The Fallout craze is far from over. So many people have now watched the Amazon Prime TV show that it has become a highlight of the year. The show managed to distill what makes the games so great and it’s bringing new people to the franchise, but mostly to Fallout 4.
Whether you’re knew to Bethesda’s latest game in the Fallout universe or not, there are some details that you can easily miss. There are some things in Fallout 4 you just didn’t know you could do.
V.A.T.S grenades
Are grenades causing you problems? You can shoot those annoying explosives as they travel through the air by using the V.A.T.S system. Rather than try to dodge out of the way, or strafe to a safe distance, just pop the V.A.T.S button and you’ll see the grenade making its way towards you. Now, because everything is in slow motion, you can blast it with your gun and, sometimes, take out the grenade throwing enemy, too.
Round up the settlers
Are you sick of wandering around your settlement looking for the settler you need to interact with? Build a bell. It’s a super simple tactic, but once you have a bell you can ring it and all the settlers will come to you. It’s like ringing the dinner bell and then pretending you don’t have any food.
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Give your companions some power armour
Many of us know that you can hand off plenty of junk and items to your companions and turn them into a pack horse, but you can also deck them out in power armour too. Well, any clothing or armour, really, but yu might as well choose the best you have available. This will make them much less squishy in fights, too. Give them a good gun too, but don’t forget the ammo, otherwise they’ll be as useful as a chocolate fallout shelter.
Red Menace
If you explore Vault 111 you’ll find yourself a holotape called Red Menace. Slot it into your Pip-Boy and rather than a boring audio message you’ll find a Donkey Kong-inspired minigame. Obviously, Bethesda didn’t want to get sued by Nintendo like everybody else so they changed Mario into Vault Girl and the grumpy ape is now an anthropomorphised Chinese flag. Yes, you read that right. Give it a play.
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Take some drugs
You can use chem crafting stations to cook up some helpful (or downright dangerous) chem concoctions. It’s a good idea to combine the ones you use the most as this means less huffing and more fighting. If you don’t have a chem crafting station, you can find one over in Sanctuary Hill behind, you guessed it, a drug dealer’s house. Feel free to pick it up and move it into your own settlement for drugs at home.
Be SPECIAL
If you’re working on your character’s stats you will know that you have a stat called SPECIAL. After you’ve left Vault 111, you can return at any point, and you will want to. Go back at any time and visit Shaun’s bedroom, you’ll see a book on the floor called “You’re Special” (and if nobody has told recently, you are) pick this up and you’ll gain a free skill point in the SPECIAL category. Everyone likes free skill points.
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Rename your gear
Crafting stations are helpful for so many things, but one feature you might have missed is being able to rename your gear and weapons. This can be really helpful if you name your gun ‘AAA’ and use alphabetical view, or you can name everything something silly. Perhaps you want to rename your pistol something highly inappropriate? Maybe you want to call your power armour “A Warm Hug?” Have at it.
Experience a SAW trap
Head on over to the Milton General Hospital parking lot and you’ll find someone with far too much time on their hands. Fans have dubbed this area the SAW maze as it really feels like it has been pulled directly from the horror franchise. You’ll find cages, super mutant suicide bombers, gun turrets aplenty, and much more. When you get to the end there will be a treat waiting, and I do mean an actual treat.
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Become over-powered
There is no level cap in Fallout 4, and the enemies don’t scale alongside your character. This means that the longer you play, the more powerful you can become and there’s no stopping you.You can become a giga-chad who stomps across the wasteland squashing everything in one hit, or one shot. Or, you can hang around in the South end of the map where the toughest fights are… and you’ll still probably squash everything.
Make it yours
Once you have power armour it’s unlikely you’ll want to take it off. Thankfully you can make it as fancy as you like and express your personality. You should already be collecting issues of Hot Rodder which opens up new looks for the armour, but you can also change the colour. Go and visit the Atom Cats and join up with them, then you can use their customisation options to create a groovy purple suit of power armour.
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Pickpocket fusion cores
If you’ve been putting points into your sneaky stealth skills and come face-to-face with an enemy in power armour you can outsmart them. You can creep around behind them and actually pickpocket the fusion core meaning they’ll be stuck in place and can kill them quickly. Also, another note on fusion cores, take them out before they fully deplete and you can sell them for a high price.
Change the look of your Pip-Boy
Are you fed up of radioactive green as the colour of your Pip-Boy? You can actually change the colour theme for something much more chill. Perhaps a nice chase of mauve? Simply scroll down to the settings menu in your Pip-Boy and you’ll see the options to change the RGB settings meaning any colour you like, not just some predetermined options. Go for a hot pink, or a cooling light blue instead.