#min-maxing

Got Fallout?

Considering how to start or wondering why the radscorpions have an unfair advantage over you? Here's a couple of tips to get your started:

1. This is not a balanced game. We all love Fallout for the story and the atmosphere, but system-wise, the game isn't quite balanced (we blame the haphazard conversion to SPECIAL from GURPS). If you want a character build that can experience most of the game without any glaring flaws, here's a pretty much foolproof build:

* Gifted is the god of traits all pay fealty to. The penalty to skills is negligible and you get 7 free SPECIAL points in return. * Charisma is a dump stat and can be lowered to 1 without repercussions. Focus on Intelligence (8 or 9; 10 is overkill and only enables a single dialogue line with ZAX), at least 6 Perception (for Awareness, the god of perks), and 9 or 10 agility for the action points. Strength is best left at 5 or 6. Luck is a matter of taste and lowering it to 1 reduces your critical rate, but has no major repercussions. Endurance is good for leftovers. * Tag Small Guns, Speech, and a skill of your liking. Lockpick comes in handy here and there, while Energy Weapons are good for endgame super mutant killing sprees. * Don't bother with tagging skills beyond that. Repair has marginal uses and can be boosted with Deans Electronics and tools. First Aid and Doctor are strictly inferior to Stimpaks, while Unarmed, Melee, Throwing, and Big Guns do what Small Guns and Energy Weapons do, except worse. Gambling and Outdoorsman are functionally useless.

When playing, focus on small guns. Your starting 10mm pistol is good enough until you find the 10mm SMG at the bottom of Vault 15 (buy rope from Seth or loot Shady Sands to find one, in order to access the lower levels). Then you can upgrade to a shotgun at Junktown and sniper rifle/combat shotgun at the Hub.

Grab your NPCs where you find them. Ian is available at Shady Sands and can carry any bit of loot you can carry, provided you use Steal on him (from the skilldex to the right or by pressing 3). Party members don't go hostile when you fail to plant or retrieve an item, making them excellent pack mules.

Most importantly, listen to what people have to say and explore every nook and cranny.

For everything else, there's our Fallout category:

I'm trying to analyze optimal choices for late-game grinding in Fallen London. I'm okay with spending Fate purely for knowledge, but going Spirifer would be wildly out of character for my sole current character. And I don't feel like grinding an alt to the point of being able to purchase a Reservation at the Royal Beth just to answer a single question. So, for anyone who has gone spirifer (@multiheaded1793 ?):

I know there's a storylet that provides a more efficient (echo-wise) option for selling Souls. Details?

Likewise, what exactly does Harvesting the Hotel give?

Are there any other spirifer-only options or cards?

I'm ideally looking for exact numbers(/ranges) of actions, cards, items, and/or menaces involved, not just EPA. Thanks.

No. I want to improve and have an elegant dance with my enemy. I dont care if its a 45 minute choreographed dance.