Retired Techie

Getting older, not necessarily wiser!

Low End Hardware Fallout 4 Leveling

Published on May 4, 2022 at 8:31 pm by LEW

Introduction

In this post we will be discussing leveling up in Fallout 4. We will continue from where we left off in the last post on the subject (if you are following along with this series of posts you should have leveled up at least once).

I will also talk a bit about the special book, and a game mechanic some may consider cheating. To restate my position, if it can be done through normal game mechanics without any special timing or convoluted key stokes it is not cheating. For example there are a lot of duplication glitches with Dog Meat that require specific key presses and timing, which I do not use.

The SPECIAL Book

I did not mention the SPECIAL book in the last post. You can find in in Shaun’s bedroom in your old house. The SPECIAL book will allow you to increase one of your abilities, to a maximum of 10. I consider it a game mechanic that it is from a modified ability score and not the actual ability score.

Note your SPECIAL abilities are Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck. The absolute values of your abilities will determine which perks you can choose.

In this example I am playing a high intelligence character (to maximize experience), so I will use the SPECIAL book to increase intelligence. Before leaving the vault, I set my intelligence to 10. Before using the SPECIAL book, I want to modify my intelligence down. In the cellar of one of the houses in Sanctuary, you can find some beer. Consuming beer lowers your Intelligence by 1 while raising Strength and Charisma by 1 for a limited time. So if you grab the Special book after using the beer, your intelligence will be a modified value of 9, and your can raise it to a modified value of 10. Once the beer wears off your intelligence will be 11.

Early Game Perks or Abilities

If you search the internet for “Fallout 4 Perk Chart” you should be able to find a picture, so I am not going to place one here. But you should have one handy to reference in this discussion.

The chart lists your Special abilities across the top, and levels down the left side. The rest of the chart contains the various Perks. To find out which Perks you have access to, cross your SPECIAL ability column with you ability level. For example if you have a Strength of three you have access to the Iron Fist, Big League, and Armorer Perks.

Most perks have multiple levels as well as player level requirements to obtain.

Also note that in game you can scroll the chart by moving the cursor to one of the edges and holding it there.

Also remember if you do not have an ability stat for a perk, you can drop points into any of your SPECIAL abilities to bring them up.

Below I am going to recommend some perks that you should think about taking in the early game. Of course this is just my opinion, and yours will differ depending on your play style and objectives. Also, in some cases you can have a companion perform the function for you, so you might chose to skip a Perk.

Riffleman (PER 2), Gunslinger (AGI 1), and Commando (AGI 2) : These perks increase your performance with a particular class of guns, providing more damage and greater penetration bonuses.

Locksmith (Per 4), Hacker (Int 4) : These perks provide bonuses for picking locks and hacking computers. Each pick/hack grants some experience, plus whatever was being protected.

Gun Nut (INT 3), Armorer (Str 3) : These perks allow you to craft mods for weapons and armor that offer increased damage or better protection. Plus you get some experience every time you craft something.

Iron Fist (Str 1), Big League (Str 2) : These perks offer bonuses to melee, either unarmed or with a melee weapon.

Fortune Finder (LCK 1), Scrounger (LCK 2) : Bonuses to finding more caps (money) or more ammo in containers.

Bloody Mess (LCK 3) : Bonus to the amount of damage you do.

Conclusion

For early game perks I tried to stay with low ability perks. Generally to get some of the higher attribute perks, you are doing a specific character build, and should have a good idea of what perks you will be looking for.

For example a melee fighter might invest more initial points in Strength (better carry weight and more melee damage), Endurance (more health), and Agility (more action points).

If you were building a gunslinger or rifleman, you might not take as much strength and instead invest in agility.

If you are planning to colonize the Commonwealth, you would want lots of charisma (dealing with merchants and speech checks) so you could access the Local Leader (CHA 6) perk.

Later game perks will always be dependent on your character build.

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