Note 1: The higher your level, the stronger the enemies will be on the trip to Vault 81. For that reason, the initial steps are designed to minimize leveling up before you get the weapons. Alternatively, after these steps are given, other steps are given which will result in your leveling up and getting better gear, such as Power Armor. In that case, the first Perk you choose should be Scrounger in order to starting finding 45mm ammo for the weapons, as well as other ammo which can be traded. Get Cap Collector next for better prices.
Note 2: In the patch 1.5 Survival Mode ("SM"), carry weight has been reduced and fast travel removed. You can still follow these steps, but you will almost certainly have to make two trips - walking - to carry enough loot to trade for both weapons. In that case, get the SnP first. Also, this walk-through assumes you are willing to put your Charisma up to at least 6 and get the Cap Collector perk early, as well as getting the Scrounger perk for finding ammo for the guns fairly early. That's not unreasonable for the normal level, but some people playing SM feel like they must put more points into Endurance and less into Charisma. You don't really have to, but if you feel that you must, then this walk-through may do you no good.
- On the way out of the vault, pick up everything you can. Here's what you should have in your inventory when you exit the vault: wedding rings (2), vault suit, radroach meat (12), stimpaks (3), 10mm pistol (2) and rounds (95+), security baton, bobby pins (2+), and other items which break down to - steel (21), wood (4), springs (5), glass (14), cloth (12), ceramic (8), and oil, circuitry, copper, screw, lead, asbestos (1 or 2 each).
The two wedding rings are worth 250 caps each. If you didn't open your spouse's cryo chamber and get her wedding ring (or missed getting any of the other loot), you can go back and get it now.
- When you get on the elevator to leave the vault, you are given the chance to change your appearance, name, SPECIALs, etc. Save before getting on the elevator so that if you want to start a new game with a new build, you can load this scene and change your SPECIAL points without having to repeat the game to this point. Here's a recommended distribution of SPECIAL points.
- Outside the vault, loot the yellow boxes and the two sheds. Pick up everything you can. Walk around the woods close to the vault to find Hubflowers and along the stream to find other plants.
- When you get to Sanctuary, as soon as you can you should build a bed and take a nap so that you can get the XP bonus for being "Well Rested" then meet Codsworth and check the local houses with him. Two houses which he enters have bloatflies or radroaches; let him go in first and deal with them in order to conserve your ammo. There will be more houses on the other end of Sanctuary with insects which you will have to kill once Codsworth gives up, so be watchful for them.
- Go into your old house (where Codsworth is hanging out) and find the You're Special magazine, refer to the SPECIALs page for info about where to put the point. You will also find a Grognak magazine which you should pick up.
- When you level up, see the Perks page for info about what Perks to get.
- Change to the Building ("Workshop") mode and go in and around every house in Sanctuary scrapping anything you don't want to keep. Items which are not Junk cannot be scrapped, but you are given the option of moving them into the workshop's inventory from which you can take them later. This saves having to go in and out of the Workshop mode to pick up such items.
"Scrapping" breaks things down Junk items into their components, such as an Oil Canister into Steel and Oil. There will likely be some Junk items which you do NOT want broken down because they are needed as-is for crafting (mainly Abraxo) or because they are worth more as-is to sell/trade, such as Gold Bars, Pre-War Money, Cigar Boxes, or even just Cigarettes. These last three items will just scrap into paper with very little value.
For such items, you do need to exit the Workshop mode and pick up the items, then get back into the Workshop mode. Be especially mindful of containers, including cabinets, suitcases and safes. If they have non-Junk items (which cannot be scrapped), those items will be moved into the workshop, but if they contain Junk items, those items will be scrapped and you may not want them scrapped.
So when you enter a house, you may want to exit the Workshop mode, search containers, then go back into Workshop mode and scrap everything you left behind.
Note that you cannot scrap anything which is in the root cellar (behind the blue house in the cul de sac) and you will not yet be able to open the safe which is there, although there is not really great loot in the safe.
You should be able to open other safes and locked containers in Sanctuary, and you will get XP for doing so. But if you run out of bobby pins, you can just scrap the container (even safes) and the contents will be moved into the Workshop where you can get it later. (This only works in Sanctuary.)
If you see any clothing which increases charisma, save it. A suit or dress will be worth +2 CHR, some glasses are worth +1 CHR (others do not affect charisma). Same for intelligence-boosting gear, though you probably won't find any. If you are lucky enough to find INT-boosting gear, change into it right away to get more XP while working in Sanctuary.
After scrapping everything inside, go around outside and scrap everything you can, including all fences, trees, tires, destroyed houses, debris, etc. (but not plants behind the Workshop house). Be sure to go down to the river and scrap anything within the Build border, even stuff in the water. The house that has the root cellar out back also has a tree down over the roof. Climb up it to get to loot on the roof.
While looting and scrapping Sanctuary, you will come across several workstations. In the Workshop mode, you can pick them up and carry them back to the carport with the main workbench or you might want to put them on the slab next door (assuming you scrapped the destroyed house that was there).
The Well Rested perk which gives you a bonus when earning XP only lasts 6 hours in game time, which can go by quickly. If you sleep until 6 a.m., then you know to sleep again at noon and then you can sleep again from 6 p.m. to 6 the next morning. Be sure to sleep before continuing to the next step.
- Before leaving Sanctuary, go to the workbench and build a small container. Click on Take All to move everything into your inventory, then move as much as you have to into the container to get your weight down to where you are not over-encumbmered.
SAVE. In the Workshop mode, pick up the container and carry it to the middle of the bridge on the way to Red Rocket. Set it down and leave it for now. (If you carry it too far, you will have to reload your save.)
- Continue to Red Rocket and loot the corpse and dead dog. The corpse's apparel has more damage resistance than the vault suit, so put it on. To the left is some loot by a sign.
At Red Rocket, meet Dogmeat. Molerats will not come out until after you talk to him, so you may want to wait until you prepare for them first.
After the Molerats are dead, enter RR's garage to the Workshop. Activate it. Go around back and carry the cooking station as far as you can towards the road you just came to RR on.
Go back to the container you left on the bridge, take everything from the container, slow-walk to the cooking station at RR, and transfer all the junk and anything else you don't need to the cooking station. In the Workshop mode, carry the cooking station back to wherever you want to place it.
The reason for taking everything from Sanctuary to RR will be explained in full later, but for starters --
instead of using Sanctuary as my home base, I like to use Red Rocket. I've tried everything and it appears to be impossible to keep settlers out of your house in Sanctuary. See Home-Sweet-Home for details.
- Loot and scrap RR the way you did Sanctuary. Even scrap the NukaCola and other machines unless you want to keep them for decorations. Leave the workbenches either for your home base or for a settlement if you build one at Red Rocket.
- Go out back and into the cave under Red Rocket to get the Fusion Core and other loot. Don't miss getting all the Brain Fungus and Glowing Fungus for important crafting. If you are trying to avoid fighting and/or trying to keep your level low, you can skip the cave for now.
- Go to the workshop and transfer anything you don't really need from your inventory to the workshop. Check to see if the workbench has any meds or gear you want to take. Build a bed and take a nap.
Go to the water tower out back. There is some loot around it. Look for a tree behind it which has a couple of short limbs at the top in a Y shape. There is a loot chest near it.
- Concord: As you walk to the water tower, you will see some houses on the left. That is Concord. Move directly to them when you finish at the water tower. By staying off the road between Red Rocket and Concord, you avoid having to fight a nasty bug.
(Here's a fun thing to do - At Red Rocket, go into the Build mode and build a couple of basic turrets. Carry them over underneath the big sign where you can see the big bug hovering around the dead animal in the middle of the road. Set up the turrets on the edge of RR's building area and facing the bug. Exit the Build mode and take a couple of shots at the bug to lure him over and watch the turrets at work.)
- The first house on the right of the road into Concord has some loot in it, including a wall safe. From there, circle around the left side of Concord, Go up the hill to the houses there. One has some loot behind it.
- Circle around the back of the houses and come back down. Look for a red car and a red NukaCola machine off to its right. The door between them is to the Workhouse. Go in and loot it. You went in the back door. Exit through the front door. Go down the left-most street and look for a door with a lantern by it. That is the Concord Speakeasy.
On the second floor there is a bathroom with a Day Tripper in the sink and another on the floor. In the adjoining bedroom with a skeleton and mannequin in the bed, there are two X-cells on the floor to the left. Both of these drugs are very rare and will boost charisma. You will need these to get the weapons.
- Get loot to trade for the weapons: The next steps are for those trying to keep their level down on the way to Vault 81 where the two weapons are sold.
Fast travel to Red Rocket and start an exchange with the workbench. Get all the non-Junk items to trade.
From the Junk list take any pricey items made of common materials such as cloth, paper, steel, wood, or plastic, such as cigar boxes. In particular, take pre-war money which sells for a good price but only scraps for a little bit of cloth.
Be sure you have the gold bars and wedding rings. Leave any Junk which contains useful materials such as oil, adhesive, copper, crystals, circuits, gears, bones, etc.
From the Aid list, leave anything you may need at the cooking station or chemistry station. Take all packaged foods and drinks and take any drugs which have zero or very low weight.
Check the Weapons and Armor workbenches to see if you can upgrade any of your gear. If so, take anything that ends up in your Mods list to trade.
Anything you can't carry, give to Dogmeat to carry. If you have done the above and still have carry capacity left, take all the wood you and Dogmeat can carry without being over-encumbered, although you should leave room for items you may pick up on the way to Vault 81.
- Go to Vault 81:
Maps and map coordinates for places mentioned can be looked up on this page.
Near the vertical center of the map is a dark, round circle indicating a body of water. Vault 81 is near the left edge of the circle.
A big river runs up the map to the left of this area, curves right, back down, and then goes to the right. You will be crossing the river on a bridge in the middle of the upper part of the river. Put a custom marker there.
Fast travel to Concord and circle around it to the right to get back on the road headed south. This takes you by Dunlin Diner. If you go there you will have to mediate a conflict but no shooting is necessary and you end up with two merchants to buy from there. Discovering the diner and the speech checks there may cause you to level up so that won't still be on level 2 when you get the guns, so you could bypass the diner.
You run into Trashcan Carla (a traveling merchant) just before Drumlin. Do NOT sell stuff to her nor to the folks at Drumlin. You will need to sell this stuff while using the price-improving drugs, and you don't have enough drugs to waste them here. You can get the map marker for Diamond City from Carla, but do NOT threaten her or you will never get to buy from her again.
There are a few low-cost, scarce items you can check for with Carla: a Ushanka hat (+1 INT), tarberry, and whiskey (both under Aids).
You also will go by Graygarden, which is a friendly farm run by robots who let you harvest their corn, mutfruit, and tatos, all of which you will need later. The corn, in particular, is hard to come by at the start. You can return to harvest more whenever you want. One of the robots (Mr. Green) provides more speech checks and cash and Ms White will give you a mission.
Mr. Green thinks he is a talk show host and if you go along, you will win some cash. With your high charisma, you can keep asking him for more and gain XP, but save first before asking for more. Again, you can bypass this if determined to stay on level 2.
Keep an eye out for bushes with large blue flowers. These Hubflowers are an important element in crafting valuable items later, so always pick them.
The bridge you marked is a railroad bridge. As you reach the end of it, jump down to the right and stay off the road. If you have leveled up, watch for a mongrel dog in the area. Continue until you see another farm icon on your HUD Optionally go up to discover it, harvest its crops, but don't accept the mission since you won't have time to complete it.
Move the map marker to the location of the Produce Stand (see map coordinates page) and head straight to it. Keep sneaking and looking around as there is a Yao Guai on the other side of the road, although if you got the Cryolator, it is powerful enough to kill the Yao Guai (if you don't mind the XP).
Go in the produce stand to pick up the vegetables and two Day Trippers.
- Continue due South to Vault 81, Change into your suit or dress and any other charisma gear you have. If you see a merchant outside the vault, that is Cricket, who sells the Spray n' Pray. The problem is that you need to clear the way in the vault so that after taking drugs and buying from Cricket, you can run inside and buy the Overseer's Guardian from the vault's merchant before the drugs wear off.
So if Cricket is there, save (after taking off power armor, if you have any, and removing the fusion core) so that if you come back from the vault and Cricket is gone, you can reload and try plan B.
If Cricket is not there, you can take the time to loot the area outside before you enter the vault. Pass the speech check, which should not be a problem. Go in and talk to the overseer, then leave the vault.
If you don't see Cricket in the area, sit on a bench and Wait two hours or at a time until she shows up. If it is between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., wait until 8 a.m., then continue waiting 2 hours at a time. You want it to be between 8 and 6 so that as soon as you finish with Cricket, you can run in and buy from the merchant in the vault without having to take more drugs, and she is only there during business hours.
Once Cricket appears, save and boost your Charisma, then start a barter going with her. Check the price of the Spray n' Pray. The link just given has a chart which shows how to get the price of the SnP down to 1200 caps.
You should be able to easily cover the cost of the SnP with loot you have picked up -- gold bars, wedding rings, excess Weapons, Apparel, Aids, and Ammo. The ammo should be used last because it is weightless. If you need more loot, transfer back gear that you gave to Dogmeat, though you should have way more than you need for the SnP.
Also trade for all the .45 ammo she has. Keep a 10mm pistol and its ammo for small targets in order to save .45 ammo for the SnP and OG, but trade any other ballistic weapons and any ammo other than 10mm and .45mm.
You now want to hustle in order to maximize the use of your temporarily high charisma -
- Enter the vault. Continue past where you talked to the overseer until you reach the elevator. Take it down, exit, and enter the first door on the right, marked "Depot", where the merchant is. If she isn't there, sit on a bench and wait unil 8:00 a.m. and you will have to take more drugs (which is why we try to get Cricket between 8 a.m and 6 p.m.).
Start a barter with the merchant and check her price for .45 ammo. If it is higher than 2, cancel, take the drug(s) and try again. You should easily have enough loot to cover the Overseer's Guardian and all her .45 ammo. Use the Wood last. I have never had to use the Wood to get the weapons. There should be enough other stuff.
YOU NOW HAVE TWO OF THE MOST POWERFUL WEAPONS IN THE GAME.
- For one last use of your high charisma, go down the stairs by the elevator and take the hall to the right to the next section of the vault, then go down the stairs to the right and enter the doctor's office to the right. He will ask you to give blood. You can keep asking for more money (saving first each time), but eventually give blood.
Go back upstairs and into the school room. Talk to Erin, sitting up front, about her lost kitten. You can keep asking her for more "money" to get the XP, but her responses are extremely sad. This gives you the Kitty Kitty mission. If you do not ask for more money, you can ask for a reward when her kitten comes back and she will give you a fusion core. You may still be a heartless bastard, but it's not as sad.
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