My game has chilled a bit on this issue. I haven't seen any new Raiders with missle launchers, only those who appear near a certain Metro station (I'm forgetting the name of it) seem to always carry these. It just seemed for awhile the every new Raider group I encountered with Marge had a dude carrying a missle launcher.

As she has gone south towards Greyditch, any raiders in this area carry lesser weapons. Thank God.




Ugh. It's spelled BAETEN, not beat!

Talons appear also at Good karma. I´ve apparently been doing bad deeds (stealing) and thus my karma level has dropped from Very Good to Good and Talons are still a regular sight.

I´ve never gotten Weld killed and there has never been a fight outside the gates of Megaton in my 350 hours. I don´t know what is up with your game, Renee!

That's so bizarre, mirocu. Yeah, in my game, every other time Marge arrives or leaves Megaton, there's a fight going on.

Right now it's Tuesday, November 11th, 2077, at 9:57 PM. Marge N. Overra is about to speak to Bryan Wilks, the little boy with the eye shadow in Grayditch. Hold on.....

So after speaking to him, not only have they become "buds", she just leveled up to 7! Heck yea!

I'm dumping 5 points into Science, so she'll finally be 50. 4 points into Sneak (33), 3 points into Energy Weapons (28) and 5 points into Lockpick. (25) There are dozens of Easy boxes & doors she hasn't been able to open. Now she'll be able to go back and loot them.

Edit: and she took the THIEF perk. :evil: That's good. She actually has been doing a bit of thievery in people's houses here and there (not that there's much to steal in Megaton). But her Sneak and Lockpick skills get boosted even higher with this perk.

Edit 2: Marge went back into Marigold station, to see if there were any Easy lockboxes she could try. Turns out there are. She also wanted to find out what's the deal with this key she found: Grady's Safe Key. She spent several game hours looking everywhere for a safe. Eventually (and this was really cool) she found Grady's Last Recording! This is like an Easter egg hunt--the recording was left nowhere near the key. It really takes some persistence to figure this out!

There was a door next to a flashing light, and Marge has already found this flashing light, but her Lockpick skill was too low, and she botched figuring out the computer passcode. ... See I love moments like this. All the pieces of the puzzle come together, and I didn't have to look on a Walkthrough to figure them out! Marge has 18 bobby pins, and is gonna try to open this door next to the rotating bubble-light.

Things are looking up for Marge.

Edit 3! Holy [censored] [censored]. All this time, I've been wanting a flashlight, or some sort of lamp or lantern to carry. I had no idea we've got this all along. I pressed and held a button too long, and whoor went the light! [censored] cool.

Marge also made 240 CAPS for selling TWO fire ant nectrars! [censored] I wish she had kept more of these. She ate most of them, and probably didn't need to. Fighting those fire ants sucked, though.

"All this time"? Pseron went through two playthroughs I believe before he discovered the Pip-Boy light!

I wish I could have put more points into Science and Lockpick because those skills are good to have. Unfortunately I reached level 20 too fast and I also needed those points for other skills

You know you can always start another playthrough/character, right? Try things a little different this way?

Emily, the young prospective slaver, had a rather interesting and funny adventure in Rivet City.

She went there to enslave Flak so she sneaked into his room at night and sucessfully enslaved him. But for some reason, when now collared Flak ran out of the room, the entire town turned hostile. Emily crouched behind [empty] filing cabinets and actually remained hidden. All the time there was shooting going on in the corridors and I had no idea who's being shot at, since Flak, according to the map, already left the city. We'll find that out a little later.

It turned out out that Flak shared his room with another merchant, Shrapnel of course and he came into the room some time later. He was also hostile but he didn't see Emily hiding behind [empty] filing cabinets. After some time of mindless walking around the room he went to sleep and Emily tried to sneak past him. He detected her so "poor" girl had no other choice but to shoot him. But the guy's essential so he just went unconscious. Now the funny thing - when he woke up, he was not hostile anymore and the entire town was going friendly with the exception of one red spot on the compass. Shrapnel ran out of the room and Emily hid again. The red spot on the compass turned out to be the RC security guard who came into the room. He was badly wounded and Emily finished him off with her hunting rifle -> the entire town went hostile again!

After hiding behind [empty] filing cabinets for another half an hour (in-game time), the town became friendly again and she could leave the room safely, even passing the guard who greeted her "I'm looking for troublemakers. Seen any?"

But the last surprise was that there was now dead Henry Young in her room which was probably the reason for already mentioned shooting. I have no idea why was he dead but looks like he somehow got into a fight with RC guards. Maybe there are even more dead NPCs around but Emily'll look for them tomorrow, now she's finally safely resting at her bed in the Weatherly hotel.

Lol. I love how Fallout has moments that are like this, just as we sometimes find in TES games.

I forgot to mention up above that Deputy Weld did come back to life. Last time Marge returned to Megaton, there he was: "Thirsty ... pard'ner? ... Try Moriarty's...." Apparently in the vanilla game somebody comes along and fixes him up every so often.

Start another... START ANOTHER!!

Imagine my parents thinking like that: "Oh yeah, he didn´t turn out so great. Lets start another character."


You can thank me and my skills as a mechanic later


Lol @ Lopov´s story!

Nope. Not the point I was trying to make, sir. It is possible to have more than one child, is it not? Now get to work!

So you guys are REALLY gonna laugh at me, but what the heck...turns out there is a SECOND DISC that comes with my copy of FO3. I was supposed to install this disc before installing the first disc. *facepalm* I am not sure exactly what's going on here, but I think the second disc contains all the DLC.

Maybe after I do this it will also somehow temper my game a bit; make it not so super-difficult. Then again, I think it said something about I should have done all of this before Marge left the Tootorial, so maybe if I install this disc now, it will somehow screw up her game?

..guess I'll find out later.

I was just messin with ya, as you do with me


You are never supposed to install the DLCs first, unless there´s some shady business going on with the Xbox that I don´t know about. And either way, it shouldn´t affect the difficulty of the game. I guess you think it´s hard because you still have a low-level character. I remember thinking it was a hard game through many levels.

That's what my "Survival Guide" says (the booklet that comes with the game): Install Disc 2 first, then install Disc 1. *shrugs*

Anyways, I went ahead and checked it out. Yes, this second disc contains all the DLC. It even allows you to choose which of the 5 extras you want to install. I chose The Pitt, Op. Anchorage, and Point Lookout. Did not choose Mothership Zeta (eww .... going on an alien ship?), or Broken Steel. I have heard Broken Steel introduces new enemies. I'm not ready for new enemies yet.

I'm about to do some gaming now. Let's see if Marge's game has 'stabilized' at all, so that it's not so ramped up with difficult moments.

EDIT: I see a change! There's a guard posted way up high, above Megaton's entrance. When Marge lured a Protectron from the wasteland back to Megaton, this guard actually shot the robot first, before Deputy Weld could intervene.

EDIT 2: Yes, things are better. Marge has encountered a slew of new NPCs, none of them had a weapon stronger than an energy rifle. No missle launchers. No multiple sub machine guns attacks. Marge is in the County Sewer Mainline.

Her sneaking has definitely improved, too, now that Sneak is rated 38. Do sneak-attacks give extra damage? She just 1-shotted a feral ghoul from a distance, and we were not using VATS. She stayed [HIDDEN] for this particular attack.

Strange. I only installed disc one (the original game) and haven´t touched the DLC-disc yet


Yes they do. You should get a message in the top left corner that says so

I´m struck by how fast you installed the DLCs. I have 350 hours and have yet to install one of them! But if it´s a must on the Xbox then it´s understandable. Otherwise any DLC can easily wait for a couple of hundred hours imo since the main game has so much to offer in itself

Well from what I understand, the only DLC which could affect my game in the Wasteland/D.C. itself is Broken Steel. The others take place in other regions, right? I'm looking forward to The Pitt. That'll be fun; wasting NPCs in Pittsburgh! (Pittsburgh is a rival city of Baltimore, Maryland).

I'm really loving this game. I had to force myself to stop playing last night so I could get to bed!

Haha! You have a personal reason to instal The Pitt then!


Considering how you felt before, I´m shocked that you say this!

----------

Some re-scavvin´ of Corvega factory. Apparently I missed exploring the factory part and only did the entrance area. Thus I missed out on the Giant Ant Queen and some goodies, but not anymore!

97.000 caps now! I have alot of things stored away in my Megaton house and I reckon that after my next big sale I´m gonna pass the magic limit and thus I´m qualified to install and explore Point Lookout!!

Which theme does Lothran your Fallout character have in his house? Marge wants to choose the Pre War theme, assuming she'll ever have enough money. She's obsessed with anything to do with Pre war. One theme she will NOT get is the Vault theme.

I have the PC GOTY edition, and installed all the dlcs at the same time I did the game. It took my a while to try them out though. The Pitt, Point Lookout, Mothership Zeta, and Operation Anchorage all take place in separate worldspaces from the Capital Wasteland. Except each adds something to the regular game to transport you to the DLC area. Like the Pitt adds a boat on the Potomac, the Pitt adds a railway station, and so on.

Broken Steel adds new areas too, but also affects the regular game. I do not always keep the other DLC running, but I always have Broken Steel loaded. It increases the level cap to 30, adds more stuff, and gives you the option of living and continuing the game after finishing the main quest beating the game. It does add some new baddies like albino radscorpions, but the only time I ever saw them was with AntAgonizer, and that was only once she had gotten well into the level 20s.

My character in FO3 is named after me; mirocu. I play as myself, sorta I have the pre-War theme too and I´m also quite obsessed with anything pre-War; I collect all pre-War money and books. I´ve looked at the other themes and all I can say is the pre-War theme is the most cozy and acceptable one. At least for me

Edit: About The Pitt. Have in mind that you have to finish the DLC´s MQ before you can come back to the Capital Wasteland.

100.000 caps

Today it happened! 100.000 caps has been collected!! The final limit was reached by selling stuff to Seagrave Holmes at Rivet City. Actually, I got a little bit more than that. But that´s no problem since I will have to bring some cash with me to Point Lookout


I´ve also been focusing on Drainage Chambers and have so far been to three, excluding any I´ve been to in the past. The last one was the one with the Chinese Remnants and all of the chambers had pretty nice loot, so I´m a very happy camper Lone Wanderer


Now to install the DLC

Congrats on meeting your goal!

Have fun playing in Maryland!

Thanks, Sub!

Any now for some pixies! I mean, you guys need proof that I really reached 100.000 caps, don´t you?

Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it!
Transaction complete!!
Back in my Megaton home...
...I offloaded what was my goal into the cabinet

I love the teddy bears on the bed and the mini-nuke on the desk!

Did you notice the toasters, the small gnome and the two pass keys?

I always notice the gnomes. My characters often collect the undamaged ones. I did notice the Wasteland Survival Guide at the edge of the desk too!

Wednesday, 11/24/77, 8:03 PM

Marge N. Overra is in the County Sewer Mainline, a rather confusing set of underground passages filled with ghouls and radroaches.

I remember reading something on one of those in-game computers awhile back about using energy weapons in certain areas. Well, I just found out what this warning entails: Marge fired her energy pistol near an area that had (what looked to be) a gas vapor leak going on. Didn't think anything of it. BOOM! Wow, I had no idea this is actually a real thing to be concerned about!

Oh yes, the gas leaks can be an unwelcome surprise. There are times when you can use them to your advantage however. In fact, I have a video!

Those gas leaks are quite fun to mess with. I have brought down many a Mutie with the help of those

Interesting, SR. You've got a lot of videos from the looks of it. Goodness. Unfortunately, Marge happened to be standing beside one of those gas mains when she fired at a rad roach. Well, it was a moment we'll both never forget.

She is now trying to deliver "Lucy's Message" which is a quest she picked up long ago just after getting out of Vault 101. The location she's supposed to go is nowhere near Megaton, so she's traveling slowly northwards, getting distracted by new people, places, and things.

She found a little market with nobody inside, but there were Abraxo Cleaner, Sugar Bomb, and bleach boxes set side-by-side. Apparently, they're placed this way so that if the PC steps on this trigger-plate, it knocks these boxes over one by one, and the final one triggers a second trigger-plate. Unfortunately, I think Marge disabled the 'punch line' (there was some sort of device on a wall she disabled before the box trick) so I'm not sure what's supposed to happen at the end.

For all I know, it could have been another explosion. One of the devs having a little "fun".

She also found a group of Hunters outside, carrying hunting rifles and wearing leather. I thought 'cool', I can stick with these guys for awhile, kinda like I'd do in a TES game, but apparently they're terrible hunters. A group of radscorpions showed up (3 of them) and within minutes, two of the three hunters were dead.

So much for that idea *shrugs*

She's supposed to deliver Lucy's Message, but it's dangerous out here. There's yet another Metro entrance nearby, wonder where it goes? ...

I messed that up too but Sub´s got a video of what happens if you do it correctly.

Installed all the DLCs today but of course only checked Point Lookout. On the PC you can´t choose which one you want unfortunately.

But PL is up and running so prepare the coffee, Renee! Because soon I´m off to Maryland!!

Cool. I wonder where in Maryland? Hope it's not Ellicott City.

I'm guessing you go to Annapolis? It's a port-town. The Navy have a major base there, too.

Apparently Point Lookout is a real-life place. You must know about it?

The Rube Goldberg at Gold Ribbon Grocer was a lot of fun. There are some big booms at the end!

Marge might not want to stick too close to those hunters. Did she check the kind of meat they were carrying? It's a little... strange.

I think that metro by the Gold Ribbon leads down to the guy making the mole rat wonder meat, which was rather interesting (Wait until you see what the recipe is!).

I do not think they ever say exactly where Point Lookout is. But from how the map is laid out, I get the feeling it is at the mouth of the Potomac, where it empties out into Chesapeake Bay.

Wow, I just used Google Maps, and I was right!

Renee should go see it in real life

Speaking of Renee, like her when she starts a new character I need to be in the right mood when I play Point Lookout. For the last few weeks I´ve been gaming FO3 whenever really, but now when I´m about to embark on a new adventure I need to be in the right place again. So it may be some time before y´all get my first report from Maryland

SR; ha ha wow, that's crazy in that video! ... And yes, Marge found some meat that was pretty strange, indeed.

mirocu: Well get yourself into the right mood, and we'll expect a full report from you, sir.

I'm actually switching from Marge to Kahreem now, the weather outside just went overcast. It's Labor day, which is one of our American holidays. Gotta game as much as I can...

Here is a combat action pose of Marge

http://i936.photobucket.com/albums/ad208/x...zps068ebd38.jpg

Looks like something out of Field & Stream magazine.

Marge is a biker chick! I love the leather armor and her motorcycle helmet. It is too bad its a single player game, she could team up with my own biker Medusa

PROLOGUE TO POINT LOOKOUT


While in my Megaton home I suddenly got a message coming through my Pip-Boy. The message told me of a boat down south that from now on offered exotic food and, more intriguingly, offered a passage over to previously unreachable areas. I will have to investigate that soon.

For now re-scavvin´ of Mama Dolce´s proved fruitful as all my previous re-scavvs have. Among alotta unpicked Chinese Assault Rifles and other valuable items I discovered yet another Nuka-Cola Quantum I apparently missed the first time! This brings my total collection of Quantum bottles up to 61, plus the 30 I brought to the addict out west.

The Mama Dolce´s re-scavv was my last for now. Whenever I feel ready I´m going to investigate that boat...

Pixies!!

The message
What the duck?
A reload fixed it
Stuck, another reload needed. Sigh.
Making a new weapon to replace the old and worn one
All done!

Whoa, where did the floor go!

You got stuck! I am not sure if that has ever happened to me in FO3. It did a few times in Oblivion though.

While you were at Mama Dolce's, did you find the mysterious doors that go to nowhere?

Actually, I got stuck there the first time I visited the place too


I knew it was there but I didn´t bother looking for it.

Btw, that Quantum bottle on the workbench is my 61st. I have the rest in the fridge

Nice! Love that outfit she's got on.



I've seen similar things happen in Skyrim....grass disappears all the sudden and there's this sort of "ice" that shows up instead. Once I had a character in Whiterun who walked out of Warmaidens, and there were no walls in Whiterun! I could see all the way to the mountains in the distance. NPCs and everything else was fine, though, there just weren't any walls.

Been playing New Vegas a lot in my spare time. Eva Bree has taken a habit of hunting fire ants and selling their salvage. It started with her wanting to help protect the 188 (I like to imagine that the Fire Ants nearby sometimes invade). She doesn't really need the money as she is fairly wealthy, but she likes trading and providing things for others to sell.

Also, the other evening Eva, Cass and Veronica decided to spend an all-nighter in The Strip to gamble for the first time! Eva and Cass like The Tops (especially now swank is in charge) but Veronica likes Gommorah (three guesses why! )

They haven't had any trouble yet, which is nice. The girls rarely get to kick back and not worry about anything.

On the subject of wealth: I've noticed it takes more time to 'make it' in Fallout, compared to Elder Scrolls. Lady Saga (in Cyrodiil/Oblivion) already has thousands of gold, for instance, after just 70 days (or thereabouts) of adventuring. In comparison, I'm sure Marge has been in the Wasteland/D.C. for a similar amount of time but she's just broke a thousand caps the other day.

She bought the Pre War theme for her house, by the way. She likes it, but I was expecting something really decorative, like we'd be able to get some drywall up or something.

I noticed that too. In my early days I had so much trouble finding caps and since you need spare parts to repair your weapons with, you wind up with many weapons that you can´t sell. In this regard I think Fallout is very similar to our world: it takes money to make money and when you have more than enough it´s even easier.


Good choice!

Nice to see you again, Diamandis!

Agreed. Not only is it harder to make money, but the PC also has to deal with a lot more dangerous moments in Fallout. Marge has been beaten, crippled, nearly killed, and has been struggling to make it. And this is on the Easy setting!

In contrast, Saga (Xbox Saga, not the 'old' one on PS3) has been just kinda breezing from one lair to the next. She's got Detect Life now, and she almost always makes her sneak-attacks with her bow. Maybe 70% of the time, the enemies she's been facing (on default difficulty) instantly get killed, and most of these shots are un-poisoned. It's at the point where she doesn't even bother to sneak all the time, the challenge is almost gone otherwise.

She has somewhere between 3 and 4,000 gold, and doesn't really entirely work for it, not like Marge does in the Capitol Wasteland.

Rivet City, my home away from home


My journey had begun. After a good night´s sleep I got up bright and early and equipped myself with the things I needed to bring with me and went out the gates separating Megaton from the Wasteland. I had only one goal today; to reach Rivet City. Apart from some Talons and the odd mutated creature, it was pretty much a smooth sailing and I gazed upon the big aircraft carrier once again in mid-day.

Apart from weapons and ammo I´ll bring along to the unknown land, I also brought some things to make my room at Wetherley Hotel feel more like home. Two of each toaster and gnome were soon set up and on the pillow a teddy bear soon rested his head. More things are sure to be added from the local merchants but for now I´m resting at the Muddy Rudder. Through my mind flies thoughts about the unknown land and I know that whatever it actually looks like, I need to be prepared...


-----


Turned out I got the wrong Intact Gnome with me. I dropped it on the floor but when I exited the Pip-Boy I couldn´t see it anywhere so I reloaded and tried again. Same thing happened. Reload again and this time I noticed it as I walked around; it was a miniature gnome and not a regular sized one! Well, I´m not going back to Megaton to get a big one and from now on, fast-travel is off-limits.

I just gotta say... I REALLY love GNR. Galaxy News Radio. I frickin' love this station. I just heard Three Dawg make a funny on the air. He started saying "This is John Henry Eaton, your president" but I could tell JHE's voice seemed a little "off". Next thing you know, it's Three Dawg! going "Ha fooled ya!"



So much personality and character in that man's antics. In the entire game, really.

I´m so glad you enjoy the game so much, Renee! In fact I´m so glad I decided to post some pixies of today´s happenings at Rivet City market


For some reason, many residents have been walking around with their weapons drawn and I don´t know why.


Put that down, Angela!
I said PUT IT DOWN!

I decided to clean up a bit and got started on the shopping carts.

Lookie, lookie! No hands!
There. Much better
Overhead view

My room at Weatherly hotel
The bed and bear

The Duchess Gambit

Finally I was off on my biggest adventure since I left Vault 101! After seeing the Rivet City merchants once more in the morning I set out to look for the mysterious boat that was supposed to be found not far from Rivet City but on the other side of the river.

As I didn´t want to go all the way north again to reach a dry overpass I decided to take a short swim across the river right where it is the narrowest. After a short walk I soon reached my part goal; the Gambit! As I approached it I saw dead mirelurks all over the ground and as I walked out on the wooden pier, a woman ran up to me with fearful eyes....

There it is!
On the pier
The woman with the mission
The briefing
My response
The captain of the boat
And off we go...

Don't Pay The Ferryman!

Until he gets you to the other side...

I rather think of a line from Nightwish´s song Planet Hell; Save yourself a penny for the ferryman, save yourself and let them suffer!

------

I LOVE POINT LOOKOUT!!! I´VE GOTTEN BACK THE FEELING OF.... Sorry, I´ll stop writing in caps


I´ve gotten back the feeling of being a complete n.0.0b! I mean, I´m level 20 and know the Capital Wasteland like the back of my hand and fear nothing. But PL is uncharted territory! And with that even a common mole rat gets me on edge! I barely dared going past Panada´s shop to see the motel!


Oh, how I love this feeling! I better treasure it too since I know I will lose it quicker and quicker the more I explore...

Point Lookout is my favorite of the FO3 dlcs. Maybe its just because I keep hoping to see Renee pop up from behind a bush!

I also love the lever-action rifle it adds to the game. IMHO, it is one of the best guns in the game.