Stealth Tutorial

[Arcline]

Well I'm a new member here, but I've been playing Fallout 3 for a long time. I finally decided to buy the game for the PC due to the mods, but I thought first I would put up a guide on how to make and use a stealth character effectively (someone might have already done this, I'll search around later). But so far I've made a character that has used only 30 stimpacks, and I've played on the Hard difficulty throughout the entire game (Zeta was an exception since I was impatient and it is very, very annoying). I tried playing on the hard difficulty without using a stealth character, and by the time I was 25 or so I had used about 300 stimpacks.

 

For advice, get the Chinese Stealth Armor ASAP!!! It is a must (get the never degrading sniper rifle and combat shotgun while you're in the simulation) the next thing you will want is the Preferator from the Pitt. This gun is amazing in the V.A.T.s. It fires two rounds per V.A.T. shot and if you're successfully hidden both shots will score a sneak attack cirtical, normally I find guns outside the V.A.T.s do a lot more, but this gun seems to be the exception. You can kill Super Mutant Masters with three rounds in the V.A.T.s on the hard difficulty if you're hidden (one of the shots after your first shot must be a critical).

 

Now for the Overlords, Reavers, and Albinos you're going to need the Terrible Shot Gun. If you're hidden you can one hit the Reavers, two hit the Albinos and it takes about three shots if you're lucky for the Overlords. Do this outside the V.A.T.s. For the Albinos, aim anywhere (they don't have a week spot), but be up-close and personal to them, they shouldn't be able to detect you unless you're stupid and run into them. If there's two of them, try and lure one towards you with a silenced gun, take it out and move onto the other one. Reavers, if you have the ghoul mask, you can wear it while you're wearing the Stealth Armor and still sneak up on the Reaver, but be less worried (make sure another one isn't afoot) and just aim for their back (outside the V.A.T.s) and fire once and you should be able to one hit them (sometimes it doesn't in that case, fire again). Overlords, these guys... annoy me very much. They can take about 3-6 shots from the terrible shotgun to kill on Hard. If you get a three hit kill, you're lucky. You've got to make sure you're right behind them when you're sneaking so that you can hit their back (the reason you want to aim for the backs when using shotguns is so that every bullet will hit, aiming for the head will, screw you over). You've just got to shoot for your life and make sure another one isn't close by. When there's more then one use Guerrilla tactics with the Preferator. Deathclaws: on other difficulties their health and DR seemed to be similar to that of the Super Mutant Masters, but on Hard, they're much harder. You will need a sniper rifle for them and make sure you're hidden!! When it says caution, move your ass to another spot (crouched) and wait for it to change to hidden. Aim for their head outside of the V.A.T.s and you'll get a one hit kill (two shots or so using the V.A.T.s).

 

Everything else on the hard difficulty should be easy to kill as long as you're using the Preferator and hidden. The silent running perk is a must have, so are any perks that increase your damage (if you're a stealth character you don't need to worry about your health and DR). Try to get your sneak skill to 90 ASAP. Sneak, small guns, repair, and lockpick are quintessential, so get them to 90 as soon as possible (get the bobble heads once they're 90). When choosing your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. at the beginning go for about 5,7,4,2,8,7,7. You want a high perception for when you're roaming the wastes. If you're very patient like me you'll stay crouched for just about everywhere you go. When fast traveling, crouch right before you go somewhere, or when leaving a building or a metro, crouch. Why? Well I'm sure we all know how annoying it is to leave a place (or fast travel) and then BAM! Talon Mercs, or Regulators are in your face firing away. So if you just leave the building crouched, (Stealth armor required) they'll look around for a second or two (you'll get the caution sign) and then forget about you, and then you can kill them very easily.

 

Next bit of advice, NO COMPANIONS!!!! I know, "but they make it easy 4u!! Fawkes is liak invincible!!" Well, if you're a stealth person who wishes to play suscessuflly on the hard difficulty (very hard is too much for me) then don't play with a companion. They attack on sight and can usually ruin your hidden status. So, don't bother with them.

 

Um, for Zeta I did play it on the normal difficulty. The hard difficulty almost had me ripping out my hair. So I think I'm going to give it round two with MODS!! But on the very hard difficulty, heh.

 

Something interesting to do. Instead of being so trigger happy, you could listen to the conversations your enemies have. The Super Mutants seem to have the most interesting, did anyone else know that the reason they're taking humans is so that they can turn them into Super Mutants? I thought that was really interesting.

 

So really, why should you play on the hard difficulty and spend a long time trying to kill enemies and use guerrilla tactics? Well, you level up a lot faster, and who doesn't love a challenge? By the time I was done with "Who Dares Wins" I was level 26 (100 or so xp points away from 27) and I still had Mothership Zeta to do, and Point look out (I just did the first quest to get the Superior Defender Perk). I had basically stormed the Enclave base, killed everyone and never once got the "DANGER" sign (aka never took a hit). But it took about 3-5 Fallout Days to do. They really had no clue what hit 'em.

 

Advices for EXP. Be an xp angel, to the max! Always do the "hack computer, then lock pick the lock thing". Get EXP whenever you can, and always get it. (I'm hoping to make some sort of level cap increase mod and see how far I can go).

 

Other advice for when purchasing, sell your Rockets, they can be worth a lot, and you don't have sell many.

 

When using guerrilla tactics, don't stand up. Stay hidden and move to some place where there isn't much light, and where there might be something you could hide behind. But even if you're invisible don't just stay there thinking nothing can find you and hurt you. The A.I. (as dumb as they are) run to the spot from which you were shooting, if you stay there and they run into you, oops, you're caught. But don't move a few feet away, or it will just make you have to wait even longer to get that precious "HIDDEN" sign to appear above your head.

 

Oh one last thing. ALWAYS!! Use silenced guns, or a sniper rifle (just make sure you don't miss). Other guns will get you detected easily even if you're invisible. Plasma, and laser weapons are some of the worst choices you could make. Only use shotguns when there is a single target, if you don't check then you will be found. And make sure your weapons are in the top-of-the-line condition, they won't be as effective even if they drop by a few points in damage.

 

So I hope this piece of advice helped you, I'll probably edit this later, I think I forgot some things. But now I'll be playing Fallout 3 for the P.C. and creating my own mods. All of the advice ways mainly for playing without mods. Once I create my own mods I'll write a new guide on how to use them effectively and I'll probably post links to them in this topic. One of the first mods I hope to tackle is a Stealth Armor mod that had 0 DR. It should make playing on the very hard difficulty, interesting. And then make some very interesting silenced weapons.

[evilneko]

On the contrary: Fawkes can be a great distraction. Just make sure you're somewhere else by the time he engages, and enjoy picking off foes as they concentrate on the big mean super mutie, never noticing the little pigtailed girl that snuck off to the side to flank them with a laser sniper... :whistling:

[Arcline]

That's what I had attempted, but that would not leave enough time for me to get at least 30% of the damage in, :/ I'm an EXP angel unfortunately.