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Long-Chapper's Survival Log thingy

Tags: #Survival Mode  #OMGERD!  #Masochism  #fun for everyone  #teddy bears 
  • June 27, 2017

    So, as all of you know, I have put about 150 hours into Fallout 4. I am having a lot of fun, but I wanted to have even more fun. I like the game quite a bit, but I was always intrigued by Survival Mode. I know a few people who play the mode who like the principles, but dislike the save and install mods to tweak a few things. I'm still, however, achievement hunting (yes, I do do this, though not very seriously), so I decided to go with an unmodded game.

    The goal of this thread is to sort of chronicle this playthrough and note my many failures and perhaps some of my successes. I've played Skyrim's Requiem Roleplaying overhaul and I've played through some pretty intensive needs mods, so I'm already familiar with what they entail.  The micromanaging. I imagine I'll die a lot, so be happy Deebs. :D

     

    I wanted to take advantage of some perk-related resistances; damage resist and radiation resist, with energy resist down the road.  I chose my SPECIAL with that in mind, though my perception is rather low still for refraction. However, the bobblehead and then two training levels, I am fine. It is something I see happening later in the game when I am starting to mess with the Institute. Right now, the big enemies are human, creatures, and the radiation, so those were what I chose to focus on.  I will be actively searching for the bobbleheads, so probably these will change, but my base SPECIAL is there. I'll explain more of what I did in the actual gameplay session summary below. I'm envisioning a very similar playstyle to what I was doing before I switched to survival, which was snek arch'ry. Oh wait, sorry, wrong game, but not far from the truth. I was playing with stealth and VATS, so why not play these things in Survival mode? I'm not going for power armor. I may regret it, I may not. I mean, the thing with Fallout is that you can keep going, right? There is no level limit, so if I find that I'm lacking in something, I can always add to it later. 

    Major quests include the main quest, siding with the Minutemen and I'd love to do the Silver Shroud stuff again and help out Nick at the Detective agency. Her companion throughout all of this will be Dogmeat. That Lone Wanderer perk is going to come in handy, I know it. 

    Survival mode adds a slew of new things to the game. First, and what everybody seems to have the most problems with is the save mechanic. You can only save when you sleep. Your enemies do more damage, and you do a bit more compared to Very Hard. Legendary items drop with 3x the frequency. Also, your carry weight is greatly reduced and everything, including ammo has weight. The mode also introduces diseases and needs, including food, drink, and being tired. Lead belly is going to be something I'm going to look into, especially in the early game.

    I make it out of the vault alright, but I know that the radroaches there are weaker than they typically are. It does save for you after you get out of the vault, so not having to redo the whole character build session if I died was nice, though I was frustrated I could not sleep in one of the Vault beds. Those looked especially comfy.  It also lets you refill empty bottles with water, so I took advantage of the better water of the Vault and got me some purified water. 

    The walk to Sanctuary Hills is uneventful - only loot, loot, loot - and I meet up with Codsworth. We clear the insects, but I know there are more radroaches in a different house. I cook me some dinner from the poils of the Vault and then decide to scrap and play house. But not before I get into the Cellar that's adjacent to one of the houses and sleep to save my game. Tomorrow is gonna be a big day of scrapping and building a dwelling. 

    So... apparently, even though I slept in a bed, underground and safe from the coming radiation storm, I didn't get a good night's sleep. This is going to be interesting. :D You need to make a nice, NEW bed to sleep soundly. Or rent from an inn.

    I'm also hungry and thirsty when I wake up. And time does not stop when you are scrapping and building. I end up famished by the end of the day, super thirsty and in need of antibiotics. Fortunately, the vault had some of those. I give myself some antibiotics, have another radroach BBQ, and build my water well. Then I finally build my bed and furnish my shack, which isn't so humble. Opted for the two story wooden shack. I actually really like it. It has a balcony area and the way I've situated it, I see nearly all of Sanctuary hills from various windows. This will be great for spotting enemies. A turret is installed and I moved all the crafting stations to be nearby. 

    I will do some work with settlement building, but not a ridiculous amount. The good thing is that with Survival installed, settlement management becomes easier because the entire game just slows the heck down, so you can focus your attention on one settlement at a time. I can't just head to Concord immediately, though I'm sure some people do. The deathclaw doesn't sound like it'll be much fun. 

    I was much better when I slept in my own bed, but I'm still hungry. I ate all my radroaches - YUM - and then proceeded to Red Rocket. There are two things there that I'm interested in; Dogmeat and Molerats, because apparently, eating 6 roasted Radroaches is not filling in Survival Mode. Those things are HUGE, you'd think I'd be satisfied! I use the "stand on a car" technique of molerat outsmarting and Dogmeat and I manage to finish off the molerats. Some time is spent scrapping Red Rocket - leaving two cars for 'stand on car' technique - and then we head back. 

    I, surprisingly, did not die., sorry Deebs. Was fully expecting to and almost did when two radroaches surprised me while I was scrapping at Sanctuary Hills. They were way tougher than the ones in the vault and yes, I am not ashamed to admit that I ran to Codsworth like a wuss.  Chems have effects. Like side affects. Supposedly Stimpaks make you thirsty and others have different effects. Very cool. 

    The game will go slow like this. Tomorrow's session will hopefully entail wandering along the river bank, seeing what I can scrounge up. I may then try the outskirts of Concord. No need to play with Preston yet, that deathclaw will not be fun. 

    I am currently level 3 and have perked one rank of lockpicking and one of lone wanderer. 

    Thanks for looking. I'm sure I'm doing a ton of stuff wrong, but I'm having fun. I'll be going to my other save tomorrow, but I'll play this one again soon. 

     

  • Member
    June 27, 2017

    Ah the traditional approach to the first survival playthrough, snek arch'ry. I remember it like it was yesterday... umm... back in my day... :P

    From experience if you're planning on relying on sneak then you can hold off on the defense style perks since with enough range and your sneak attacks the only things that are going to get anywhere near you are things that catch you by surprise or those that you find indoors. Also adamantium skeleton is a must, since you can only heal broken limbs with Doctors and stimpaks and since stimpaks make you thirsty you can end up in quite a bit of trouble.

    So are you going to play survival like I do, only sleeping when forced to (which made Motty; I think, nervous during those streams I did) or every chance you get?

  • June 27, 2017

    Golden Fool said:

    Ah the traditional approach to the first survival playthrough, snek arch'ry. I remember it like it was yesterday... umm... back in my day... :P

    From experience if you're planning on relying on sneak then you can hold off on the defense style perks since with enough range and your sneak attacks the only things that are going to get anywhere near you are things that catch you by surprise or those that you find indoors. Also adamantium skeleton is a must, since you can only heal broken limbs with Doctors and stimpaks and since stimpaks make you thirsty you can end up in quite a bit of trouble.

    So are you going to play survival like I do, only sleeping when forced to (which made Motty; I think, nervous during those streams I did) or every chance you get?

    Yeah, I'm only a bit from adamantine, so I have that nice insurance if I want it. I think though, I will go down the route that has been very successful for me. DAMAGE and snek. You're right, if I can kills them first...  Down the road, I'll take my perception higher for sniper, but to be frank I was sniping great and not using it and I was banking perks like crazy in my other playthrough. Sometimes, like up to five, waiting to reach the level that I needed to be to take a perk I wanted, so I think I can invest in the training to get the numbers where I need them. I'm thinking actually Aquaboy is going to be very useful early on and even later, as waterways are going to be a nifty way to travel. 

    I've been sleeping when it's been nighttime or when the game suggests that I'm tired. Lol, I took forever to get my shack just so and I ended up needing antibiotics. 

    What blows my mind is the sheer amount of food you need. I'm looking at the size of radroaches and I know insects are made, I mean those things have a lot of tissue. I am struggling to see why I need 3-4 servings of grilled radroach to satisfy my hunger. I guess perhaps it is because maybe there is only part that is really edible. I guess I can justify it that way for now. 

  • Member
    June 27, 2017
    Mirelurk cakes for food is really really good. It almost always fills you on one meal, easy to get in certain spots and gives additional benefits. Also really good is yao-gui steaks and radstag but the first can take a little to get those popping up. Later game hermit crab and mirelurk queen meat is freaking amazing. For water get lead belly and drink all over or just pick up all the empty bottles you find and keep filling them up for a boat load of purified water.
  • June 27, 2017

    Amornar said: Mirelurk cakes for food is really really good. It almost always fills you on one meal, easy to get in certain spots and gives additional benefits. Also really good is yao-gui steaks and radstag but the first can take a little to get those popping up. Later game hermit crab and mirelurk queen meat is freaking amazing. For water get lead belly and drink all over or just pick up all the empty bottles you find and keep filling them up for a boat load of purified water.

    Yes, so far, I've built several sources of water at Sanctuary Hills and I have my stockpile empty bottles. I can perk lead belly, but I will first be going for aquaboy. 

  • June 27, 2017

    Hey Liss, big tip here, illness is often determines through sleep, you don't need to physically sleep to save. Basically you know hwen you select the amount of hours? Press enter then back before you phsyically sleep. and you wont sleep but it will still save.

  • June 27, 2017

    Elyrius said:

    Hey Liss, big tip here, illness is often determines through sleep, you don't need to physically sleep to save. Basically you know hwen you select the amount of hours? Press enter then back before you phsyically sleep. and you wont sleep but it will still save.

    But you can still get sick. This method is best used to save without passing the time, but does nothing to prevent disease. 

  • Member
    June 27, 2017

    Lissette Long-Chapper said:

    What blows my mind is the sheer amount of food you need. I'm looking at the size of radroaches and I know insects are made, I mean those things have a lot of tissue. I am struggling to see why I need 3-4 servings of grilled radroach to satisfy my hunger. I guess perhaps it is because maybe there is only part that is really edible. I guess I can justify it that way for now. 

    I like to explain it to myself like this: Insects are full of protein, as in filled to the brim with the stuff. One serving of radroach like that probably covers almost all your protein needs for the day, however, they're not that rich in carbohydrates and sugars, so you'll need to cover that up with some more energetic food.

    Of course, it still makes very little sense when expanded to the rest of the sole survivor's diet but alas.

  • June 27, 2017

    Legion said:

    Elyrius said:

    Hey Liss, big tip here, illness is often determines through sleep, you don't need to physically sleep to save. Basically you know hwen you select the amount of hours? Press enter then back before you phsyically sleep. and you wont sleep but it will still save.

    But you can still get sick. This method is best used to save without passing the time, but does nothing to prevent disease. 

    Yeah, I've been using sleeping as both saves and for actual sleeping and resting. I'd often rest in my regular game too, so the habit of seeking shelter for the night is very ingrained into how I play Fallout anyway. 

    I'm debating on faction choices right now. I think this playthrough will reap the benefits of all of them, but ultimately side with one. Already, I've made this character more bitter, sarcastic, and less charismatic. This is an angry momma. I have also deliberately not referred to Shaun if I can help it. 

    All in all, while I'm still a baby in this, I am enjoying that I am not rushing into encounters anymore. The games pace has slowed a lot and that's what I was looking for. A requiem pace. :D I also feel like I am just a person in the wasteland now than a god. 

    BoS is tempting just because oh man, I am dreading going into battle against power armor-wearing laser weapon wielding paladins of awesome with mah little minutemen things, but at the same time, could be fun. I hear they are super fun as your enemies. That they are really dramatic. 

  • Member
    June 27, 2017
    lol I did get nervous watching Goldie play smode. Nice start Liss!