This is a SUPPLMENTAL FAQ, NOT a manual or even a full FAQ. You
won't learn how to play the game with this document.
If you want the full walkthru, the random encounter guide, the
equipment guide, or full character creation guide, you should
look on Gamefaqs.com for the other excellent guides by Sarin,
Guiler, and others.
This USG only covers the PC version since that's the only version
that exists (at this time).
Some of you may recognize my name as the editor for the XCOM and
XCOM2: TFTD FAQ's, among others.
0.2 TERMS OF DISTRIBUTION
This document is copyrighted by Kuo-Sheng "Kasey" Chang (c) 2002,
all rights reserved excepted as noted above in the disclaimer
section.
This document is available FREE of charge subjected to the
following conditions:
1) This notice and author's name must accompany all copies of
this document: "Fallout Tactics Unofficial Supplemental Guide and
FAQ" is copyrighted (c) 2002 by Kasey K.S. Chang, all rights
reserved except as noted in the disclaimer."
2) This document must NOT be modified in any form or manner
without prior permission of the author with the following
exception: if you wish to convert this document to a different
file format or archive format, with no change to the content,
then no permission is needed.
2a) In case you can't read, that means TXT only. No banners, no
HTML borders, no cutting up into multiple pages to get you more
banner hits, and esp. no adding your site name to the site list.
3) No charge other than "reasonable" compensation should charged
for its distribution. (Free is preferred) Sale of this
information is expressly prohibited. If you see any one selling
this guide, drop me a line.
4) If you used material from this, PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE the source,
else it is plagiarism.
5) The author hereby grants all games-related web sites the right
to archive and link to this document to share among the game
fandom, provided that all above restrictions are followed.
Sidenote: The above conditions are known as a statutory contract.
If you meet them, then you are entitled to the rights I give you
in 5), i.e. archive and display this document on your website. If
you don't follow them, you did not meet the statutory contract
conditions, you have no right to display this document. If you
still do so, then you are infringing upon my copyright. This
section was added for any websites who don't seem to understand
this.
For the gamers: You are under NO obligation to send me ANY
compensation. However, I do ask for a VOLUNTARY contribution of
one (1) US Dollar if you live in the United States, and if you
believe this guide helped your game. If you choose to do so,
please make your US$1.00 check or $1.00 worth of stamp to "Kuo-
Sheng Chang", and send it to "2220 Turk Blvd. #6, San Francisco,
CA 94118 USA".
If you don't live in the US, please send me some local stamps. I
collect stamps too.
0.3 DISTRIBUTION
This USG should be available at Gamefaqs
(http://www.gamefaqs.com) and other major PC game websites (such
as gamesdomain.com, gamespot.com, gamecenter.com, etc.). I
personally only release it to Gamefaqs.com so if you find it
anywhere else, they got it from gamefaqs.com.
To webmasters who wish to archive this FAQ on their website,
please read the terms of distribution in section 0.2. It is quite
clear. In case you can't understand it, it says "no
modifications". This means you may NOT modify any bits of it!
Read that carefully. It says exactly what it says.
0.4 OTHER NOTES
There is no warranty for this document. After all, it depends
on YOU the player. All I can do is offer some advice.
PLEASE let me know if there's a confusing or missing remark... If
you find a question about this game that is not covered in the
USG, e-mail it to me at ksc1@aol.com. I'll try to answer it and
include it in the next update.
If you want to read some background information on how Fallout
Tactics came about, visit Gamasutra.com. The developers,
MicroForte, have an article on what went right and what went
wrong during the development.
0.5 THE AUTHOR
I am just a game player who decided to write my own FAQs when the
ones I find don't cover what I want to see. Lots of people like
what I did, so I kept doing it.
Previously, I've written Unofficial Strategy Guides (USGs) for
XCOM, XCOM2:TFTD, Wing Commander 3, Wing Commander 4, Spycraft,
688(I) Hunter/Killer. Mechwarrior 3, MW3 Expansion Pack, Need for
Speed: Porsche Unleashed, Mechwarrior 4 and MW4: Black Knight,
DS9: The Fallen, Rally Masters, and more.
If you need to write me, send e-mail to ksc1@aol.com. (Any spam
will be reported to respective authorities).
0.6 DISCLAIMER/ COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
Fallout, Fallout Tactics, and related names are properties of
Interplay and 14 Degrees East.
14 Degrees East is the "strategy" branch of Interplay. (Black
Isle is the "adventure" branch of Interplay, responsible for the
Fallout RPG series.)
Fallout Tactics was developed by MicroForte. This USG is not
endorsed or authorized by MicroForte, 14 Degrees East, or
Interplay.
While this FAQ may overlap slightly with other FOT FAQs, notably
Sarin's Character Creation FAQ and Guiler's FOT FAQ, I did my
best to REMOVE any sections that appear to be nearly identical.
The character creation section was inspired by Sarin's FAQ, but
the approach is my own. .
0.7 REVISION HISTORY
16-MAR-2002 Initial release
0.8 THE MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: Can you send me Fallout Tactics (or portions thereof)?
A: No. It's 3 CDs!
Q: Can you send me the manual (or portions thereof)?
A: No. It's just a list of the perks and traits any way and basic
game mechanics.
Q: Can you tell me how to play the game?
A: Read the manual.
Q: What's the latest version of FOT?
A: As of release of this edition, it is V1.27. See Interplay's
website.
Q: Can I create my own FOT missions? Campaigns?
A: Yes. You need V1.27 patch, which includes FOT edit tools.
Q: Why is your FAQ shorter than other similar FAQs?
A: This is a SUPPLEMENTAL FAQ. It's NOT a full FAQ.
Q: Why don't you cover the encounters, random or otherwise? How
about perks? Equipment?
A: There already are excellent guides for those topics on
Gamefaqs.com.
1 Game Information
1.1 IN THE BEGINNING.
FOT is essentially a mixture between Starfleet Command's campaign
engine and the tactical combat engine of Fallout/Fallout 2. As
SFC was a tactical starship combat game, and Fallout series were
RPGs, the game is an interesting mixture indeed.
The background is simple: it's post-nuclear war. In the wastes
(short for wasteland), various wild animals have been transformed
into hideous giant creatures. Even humans were affected. Many
have been mutated into essentially new races.
As a new Brotherhood of Steel initiate, you will undertake
missions as you venture out into the wastelands, to bring hope to
the wasteland... with cold steel and hot bullets if necessary.
You create a single character with the appropriate traits and
attributes. You select up to 5 other members (the availability
depends on your rank) from the recruit pool to join you on
missions in the post-nuclear wasteland.
You will be issued some simple equipment at the beginning. You
will discover more and better equipment as you go into the wastes
and encounter more enemies. Bring back all surplus and barter
with the quartermaster (or any other merchants nearby) for better
equipment. You may even discover vehicles that will provide more
armor, speed, and carrying capacity.
Once you're done, exit the base, and you're on the world map.
Move around if you want to, or just head for the next mission by
clicking on the mission name. On the way, you may run into some
"encounters".
The campaign engine basically gives out three types of
encounters: random encounters (you just happen to run into
someone while wandering the map), special encounters (something
special happens, some are good, some are bad), and plot/mission
encounters (the missions assigned by the Brotherhood that you
must complete).
Once the encounter is triggered, you are dropped into an
isometric battlefield that's almost just like Fallout series, but
also reminiscent of XCOM series. You then shoot it out with
whatever opponents on the map, and if you survive, accomplish the
objectives, then you can head toward the extraction zone and exit
the encounter, where you start on the "world map" again.
1.2 SIMILAR GAMES
Fallout Tactics probably most resembles XCOM: Apocalypse, with
optional "real-time" or "turn-based" play modes available, and
the world/tactical separate perspectives. However, there is no
combat in the FOT on the world map.
Fallout Tactics is semi-related to Jagged Alliance and Jagged
Alliance 2.
2 Character Creation
2.1 CHARACTER CREATION FAQ
Q: Where's a good list of perks, traits, and such?
A: Try your manual. :-) Also try Guiler's FOT FAQ or Sarin's
FOT Character FAQ on gamefaqs.com
Q: What are the best traits or perks to get?
A: Depends on which role you want. Perhaps you should read the
whole section first. Don't forget to read the other two FAQs
listed above as well.
Q: What does rank have to do with my character?
A: Your rank affects what recruits you can get. You get access to
recruits with rank equal to yourself and below. If you are rank
of knight, you get recruits of rank of knight or below.
Therefore, the higher your rank the better recruit you can hire.
If you have better than normal charisma (or have "brown noser"
perk), you can hire recruits that are BETTER than you! [This also
means that using "brown noser" perk on any one other than
yourself would be a waste.]
Q: How does charisma affect my character?
A: Charisma affects a LOT of things, from your rate of promotion
to barter to a ton of other stuff. For your own character, you
should keep CH around 5 (average). Your own rank affects what
recruits you get. Unless you NEVER plan to change your recruits
(i.e. you're taking your ORIGINAL team all the way to the final
mission), you SHOULD keep CH at 5. Also see the question above
about how rank affects your character.
Q: Should I take "gifted" trait or not?
A: It's a toss-up. The -5 skill point per level penalty is a
definite minus (you end up with like 12 pts per level at start).
You start out quite good, but you gain skills slower. On the
other hand, having extra 7 pts in your character stats does make
adjusting things quite a bit easier, and you can allocate more
pts into IN to make up some of the loss. Having gifted makes it
easier to specialize in certain perks, which may offset the loss
of skill points. Basically, you are trading skill pts for certain
special perks. If you want the special perks like Sniper or
Slayor, you need Gifted. Otherwise, probably not.
Q: Should I take "skilled" trait or not?
A: In a typical game, you'll reach level 24. You get 8 perks with
perk rate of 3. With perk rate of 4 (skilled) you get 6 perks.
You're trading perks for more skill points, essentially.
Q: Should I take "fast shot" trait or not?
A: Depends on the role. If you don't need aimed shots (i.e. not
sniper), then by all means do take fast shot. Combine that with
"bonus rate of fire" perk and you'll get a LOT of bursts, and
that will be devastating in close range or with good burst
weapons or heavy weapons (or even grenades).
Q: What perks should I take early?
A: Swift learner, definitely. You need more skill pts later and
it's worth using a few perks for it, when you don't have access
to the special perks for your role. Calculate your perk rate,
then look at what perks are you going for. Then use the rest on
"Educated" early on.
Q: What role should I set my main character to?
A: Probably small guns / energy weapons guy. See that section.
Q: What is the science skill used for?
A: Not that much. You can use it to take out some power nodes, to
read some terminals, etc. at the very end. Just take
"comprehension" perk, and read the various "Big Book of Science"
that you come across, and you'll get science in the 100%+ range
by the game's end. You don't need to assign any skill points to
it.
Q: What's this "divine favor" perk I keep hearing about?
A: See the manual. However, it supposedly ALSO adds 1 to your
best stat (even BEYOND your racial max), and decreases your perk
rate to 2 (i.e. one perk every 2 levels). If you do go for it
(you need LK of 8) your max perks then will be 4 before this one
(3, 6, 9 12). You use the 5th perk (at 15) to get this, then 4
more perks (17, 19, 21, 23), for a total of nine perks total. As
you get 8 perks at a perk rate of 3, this isn't an improvement.
2.2 INTRODUCTION TO FOT CHARACTERS
Character creation is an important part of Fallout series, and
FOT is no exception, even if the emphasis was placed on combat.
Your characters and squad will gain experience, and careful
allocation of the gains you get per level is very important.
You should refer to Sarin's excellent FOT Character Creation FAQ
if you have further questions. You can find his guide on
Gamefaqs.com. Here's what Sarin said about Character creation:
"Since you're playing a squad-based tactics game, you need to
develop specialist characters instead of generalists. You can
have a maximum of six characters in your squad. Let one character
focus on one skill while the others focus on other skills." --
Sarin, from Sarin's FOT Character Creation guide.
Also keep in mind taht you do NOT need to keep the ENTIRE SQUAD
for the entire game. If you find better candidates, fire the ones
you do not need and hire better recruits. As your enemies change,
so will your squad.
The approach I go for below is go for specific roles, THEN decide
what perks are good for the role, then I figure out the specific
requirements for the role. My method is primarily aimed at player
character (i.e. humans), but the same analysis can be applied to
the recruits to determine if they can be "groomed" to your
liking. On the other hand, someone has already done the analysis
for you in Guiler's FOT FAQ. So go read it.
The roles you need are essentially the following (you can take
multiple roles, like sniper/grenadier, thief/medic, etc.)
* Sniper -- specialize in long-range takedowns, extremely high
(~150 or higher) small guns, and the good perks like better
criticals, more criticals, etc. Firing rate is not that
important. "Finesse" trait may help.
* CQS -- high small arms, fast firing rate, specialize in
short-range fights, with automatic weapons on burst, magnum
pistols and/or .45 caliber weapons, and shotgun. However, CQB is
useless in late game unless you have a lot of EMP shotgun shells.
AP ammo just don't do THAT much damage on robots.
* Energy weapons specialist -- by the end of the game you'll
be using primarily energy weapons. You should start learning them
early on, or at least use the TAG! perk about midway to get at
least 100+ on energy weapons. Hire people who are good at this
later in the game would help a lot also.
* Melee / HTH -- with or without weapon, enhance with ripper,
power fist, etc. Those with high strength are best. However,
Melee/HTH doesn't do that much damage to robots unless you cause
serious criticals.
* Grenadier -- high throwing skills, toss stuff at the enemy,
excellent to take out enemies hiding behind cover or even around
some corners. Also can use throwing weapons like throwing stars
or throwing knives, but those don't do much damage.
* Heavy weapons -- big guns skill, use heavy machine gun,
rocket launcher, etc. Important in mid/late game, as you need
this skill to use the Browning M2 50 cal. machine gun and the
rocket launcher, and later, the most devastating weapon: the
gauss gatling.
* Medic -- patch people up, high first aid and/or doctor
skills. Get both up to 200% if you can. Make sure to bring
doctor's bags (at least 2) and 3-6 First Aid kits (or similar).
You may want to have another guy who's up on the first-aid skill
(80-100%) as a backup medic in case your primary medic "bought
the farm".
* Driver -- drive any vehicles around (piloting skill).
Piloting is not that essential, as piloting over 30% is enough to
move the Humvee or any vehicle around. There are also some books
that can boost the knowledge significantly.
* Thief -- high stealing skills, you need it to "borrow" items
from others that you can't buy. It can also be used in reverse...
like putting things (like explosives) elsewhere. On the other
hand, you don't REALLY need it, as you CAN do without it (though
it may make some things more difficult).
* Lockpick -- high lockpick skills, you need it to open doors
or safes without the key. Help him/her with lockpicks, advanced
lockpicks, or electronic lockpicks. Buy two of each lockpick
device as they become available. Put one in each hand and you'll
get double the benefits. Most special doors in the various
encounters have a key nearby on certain characters, so designate
the lockpick person to hold all the keys as well.
* Barterer -- high barter skill makes the purchase prices
cheaper and selling prices higher. Let one guy (or gal) do the
talking. Give him all the items to trade in. Just make sure to
put him/her next to the trading person before you start
transferring items.
* Trapper -- lay traps, or disarm traps. Trap skill is not
that critical, as high perception can help you AVOID mines most
of the time. On the other hand, some chests and doors are
trapped, and you need good trap skill to disarm those.
* Mechanic -- repair things using "repair" skill. Enhance with
toolkits and super toolkits. Vehicles need a lot of repairs, so
you may need one. On the other hand, if you can make it back to
base, you can borrow a recruit to do your repairs.
* Gambler -- bet with people... instead of trading. Beware
that not all people gamble.
* Scout -- mainly for the world map. Need Outdoorsman skills.
Outdoorsman at 100% or higher means you can AVOID random
encounters if you wish to. That can be quite useful if you're
short on ammo and such, or you need the right TYPE of encounters
(like you're looking for pulse grenades by killing Reavers and so
on). Give this role to the guy with the best LUCK would help too.
* Mule / Jack-of-all-trades -- none of the above, your typical
grunt (but why?)
I'm going to discuss each role in turn, listing the stat
requirements (not the level, which you can't control), then
summarize for the requirements for creation. I put the
requirements WITHOUT the "gifted" trait. If you choose to take
the "gifted" trait, then you would make creating the character
much easier early on.
2.3 PARTY COMPOSITION
Please note that this is the way I play the game... I prefer
weapons, not melee/HTH combat. I'm sure some can be very
effective in that, but I prefer to keep the enemies as far away
as possible.
For a list of possible recruits and how they can be developed,
please see Guiler's FOT FAQ.
You should decide from the start who are you going to develop and
keep, and who you will just hire until you find someone better.
At the beginning, you have minimal skills. You need to use a lot
of ammo to put down an enemy. Hand-to-hand and melee combat are
useful then. You don't see any mines or traps early on, and a
scout can sense any that you run into. You don't have any
vehicles so you don't need driver or mechanic either. You don't
have access to heavy weapons yet. So you just need 1-2 snipers, 2-
3 CQS, rest melee. You will also need a good medic. Any other
roles you need like barterer/gambler, grenadier, lockpick/thief
can be spread out among your squad. On the other hand, early on
you don't get grenades either.
Start training a driver early on to at least 30% skill as you
need one to get your first Humvee.
By mid-game (when you encounter Deathclaws and Supermutants), the
pistols and melee weapons become useless (not enough damage). You
need to engage the enemies from as far away as possible. You'll
need 1-2 snipers, 2 CQS, 1-2 heavy weapons, and 1 medic. You also
acquire vehicles so you'll need a driver. You may not need a
mechanic yet as you can "borrow" recruits to repair the vehicles
for you at the bunkers.
By late-game (when you encounter robots and reavers), you need to
switch to heavy weapons and energy weapons. Hire dual-role
specialists like Alice and Max (both are good in energy AND big
guns), though small gun / big gun specialists like Box and
Clarise are also useful if you give them rocket launchers and
gauss guns. Sniper will use gauss rifles. Melee doesn't do enough
damage unless you're VERY good at causing criticals. By now, you
will need a mechanic, though repair skill of 85% is quite
sufficient, as you can pump that to over 100 with a super toolkit
and a regular toolkit.
My "final mission" party is composed of:
* Caseman (me), who's a sniper / energy specialist. He's armed
with laser rifle (and later, pulse rifle) with a gauss rifle for
sniping. Before that he's mainly armed with sniper rifle and the
FN FAL. Caseman also is the mechanic AND driver AND science guy
(like me, he's multi-talented)
* Stitch, the medic, is with the team from the very beginning.
He has the Pancor with the remaining EMP shells and a gauss
rifle as backup. Before then he's armed with CAWS and a sniper
rifle. Stitch turned out to be a VERY good doctor/medic and a
very good sniper. Stitch, being "good-natured", also gets the
role of barterer.
* Alice and Max, the brother and sister team, are both big gun
/ energy weapon specialists. I gave them both a 50 cal and
whatever energy weapon I can find (plasma rifle, laser gatling,
whatever). They also carry the best grenades. When I found more
laser gatlings, they each got one.
* Box, the heavy weapons expert, is hired to handle the gauss
gatling and carry additional rockets. She has the gauss gatling
and rocket launcher with quite a few reloads.
* Clarisse joined for the final two missions. Clarisse can
handle energy weapons and big guns. She gets some grenades,
rocket launcher, and a pulse rifle (she happens to have the best
energy weapon skills in the team).
Sometimes, the party size will have to be adjusted to the vehicle
size. When you obtain a tank, you should consider restricting
your party to only 5 members, as only 5 fit in the tank. On the
other hand, you CAN coordinate two separate parties. So maybe you
should leave two outside as scouts and 4 inside the tank as fire
support.
2.4 SNIPER
Sniper is important throughout the game. The sniper rifle has one
of the longest range in the game, at 50. You can also aim for
specific parts of the body, like head, eyes, etc. to blind or
concuss. Later in the game you get gauss rifles.
Keep in mind that the average perk rate is 3, so by the end of
the game (your character at about level 24) you get around 8
perks.
Taking "small frame" trait can give you more AP, but less carry
weight. If you are going to dedicate a character to sniping, then
carry weight doesn't matter that much as you wouldn't consume a
lot of ammo. 100-200 rounds are plenty for one engagement if you
only shoot 2 rounds per turn and you're probably salvage more in
the fight. Power armor later can help you carry more.
Sniper should NOT take "fast shot" trait, as it prevents you from
making aimed shots. You may get more shots off, but you're going
for quality, not quantity here. You need about 10 AP, enough to
get off 2 shots on average AND reload, or 2 aimed shots.
The best perks for sniper would be
* Action Boy (AG 5), one extra AP (probably not needed if you
have "small frame" trait)
* Better Criticals (PE 6, AG 4, LK 6), more damage with
critical hits
* Bonus Ranged Damage (AG 6, LK 6), extra damage
* Bonus Rate of Fire (PE 6, IN 6, AG 7), cost less AP to shoot
* More Criticals (LK 6), more chance of critical hits
* Sharpshooter (PE 7, IN 6), more likely to hit at range
* Sniper (SG 80%, PE 8, AG 8), all critical hits (note: may
not work properly)
Some of these perks can be taken multiple times, like "Action
Boy" and "More Criticals".
I've read in several FAQs that the "Sniper" perk as listed above
is broken. So if you don't want to go for it, I understand
completely.
The requirements without "Sniper" perk then would be
* ST 5
* PE 7
* EN don't care
* CH don't care
* IN 6
* AG 7
* LK 6
You need strength 5 because all the good sniper weapons are MIN
STR 5, including sniper rifle. As you have 35 pts to start, that
would mean
* ST 5
* PE 7
* EN 2
* CH 2
* IN 6
* AG 7
* LK 6
If you DO choose the "gifted" trait, then pump up your EN and CH
back up to reasonable levels (like 4 or 5) and still get AG 8 and
PE 8 to get the sniper perk. If you don't want the sniper perk,
then enhance your luck to 8 and go for "divine favor" perk, and
enhance your IN a bit to make up for the loss of skill pts per
level.
While "weapon handling" perk looks useful, it's not. It is a
level 12 perk, so you don't see that for half of the game. The
heaviest weapon in the "small guns" category has a MIN STR of 6
(the Thompson Gun and the Neostead/CAWS auto shotguns, but you
don't really need them). Most of the weapons are MIN STR 5. If
you pick STR of less than 5, hoping to make it up with "weapon
handling" later, you can't use any of the 2-handed weapons for
half the game, and how can you be a sniper without 2-handed
weapons?
To develop the sniper, tag small guns, sneak, and one auxiliary
skill (see anxiliary roles).
Give sniper the hunting rifle early on, followed by assault
weapons that can do single shot, and finally, sniper rifle. About
150-250 rounds should be sufficient. They can go burst mode in
close range. You may or may not want to give them an alternate
weapon.
Sniper's secondary weapon should be a shotgun. The pump shotgun
is preferred as "bonus rate of fire" would allow the sniper to
shoot more than twice. A heavy pistol like 44 magnum is a good
alternative, but its ammo is a bit harder to find. Pump shotgun
is pretty good against robots in the late game with EMP shells.
If you don't have enough shotguns, an assault rifle like AK-47 is
a good alternative as it uses the same 7.62 bullets.
All in all, I'd recommend AGAINST your main character being a
sniper. You need ENERGY weapon skills by the endgame, and gauss
ammo is limited (until the final mission).
2.5 CLOSE-QUARTERS SPECIALIST
CQS is important to about mid-game, mainly for room clearing.
Primary weapon is a combat shotgun, and that virtually requires
MIN STR of 6, so you can wield the Neostead early on. This role,
on the other hand, is VERY similar to the sniper role. In fact,
there's only one difference: AG 6 instead of AG 7 (to get the
extra ST). The CQS loses "bonus rate of fire" due to that change,
but with an automatic shotgun that's not THAT big of a deal. The
loss can be offset by the "fast shot" trait. Aimed shot at point-
blank is pointless any way.
CQS becomes more difficult in late-game, as EMP shells are rare.
The best perks for CQS then would be:
* Action Boy (AG 5), one extra AP
* Better Criticals (PE 6, AG 4, LK 6), more damaging with
critical hits
* Bonus Ranged Damage (AG 6, LK 6), extra damage
* More Criticals (LK 6), more chance of critical hits
* Sharpshooter (PE 7, IN 6), more likely to hit at range
You need strength 6 for the Neostead and the CAWS. As a bonus,
you can use any of the assault weapons and the sniper rifle/gauss
rifle for long-range threats. To summarized the requirements
* ST 6
* PE 7
* EN don't care
* CH don't care
* IN 6
* AG 6
* LK 6
As you have 35 pts to start, that would mean
* ST 6
* PE 7
* EN 2
* CH 2
* IN 6
* AG 6
* LK 6
This character could use the "gifted" trait to offset the low EN
and CH. Two possibilities:
Possibility 1) Add 3 to EN and CH each (both up to 5, average),
and add extra pt to AG to get back "bonus rate of fire" perk. You
become a relatively average character. This would make you
virtually IDENTICAL to the sniper character, except for your
"fast shot" trait. If you also pick the "bonus rate of fire" perk
later you can pump out INSANE amount of shots. :-)
Possibility 2) Add 2 to EN and CH each (both up to 4, fair), add
1 pt to AG to get back "bonus rate of fire" perk, and 2 to LK to
get "divine favor" perk, which can improve your perk rate and get
you other favors.
While "weapon handling" perk looks useful, it's not. It is a
level 12 perk, so you don't see that for half of the game. The
heaviest weapon in the "small guns" category has a MIN STR of 6
(the Thompson Gun and the Neostead/CAWS auto shotguns). Most of
the weapons are MIN STR 5. If you pick STR of less than 5, hoping
to make it up with "weapon handling" later, you are restricted to
pistols for half of the game.
To develop CQS, tag small guns, sneak, and one other skill (see
anxiliary roles).
Start with pump shotgun, then Neostead, then CAWS. Save the
Pancor Jackhammer for the main character until the end. Reserve
all EMP shells for the CQS guys.
CQS's secondary weapon should be a sniper rifle or a decent
automatic rifle, like the FN FAL. In open terrain, CQS will act
as sniper first (albeit no aimed shots), then switch to shotgun
close-in. Later in the game, CQS will switch to gauss weapon
(though sniper gets first dibs).
2.6 ENERGY-WEAPON SPECIALIST
Energy weapon specialist (EWS) is mainly useful in late game. The
pulse rifles and plasma rifles are all MIN STR 6, so that
dictates some of your minimums. On the other hand, the pulse
weapon prototype is only MIN STR 3, but doesn't do as much damage
as the full-sized pulse rifle. There's also the laser gatling...
But that weighs a lot.
The best perks for EWS then would be:
* Action Boy (AG 5), one extra AP
* Better Criticals (PE 6, AG 4, LK 6), more damaging with
critical hits
* Bonus Ranged Damage (AG 6, LK 6), extra damage
* More Criticals (LK 6), more chance of critical hits
Notice that we lost "sharpshooter" from the list. The extra pt
must come from somewhere.
You don't need as many perks (though "more criticals" can be
chosen up to 3 times, and "bonus ranged damage" can be chosen up
to 2 times). "Skilled" trait (lower perk rate but higher skills)
may be useful here. If you pick "gifted" trait you can try to go
for the "divine favor" perk, which can raise your perk rate
somewhat.
To summarized the requirements
* ST 6
* PE 6
* EN don't care
* CH don't care
* IN don't care
* AG 6
* LK 6
As you have 35 pts to start, that would mean
* ST 6
* PE 6
* EN 2
* CH 4
* IN 5
* AG 6
* LK 6
If you want this as your normal character, you MAY want to cut ST
down to 5 to get CH back up to 5. That'll restrict you to the
Pulse Rifle Prototype (min STR 3) and a regular "Ithaca" pump
shotgun with EMP shells, but you can get the heavier weapons when
you get power armor (+2 to ST). You can make up the low EN by
getting the elixir from the "gas station" special encounter,
and/or by using a perk.
If you do take the "gifted" trait, then keep the ST at 6, get PE
and AG to 7, EN to 4, and CH to 5. You still have 2 pts to get LK
to 8 to get "divine favor" perk. You can get EN to 5 with the
Elixir from the "gas station" special encounter or by using a
perk.
Tag "small guns", "energy weapons", and "sneak" as your initial 3
tags. Pick "educated" early on (probably 3 times) to get full
benefits from it. Dump all the points into "small guns" and
"sneak" until your "small guns" and "sneak" reaches about 150-
200. Then start building "energy weapons" skill instead. You can
wield sniper rifle and shotgun with ease, and when the energy and
gauss weapons become available, you'll master them as well.
2.7 MELEE / HAND-TO-HAND SPECIALIST
Hand-to-hand (HTH) combat can be dangerous with the right person.
You need someone with TREMENDOUS strength, and that means Power
Armor, Supermutants, or Deathclaws. Strength is added as a damage
bonus if you score a hit, so the more, the better. On the other
hand, you don't do any damage until you're touching the enemy, so
your sneak skill better be good or you wear good armor.
I personally think that HTH/Melee is useless by mid-game, so I
would not pick it for my own character (after going through the
game once).
The best perks for HTH would be:
* Action Boy (AG 5), one extra AP (more everything).
* Better Criticals (PE 6, AG 4, LK 6), more damaging with
critical hits
* Bonus HTH Attacks (AG 6), 1 less AP to attack
* Bonus HTH Damage (ST 6, AG 6), 15% more damage per level
* Bonus move (AG 5), move 20% further, get closer to enemy
* Dodger (AG 6) AC+5
* Ghost (Sneak 60+%), +20% in sneak in the dark
* More Criticals (LK 6), more chance of critical hits, not for
Supermutants
* Silent Death (AG 10, Sneak 80+, Unarmed 80+)
* Silent Running (sneak 50+, AG 6)
* Slayer (unarmed 80+, ST8, AG 8, lvl 24)
* Tough hide (EN Under 8), +15 armor, Supermutants only
* Toughness (EN 6, LK6), +10% general damage resistance
You need tough armor, like power armor or advanced power armor,
and you don't get those until 75% into the game. Dodger may help,
but not a lot. Using metal armor has a -25% on your sneak
skill...
If you go for unarmed, you need AG 10 to get "silent death", and
ST 8 to get Slayer. That leaves not that much for the rest.
To summarized the requirements
* ST 8
* PE don't care
* EN don't care
* CH don't care
* IN don't care
* AG 10
* LK don't care (6 would be good for the "criticals" perks)
As you have 35 pts to start, that would mean
* ST 8
* PE 3
* EN 3
* CH 2
* IN 3
* AG 10
* LK 6
This character has low charisma and low intelligence, resulting
in slow promotions and small skill gains per level. If you are
willing to forgo "silent death", drop AG to 8 and add 1 each to
IN and CH, and you'll still have enough for "slayer". The going
will still be slow, but not quite as bad as the first variation.
If you go for armed, you can forget about "silent death" and
"slayor" (?), which turns you into a very normal character. Keep
the LK 6 for the two "criticals" perks, make the rest average.
Tag melee and/or unarmed, and one auxiliary skill and pick a
weapon skill.
Gifted would be very helpful here, but I personally don't like
HTH combat. So didn't go down this road too far.
2.8 HEAVY WEAPON SPECIALIST
These are the guys who carry the 50 cals, the rocket launchers,
the heavy gatlings, and so on. They are important in mid/late
game.
The perks most pertinent to HWS are:
* Action Boy (AG 5), one extra AP
* Better Criticals (PE 6, AG 4, LK 6), more damaging with
critical hits
* Bonus Ranged Damage (AG 6, LK 6), extra damage
* More Criticals (LK 6), more chance of critical hits
Yes, this is the SAME LIST as that of energy weapon specialist.
The only difference is you tag "big guns", "energy weapons", and
one auxiliary skill. Definitely get more criticals (as many times
as you can), as the 50 cal does a LOT of inherent criticals and
can kill robots in a single salvo.
Therefore, try to hire people who are good in both heavy weapons
and energy weapons and can achieve these perks.
To repeat the requirements:
* ST 6 (enough to wield most big guns, esp. SAW)
* PE 6
* EN don't care
* CH don't care
* IN don't care
* AG 6
* LK 6
As you have 35 pts to start, that would mean
* ST 6
* PE 6
* EN 2
* CH 4
* IN 5
* AG 6
* LK 6
If you do take the "gifted" trait, then keep the ST at 6, get PE
and AG to 7 to get "Sharpshooter" perk back. Get EN to 4, and CH
to 5 so your promotion don't suffer. You still have 2 pts to get
LK to 8 to get "divine favor" perk. You can get EN to 5 with the
Elixir from the "gas station" special encounter or by using a
perk.
You can't wield the Browning M2 50 cal at first, but you can when
you get power armor or the "weapon handling" perk.
If you want a "natural" ST of 9, then you must take the "gifted"
trait. Keep PE or AG at 6, and use the 2 pts that were going to
LK to pump ST to 9.
"Weapon handling" perk can be useful if you do NOT want to get
the "natural" ST of 9 but still want to use the M2. You don't see
the M2 until mid-game any way. The problem is the M2 itself and
the ammo both weigh a lot and if you don't have the natural
strength you can't carry everything yourself in addition to the
alternate weapon(s) you may need. I think the tradeoff is not
worth it. You can always wait for power armor instead of using a
perk for it.
The heavy weapon guys can wield both big guns and energy weapons
with equal ease. When you run out of 50 cal ammo, start using
energy weapons.
Bracing, being only a +2, isn't that useful. It may allow you to
handle a Vindicator, but you can't carry both the gun and the
ammo without being encumbered. Vindicator eats ammo like popcorn
and 7.62 ammo weigh quite a bit when you need to carry 1000
rounds.
2.9 GRENADIER (AUX)
Grenadier is mainly an auxiliary role. Grenadier should tag
throwing skill mainly. 100% is sufficient to throw grenades with
good accuracy.
While "heave ho!" sounds like a good stat, it's not. You don't
need to throw THAT far any way, and there are often things in
your way that prevents you from throwing that far.
2.10 MEDIC (D/AUX)
You may choose to have a dedicated medic (like Stitch at the
beginning). If so, this medic would need to tag "first aid",
"doctor", and maybe "small guns". Bring "first aid" and "doctor"
to 200+%. The medic should also get the "good natured" trait. If
so, the medic should also be the barterer. Take educated perks
early so you get more pts to put into the tag skills later.
Some good perks for medics are:
* Action Boy (AG 5), one extra AP
* Comprehension (IN 6), learn more skills while reading (first
aid books)
* Educated (IN 6), get +2 skill pts per level
* Healer (First Aid 40%+, PE 7, IN 5, AG 6), heal additional
hit points
* Living Anatomy (Doctor 60%+) 10% to doctor, +5 damage to
living (see later)
* Medic! (40% in doctor or first aid) +10% to doctor/first aid
* Stat! (First Aid 75%, Doctor 50%, AG 6) reduce First
Aid/Doctor time by 2 AP
Of the perk list, "Medic!" and "Healer" are great perks.
Stat! is debatable. Normal healing costs a LOT of AP (more than a
turn's worth). Do you really care whether the healing takes one
turn or two turns? (Assuming you use turn-based combat).
Living anatomy is useless by the end of the game except for the
10% "doctor" bonus.
Keep the medic constantly supplied with doctor's bags (at least
2) and first aid kits (at least 4) or equivalents. Use stimulants
for small wounds (only takes 2 AP on the person, not the medic).
Wait until the person is bandaged and hurt again to use doctor's
bag so you don't end up healng him twice over.
2.11 DRIVER (AUX)
Driver doesn't take much skill to develop. Skill of 30% is enough
to get the vehicle moving. Pick the guy with the most "pilot"
skill to start and develop that to about 50% should be
sufficient. You don't even need to tag the skill.
Don't bother with "lead foot". It's not necessary to use a perk
for this.
"Stunt man", on the other hand, can be of some use if you're also
the point-man and likely to get hit by a rocket or grenades. It
does require ST 6, EN 6, and AG 6 though.
2.12 THIEF (AUX)
A thief is good for borrowing items from friend or foe. Good
perks for thieves are:
* Bluff Master (CH 3) talk your way out of being caught a
stealing (LK ???)
* Harmless (Steal 50%) add 20% to steal
* Master Thief (Steal 50%, Lockpick 50%) +15 to steal and lock
pick
* Pickpocket (Steal 80%, AG 8) ignore facing/size modifiers
* Thief () 10% bonus to sneak, lockpick, steal, and trap
I personally don't use thief at all.
A thief would probably double as your lockpick guy.
2.13 LOCKPICKER (AUX)
Lockpicker is needed for a variety of situations. A lot of doors
need to be picked if you can't find the key. There are also quite
a few safes and such that can be picked.
In most cases, your thief also doubles as your lockpick.
Good rating for lockpick is 80+%. With lockpick kits you can push
that up to almost 200%, which should be sufficient to open most
doors.
The only perks that help lockpicking are "Master Thief" and
"Thief". They aren't THAT useful
Definitely equip the lockpick with two of your best lockpicks
(regular, enhanced, or electronic).
2.14 BARTERER (AUX)
"Good natured" trait affects bartering. Therefore your medic
(probably the only "good natured" guy on your squad) is probably
your barterer.
If you want to use up some perks, get Master Trader and Salesman.
However, I think your medic needs perks for other things.
Get "barter" skill as high as you can without sacrificing other
roles. 80-100% is quite good.
2.15 TRAPPER (AUX)
Mainly used to disarm traps, it is also used to lay mines or put
traps. I don't use traps that much, but it can be useful in some
situations. If you need to prevent someone from reaching
something, like alarm panel, a mine can be an excellent option,
combined with sneak skill. There are a few books you can read on
the topic.
Trap skill of 50-80% is quite sufficient, in my experience.
2.16 GAMBLER (AUX)
IMHO, gambling is not that helpful as an auxiliary skill, since
the income in the FOT world is unlimited. If you need more money,
just go out into the world, do some random encounters that
produce loot, and bring some loot home to sell. Still, being a
gambler can let you get things you may not be able to otherwise.
Take the gambler perk to help out a little.
2.17 MECHANIC (AUX)
Use repair skills to repair vehicles, this is essential near the
end when you get all sorts of vehicles. If you can make it to
your base, you can "borrow" one of the mechanics in the recruits
pool, let him repair the vehicle, then put him back and take back
your former squad member. If you have to do field repairs, then
you need someone with skill of at least 85% and at least one
super toolkit and one regular toolkit.
My favorite way to repair: put super toolkit in one hand, regular
toolkit in the other, and set the regular toolkit as "active".
Then perform repair. You get super toolkit's bonus, but the
regular toolkit gets used up. You should fix about 100 hp per
attempt.
2.18 SCOUT (AUX)
Scout is mainly useful on the world map, where you can control
what to see and what not to see. You need high outdoorsman skill.
If you have >100% in outdoorsman, you can AVOID random encounters
if you wish.
A lot of LK would help here as well.
Good perks for scouts are "Explorer", and "Scout", both of which
increases chances for the special encounters.
3 Tactical Considerations
Whether attacking or defending, these are some questions you need
to consider before you decide on approach.
3.1 DO YOU NEED TO KILL THE ENEMY TO AVOID ALARM?
In some missions, you need to prevent the enemies from getting to
the alarms, either a central alarm, and/or individual building
alarms.
You may want need to sneak all the way to the alarm first, then
booby trap it to make sure no one gets to it (or put a mine in
front of it). Or setup in front of the alarm and kill all comers.
If it's "kill everything" like random encounters, then you don't
care if you wake up the dead.
3.2 WHAT TYPE OF ATTACK DOES THE ENEMY HAVE?
Target heavy energy weapons first (energy weapons go THROUGH
armor), then heavy weapons, then other weapons in order of range.
The ones that melee have to run up to you first, so you have some
time.
You can even set traps / mines for them in front of your "line"
if you're defending and have time to set things up. However,
having time to move out of range of the mine may be a problem.
Shoot them from a distance, then switch to heavier weapons when
they're closer, and then shotgun when they're REALLY close. .
3.3 ATTACK OR DEFEND?
In a few missions, you can either attack or defend, and tactical
situation will dictate your choice. If you have an easily
defensible spot and the enemy does not have heavy weapons like
rocket launchers, then you may want to lure the enemy to you.
If you are attacking, you should sneak until you setup your
crossfire.
3.4 ANY WAY TO GAIN FLANK OR TOP ADVANTAGE?
Some route are difficult to assault, esp. those sandbag bunkers
with room to lay down. You have to sneak up to it and throw
grenades over the bags, or try to attack it from the rear.
3.5 IS THERE ANY COVER?
You should always setup behind cover. Any piece of rock, tree,
building ledge, etc. helps protect you against enemy fire.
If there really is no cover, reserve AP to kneel or go prone.
3.6 ARE THE FIRING LANES CLEAR?
One of the dumbest things you can do is hitting your own people
(i.e. friendly fire or fratricide). This often happens if you
fire burst or shotgun with another team member to your left or
right front. If you use single shot mode, this usually won't
happen.
On the other hand, if there are multiple enemies in front, you
may just want to use burst mode any way and see if you can damage
multiple targets.
3.7 WHICH WEAPON?
Most of your characters should have multiple weapons for
different engagements: long-range, medium range, and short-range.
Most members should carry at least two weapons that are good at
different ranges. Choose the weapon that's appropriate for the
range. Shotgun and melee weapons for point-blank, assault rifle
for close / multiple targets, assault rifle on single shot for
medium, sniper weapons for long range.
3.8 POSSIBILITY OF COLLATERAL DAMAGE?
In missions where you need to rescue hostages, like Rock Falls,
Quincy, etc., killing hostages is bad. The more you rescue, the
more EXP you get. If you accidentally kill some of the hostages,
the neutrals may even turn on you!
So don't use shotgun regular shells or flechette shells when you
need to aim for specific targets. If you must use shotgun, use
slug shells.
Don't use burst mode on automatic weapons as that will often
cause collateral damage.
If there are no hostages, when go ahead and let them have it. :-)
3.9 SINGLE SHOT OR BURST MODE?
Single shot have higher hit probability than burst mode, and use
less AP than targeted shot. Do you need the extra AP to kneel or
reload? Do you have enough ammo to sustain burst mode?
Also, can you do more damage with TWO single shots or ONE burst
shot? Check your AP first.
For example, if you can make a burst with 4 AP, single shot with
3 AP, and you have 9 AP total, you may want to use 3 single shots
if you have a reasonable chance of hitting the target. On the
other hand, if you have a cluster of targets, then 2 burst shots
would make more sense.
3.10 TARGETED SHOT OR REGULAR?
If you're using single shot, do you need to aim for specific
parts of the enemy? If the enemy is immobile (like turrets), take
out the sensors / eyes can be a good move. If the enemy is HTH-
only and quite far away, you can use leg shots to slow it down
for you to get more shots in.
If the enemy is close enough, then you should just forget aiming
and go for shot to center of mass (i.e. no specific aiming). You
can't save AP for the next turn, so use all the AP you have this
turn.
4 Engagement
Here are some general tips in engagements.
4.1 SOME ENGAGEMENT FAQS
Q: How do I clear a mine that I spotted?
A: Stay at least 10 meters away, fire a single shotgun at it (use
force-fire if you need to). Shotgun has the best chance (and may
even hit multiple mines), though any weapon would work.
Q: When is aimed shot better than a regular shot?
A: When you need something specific to happen. Hit the eyes to
blind, hit the head to concuss, hit to leg/groin to
slow/immobilze... etc. if you're just going for kills, use
regular shot and use the extra APs to reload and such.
4.2 THE POP-UP
One of the ways to exploit the aggressive mode is the pop-up
maneuver.
You sneak up to cover next to the target while in defensive mode.
Then switch them to aggressive (and they won't engage because
they have no line of sight... yet). Then when all the guys are
ready, have them all kneel or stand, and EVERYBODY will start
shooting, usually killing the target in the first volley. If you
still have AP's left, kneel them back down. Feel free to use
burst mode.
This works great when you have people sneak up to the wall, and
pop-up right in the windows. Of course, make sure you HAVE sneak
skills, and not wearing anti-stealth armor like metal armor.
If you have "flexible" perk, even better as you spend less AP
that way, with more AP available for shooting and reloading.
4.3 THE SKIRMISH LINE
To concentrate volume of fire, you can exploit the three
different stances possible: prone, kneeled, and standing.
Have the kneeling guy move just behind the prone guy, and the
standing guy just behind the kneeling guy. One fire team (three
shooters) can shoot through the same narrow doorway, greatly
increasing your chances of killing something in one turn.
This is sometimes called "stacking".
Don't use this against people who use grenades or rocket
launchers. The tight formation is a grenade magnet.
4.4 THE DOOR/CORNER AMBUSH
Another trick you can use is to lure enemies out into your
crossfire if you can't get to him/her.
Setup your team with close range weapons, prone, sneak, near the
entrance. Make sure the firing lanes are clear (i.e. you don't
shoot each other). Have one fast person stand, run in, take a
shot, and run out. As enemy comes boiling out, they will run
straight into your fire.
This is even more effective if you can booby trap the door or
corner with some explosives. Keep your distance as a mine
explosion can be pretty powerful.
4.5 AIMED SHOTS
Hit the eyes/sensors and you may blind the target.
Hit the head/CPU and you may concuss the target.
Hit the weapon port on robots and you may take out its weapons.
Hit the regulator on robots and you may immobilize it.
Hit the groin on living creatures and you'll slow it down (become
winded, unable to run)
Hit the legs to slow down/cripple the target
Hit the arms to make the target more inaccurate when it shoots
4.6 GRENADE/ROCKET TIPS
When you throw past a wall, make sure you are AWAY from the wall,
so if your grenade didn't clear the wall (bounced back) you don't
blow yourself to bits.
Don't let people with no throwing skills throw grenades. They're
likely to hit themselves.
You can throw grenades through windows, doors, and such if your
skill is good enough.
Grenade launcher is safer than a regular grenade in a lot of
situations.
4.7 LAYERED DEFENSE
You should have multiple weapons defending multiple ranges from
you. Sniper rifle, gauss rifle, and rocket launcher for long
range, assault weapons and heavy weapons for medium range, auto-
shotgun for close and point-blank. Each person should carry at
least two weapons for different ranges. Once you get power armor,
start carrying THREE weapons (plus grenades).
4.8 OVERWATCH EXPLOIT
One way to exploit overwatch is to set up your guys near where
the enemy would pop-up. Then have a guy chuck a grenade (force
fire) into the enemy position. Grenade launcher can be useful
here. Then put everybody else in overwatch mode. When the enemy
pops up next turn to return fire, your overwatch guys will tear
the enemy apart.
5 Inventory
Inventory is one of the messiest parts of FOT and the most
frustrating. Here are some tips that may help you manage your
inventory better.
5.1 SELF-STORAGE, BROTHERHOOD-STYLE
The lockers in the BOS bunkers are there for your use for extra
ammo, medicine, guns that are out of ammo but you'd like to keep,
and other misc. items that you don't have room to carry on your
missions. Allocate one locker per squad member.
Just remember to grab them when you transfer to a new bunker.
When you get a vehicle, you don't need the lockers any more. See
next hint.
5.2 BOTTOMLESS HOLE
It bears repeating from the other FAQs: the vehicles have
UNLIMITED inventory. You can stuff HUNDREDS of rockets, THOUSANDS
of rounds of ammo, DOZENS of rifles, and more into any vehicle,
from the lowly scouter to the tank, and everything in between.
The only vehicle capacity that matters is number of people it can
hold.
On the other hand, beware that your vehicle does NOT appear IN
the plot encounter. If you need something from your vehicle, you
better put it into your inventory BEFORE you enter the plot
encounter. See next hint...
5.3 TAKE IT ALL WITH YOU (INTO AN ENCOUNTER)
If you have a vehicle, this is simple... BEFORE you enter the
circle, find a quiet place outside the circle and trigger the
world (click inside the triangle). Then start transferring EVERY
ITEM of use onto your squad members, even if they go "encumbered"
and/or "immobile". You are still inside the vehicle so it doesn't
matter. Distribute the stuff out as you see fit.
When you enter the mission, drop the excess items on the ground.
This is now your "cache". You can always come back for it later.
Of course, the question then is... Do you really NEED that much
ammo?
5.4 CREATE LOOT CACHES
When you've gather enough loot to form more caches, do so, but
leave it in an OBVIOUS spot. In the middle of an intersection is
a good place, near a doorway you must come back through, under a
street lamp, and so on.
5.5 TAKE IT ALL WITH YOU AGAIN (FROM AN ENCOUNTER)
The loot you gather from a single plot encounter will be beyond
the capacity of ALL your members to carry. However, you CAN take
it all with you by exploiting an oddity in FOT: A character's
carrying capacity is actually UNLIMITED. He/she just can't MOVE
when that limit has been exceeded.
When your mission is done and exit zone is ready, load up what
you can so everyone is encumbered. Send ONE guy (probably the
weakest) into the exit zone (doesn't matter which one if it's all
around the map). Let's call this one the "cache" guy. Just have
him stand in the zone.
Move another guy (the "transfer guy") next to the "cache" guy,
and transfer all the HEAVY items to the "cache" guy (open
inventory, drag and drop the item on the other guy's name). Move
the transfer guy out of the exit zone. Repeat with all other
members. The cache guy will be completely overloaded, but he'll
be carrying the items.
Since you don't have all your guys in the exit zone
simultaneously you won't exit yet, and you can almost "empty"
your load onto the "cache" guy. As long as you're "carrying" the
items you'll "keep" them when you exit the encounter.
Repeat this procedure when you got all the loot to the exit
zones.
When you exit the plot encounter, find a quiet spot and transfer
inventory into the vehicle. Your squad members will appear
OUTSIDE the vehicle (and thus, the cache guys will be IMMOBILE).
If they're close enough they can still get into the vehicle, but
if they're not, you have to drop enough items so they can board,
then pick up later. As you can guess, doing all this under fire
is NOT recommended.
6 Money Money Money
You need money to equip yourself and your squad, and that means
you need to make more money. How do you maximize economic intake?
Here are some tips...
6.1 HIGH BARTER SKILL
The higher your barter skill is, the cheaper an item becomes. The
most charismatic member should be designated the barterer and
hone his/her barter skill. See character creation above tips on
how to cultivate the barterer auxiliary role.
6.2 FIND THE CHEAP PLACE
There will be other traders such as "Traders" SE, "Merchants" SE,
and even other people in your own BOS bunker like the pilot or
mechanic (if available), the trader Kern (if available), the
medical officer and his/her assistant (if available), etc.
6.3 CAN YOU GAMBLE?
You can win items that you may not be able to afford otherwise,
if your gambling skill is high enough. There are gambling tricks,
but you'll have to read Guiler's FAQ to see them.
6.4 SOMETIMES YOU MAY NEED TO "BORROW" IT
Stealing may be frowned upon in normal times, but post-
apocalyptic world is hardly normal. If you have a good stealing
character, save the game, and use him/her to see if you can
acquire the item without paying for it.
If you're at a BOS Bunker, you may be able to get a recruit to do
the borrowing for you.
The medical officer has supplies that can be "borrowed". However,
don't steal too much. They get really mad if you got caught.
6.5 LOOK EVERYWHERE FOR LOOT
Destroyed turrets, dead bodies, and more all have loot you can
acquire. Every little pistol, rifle, etc. can be sold for money,
either in Brotherhood scripts or ringpulls (RPs). Beware that
some bodies can be booby-trapped (not that often though).
Explore every corner of the map. On "surface" levels, like at
Preoria (mission 5, acquire fusion batteries), there are some
loot "above" the village after you climb the ladder that you
would not find otherwise.
See inventory section above on how to manage inventory.
6.6 DO MORE RANDOM ENCOUNTERS
Go to the right part of map and kill things for more experience
points and more loot. You can almost always get some loot off of
actual enemies, from robots to reavers, mutants to raiders, in
addition of the EXP they generate.
6.7 SOME ITEMS ARE UNLIMITED
If you have good trap skills, try disarmed every trap you come
across. The traps you gather can be sold for money (you need to
step away to see it). Some traps in plot missions can be disarmed
over and over... Yielding more and more items.
7 Experience Points
As you need EXP to gain levels, getting EXP is a significant
amount of work.
7.1 FINISH MISSION OBJECTIVES!
Finishing mission objectives nets quite a lot of EXP for every
body.
7.2 FINISH BONUS OBJECTIVES!
In some missions there are bonus objectives, like saving
civilians, destroy certain things, and so on. The more you do,
the more EXP you get. Not all of them will be listed in the
objective screen though.
7.3 LOOK FOR EXTRA OBJECTS
Sometimes in the mission there are certain objects you can
retrieve that will net you extra EXPs, like the Gammorin mission.
7.4 FIGHTERS
The best way for fighters to gain EXP is by killing things, with
any weapon. Use your most plentiful ammo and do random
encounters.
7.5 MEDIC
Medic gets EXP by healing people.
Heal every hurt friendly or neutral you run across. You can even
do this in your bunker! Heal everybody who doesn't say "unhurt".
Sometimes in the bunkers some of the guards around General's
office and even the general himself can be slightly damaged.
7.6 LOCKPICKER
Find a good safe or lock-able door and continue practicing
lock/unlock on it. You'll get EXP for every successful attempt.
It'll be only like 40-50 exp though per attempt.
7.7 THIEF
Try stealing from your own team members.
7.8 TRAPPERS
Some traps in plot missions can be disarmed over and over...
Yielding more and more items.
8 Some medical advice
You need at least two doctor's bags on EVERY mission. You need it
to treat conditions like bandaged, winded, concussed,
immobilized, broken limb, etc.
Winded will go away in a couple minutes game time if you're in
CTB mode, which is a LOT of turns if you're in TB mode. If you
need to run, then use the doctor's bag. Keep in mind that winded
may also incur a 1 AP penalty.
Bandaged means exactly what it says: the wounds are BEYOND what a
first-aid kit can fix. Unfortunately, you don't know what that
limit is until you hit it. And using a doctor's bag on a fully
patched person just to remove the condition is a waste. You
should wait until that person is injured to about 75% before
using the doctor bag to heal. If you want to be pre-emptive,
figure that first-aid kit can only patch about 50% of a person's
hitpoints. If the person has suffered more damage (and healed)
next patch should be with doctor's bag.
Stunned person has a to-hit penalty as well as 1 AP penalty. This
doesn't affect people with a lot of AP, but it will affect people
with less AP to use. Stunned person also gets knocked down, using
up even more AP.
The "better" kits like Field Medic kit, Paramedic's Kit, and so
on also adds a bonus to your first-aid skills.
Do NOT let unqualified person perform first-aid (i.e. you need
first-aid of at least 100%). If you fudge a first-aid attempt you
can cause more injury than you treat. I've had first aid
attempts, even by the medic, that caused more damage than it
fixed.
9 Your Enemies
You will encounter a wide variety of enemies out in the wastes.
Here are some notes on the various types.
9.1 RAIDERS
Raiders are normal humans who prey on the survivors in the
wasteland. They are not that well armed, but neither are you in
the beginning.
Raiders may have dogs as guards.
Typical weapon: AK-47, Baretta 9mm pistols, occasional other
pistols of various caliber, brass kunckles, Uzi, Mauser, broken
bottles... lousy stuff, basically.
Typical armor: leather armor
Typical HP range: 40 or so
Raiders are pretty dumb as they usually shoot at you when they
have no chance of hitting you. The only problem you'll have is
during "hostage rescue" situations, when they may kill the
hostages. They don't do much damage at long range.
9.2 BEASTLORDS
Beastlords are normal humans that have somehow learned to control
the wild mutated creatures of the wastes. They are dangerous as
they often act as bandits.
Beastlords often appear with Deathclaws and other mutated
creatures of the wastes.
Typical weapon: spears, festering spears, occasional grenades and
hunting rifles, and so on.
Typical armor: none to leather armor
Typical HP range: 70 or so
Beastlords aren't that dangerous by themselves. Take out the
Deathclaws first, if they have any, then any large cockroaches
(random encounters only), then kill the rest.
9.3 DEATHCLAWS
Deathclaws seem to be a cross between gorilla and a hawk... But
they WERE human, really. They can communicate with humans well
enough. They have nasty talons and are extremely fast. Some are
under Beastlords' control and must be killed. Others are under
control of the Deathclaw matriarch, but you'll have to find out
the rest of the story yourself.
Typical weapon: just their claws, but quite dangerous
Typical armor: just their thick hide
Typical HP range: small ones are about 100, large ones are 200+
Deathclaws aren't that well armored. Point-blank shotgun bursts
works quite well. Melee with Deathclaw is a losing proposition
unless you have power armor or powerfist, and even then, why
bother? Kill it at range. Shoot the legs or groin to slow them
down, shoot the head or eyes to stop them cold. Use burst mode
in medium range to wipe them out.
9.4 SUPERMUTANTS
Muties are extremely large, extremely strong, but sterile. They
wield heavy weapons with one hand and are truly brutish hulks.
Typical weapon: SAW, M-60, M-2 50 cal, rocket launcher, frag
grenades, crow bar, axe handle, psycho (chem), iron pipe, some
ammo
Supermutants are pretty hard to kill mainly due to number of hit
points, and their M2's and rocket launchers can do serious damage
even to your vehicles. Keep yourselves in cover (behind trees
and such) and engage the supermutants as far away as possible.
The 50 cal and other weapons can do you a LOT of damage. Sniper
their legs and such to slow them down. Go after the ones with the
best weapons first.
9.5 REAVERS
Reavers are technology worshippers that have some decent weapons.
Kill them for their pulse grenades. The grenades are great
against robots.
Typical weapon: laser rifle, plasma rifle, pulse grenade, plasma
grenade, Steyr (5.56) machine pistol, sometimes Avenger minigun,
and sometimes ammo for the weapon they carry
Typical armor: reaver armor or improved reaver armor
Typical HP range: about 120
9.6 ROBOTS
The robots come in various types, and must be discussed
separately. Remember that robots have extremely high damage
resistance. In other words, only critical hits have chance of
causing decent damage, unless you use energy weapons. If you use
regular projectile weapons, you'll cause only a couple pts of
damage per salvo with exception of gauss weapons.
9.6.1 Security bot (laser)
Security bot (laser) is armed with twin lasers, so they can do
quite a bit of damage. It is basically a round head with 4 legs,
but they hover. You may be able to recover some micro fusion cell
from its corpse. It has about 200 hps. If they are out of MFC's,
they will go for a "punch" attack.
9.6.2 Security bot (SMG)
The SMG security bot looks identical to its laser cousin, but is
armed with 9 mm SMG with AP ammo instead. You may be able to
salvage some 9mm AP ammo from it.
9.6.3 Humanoid bot
The humanoid bot is basically an android with spikes on the arms.
It usually has about 200 hps.
It can use any human weapon, and may wield a wide variety of
them, including plasma rifle, laser rifle, sniper rifle, M-16,
frag grenades, plasma grenades, Vindicator chaingun, rocket
launcher, gauss rifle, gauss gatling, plasma or laser pistols,
and more. You can salvage a lot of those weapons in your battles
with the humanoid bots. It can use the hand-spikes as HTH weapon
if it runs out of ammo.
The ones with rocket launcher, gauss rifle, gauss gatling, and
laser rifle are the most dangerous. Everybody else can "ping"
you, but can't do you serious damage if you stay back a bit.
The Vindicator chaingun bot has limited range. If you stay away
from it you can "ping" the wielder to death with just a sniper
rifle or gauss rifle. If you kill one early, you can recover many
(from 150 to over 1000) rounds of 7.62 ammo.
9.6.4 Scurry bot
A stealth bot that hides underground, and pops up when you're in
range. It only has HTH attack though, and it couldn't damage
tanks. They can do a decent amount of damage if you're not in
power armor. Nothing worth salvaging. About 200 hp.
9.6.5 Hover bot
A small hovercraft, it carries TWIN rocket launchers. Kill one
ASAP, as a hit tends to knock you down so you end up taking MORE
hits. You may be able to salvage some rocket ammo from the
remains. About 150 hp. One solid hit with a rocket should kill
one.
9.6.6 Load Lifter
Former "smart" forklifts turned into weapons... It only has HTH
attack, but it's fast, and it can BLOCK EXITS if you're don't
kill them in the open. Has 500 hp. Nothing worth salvaging.
9.6.7 Tank bot
Tank bot is basically a smaller load lifter with a flail mounted
to destroy mines... And the flail makes a good HTH weapon. It's
also quite fast, and it's smaller so it can fit into smaller
openings than load lifters. Kill them AWAY from exit so you don't
block the exit! Nothing worth salvaging. About 350 hp.
9.6.8 Pacification Bot
A four-legged bot that's about the size of your APC... And it
crawls. It has an electrical "stun" attack that stuns everything
in its "stun radius". Otherwise no potent attacks. Just stay AWAY
from it. May recover some micro fusion cells from a Pac Bot's
remains. About 500 hp. It may stun other robots if there are some
near it. Try to slow down other robots so they get stunned as
well.
9.6.9 Behemoth
A huge six-legged bot that carries 50-cal miniguns that can
damage even tanks and people inside (I got hit INSIDE the tank
once). STAY AWAY. Use rockets, pulse rifle, and so on and kill it
quickly. Stay behind cover, stay high if possible. They may yield
some 50 cal ammo in random encounters, and other items in plot
encounters. About 1200 hp total. When it gets close, use pulse
grenades.
9.6.10 Turrets
There are FOUR types of turrets: laser, minigun, 50 cal, and
rocket.
If the turret is recessed, you can only damage it when it pops
up.
One trick to deal with pop-up turrets is engage turn-based mode.
The turrets do NOT change stance (i.e. pop-up or retract) while
in turn-based mode, so you can walk right past it while it's
down. Of course, once you "End Combat" anything goes. [Thanks to
Guiler's FAQ for this tip.]
The 50 cal and the rocket turrets are very dangerous as they have
area effect. Sniper them from long range, take out the sensors,
then kill it. If you can sneak close enough, burst of EMP shotgun
shells or pulse grenades work well also.
The minigun turret uses 7.62 ammo (basically a Vindicator) and
does quite decent damage (better than robot with Vindicator
minigun).
If you have a vehicle, try using the vehicle as armor (if it has
a decent amount). You can always repair the vehicle later. Using
tanks to bust turrets is best, esp. if you have rocket launchers
inside.
The laser turrets can be engaged from long distance with sniper
rifles. Once you've blinded it you can kill it at your leisure.
It'll take a long time, but it can be done.
The rocket turret can yield up to 90 rockets each. The 50 cal
turret yields up to 300 rds of 50 cal ammo each. The laser turret
yields about 3-400 micro fusion cells each. The 7.62 minigun
turrets can yield about 100+ rounds.
9.7 GHOULS
Ghouls are physically weak and only carry lousy weapons. You may
need to fight a few in random encounters, but only in certain
areas. They don't yield decent loot any way, why bother?
9.8 ANIMALS
You may run into wolves, dogs, giant rats, radscorpions, small
and large cockroaches, wasps, and komodo dragons (did I miss
any?)
Of those, only large cockroach is really of any danger as it can
shoot a spit of poison from a distance. Of course, this only
poisons if you're out in the open. Of the others, radscorpion can
poison you if it gets to you with a sting attack, but if you're
behind cover (like APC or tank) then they can't even hurt you.
As the animals don't produce any loot, if you can void them, do
so.
9.9 TRIBALS AND CITIZENS
Those usually appear as NEUTRAL so you don't need to worry about
them. They have only like 30-50 hps and are easily killed.
10 Weapon Analysis
Let's analyze the weapons to see which ones are suitable for what
roles. You can see a full list of weapons in the FOT FAQ by
Guiler, so I won't repeat that here. The discussion is mainly
about how much damage can each weapon do, not counting critical
hits.
10.1 PISTOLS (SMALL GUN)
Pistols cost 1 LESS AP to fire than rifles, and the magnums like
the Colt 45 or Desert Eagle do decent damage at point blank
range. For that, you give up burst mode (except on a few pistols,
where you can do a triple).
Most pistols only do damage in the single digits, with the Colt
45 and Desert Eagle in the low teens. You need quite a few shots
to kill them dead. Good thing that Colt 45 and the 9mm Beretta
has a triple-tap mode... You need critical shots to put someone
down for good.
They may be useful against raiders, beastlords, and animals, but
not for something stronger.
You will do more damage against armored targets if you use AP
ammo, and more damage against unarmored targets with JHP ammo. If
you have the "one-handed" trait, you need pistols.
10.2 SINGLE-SHOT RIFLES (SMALL GUN)
Single shot weapons like hunting rifle, sniper rifle, and assault
rifles in single shot mode do some damage at range, but not that
much. The FN FAL do the most damage, but Sniper Rifle has longer
range. Still, with damage in the teens you need quite a few shots
to kill something unless you score a critical hit.
In general, the 5.56-based weapons don't do that much damage
against armored targets, and early on the 5.56 is rather scarce.
The 7.62 has plenty of ammo available and the AK-47 is available
early, and the Vindicator is a nice "ultimate weapon". The 9 mm
has a PENALTY on the ball ammo and the ammo was not that
plentiful after the first few missions. I recommend 7.62 for most
of your needs, esp. for the sniper rifle.
You should not keep guns that use odd ammo sizes like .303 or
30.03 as those types of ammo are extremely rare and you'll use
them up and be carrying "dead weight" for a while.
Go for head shots for concussion or knock out so you can shoot
them while they're down.
Single shot rifles can be useful to blind sensors on robots.
Otherwise they don't do any significant damage on robots unless
you score criticals.
10.3 ASSAULT WEAPONS (SMALL GUN)
Weapons with burst mode finally provided potential of single
salvo kill without relying on critical hits, by shooting multiple
bullets in a single burst. However, the weapons vary greatly.
The "machine pistols" like Scorpio or the Uzi only do damage in
the single digits per bullet.
Most assault rifles can do low teens per bullet.
Light machine guns have a higher rate of fire (more bullets per
burst) but still only teens per bullet.
In general, the 5.56-based weapons don't do that much damage
against armored targets. The 9 mm weapons are close-range only.
The best compromise is the 7.62, with plenty of ammo available.
You should not keep guns that use odd ammo sizes like .303 or
30.03 as those odd-size ammo are extremely rare and you'll use
them up in no time. Stick with popular ammo like 7.62
Use against groups of enemies so you can damage a group of them
all together. This is an AREA weapon. Don't do this if there are
civilians in the way or near the target.
Assault weapons are almost useless against robots unless you
score criticals.
10.4 SHOTGUN (SMALL GUN)
There are only two regular shotguns: the Ithaca pump shotgun
(single shot only, large magazine), and the Silverhawk (single or
double-barrel, no magazine). The Silverhawk does more damage in
double mode, and has a lower MIN STR (4), but requires more often
reloads so you end up with less shots overall.
They are great against groups of unarmored enemies. If the
enemy's armored, shotgun or shotgun flechette don't do much
damage, if any. Flechette cause more damage against unarmored
targets.
Shotgun with slug shells can do some damage even against armored
targets, but you need to at point-blank range to do significant
damage.
Shotgun can be quite useful against robots if you have EMP
shells. However, those are extremely rare. They do 100+ pts
damage per shot in the aimed area, even against multiple targets.
However EMP shotgun shells are quite rare and should be issued
only to those with NO energy weapon skills but need to perform
CQS role.
10.5 COMBAT SHOTGUN (SMALL GUN)
There are several combat shotguns that can fire in burst mode:
Neostead, CAWS, and Pancor Jackhammer. Those can kill people in
SINGLE burst... Ouch! However, the Neostead, the first one you
get, has MIN STR of 6, and so does the CAWS.
The flechette shells cause more damage against unarmored targets,
but make the fire pattern wider, so the chance of "friendly fire"
is greater.
The slug shells cause damage even against armor, but you need to
be at very close range.
If you get EMP shells, they are great against robots, but don't
use burst unless you need to kill a Pacification bot or a
Behemoth. Single shot does 100+ damage easily against multiple
targets.
10.6 HEAVY MACHINE GUNS (BIG GUN)
The members in this family are the SAW and the M-60, and the big
mama: the M-2 Browning 50 caliber machine gun.
The SAW is lightest of the trio and actually causes MORE damage
than the M60. Both SAW and M60 use the popular 7.62 ammo. If you
have SAW, forget the M60. The M60 has a bigger magazine, but is
also much heavier. For the extra weight, I'd rather carry more
ammo and reload more often.
M2 Browning 50 caliber machine gun is EXTREMELY heavy and has a
MIN STR of 9 (yes, 9) so you need a very strong guy, power armor,
weapon handling perk, or a lot of buffout (chems). They cause a
LOT of damage though, due to the heavy bullets, and the
penetration causes a LOT of criticals. On the other hand, ammo is
a bit on the rare side. Reserve for a group of targets.
M2 is useful against robots, where they can do 100+ damage in
close-range due to criticals.
10.7 CHAIN GUNS (BIG GUN)
There are two "regular" chain guns (not counting the gauss
gatling and the laser gatling). The 5.56 Avenger minigun, and the
7.62 Vindicator minigun.
The main advantage of a chaingun is its high rate of fire.
Instead of spitting out only 3-5 bullets per burst, you spit out
like 25, and that can mean a LOT of damage (in real life, you can
saw people in half with a burst). Of course, chaingun uses up
ammo really quickly. So carrying reloads can be a problem.
Chaingun should be treated as an AREA weapon like a shotgun with
slightly longer range.
The Avenger is decent against unarmored targets or lightly
armored targets, but the 5.56 bullet has no penetrating power.
The Vindicator with its larger bullets has much more penetrating
power and cause more damage. You can even do minor damage to
robots (like 25 pts per salvo) but that's a waste of bullets.
When you fight mostly robots, you can get rid of your
Vindicators.
10.8 ROCKET LAUNCHER (BG)
Rocket launcher, with multiple ammo available, is a very potent
weapon. You can find explosive, AT/Sabot, AT explosive, and
Electric (EMP) ammo available for it.
This is one of the first anti-robot weapon that can do over 100+
pts of damage per hit. Don't be surprised if you use 5-10 rockets
per encounter. Try to build up a reserve.
Rockets are also great against a group of enemies.
Rocket impact has a good chance of knocking your target down,
which will use up their AP.
10.9 GRENADE LAUNCHER (SG)
Grenade launcher is a parabolic arc weapon that pops 40 mm
grenades for a decent range (as far as some rifles). It counts as
a "small gun". The ammo is quite scarce (I think there's under
250 that can be found in the game) but they can be quite useful
to get grenades to targets that are beyond throwing distance. On
the other hand, targets behind walls and sandbags don't seem to
take much damage from it.
10.10 GRENADES (VARIOUS)
There are a wide variety of grenades available in the game, from
molotov cocktails to pulse grenades.
Molotov cocktails and incendiary grenades are mainly useful
against unarmored targets.
Flash grenades can be used to stun opponents, whose aim will be
affected. One of the tricks for melee specialists is use flash
grenades to stun their targets, then rush in to disembowel.
Regular frag grenades are plentiful, but they don't do that much
damage. They are mainly useful as an AREA weapon with knock-down
effect. If you don't want to waste ammo to "bait" an enemy, use a
grenade instead.
Plasma grenades do decent amount of damage (more than frag), but
are harder to find until the end.
Pulse grenades are usually found on Reavers in random encounters.
One of these can kill a group of bots, so use them sparingly.
10.11 ENERGY WEAPONS (EW)
Beware that energy weapons cost 1 more AP to fire. You get laser,
plasma, and pulse.
As in projectile weapons, pistols cost 1 less AP to fire. This
can offset the Energy weapon +1 AP penalty.
Laser weapons in general have longer range but less damage. You
get either the pistol or rifle.
Plasma weapons have shorter range than laser, but do about 25%
more damage than laser as well. This makes the plasma pistol (or
pulse pistols later) a very potent point-blank weapon if you can
make multiple shots. The gatling laser is very heavy, has less
damage per shot but fires multiple shots, doing more damage per
firing.
Pulse weapons rely on EM pulse to do the damage. Pulse pistol
does a LOT of damage, almost TWICE that of plasma pistol, but the
real weapon in the bunch is the pulse rifle, most damage of all.
Pulse rifle, however, is MIN STR 6.
The prototype pulse rifle does somewhat less damage, but still
more than a plasma rifle, and the prototype is much lighter (min
STR of 3). The small magazine space is a problem though.
10.12 GAUSS WEAPONS (SG/BG)
Beware that gauss weapons cost 1 extra AP to fire, like energy
weapons.
Gauss pistol and rifle counts as small guns, while gauss gatling
counts as big gun.
Gauss pistol doesn't do enough damage to justify its use before
the gauss rifle becomes available. Save the ammo for the gauss
rifles.
When gauss rifle becomes available, it'll replace sniper rifle as
your main sniper weapon. It can do 35 pt of damage to robots per
hit at the same range, even more to other opponents.
Gauss gatling is one of the true killer weapons in the game.
Reserve this weapon against HUGE groups of robots, and I mean
more than 3. This weapon can do 400+ of damage in a SINGLE burst
to ROBOTS within the firing cone, and that's AFTER counting the
damage resistances. Use this to kill group of enemies that's too
hard to take down individually. It is considered a BIG GUN though
as it's quite heavy.
10.13 TRAPS AND MINES (TRAP)
Traps and mines can do quite a bit of damage if you plan your
ambush properly. Basically, you plant the traps and mines on a
path the enemy will travel, then you lure the enemy down the path
you want to them to go.
One way to use mines is plant them near alarms. If enemy sees you
and goes for the alarm, they go BOOM! You'll need good sneak
skills, of course.
Another way is to plant the mines in the doorways. Then show
yourself in the window and run away. If they come barging out the
door, boom!
If you're fighting heavy bots like Pacification bot, Behemoth,
and so on, consider laying mines in its path as you retreat
slowly down the street. Those bots don't move very fast.
10.14 EXOTIC WEAPONS
For the exotic weapons, you get flamethrower/flamer and "super
soaker" acid sprayer.
Flamethrower is counted as a "big gun". The flamethrower's range
is too short. This is NOT the type of flamethrower you're
thinking of in WW2 or Vietnam movies. This type fires a "bolt" of
superheated gas. It can do quite a bit of damage, but only point-
blank, and the ammo is far too heavy. I didn't bother using it at
all.
Flamer pistol... Even MORE useless, if that can be said. I've yet
to find any "ammo" for it. At least it's a "small gun".
Acid spayer, a small gun, can only be found in one of the special
encounters and the ammo is a bit hard to come by. You may find a
few bits of ammo here and there. It has a decent range but
doesn't seem to do that much damage.
