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Fallout Roleplay Help Desk

  • Member
    January 2, 2018

    Casey said:

    Hi all! Hoping this is a fair spot for an oversized solicitation of info and a ramble. So I've finally got all DLC in one fell swoop recently, and I feel now is the appropriate time to play as a detective character and team up with Nick Valentine. That said, before graduating to Far Harbor, I'd like to experience as much mystery/detective themed vanilla content as possible! So far I'm aware of Valentines Detective Agency cases, Pickmans Gallery, Mystery of House Cabot, Mystery Meat, Salem Museum (haven't been here yet!) Dunwich Borers (nor here!) and the main quest of finding Shaun of course. So if you can think of any quests or areas of interest worth checking out for that investigator/ crime noire theme then lemme know of them plz. 

    Now then. I have played on Survival Mode before with some saving/fast travel mods, and a difficulty mod called fair fight which changes incoming/outgoing damage values to 2.5 across the board. I think I'd like to play on Survival (w/^mods) with this build as well. I have a mod installed called Bleak which repurposes the dust particles into snowfall (a genius workaround and miracle for us PS4er's) and makes exteriors look fantastic and frightening via the changes to sky and fog. So with that in mind, if anyone is willing to help me create a fragile yet capable gumshoe who barely scrapes by I'd love to hear some ideas. I've searched around on reddit, seen fudgemuppets detective, our own Hensons Shotgun Surgeon and Chris' Eldritch Investigator (wheres your perk spread on that Chris!?), and I've got a solid grasp on how fallout supports making a detective character, I just want to maximize the effect this time for myself now that I've got Far Harbor. 

    So then. I like the idea of a sneaky fragile trench-coated investigator who wields a snub-nosed .44, capable of passing speech checks and gathering information, ending confrontations non-violently, and pacifying targets with intimidation/wasteland whisperer. It'll be the first time I play a male character, so the war hero background allows for logical use of shotguns etc ( I hear Far Harbors got some lever action waiting for me :D), BUT I want my character to rely on his wits and stealth more than his limited .44 ammo and above all I want him to stay thematic. Survival mode weight limits keep me from having that missile launcher backup on inappropriate characters lol. 

    Anyway, I've got my ideas but I'm here to request yours! If you can first forgive that wall of text and then bother to formulate a response, and youre not too busy with your free mason illuminati sex parties. This has been Soupcan Harry, and I eat what I want.  

     

    Hey there Casey and welcome. I'll see if I can ping one the hosts on this. But it looks like you've got everything I'd suggest as far as looking at the two builds that focus on insestigation - which you have. As far as mysteries in far harbor...the whole place feels a bit like a creepy scooby doo locale. Lots of mist. The one quest tline that comes to mind is actually right in far harbor. Blood Tide - it starts out more like an assasination / extermination assignment, but if you dig and pay attention there's some sleuthing to be done. Another one is the murder mystery at the  Cliffside hotel in the quest Brain Dead.

    there's lots more - check the cranberry bog down south. a great little problem to be solved there too.

    AS for your character, playing a lightly clothed .44 toting gunslinger on survival mode in FH is going to prove tough. The monsters there are high health and thick armor. idk...I wouldn't recommend it :)

    good luck.

  • Member
    January 2, 2018
    Hey Casey. Sorry for not responding sonner, had a busy few days. I don't really think I can add anything. You pretty much covered all the bases. I saw a few mods that give more content to the detective player, gonna see if I can track them down. And like Motty said I don't think that you should go to far harbour with little armor and a 44. However if you look at the endless cop movies, you'll see that sometimes even detectives put on armor and take assault rifles. So equip yourself with the right gear and you have a solid start. Hope it turns into a build.
  • Member
    January 2, 2018

    Hello Casey sorry for the lateness of reply here, and much thanks to Motty for letting me know about this sooner (I'm still going around to all the major topics hitting the Watch button to stay updated :P) but like Motty previously stated it seems like your plate of good info is fairly high.

    As for the role playing part of it, I don't experiment to much with Survival mode, but from what I have played a lightly armored guy (even with ballistic weave) might seem a little on the dfficult side. I DO think it is possible to play, but you'd have to be super careful about it. Being that as is I'm not exactly sure if you can even put ballistic weave on the faded trench coat (one thing I've never worn in FO4) and that would make the playthrough about 10x harder. 

    Thinking about some of the more interesting areas a detective might wander Goodneighbor seems like that kind of area for an investigator sort. Maybe he is trying to find out the truth about Hancock when your char enters the town? It looks like you've got some pretty good ideas on that already though. Also on a last note the Glowing Sea seems like a mysterious type of place when you end up venturing there, but with that sort of armor I'd imagine anything up there could 1 or 2 shot you I'm not particularly good at mods though and have no clue what the 2.5 is about (unless that is some sort of percentage? lol) so my previous statement may not be entirely correct. Those are my thoughts on it :)

  • Member
    January 2, 2018

    Wowza guys, its heartening to see the most friendly and helpful Beth-game blog site still so lively and responsive! No worries about late replies, pretty sure it was new years eve when I posted haha. As to playing this on Survival, the mod I had mentioned earlier (Fair Fight) was still going to be too hardcare. It multiplied player and enemy damage by 2.5x across the board and that was still enough to have explosions kill the ol' unprotected dick. I have one now called Casual Survival by Random.Encounter that lowers the damage settings down to easy-normal but retains all the diseases and health-maintenance needs. Explosions now just mean more burns and scars to add at the surgery center. I can survive starting a fight in Diamond City and escape if im quick, so I may stick with it. Mainly wanted extra roleplay flavor. Anyway, If this turns out into a posted published build I'd likely ditch any major gameplay overhaul mod and play on normal for a good baseline others can bounce off. Plus, not sure I want my first time in Far Harbor to be altered drastically. I hear its THE expansion.

    As for extra weaponry and armor, I've already decided I'm probably taking Rifleman for shotguns and hunting fresh radstag with scoped stuff, so that along with Animal Friend/Wasteland Whisperer (i'm hoping) should take care of some creatures in Far Harbor. I just rewatched L.A. Confidential and have been playing L.A. Noire off and on, so I'm digging this idea off having an H.Q. settlement with an armory where all my extra guns are on the wall. I'll walk around light, but when I track quarry to its lair, I'll go back and get my "search warrants". That should leave me plenty of "oh shit" moments like random encounters where I HAVE to be an unprepared lightly armed and armored detective thinking on his feet. Probably gonna RUN LIKE HELL alot, unless innocent lives aside from my own are on the line xD I also like the idea of dropping caltrops and mines as I run away, and employing those reusable bear traps somehow.

    @Flamezsword, Ballistic Weave apparently is applicable to the Faded Trench Coat according to a few builds and wiki. It'll be a first for me even using Ballistic Weave or doing Railroad stuff at all! 

    So heres what I've got so far.

    SPECIAL  2/5/2/7/6/4/2, You're Special goes into END for more baseline HP as you level. Bobblehead Perception up to 6. Train Charisma to 10 BEFORE getting Bobblehead.

    Strength: Bobblehead will allow just enough Str for Armorer IV's strongest ballistic weave. Boxing in the military was a humbling experience for this brainy type, he isn't a drunken fisticuff detective. 

    Perception: Night Person II will allow night vision, and allows us to do our best work in the shadows of night. Turning in assignments at night will net more EXP as well. (Bleak mod has very dark nights). Locksmith will make sure you don't have to break any windows or kick down any doors. I'm hesitant about Pickpocket. I have been letting Valentine shoot and engage from cover while I sneak around and give the bad guys a "Hands Up!". I'd like to be able to disarm them after that instead of just leaving the room quickly or worse, finishing a gunfight and then loitering whilst they just hang about. Awareness will let you know from afar who could be strong-armed into surrendering and those that'll need to be dealt with or avoided smartly. Demo expert II is another RP thing. I have no idea where my molotovs will go half the time. A war vet probably would. I suppose I'll need to make room for Rifleman here too. Decisions, decisions.

    Charisma: One rank of: Intimidation, Animal Friend, Wasteland Whisperer. Probably lady killer, maybe not depending on how perk hungry this gets.

    Intelligence: Gun Nut for the .44 and friends. Bobblehead and training for one rank Robotics Expert, to complete your ability to shut down aggressors non-violently. Partnering with Nick and being a Detective himself, surely he'd get sharper as he continued his struggle to survive and get answers.

    Agility: Sneak III or IV, whichever one allows you to walk and run without being heard. I don't want to pop invisible everytime I crouch. I do love running between cover before crouching again, knowing they cant hear but hoping they cant see. Gunslinger will be MAXXED. Thinking of leveling this to get Moving Target 3, so I can Run Like Hell with some degree of insurance.

    Luck: Scrounger IV. I thought of doing Critical Banker and Mysterious Stranger, but thats alot of investment and the perks didnt add up if I wanted pickpocket and rifleman. Plus we can't solve the Mysterious Stranger case, and thats not what this guy is about. 

    FACTIONS will be Minutemen for establishing a series of police headquarters, but main faction will be Railroad. Once Shaun is found, the mystery is over, and joining the Railroad is the way the Sole Survivor can take responsibility. Plus Nick is going to be my partner. 

    As for places/quests to check out, I think I've just about gathered all the overt vanilla ones by now. The rest will be up to me as a roleplayer to come at quests with a bent on sluething and maybe non-violent confrontation. All this is subject to change once I actually step foot in Far Harbor. I can't wait! What do you guys think? Still too squishy for Far Harbor on Normal difficulty?

      

  • Member
    January 2, 2018

    Nick goes well with the perks you've got lined up here I think Casey. He has the inrrefutable ability to hack almost any terminal so you won't have to wast your time with that and (naturally) the perfect fit for a detective character. As i said earlier I haven't played the DLC yet, but I would suggest that maybe making a Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Far Harbor for the tougher fights would be a good call (I hear tell FH has a lot of 'big uglies')

    For an RP idea maybe calling in the minutemen with one of those signal grenades would be cool (though the MM fighters themselves are practically useless when called0 I'm sure I found a mod around the web somewhere to make them stronger... which I'll go look for and put the link here.

    Also I just remembered the mysterious 'Treasure of Jamicia Plains' if you would be interested in that fiasco.

    Hope all goes well with the playthrough and if you have any other questions feel free to ask I'm sure either myself or Delta will be on to respond at some point :)

    Sidenote: Oh! and I almost forgot find out all the specifics on Intimidation some pretty helpful stuff here.

    https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/24265/? don't know what you're playing on, but found this for improved MM SoS grenades

  • Member
    January 3, 2018

    @Flamezsword, Nice touch with the F.O.B. idea! Thinking about it in those terms puts a whole new light on it for me, esp as an MGS diehard :D. I believe the (or one of the ) mod youre referring to is called Buffed Minutemen or some such haha. I'm limited to PS4 unfortunately but it is on there in some incarnation or other. Might check it out if they really can't hold their own in vanilla, its been awhile since I've taken a character very far in Fallout. I'd also forgotten about the Treasure of Jamaica Plains thing! Nice addendum, thank you!

    I guess one last question for someone who has done the FH DLC; should I complete the main game questline before heading to Far Harbor, or contrive some RP excuse to head out there? (Maybe to clear his head after meeting Father, before deciding to help the Railroad to victory).  

  • Member
    January 3, 2018

    Casey said:

    I guess one last question for someone who has done the FH DLC; should I complete the main game questline before heading to Far Harbor, or contrive some RP excuse to head out there? (Maybe to clear his head after meeting Father, before deciding to help the Railroad to victory).  

    The only RP issue/decision you're going to have in FH is a mild faction-based one. I don't really want to spoil anything for you. But let's say if you already know your character is going to support the RR, the story in FH can be done at any time. I don't know how much detail you want - I'm treading lightly :)

    One other note is I'd hgihly recommend taking Nick with you to FH. There's extra dialogue available in the story...and it helps flesh out some of the story if he's there with you. 

     

  • Member
    January 3, 2018

    @Mottyskills, Thanks for leaving it appropriately vague, I do appreciate it. Planning for the build without spoiling too much for myself has been touchy haha. Nick is definitely going to be my partner in justice for sure. I'm pumped they did a mystery theme DLC where he is the prominent companion.   

  • August 3, 2018

     Soooo im replaying Fallout 3. never really played it just rushed through it when i was 14 :D 

    My Character is going to be a Scientist using mostly energy weapons, explosives and a tad bit of sneak for tactical Mine placement ^^.

    I want to really step into Daddys Footsteps you know, so good karma helping people providing scientific help through defusing bombs healing people repairing things those sort of Actions.

     My bigest Question is the Outfit, 

    i dont like running around in a Labcoat 24/7 kinda seems sketchy you know. So what would a wandering Scientist wear when he is out exploring? 

    I also have all the DLC and im on PS3