Just a little disclaimer that this will contain a little bit of uh..."coarse" language, I guess. I hope that's not breaking any kind of site rules, but I don't think it is.
I'll start this off by saying that this is my first Fallout 4 build, so bear with me as I dive into this new world of character building that is rather foreign compared to the Skyrim counterpart. So, why a pirate? Why such an old school type of character in such a world as that of Fallout? It began when I saw the USS Constitution looming in the distance and I fell in love with Ironside's award winning personality (err... programming?). Then I got the Broadsider and knew I had to create a character who used it and nothing was more befitting than a pirate. I played around with some ideas of how to make it happen and ended up here. But just who is this "Platinum Pirate" and what can she do?
Cunning pirate queen of the commonwealth, the Platinum Pirate combines old school pirate weaponry with 23rd century tech for an interesting effect. Throw in lots of chems and alcohol and it's the perfect pirate build, right? Wrong! No build is is perfect without an interesting catch or twist. Something sets the Platinum Pirate apart from your stereotypical swashbuckler. Sure she's savage and takes what she wants when she wants, but she has an impressive brain too. From brewing up chems to sprucing up weaponry to building an entire robot from junk lying around, this girl knows how do something with her head other than pour rum down her gullet (though she's pretty good at that as well). With her smarts and her savagery nothing stands in her way...or her Assaultron first mate.
"It's that crazy white haired bitch! I'm getting the fuck outta here!"
Before the war, Nora led a typical domestic life with her husband, Nate and son, Shaun. She loved her family and had a successful career as a lawyer, but she was always itching for something more exciting. When she was young, she travelled all around the world with her parents and had an adventurous adolescence, partying and landing herself in trouble constantly. The more ordinary her life became the more she wished she could break loose and go back to those fun years. As strange as it was, it took nuclear devastation of the world she used to know and over 200 years of cryogenic stasis for her to get what she wanted. Seeing her husband shot and her child kidnapped while helpless initially left her heartbroken. The trauma of that event even caused her brown hair to turn white. She was determined to get Shaun back. However, losing hope, the mentality of the Wasteland got to her. She gave up her search and gave in to her true nature that was always hiding behind some sort of now shattered facade. Falling in with a rather shady crowd, she was seen with the likes of Hancock for some time, before she decided she preferred the company of robots over humans or ghouls. They didn't talk back, except when she programmed them to. Nora became ruthless, taking things by force from whomever she wanted it from and began popping Buffout like candy and drinking rum like water. She used her stunning intellect to take herself even further, but ran her mouth a lot. People of the Commonwealth oftened referred to her as a raider, which she resented, fancying herself more of a pirate, minus all the seafaring, so she started dressing the part. In time she became the feared "Platinum Pirate" because of the color of her hair and the metal gleam of her deadly robotic crew.
"How was I ever some boring fucking lawyer? God, I hate people! Hmm...suppose it just takes a little nuclear fallout for a girl to cut loose and have some fun. And this white hair...not bad. Not bad at all. Marie Antoinette syndrome or whatever. Kicks ass."
"Are you commanding me to 'kick ass'? I am not picking up on any hostile sensor readings, captain Nora."
"No, no. Stand down you damn pile of bolts."
"You think that platinum whore is gonna come back again, tryna steal our stuff?"
"If she does, she can have my shit! I'm not gettin' blown up!"
With no armor(except on some occasions when using power armor) and an eclectic, but hard hitting weapon set, The Platinum Pirate is the epitome of a glass cannon. However, with the help of chems, alcohol, and good old-fashioned toughness, she's able to take a hit and becomes a true force to be reckoned with. While she's not made for long range combat, she's got a few options for mid and close range and her robot crewmen are great backup. You'll have a few options for what type of robot you want to assist in your swashbuckling. The points are in order of base stats, then bobbleheads, then points at level up. Of course you also have the SPECIAL book which you can use for either the point in Strength or the point in Intelligence.
Heavy Artillery
Weapons: Broadsider, Explosives
Armor: Power Armor
Perks: Heavy Gunner, Gun Nut, Demolition Expert, Bloody Mess, Nuclear Physicist
"What's the matter, boys? You ashamed a girl's got a bigger cannon than you?"
The Platinum Pirate has a few things in her arsenal that give her a big bang for her buck. I used Broadsider and explosives (homemade and scavenged) to deal with groups of enemies or particularly tough ones. I took Broadsider all the way up to the nuclear reciever, giving it solid AOE damage since it benefits from both Heavy Gunner and Demolition Expert, with Bloody Mess providing an extra kick.
However, I still opted for chucking some grenades and such out there in battle because they are not only quicker to throw than the cannonballs are to fire, but more easy to obtain. Thematically, molotovs fit the best and have always been a favorite of mine, because I like to set enemies on fire.
Power armor was something I didn't use unless I felt I really needed it, because otherwise I was running around in only the red frock coat and lieutenant's hat. It was a welcome boost and still fit the character with her tech knowledge. I never modded my armor much, but I took Nuclear Physicist just to make my fusion cores last a little longer when I did need it.
Pirate Tech
Weapons: Flintlock(Hunting Rifle), Blunderbuss(Double Barrel Shotgun), Cutlass(Shem Drowne Sword)
Armor: Red Frock Coat, Lieutenant's Hat
Perks: Rifleman, Gun Nut, Big Leagues, Blacksmith, Science, Toughness
"So you put this with that...that goes there...stick this on here and...yep that'll blow some heads off."
With a few different weapon options mimicking old school pirate weaponry, you can go about combat a few ways. Your flintlock can pick off some baddies (and innocents) at an okay distance before closing in, but nothing too spectacular. After all, flintlocks weren't the best firearms. A short hunting rilfe looks the most like a real life flintlock pistol and benefits from the same perks as the blunderbuss, but a pipe bolt-action pistol could be an alternative(though you would have to take additional Gunslinger perks).
If you want to get closer, the blunderbuss is your first option. Having your shotgun sawed-off and with the short stock was the best way to emulate a real blunderbuss. I was prioritizing roleplay over functionality for this build. Though I never got one, if you can find one that has the plasma infused legendary modifier I'd use that, because it seems to be a great fusion of old and new tech.
And if you want to get really close, or the blunderbuss is just too slow, your cutlass, electrified and with a stun pack is a great alternative. I used it often against feral ghouls, because of the relatively slow speed of all of the other weapons.
Toughness, while not necessarily being technology, is a thing pirates had no short supply of, not to mention you'll need it to stay alive. Running around in the red frock coat taken from Hancock's inventory is great thematically, but provides no armor, so you have to make that up somehow. Chems and alcohol also help alongside this, but they will be covered in the next section.
Piracy
Tools: Chems, Alcohol, Bobby Pins(Optional), Loot(*ahem* booty)
Perks: Party Girl, Chemist, Chem Resistant, Strong Back, Scrapper, Fortune Finder, Hacker(Optional), Locksmith(Optional)
"Now I...now I get why I was so...so strung out before that war shit. I *burp* didn't drink enough!"
What kind of pirate doesn't drink, rob, and repeat? A bad one that's the kind. It's crucial. Hell, this section might even be the most important from a roleplay persprective. It's pretty simple, whenever you can get alcohol, drink it, whenever you need chems in a fight, use them, and when you want something take it!
Party Girl is great for when you have to get in close to enemies with your cutlass, with it doubling alcohol's effects and alcohol increasing strength. Not to mention strength effects heavy guns, i.e. Broadsider. Aside from that, I drank even when I didn't need it for combat. For uhh roleplay purposes. I don't have a drinking problem...I can stop anytime I want!
Chem Resistant is pretty self explanatory, no need to worry about stat penalties from addiction. I used Chemist almost as often to make my own chems as often I bought/found them, plus it's pretty useful to combine them. You can never have too much Psychojet or Bufftat in your inventory.
When travelling around raiding settlements and looting everything that isn't nailed down, you first need to be able to carry all of that stuff. Even though I always had a robot companion, my hoarding problem caused us to both be at our limit often, so Strong Back was needed help. Then you have to be able to do something with all that stuff. Scrapper helps you get better parts when scrapping for all of your mods and other crafting. Fortune Funder is simple, more caps. Pirates love money. Hacker and Locksmith are optional and can just help you get additional loot.
Crewmen
Bots: First Mate, Master Gunner, Surgeon, Sailing Master
Perks:
While I work on finishing this, please go vote at the link below for which build I should do next...I'm bad at making my own decisions
Strawpoll
Just a little disclaimer that this will contain a little bit of uh..."coarse" language, I guess. I hope that's not breaking any kind of site rules, but I don't think it is.
I'll start this off by saying that this is my first Fallout 4 build, so bear with me as I dive into this new world of character building that is rather foreign compared to the Skyrim counterpart. So, why a pirate? Why such an old school type of character in such a world as that of Fallout? It began when I saw the USS Constitution looming in the distance and I fell in love with Ironside's award winning personality (err... programming?). Then I got the Broadsider and knew I had to create a character who used it and nothing was more befitting than a pirate. I played around with some ideas of how to make it happen and ended up here. But just who is this "Platinum Pirate" and what can she do?
Cunning pirate queen of the commonwealth, the Platinum Pirate combines old school pirate weaponry with 23rd century tech for an interesting effect. Throw in lots of chems and alcohol and it's the perfect pirate build, right? Wrong! No build is is perfect without an interesting catch or twist. Something sets the Platinum Pirate apart from your stereotypical swashbuckler. Sure she's savage and takes what she wants when she wants, but she has an impressive brain too. From brewing up chems to sprucing up weaponry to building an entire robot from junk lying around, this girl knows how do something with her head other than pour rum down her gullet (though she's pretty good at that as well). With her smarts and her savagery nothing stands in her way...or her Assaultron first mate.
"It's that crazy white haired bitch! I'm getting the fuck outta here!"
Before the war, Nora led a typical domestic life with her husband, Nate and son, Shaun. She loved her family and had a successful career as a lawyer, but she was always itching for something more exciting. When she was young, she travelled all around the world with her parents and had an adventurous adolescence, partying and landing herself in trouble constantly. The more ordinary her life became the more she wished she could break loose and go back to those fun years. As strange as it was, it took nuclear devastation of the world she used to know and over 200 years of cryogenic stasis for her to get what she wanted. Seeing her husband shot and her child kidnapped while helpless initially left her heartbroken. The trauma of that event even caused her brown hair to turn white. She was determined to get Shaun back. However, losing hope, the mentality of the Wasteland got to her. She gave up her search and gave in to her true nature that was always hiding behind some sort of now shattered facade. Falling in with a rather shady crowd, she was seen with the likes of Hancock for some time, before she decided she preferred the company of robots over humans or ghouls. They didn't talk back, except when she programmed them to. Nora became ruthless, taking things by force from whomever she wanted it from and began popping Buffout like candy and drinking rum like water. She used her stunning intellect to take herself even further, but ran her mouth a lot. People of the Commonwealth oftened referred to her as a raider, which she resented, fancying herself more of a pirate, minus all the seafaring, so she started dressing the part. In time she became the feared "Platinum Pirate" because of the color of her hair and the metal gleam of her deadly robotic crew.
"How was I ever some boring fucking lawyer? God, I hate people! Hmm...suppose it just takes a little nuclear fallout for a girl to cut loose and have some fun. And this white hair...not bad. Not bad at all. Marie Antoinette syndrome or whatever. Kicks ass."
"Are you commanding me to 'kick ass'? I am not picking up on any hostile sensor readings, captain Nora."
"No, no. Stand down you damn pile of bolts."
"You think that platinum whore is gonna come back again, tryna steal our stuff?"
"If she does, she can have my shit! I'm not gettin' blown up!"
With no armor(except on some occasions when using power armor) and an eclectic, but hard hitting weapon set, The Platinum Pirate is the epitome of a glass cannon. However, with the help of chems, alcohol, and good old-fashioned toughness, she's able to take a hit and becomes a true force to be reckoned with. While she's not made for long range combat, she's got a few options for mid and close range and her robot crewmen are great backup. You'll have a few options for what type of robot you want to assist in your swashbuckling. The points are in order of base stats, then bobbleheads, then points at level up. Of course you also have the SPECIAL book which you can use for either the point in Strength or the point in Intelligence.
Heavy Artillery
Weapons: Broadsider, Explosives
Armor: Power Armor
Perks: Heavy Gunner, Gun Nut, Demolition Expert, Bloody Mess, Nuclear Physicist
"What's the matter, boys? You ashamed a girl's got a bigger cannon than you?"
The Platinum Pirate has a few things in her arsenal that give her a big bang for her buck. I used Broadsider and explosives (homemade and scavenged) to deal with groups of enemies or particularly tough ones. I took Broadsider all the way up to the nuclear reciever, giving it solid AOE damage since it benefits from both Heavy Gunner and Demolition Expert, with Bloody Mess providing an extra kick.
However, I still opted for chucking some grenades and such out there in battle because they are not only quicker to throw than the cannonballs are to fire, but more easy to obtain. Thematically, molotovs fit the best and have always been a favorite of mine, because I like to set enemies on fire.
Power armor was something I didn't use unless I felt I really needed it, because otherwise I was running around in only the red frock coat and lieutenant's hat. It was a welcome boost and still fit the character with her tech knowledge. I never modded my armor much, but I took Nuclear Physicist just to make my fusion cores last a little longer when I did need it.
Pirate Tech
Weapons: Flintlock(Hunting Rifle), Blunderbuss(Double Barrel Shotgun), Cutlass(Shem Drowne Sword)
Armor: Red Frock Coat, Lieutenant's Hat
Perks: Rifleman, Gun Nut, Big Leagues, Blacksmith, Science, Toughness
"So you put this with that...that goes there...stick this on here and...yep that'll blow some heads off."
With a few different weapon options mimicking old school pirate weaponry, you can go about combat a few ways. Your flintlock can pick off some baddies (and innocents) at an okay distance before closing in, but nothing too spectacular. After all, flintlocks weren't the best firearms. A short hunting rilfe looks the most like a real life flintlock pistol and benefits from the same perks as the blunderbuss, but a pipe bolt-action pistol could be an alternative(though you would have to take additional Gunslinger perks).
If you want to get closer, the blunderbuss is your first option. Having your shotgun sawed-off and with the short stock was the best way to emulate a real blunderbuss. I was prioritizing roleplay over functionality for this build. Though I never got one, if you can find one that has the plasma infused legendary modifier I'd use that, because it seems to be a great fusion of old and new tech.
And if you want to get really close, or the blunderbuss is just too slow, your cutlass, electrified and with a stun pack is a great alternative. I used it often against feral ghouls, because of the relatively slow speed of all of the other weapons.
Toughness, while not necessarily being technology, is a thing pirates had no short supply of, not to mention you'll need it to stay alive. Running around in the red frock coat taken from Hancock's inventory is great thematically, but provides no armor, so you have to make that up somehow. Chems and alcohol also help alongside this, but they will be covered in the next section.
Piracy
Tools: Chems, Alcohol, Bobby Pins(Optional), Loot(*ahem* booty)
Perks: Party Girl, Chemist, Chem Resistant, Strong Back, Scrapper, Fortune Finder, Hacker(Optional), Locksmith(Optional)
"Now I...now I get why I was so...so strung out before that war shit. I *burp* didn't drink enough!"
What kind of pirate doesn't drink, rob, and repeat? A bad one that's the kind. It's crucial. Hell, this section might even be the most important from a roleplay persprective. It's pretty simple, whenever you can get alcohol, drink it, whenever you need chems in a fight, use them, and when you want something take it!
Party Girl is great for when you have to get in close to enemies with your cutlass, with it doubling alcohol's effects and alcohol increasing strength. Not to mention strength effects heavy guns, i.e. Broadsider. Aside from that, I drank even when I didn't need it for combat. For uhh roleplay purposes. I don't have a drinking problem...I can stop anytime I want!
Chem Resistant is pretty self explanatory, no need to worry about stat penalties from addiction. I used Chemist almost as often to make my own chems as often I bought/found them, plus it's pretty useful to combine them. You can never have too much Psychojet or Bufftat in your inventory.
When travelling around raiding settlements and looting everything that isn't nailed down, you first need to be able to carry all of that stuff. Even though I always had a robot companion, my hoarding problem caused us to both be at our limit often, so Strong Back was needed help. Then you have to be able to do something with all that stuff. Scrapper helps you get better parts when scrapping for all of your mods and other crafting. Fortune Funder is simple, more caps. Pirates love money. Hacker and Locksmith are optional and can just help you get additional loot.
Crewmen
Bots: First Mate, Master Gunner, Surgeon, Sailing Master
Perks:
While I work on finishing this, please go vote at the link below for which build I should do next...I'm bad at making my own decisions
Strawpoll
