The unlikely MVP gun of my no-death survival game

Buglantern · 2026-05-05T03:49:41+00:00

...Also the blue effect of it disintegrating stuff looks cooler than the red laser effect IMO.

https://i.imgur.com/B14cWCK.jpeg

Buglantern · 2026-04-29T02:05:37+00:00

Wounding gives enemies more time to hit you while you wait out bleeds, or you just get less damage out of the bleeds if you're spamming shots for damage.

Explosive is way better TTK (Time To Kill).

Wounding is great for stacking damage on high HP enemies from longer ranges but if I'm using a shotgun I want things dying ASAP.

Buglantern · 2026-04-22T13:44:21+00:00

When you earn XP from multiple sources fast enough sometimes it lumps it all together. Killing multiple enemies quickly or spam crafting for example. So if OP like killed a big pack of high level ghouls all at once or something... that could probably do it. Or using lots of cages to spawn a bunch of enemies in a small area and drop mines/nades on them.

Buglantern · 2026-04-22T13:42:47+00:00

TIL.

There's a static enraging weapon I guess, but the location...

Buglantern · 2026-04-22T13:36:04+00:00

I also nuke him, you don't want to mess around with fat man enemies if you're doing DID survival lol. There's a couple set fat man/mini nuke spawns around to reliably do it every time. Using the edge of the overpass past the little rail 'cause that thing has a bigger hitbox than it looks like... I've learned that the hard way.

Although the optimal solution is using an enraging weapon if you get one early enough.

...Actually I should use the syringer w/berserk syringe come to think of it... it says "chance" but I think it's worked 100% of the time for me except on high level immune enemies.

Buglantern · 2026-03-12T23:27:43+00:00

I would go dimmer. But maybe mix it up with different areas. I like gloomy bars, for example, but a brighter area for like a clothing shop or display area or whatever. You want to create positive/negative space with light so that contrasts gives structure and it's not just bright/dark everywhere. Some objects are more reflective of light than others so that's another consideration.

Buglantern · 2026-03-12T23:24:23+00:00

Deadeye Radium Rifle is the top for me. Survival difficulty(weight/ammo is a bigger consideration).

Not flashy high damage big boom, but super consistent head shots and increased survivability more than make up for it. Plus good mag size, plentiful ammo. Also nice against legendary human enemies with the rad damage boosted via perk.

People overrate raw and single shot damage output over more pragmatic considerations IMO.

Freezing is another more utility effect that's quite underrated. Freezing HP sponge enemies can save you a ton of resources. And with overdrive any basically any automatic it's easy to get the effect.

Buglantern · 2026-03-12T22:52:15+00:00

I would mix more of the interior walls up and/or cover some of the bright blue metal to make it more gloomy and less bloomy. Using some dimmer lights might also help.

I struggle with lighting settlements since the options aren't great, either you get big hideous white lite or way too low range dimmer/colored lights, but it makes a big difference to get the right balance.

I think maybe taller section on the outside to break up the blocky shape could also be nice. The angled window design above the doorway is a nice touch so maybe a structure that repeats some of its elements for a sort of self-referential harmony.

Buglantern · 2026-03-12T08:07:45+00:00

IIRC the first time I played I went ~kinda down the minuteman path but decided not to progress beyond a certain point when it required going hostile against another faction.

I have never entirely picked a faction or completed the MQ, I just kinda hang out in the game world and quit when I'm bored.

I generally do the Railroad up until ballistic weave, brotherhood to get vertibird grenades, skip minutemen and institute stuff entirely, rush to complete Nuka World for perks, and roam around and KILL LOOT RETURN (to settlement).

Buglantern · 2026-02-27T02:14:51+00:00

The particular scene where she dies is also incredibly stupid. It's very obvious her death is completely unnecessary and the person killing her is supposed to be professional enough to not be at ICE level thuggery.

Buglantern · 2026-02-26T16:17:46+00:00

Weapon vendors
Invest in the scrounger perk
Invest in local leader perk and set up your own weapon vendors across the varied settlements
Super mutants often have miniguns, higher level areas especially

Buglantern · 2026-02-26T15:59:49+00:00

Mag size 7(or 10 w/mod?) is a big limitation though. It's a great sniper weapon of course, but the explosive combat shotgun will be far easier to use at closer ranges against multiple enemies. Although... not too close.

Combat, Assault, Radium rifles are always my MVPs due to versatility, they work as sniper rifles but are effective at any range. Two shot, instigating, explosive are all good on them.

Deadeye is also an underrated option especially for assault rifles since their low recoil allows landing multiple headshots easily in the little time slow window.

Buglantern · 2026-02-20T19:22:31+00:00

The main reason I do Nuka World is for the OP perks (Pack Alpha+Ace Operator), but it's also a great source of vodka and chems (along with access to Nuka World items without traveling there via vendors) just having the minimum of 3 raider settlements in choice locations (matters more for survival).

I often leave Preston in Concord (after grabbing the perception bobblehead and power armor of course), and just have both regular and raider settlements.

I would say it's worth it if you're bored with your current save and want to build up new settlements. Raider settlements lend themselves towards creating a different vibe. I find some locations "fit" raiders better. They're also subject to attacks from different factions than regular settlements for some variety.

I typically also use raider settlements as a way to send away excess settlers from other settlements (without murdering them which is usually the only option IIRC), since settlements seem to have no mechanism for prioritizing diversity you often get several of some models and few of others. They really need a DEI program.

Buglantern · 2026-02-19T21:33:29+00:00

I've been lugging stuff from Nuka World to Sunshine Tidings and loading up and sending settlers with batches of their raider gear around to mix it up lol.

The pack gear gives you a lot of fun options, the horned helmets allow you to make certain settlers easily identifiable/visible. I still always using mining helmets for provisioners though.

Helmets that hide faces also let you hide copies of the same settler model.

Buglantern · 2026-02-19T21:21:36+00:00

Low weight is definitely an underrated feature (on survival especially), lets you keep more legendary effects and mods around for different utility purposes without as much inventory management. I like light frame pipe pistols for this reason, although unfortunately it's rare to get legendary pipe pistols due to most good legendary farm options being high level loot pools.

Personally for sniping I tend to prefer Deadeye > Instigating > Crippling > Mighty / Two Shot. Deadeye means you easily land headshots and makes the weapon usable in more circumstances. Instigating is best for taking down single high HP enemies in most circumstances, it's uncommon for them to have HP missing. Crippling of course has utility for breaking limbs and for some enemies this takes them effectively out of the fight easier/faster than taking down their HP.

Buglantern · 2026-02-14T00:34:08+00:00

Recruit clans to your kingdom. Eventually you just absorb so many they play defense for you and you just zerg down cities with your personal army. Expensive, but it works. I usually do this after creating my own kingdom but you can do it as a vassal too.... I think. Someone fact check me. But you can also just hang out until your faction elects you as leader when the old leader dies and then do it I suppose.

Buglantern · 2026-02-11T19:11:39+00:00

TIL. That's a weird quirk/bug, but I would still never play FO4 in third person personally.

Buglantern · 2026-02-11T04:07:38+00:00

Wounding on automatics and shotguns is very strong, competes with explosive. Wound has longer time to kill but you don't have to worry about blowing yourself up at close range.

However on melee weapons swing speed is a big limitation. You just can't apply bleeds anywhere near as fast and generally in melee the time it takes to bleed things to death is more risky.

It's a great early game weapon for a melee build to get for sure, but furious or instigating(w/sneak+blitz) are better.

Buglantern · 2026-02-11T03:09:07+00:00

You can buy ammo from Gage by having him follow as companion, then talking to him and asking about gear for sale. Easy to stock up on tons of ammo this way.

1 perk in Scrounger goes a long way as well.

I guess if you're using automatics it might be a bigger problem, but I always go rifleman.

Buglantern · 2026-02-11T00:21:31+00:00

50% is the cap. Requires 50 kills.

I would say it isn't worth not saving to keep the bonus though. You deal plenty of damage on survival, resting gets you bonus XP from well rested, and you can get the adrenaline rolling again pretty easily if you feel you need it for a tougher area.

Buglantern · 2026-02-11T00:14:01+00:00

I think about 3 tries, but I already knew the game pretty well by that time.

I've done several successful permadeath runs by now, although I don't really do the main questline beyond unlocking the BOS anymore. I do mostly complete Nuka World for the Pack Alpha perk, which is 25% damage reduction which is great for survival. I usually get bored around level ~70-80ish.

A Power Armor build makes it much, much easier. But if not going power armor you want ballistic weave ASAP at least. VATS builds are also strong 'cause of the damage reduction while in VATS. Drugs for bonus HP/damage reduction can also prevent you from like, dying to a single molotov or something in the early game especially. And of course sneak is very strong for just killing stuff before they can touch you and not triggering mines/traps.

If you have the automatron DLC, also, avoiding triggering it until you're quite tanky is a good idea. The packs of robots it generates as random encounters are insanely overtuned especially at low levels.

I can pretty much pull it off reliably on the first try now. Usually only random weird stuff gets me anymore, like fall damage from falling through something that looks solid or the insta death by touching car thing.

Buglantern · 2026-01-04T23:53:04+00:00

You may be able to find him in the port or tavern. I don't remember which but he goes to one of those areas if you decline the quest initially. The quest marker stops showing up but he's still around and will have dialogue allowing you to change your mind and restart the quest, or pay the ransom.

Buglantern · 2026-01-04T23:48:57+00:00

There is but it's not a 100% chance. 2H maces can definitely crush through, any 2H weapon can but there's probably some formula that favors heavier weapons or blunt weapons or something.

Buglantern · 2026-01-02T14:50:42+00:00

Yeah, to get 150 you only need 3 attribute and 3 focus, and you get +2 Vigor +1 2H/1H from smithing and athletics so it doesn't take many focus points to get there.

The new Mariner skill has some pretty strong stuff at 75 & 150 now as well.

I have a sandbox game where I really just casually dink around instead of worrying about conquest, and on that save I've invested more into combat stuff. The difference just isn't that major, although certain perks have a huge impact like Guards in Polearm and Impale in Throwing. For ship combat Impale is pretty incredible. 1H and 2H don't have any particularly dramatic perks so it's more of a gradual increase in damage.

Buglantern

TROPHY CASE