A small word about trade caravans, their investments, and routes!

This section briefly covers the four Traders that you may encounter randomly when you pass one of several larger settlements.

.--------------.--------------------.-----------.----------------.-------------.
|Trader's Name:|Investment Present: |Max Repair:|Schematics:     |Type of Items|
|==============|====================|===========|================|=============|
|Doc Hoff      |Stimpak x5          |     65    |Nuka Grenade    |Chems        |
|Crazy Wolfgang|Stealth Boy x5      |     75    |Rock-It Launcher|Misc./Junk   |
|Crow          |Crow's Eyeboy Helmet|     65    |       ---      |Armor        |
|Lucky Harith  |mini Nuke           |     70    |Shiskebab       |Weapons      |
'--------------'--------------------'-----------'----------------'-------------'

Investing

Speak with Uncle Roe in Canterbury Commons about this.  He'll let your do two investments, the first costs 200 Caps, the second costs 500 Caps.  Investing in a particular trader increases their inventory, their Repair Skill, and you will be rewarded with a present the next time you see the merchant you invested in. You only get a present when you invest the 700 Caps in total, and you only get these presents once.  See above for the gifts.

Trading Route

The traders use a fixed route.  They travel from location to location, and they only stop at the places listed below.  They always visit them in the order listed, and they follow after each other: Doc Hoff, then Crazy Wolfgang, Crow, Lucky Harith.  If you meet Doc Hoff in Megaton you'll know you can meet Crazy Wolfgang if you wait 2 hours (with the wait-function).

Ask Uncle Roe about the Map that pinpoints how the Caravan Traders trek.

Where do you guys think the next fallout game should take place?

Just a general discussion of what you think should be the setting for the next fallout game. To tell you the truth I'm getting tired of the "wilderness" and "western" theme so why not have the setting in a formally highly populated area? Maybe somewhere like New York City? They could call it Fallout: New New York! *crickets chirp* well just throwing out a bone. The setting I would not want to see would be somewhere other than America. I know it would be cool to see how other countries dealt with the Great War but, in my opinion, the essence of fallout is rooted in Anti-Commie propaganda and irradiated apple pie. Maybe a fallout based in china instead of the america's? See the other side of the conflict? Anyways guys comment on where you think the next journey should be! :)

                                                                 No Bethesda, not again.

Couple of interesting facts dug up over at game informer!

here are some hardcore Fallout fans out there, and I know a couple here at Nerdballoon as well. But how much do you really know about this recent title? Found these quirky facts over at GameInformer, so read on for over two dozen interesting facts about Fallout 3. 

• In the world of Fallout, the bombs fell on October 23rd. Bethesda tried to coincide the release of Fallout 3 to that.
• The original inspiration for VATS was Burnout's crash mode replays.
• The sound that plays when you enter VATS is the combat turn sound from Fallout 1.
• Fallout 3 started in 2004 and was announced before Oblivion was even announced.
• A team of over 80 people worked on Fallout 3 covering three platforms - Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.
• The dog in Fallout 3, Dogmeat, also appeared in Fallout and Fallout 2.
• Artist Grant Struthers prototyped the VATS camera system by filming his Incredibles action figures fighting.
• The very first piece of Fallout 3 art was created by Lead Artist Istvan Pely in 2004. It was the power armor image that became the game's cover.
• Bethesda's first true-3D shooter was Terminator: Future Shock in 1995, which was also set in a large post-apocalyptic city. Todd Howard is often credited with creating the first "mouse look" interface for it.
• Bethesda's first game was Gridiron! In 1986.
• Bethesda Softworks was actually only in Bethesda, Maryland, for a short time. Their offices are in Rockville, Maryland.
• Actress Courtney Cox worked at Bethesda briefly in the 1980s.
• The bell that sounds after shooting the Fat Man Nuclear Catapult is the lunchroom bell at the Bethesda offices.
• The Fat Man is based on an actual nuke launcher, the M-388 Davy Crockett Tactical Nuclear Recoilless Rifle which was made in the 1950s.
• The cars in Fallout 3 are based on the Ford Nucleon, a concept car built to run on a nuclear generator in the 1950s.
• The downtown DC area in Fallout 3 was twice the size at one point and the team decided it was too large and confusing and cut half the space out. Though the wasteland area was half the size, and the team felt it was too small, so the wasteland doubled.
• The voice of the one-year-old baby you play who says "Da Da" is Jake Howard on his 1st birthday, son of game director Todd Howard.
• The voice of Timmy Neusbaum, who you have to make cry in Tranquility Lane, is the voice of Cullen Pagliarulo, son of lead designer Emil Pagliarulo.
• The voice of young Paul Hannon, at your 10th birthday party, is Luke Lafferty, son of producer Craig Lafferty.
• The voice of Mr. Handy and Harold is that of Stephen Russell, who also plays Garrett in the Thief series of games.
• Production director Ashley Cheng provides the voice for the Chinese commandos.
• At one point, Fallout 3 featured a surgery minigame, where you had to cauterize your own wounds while watching your character scream in pain. The team felt it slowed down the game's pace to just heal your limbs.
• In the original design, you actually drove Liberty Prime and did battle with a working and floating Rivet City.
• If you sneak up and activate a Brahmin, your character will tip it over.
• In the Hubris Comics' building is a terminal that has an actual working text adventure in it called "The Reign of Grelok."

I apologize to anyone who was waiting for more interesting locations but im a little out of ideas, if you have a favourite location or interesting location you happened upon in fallout 3 then comment and tell me it and maybe itll be featured in the next post with a full investigation! 

Fallout 3 - interesting locations

There are many places to visit in capital wasteland. From dark metro tunnels, to beautiful -- or used-to-be-beautiful -- monuments, Washington D.C. has something for everyone!


I wont be covering everything in todays post but heres a few locations that are sure to impress.

Vaults

Numerous Vaults were constructed in anticipation of the unfortunate nuclear holocaust, they were designed to keep the inhabitants safe from the nuclear fallout until it was safe to emerge, however each vault was designed as a social or research experimentation lab. May or may not have been assigned a G.E.C.K.

Vault 87

You learn of this from the Brotherhood of Steel Scribes, experimented with the FEV virus, infested with Super Mutants and Centaurs, an unused G.E.C.K is located here. Main entrance flooded with radiation, alternate entrance found through Little Lamplight.

Vault 92

You are told of this place from Agatha and can find the vault's location from the Brotherhood of Steel Scribes or from the Vault-Tec Headquarters in Downtown DC. Agatha wants you to explore this to find her sister's violin called Soil Stradivarius for a quest. Located in the North-Eastern end of the map. Area is covered in Deathclaws.

Vault 101

"Where no one ever comes and no one ever leaves." Jewel of the Capital Wasteland and your home. Vault 101 was part of the Vault experiment program, and was never intended to reopen after the war, but after your father mysteriously disappears from the vault you must give up your home and search for him. The medicine Bobblehead can be found here in the medical section of the vault.

Vault 106

One of the Vault Experiments. 10 days after the door was closed, psychoactive drugs were released into the vault's air filtration system.When in here you feel the effect of the drug and the screen goes purple and you start seeing the Tunnel Snakes gang and others (If you walk out of the druged area than walk back in you won't be affected) Home to the Science Bobblehead. Just North of Vault 101 in the mountainside next to Kaelyn's Bed and Breakfeast, could be a good place to get starting equipment. Also remember to wach out for crazy survivors. Weirdly, when you 'kill' hallucinations using something that makes lots of blood (swords, missiles etc.), their blood is on the floor when you stop hallucinating.
Quests none but this place was still fucked

Vault 108

Vault 108 is another Vaultech Vault that whose residents are clones all numbered and named "Gary" for some unknown reason. Beware these clones are not very friendly to everybody. They only speak the language "Gary" but sometimes you can hear them speaking english sometimes becuase of glitches. There are no quests in the vault you just enter and kill or even find some ammo. Contains (quite ironically) the Charisma Bobblehead.

Vault 112

Vault 112 is home to a Doctor Braun, a chief developer of the G.E.C.K. and a leading Vault-Tec scientist, Vault 112 was built around a large, virtual reality machine, the brainchild of Doctor Braun. The Primary goal of Vault 112 was to allow the inhabitants to live out the horrors of nuclear devastation within their own minds. The vault's physical upkeep is provided by Robobrains specifically programmed for the purpose. The Vault entrance is located in the basement of Smith Casey's Garage that is located north of Jocko's Pop and Gas Stop. A switch on the wall opens a staircase to the Vault.

The artificial reality that exists within the Vault is known as "Tranquility Lane", a small cul-de-sac inhabited by the physical members of Vault 112. While it is later made clear that other simulations existed (specifically a tropical island and a ski resort), Doctor Braun has since changed it. His unique position as the Vault Overseer gives him an awareness that is unallowed to the other members of the vault, who take the simulation as reality. A failsafe was implemented to allow those within to die (as their avatars die, their physical bodies also perish), through the use of a simulated Chinese attack. Quests Tranquility Lane
NOTE: If one refuses to play Braun's game, it is possible to exit Tranquility Lane without any loss of Karma. It involves using the items in the abandoned house. P.S. For all you evil fans, braun's game lets you mercilessly kill everyone with no resistance. >:) Muhahahahhahahhaha!

I am extremely tired wastelanders so i'll be sure to install a part 2 later on today, bear with me! :)

Fallout 3 - tips and tricks!

1. When engaging opponets in V.A.T.S, always scroll through the various target points. Occassionally an enemy will be wearing a grenade on their belt, and one well-placed shot will turn them into ground chuck.


2. Playing as a good character but looking for a way to swipe a nice flamer from the Brotherhood of Steel, or all those credits the caravan heads carry? If you see them while you're exploring the wasteland, tail them for a while. Chances are they'll get into a fight or two. While they can hold their own for a while, eventually they'll be overtaken. Now's your chance to swoop in and take the pickins from their fresh corpses with no loss of karma. Hey, life is tough in the wasteland, and even the holiest of the holy would do the same to you.Just remember, they won't be using it anymore, anyway. Note that if a trader falls, this also means the caravan will no longer be accessible in the wasteland. Oh, and don't forget to grab the trader's key and loot his Brahman...all in the name of survival, of course.


3. Feeling devilish? While pickpocketing someone, drop a spare grenade in their pocket. It's like the Fourth of July, only with all ten fingers blown off.


4. Having trouble in a particularly difficult fight? Stay behind cover and let them come to you. Bullets can't hurt you if they can't hit you, and never underestimate the power of a close range shotgun blast to the face as your enemy comes looking for you.


5. Getting the first shot is a big advantage. If you suspect there's a nearby foe, crouch and tap the V.A.T.S. activation key repeatedly as you look around. If they're in your field of vision, V.A.T.S. will detect them. Remember that you score an automatic critical for massive damage if you can hit an opponent without them sensing your presense.


6. Ammunition can be hard to come by in the wasteland. Be sure to carry a variety of weapons that use different ammo types so you'll never have to depend on a single bullet caliber or power source. You can also conserve ammo by using bats, sledge hammers, shishkebabs, and other melee weapons when you're close to easy or wounded opponents.


7. Ammunition can be hard to come by in the wasteland. Be sure to carry a variety of weapons that use different ammo types so you'll never have to depend on a single bullet caliber or power source. You can also conserve ammo by using bats, sledge hammers, shishkebabs, and other melee weapons when you're close to easy or wounded opponents.


8. Out exploring and looking for signs of civilization? Try following old roads, rivers, and those rows of destroyed power line towers you see dotting the landscape as they can be good guides for places of interest.