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<h1>The Nearly Ultimate Fallout 2 Guide</h1><br>
<button id="themeButton" onclick="toggleTheme()" class="btn">use dark theme</button> <a href="original_source.html">view original</a><br><br><br>
<b>Version 1.3.1<br>
Written and coded by Per Jorner</b><br><br>
<em>Let me enlighten you, grasshopper. Fallout 2 is cool because it's a nonlinear, nonclassbased kickass postnuclear computer roleplaying game with a high replayabillity value. Fallout 2 allows you to play your character the way you want. If you want to play a goodie-two-shoes, you can. If you want to play an evil bastard, you can (Yes, you really can hit children in the groin with a sledgehammer). If you want to play a moron who can hardly talk because of his low intelligence, you can.</em><br>
--Shadowman<br><br><hr>
<h3 id="contents">Table of contents</h3>
<ol class="index">
<li><a href="#intro">Introduction</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#prep">Preparations</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#char">Character design</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#areas">Area walkthrough</a><br>
<ol type="i">
<li><a href="#temple">Temple of Trials</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#arroyo">Arroyo</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#klamath">Klamath</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#toxic">Toxic Caves</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#den">The Den</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#modoc">Modoc</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#farm">Ghost Farm</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#vc">Vault City</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#gecko">Gecko</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#raiders">Raiders</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#bh">Broken Hills</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#redding">Redding</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#reno">New Reno</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#golg">Golgotha</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#stables">The Stables</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#sad">Sierra Army Depot</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#ncr">New California Republic</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#v15">Vault 15</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#v13">Vault 13</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#base">Military Base</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#sf">San Francisco</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#navarro">Navarro</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#enclave">The Enclave</a>
</li></ol>
</li><li><a href="#end">Endings</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#encounter">Encounters</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#npc">NPCs</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#car">Car</a>
</li><li><a href="#stupid">Stupid</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#combat">Combat</a><br>
</li><li><a href="#items">Items</a>
</li><li><a href="#addenda">Addenda</a>
</li>
</ol>
<hr>
<a name="intro"></a><h3>Introduction</h3>
<blockquote>"Hey, stranger! Need a guide?"<br>
--New Reno prostitute</blockquote>
Welcome to my <i>Fallout 2</i> guide/walkthrough. This guide exists because I realized that if I wanted the kind of complete <i>Fallout 2</i> guide that I envisioned, it pretty much meant writing it myself. That turned out to be quite an undertaking, but on the other hand, as far as I'm concerned <i>Fallout 2</i> is the best computer game ever made.<br><br>
This guide is an attempt to provide a thorough presentation of the things you can do in <i>Fallout 2</i>: quests to perform, places to go, people to eat. It is not, on the other hand, an attempt to compile reams of game data such as documenting every karma point gained or lost, because it wouldn't be much fun. For game mechanics, detailed item stats and such, consult the manual and/or available in-game information. The basic assumption is that players want to squeeze as much out of their game as possible - which is another thing that makes writing this guide worthwhile, because <i>Fallout 2</i> is a game that just keeps on giving. There are details and aspects you won't notice until your second, third or fourth game, playing different characters with different attitudes. Or until you read this guide, anyway.<br><br>
I've been playing the game using the UK edition, patch version 1.02e plus the "children patch". To my knowledge there is not a single significant difference between the UK and US versions except for the children thing. I've also used Falche2 Character Editor 2.10 and Inventory Editor 1.01 extensively to try out situations and features; moreover I've used Fallout 2 DAT explorer v1.42 to unpack game files, Fallout Items Mode Editer 1.1 to check out some item details, Fallout Utility for Critter tinKering 0.62 to check out some critter data, and the script decompilers by TeamX and Noid as well as the scripts that came with the Fallout 2 Mapper to check lots of things. Since trainers, utilities and mods aren't part of the game, I won't deal with them specifically. I don't recommend cheating, other than momentarily for the purpose of experiencing things that you wouldn't normally see, or in a last-ditch attempt to save a doomed character.<br><br>
Virtually every piece of information or advice presented here has been verified in personal testing or playing experience, although I have of course consulted rather a lot of existing walkthroughs and board postings for snippets of information and things to try out. Sadly, many guides are either poorly written ("klammth this place stinks btr get sum quest!!! i need the xp!!!!!"), give embarrassingly bad advice ("So that's why I always tag Throwing, First Aid and Barter"), include patently false information ("If you keep the Pipe Gun in one of your active item slots it will give you Agility +3, it doesn't work for all characters"), or are glaringly incomplete ("I've heard there is a place called New Reno in this game but I never found it"). Hopefully this guide should avoid those pitfalls with some margin to spare.<br><br>
Of other <i>Fallout 2</i> writings I would recommend those of Whitechocobo666, author of the <i>Endings FAQ</i>, the <i>Perks FAQ</i>, the <i>Weapon/armour FAQ</i> and the <i>Evil Walk-through</i>; Steve Metzler, whose <i>Steve's Guide to Fallout 2</i> was my original source of inspiration; Chris Avellone, co-designer of the game and maker of the <i>Fallout Bible</i>; and also Cristian Golumbovici. General credit goes to the people on the No Mutants Allowed message board. Special thanks to Sébastien Caisse a.k.a. Red! for checking scripts and stuff for guide version 1.0.<br><br>
Please note that <b>spoilers abound</b>. The first time you play a game like this, you really shouldn't be using any kind of walkthrough whatsoever. If you don't care enough about the unique experience of finding out and doing things on your own to abstain from spoiling it, you probably have better things to do with your time than play the game at all. So, in case this is your first game, don't read beyond Preparations.<br><br>
If you spot typos, have something to contribute or want to complain that my inclusion criteria are arbitrary, please <a href="mailto:[email protected]">mail me</a>. If you have a gameplay or technical question that doesn't have anything to do with the guide itself (unless it hints at a deficiency therein), please turn to a message board; there are several on the net. I'm sorry, but you must understand that I'm not a one-person helpline. At least do a couple of string searches before you decide the answer isn't in the guide already.<br><br>
Comments and additional information have been colour-coded in the following imaginative manner:
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
A green star marks straightforward, reliable information or advice.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star4.gif" alt="a yellow star" align="left">
A yellow star signals some measure of uncertainty or speculation, but information given can be expected to be correct in broad terms.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star.gif" alt="a red star" align="left">
A red star is used for highly speculative information as well as massively peripheral or trivial comments.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star2.gif" alt="a blue star" align="left">
A blue star is used for general comments appearing in the Area walkthrough section which have a wider application than the specific context where they are brought up, such as character design, combat strategy or general game behaviour.</blockquote><hr><br>
<a name="prep"></a><h3>Preparations</h3>
<blockquote>"I'll get you during my next save game."<br>
--The Chosen One</blockquote>
First of all you should find out if you need to patch your game. Originally this game existed in five different versions: the US edition, two UK editions (normal and low violence), and two localized editions in German and French respectively. Before playing you should locate, download and install the </a><a href="http://www.nma-fallout.com/forum/dload.php">patch</a> (v1.02) for your version, since this will <i>drastically</i> improve performance and gameplay from the unpatched version of the game. This is all in the readme file, by the way. Always read those. In the walkthrough, notes that are only relevant to the unpatched game will be marked with red stars, i.e. as being largely uninteresting. If you have any kind of budget re-release or new localized version I don't think there should be any need to patch the game, but for your own sake you should make sure.
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Install the patch before you start playing, since saves made in the unpatched game will be invalidated. There is an unofficial save game converter, but I think it only works on US saves and not on any of the European versions.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
You can use the US executable with the UK version if you are bothered by the CD lock of the latter. To my knowledge there are no harmful consequences to this. As an aside, there are a few known purely textual differences between the US and UK versions concerning "sensitive" words: "drug" has become "chem", and "addiction" has become "reliance" (but the "Addict" tab in the main interface is still the same). The reason why is anyone's guess, but if you've been wondering where I got this "chem" word from, that's the explanation.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star.gif" alt="a red star" align="left">
There is no official patch for the English Low Violence edition (marked ELV on the CD), but it's been reported that using either the US or UK patch works fine, even though it says in the readme that "applying a patch from any of the other versions will severely corrupt the game". You might want to go for the US patch, because of the CD lock thing. (Actually what I'd really recommend is not having anything to do with that product in the first place.)</blockquote>
I also strongly recommend, if you have any other version than the US one, that you download the so-called children patch. This set of files, which is not technically a patch at all, will add the in-game children which have been removed from these versions (for some obscure reason of law or policy which apparently did not apply at all to <i>Baldur's Gate</i>, where you can roast kids with Fireballs all you want). You don't need any additional code, it's all there already. If you don't have the kid files, you'll miss out on a few quests, be exposed to invisible pilferers and be confounded by bodiless voices, which is all bad. You have been warned.
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
The contents of the children patch are simply the kid graphics files which have been copied raw from the US CD, and what's been done to the UK version to remove the kids is simply keeping those same files off the CD. Interestingly enough, Interplay's customer support used to deny all this, but I suppose that would have to be their official line.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
A somewhat edited Ashmo: "The German version has no kids and only the 'low violence' deaths. People drop dead. If you set it to normal violence rather than none, they drop dead and bleed. The preferences screen is a bit different as there are only two options on the violence control. You need to get the gore patch (which usually includes the children patch) and then edit the config file to set the violence level higher (setting it to 3 should do the trick). The alternative is to get the executable from the US or UK version and overwrite yours."</blockquote>
Saving and loading times in the unpatched version can be as long as a minute or more. There are at least three ways of improving this to an acceptable 3-10 seconds:
<ul>
<li>Install the patch!
</li><li>Use the large installation size instead of the humongous. This may seem counter-intuitive, but it works that way on many computers.
</li><li>Shut down or disable programs running in the background, such as virus scanners.
</li></ul>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star.gif" alt="a red star" align="left">
I have also found on my own computer that Windows instability has at times caused a significant increase to loading times and that restarting the computer takes care of this. Your system may have its own peculiarities. On fast computers loading times may not be an issue at all, but there are always other problems that crop up to compensate.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
One potential problem that relates to processor speed concerns world map travel. On some fast computers, you will zip across the map and have virtually no encounters. Conversely, on computers that can barely run the game you might experience slow travel with numerous interruptions (though this should be a less frequent issue). There are hacks you can use to restore travel speed to a more reasonable level, or you could try running an emulator.</blockquote>
Save often! Ideally you should quicksave after every battle and before every conversation. Having to play even a few minutes' worth of shootin' and lootin' all over again because you made the wrong choice in a dialogue can be irksome. (Of course it may also happen that you realize only afterwards that you've done something wrong and wish you had <i>not</i> saved...) I'd also recommend keeping a save game slot for each time you enter a new major location (town etc.). This way if you really screw up somehow and only find out after you save (it can happen), you "only" have to replay that area. These saves can also come in handy later on if you want to see what would have happened if you'd done differently in a particular quest.
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
A little word of warning about quicksave: as you probably know the quicksave function is "reset" when you use the regular load or save commands. However, it's not reset if you exit the current game and start a new character.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Once you fill up your quota of slots you can use a file manager of your choice to make room for new ones. Just rename a save game folder (those named "Slot01" through "Slot10") you don't need for the moment to something which gives you a hint of what it contains (like "Slot02-klam"), and that slot will be free for use again. Then whenever you want to bring back an archived save, restore that folder's name to a valid one. You can use a similar trick to swap between whole save catalogues by renaming the "Savegame" folder to "SavegameX" or something else. This way you can juggle different games with different characters.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
A more "realistic" approach to the game involves using a single save slot and reloading only if you die or screw up entirely by mistake (but not, for instance, if you fail some action or have second thoughts about something). Not recommended at all for beginners. Also better use at least one more slot for backup just in case your save files are corrupted. An even more realistic playing style called "iron man" involves never saving the game <i>at all</i> except between playing sessions; if you die, you're dead and have to start all over again! (Though I suspect that very few people have actually stuck with this concept to the bitter end, for instance after dying in NCR because you forgot to holster your weapons or in a freak random encounter with super mutants.)</blockquote>
Entering the options screen (which can also be reached from within the game, of course, the difference being that these settings will be used in new games but do not affect existing ones, while changes made in saved games will carry over to this screen), I'd change the following default settings: combat speed to fastest (check the box), target highlight to "on" (helps you see what's happening to critters behind walls), and running to "always". If you've played through the game a few times already you may want to consider raising the difficulty levels to hard/rough.
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star.gif" alt="a red star" align="left">
If you hold down Shift and press the credits button on the starting screen, you'll get to read a quote file from the developers. Good for a laugh!</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star.gif" alt="a red star" align="left">
You can access some sort of recording mode if you press <nobr>Ctrl-R</nobr> on the starting screen. You get to choose an area and run around it (with Narg), but you can't talk to people (unless you set off some script) or manipulate objects except for opening doors. This also creates a "selfrun" directory in your game folder where the recording is stored. When you're fed up, press <nobr>Ctrl-R</nobr> again to return to the starting menu. If you now wait for a while, one of your recordings will start playing, more or less accurately. The most interesting thing about this is that it shows a few unimplemented or unreachable areas, namely the Holy Hand Grenade encounter (see the Addenda section for more on this), a third Den area (with Smitty and Anna in it), and the inside of the space shuttle (which doesn't have any proper graphics). See the Area walkthrough section for a way to exploit this in the game.</blockquote>
There's a particular bug I want to tell you about right away, the "too many items" bug, because when it strikes you won't necessarily have any clue what causes it (unless you read this, that is). In brief, if you collect too many items (e.g. if you aim at hoarding every quest item in the game in the trunk), this will corrupt save files and make the game crash. Normally you shouldn't need to worry, but if you spot the skilldex button going black while you're playing, you're in the danger zone. See Addenda for more info and a way to counter this bug if the worst comes to the worst.<br><br><hr>
<a name="char"></a><h3 id="char">Character design</h3>
<blockquote>"You'd think there's only ten kinds of people in the world. Way I figure it, there was some big cloning accident in the past."<br>
--Mason</blockquote>
The SPECIAL system used for <i>Fallout 2</i> character design is so flexible that a complete run-down on possible types isn't feasible nor desirable. I'll center this discussion on a character type which has worked very well for me and try to argue briefly why it does. If the four extremes of character creation are the ones known as diplomat, thief, sniper and brawler, mine is a kind of small guns generalist who can in time excel at everything. It is somewhat similar to the one popularly known as "diplosniper", although some details such as my liking of Fast Shot may run counter to that definition. In any case you'll gain a lot more xp than in <i>Fallout</i>, which is why there's really no need to choose a specific path.
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
The pre-defined characters are generally considered to suck dead gophers (e.g. Narg has Throwing, Mingan has Skilled and Chitsa has Barter). One of the nicest things about most computer RPGs is creating your own character or characters, anyway; even if I wanted a "Mingan" character, I'd make one instead of taking Mingan.</blockquote>
Gender plays a negligible role in the game. Bartering is only affected if you also have the Sex Appeal trait. The only noteworthy differences are that male characters can donate genetic material in Vault City and date Phyllis, while female characters can sleep with Metzger, Little Jesus and T-Ray for money or favours and can get hired by Miss Kitty to go to the Stables. There are several more people that will only sleep with characters of a specific gender (e.g. Angela Bishop, Slim Picket, Fannie Mae), but not much comes of it. Stupid characters can only box if they're male.
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Age is not checked in any of the scripts. A nice detail is that your character will age as time goes by in the game (well, maybe the opposite would have been strange, but it's nice anyway, isn't it?).</blockquote>
<h4>Stats</h4>
When allotting char points there are some things to keep in mind:
<ul>
<li><b>Strength:</b> Extremely useful for... carrying stuff. Believe me, this is a game in which you'll want to carry stuff. You should start out with at least 5 (especially if you're taking Small Frame). However, since ST can be increased by 6 points during the game (perk +1, surgery +1, armour +4), I wouldn't recommend going any higher than that; even if you go for the full 10 it will mostly be noticeable in the beginning stages of the game (and a waste towards the end).
</li><li><b>Perception:</b> Good for ranged combat. A starting minimum of 5 is required for the Awareness perk, but there are quest benefits to setting it to 6 even for HtH characters. Can be increased by 2 points during the game (perk +1, surgery +1).
</li><li><b>Endurance:</b> Determines Hit Points and not much else. Unless you like close combat a little too much I wouldn't put more than 4 (and anyway, two extra points to EN still only means some 30 extra HP by the end of the game). Can be increased by only 1 point during the game (perk +1).
</li><li><b>Charisma:</b> Useful for keeping your dialogue options open, though not nearly so important as Intelligence. Affects bartering both directly and indirectly. Your maximum number of followers is equal to your CH divided by two, rounded down. Even if you don't plan to keep any company you might want to set it to 2 so you can at least pick up NPCs temporarily for xp and such. Can be increased by 3 points during the game (perk +1, surgery +1, shades +1).
</li><li><b>Intelligence:</b> Unless you plan to rely on brute force for everything, this is likely your most important statistic since it rules conversation and determines extra skill points per level. 7 is a balanced value since it means you only need one Mentats for the few occasions where you need to go higher, though anything up to and including 9 is probably not too much. Can be increased by 3 points during the game (perk +1, surgery +1, weird brain alignment +1).
</li><li><b>Agility:</b> Determines your Action Points, so you don't want less than 6, and starting with anything up to 10 doesn't hurt. Can be increased by only 1 point during the game (perk +1).
</li><li><b>Luck:</b> As the effects of Luck are not so obvious, it's easy to perceive it as the trash stat of the system (much like Charisma usually is everywhere else). It does have an impact on your rate of critical hits, especially with the Sniper perk in place, but early in the game you won't suffer much from a low Luck score. It can be improved by 3 points during the game (perk +1, either a weird brain alignment +2 or another weird brain alignment +1).
</li></ul>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Stats can never be effectively raised above 10. Of those stat rises mentioned above, the "weird alignment" which gives IN +1 and LK +1 and the other which gives LK +2 are mutually exclusive. Also evil characters will normally lose out on the "surgery" IN +1 bonus.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
A Strength of 5 is enough to handle virtually all weapons early on and many later ones as well (HK P90c, Gauss Pistol, Pulse Rifle). ST 6 is needed for some mid- or late-game weapons such as the Gauss Rifle and Bozar, and ST 7 for all kinds of miniguns, which means that once you get the Power Armor you can pick and choose anyway. If you use a Bozar with ST 5 you "only" get a <nobr>-20%</nobr> penalty which can be balanced with skill points, whereas the stat point can be put to better use.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
EN, CH and AG all work in the way that an odd score will not give you any significant advantages compared to the even number below, e.g. AG 6 or 7 both give you 8 Action Points. Keep this in mind, but also keep in mind ways of increasing stats later; with an odd starting AG, the Gain Agility perk becomes an extra Action Boy, which it wouldn't otherwise.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
As listed in the patch notes, the correct amount of extra HP per level is EN/2+2 (rounded down).</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
You can eat Mentats and recruit party members while your CH is high; you won't lose them when your CH returns to normal (except in the rare case of CH 1 and Lenny). Note however that this will only let you raise your CH by 2, which corresponds to one extra NPC (unless you use the save/load trick - see the Items section). Although there are other ways to improve your CH, in my opinion the best NPCs are the ones found early in the game anyway.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star.gif" alt="a red star" align="left">
In v1.0, getting the car would effectively raise your maximum number of NPCs by one, so that under optimal conditions you could have six of them. The readme mentions this has been fixed for Goris, but actually all of them had the same problem and the same fix.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
If you set IN lower than 4, your character will (usually) only be able to speak in grunts, unable to carry on any meaningful dialogue. Needless to say this will severely impair your ability to take on and solve quests, but you can use Mentats to help with that. (Note that you can also use Mentats "in reverse" during a normal game - take one or two and wait one hour for your stats to drop below normal - if you want to take advantage of an IN<4 feature. Psycho is even more effective.) For more details, see the Stupid section.</blockquote>
<h4>Traits</h4>
Recommended traits:
<ul>
<li><b>Small Frame:</b> One more stat point and not "some Action Points" like the manual says. Carrying stuff is nice (mmm... stuff), but not crucial once you learn what to keep and what to stow away.
</li><li><b>One Hander:</b> Many of the best weapons in the game are two-handed, but it's good for HtH characters since the bonus applies for Unarmed-class weaponry, none of which is two-handed (your completely unaided punch and kick attacks are unaffected).
</li><li><b>Finesse:</b> Decent trade-off. Like the More Criticals perk this is made obsolete by the Sniper (with high LK) or Slayer perks, but Finesse will benefit you from the very start of the game.
</li><li><b>Fast Shot:</b> A personal favourite, because I like firing a pistol five or six times during a round. When you get Sniper, it rocks, and sticking to burst weapons makes the drawback irrelevant. Don't take this if you're a hard-core sniper though.
</li><li><b>Gifted:</b> The stat bonuses counteract the skill penalties (especially if you put a few extra points to IN), so this is universally regarded as the best trait. I don't use it myself because it almost feels like cheating, or at the very least it spoils the challenge of balancing your stats.
</li></ul>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Geoffrey Bateman opines on Small Frame (which I originally rated as a poor trait): "You lose a little Carry Weight, but you'll get Sulik soon, and then maybe a couple more mules, then a car, and Power Armor... Small Frame makes the game a <i>little</i> tougher for a <i>brief</i> while, and in return you get a character point (which could be used for, say, an extra point of IN and 2 skill points per level)."</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Fast Shot doesn't work with HtH attacks, but still removes your ability to make targeted blows (meaning it's actively bad for mêlée characters). This is a change from <i>Fallout</i>.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
If you raise a stat with Bruiser, Small Frame or Gifted, you can redistribute the extra <nobr>point(s)</nobr> manually, so think of them as extra generic char points, although technically this is not so (which is reflected by the fact that you can't lower the raised stats below certain values, but that should never be a problem).</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Paul Melin points out that if you were going to set IN to 10 anyway, the skill point loss from Gifted cannot be offset. Sure, but how many skill points can you find a use for anyway?</blockquote>
Potentially useful but not overly worthwhile traits:
<ul>
<li><b>Heavy Handed:</b> Helpful early on, but downright awful late in the game when you'll actually do less damage than if you didn't have this trait.
</li><li><b>Jinxed:</b> Could be useful in a pure (and weird) HtH game. If you or your party members are using guns yourself you shouldn't want to randomize combat unless you're always worse at it than the critters you'll be fighting (in which case you may want to rethink your playing style entirely).
</li><li><b>Good Natured:</b> Effectively a skill point boost, since you gain more useful points (Doctor, Speech) than you lose useful ones (Small Guns or Melee Weapons), but marginal in the long run. Unmissable in a pure diplomat game, if you get around to playing one of those.
</li><li><b>Sex Appeal:</b> Admit it, you always wanted this.
</li></ul>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Sex Appeal is mostly for female characters, since you'll be dealing with more men in the game world. Even so it won't be an important factor. If you have a low CH it will have a noticeable effect on bartering (almost all shopkeepers are male). It has no positive effect if your CH is 10, and no negative effect if your CH is 1.</blockquote>
Traits to avoid:
<ul>
<li><b>Fast Metabolism:</b> Both effects are utterly marginal, so it's simply an utterly marginal trait.
</li><li><b>Bruiser:</b> Two more stat points, but you need the AP. That's like losing four points of Agility, which is ridiculous.
</li><li><b>Kamikaze:</b> Trade away protection for Sequence which matters only during the first combat round? No thanks.
</li><li><b>Bloody Mess:</b> Fun to begin with (for instance, start up a game and beat up Klint), but doesn't do anything in game terms, and gets tiresome. You'll see those animations anyway and it will feel more like a reward (!) without this trait.
</li><li><b>Skilled:</b> With a decent IN you'll be swimming in skill points. A horrible trait, avoid like the plague (unless you have IN 1 or something, though it beats me why you would).
</li><li><b>Chem Reliant:</b> The average time you spend being addicted won't change, so what's the big deal? Chem use is marginal anyway and most players will probably just reload if they get addicted.
</li><li><b>Chem Resistant:</b> Jet is the only chem with a short enough duration that the downside matters much, but even so it's little more than a convenience (you don't have to reload as often).
</li></ul>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Jon Lynch makes an interesting argument: "The Skilled trait is not as bad as it seems. Every 12 levels, someone with this trait will fall exactly one perk behind. However, they will also have accumulated 60 more skill points in this time. Since most perks that add skill points tend to give 20-40 of them, you're getting approximately double the points and they can also be placed in any skill, whereas the perks allocate the points for you." Still, this assumes you were going to get a skill point perk, which usually isn't your greatest priority. At level 24 I'd much rather have two more perks than 120 extra skill points.</blockquote>
<h4>Skills</h4>
Recommended skills to tag:
<ul>
<li><b>Small Guns:</b> Because you should be using this for your primary combat skill for most of the game.
</li><li><b>Lockpick:</b> Because there are many, many locked containers and doors and you'll want to open them with a minimum of fuss.
</li><li><b>Speech:</b> Because you want people to like you and be impressed with you and give you quests and generally do what you tell them to.
</li></ul>
There simply isn't any other skill which comes close to the usefulness of these three, at least if you're playing the game my way. Tag them and bump them up to around 100% early on (except possibly Small Guns if you want more use out of those Guns and Bullets magazines), it will pay off. A mêlée character will want one of these instead of Small Guns:
<ul>
<li><b>Melee Weapons:</b> Unless you make this your primary combat skill you never really have to use it. If you do, tag it and pump it to 100% as soon as possible.
</li><li><b>Unarmed:</b> This is used in a few quests, but you don't have to spend any skill points here since it can be raised for free to about 100% anyway. Unless you're going Unarmed all the way I'd wait till after that to make it my primary combat skill.
</li></ul>
With that taken care of you can start raising your secondary skills:
<ul>
<li><b>Big Guns:</b> Fun, but only used late in the game and so not worth a tag.
</li><li><b>Energy Weapons:</b> See Big Guns.
</li><li><b>Doctor:</b> You'll want this up to 75% eventually, but not worth a tag.
</li><li><b>Traps:</b> There aren't that many traps in the game, actually, and they're not likely to kill you. You could raise it to 60-70% for convenience, but feel free to ignore this skill altogether.
</li><li><b>Science:</b> Can be raised with books. You'll want at least 81% eventually, but don't use any points until you have to.
</li></ul>
Skills you will use but need not spend points on:
<ul>
<li><b>First Aid:</b> Does little that Doctor doesn't do better. Don't use any skill points on this, raise it with books.
</li><li><b>Repair:</b> Can be raised with books, so don't use points here.
</li><li><b>Outdoorsman:</b> Can be raised with books, although those are rare. Mostly good for avoiding annoying random encounters.
</li></ul>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
If you've been wondering what First Aid <i>does</i> do better than Doctor, it comes with a free +20% bonus to your skill check. And... that's pretty much it, I think.</blockquote>
Rather pointless skills:
<ul>
<li><b>Throwing:</b> Rocks and grenades simply don't play a huge role in the world of <i>Fallout 2</i>.
</li><li><b>Sneak:</b> I'm sorry, but I don't see the point of sneaking past people when you can just blow them up instead (or maybe that's the point, you sneak up and plant dynamite? Unfortunately there's not enough dynamite to employ this tactic consistently).
</li><li><b>Steal:</b> Don't bother unless either you don't mind if everyone turns hostile on you, or you plan to save and reload a lot (which isn't my favoured playing style). If you really must steal something, you can usually do it with a low skill level (saving first, of course).
</li><li><b>Barter:</b> Early in the game there won't be a whole lot to buy. Later in the game you'll be swimming in money. Don't waste a single skill point here. Unless you raise the skill way above 100% your CH will have a greater impact on bartering anyway.
</li><li><b>Gambling:</b> See Barter.
</li></ul>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Your amount of unspent skill points is capped at 99 when you level up. You can have more than 99 points stored (e.g. after getting a skill point perk), but only until you level up next time.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
A "cheat": when buying a non-combat skill which is slightly above 100%, raise the difficulty to hard (assuming you usually play on normal). Your skill will drop below 100% so you only have to spend one skill point per skill level. Afterwards return the difficulty setting to normal or whatever. This also works when reading books; see the Items section for a note on this.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Similarly you can set the difficulty to easy to raise your skills temporarily for a specific action (again assuming you're playing on normal or hard).</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Some players actually favour the Sneak skill as in some situations it will let you kill people without anyone noticing, which is useful in assassinations. It can also be useful for HtH characters to get as close to the enemy as possible before they open fire. It doesn't much help with stealing, though, as in almost every shop where the wares are kept in an onscreen container the script simply doesn't take sneaking into account.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
I'll put a couple of Steal notes here, because they don't seem to fit anywhere else. You gain a bonus (or suffer a smaller penalty) stealing from the back or side of someone, but the Sneak skill does nothing. Item size (which is not the same as weight) is a factor unless you have the Pickpocket perk. Regardless of your skill level you can use Steal to see what humanoid critters are carrying, although you won't see items they're holding or items that they "produce" during the course of a quest.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
If you manage to steal and/or plant an item two or more times in succession you gain an increasing amount of xp for each successful attempt: 10, 20, 30 and so on, meaning the total will be 10, 30, 60 and so on. However, the total amount will cap out at 300 minus your Steal level, and if you're caught you get none at all. Low-level thief characters can benefit from this by stealing "one coin at a time" from potential victims (or swapping an item back and forth). Personally I'd try to think of something more meaningful to do.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
In some shops you can use Steal on the shopkeeper or a container to take stuff and/or money; in others you can't because the wares are kept in an offscreen container when you're not talking to the shopkeeper or because some scripting feature prevents it. In the latter case wares will appear on the body of the shopkeeper only if you kill them, and perhaps not even then.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Starseeker adds this on Steal: "I have found out that if you have low Lockpick skills, you can try to steal stuff from locked drawers or tables, but it may not always work for some reason. It won't work on lockers." Experimentation shows that it works on desks and workbenches, but not on lockers or footlockers.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
You can plant items on people using Steal. The only use of this feature I know of, except giving equipment to your NPCs, is to arm an explosive, put it on someone, then whistle innocently and walk away a bit. But don't save your game before it goes off; it's been reported that this can corrupt your save slot completely!</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
A tip from Masklinn: "Some people don't show their weapons (sometimes other items, but mainly weapons) in the thieving interface but accept to barter them. Just enter the barter interface, put the weapon in the trading area, then go back and quit dialogue; quite a lot of people will have put the item where you can see it in the thieving interface and you can now steal it."</blockquote>
As a rule, it's not worth it to raise most skills above 101%. Combat skills can be improved beyond that for an extra edge until you reach the point where you get the maximum 95% chance to hit against all opponents and from any reasonable range (which takes a bit longer if you practice the art of aimed shots or blows). Unarmed is an exception if you make use of the HtH Evade perk, though at high levels you'll have to spend quite a lot of skill points for each point of AC. Science has a few uses above 101%; most are strictly marginal, but go for it if you don't have anything else to do with the points. Most often you can just try again if you fail a skill check, even in dialogue. Sneak, Steal and Outdoorsman might seem like exceptions since failure has more of an immediate effect in these cases, but your rate of success hardly rises linearly with skill level anyway; quite likely the chance of success for Steal and Sneak is capped at 95% even before modifiers are applied, just like Outdoorsman.
<h4>Perks</h4>
The three top perks, hands down:
<ul>
<li><b>Awareness:</b> Extremely useful. This should be your first perk (which means you should always start with a minimum PE of 5).
</li><li><b>Bonus Rate of Fire:</b> In conjunction with Fast Shot this is so good.
</li><li><b>Sniper:</b> <i>The</i> sniper perk which will allow you to take on opponents like the Navarro and Enclave troops confidently.
</li></ul>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
In case you need to raise a stat with a perk in order to qualify for another perk, make sure you get this in time. Ideally you should have a good idea when you start playing which perks to take at which level. If you don't have the stats to meet the requirements of a perk you can in some cases use drugs to raise them temporarily and get the perk, but this does not work with perks that have a Luck requirement, for instance. Check out the chems in the Items section for details. Also remember you must spend each perk before earning a new one.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Some have asked me about Sniper and how it interacts with effects that modify your Critical Chance; specifically, the observation has been made that "Sniper and non-aimed" can produce less crits than "aimed and non-Sniper". Basically this is correct for values of Luck below 6. How I think Sniper works, and which is borne out by shooting the pariah dog a great number of times, is that it doesn't replace your usual crit chance but instead adds an independent possibility of a critical hit. If you have Luck 4 you'd normally get crits 4% of the time, with Sniper you'd increase that to 42% (40% from the perk plus 4% of the remaining cases). Using targeted shots to the eyes which increase the crit chance by 60%, you'd have a "normal" chance of 64%, going to 78% with Sniper. In the latter case you'd "only" be up 14% as compared to 38%, and expressed as a fraction of the original crit chance the difference in gain is much greater. Sniper would still add something, though, in this case roughly equivalent to three levels of More Criticals. Similarly, making aimed shots will improve your effective crit chance even if you have Sniper, though the benefit is smaller at high values of LK (12% at LK 8 and 6% at LK 9 for eye shots) and you might then be better served by the extra shot or two afforded by Fast Shot. By contrast, the benefit of More Criticals fades to insignificance even at moderate LK if you have Sniper. With Sniper and LK 10 you get crits all the time, but you can still get more damaging and/or debilitating ones by making aimed shots.</blockquote>
Recommended perks (number of ranks in parentheses):
<ul>
<li><b>Action Boy (2):</b> Whether you need this, and if so how many levels, depends on your current Action Points and what weapons you plan to use. Try to get an even multiple of your weapon's AP cost (or a multiple plus reloading cost if ranged).
</li><li><b>Better Criticals:</b> Yummy.
</li><li><b>Bonus HtH Attacks:</b> Great for brawlers. (HtH just isn't as efficient as ranged combat.)
</li><li><b>Bonus Move (2):</b> A good early choice for HtH characters, and arguably pretty useful for anyone.
</li><li><b>Gain Agility:</b> Good if your new AG is an even number, which means an extra Action Point. Otherwise don't bother, it will only net you a few skill points.
</li><li><b>Living Anatomy:</b> Very good, 5 more damage per attack <i>and</i> Doctor points although you may not need them at this stage.
</li><li><b>Quick Pockets:</b> Actually this is a break early in the game when you find yourself needing Stimpaks or Healing Powder at times, and an overall convenience later on.
</li><li><b>Slayer:</b> The ultimate HtH perk (and unlike Sniper you don't need to make a LK roll).
</li></ul>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Michal Burger puts in: "The Bonus Move perk is for an HtH character far superior to Action Boy/Girl, which you suggested, because your enemies tend to slide 2-8 hexes after you hit them so you almost always use up all of your 'move only' Action Points, even if you have two levels of this perk. Another advantage is that you can get Bonus Move at 6th level, compared to 12th for Action Boy. I can never find any good perks at the early levels, so I almost always go for Toughness and Bonus Move. And some extra move AP can be still useful even in ranged combat - for hiding behind obstacles." This argument was made for <i>Fallout</i> where the Super Sledge is the best mêlée weapon, but it has merit even without the knockback angle. Volcano adds: "I find Bonus Move has its uses in ranged combat, when using heavy burst weapons like miniguns or the Bozar. It allows you to get a clear field of fire so that you can target the enemy without blowing apart your NPCs. And it allows you to line up critters to ensure hitting more than one with each burst. Wiping out six floaters with three bursts from a Vindicator is a lot of fun."</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Bonus Move is bugged so that if you save and load the game in combat, your extra movement AP will be available for use again, allowing you to move any distance in a single round.</blockquote>
Possibly useful but not crucial perks:
<ul>
<li><b>Dodger:</b> Protection is good.
</li><li><b>Explorer, Ranger, Scout:</b> These all improve your chances of finding special encounters, which can be helpful if you have low LK and play on hard difficulty, but mostly for the fun value, so don't take them until the late game.
</li><li><b>Gain Charisma:</b> This is useful if your new CH is an even number, which means you can recruit another party member... if you <i>want</i> another party member.
</li><li><b>Gain Intelligence:</b> Unless you start out with IN 9 this is good, but not a top priority if you have IN 7-8 already, which you should.
</li><li><b>Gain Luck:</b> Good LK will help with special encounters (maybe) and criticals, so take this in the late game if you can't think of anything else. Great only if you have the Sniper perk.
</li><li><b>Gain Perception:</b> Improves your sniping and helps get the Sniper perk (but you can use chems for that). As you can see all the Gain Foo perks are rather situational.
</li><li><b>HtH Evade:</b> Strictly better than Dodger for Unarmed experts. Note that you can use unarmed weaponry such as the Power Fist with this perk, i.e. your weapon slots don't literally have to be empty (that perk description had <i>me</i> fooled).
</li><li><b>Lifegiver (2):</b> You can accumulate a lot of Hit Points with this one, but after level 12, do you need them? Probably not.
</li><li><b>Magnetic Personality:</b> For those situations where you have a lousy CH and want a large party anyway (without fooling around with chems). If your current CH is an odd number then Gain Charisma is strictly superior to this.
</li><li><b>More Criticals (3):</b> Groovy, but the catch here is that if you get Sniper (and have a good LK) or Slayer, this perk will be made largely redundant.
</li><li><b>Mutate!:</b> There's one way you can use this perk efficiently: exchanging Finesse for Fast Shot at level 27 after you get Sniper (or taking it as your level 21 perk just before reaching level 24). It then effectively becomes another Bonus Rate of Fire. Other than that, don't waste a perk changing traits in mid-game instead of choosing right to begin with.
</li><li><b>Silent Death:</b> Considering the six separate requirements for pulling this off, you'd think it'd do more than double damage!
</li><li><b>Toughness (3):</b> Protection is good (but spending char points on Endurance is not, so take Buffout if you want this). Would be more noteworthy if it affected all damage types. Note that you can eventually get to 80% DR through other means, and 90% is the maximum, so if you take more than one level of Toughness you risk not getting your money's worth.
</li></ul>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Valiant Bastard notes: "When I choose the Gain Intelligence perk, the relevant skills go up to reflect that, but I don't gain any additional skill points when I move up a level."</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
It's been argued that HtH Evade and Jinxed makes for an effective combination... but hey, that's not really the most inspiring way to play this game, is it? Note that this perk was changed after the manual was printed; the in-game description is the correct one.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Although it's not clear from the description, Lifegiver gives you +4 Maximum HP when you take it; you could say it works retroactively for the level you just earned.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Frank Shannon is not alone when he says: "I'm a little surprised you rated Lifegiver so low." Well, if you take two levels of Lifegiver as quickly as you can and play to level 30, you will have 140 more HP, and it's true that this makes for a good safety margin, especially in an iron man game. However, by that time you'll have run around in heavy armour and with resistance bonuses for a good while and you seldom have to worry about being slain outright except by massive critical hits that bypass armour. Lifegiver could save you in such a moment - and so could Dodger, abstractly speaking. Meanwhile, offensive perks which add attacks, manoeuvrability or damage will be working for you constantly. I'd consider taking Lifegiver before I considered dumping more char points in Endurance, but I still find it limited in appeal.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
If you have CH 8 or 9 and didn't get the Mirrored Shades and/or Blue Memory Module yet, you may want to skip Magnetic Personality since you can't normally have more than 5 party members anyway. This perk is available from level 6, not level 3 as the manual states.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
If you have only one trait when you get the Mutate! perk, you must exchange that for the new one, i.e. you can't just fill the other slot and keep the old trait.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Krum Stanoev adds: "There's another fairly obvious way to modify your primary stats in-game with the Mutate! perk. You can start with an Agility of 6 and still get Sniper: you pick Finesse, then you pick Gain Agility to make it 7, then Mutate! to swap Finesse for Small Frame and get AG 8 for Sniper just before you make it to level 24." (Or you could take a dose of Psycho.)</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
One could make an argument such as this: "If you use Mutate! to change any mediocre trait to Gifted, you're basically getting seven Gain Foo perks at once. That's got to be the best perk ever." The problem with this is that it assumes you didn't get Gifted from the start even though you could have. The beauty of swapping Finesse and Fast Shot is that the benefit of Finesse and the drawback of Fast Shot disappear at the same time, namely when you get Sniper.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
It's possible to score more than one double-damage hit with Silent Death in the first round of combat, assuming you can position yourself behind two or more enemies without leaving Sneak mode (which is difficult if you have to pass directly in front of them).</blockquote>
Perks I rather doubt the usefulness of:
<ul>
<li><b>Bonus HtH Damage (3):</b> Should have been a lot more damage. Now you'll have to get all three levels to notice any difference. Note that this perk adds to the <i>maximum</i> damage - that's only one point on average for each perk slot!
</li><li><b>Bonus Ranged Damage (2):</b> Not enough of a bonus unless you're using a Minigun, Bozar or the like (although if you expect to score a lot of damage multiplication criticals it gets a little better).
</li><li><b>Gain Strength:</b> You shouldn't need this to get to ST 10.
</li><li><b>Pack Rat, Strong Back (3):</b> Carrying more stuff just can't be wrong ("Pack rat you is!"), but spending perks to do it is.
</li><li><b>Pickpocket:</b> Neat for thief characters, I suppose, but effectively a convenience perk unless you really never save before stealing.
</li><li><b>Silent Running:</b> If you must play a sneaking character I guess this takes a lot of frustration out of playing, but doesn't it spoil the atmosphere? Pure convenience.
</li><li><b>Smooth Talker (3):</b> Almost the equivalent of the Gain Intelligence perk, but not quite... Better to start off with a decent IN instead, no?
</li><li><b>Tag!:</b> Since it's a skill point perk, personally I wouldn't touch it, but used correctly it can give you rather a lot of points so I'm rating it higher than the rest.
</li><li><b>Thief:</b> Pretty much the same for this. Since it gives you 40 skill points and you can get it at level 3 this is one of the best skill perks. Not that these thief skills are crucial or anything.
</li><li><b>Weapon Handling:</b> Could be used to facilitate switching to Avenger Minigun or the like early in the game, but otherwise not needed unless your ST is way too low to begin with. Just spend some skill points to compensate.
</li></ul>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
You can play a little trick with the Tag! perk. When you use it to tag a skill, it will raise the skill level by the same amount you already raised the skill, including bonuses gained during play (but <i>not</i> the initial 20% bonus). The trick is that before leaving the character screen you can lower the skill to its previous level (gaining even more skill points if the skill went above 101%), and then spend the points elsewhere. Effectively this perk can give you an amount of generic skill points at least equal to the highest amount you've gained in a non-tagged skill, and potentially much more, which makes it far superior to every other skill point perk. Although a favourite of some players, personally I think it's no big deal, since I don't care much for skill points late in the game anyway. As pointed out by Volcano, the game keeps track of the skill level if it goes above 300%, so if you tag a skill at 299% you'll get several hundred points out of it - but if you tag a skill at 300%, you can't lower it at all!</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
When you pick a skill point perk (other than Tag!) you can redistribute points only to the extent that you have previously raised that skill by investing skill points, reading books or getting one-shot bonuses. Survivalist is probably the most likely candidate of the bunch, but it's still much inferior to Tag! for the purpose. Also note that skill point perks raise skills by a fixed amount, no matter if they are tagged (in which case you lose) or higher than 101% (in which case you profit). This redistribution trick also works on a smaller scale when you buy a perk that raises a stat.</blockquote>
Useless perks which should only be chosen if you have no other options (or really want to):
<ul>
<li><b>Adrenaline Rush:</b> Gain an infinitesimal bonus, but first you'll have to be dying? Let me think.
</li><li><b>Cautious Nature:</b> Pointless for anyone but the most cowardly diplomats who can't think of anything else.
</li><li><b>Comprehension:</b> What's the use if it doesn't raise the maximum skill level which can be reached using books? See Educated etc.
</li><li><b>Cult of Personality, Karma Beacon:</b> These perks have no effect in the game. That's right, they do nothing. Take Adrenaline Rush or Light Step if you want a better perk than these two.
</li><li><b>Demolition Expert:</b> So extremely marginal.
</li><li><b>Earlier Sequence (3):</b> Not worth it.
</li><li><b>Educated (3), Gambler, Harmless, Master Thief, Medic, Mr. Fixit, Negotiator, Salesman, Speaker, Survivalist:</b> All these perks give you nothing but skill points. You don't need more skill points. You need the cool perks listed in the sections above this one.
</li><li><b>Empathy:</b> It seems like a great idea in theory, but this game simply isn't about choosing the dialogue options that keep <i>other</i> people happy.
</li><li><b>Faster Healing (3), Healer (2):</b> Healing rate is never an issue.
</li><li><b>Fortune Finder, Master Trader:</b> Money is not an issue. Fortune Finder is just awful; Master Trader isn't actively bad, just strictly unnecessary.
</li><li><b>Gain Endurance:</b> Endurance is simply not important, and this does nothing if your EN is an even number. Lifegiver is tons better for HP.
</li><li><b>Ghost:</b> Like a skill point perk only you don't get the skill points!
</li><li><b>Heave Ho!:</b> Strictly for grenade chums, and exceptionally marginal even so.
</li><li><b>Here and Now, Swift Learner (3):</b> These two help you gain levels. What's the primary purpose of gaining levels? To get perks. So why use perks to gain more levels? If you want HP and/or skill points there are much better choices anyway.
</li><li><b>Kama Sutra Master:</b> Doesn't really do anything that Sex Appeal, Sexpert and/or good physical stats don't. A sex perk is bound to be utterly marginal.
</li><li><b>Presence (3):</b> Don't bother. Extremely few critters treat you differently depending on reaction, and this perk isn't likely to be the factor that tips the scales in your favour.
</li><li><b>Light Step:</b> Not enough traps to make this remotely worthwhile. Not even if it said "never" instead of "less likely".
</li><li><b>Mysterious Stranger:</b> Utterly useless.
</li><li><b>Night Vision:</b> Situational, and doesn't do much. Increase your weapon skill instead or pick Sharpshooter.
</li><li><b>Pathfinder (2):</b> Time is not an issue in <i>Fallout 2</i>.
</li><li><b>Pyromaniac:</b> Too marginal. Should have been a <i>lot</i> more damage to have been any fun. Also note that the (Improved) Flamer is the only weapon that does fire damage (Molotov Cocktails do not, even though they have the "dancing death by fire" animation, and Flame Breaths don't count).
</li><li><b>Quick Recovery, Stonewall:</b> Both mind-numbingly marginal.
</li><li><b>Rad Resistance (2), Snakeater (2):</b> Poison and radiation aren't common enough, or difficult enough to handle, to necessitate these small bonuses.
</li><li><b>Sharpshooter:</b> Effectively just a minimal skill increase for all ranged attacks. Increase your preferred weapon skill instead and use the perk for something special.
</li></ul>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Kanhef explains Heave Ho!: "A character's maximum range for throwing weapons is ST*3. Someone with a Strength of 2 can throw things up to 6 hexes away. Taking Heave Ho! gives them an effective ST of 4, for a range of 12. However, the maximum throwing range is 8 for spears, and 15 for grenades. So raising Strength above 5 doesn't increase range at all. Characters with a Strength of 1 would benefit from this perk; it's completely useless with a Strength over 4." Throwing Knives have a maximum range of 16 hexes, but taking a perk to increase your ST 5 character's range with that particular weapon by 1 hex would seem to fall within the definition of "completely useless".</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Both Heave Ho! and Survivalist have only one rank instead of three like the manual says. Several other perks were changed (for example, all skill point perks), but their proper descriptions are in the game.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Here and Now gives you exactly the amount of xp needed to reach the next level; ideally it should be taken at a high level and after earning just enough xp to reach your current level. Well, ideally it should not be taken, but you know what I mean. You need to exit and re-enter the character screen to get the skill points and the new perk, if any. Volcano adds: "If you take Here and Now as your perk at Level 99, your accumulated xp total becomes 0. There doesn't seem to be any other effect." Taking it at level 97 gets you to level 99 (see note in the Area walkthrough introduction). This perk is available on level 3 instead of level 9 as the manual says; this is actually not a bug, but was omitted from the final patch readme.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star.gif" alt="a red star" align="left">
In v1.0 when you took Here and Now you gained an amount of xp equal to the total amount needed to reach your current level; starting at level 6 you would gain more than one level as a result, with the number of levels gained increasing with your current level. For instance, if you took the perk just after reaching level 19, you would double your total experience to 342,000 and rise to level 26. Of course, you would only be able to pick one perk afterwards. Juan adds: "When I pressed cancel and left the character screen, I saw that the text screen said 'You have gone up a level' 10 times, and my NPCs had levelled up... but they didn't lose their levels! So I tried picking and cancelling Here and Now again, and yes, my party members went gaining levels, over and over, until they reached their max level (and I still had the perk available)." With the patch NPCs will not have a chance of levelling up in this case.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Light Step is one of those mind-bogglingly stupid perks. Not only is the ability to avoid pressure plates decidedly minor, and not only does Light Step require you to pass a difficult AG check for each mine to do so, but they didn't even care to set this up for every floor trap in the game. In fact, the only places where Light Step is used are Redding and outside (but not inside) the SAD.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Contrary to what the manual says, the Master Trader perk doesn't make your own stuff more valuable, but gives you a discount on the value of goods you barter for (the <i>Fallout</i> manual has it right). The effective discount varies somewhat between shops: 20%, 25% and 50% have all been noted (probably because barter modifiers are applied cumulatively and not sequentially).</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
The Pathfinder perk appears to be slightly bugged: the first level will cut 20% of travelling time (not 25%), while the second level doesn't seem to do anything at all. In <i>Fallout</i> the perk worked as it should.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Sharpshooter is bugged and doesn't really do what the manual says; it's supposed to raise PE by 2 for sniping purposes, yet often improves your chance to hit less, and never more, than increasing PE by 1. Michal Burger figured out that this is because the perk thinks range modifiers are calculated based on PE when it's in fact PE*2, and so increases your chance to hit only half as much as it should. At least it gives you a bonus even if your PE is at 10 already.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Swift Learner decisively wins the struggle for the title of most deceptively lousy perk. It may certainly seem like a good investment when you first look at it, <i>but</i> since the xp requirement for each new level rises linearly, even if you get all three slots of Swift Learner you only ever stay a few levels ahead of someone who doesn't ruin their early game wasting invaluable perks. For starters, you have to wait until level 17 before you're even <i>one</i> whole level ahead of the "slow" learner, and if you eventually get to level 30, which should not be until the game is over anyway, you'll still be only <i>two</i> levels ahead. So, that adds up <i>eventually</i> to a few HP and skill points, for three perks... Simply put, do not choose this perk even if it threatens you with a radiated stick.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star.gif" alt="a red star" align="left">
There are a few implemented perks which you cannot gain, namely Animal Friend, Flower Child, Mental Block and Scrounger. They were in the original <i>Fallout</i>. Rumours that you can get some or all of them in <i>Fallout 2</i> are completely unsubstantiated, and only Flower Child has any effect should you add it using a character editor.</blockquote>
<h4>Suggested characters</h4>
First of all, none of that "theme character" nonsense, like tagging Science and Repair and choosing "tech perks" like Educated and Mr. Fixit, or tagging Sneak and Steal and then choosing "ninja perks" like Ghost, Pickpocket and Silent Death, or even tagging Speech and Barter and picking "diplomat perks" such as Presence, Empathy and Cult of Personality. Well, of course you could do that (and probably even finish the game), but in that case it'd be pointless for me to tell you what to do. Also I don't think you could squeeze as much out of the game as you could with a generalist. For one thing, those options will be more or less available to you anyway by the time you need them. For another thing, there are very few advantages (either minmaxing-wise or role-playing-wise) to be gained from being an "expert scientist" or "expert sneaker". Really. Wonderfully flexible as the SPECIAL system is, some characters <i>are</i> bigger than others.<br><br>
What you really need is good IN (for dialogue and skill points), good Speech, and at least one way to deliver damage efficiently. You then basically have a choice between ranged or close combat because the perk progressions are different, and another choice between going solo or gathering followers. Or you can be stupid, which is the same as, well, pitting the odds against yourself.<br><br>
The "developed" stats given below assume the following:<br><br>
<ul>
<li>ST +5 (Advanced Power Armor, memory module)
</li><li>PE +1 (memory module)
</li><li>IN +1 (memory module)
</li><li>LK +2 (NCR zeta scan)
</li></ul>
Also they include Gain Foo perks if listed in the perk progressions. By default CH remains unchanged since the +2 bonus (Mirrored Shades, memory module) is countered by the enhanced combat implants.<br><br>
<b>Team gunfighter:</b> A bright and sociable character who can bring three friends along. You can take on all quests and pack some punch.
<ul>
<li>Initial stats: ST 5, PE 6, EN 4, CH 6, IN 7, AG 7, LK 6.
</li><li>Developed stats: ST 10, PE 7, EN 4, CH 6, IN 8, AG 8, LK 8.
</li><li>Traits: Small Frame, Fast Shot.
</li><li>Tag skills: Small Guns, Lockpick, Speech.
</li><li>Perk progression: Level 3 Awareness, level 6 Quick Pockets, level 9 Better Criticals, level 12 Living Anatomy, level 15 Bonus Rate of Fire, level 18 Gain Agility, level 21 Action Boy, level 24 Sniper.
</li><li>Comments: Pick up Sulik, Vic and Cassidy for a posse of gunslingers. Later in the game you can switch to Big Guns (goes well with Fast Shot), perhaps in conjunction with pulse and/or gauss weapons. You need a Jet or Mentats for Sniper. Whether you should pick Living Anatomy or go for more AP is situational.
</li></ul>
<b>Gifted gunfighter:</b> A boosted version of the above.
<ul>
<li>Initial stats: ST 5, PE 7, EN 4, CH 6, IN 7, AG 10, LK 8.
</li><li>Developed stats: ST 10, PE 8, EN 4, CH 6, IN 8, AG 10, LK 10.
</li><li>Traits: Fast Shot, Gifted.
</li><li>Tag skills: Small Guns, Lockpick, Speech.
</li><li>Perk progression: Level 3 Awareness, level 6 Quick Pockets, level 9 Better Criticals, level 12 Living Anatomy, level 15 Bonus Rate of Fire, level 18 Action Boy, level 21 Action Boy, level 24 Sniper.
</li><li>Comments: See Team gunfighter. Basically you're a deadly gunman (or -woman) who can also pick up a few NPCs.
</li></ul>
<b>Solo sniper:</b> A character that can do almost everything in the game and mostly relies on ranged (and deadly) sniping to conquer the enemy. A bit harder to play early in the game.
<ul>
<li>Initial stats: ST 5, PE 7, EN 4, CH 1, IN 7, AG 9, LK 8.
</li><li>Developed stats: ST 10, PE 8, EN 4, CH 1, IN 8, AG 10, LK 10.
</li><li>Traits: Small Frame, Finesse.
</li><li>Tag skills: Small Guns, Lockpick, Speech.
</li><li>Perk progression: Level 3 Awareness, level 6 Quick Pockets, level 9 Better Criticals, level 12 Living Anatomy, level 15 Bonus Rate of Fire, level 18 Gain Agility, level 21 Action Boy, level 24 Sniper.
</li><li>Comments: Build Small Guns to 150% and kill everything that moves with the Scoped Hunting Rifle/Sniper Rifle/Gauss Rifle. Don't get the enhanced combat implants until you've temporarily recruited the NPCs you can get xp and other bonuses from (such as Myron's antidote quest). You can do the Mutate! thing at level 27 to get Fast Shot if you like, but you'll be pretty deadly anyway with 12 AP and a Gauss Pistol.
</li></ul>
<b>Team brawler:</b> A character devoted to Unarmed and Melee Weapons.
<ul>
<li>Initial stats: ST 5, PE 6, EN 4, CH 6, IN 7, AG 9, LK 4.
</li><li>Developed stats: ST 10, PE 7, EN 4, CH 6, IN 8, AG 10, LK 6.
</li><li>Traits: Small Frame, One Hander.
</li><li>Tag skills: Melee Weapons, Lockpick, Speech.
</li><li>Perk progression: Level 3 Awareness, level 6 Bonus Move, level 9 Better Criticals, level 12 Living Anatomy, level 15 Bonus HtH Attacks, level 18 Gain Agility, level 21 Action Boy, level 24 Slayer.
</li><li>Comments: Pick up Sulik and Cassidy. CH 6 is mostly for quest purposes; theoretically you could recruit Marcus or Goris, but I actually wouldn't. You need a quick trip to NCR around level 9 to meet the LK requirement of Better Criticals. You can move two points of CH to LK if you want, but LK ultimately isn't as important for an HtH character. The reason I choose Melee Weapons over Unarmed from the start is that it's a little better in the beginning, and there are many ways of raising Unarmed for free during the game, so that it's very easy to make the switch when the time comes.
</li></ul>
<b>Solo brawler:</b> Same as above but with less CH. Not really an improvement, though, since you lose some quest features and mostly boost Luck in return (theoretically you could boost EN instead, but I just wouldn't bother).
<ul>
<li>Initial stats: ST 5, PE 6, EN 4, CH 1, IN 7, AG 10, LK 8.
</li><li>Developed stats: ST 10, PE 7, EN 4, CH 1, IN 8, AG 10, LK 10.
</li><li>Traits: Small Frame, One Hander.
</li><li>Tag skills: Melee Weapons, Lockpick, Speech.
</li><li>Perk progression: Level 3 Awareness, level 6 Bonus Move, level 9 Better Criticals, level 12 Living Anatomy, level 15 Bonus HtH Attacks, level 18 Action Boy, level 21 Action Boy, level 24 Slayer.
</li><li>Comments: See Solo sniper (but exchange the Super Sledge or Mega Power Fist for the Gauss Rifle, and you don't do the Mutate! thing).
</li></ul>
<b>Stupid:</b> The workings of the stupid game is detailed in the Stupid section. I wouldn't recommend playing a stupid HtH character, it's rather hard enough as it is.
<ul>
<li>Initial stats: ST 5, PE 9, EN 4, CH 1, IN 3, AG 10, LK 8.
</li><li>Developed stats: ST 10, PE 10, EN 4, CH 3, IN 3, AG 10, LK 10.
</li><li>Traits: Finesse, Fast Shot.
</li><li>Tag skills: Small Guns, Doctor, Lockpick.
</li><li>Perk progression: Level 3 Awareness, level 6 Quick Pockets, level 9 Better Criticals, level 12 Living Anatomy, level 15 Bonus Rate of Fire, level 18 Action Boy, level 21 Action Boy, level 24 Sniper.
</li><li>Comments: You can substitute anything you like for Fast Shot and/or Doctor. You need 2 Mentats for Bonus Rate of Fire. You don't get the combat implants, and of course you can't get any IN rise if you want to remain true to the stupid theme. You'll probably have to fight a lot of random encounters if you want Sniper before heading off to the Enclave, because of the dearth of quest xp.
</li></ul>
<h4>Special perks</h4>
A quick list of special perks that can be gained, detailed further in the walkthrough:
<ul>
<li><b>Alcohol Lowered hit points:</b> Gained in the Parlor Room in Vault City.
</li><li><b>Alcohol Lowered hit points II:</b> Ditto.
</li><li><b>Alcohol Raised hit points:</b> Ditto.
</li><li><b>Alcohol Raised hit points II:</b> Ditto.
</li><li><b>Autodoc Lowered hit points:</b> Gained from Dr Andrew in Vault City.
</li><li><b>Autodoc Raised hit points:</b> Gained from Dr Andrew in Vault City.
</li><li><b>Expert Excrement Expeditor:</b> Gained from shovelling crap in Broken Hills.
</li><li><b>Gecko Skinning:</b> Gained from Smiley in Klamath.
</li><li><b>Dermal Impact Armor:</b> You can get this from doctors in Vault City, Redding or San Francisco once you learn about implants in Vault City.
</li><li><b>Dermal Impact Asslt. Enhance.:</b> See Dermal Impact Armour.
</li><li><b>Phoenix Armor Implants:</b> See Dermal Impact Armour.
</li><li><b>Phoenix Assault Enhancement:</b> See Dermal Impact Armour.
</li><li><b>Vault City Inoculations:</b> Gained from Dr Troy in Vault City.
</li><li><b>Vault City Training:</b> Gained from Dr Troy in Vault City.
</li><li><b>Jinxed:</b> The pariah dog will bestow this doubtful perk upon you.
</li></ul>
<h4>Reputations</h4>
During the game you will accumulate characteristics which are neither perks nor traits, but presented alongside them. They're often called "karmic traits", or even "perks", but the manual calls them "special reputations". They don't affect your stats (other than Prizefighter, which could just as well have been a special perk), only how people in the game world react to you.
<ul>
<li><b>Berserker:</b> Kill significantly more good people than bad people. Great pic!
</li><li><b>Champion:</b> Kill significantly more bad people than good people and don't be a Childkiller.
</li><li><b>Childkiller:</b> Kill a child for any reason, even by accident.
</li><li><b>Gigolo:</b> Have sex a lot (or just once, providing you're extremely good at it). (For a woman, this should actually read "Gigole".)
</li><li><b>Grave Digger:</b> Dig up a grave other than Anna's, the fallout shelter in Golgotha, or the buried ghoul in Golgotha.
</li><li><b>Made Man:</b> Join a family in New Reno.
</li><li><b>Married:</b> Marry Miria or Davin in Modoc.
</li><li><b>Porn Star:</b> If you shoot a movie at the Golden Globes.
</li><li><b>Prizefighter:</b> Win the boxing title in New Reno.
</li><li><b>Separated:</b> Have your spouse killed or sold into slavery, or get divorced in New Reno.
</li><li><b>Sexpert:</b> Have sex ten times.
</li><li><b>Slaver:</b> Join Metzger's guild in the Den.
</li></ul>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
The people of the <i>Fallout</i> world seem to adopt an "Einmal ist Keinmal" philosophy when it comes to childkilling. This means that even though you get the Childkiller label on your character sheet for killing one child, scripts always check to see if you've killed two kids or more (including the bounty hunters on the world map). I won't spell this out every time, though, so in the walkthrough, "Childkiller" should be read as "having killed two children or more".</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
If any of your NPCs kills a child you don't get the Childkiller reputation.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
There are a few kids who increase your child kill count twice because of a script redundancy (and thus instantly make you a "real" Childkiller): these are Jonny in Modoc, the Slag kids, and Curtis in Vault City.</blockquote>
Your actual karma level will be described using the karmic titles, from "most good" to "most evil": Savior of the Damned, Guardian of the Wastes, Shield of Hope, Defender, Wanderer, Betrayer, Sword of Despair, Scourge of the Wastes and Demon Spawn. Each 250 karma in either direction from 0 will earn you a new title. I find that being a shameless opportunist will net you high positive karma in the end - which could mean that the designers have strange notions about morality, but more likely just reflects the fact that there are more good things to do in the game than bad ones.<br><br>
Reputation in specific towns are reflected by the standings: Idolized, Liked, Accepted, Neutral, Antipathy, Hated and Vilified. Like your karma level this is a representation of a numeric value, only this one is hidden. You always start out as Neutral when you come to a place, except Klamath where you're Accepted if your CH is 6 or more, and Vault City where you start out with Antipathy. In Arroyo, of course, you're Idolized. Sadly it's not possible to reach Idolized in all settlements if that's your aim. At the Ghost Farm, for instance, you can't advance beyond Neutral even after saving all their sorry asses.<br><br>
It should be noted that karma and reputations all have a much smaller general impact on the game than one might think. They make a difference in the case of critters that look directly for certain reputations or threshold values of karma or town reputation, but the basic reaction system that factors in everything at once is hardly used at all and doesn't even work properly. It won't really make any difference whether you have 500 karma or 1500.
<h4>Radiation</h4>
And now for some stuff on radiation, which does play a small part in the <i>Fallout</i> world. Sources of radiation include Fruit, golden geckos, and aliens and centaurs in random encounters. Whenever you get a huge dose all at once, the message window says "You have received a large dose of radiation." As explained in the patch notes, the radiation sign pops up once you've reached 66 rem.<br><br>
As far as I can tell radiation damage works like this: some time after you absorb a dose of radiation, you'll get one of the messages listed below, and you may temporarily lose stat points, Healing Rate and current Hit Points. The severity of the "attack" depends on your total rem count, but also on the amount of recent radiation that triggered the message. After 7 days, your stats will return to normal. A little confusingly, this is signalled by another message identical to the first one. If you absorb more radiation in the meanwhile, your current penalty may be replaced by a more severe one.<br><br>
Here's a list of the penalties you may suffer. The rem figures are rough approximations.<br><br>
<table>
<tbody><tr>
<td width="50"><b>Rem</b></td>
<td width="180"><b>Message</b></td>
<td width="50"><b>HR</b></td>
<td width="50"><b>CHP</b></td>
<td width="50"><b>ST</b></td>
<td width="50"><b>PE</b></td>
<td width="50"><b>EN</b></td>
<td width="50"><b>CH</b></td>
<td width="50"><b>IN</b></td>
<td width="50"><b>AG</b></td>
</tr>
<tr><td>>0</td><td>"very nauseous"</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr>
<tr><td>>150</td><td>"slightly fatigued"</td><td></td><td></td><td><nobr>-1</nobr></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr>
<tr><td>>300</td><td>"vomiting does not stop"</td><td><nobr>-3</nobr></td><td></td><td><nobr>-1</nobr></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td><nobr>-1</nobr></td></tr>
<tr><td>>450</td><td>"hair is falling out"</td><td><nobr>-5</nobr></td><td><nobr>-5</nobr></td><td><nobr>-2</nobr></td><td></td><td><nobr>-1</nobr></td><td></td><td></td><td><nobr>-2</nobr></td></tr>
<tr><td>>600</td><td>"skin is falling off"</td><td><nobr>-10</nobr></td><td><nobr>-15</nobr></td><td><nobr>-4</nobr></td><td><nobr>-3</nobr></td><td><nobr>-3</nobr></td><td><nobr>-3</nobr></td><td><nobr>-1</nobr></td><td><nobr>-5</nobr></td></tr>
<tr><td>>1000</td><td>"intense agony"</td><td><nobr>-10</nobr></td><td><nobr>-20</nobr></td><td><nobr>-6</nobr></td><td><nobr>-5</nobr></td><td><nobr>-5</nobr></td><td><nobr>-5</nobr></td><td><nobr>-3</nobr></td><td><nobr>-6</nobr></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br>
You will expire from your condition if any of these stats except for Healing Rate (including CH) drops to 0 or below. This is checked only at the moment when they are lowered, so you may be able to use drugs to stay alive. Assuming you don't die in this manner, you can live with any kind of rem count and still run around with no penalty whatsoever. In any normal game, radiation is not a significant factor; in fact, in order to reach even 300 rem you'd have to run several laps around the Gecko reactor room or purposely hang around the Toxic waste dump. From what I can tell, there is never any permanent damage resulting from radiation.<br><br><hr>
</a><a name="areas"></a><h3>Area walkthrough</h3>
<blockquote>"Do I look like a cartographer? You want to scour the desert for them, you go right ahead."<br>
--Myron</blockquote>
Each area walkthrough follows roughly the same pattern: first a general run-down of important people to talk to and things to do that aren't technically quests, then a numbered list of quests just as they're presented in your Pipboy (including typos!). Solutions to some quests are spread across several areas. This is not strictly a walkthrough in the "do this, then do that" sense, but there's enough information and general advice that you should be able to figure out how to do stuff, and have more fun in the process.<br><br>
Locations on the world map are marked with circles in three sizes. The ones with a large green circle (town-size) can always be found even if you don't know it's there beforehand, while the other two (cave-, farm- or base-size) generally don't appear until someone's revealed their location to you. There are two exceptions: Vault 15 and the Raiders location are medium-sized but are there from the start anyway (see the Raiders section for some speculation on this anomaly). Also note that the Military Base is counter-intuitively city-sized. The difference between small and medium locations are that the small ones don't have town maps.
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
It should be noted that not all dialogue options described in this walkthrough will be available to a character with middling ability or skill scores (typically IN or Speech). As a rule of thumb, "smart" dialogue options require IN 6 or 7, while "supersmart" ones take IN 8 or 9. (There are a few IN 10 lines in the game, but all of them are inconsequential - Karl, Laddie and Gregory have them. Karl's is even a typo in the script.) You can always try chewing Mentats if you have them.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
There are ugly tricks you can play early in the game if you know where to find certain locations and items, such as going to San Francisco from Arroyo, then to Navarro and get the Advanced Power Armor, Pulse Rifle and about 25,000 xp right away. This pretty much spoils the entire game for me, so I'll just do this in the order I usually go places.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
The game will end after 13 years of game time (which would correspond to 25 Jul 2254). This event will be marked by a slightly animated screen saying "the end". Even if you play a "go everywhere, do everything" kind of game, you should only use up 3-4 years at the most, and even if you want to walk around the wasteland levelling up endlessly from mindless random encounters, you should be fed up before 13 years have elapsed.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Speaking of levelling up endlessly, you cannot advance beyond level 99. (Oddly, when you reach the 4,753,000 xp needed for level 98 you gain two levels at once, skipping to level 99.) This should not really be a problem, either. In <i>Fallout</i> the limit was 21...</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star.gif" alt="a red star" align="left">
At any time when you get to choose your destination on a town map, you can press a number on your keyboard instead of clicking a green triangle. This way you end up on a location in that town corresponding to the number you pressed, even if you didn't have access to that area previously. This can be used in various ways for convenience or cheating (Alex del Río notes you can enter the Gecko power plant after blowing it up by pressing 2 on the town map and getting another 2500 xp when you get out of there), but needless to say it could interact weirdly with quests and dialogues, and you can even end up getting stuck inside walls, so don't do it in a serious game unless you know exactly what you're doing.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star.gif" alt="a red star" align="left">
Another general cheat/bug... pressing 0 (zero) in any conversation will instantly end it. For instance, if someone says they're going to kill you, and you press 0, they may not turn hostile, or if you end up in a dialogue thread which leads only to an undesirable end, you can abort it entirely. (E.g. you could get out of fighting Darion in Vault 15 and then kill him with Super Stimpaks, if for some reason you don't feel like fighting his gang.) Using this "trick" may prompt unexpected dialogue and cause quests to reset or abort - you have been warned.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star.gif" alt="a red star" align="left">
Sean Meskill discovered a way to rest anywhere: "When you have enough status entries (names of locations) that they start to physically appear in the space where the alarm clock entries appear, then you can do the trick. Go someplace where you cannot rest. Enter the Pipboy. Press status. Press the alarm clock, then after it says you cannot rest here click a status item that physically corresponds to an alarm clock item. It will then switch to the rest menu, with the rest option that is in the same place as whatever status item you pressed being used. Usually you can't rest very long doing this, but you can do it as many times as you want. Very useful." Once the rest options appear, you have to click in between them. You need quest entries for at least four locations to be able to access the "Rest for ten minutes" option, and you can never access "Rest until party is healed".</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star.gif" alt="a red star" align="left">
Michal Zalewski found another exploit: "If you are at the brink of an impossible to win encounter, and have no other options (say, you are on the second floor of one of New Reno casinos and have a lot of hostile guards below and only one exit), you can save your game, go to the main screen, hit <nobr>Ctrl-R</nobr> and load an arbitrary map, then load your game, walk past the combatants (they will not notice your proximity) and reach safety, save again, hit <nobr>Ctrl-R</nobr> and load the last save in the normal mode. Although it is cheating, it is sometimes a better option than replaying several hours of the game. If you feel particularly naughty, you can plant explosives near critters or kill them with Super Stimpaks. This also works if you want to avoid certain scripts. The method won't work if you have already entered combat mode. As a side note, there are some funny consequences to entering the combat mode while in <nobr>Ctrl-R</nobr> - most notably, it is possible to get killed, then walk away with negative HP. Quite unfortunately, you will still remain flagged as dead, so if you save the game and then load it in normal mode, the game will immediately end even if your HP is positive. The game may get mangled in <nobr>Ctrl-R</nobr> mode on some occasions (it is possible to crash it, or be stuck in endless combat mode), but it seems to be a rare glitch; once you get past <nobr>Ctrl-R</nobr> and load the save, there are no side effects as far as I could tell." Some scripts will still be active in <nobr>Ctrl-R</nobr> mode, e.g. a guard may prevent you from opening a door even if he won't attack. Experiment at your own risk...</blockquote>
<hr>
<a name="temple"></a><h3>Temple of Trials</h3>
<blockquote>"It's a peaceful village. Except for the plants possessed by evil spirits... and of course, the temple of trials filled with those deadly spear traps and the man-eating giant ants."<br>
--The Chosen One</blockquote>
After a cutscene with the village Elder you start outside the entrance to the temple, proudly owning a Spear. Don't attack your tribesmate, there's nothing to be gained and you'll regret it very much later on. Enter the temple and you find yourself in a hallway. Kill the ants and press forward, exploring the side rooms and corridors. Open the second door using whatever puny Lockpick skill you may have. Kill everything (good xp at this point), loot the chests, pots and bones. Might as well bring as many Scorpion Tails as you can carry, too.
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star2.gif" alt="a blue star" align="left">
In the temple you might as well get into the habit of saving a lot. You may not need it, but it doesn't hurt. Save before taking on a bunch of scorpions. Save before disarming a set of traps. Save before setting the explosives or talking to Cameron. Save before taking the hidden elevator to the secret stash of energy weapons. Kidding.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star2.gif" alt="a blue star" align="left">
There's a helpful close combat trick you should be using throughout the temple, and whenever it's necessary. Attack your foe just once, then use your remaining AP to run away. They'll follow you, but may not have enough AP to strike back, which will simplify things. You can even run them around in circles if they refuse to die quickly. Masklinn adds: "Actually, the Temple of Trials mobs (ants and scorpions) can only walk 2 hexes and still be able to hit you. All you have to do is run 3 hexes away from them and you're safe. This means that a character with 9 AP can land two punches before you have to run, 10 AP granting you one Spear attack and one punch, or one kick and one punch. So basically a character at or above Agility 8 will do the temple a tad faster and easier."</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
There's no point to using targeted blows in Temple of Trials or just afterwards, since critical hits are disabled for the first day of game time. Critical failures are disabled for the first five days.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star2.gif" alt="a blue star" align="left">
From now on I won't comment on this unless there are noteworthy items to pick up, but you should search all the bookcases, shelves, bookshelves, dressers, desks, lockers, chests, footlockers, fridges, ice chests, bones, pots, tables, stuff, workbenches, tool boards, wall safes, floor safes, ammo crates, poor boxes, pool tables, mining machines, iguana stands, boxes, crates and other searchable containers as you progress through the game. After a while you learn to recognize searchable objects on sight. Hard-core gamers will search <i>all</i> of them and take <i>everything</i>. :) There are a few deplorable areas though which abound with empty containers, notably Broken Hills and San Francisco.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star2.gif" alt="a blue star" align="left">
In this game items on the ground or in corpses do not decay, so you can return and pick them up later on unless they're on a map you can't return to (which will, eventually, be true for all of Arroyo and the Temple of Trials). However, to pick up an item you must be able to click on it, so if a dropped item or a corpse is completely hidden by opaque scenery then it will be lost!</blockquote>
On the second map your character will probably start spotting floor traps. If he or she doesn't, you can walk to and fro to make it happen, unless you have a woefully low PE. Should you have the patience, disarm the traps for 25 xp each. If you're reckless and set off a trap, you can pick up the Sharpened Pole which nearly lodged in your chest (or maybe did). To avoid the traps altogether, keep to the right-hand wall. At one point you're required to set an explosive charge (found in a tall pot nearby) in front of a door, which shouldn't be too difficult. Beware of the trap on the doorstep.
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star2.gif" alt="a blue star" align="left">
"You see a raised plate" is the game's universal message that your character has spotted a floor trap, so pay attention and learn to identify them. Floor traps seldom appear alone. (Apparently, even in hi-tech military installations devilishly inconspicuous pressure plates are used to trigger traps. You'd have thought they could use, I don't know, motion or IR sensors instead.) If you fail critically while disarming a floor trap it will say that you accidentally set off the trap; this is not strictly true, as the trap often does not go off, but you can't attempt to disarm it again.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star2.gif" alt="a blue star" align="left">
You can set the timer on the explosives in your inventory and then drop it, or another way is to put it in an active item slot, leave the inventory window and use it from there; you'll then drop it automatically. Even with a puny Traps skill you can set the timer to the minimum of 10 seconds and run clear before the bomb goes off, whether you get the "explosive detonates prematurely" message or not.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star2.gif" alt="a blue star" align="left">
You can open a lot of doors and forcefields in the game using explosives, grenades or rockets, and also unlock containers, but you shouldn't make a habit out of it. Some weak doors can be kicked in or smashed with any weapon, but those are never locked anyway. Normal doors can only be destroyed by explosive damage, so Bozar blasts and Super Sledge wallops are out. Sturdy doors need three blasts to destroy them, so I wouldn't bother, and many hi-tech doors can be expected to resist this kind of assault indefinitely. On some maps you can use a Crowbar from inventory to unlock containers even with a modest ST, but on others it won't work.</blockquote>
At the entrance to the inner sanctum you find Cameron, who represents your final test. There are three ways to get past him:
<ul>
<li>Fight him unarmed after a conversation (and without access to your Healing Powder) for 300 xp.
</li><li>Steal his key and unlock the door behind his back for 600 xp.
</li><li>Talk him out of fighting (IN 4 required and Speech must be tagged) for 600 xp.
</li></ul>
Beware that even though he says it's not a battle to the death, it is - for you! He'll happily strike a killing blow even if you're at one Hit Point; you, on the other hand, have to beat 20 HP out of him at which point he'll end the fight. In the unlikely case that you happen to kill him you'll have to take the key and unlock the door (still 300 xp), but the villagers won't hold you accountable. If you fight him, afterwards you'll have to go back to the previous room where your belongings have been stashed in a chest. Then go to the exit grid at the top. Cutscene alert!
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Warlord notes: "You can trick the Temple of Trials final trial nicely, if you drop the Spear before talking. You just have to watch out, because if you drop it too close to the man, he'll pick it up in his first round and whack you up pretty good." You could even drop a Sharpened Pole for him to pick up; he'll do a little more damage with it, but he should hit a little less often, and he gets two attacks with it each turn instead of three.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Players often get sick of the temple after starting too many games that didn't progress very far beyond it. Actually it won't affect your game in any serious way if you just run as quickly as you can to each exit. You'll probably have to fight six or seven ants along the way, but that's it. As long as you don't have to fight Cameron the whole thing should be over in a couple of minutes. Personally I think the Temple of Trials is as much a part of the game as any other stage - and also serves to demonstrate the extreme range of playing experiences the game engine has to offer.</blockquote>
<hr>
<a name="arroyo"></a><h3>Arroyo</h3>
<blockquote>"I wonder how my cousins in Arroyo are doing? I hope they're flourishing."<br>
"Of course they are! Unless some rat-bastard slaughters them all."<br>
--Seymour and Typhon</blockquote>
It seems you're the only one around with a fashion sense, and now you have access to the Pipboy as well. First off go talk to the Elder to get your quests proper, Vic's Water Flask and some cash ($152 to be precise, but you don't get it if your Intelligence is below 4). Klamath will already be on the world map.
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star2.gif" alt="a blue star" align="left">
As good an opportunity as any to practise being polite. Like I said in the introduction, I'm assuming you want to do as much as possible of what's available to you, and this means you really won't be able to role-play either an inherently noble character or a terminally sarcastic one. The former because there are several quests where you'll get your best result doing something "bad" to begin with, then following up with something good, as well as other borderline or outright evil quests which are simply too neat to pass up. The latter because it's a well-known fact that in computer RPGs which let you play an "evil" or grouchy character, you'll ultimately be punished for doing so because if you tell everyone you meet how ugly they are, they won't give you quests or bonuses. Such is life. You can always pretend you're role-playing a psychopath who acts nice outwardly because he knows it will suit his purposes, while all the time thinking of new ways to strangle people with their own intestines.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
If you attacked Klint or Cameron in the Temple of Trials section, everyone will be hostile when you arrive here. You can run to the exit of the village before they can kill you, but then the game will end. The game will also come to a stop if you manage to end combat (for instance by running to the hunting grounds) and rest until midnight. Same thing happens should you ever attack anyone in Arroyo (or even off them with Super Stimpaks), so don't.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Using the Steal skill on any of the unarmed wandering villagers and passing a Steal check will lower your karma even if you don't take anything (they have nothing to take). This can mess up your dealings with Hakunin, so watch out.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star.gif" alt="a red star" align="left">
On special dates your Pipboy will say things like "Happy New Year!" and "Happy Valentine's Day!". Ain't that cute. It also has its own screen saver which shows falling bombs.</blockquote>
The nutty old shaman Hakunin will heal you to full HP and remove poison for free at any time, providing your karma is not negative. Talk to the not-so-bright Feargus by the well, then fix it (Repair) for 100 xp. This can be done no matter how low your Repair skill. Everyone else includes this in their walkthrough so I guess I should too: there's $100 in aunt Morlis' hut which you should go and grab even if you're not going to search all the containers around you... but you <i>are</i>, right?
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star.gif" alt="a red star" align="left">
Ever wondered why there is at least one Feargus or similarly named character in each of <i>Fallout 2</i>, <i>Baldur's Gate</i>, <i>Baldur's Gate II</i>, <i>Planescape: Torment</i> and <i>Icewind Dale</i>? It might have something to do with Black Isle director Feargus MacRae Urquhart; there are close to a dozen names in these games derived from his (including Cassidy's original name, which shows up if you sell him to Metzger). Names of other developers abound, but none of them sticks out as much. "Smitty" is another ubiquitous cognomen - there are four of those in the two <i>Fallout</i> games, and there might well have been a fifth...</blockquote>
If you have AG 6, talk to Lucas by the stone head and he'll train you to Unarmed 40% if your current skill level is lower than that, else to 55% if you aren't this good already (a good reason not to tag that skill). He has a bag of Healing Powder, so take it and leave him with a few useless Scorpion Tails instead, since you probably can't carry them all into the desert anyway. If you want to barter, do it before the training. Talk to Jordan in the tent northeast of there for +10% to your Melee Weapons if your currect skill level is 36% or higher (if you don't meet the requirement you can return later in the game and get the training). Cameron at the top of the map will give you +10% Unarmed and +10% Melee Weapons, but only if your AG is 6 or less and you tagged none of the six combat skills (if you're proficient with Big Guns he apparently thinks you're ready to face the horrors of the wasteland). Depending on your starting skill you might want to get Lucas' bonus first. In case you forgot your stuff in the temple, or you have a craving to bash some helpless left-over scorpions, you can re-enter the temple by taking the northern exit grid to the front entrance or by entering the cave beside Cameron.
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star2.gif" alt="a blue star" align="left">
Skill rises received from training or other activities can be affected by whether or not you've tagged the skill in question and/or whether it's above 101%. Thus values given in the guide may not always exactly correspond to what you actually end up with.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Because of a bug you need to get Cameron's training before talking to Hakunin at all.</blockquote>
During the game you'll see four Hakunin dream sequences, which will befall you on 23 Oct 2241, 21 Jan 2242, 21 Apr 2242 and 20 Jul 2242. When you leave Vault 13 after getting the xp for finding it (no matter if you got the G.E.C.K. or even talked to the deathclaws), or leave San Francisco after getting the tanker ready to go, you'll always jump ahead to the fourth sequence ("the village dies"). As time passes the garden and fields will go empty and people will become generally despairing. After 90 days, which corresponds to the first Hakunin dream sequence, you will be unable to get (or to finish, if you already got them) quests 1, 3 and 4, and Hakunin won't give you healing or make Healing Powder any more. After 91 days you'll be unable to get the Water Flask and cash from the Elder.<br><br>
If you return to Arroyo after seeing the fourth Hakunin dream sequence, the bridge will be destroyed and the village inaccessible. A dying Hakunin will greet you with a story of how the villagers were taken south in vertibirds, and Navarro appears on your world map. You don't have to return here and whether you do or not has basically no effect on the rest of the game.
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
If you find Vault 13 but don't enter it, Arroyo won't change, but Hakunin's description and dialogue will! This should be a pretty rare occurrence, but it did happen to me once. Hakunin won't actually die after you talk to him, and it won't put Navarro on your world map. Another funny thing is that if you're in Arroyo when you get the fourth vision and talk to Nagor, he'll tell you that Morlis cooked Smoke... but if you didn't rescue Smoke already, you can go and do that (although as noted above you get no xp for it and Nagor's dialogue doesn't change).</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
The Arroyo bridge location will actually change to a whole new map, so if your car is parked there at the time it will be lost forever, along with any NPCs left on that map or any other Arroyo map.</blockquote>
<ol>
<b></b><li><b>Rescue Nagor's dog, Smoke, from the wilds.</b><br><br>
Nagor is to the east of Hakunin's garden, the dog is in the hunting grounds area to the west. Go there, kill any hostile geckos (or Sneak past them), grab all the Broc Flowers and Xander Roots you can get, and avoid stepping on the green slime. When you get to the dog at the top left it'll follow you back and even help you kill geckos on the way. The flowers and geckos reset every day if you leave the map and return. It may seem like an idea to stay here and level up from killing geckos, but actually it's much more work than it's worth, so only do that if you're close to levelling up already and can't wait (or see the note below). You get 100 xp for returning the dog alive. If you tell Nagor the dog died, he'll run off on his own to look for it unless you ask him not to, and he'll also take off if you turn down the quest. If you then follow him to the hunting grounds, he'll be lying dead next to a dead gecko, the dog will be gone, and you can't strike the quest off your quest list. But you can take a Spear from Nagor's cold body.
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
Zuger's patented levelling technique: "The easiest way to get xp from stealing is from the drugged-up geckos in Arroyo. Just plant and steal Broc Flowers. Easiest way to level up early on in the game. Gets a bit tedious though. With a Steal of like 10% I managed to steal and plant Broc Flowers at least 5 times." Make sure there are no hostile geckos nearby if you do this, since the peaceful ones will turn hostile as well if you start a fight.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star2.gif" alt="a blue star" align="left">
In combat, all normal and golden geckos will run for and eat any Iguana-on-a-stick or Meat Jerky dropped on the ground, attacking if they have any AP left. They will also pick up punching weapons like Spiked Knuckles and Power Fists! And then use them against you!</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star2.gif" alt="a blue star" align="left">
This is only the first of many quests, dialogues and details which will be unavailable if your Intelligence is less than 4. I won't bother to tell you about that any more, but I will note where there are special benefits or odd happenings to be gained from being stupid.</blockquote>
<b></b></li><li><b>Find Vic the Trader.</b><br><br>
This won't happen for a little while yet. If you're curious, see the Den, quest 8.<br><br>
<b></b></li><li><b>Obtain flint to have Mynoc sharpen your spear.</b><br><br>
Talk to the guard by the bridge on the village perimeter. If you have at least PE 6 you can ask him about his spear, and he'll send you to your grumpy aunt to get some Flint. You can:<br><br>
<ul type="disc">
<li>Buy it from her in dialogue with 3 Healing Powder.
</li><li>Barter one Scorpion Tail for it.
</li><li>Ask nicely for it if you have at least Speech 51% and pass a skill check, 50 xp in this.
</li><li>Steal it.
</li><li>Get caught stealing twice and she'll give it to you.
</li></ul><br>
If you got it by bartering, stealing or getting caught stealing you can still get the xp for using Speech, or even another piece of Flint by trading Healing Powder, but there's no use for two. When you return to Mynoc he turns one of your Spears into a Sharpened Spear, which is good. Better yet, drop all your Spears beforehand and he'll give you a new one. Tribals are kinda stupid.
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
After you've been to Klamath or the Den, Mynoc's dialogue changes so you can't get or finish the quest.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star2.gif" alt="a blue star" align="left">
Geoffrey Bateman reports a cheat with far-reaching applications: "When you talk to Aunt Morlis and try to get the Flint from her, get to the screen where you have the option of saying something like, 'Sure, I have 3 healing powders right here', then go to the barter screen, drop all your Healing Powders, go back to the talk screen, and select that dialogue option. You get the Flint without losing anything (the game only checks your inventory before displaying the dialogue option, not after you select it), then you just have to pick up your Powders. It also works with upgrading weapons. Just get to the screen where you choose the specific weapon to be upgraded, then switch to barter and drop the gun before selecting it to be upgraded; you'll get the upgraded weapon (full of ammo, of course) from the person, then you can pick up your non-upgraded gun. Unfortunately, this won't work with Algernon, who won't barter, so you have to pay for the upgrade to make this work. This trick might also be useful in situations where you pay someone through a dialogue choice, like paying Metzger for Vic: drop all your money, then 'pay' him, pick up your money..." You can get all four combat implants for free in Redding this way, for one thing, as long as you carry $30,000 and one suit of Combat Armor. Sebastian Cassten who also told me about the trick notes that you can use it to keep quest items (such as the above-mentioned Flint), although this will appeal exclusively to item hoarders.</blockquote>
<b></b></li><li><b>Kill the evil plants that infest Hakunin's garden.</b><br><br>
Talk to Hakunin and agree to kill the plants, or just go and kill them. They shouldn't be too much of a problem. You gain 100 xp. Report back to Hakunin for 2 Healing Powders, and he will now be able to concoct Healing Powder if you give him a Broc Flower and a Xander Root. Since it's possible you won't return here, scout the hunting grounds until you have an equal number of roots and flowers, then turn them all into powder. Do keep any roots and flowers you find in the future, though, since you'll get another chance to make use of them (and until you get the first dream sequence you can always return and enlist Hakunin's skills again).
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
The ranged attack of the plants is considerably less dangerous than their bite (plus they run out of spikes pretty quickly), so a good gardening technique is to hit them once, run away two hexes and end turn, then move in and repeat.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star3.gif" alt="a green star" align="left">
If you have negative karma or if you've offended Hakunin, he'll offer this quest as a way of making amends. In the former case you still have to get your karma to 0 or better before he will give you the reward. In the latter case, keep insulting him until his reaction level drops so low that he forgets he's mad at you (bug). After that he'll offer normal dialogue, although the talking head looks none too happy.</blockquote>
<b></b></li><li><b>Retrieve the GECK for Arroyo.</b><br><br>
This won't happen for a <i>long</i> while yet (unless you're using stupid short cut techniques). You gain 4000 xp when you first lay hands on a G.E.C.K.
</li></ol>
<hr>
<a name="klamath"></a><h3>Klamath</h3>
<blockquote>"Most people have evil spirits. You? You have stupid spirits. Go see shaman, get hole in head..."<br>
--Sulik</blockquote>
Klamath is a quiet, out-of-the-way town, but can seem like something of a metropolis to someone who's used to huts and tents. Read the notice board to get a feel of what's going down. You can also talk to the town greeter, but he wants cash and it's a waste unless this is your first game... and it's not, is it? :) For some reason he carries a Molotov Cocktail which you can steal and throw at him for a laugh. Or not.<br><br>
In Klamath you find your first shops, one in the Golden Gecko and one at the Buckners' place, which both restock every 2 days. The Gecko is a rough place where trappers hang out (you need a low or middling town reputation to crash here), while Buckner House is a tad friendlier. Things you should buy include all 10mm AP, perhaps some Healing Powder if you don't have about 10 or so of those already, and the Leather Armor if you can afford it (especially if you're playing a mêlée character, since there won't be much else to invest in for quite a while). Stimpaks are in all likelihood not worth the price right now. Sajag at the Golden Gecko will give you a discount if you're charming enough, or if you just keep bugging him about it. If you rent a room at either establishment you're essentially paying $25 to rest 8 hours and recuperate HP equal to four times your Healing Rate, while NPCs aren't healed at all. I'd practice my healing skills instead.
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star2.gif" alt="a blue star" align="left">
Shops usually restock every 2-4 days, randomly decided (exceptions will be noted in the walkthrough). It won't happen while you're on the same map (though sometimes if you talk repeatedly to a shopkeeper they may reveal a weapon they were holding back for personal use), and also items won't accumulate endlessly. Items that a storekeeper keeps in regular stock will fluctuate in number (and choice items may not appear at all), but anything else you sell them will remain. Usually when you kill a shopkeeper, their inventory appears on their corpse even if you couldn't steal it off them previously, but not always. Of course, if you kill Maida Buckner or Sajag you'll have to fight the rest of Klamath as well.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star.gif" alt="a red star" align="left">
Most shops in the game restocked significantly less often in v1.0, typically every 1-2 weeks. The patch notes only mention they get money more often, but it goes for the rest of their inventory as well.</blockquote>
<blockquote><img height="12" src="./Fallout 2 Walkthrough_files/star2.gif" alt="a blue star" align="left">
You never lose anything by converting unwanted items into cash, so you should take every opportunity to do so. This is because your items always sell for the same value; Barter levels, discounts and so on all affect the prices of the <i>other</i> party's goods. But one of their dollars always trades for a dollar's worth of equipment. This is also useful to know when you're buying something expensive and can't carry all the junk you'd like to trade in for it; just pay in cash, and then trade in stuff for that cash at your leisure. Note however that most shopkeepers restock money along with their other wares, at which time any amount of cash in excess of what they usually carry will disappear.</blockquote>