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Fallout: Tactics - Any tips from the pros?

the_shadow

Arcane
Joined
Dec 30, 2011
Messages
1,179
I picked up Fallout: Tactics over a decade ago. I must have played through half a mission before putting it on the backburner. I had just played Fallout 1, and was expecting more of the same, so the change in gameplay was unexpected. I was also overwhelmed by the sheer variety of firearms.

I've decided to give it another chance, and am currently playing it on Hard. I'm glad I decided to do this, because I'm having a blast! The only problem is that I'm now up to Mission 8 (St Louis), and am encountering Supermutants for the first time. And holy hell, it's a massive spike in difficulty. Most of the supermutants carry heavy automatic weapons that can shred through multiple characters at once, *AND* these weapons have the range of a hunting rifle (which is the gun with the longest range at this point). I have a few characters who can sneak, but they might get a supermutant down to 'severely wounded' before it retaliates with a point blank auto-fire which is guaranteed death.

I'd use the APC more, but I don't have a character who can repair it. Nor do I have a character who specialises in big guns. I thought that small guns would remain king throughout the entire game (similar to Fallout 1, and Fallout 2 to a lesser extent), but the difference between the two is *huge*.

I'm glad that they have made big guns *useful* is a Fallout game. I just wish I'd know to invest in them beforehand.

So does anyone have any tips for completing Mission 8? I've found that if you stay just out of range of the Supermutants, you can have them deplete their ammo, which then makes then easy pickings. But there must be a better way.
 

Cyberarmy

Love fool
Patron
Joined
Feb 7, 2013
Messages
8,450
Location
Smyrna - Scalanouva
Divinity: Original Sin 2
Was that the war zone like mission where you save ambushed knights? I mostly played safe on that one and tried to avoid unneccessary contact. Cleared most of them muties with either granades or heavy weapons. Focus on heavy weapon using muties first.

Once you get some of their heavy weapons things go smoother. Also having good rank for armor helps after muties start to show up.
 

naossano

Cipher
Joined
Aug 26, 2014
Messages
1,232
Location
Marseilles, France
Avoiding the SM for too long isn't a good move either. It is not the last mission with them and it isn't the last time difficulty dramatically increase.
 

Azeot

Arbiter
Joined
Dec 4, 2013
Messages
179
Location
Trieste
from what I remember, I did decently with just small arms at the time. A lot of sneaking involved and, if I had to fire on someone, made damn sure all my guys were firing at the same time before the supermutants could react.
Aaaaaand a lot of save and reload.
 

roshan

Arcane
Joined
Apr 7, 2004
Messages
2,426
Is there any bugfix mod for this game? There was one mod, the REDUX that fixed bugs but also made too many changes to the game.
 

the_shadow

Arcane
Joined
Dec 30, 2011
Messages
1,179
Aaaaaand a lot of save and reload.

Glad I'm not the only one.

I finally beat the mission on Hard difficulty after hours of what felt like pulling teeth. Having the supermutants expend their ammunition, and then gunning them down with burst fire as they run at you, was a slow but relatively sure way to take them out. Everyone ended up encumbered from lugging out a dozen machine guns.

I really don't think I should have decided to play this game on Hard on my first playthrough, since I'm playing blind. I have no idea what skills I'll need prior to each mission, which meant I was stuck with a squad which couldn't repair a vehicle or use the shiny new equipment they got on this mission.

Also, is melee or unarmed worth investing in? What is the best sub-machine gun, and the best assault rifle?
 

Dr Skeleton

Arcane
Joined
Nov 9, 2014
Messages
811
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
This is easily the most difficult part of the game. I beat it by sniping mutants from the transporter and finishing them with shotgun bursts and grenades when they got too close. Outside of the transporter you're as good as dead. Now that you have their weapons it will be slightly better. Don't miss the mutant with M2 in one of the missions, it's one of the best weapons in the game, just remember to snipe him before he shoots, he can easily kill your entire squad with one shot.

Melee is not worth it. SMGs become pretty much worthless when you get to supermutants, assault rifles are your main weapons for the first part of the game, but now you should mostly replace them with big guns. Combat shotguns and sniper rifles are still good. Be prepared to largely switch to energy weapons later.
 

Bliblablubb

Arcane
Joined
Mar 1, 2014
Messages
2,925
Location
Copium Den
That dreaded battefield mission was... aaaaaaaaaaaargh.
From my clouded memory playing it on normal difficulty, small arms for everyone (a hunting rifle in one hand for longer range, the AK the other for short range bursts) was good until the supermutants appeared. Even on that difficulty the dmg output just didn't cut it anymore, so I had form a big gun squad while my old team got put on a bus. I think after the SM phase humanoid enemies came back for a while, and your small guns guys get access to sniper rifles, so they get a short revival. After that it's energy weapons all the way, so plan ahead. There is some very effective special ammunition for the shotgun late game though, so keep a sneaky small guns ambusher around.

Of course, the idea behind that was to give you a real challenge, a seemingly overpowered enemy you had to adapt to, but...
It was a pretty stupid game decision to make the team you nurtured until then mostly obsolete and replaced by fresh recruits. Then the big gun squad gets replaced by fresh energy weapon specialists. Takes away a lot of fun, so don't grow too attached to your team. My "main" only stayed useful because he was the sneaky shotgun ambusher. He had to sit the muties out in the second row, but afterwards he got back in the game.

Even worse however was the fact that I eventually had to switch to real time mode late game, because... uuuh, it was a lot more effective, your goons firing a lot faster than the enemy, getting hit less and so on. Felt a lot like syndicate, where you just send your team around as a pile and watch their reaction fire wreak havok.
Pretty sad considering that I wanted to play Fallout 2.5 turn-based goodness...
 
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Perkel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 28, 2014
Messages
15,805
What did you expect from mutes ? To roll with brass knuckles ?

This was my favorite part of game. It really made mutes a "force". I beat it on hard with mostly small guns and few explosives.
I don't remember how that mode was called but i finished whole game where i could only save in base.

In other words git gud. Use mines and other shit
 

agris

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Apr 16, 2004
Messages
6,760
I'll echo roshan's question: any bug fix patch that doesn't act as the modders house rules implementation also?
 

Unkillable Cat

LEST WE FORGET
Patron
Joined
May 13, 2009
Messages
27,089
Codex 2014 Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy
A few general tips:

# Do NOT go for a Unarmed build. It may work out well in the early game, but by the end game the enemy won't care. Even Deathclaws will have reduced capabilities in the endgame. Melee builds are slightly better off, but are pretty much shut down by Super-Mutants and the end-game critters.

# For a 6-man squad, one Big Guns is very useful, a second might come in handy but any more is too much. My last squad was my main with Small Guns for the Gauss Rifle, one Sniper/Stealth build, a dedicated Medic that used shotguns (most versatile ammo selection), then one Big Guns (Browning M2, see below), one Energy Weapons (Gatling Laser) and I don't remember the last one, possibly a Big Guns/Energy Weapons hybrid. For the Big Guns squaddie, ST 9 is the minimum.

# While you don't need a dedicated driver character, you WILL need a character with high Pilot and Repair skills to drive and repair your vehicle when you use it. St. Louis is much easier to deal with when the APC is in use.

As for St. Louis:

# It's the first chance to get your hands on a Sniper Rifle, so going the extra distance to grab that is essential.

# If you use the APC, have most of your squad in it, but also have it trailing behind two squaddies on foot that serve as spotters. Super Mutants LOVE to use Rocket Launchers against big metallic things.

(You'll be driving the APC (somewhat modified) again in a later mission, in that scenario I suggest leaving the APC behind until the entire path has been cleared.)

# St. Louis is unique in that it has an optional area at the end; the fortified encampment on the far left. I suggest you do NOT try to take it, the rewards are worth it but the risk is astronomical, due to the Mutants packing Browning M2s.

# The Browning M2 is bugged in Fallout Tactics. If you wield it and load it with the .50 Depleted Uranium bullets, the gun will score critical hits at INSANE ranges for no reason. It's probably some kind of inverted variable in the "To hit" calculation, but the end result is that your squaddies will be gibbed from up to two screens away, even if there was only around a 2% chance to hit them. This bug is in effect at ALL TIMES, whether it is you or the Super Mutants that are using the weapon.

For this reason the Browning M2 is a useful weapon all the way to the end. .50 DUP ammo is not very common, so save it for the big targets. Don't worry, you'll know the big targets when you see them. ;)

My favourite mission of all time is up next: Kansas. Kansas is a "Magnificent 7" scenario where your squad, along with some ghouls, must defend a building from a LARGE Super Mutant attack force. They'll be attacking from the north, west and south, with 50% of the forces attacking from the south, about 30% from the west and only a handful from the north. Deploy accordingly.

I gave my Sniper a burst weapon and deployed her on the North, with the plan for her to run over to the West afterwards as she was the fastest runner. She'd usually not have to run very far to find a target, especially since one Rocket Launcher-armed Super Mutant loved to climb up a water tower and become the world's fattest target in the process.

My Big Guns + Energy Weapons were on the west flank, with the EW guy standing out in the open with a big machine gun (acting as bait) and the primary Big Guns with a Flamethrower crouching behind a sand bag. When the Super Mutants got up to the gate (which they will) he stood up, surprised the fuck out of everyone and roasted half a dozen Super-Mutants in one shot.

The rest of the squad deployed to the south. Use the gate as a bottleneck to minimise their numbers. You get a bonus for completing this mission without any ghouls dying, but that is a bitch to pull off and requires you deploying outside of the south gate.

Once the Super-Mutants finally stop coming at you, assemble your squad, heal up and then go "door to door" to wipe out the rest of them.

Beyond that, take your time to hunt down for "Special Encounters" on the main map between missions. Some of the stuff you may find there is well worth your time - and THE most fun FO:T scenario of them all is a Special Encounter (hint: Pitch Black). Special Encounters always land on the same squares, and you can get multiple special encounters on the same square.
 
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Dr Skeleton

Arcane
Joined
Nov 9, 2014
Messages
811
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
What did you expect from mutes ? To roll with brass knuckles ?

This was my favorite part of game. It really made mutes a "force". I beat it on hard with mostly small guns and few explosives.
I don't remember how that mode was called but i finished whole game where i could only save in base.

In other words git gud. Use mines and other shit
Ironman? Definitely adds a lot to the game, but the fucking bugs, man. Once I got most of my squad stuck near the exit area in the last mutant mission after a perfect run. Didn't touch the game for a few days after that. :negative:
Fortunately it's much easier after that, I only had to restart from the base a few times once I got some armor that wasn't leather mk II.
 

Shadenuat

Arcane
Joined
Dec 9, 2011
Messages
11,955
Location
Russia
You need a sniper rifle from mission about saving APC (it's hidden inside some METAL BOKXES... er I think?) and also a guy with Browning machine gun
They'll handle them muties

Can also try and search for that encounter with trader and two guards with Jackhammers, also a good weapon till endgame
 

Perkel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 28, 2014
Messages
15,805
Ironman? Definitely adds a lot to the game, but the fucking bugs, man. Once I got most of my squad stuck near the exit area in the last mutant mission after a perfect run. Didn't touch the game for a few days after that. :negative:
Fortunately it's much easier after that, I only had to restart from the base a few times once I got some armor that wasn't leather mk II.

No it is not ironman. It is called something else.

It basically disallows saving in other places than main base but doubles XP. It is option when you create soldier in character creator on right side of it.

IT gives you faster leveling but you can't save scum game so investing point into stuff like disarm/lockpick really mattered same with other stuff.

Exploration also was awesome as you had finite resources and you couldn't save if something gone wrong. So scounting ahead was critical.
 

Pope Amole II

Nerd Commando Game Studios
Developer
Joined
Mar 1, 2012
Messages
2,052
Use psycho man, that's all the tactics it needs. Two doses of psycho, real time mode, you can punch behemoths to death and give zero fucks about everything.
 

dibens

as seen on shoutbox
Patron
Joined
Dec 4, 2011
Messages
2,629
I actually attempted an unarmed solo playthrough on tough guy. Got stuck exactly on St.Luis mission, specifically the last part where only way into the base was through an exposed minefield stretch guarded by few motherfuckers who burst you to bits from offscreen. I still could kill mutants reliably enough, problem was of course surviving bullet rape to the face on failed cripple/blind attacks. With more exp grinding on random encounters and maybe if I picked throwing skill to clear minefields I'm sure I could best it.

On my first playthrough I found small guns to be good enough throughout the whole game. Gauss rifle is great and emp shotgun shells will make short work of harder bots.
 

Dreaad

Arcane
Joined
Apr 18, 2013
Messages
5,604
Location
Deep in your subconscious mind spreading lies.
Easiest way through the game is to ignore small guns and melee completely, that's not to say it can't be done but it just makes life much harder. Explosives and energy is basically the only viable end game weapons. That said, you should still have enough time to hire up some dudes with those skills and get them even higher. You think super mutants are bad, just wait until your small guns don't do any damage at all. I remember first time I got to the endgame I was completely screwed because suddenly my sniper heavy team was sent to these claustrophobic areas and the enemies take close to zero damage from bullets.

Damn whenever I'm reminded of this game I get a little bit sad. That editor was so awesome, people could have easily created whole campaigns, but back then the mod scene just wasn't there and now none cares about a tactical fallout.
 

Modron

Arcane
Joined
May 5, 2012
Messages
9,933
I still remember doing the last mission in the game and killing a robot in a doorway then mistakenly quick saving only to realize I had been using quick saves only since that big super mutant horde map.

Did they patch it so robots don't leave corpses that block areas later? I cannot recall. If not, that is a tip for you, do not kill robots in doorways.
 

Khorne

Arbiter
Joined
Feb 11, 2015
Messages
238
# St. Louis is unique in that it has an optional area at the end; the fortified encampment on the far left. I suggest you do NOT try to take it, the rewards are worth it but the risk is astronomical, due to the Mutants packing Browning M2s.
Got stuck exactly on St.Luis mission, specifically the last part where only way into the base was through an exposed minefield stretch guarded by few motherfuckers who burst you to bits from offscreen. I still could kill mutants reliably enough, problem was of course surviving bullet rape to the face on failed cripple/blind attacks. With more exp grinding on random encounters and maybe if I picked throwing skill to clear minefields I'm sure I could best it.

That fortification is probably the hardest part of the game, I think it was intentionally made like that.
I was stuck there couple of years ago, and it took several days to get it done.

First thing to watch out for is the minefield that isn't detectable, there are 6-8 mines in total on the narrow path leading to high ground.
If the guard spots you and starts shooting, he will trigger them and there you go, scattered into pieces.
So you need to pack some cheap frag grenades to clear that up first, I used a ghoul with good throw but still spent around 40 grenades because you need to guess where the mines are.
Note there are some mines near the hidden crate as well and better make sure that the trench is completely cleared before moving into fortification.
When the path is cleared, you can sneak behind the small hill on the far left without the guards spotting you and scout them using the top corner of the hill.
Used Stevie as a scout, just move in, remember the spot and move back, while your bomber throws inc. grenades at the spot.
Guards will move elsewhere each time they get hit but they won't detect you, and once you melt the first two, you can just snipe the others from behid the hill.
 

Iluvcheezcake

Prophet
Joined
Aug 27, 2014
Messages
1,651
Location
Le Balkans
Soloed it with a single char using shotguns (and later combat shotgun) - the burst shotgun fire was insanely powerful
 

SymbolicFrank

Magister
Joined
Mar 24, 2010
Messages
1,668
This is one of my most favorite games, and my favorite mission :D

There are many ways you can do this. Scorched Earth and stealthy snipers are probably the best. And the combination thereof the most fun.

First, you can get a humongous amount of explosives on this mission. Throwing and/or heavy weapons specialists will have a blast. Just take it slow and explode all the terrain around you.

You can also sneak up on anything, and a high perception (8+) and small arms skill (180+) will allow you to both kill them from a distance with the sniper rifle, and sneak up on them and kill them with a Pancor Jackhammer burst.

Alternatively, you can just use the APC while repairing it. It even runs across the trenches.

And while the briefing forbids you to penetrate the base itself, make sure you do so anyway! Great Loot! But don't use the main entrance, because it's heavily mined. The things you can get will make your big gun specialists very happy. ;)
 

the_shadow

Arcane
Joined
Dec 30, 2011
Messages
1,179
My favourite mission of all time is up next: Kansas. Kansas is a "Magnificent 7" scenario where your squad, along with some ghouls, must defend a building from a LARGE Super Mutant attack force. They'll be attacking from the north, west and south, with 50% of the forces attacking from the south, about 30% from the west and only a handful from the north. Deploy accordingly.

I gave my Sniper a burst weapon and deployed her on the North, with the plan for her to run over to the West afterwards as she was the fastest runner. She'd usually not have to run very far to find a target, especially since one Rocket Launcher-armed Super Mutant loved to climb up a water tower and become the world's fattest target in the process.

My Big Guns + Energy Weapons were on the west flank, with the EW guy standing out in the open with a big machine gun (acting as bait) and the primary Big Guns with a Flamethrower crouching behind a sand bag. When the Super Mutants got up to the gate (which they will) he stood up, surprised the fuck out of everyone and roasted half a dozen Super-Mutants in one shot.

The rest of the squad deployed to the south. Use the gate as a bottleneck to minimise their numbers. You get a bonus for completing this mission without any ghouls dying, but that is a bitch to pull off and requires you deploying outside of the south gate.

Once the Super-Mutants finally stop coming at you, assemble your squad, heal up and then go "door to door" to wipe out the rest of them.

I managed to complete the Kansas Mission on Hard. Unfortunately I didn't save enough ghouls to get a commendation, but I'm going to assume that's almost impossible on the real time setting, particularly when they run out to engage minigun toting mutants with their bare fists.
 

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