Eugene is no normal minigun. That is the name of it actually in the game. Damage vs hunting rifle? Hunting rifle is about 20 points of damage if repaired to full. 1 bullet from Eugene is about 60 points damage. Also, Eugene packs 240 bullets vs 5 for the hunting rifle. Do the math.

Also - I don't use VATS at all. Playing the hardest level with no VATS use. VATS is too powerful. Makes things way too easy. Game would be boring with its use.

-S

PS. Try taking down the Giant version (there are small ones the you could probably dispatch with a hunting rifle, and then there are the scary ones!) of the Radscorpion with your hunting rifle - even with VATS. Not gonna happen. Eugene makes short work of them.

PPS. Playing on the hardest level has the habit of making things take longer to drop too. They probably take 3 times the damage as of normal. You however, you die just as quick as playing on normal!

Regarding V.A.T.S, I like to see bullets fly in slow motion and dismember the opponent, I never get tired of seeing a long range shot from the rifle. Besides, V.A.T.S is all that's left of the previous Fallouts "Aimed Shot" system. Good for nostalgia.

And regarding the minigun, you never mentioned you were carrying Eugene. That's a no-contest for a standard hunting rifle.

Anyway, my point is in the wastage of bullets when shooting opponents with a minigun. By the time you realize the foe is dead, you'll find that you'd emptied more bullets than what was needed due to the fast re-fire rate. With a rifle though, you can control your ammo more easily. Do the math.

But yes, i'll agree that at close quarters the minigun can be a beast, good for crowd control.

Probably dispatch the small ones with a hunting rifle? I take 'em out with a ball bat half the time.

If you're playing without Vats man, minigun will save your life on many occasion! :D Basically when an army is coming your way and there is nothing you can do but stand and fight, I don't think anything else would do.

I lug around with me Eugene, Chinese Assault Rifle, Combat Shotgun, Sniper Rifle, and both a laser pistol and a laser rifle. That gives me the tools to do the job regardless what it might be.

-S

Anyone got any tips for the beginning of the game? I'm not really sure what types of armor I should be gunning for early on. I'm still wearing a Vault 101 heavy security outfit and riot helmet. Keeping a baseball bat for close encounters and my 10mm pistol seems to do the job in short to mid range combat. Any tips would be appreciated.

Though I'll have to file them away until after Christmas. Wrath of the Lich king is sucking my life blood at the moment. Can't resist the call of a new World of Warcraft expansion.

Shishkebab and the pyro trait seriously messes up giant scorpions (and damn near anything else) throw in a dart gun shot first to kill their movement.

It slices, it dices, watch it cut a buick in half and cook it well done.


Personally I hate Sentry Bots (the ones with the tripod legs), now those suckers are dangerous.

Save your ammunition at the beginning. If you encounter opponents using Melee weapons, use melee to counter them. Also, do Moira's Wasteland Survival Guide Quest (from Megaton city), it'll help you a lot. Lucy West in Megaton also gives you a quest ( a fairly long one ) and at the end of it, you'll be the owner of the Shishkebab...a very good melee weapon.

Invest more points into your small guns skill (because small guns are the ones you'll be sticking to most of the time in the early game) , aim for headshots. Conserve ammo.

Moira will give you a Vault armored suit if I remember right, I used that for a long time until I finally got some Leather armour.

Repair skill is also very handy for both keeping your own gear together and making lots of caps too. I pretty much gather anything I find worth 10 caps or more to sell, particularly armor and weapons I gather, and repair skill lets me fix the armor and weapons i pick up, which lets me carry items worth a lot more individually having been repaired by duplicate items I found (you don't loose the value of the combined items when repairing unless you hit your skill cap to repair the item).

Gah, every single store around here has ran out of Fallout 3 for the PC :damn:

*despairs*

That's why their called Fire Ants ;)

I hired the ps3 version on Monday from my local video store , took it back on Wednesday and bought it Thursday - I'm a lover of the original games and I was worried that making it a FPS was going to really destroy the whole Fallout "atmosphere" , but Bethesda have captured it nicely :up:

Holy poo! Yahtzee actually has something good to say about FO3!:rock:

Language warning!!
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/vide.../420-Fallout-3

I don't mean to Hijack this thread, but have you guys played Yahtzee's 6 days a sacrifice, 7 days a sceptic e.t.c games ? They had a pretty good plotline and all of them combined well to form a proper climax. Bethesda should've hired Yahtzee

He did. Probably the best review he ever did on a game. Most games are lucky to get half that.

-S

Now I remember why I love Fallout 3 over World of Warcraft. One its free after the initial investment. Two it has some fairly funny weapons. Like the Shishkebab, a flaming sword of death is always a good thing to have by your side.

Also got the ripper, thats another fun weapon. Rapscorpions beware as I backpeddle and cut you at the same time!

Three. Its not as much of a time sink as WoW. Ah well, more post apocolyptic fun to be had in DC tonight. If I can ignore WoW's siren song or the server queue is too long.

This is the best advice on the board. Top- 3 skills include repair, lockpick, and speech. Science will end up being a distant fourth.

Repair not only has the capacity to make you a ton of $$$, but a bullet that does 50 points of damage is much better than a bullet that does 15 points of damage, saving you not only ammo, but killing your opponent faster as well. Take head of the repair skill

Lockpick is obvious - everything worth having practically is locked up somewhere. Some places you will never get to without 100 lockpick skill.

Speech is less obvious. With a high speech skill, you almost always get dialog choices you would not normally get earning you both XP, and additional missions, or getting you additional gear. Speech is more important than having a high weapons skill. Minimum is 50 for the beginning of the game, then max it out later.

-S