Fallout 4 Game Changers

The "standard" way to play F4 is to build settlements, do missions, join faction(s), etc., but playing different builds for your character, such as Pacifist (not killing anything), Ninja (sneak and melee), Druggie (using a lot of chems), etc., can great change the way the game plays. Youtube has videos of many different of these different approaches.

The character builds are not predefined by the game; it's up to you to choose the perks, weapons, armor, drugs, and playing style to optimize the way you want to play, though other peoples' builds for most of these styles can be found online. A build for the standard approach can be found on this site.

Using, or refusing to use, exploits also can greatly change how you play the game. Some people consider these to be cheats, but even doing things which are not considered exploits, such as building and tearing down and rebuilding items in the Building mode to generate XP and level up quickly can have about the same effect.

How Spray n' Pray and Overseer's Guardian Change the Game

Early in the game you can get two weapons which are so powerful that they almost break the game because they just destroy everything easily. These weapons are the Spray n' Pray ("SnP") machine gun with exploding ammo and the Overseer's Guardian ("OG"). You can get them before level 3 and they are so strong that you will still be using the at the end of the game. The directions for getting them are here.

Of the two weapons, SnP, a machine gun with exploding rounds, may be the biggest game changer, although you still need the OG, a sniper rifle, for long distance shots. You may also want a back-up weapon, such as a 10mm pistol, for shooting face-to-face since you can be damaged by the exploding rounds, but if you have plenty of Refreshing Beverage, it's not a problem.

The only drawback to the SnP is that sometimes you have to search for pieces of the body in order to loot it.

Perks you won't need with SnP:

  • Gun Nut: Both weapons come already upgraded enough to last the whole game, so you can put off getting Gun Nut quite a while.

  • Gunslinger: is for non-automatic weapons, and the SnP is an automatic.

    The OG can be made either an automatic or non-automatic. It's never been made clear (that I've seen anywhere) if the OG in automatic mode is still helped by the Rifleman perk, but I would guess not.

  • Toughness: You are not going to take much damage (or not very often) when you are quickly wiping out everything with a couple of shots. This applies to most other health-related perks.

  • Awareness: You don't care much about a target's weaknesses when you are basically shooting tons of little hand grenades at them. You are doing massive full-body damage.

  • Attack Dog: I wouldn't get this even if I didn't have the SnP. Dogmeat does just fine as-is.

  • VATS and Action Point perks: You don't need VATS; you spray, and you pray. If you are not using VATS, you don't care about Action Points.

  • Pacifist perks such as Animal Friend: It's an exploding machine gun. It's for making corpses, not friends.

  • Quick Hands: Rarely do you have to reload to kill something.

  • Mysterious Stranger: He finishes off enemies for you. There's nothing left to finish off when SnP is done.

Perks you WILL want with SnP:

  • Commando: Do more damage with machine guns.

  • Scrounger: This gets you a ton of ammo. But if you still aren't finding enough, you may want to get the Cap Collector perks to make buying ammo cheaper.

  • Demolition Expert: Your exploding rounds will do more damage.

  • Bloody Mess: I've never gotten this, but if you have points to burn, go ahead. It does add damage.

Thanks, Bethesda.

As of patch 1.4, almost all of the exploits have been removed, as far as Xbox One and PS4 players are concerned. PC players can still exploit all they want, so patching out the exploits for console players seems grossly unfair.

I know that I can schlep back and forth carrying tons of gear to vendors to trade for expensive gear and supplies because I have played exploit-free games, but they are a bloody nuisance and boring, so I had gone back to using vendor exploits. I don't know if I'll keep playing the game if I have to do everything the long, boring way.

Likewise, I know I can revisit places after giving them time to spawn scarce items such as anti-freeze bottles, hubflowers, and whiskey, but again, there is no fun in doing so. Prior to patch 1.3, I could craft items without using up the supplies, but now I have to wait days and go back and forth getting these scarce items while PC players just push a button and get them.

What's the point, Bethesda?

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