Duck and Cover

VasikkA wrote:Umm.. Yeah, if you want to put it that way.
But I don't like attribute raising items(PA is an exception), other bonuses are OK.

Well, there's always problems w/game balance if you allow it, that's for sure. For instance, if you allow raising of stats beyond 10 you're looking at either requiring that sort of thing to make the game a challenge for people that go that route, or you're looking at not requiring it and making the game too simple for people that do go that route.

It's a complex issue, really. One that all too often turns an otherwise decent game into a treasure hunt.

OTB

In Fallout, it was not really worth setting your strength above 5 or 6, unless you were a melee/Hth character. If you had NPCs, you didn't have to carry many items, you could use drugs to temporarily raise them and when you got PA, it didn't really matter anymore.

Uh, hell no. You would need a 7 to operate the minigun. Which so happens to be the most lethal weapon in Fallout1. Even with only one rank of Bonus Ranged Damage I could kill a super mutant (one wearing the black kevlar armor) in a single burst... could penetrate the armor on brotherhood soldiers, and could kill deathclaws pretty damn quick. With two ranks of BRD I killed the master in 4 bursts (~150 damage apiece mostly), and everything else simply got the shit knocked out of it (except the lieutenant). On top of that, 5mm ammo was abundant as hell - AP or JHP.

But I wouldn't get a strength greater than 7 though... since you didn't need an 8 or above to get any perks and the power armor did raise you up to 10.

As for melee characters - critical rating is more important than strength - and you could easily make up for a lack of strength with the Heavy Handed trait (hell, that's like a +5 strength right there as far as damage is concerned).

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I dont think that armor would protect you from being hit par se'... in fact, it makes you easier to hit - think of it, you become a larger target that doesn't move as fast (and I consider your clothes and armor to be part of you when you get attacked). If you get hit with an electric weapon, it doesn't matter if it only grazed your armor - it'll go through that and hit you... get grazed by a bullet and you'll still feel it, etc.

They should replace the AC bonuses of armor with AC penalties and increase the amount of Damage Threshold that armor provides (as well as lowering Damage Resistances slightly). That way, wearing armor makes you easier to hit, but allows you to take it easier... which makes the whole concept of wearing armor abit of a judgement call.

Power armor should increase your action points and strength, but reduce your agility (it makes you faster and stronger, but not as dexterous). Power armor is also a VERY high tech item - something which should only be attainable later in the game (and with a perilous quest... go down to the bottom of that collapsed, irradiated military bunker swarming with mutated creatures and robots... sounds alot like the glow to me).

The only armor I think that should increase your armor class are very light, maneuverable garments (like a karate gi or something made of silk). Could manufacture some of these with moderate protection values with advanced cloths (like "silksteel" or a kevlar-woven jacket).

Higher armor class means that there's a better chance that they'll hit air instead of you (or your armor).

Sirgalahadwizard wrote:Uh, hell no. You would need a 7 to operate the minigun.

Kinda useless if you ask me. Remember, the Power Armor raises your strength above 7 and you wouldn't(probably) have a high Big Guns skill by the time you get the PA, small guns will do fine until then. As I said, high strength is only for melee/hth characters.

Strength 7 gives you a carry weight up to 200lb.

Personally, I typically take a tag skill in big guns from the start (though I dont typically pump any skill point into it until I get to The Hub). I take the other two tag skills in small guns and either energy weapons or unarmed (so I can get slayer later on - slayer with a power fist is just plain *wrong*).

Small guns typically didn't do it for me, especially since I had an endurance of 2 and only had about 60 hitpoints by the time I reached the military base (/master). I had to kill things quick, the .223 autoloader and the assault rifle weren't fast enough for my liking - if it took 2 turns to kill one character I was gonna take some serious hits from the other buffoons (and criticals with a minigun aren't pretty).

Now some people say that the TBR is the most powerful weapon. Against deathclaws it does do more damage than the minigun (if you do targeted shots to the eyes and head), and against others it can do slightly more damage too... but the minigun has a cone effect - it can penetrate multiple characters and kill guys in a row (which makes it more effective than the rocket launcher).

High strength doesn't give you any real benefit to melee/hth characters. Why? For each 1 strength above 5, you only get +1 damage... I never found those bonuses from strength alone to be of enough use to me to justify being a better melee character (it was "heavy handed" that did it).

Now, if that adjusted the minimum damage that could be dealt by a blow, it would be a little more beneficial to have a strength of 10 (because then your fists do 5-8 damage instead of 1-8, and 10-13 if you've got heavy handed).

Sirgalahadwizard wrote: Small guns typically didn't do it for me, especially since I had an endurance of 2 and only had about 60 hitpoints by the time I reached the military base (/master). I had to kill things quick, the .223 autoloader and the assault rifle weren't fast enough for my liking - if it took 2 turns to kill one character I was gonna take some serious hits from the other buffoons (and criticals with a minigun aren't pretty).

It's just like me. I usually create characters with very low endurance and kick-ass firepower as well - no need to have as many stims then.

I don't know if you know that, but you can have your strength of 12 in FoT without haveing PA (didn't check that in others Fallouts however):

- Have your st of 10 at the beginnigng,
- get the "mutate" perk
- change one of your traits into "bruiser" or "gifted"
- have fun!

I know it's a bug, but it proves that haveing a certain stats a little above 10 wouldn't harm the game balance at all. And as i mentioned before - it's a pity to lose some char points after getting PA or possibility to get some just because of the character design.