Hi cyberalki
There is a perk that gives you more strength, and some quests that help and choosing more endurence in the begining gives you more as you level. I think I have 270 and I didn't go heavy on endurence.

I just don't play with Big Guns because of the wieght but I put enough skill pts in it so by collecting skill books (I took the double pts for skill books perk) I could be sure to have enough umph to be able to use the Fat Man when I need to.

You have to be careful not to go to far in the main quest, unless your ready to finish the game. After finishing all Moria's quests I started the main quest up to the one called Purity something and got to the citidal (sp?) and then broke off the main quest. I'm not sure how far is too far, I think you get a chance to say your not ready to continue. After the purity quest some new stuff starts happening in the game so I'm glad I went that far.

This is a warning about exploreing and the main quest

Nipomo, Thanks for the "heads up" about getting too far ahead.

I had started worrying about that since there are so many places I still haven't been and side quests I haven't gotten yet. I slowed down once before but I think it is time to do it again.

I don't think I have yet hit the "no turn back point" but I must be getting very near. I have just activated the Garden of Eden quest. It may be time to go out and explore more of the wasteland.

Kay

I have been working on side quests and been to many interesting places -- Tenpenny Towers, the Underworld, Arlington Library, Nuka Cola plant, Big Town, etc, etc.

I seem to be over the hump and have enough caps to buy what I need and I can find what I want. I have put together my ideal weapon profile: scoped sniper rifle, scoped 44 magnum, and a plasma rifle.

I have along with me right now Star Paladin Cross and she is wicked with a Laser Rifle. She has frequently saved my sorry ass.

I still have Dogmeat but he mostly has to stay at home. Sometimes when I am going someplace safe (like jumping from place to place to sell and buy stuff) I let him come along. But otherwise (I have to say it) he is useless but lovable. When I leave him alone for too long he pulls all my teddy bears off the shelf.

I am still loving this game. I am going to keep working on side quests for a while longer.
kay

Hi Kay

Nice to hear you are having such a good time with the game. I'm feeling the urge to get back to it even though I have played it to death. There are a few places I haven't investigated, so I think I will see what I can find. I loved the plasma rifle. It made the combat so much easier. The whole Fallout series has been a wonderful adventure. Wonder if there will be more.

I just want to mention that I'm one of those who "went too far" with the MQ before I had done all of the exploring I had wanted to do. Beware of this - somehow I lost interest in the game after I was swept through the ending, and now I've got to decide exactly which of my gamesaves I'm going to restore to explore the other vaults (only done the main two) when I get a little gap from all the other games I have going.

I never realised that the game would sort of "force" you along to the ending the way it does.

Uggh, this thread is getting too heavy, (long) -it's bogging down my browser.

Anyway, sorry if this has been asked before, but I cannot face wading through 9 pages of posts which load very slowly possibly because this thread is so huge?

Well, does anyone know who sends those mercenaries to kill you, if you are playing a goodie-two-shoes?
At first I thought it was Burke, but I think I managed to kill Burke, and they still come?

Moondancer, do you have dial up? We usually start a new thread around 15 pages.

Let me google and see if the answer pops up

Edit: On the GameSpot forum, they say that if you kill Burke or get him arrested, a bounty will be put on your head which the Talon mercenaries will take up and they will not stop.

However, someone else said they come after you if your karma is too high.

I think Mr.Tenpenny placed the bounty on you for being such a goody-two shoes. If you waste Mr. Tenpenny the bounty still exists. Here is what I've found:
Good Character--Talon Company hunts you
Evil Character--The Regulators hunt you
Neutral Characters are not hunted as far as I know.

Boshette

Sounds like the only way to not be hunted is to stay completely neutral, which I bet is easier said than done

Hi, thanks for the replies. Well, I was obviously always a goody, because it was always the Talon mercs who hunted me!

Sorry, I didn't mean to complain about the thread loading so slow - somehow it seems normal again today - it might have been to do with that I was trying to search through it from the beginning, to see if this had been discussed before, and that it was somehow loading cumulatively into some cache? - I was just trying to explain why I might possibly be asking something that had been asked before.

Moondancer, I didn't take it as a complaint. I just wondered if you had dial up or broadband--sometimes sites are slow for me too and I have no patience for it.

I'm glad the thread seems normal today though

The Talan mercs kinda taught me how to fight effiently when I was at lower levels and as you level up the Talon mercs become easier and their loot is good and thier armour can repair the unique armor I use so I don't mind a visit from them now and again. I just try to leave buildings with a loaded well repaired gun in hand.

Hi guys, I am still so jealous about Kay saying she has all the money. How do you do it? When I was 45 repair I needed 46 so I used the suit. Now I am 50 Repair, + 5 from the suit, but now I need 56. I hate it. I manage to get some money here and there, but by the time I finish buying stimpacks. I am broke again. I also buy missiles for my missile launcher which comes very handy when super mutants gang up on you, and MFC for my laser rifle, for I do not have the plasma one, I do have the .44 magnum and the minigun which is also good for mutants and of course the sniper rifle. No wonder I cannot loot that much, I carry so much weight in guns! lol. But I do love the game and am on my way to the replicated man quest. Wish me luck!

cyberalki, My main weapons are light and that lets me loot and carry more to sell and the ammo for all three of my weapons is fairly inexpensive and I have worked to get my barter and speech skills up which reduces the cost.

I also had the same annoying problem as you have had with repair skill (45 need 46 etc, etc) so I put a lot of points and perks towards getting my repair skill to 100. So when I get a couple of hunting rifles or assault rifles I use some to repair one and this reduces the weight I carry. And I loot every bit of ammo I find since it doesn't have any weight.

And I use Star Paladin Cross to carry stuff for me.

But to be honest, I spend a lot of time fast traveling from where I am to places I can sell stuff and back. And figuring what I should keep and what can go. I sometimes think I spend half of my time managing my inventory.

I can't remember where I got the plasma rifle but if you get one hang on to it. kay

Ah, I remember. I got my plasma rifle in the laboratory area of the Citidel. It was just lying there I think somewhere on the bottom level and I just picked it up and walked away with it. If I remember correctly, you could do that with a lot of stuff in the Citadel. When you looked at stuff, the name came up green rather than red so it wasn't seen as stealing and no one paid attention when you took it. I felt a bit bad doing this for a while but not for long. Kay

cyberalki
Don't fret too much about not having a lot of money or not having your weapons in great repair, in a lot of ways thats the funnest part of the game...figureing out how to survive with very little and slowly getting better at stuff.

Later you get so you can get rid of bad guys pretty easily and you have to find other ways to make the game interesting. I try hard as I play not to over powerful myself so the game stays interesting. For instance I don't always use my best gun but try to use some of my great hordes of ammo for lesser guns. Or keep one or two good guns for emergencys but try to use only guns I pick up on my wanderings. You can do that with armour too. It keeps it fresh.

Careful about giving unique guns to your companions, they get guns knocked out of thier hands easily and if you can't locate the gun then its gone. Katherine's right, even though having a companion takes getting used to...I like the ghoul one because he can sneak....they really help in carrying loot.

I think I'm about 3/4ths through now not counting the main quest which I'm on hiatius from until I finish everything else. I sure like this game, last night I found a fresh grave with a note in it....it was someplace I had been before and was just idlely going through again..I could have fast traveled home but decieded to walk....great game.

Cyberalki, have you come across the Chinese assault rifle in one of the quests? It is very effective and ammo easily available just lying around. I used it most of the game till I found the plasma rifle. I tried out the big weapons such as the minigun but found them much less effective. I rarely used stimpacks except when absolutely necessary in a battle, and that didn't happen often. Instead, I would head a bed and renew my health. I had hundreds of stimpacks left when I finished the game. I would leave the big guns in my locker and carry just the assault rifle and a pistol.

Thx Kay, I hear you, it is just that I feel that, when the stupid super mutants gang up on me, nothing works as good as the big guns. Especially when there are 4 or more of them attacking me at the same time. A good couple of missiles plus the minigun do wonders. I just got the plasma rifle from the android quest. Works fine with scavangers, but did not have a chance to try it with super mutants yet. Star Paladin Cross????????? Where do you always come up with such useful company and I am still alone? Who or what is it?????

Hi Pokey, I don`t think I am as good as you are fighting, for I always have to use plenty of stimpacks in a fight. Love to wonder about and keep finding all these enemies. And when they hit me with flamers and missiles, I always need tons of stimpacks, I wish I could run to a bed but it is not possible. Plus, the stupid guns are always getting jammed even if I just repaired them and need to have plenty to change from one to the next, I do not have an ammo problem, have lots for all my guns, but they do not always work and not always have spare ones for repair. I am already level 10 so, I figure this is why enemies come in bunches against me. Don`t know what to do to keep my guns from jamming.

Haha, I did the same thing Nipomo! After I was near completion of the game I found myself buying everything for my house and then decorating in manually, I eventually got bored with that and got the mod tools and created my own room .

I have been working on side quests. Rielly's Rangers. Agatha Song. I love these side quests since they get to me places I haven't been to yet.

For days now (I play an hour or so a day), I have been trying to find Oasis. It took a lot of time to walk from the closest place I had on the map to a place that might be near Oasis.
But this is the mountains. You never know where you are or where you are going or how to get there. But I finlly made it to Oasis (with the help of every onlineguide I could find).

This is an interesting place. It could help us save the world. Think about it. You may want to find Oasis. Kay

Well, I've done it!
I bought Fallout 3 - just because I've read so much about it here and other places, that I had to try it.

BUT, it won't install
Think it has something to do with the registry - think I need to do a clean freash install of windows.... sigh!
It's the same problem I have with Oblivion...

But at least I got the games now
I'll have something to do this summer, when it's holliday, right? ;-)

misslilo, it's a shame that you can't install the game. Do you get an error message?

Misslilo, did you post over in glitches?

No, haven't posted in glitches, because I've been to bethesda forums and read about similar errors.

It's definitely something with my registry - I think something is missing from when installing Vista ultimate.

I also have problems with WinMail and missing Toolbar entries...
Lots of stuff actually, lol.
Will need to install again, but don't feel like it now... will have to wait til july.