Billy Bob´s story so far is very much like my own. I defused the bomb, saved Simms and met both Uncle Leo and Sam

I installed a mod beforehand that makes Simms more powerful else Burke always finishes him with one shot and I don't like reloading. So with this mod he still inflicts a lot of damage but gave BB enough time to punch him to death and keeping Simms alive.

Just curious, mirocu, how far through the main quest did you make it? Or didn't you touch it at all? The same goes for DLCs.

Think I had to reload at least five times before I managed to save Simms..


The MQ hasn´t been touched except for making GNR hearable all over, but no dialogue about my dad has been touched. And the only DLC I´ve played is PL and I did that MQ up until before going to the cave to collect the seeds.

Edit: I also did the simulation but reloaded afterwards and left dad to be a dog

Still better than a mudcrab, I guess.

Saving Simms is a real pain. It always took me tons of reloads to stop Burke in time too. Most of the time I just skip that part. Instead after entering Megaton and talking to Simms, I just go straight to the bomb and defuse it. That way I keep the local lawman alive.

I simply RP'd that part. I figure that Marge and Cho both dealt with Burke in their own ways. Since they are part of a trio with Joe King, and I already know what happens, I just wound up skipping that part. I'd like to get rid of Burke in some other way, perhaps. We'll see.

Billy Bob replaced the broken dish at the Washington Monument with the dish from Virgo II Lunar Lander, so Galaxy News Radio can now be heard all over the wastes. In return Three Dog pointed him towards the Rivet City, specifically to Doctor Li, to whom Billy Bob's dad was heading.

He's doing good so far, I can't complain and I'm not afraid that he'd die early unless something unexpected happens. He uses spiked knuckles most of the time, even mirelurks are quite easy to punch down with them, sometimes he switches to .32 pistol, although he's starting to realize that the weapon is weak and not very useful. He also carries Lincoln's repeater but it's still in mint condition, also because the ammunition it's not too common.

Billy Bob saved Bryan Wilks from the fire ants and after dealing with Doctor Lesko, found him a new home in Rivet City. Dealing with Doctor Lesko means that Billy Bob killed him with one precise punch because no matter how smart he was, Billy Bob found him too dangerous to be left alive. He also killed the Ant Queen, no matter how unique and precious.

In other news, his search for Dad reached a dead end for now. The last clue that he found in the Jefferson Memorial, was a personal note from his Dad, saying that "he's headed to vault 112 which is in a garage west of the Evergreen Mills". The problem is that Billy Bob doesn't know where the Evergreen mills or this garage are.*

For now he returned to Megaton and placed some goodies that he found while adventuring in his shack, namely the intact garden gnome, Abe action figure and Lincoln's voice. There is also Lincoln's repeater but this one is just too valuable to be left behind in the shack.

He doesn't have any plans right now, so we'll see what happens next, he might venture into the wasteland on his own, hoping to find either the Evegreen Mills or the garage, or he might stay in Megaton for some time.

*The quest marker conviently appears and points straight to the garage but to make things more interesting, I RP-ed that part like it didn't happen.*

I definitely recommend him to visit Evergreen Mills from topside with a sniper rifle

Most of my characters kill Lesko as well. Though not until he comes through with the +1 to strength or perception!

I have a feeling that he'll deal with them up close and personal - hand to hand. And maybe switch to Lincoln's repeater when things get nasty.


Same here, Billy Bob chose +1 PER and then it was time to punch him!

But it´s so much fun to let loose the Behemoth amongst them!!

Hmmm...that's true. I guess I'll have to wait until Billy Bob finds Evergreen Mills, then he'll make a plan.

After spending one day in Megaton, that unlike other days, didn't involve killing or being shot at, Billy Bob is back in the wastes. He agreed to help Moira with a survival guide, and his first assignment involves scouting out Minefield and disarm some mines. He haggled an armored vault suit for free, after all it's in Moira's best interest to keep her protege alive. Right now he left Megaton and is ready to face whatever awaits him in the wastes.

Minefield turned out to be anything but a ghost town. Well unless a ghost is supposed to be an old sniper, holed up atop a ruined building, shooting mines and cars' engines, blowing any visitors up. When Billy Bob spotted him, the old man, identified by PipBoy as Arkansas, went down the stairs so Billy Bob patiently waited for him to reappear again. For this occasion he loaded the Lincoln's repeater and shot Arkansas in VATS but unfortunately missed him. The old man immediately opened fire back at Billy Bob who this time decided to shoot him wihout VATS help. Once again, the Lincoln's repeater turned out to be reliable and deadly, Arkansas died after only one shot.

In other news, the Armored vault suit turned out to be a piece of crap. Although he had a few dangerous encounters with raiders, it was completely broken by the time Billy Bob arrived to Minefield, compared to his former outfit, the Tunnel Snake jacket that sustained a lot more damage. Because it was unwearable, he ditched it in a house in Minefield and equipped a clean pre-war spring outfit for a returning trip to Megaton. Once there, he had his jacket repaired at Moira's and is now proudly wearing it again.

That is weird, because the vault suit has a DR of something like 12 or 14, and the Tunnel Snake Jacket is only about 4 or 5.

It surprised me too but the Tunnel Snake jacket was only slightly damaged after many battles in the wastes, that involved everything from ghoul attacks, raiders and grenades, while the armored suit was completely broken after only a few battles. Unless it has something to do with energy weapons - BB was caught in a crossifre between the Outcasts and raiders and some 'blind' paladin heavily damaged him with his laser weapon. He wasn't damaged by EW before but I doubt that's the reason.

That is odd. I have always done well with the Armored Vault Suit. The wiki says The Tunnel Snake Outfit has a 100 hit points, and a DR of 4. The Armored Vault Suit has a DR of 12, and 100 hit points.

Maybe the Armored Vault Suit was already damaged and in a lowered condition when you got it? I cannot remember if Moira gives it to you at full health or not. You might try getting it fixed up and trying again.

Could be because he got it for free when he agreed to help her with the guide. Before that the only option was to buy it and I didn't pay attention in what condition was it back then, and later when he got it.

It's the energy weapons - was hit today only twice by a Protectron when wearing a Tunnel Snake Jacket and the DR immediately decreased from 4 to 3. This explains why the vault suit was broken so qucily when an Outcast paladin hit BB instead of a raider with his energy laser.

Wow, I never really noticed energy weapons being that bad. Note to self!

Won´t make any difference to me. I still prefer the projectile weapons


Haven´t gamed Fallout 3 much lately, but when given the mood I shall!

Does anyone know of a simple mod that'd allow our characters to perform some animations that can be done by NPCs, like leaning against a wall, sitting down on a floor, using a wrench, typing on a terminal etc? I searched the entire Nexus, at least I think I did, and I found a lot of mods for sex and dance poses but nothing about these simple animations.

Thanks.

It isn't an actual mod, but there is a catalog of the vanilla idles here. It is just a whole bunch of pics of the idles. But each has the name of the animation. You can use that with a console command to play the animation in the game. Like so:

Player.PlayIdle [idle name]

Just be sure to quicksave beforehand. Most of the idles play and then go back to normal. Some take forever before going back to normal. And some will leave you stuck in that animation forever. Using the command again resets the animations to normal for *most* of them. But not all. There is also a reset command, that I have never gotten to work:

Player.playidle reset

Thanks but for some reason I can't get the animations to work. I enter the console command and it doesn't report any errors but the animation never plays. I'll read more about it, maybe I'll find the solution. Could it be that I use a body replacer? I dobut it, though.

EDIT: It works when I click on NPCs, it just doesn't work on my character.

EDIT 2: It works, I had to type TFC in the console before typing an animation command.

Thanks again, SubRosa!

Yich, I did not like this one. Marge tried it; I believe she wound up limping out of there on a bad leg. Not from the mines, but from whoever that dude is who lives there.

I have always loved Minefield. Yes it is hard to get through it without stepping on a mine or two. But it makes for a fun challenge, and every house has a skill book in it. Plus, you can leave some of the mines on purpose, then come back later for Moira's get a serious injury quest. Just go step on them, and fast travel back to Megaton.

I also love Minefield, although nothing beats my first experience when I had no idea about the sniper. I didn't play DiD then and he killed me a few times, first by blowing up nearby cars, then I tried to escape him and ran over some mines that killed me instantly, and for the 3rd time he again shot some nearby cars.

--

In other news...Billy Bob rescued his father from claws of Stanislaus Braun in Vault 112 but their reunion didn't last long. After working on a purifier at the Jefferson Memorial for a few days, the Enclave attacked and Dad overloaded the purifier, sacrificing himself to save his son and the rest of the team.

Furious Billy Bob led the scientists through the taft tunnels to the Citadel, all the time thinking about only thing - revenge, revenge, revenge. There is no time for tears and no time to mourn, the Enclave must be stopped. After he found out a location of Vault 87, Billy Bob fulfilled Paladin Cross' wish to accompany him to the vault just like she accompanied him and his Dad to Vault 101 nineteen years ago.

Right now they're in Megaton, Billy Bob needed some sleep and Paladin Cross is watching over him. He received a distress signal from his former vault but yet has to decide whether he'll head there or not.

I thought Minefield was a blast!


*buh-dum-tish!!*


Hehe...


Btw, always interesting to read about people doing the MQ. I often forget there even is such a thing

Honestly, I've never done any MQ as fast as I do it with BB but it fits his personality, he's hot-blooded and doesn't enjoy doing nothing, he's always looking for some action. His game will probably get more slow-paced once he's done with the MQ.

And shame on you, mirocu, how can you allow mirocu sr. to be left in a form of a Dog?

I think he likes it

I wonder what Billy will do when it´s all said and done. He won´t necessarily be out of things to do though, there´s always some Deathies to play with at Old Olney

Wow, holy [censored] the MQ is done? Is it that short, or is it simply you've been gaming for longer than usual?



*Palms face*. ... Will you be here all night?

No, no, it's not done yet, but there's only about 25% left, I guess. It's not that short but it's not particularly long either, especially if one fast travels. I don't, so that makes it longer.

Nah, Gotta go to da cottage..

But I did get some gaming done today! Haven´t played FO3 in weeks, maybe months now but I finally got to it again. Nothing much happened. Ran around with GNR pumping in the speakers while shooting at mainly radscorpions.

Btw, ya think those scorpions come from the 1980s and 90s? I mean, since they are so rad...

*buh-dum-tish!!*

Guess I will be here all night after all!

I have a feeling that the most interesting part of his life will begin once the main quest is done. The wasteland in his game is still more or less unexplored, not to mention a bunch of DLCs to complete.



So you did that quest where you have to replace the dish?
Eh, of course you did, if you say that you found out your Dad being in the simulation. Just curious, is there any specific reason why you stopped at that point during the MQ? Because nothing changes if you save him, the Enclave only arrives if you help him at the Jefferson Memorial.

Probably just to replace the dish. Most of my characters ignore the main quest, but still do the dish quest. That way you can hear GNR throughout the entire map.

I did the dish quest but after I tried the simulation I reloaded a save from just before so it´s not canon in my game. No real reason other than I just don´t want to do it, really. I do have me some Vault 112 jumpsuits though..


Gamed some more today! Tried to find the place where muties and raiders shoot each other by the caravans but didn´t find it, and now I have to get rid of loot since I´m at the limit so next up; T. Tower!.

The journey to Little Lamplight was very interesting. Billy Bob and Paladin Cross ran into a pack of Yao Guais close to Fort Bannister, but after dealing with them, they decided not to attack the fort. Billy Bob was insisting, he wanted to get his revenge on Talons but Paladin Cross reminded him that fighting them isn't their priority.

Some time later, Billy Bob found a corpse of his former vault friend, Susie Mack. Apparently things didn't go well for her since he was in the vault and helped Amata to become an Overseer, which in turn led to opening the vault.

He also saved a brahmin pack from a super mutant attack, they managed to kill one but to save the Brahmin, Billy Bob ran in front of the muties, getting their attention so they focused on him. He finished off the first one with Honest Abe's Repeater and then ran zigzag to the other one, crushing him with a power fist.

By sheer luck, they stumbled upon Little Lamplight, but Mayor MacCready didn't let them in, because he dislikes "mungos". Billy Bob dislikes him too, but to get in, he has to obey his orders and Mayor wants him to save enslaved kids from Paradise Falls.

Right now Billy Bob and Paladin Cross are resting in the abandoned shack north of Little Lamplight. Billy Bob had a quick look at the valley below and noticed Enclave soldiers, super mutants and some wandering robots nearby, so there is another day of battles ahead.

The enslaved kids are safe, Eulogy Jones is dead, so Billy Bob & Paladin Cross were granted access to what is probably the most annoying settlement in the Capital Wasteland - Little Lamplight. Annoying because of its extremely rude and arrogant citizens - kids. Some are nice and funny, but most of them are more aggravating than raiders. However, the only way to Vault 87 leads through Little Lamplight so Billy Bob had no other choice but to listen to stupid brats. Fortunately he already fixed an old computer and unlocked the door to Vault 87 where he is supposed to find G.E.C.K.

Did Billy Bob ask the mayor about collecting the fungus in his cave?

Not yet because he couldn't find him afterwards anymore, he wanders around all the time. I bet that he'll get an infuriating response.

Ha ha, kids more annoying than raiders! I like it.

Every time I go in there, which isn´t often I can tell you that, I always have to attack Princess for making a stupid remark as I just pass her by

After fighting a horde of super mutants, Billy Bob retrieved the G.E.C.K. thanks to a friendly super mutant called Fawkes. But his happiness didn't last for long, upon exiting the vault he was ambushed by the Enclave led by Colonel Autumn who confiscated the G.E.C.K. and had Billy Bob transported to their base at Raven Rock.

After intensive questioning Billy Bob still refused to tell Colonel Autumn the wanted information, instead telling him to [censored] off as many times as possible. The questioning was interrupted by President Eden who demanded to talk to Billy Bob in his office.

Fighting his way through Enclave soldiers, Billy Bob reached President Eden's quarters, only to find out that the fabolous president is nothing else but a highly advanced computer. They debated for some time and in the end Eden released Billy Bob from Raven Rock, ordering him to poison the water at the purifier.

Billy Bob escaped the base and reunited with Fawkes. Now they must hurry to the Citadel to inform Elder Lyons that the Enclave possesses the G.E.C.K.

Billy´s got his hands full on this one!

How many hours has he got now?

He reached 50 hours today.

And already so far along in the MQ? Good show I say!

That's because his game is (so far) centered only around the main quest, he was sidetracked from it only a few times. Besides, it'll be fun playing his game after the main quest is done, seeing many changes that the clean water brings to the wasteland.

So there will be noticeable changes, then?

IIRC, yes, there are quite some changes.

I only did the MQ once in 2010 with Ronny, and I noticed several changes, like plants thriving next to water, some water creatures like mirelurks, are easier to defeat because they don't tolerate clean water very well. I also think that number of rads in now clean water is decreased but it could be that I'm wrong and that I used a mod for this. There are also new NPCs, some are unique and some respawning like water merchants, scattered across the wasteland. There are new random encounters added that often revolve around raiders attacking water merchants etc.

Those new NPCs and random encounters do sound alluring..

But no I have played for far too long to be bothered with the search for my father. He´s just gonna be like "Uh-huh. So now´s the time to show up?"