in a bit of quandary as to whether I should focus on pursuing finding my son first and then worry about the whole Minuteman-BOS relationship. I've already decided to sideline the Railroad, though something does need to be done about the inherent humanity of the high level Synths. Maybe that'll work out through use of the Valkerie mod. Right now I'm capping any that give offense. There are a very few other mods that I'd like to see, but really only a handful and they're not at all critical to game play.

In Natick Banks there's a store lit up with neon signs advertising "Girls" and "Guns and Ammo". The door is barred. Is there an entrance to be found somewhere? Is it worth it to try to find an entrance to the place?

Ya know, from my view, restoring wrecked vanilla houses is just about impossible...at least with my limited talent. As a result, I'm seriously considering using "Scrap Everything" to demolish standing housing and then constructing houses that do a better job of meeting the needs of my settlers. It's really too bad that Bethesda didn't provide a way to restore damaged structures such as "Croup Manor", etc.

Playing on Very Hard. Decided to take on the Deathclaw at the Witch's Museum up by Salem. I'm at level eleven. Discovered something interesting in a kind of horrifying way: Laid out eight fragmentation mines and then lured the Deathclaw onto them. All eight went at once. Didn't even faze her. Before she ripped my armor apart to get at the meat inside I was able to check her bar...no damage at all. On respawn I called up Dogmeat and went home. Will give long consideration to tactics to be used before facing her again. Probably gonna try a Fat but I wonder about the blast radius. Not a lot of room inside the Church.

Normal is challenging up to about ten or so, then, once you've improved your armor and added a few basic combat perks, it's not much of a challenge. Anyway, I decided to play at very hard. Predictably, based on other game behaviors such as Skyrim, hostiles became very difficult to kill. Frex, got a combat shotgun with a damage rating of 120. Holding it right up to a hostiles forehead, and the first round just pisses'em off, particularly if they're a Mutant. That's not reasonable. Otoh, the hostiles become much more agile and better at dodging fire, rushing you and ganging up, particularly if they're Mutants. That's reasonable. What's not reasonable is the way in which they pop up behind you when there's no way that can happen, particularly if I'm up on scaffolding and I've already checked behind and there's no one there. It is more reasonable at very hard that combat is more challenging and actually requires some thinking about tactics and doing a lot of running away. I suppose that the main characteristic that bothers me is that a head shot often requires three or four solid hits in order to put'em down. That's not reasonable. A hit in the head from a .308 would put'em down in one go, unless they had a skull like a Cape Buffalo.

I'm up to level 64 and just now doing the quest for entering the Institute. Minutemen only faction I've joined. Armor is T-60f. Carrying modded explosive shotgun with a damage rating of 121. Would it be possible, since I'm inside the Institute, to just wipe the place? Carrying a huge load of "Aids", grenades and shotgun ammo. Also got a four round crippling missile launcher with 280 rounds.

Is there any way to end the game with the survival of all four factions?

This is, apparently, one of those random weapons that the game makes available. Probably the most useful weapon I've picked up in Fallout 4. Semi-auto so it doesn't consume a ton of ammo. Has a pretty good area effect. Frex, take out two ghouls at once...if close together. One real problem: Don't use it when target is close to you. Blast effect can easily take you down. Use it on everything and much cheaper than missiles. One to two shots on a Mirelurk. More shots on a Mirelurk Queen...around five or six. Playing at normal level. Play Skyrim on max level, not gonna do that here. Normal is plenty demanding even if you're wearing armor. Suicide Mutant still a challenge. You better maintain your distance.

The ultra advanced Mk V armor consumes Fusion Cores at a very high rate. So much so that I fell back to a T-60. Simply tired of spending a wad of caps on replacement cores. Other than that, great suit. Is there a source for a large supply of freebie fusion cores, or, failing that, is there any way to manufacture them?

Hate Mirelurks. Love using missiles on them. Very satisfying since they're really vicious b...s.

Interesting quest line. If you go on the quest, carry a lot of grenades. Also, having a missile launcher is great fun. Also, you'll need lots of stimpaks.or chow.

Don't think I'm gonna run the Gauntlet again. Quite simply, it's just tedious. Gets old real quick.

Amazed by blood and gore effects in F4. Had a pair of Super Mutants come in to one of my settlements. They died. Was hauling bodies away. One had a leg stuck through a stairway and wouldn't budge. On an off chance, since I was carrying a shotgun, I shot the leg. Blew it off. Hauled body away with no further problems. Then had to go back and clean up the pieces. I found that remarkable...and pleasing. I really, really don't like Super Mutants. Bloodthirsty b...s!

Okay, probably a stupid question. There are several Requiem related mods but, so far, I've not found a port of Requiem itself. Of what am I not aware or overlooking? I'd like to be able to use the latest version of Requiem if it's available for SSE.

Lol! I've never tried Ms. Skye. I outgrew her type somewhere around my late twenties. Afaik, she's a concept pirated from one or more x rated/porn films. Skye's not a one off mod type either, there's at least one other...so implied by the title. Speaking of sex, the person/persons who designed Flower Girls are, basically, brilliant modders. I still use that mod, along with SOS(also a brilliant mod), simply because I see no point in being married and not consumating the relationship. I also like the male body that comes with SOS. That, of course, leads us to HDT and various other animation mods...all brilliant. Btw, FG for SSE is somewhat improved over that of Oldrim. Not quite true of SOS though. I do tend to role play, and those animation mods make that much more enjoyable. There are several modders who deserve financial contributions...also some who don't. When it comes to character/follower mods, the greater percentage of modders seem to be kinda stuck in a rut...female, huge tits, wide hips, flawless, beautiful faces...your basic masturbation fantasies. Some, of course, are so ridiculous that one knows they're making fun of the whole business. Since modding is a time consuming process, I see that as a time waster, but, hey, to each his own. Regarding my followers, I make a point of seeking out those that are a reflection of life in Skyrim...mature looking, weathered, scarred, blind in one eye(I'd like a bandit eye patch port). I also recruit wrinklies when I can, but most of those don't reflect the physical realities of movement or bodies among those of us with wrinkles and gray hair. There are some mods that enhance that effect and I use them if they're compatible with the rest. Personally, I'd like to see mods that are missing appendages...the occasional finger, hand, arm, foot, leg, tooth/teeth. Life in Skyrim is violent and I think that should be more accurately reflected in the mods. In general, when I mod I look for those that leave as small a footprint as possible. Further, if they call for the download of a bunch of other mods before they work, I scratch them off my list. I run nearly two hundred mods on my game. When one does that, it's better to limit adding a bunch of others just so that one mod can be used. Of course, there are a few hard core role playing/immersion mods that I think are a must. For those I'll make exceptions regarding requirements. AFT is my go to mod for followers. EFF does have some nice features, but, on the whole, I prefer AFT. I particularly like the recruit followers spell that is part of the AFT package...as well as the other features, such as outfit control, etc. I use UNP bods, so, if a mod isn't standalone, and requires some other body type, I don't use it. Same with hair...of all types. Though, if I really like a given mod, I'll add in the required hair mod. In general, I prefer bodies that are fit but not overblown. Beautiful women are very nice and all, but not realistic...with a very few exceptions, such as the Queen, some Vamps, other types that can use magic to preserve their looks. Of course, using magic can have a negative effect on the body of the spellslinger...as in draining their energy and aging them prematurely. All that's found in the canon of SciFi/Fantasy. Evil players are supposed to be ugly or prey upon others to maintain their looks. Good players are supposed to be beautiful/handsome because they're doing good works and helping others. It's all a crock of course. Magic drains energy and will frequently leave the character exhausted...at least that's the way it's supposed to work. That would take it's toll on looks. I tend to like having lots of followers living in the house. However, I've reached the point where I'll have one following me in the field...if that one has enough capacity to carry the loot from a dungeon like Bleak Falls. I make an exception if I'm using the Populated mods, then it's better to have at least three, otherwise the bad bitmaps are gonna smoke ur a...s. It is possible to be swarmed, unless the player is up around level fifty or so, wearing a lot of top end, heavily enchanted gear, and using high end, heavily enchanted weaponry. If that's the case, one might well not need any followers at all. Bear in mind, I play at legendary level and tend to have game hardening mods installed. Being too easy makes the game boring. In general, my favorite part of the game is right at the beginning when just about anything can kill you. Lot more lively at that point.

There are lots of potential plot/story lines in the game. So many, actually, that Bethesda could build whole games around them. The whole of Riften serves as a potential source for games. So do Markarth and Winterhold. One could also write a game for the Orc experience in Tamriel. There is a whole host of potential spinoffs. I think there is, or was, a mod for relieving ones self. That's just a vague memory so it might not have existed. Besides, watching a beautiful woman take a dump would kinda lessen the impact of her beauty. I kinda like providing for my pack mules, unfortunately, I'm not at all sure that it helps them much if I provide them with higher quality, enchanted gear. That seems to help some, but I'm not at all sure that it helps that much. I do know that they can still be helpful, even if they're running after you while wearing absolutely nothing. That's kinda funny if one's running one of the VERY well endowed, HDT enhanced, women. Flops and bobbles in all directions. Tends to lessen the titillation and up the sense of the ridiculous. That feeling is enhanced when the game is being played with Frostfall installed. I wonder if there's a mod that causes the followers to be effected by cold and hunger in the same manner as the player character. I tend to play the game with mods that up the reality of life within the framework of the environment and culture of Skyrim. Kinda handy, actually, to have generic healing potions. Saves a lot of convalescence or trips to the nearest temple. Truly, when one considers all the realistic bits of life in the Late Middle Ages/Early Renaissance Era, Skyrim is definitely a Fantasy. It's fun that way. One can kinda pick and choose which bits of reality one wants, and then ignore the rest of the real world. Kinda nice to be able to crawl into your computer and leave the world behind...until a program crashes. Lol! Then it's back to reality. Regarding mumps, my understanding is that the more severe strains can cause an adult to become sterile. Much better to have it when a child. There are scare stories about adults being forced to remain flat on their back in bed in order to prevent movement of the disease down to one's reproductive organs. Have NO idea if that's true, but, after hearing the stories, I sure was glad that I'd had them as a child. Btw, the Sam drinking session isn't all that bad...until the silly business at the end. On the whole, the little vanilla side quests I've tried are a nice break from the central theme. Plus, they're a good way to level up. My son-in-law said that he finished the game by level seventeen. I told him that he'd not really played the game. My prime goal is to play the game as an Akaviri. Now, all I need is the environment to go with that...including housing, gear(which is available)and various cultural addons. Plus, I need a good, solid, ordinary, unenhanced character. I keep telling myself that I need to learn to mod. Don't know if my old brain's flexible enough for that. Some of the modders are absolutely brilliant. Very impressive work. Kinda puts me off to even contemplate making the attempt.

The game's set in a period roughly equivalent to Europe in the so-called "Middle Ages". In spite of romantic notions surrounding that period it was a vicious, ugly time in which to live. Disease was rampant, conflicts of various types were quite frequent and life was anything but fair for the poor sod trying to eke out a living. People infested with various body parasites were the norm. Various diseases were an ever present threat...smallpox, mumps, measles, typhus, tb, plague, leprosy, etc ad infinitum. Bathing was looked upon with great distrust. If one lived to reach twenty-five you were very lucky. I have the impression that looking out for number one was the norm. COVID 19 gives us a small taste of what life was like then. Disease was so prevalent that folks just went on about their business as best they could. If one died, the survivors mourned and then went on with life. I remember a tale about a man who's wife wasn't in the ground yet, and he'd already gone out, got a new young wife, and brought her home to care for his seven children...then went and buried his first wife. Queen Anne of England had thirteen children...all of whom died before the age of twelve. The germ theory of disease was unheard of...hence magic. This is all kinda garbled and off the top of my head, but it pretty much gets the gist. So, y'all enjoy this little fantasy, but remember, the essence of this game is civil war, witchcraft, monsters and disease all set in a high mountain area possibly like Switzerland with castles, poor villages, manual labor, bad roads, and no bathing facilities...unless ya mod for'em. Gorgeous, flawless, beautiful women? Ha, it is to laugh. A prostitute with no smallpox scars could charge a premium. I don't mind violence and evil in the game...that's the way it was. My guy's gonna be focused on winning and staying alive...screw being mister nice guy. I don't go out and raid dungeons because I'm a knight setting about righting wrongs and ridding the world of evil. I'm raiding dungeons in order to loot the place for salvage and sales. All of that's done so I can pay for training and upgrades. The training and upgrades enable me to have more power. Eventually I intend to be numero uno in the game of survival. Followers aren't people I like, but people I use to haul loot and overpower people who stand in the way of my rise to power. Btw, I've had mumps, malaria, tb, both kinds of measles and chicken pox. Most of the folks who play this game probably haven't had any of those diseases and some of you probably have only a vague concept of what they represent...which is because most school systems require that you get vaccinated for those while still in your early school years. That's so that you don't spread disease to everyone else who's jammed into the germ factory. We'd better start paying a LOT more attention to what's coming out of Africa and Asia, cause COVID 19 and Ebola are likely not isolated problems. I'm not gonna talk about stds. I'm pretty sure y'all know about those but you may not take'em seriously. Take a look at third stage syph if ya want to have nightmares.

I figure that most of the players are male, in their teens or early twenties. That usually means the testosterone is so thick you could cut it with a knife. I assume that accounts for most of the young female m...n fantasies. Probably accounts for the Earth Mother look in female mods in general. Plus, I think that the vast majority of players don't look at this game from a realistic historical perspective but, rather, from a fantasy genre perspective...which, of course, it is. So, if a player wants a gorgeous, unmarred, lush bodied, follower/character creation who runs about the countryside wearing next to nothing in the way of gear/armor, that player can have it...even if it is in a subzero blizzard. I just happen to think that follower/racial mods should generally conform to the characters as created by Bethesda. Frex, one mod that I use a lot looks like a VERY well done Dark Elf/Dunmer, however, she's labeled as a Nord. I don't understand why. It doesn't really do much good to create a character from a new race, even one that's a half-race hybrid of some sort, because the game's dialogue isn't programmed to recognize the new race and the game won't interact with the new race...as a new race. They still need to be labeled as Nord, Dark Elf, or whatever. In sum, I figure that players mod the way they do as a result of hormonal, cultural, or experiential factors and, since the game is a fantasy, they're free to experiment as they wish. They can release their inner Conan, even if their everyday persona/appearance precludes that lifestyle. Being a conservative old wrinkly, I tend to have a rather realistic approach to the game...within the logic of the game as created by Bethesda, though I do have nearly two hundred mods installed. Those are mods that I use to overcome inconsistencies in the game, such as the solid water in the quench trough at a forge. Or, if you're in a driving snowstorm, you should be geared up for it, not running about stark naked...which you can do if you've not installed the mod "Frostfall". I like to play the game as a fantasy that still conforms to certain basic realities of real life. Back in Oldrim, I would rant and rave about Nordized Dark Elves but now that I've moved to SSE I'm determined to be more tolerant and live and let live...though I do need to vent my spleen on occasion. Hence, one last rant about Nordic Dark Elves. Regarding the tendency of group character mods to look like clones that came out of the same lab batch, I figure that it's a result of using the same, what, template? I assume that using a different template for each character in a large group follower mod is enormously time consuming and, perhaps, difficult. There is a handful of large group mods that provide a great deal of individual variety, but they tend to be thin on the ground. I think VERY highly of the modders that went to the trouble to provide that variety. They deserve a lot of recognition for their work.

Here I go, again, for the last time. Dunmer follower mods ought to adhere to the race as visualized by Bethesda...with some leeway of course. That means, typically, long angular faces/heads, skin tones in various shades of gray, chins that tend toward being pointy/jutting, heavy supra-orbital ridges and pointy ears. Obviously there can be variations on that look. What I've found is that it's very difficult to find a Dark Elf follower that adheres to that look. Further, most of the mods that do adhere to that look tend to be presets, which does me no good at all. I will absolutely never understand why modders feel that they need to create Dunmer/Dark Elf women that look like Nords, complete with wide hips, big breasts, round Nordic faces, and typically pale Nordic skin. If ya want a Nord, build a Nord. Don't build a Nord and call it a Dunmer/Dark Elf. Frankly, that mindset really decreases the racial variety that is characteristic of the population of Tamriel, and makes for a more boring game. Anyway, I'm finished with the b...g. Y'all do what ya want, but I ain't gonna run'em and I ain't gonna compliment'em. If I want big, floppy t...s, I'll run a Nord. Nuff said. Btw, kudos to the modder that did the Jenassa look that actually makes Jenassa look better while still treating her as a Bethesda inspired Dark Elf. More power to ya.

Well, Skyrim and SSE seem to be set in an era roughly equivalent to the European Middle Ages, on up into the early Renaissance. That means wonderful cultural characteristics such as the Black Death, dirt floors in all but the best housing, mostly unwashed everything, lack of body fat in all but the well heeled, body parasites everywhere...sometimes crawling out ones orifices, Smallpox scars being a dominant facial feature...covered over with white lead makeup when one could afford it, dental caries. etc. etc. ad nauseum. Isn't fantasy a wonderful gaming feature. Nice to be able to pick and choose which bits of reality one wants. Thank God real life isn't bothered by plague anymore...ROFLMAO!!!!

Not only can Whiterun be easily over modded, the vanilla version tends to be buggy from the beginning. In the very first version of Oldrim, one could jam up when trying to enter Dragonsreach or Jorrvaskar either one. Also, one needed, and still needs, to be careful when installing follower mods. Too many spawning inside Jorrvaskar will make it impossible to interact with that place. Ditto other places as well. Riverwood for one. I once had to do triage on several followers that spawned in Riverwood. One poorly made mod had the effect of crashing my game whenever I tried to enter the town. Took me an hour of real time to find the culprit.

Oh I do, believe me. It's just that there's no point in being totally down about a development that you can't possibly cure. I don't know about where you are, but where I am we can't obtain antiviral NP95 masks, hand sanitizer, surface sanitizer wipes or spray disinfectant. Further, antibiotic soap and bleach are in short supply. I don't go into town unless I absolutely must. I've stockpiled enough of the basics that I can probably stay home for the next month to month and a half...unless I've already been exposed to the virus during my forays after food and other necessities. In which case my life becomes a coin toss. So, yeah, there it is. Life as I know it. Humor is one of my coping mechanisms. The only way out of this mess is a reliable vaccine and I don't look for that until Fall at the earliest. In the meantime I'm just hoping that all the closings don't tank the economy and take the U.S. down the toilet. If we go, the rest of the world goes with us...probably. Worst case scenario, my pension could tank along with the economy and I could be out on the street...along with a LOT of other people. Want me to go on? So, humor as a defense mechanism. It's where it's at.

Late on a very dark night in Whiterun with Candlelight running, going up the steps to Jorrvaskar, On the landing came across Amren and Mikael piled up dead, Amren on top of Mikael with Amren's sword run through one or the other...couldn't see. That was a first in thousands of hours of gameplay. Assume it was a mod effect but got no idea which mod produced the event. I decided to let it play instead of falling back to an earlier save, even though it cost me a trainer and two quests. In a similar fashion had Uthgerd try to kill me just as I walked into the Bannered Mare. B...h chased me out of town, where I frustrated the AI by climbing up into the rocks to the right of the drawbridge and started sniping at her with a bow. She ran off, screaming in frustration, went down to the carriage station and then came back all calmed down and normal. Got NO idea what caused that little glitch. Lol! Mods do produce some unusual side effects. Hope those little glitches aren't critical to gameplay. One of the most interesting little goofs occurred several years ago when a courier came running up wearing nothing but a hat, a pair of boots and sporting a stiffy. Now THAT was funny. Mods, gotta luv'em.

I beat this horse a lot but a good, solid, locational damage mod for basic SSE is one that I'd really like to see. It's ridiculous to continually see npcs riddled with arrows and yet still up on their feet and laying about them. I mean, come on, two arrows completely through the head and no effect??? That's just weird.

Well, one spin off from COVID 19, all the closings have definitely increased the variety and numbers of mods. Lots of folks with time on their hands.