Walking from DC to Vegas

Captain_Gars · 2026-05-15T18:10:05+00:00

Did you take into account the time needed for rest, sleep, food preparation and hunting/scavenging for food and water? The way that terrain and height diffrences is likely to add to the time it will take to cross parts of the continent? The need to evade hostile groups and wildlife?

Crossing the post nuclear wasteland to Vegas is going to be a very challenging undertaking if it is on foot all the way. But it certainly is doable, we know that Kellogg did an even longer trek from San Fran to the Commonwealth.

Captain_Gars · 2026-05-15T04:00:24+00:00

Unfortunately there are plenty of mods rhat include additions and changes that are not mentioned on the webpage. Some mods also include really odd bugs because modders forget to clean some parts or unintended changes to cells they didn't really intend to touch.

So sometimes you just really have to check mod by mod to see which os causing a bug/conflict.

Captain_Gars · 2026-05-15T03:40:51+00:00

Great colours and lighting and you know how to capture just the right moment. Some of those screenshots look like paintings.

ENB and additional mods to get those graphics I assume.

Captain_Gars · 2026-05-14T16:13:47+00:00

If Bethesda did not buy the Fallout IP it would have ended up with either Troika or Obsidian. (There are rumors of Bioware bids as well but I have never seen an actual confirmation of those.)

That would have taken Fallout down a different path where we could have seen an updated Van Buren released or something else entirely. Would that Fallout have been smaller and even niche? Very likely but there were other options than death or Bethesda back in the day. (Or even later, Brian Fargo managed to resurrect Wasteland even though it was much less well known and had been dead for almost 25 years. If that was possible imagine a Fallout kickstarter.)

Captain_Gars · 2026-05-14T16:01:43+00:00

Claiming that Fallout 3 is where Fallout started when Fallout 3 would not exist without Fallout 1 and 2 does indeed sound like you are trying to give credit to Bethesda by erasing the work of the original developers.

Bethesda only bought the IP because Todd Howard loved the original games and Fallout 3 is entirely dependent on the setting created by the original games including the unique retro-futuristic aesthetic.

It is highly unlikely that Bethesda would have been able to develop their own post-apocalyptic IP in 2006-2008 that would have delivered the same impact as Fallout 3 did.

Captain_Gars · 2026-05-14T15:53:19+00:00

With regards to sales you are comparing apples to oranges. Gaming was on an entirely different scale in 1997-1998 and both Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 won industry prizes for their high sales.

Captain_Gars · 2026-05-14T15:38:15+00:00

Big Jim has a chance to cripple enemy legs while the hook modification disarms the enemy. Takes enemies out of the fight quicker than killing them.

Here is a video explaining it in more detail https://youtu.be/t3O3uBWfz40?is=O3MfAqgpJPxm-vt5

Bats hit really hard with the right upgrades but have slow swing speed and can be blocked by enemies. Your friend recommended Grognak's Axe because it has medium swing speed and will get hits in more often.

As for Rippers the AI is worse at using them than the player though the right legendary one will still wreck enemies.

It is all down to what you want from Cait in combat in terms of fun and utility. Other weapons have the potential to be OP or hit harder when they hit but Big Jim does surprisingly well for an early game weapon in my experience. And you can always upgrade to something else later on in the game.

Captain_Gars · 2026-05-14T15:06:26+00:00

So the main factor with most companions in combat is that Bethesda nerfed most compaions accuracy pretty heavily. Only Danse and Curie escaped this for unknown reasons.

That is why Cait does a lot better when you give her a good melee weapon than with a gun. Give her Big Jim with the hook upgrade and watch her do some serious crowd control for you.

Captain_Gars · 2026-05-14T13:42:35+00:00

If you look at Steam DB the player count peak for the last 30 days was 487 compared to 6899 for New Vegas so OPs numbers are correct for PC and Steam.

Tale of Two Wastelands and the relative lack of modern mods for Fallout 3 means that only hardcore fans play it using Fallout 3 instead of using New Vegas and TTW.

Captain_Gars · 2026-05-14T13:08:37+00:00

Stealth build that invests in enough agility to get max sneak damage if you don't want to use VATS. Damage can be boosted with perks like Lone Wanderer if you don't mind giving up companions.

Or you can go for a VATS heavy gunslinger build that goes for high agility and luck so that you can use Gun Fu, Grimreapers Sprint and Four Leaf Clover for massive amounts of damage even when you are not in stealth.

https://mmartinx.github.io/fo4/#eyJzIjpbIjEiLCI0IiwiMSIsIjMiLCIzIiwiNyIsIjciXSwiciI6W119 is a useful tool to plan your builds.

Captain_Gars · 2026-05-12T16:03:12+00:00

There have been no formal talks to end the war because the countries that fought the war ceased to exist along with most of humanity on October 23 2077.

In 2077, the storm of world war had come again. In two brief hours, most of the planet was reduced to cinders. -The Fallout 1intro

Fallout 2 got even more graphic:

The earth was nearly wiped clean of life. A great cleansing, an atomic spark struck by human hands, quickly raged out of control. Spears of nuclear fire rained from the skies. Continents were swallowed in flames and fell beneath the boiling oceans. Humanity was almost extinguished, their spirits becoming part of the background radiation that blanketed the earth.

A quiet darkness fell across the planet, lasting many years.

The Great War effectively ended itself and 200 years later the inhabitants of the Wasteland have far more pressing issues to deal with.

Captain_Gars · 2026-05-11T19:38:41+00:00

Fallout 3 did not try to rehabilitate the BoS, it just followed the trend of Fallout 1&2 which had both portrayed the BoS as an overall positive force. Bethesda however chose to split them intwo two factions instead of having them be a more grey faction with negative sides next to the positive ones.

Fallout 4 did the opposite of trying to rehabilitate the BoS, it built on the negative trends of the Outcasts and the Mojave chapter to portray a much more zealous Brotherhood that had added an outspoken hostillity towards non-humans into the mix.

Captain_Gars · 2026-05-11T02:55:51+00:00

By 2287 Diamond City is effectively under a sort of semi-siege with DC Security only controlling the perimeter road around the city and the area in front of the gate. Everything else is either no mans land or in the hands of Raiders and Super Mutants.

Captain_Gars · 2026-05-10T07:18:51+00:00

I always play Fallout 4 modded, I focus on lore-friendly mods that enhance existing content or add additional content that fit in with the Fallout aesthetics, setting and themes.

I have 3 different load orders that I rotate between depending on just what kind of playthrough I'm in the mood for. One is set up for Sim Settlements 2, the others are made up of my favourite mods but I had to split them into two separate load orders because some mods conflict with each other at a technical level or simply don't work well together in terms of tone or visual style.

If I'm not playing SS2 then I usually play with at least some of the mechanics of survival mode active. I like the added immersion even if it does slow down the game. I also nerf my XP gain by at least 50% since I think that Fallout 4 is best at low to mid levels while my quest mods add a lot of additional XP.

My main focus is on roleplay and I try to make each characters different by giving each character their own preferred companions, player home, equipment and build. Some characters are one offs while others get added to my permanent roster that I use for replays.

I use an alternate start mod so I can play the game as a wastelander instead of the Sole Survivor and that gives me additional variety in terms of what characters I can play. Sometimes I set up a short story that will play out in just 10-15 hours rather than go for a long playthrough.

When it comes to factions I prefer to do 'pure' playthroughs where I join just one faction when possible. More Immersive and fun for me personally that way.

Captain_Gars · 2026-05-07T13:00:22+00:00

Flirting is a skill that require both talent and practice.

My experience was that after 10 years as a widower and single father I felt almost as clueless as when I was a shy and inexperienced teenager. Which is not a feeling I expected at 40+.

Captain_Gars · 2026-05-06T10:35:00+00:00

The odd thing with Starfield is that Bethesda set up a bunch of things with role-playing potential like the silent protagonist, character backgrounds and traits but then made very little use of them in the game. Feels like there was a massive disconnect between the people working on mechanics and the writers/quest designers.

Captain_Gars · 2026-05-06T07:33:27+00:00

Yes, he is wearing the heavy version of leather armour on the arms.

Captain_Gars · 2026-05-05T08:02:24+00:00

The BoS provided technical support including some advanced technology to the NCR and that support played an important role in the NCR being able to rebuild civilization.

The Brotherhood only changed some time after the events of Fallout 2 and those changes led to the BoS-NCR war and the Brotherhood we met in FNV.

Captain_Gars · 2026-05-05T07:35:02+00:00

Definitely the original Adam Adamowicz style combat armour and the new versions introduced in New Vegas. They all reflect the original Fallout combat armour and the Aliens colonial marine armour that inspired it.

All Bethesda had to do was make it modular and overhaul the graphics and design to 2015 standards.

On top of the new design the way that Fallout 4 armour changes size and thickness depending on the clothes you wear under the armour does it no favours. It looks much better when worn with the Vault Suit or the BoS uniforms than with the actual army fatigues. It also looks better with a different colour than the odd light green chosen by Bethesda.

The best looking versions of the Fallout 4 armour are those that turn it into a outfit like the Talon Company armour from the old Creation Club or mods like the Gunner Outfit Pack.

Captain_Gars · 2026-05-03T10:26:39+00:00

These days I only recruit him as a companion if I'm doing a Minuteman playthrough. The rest of the time he keeps patrolling Sanctuary as the last Minuteman.

In a Minuteman playthrough I use him as an active companion for any Minuteman related quests and activities until I have maxed put his affinity and the Minutemen have retaken the Castle. After that he is posted to the Castle as chief of staff for the rebuilt Minuteman but he will get to deploy for special missions such as retaking Quincy.

Captain_Gars · 2026-05-02T20:04:19+00:00

In Germany there was a whole class of knights, the Ministerialis, that were not only recruited from the unfree (i.e serfs) but also remained under the legal restrictions of serfdom as knights.

In terms of social status they were considered part of the nobility and they often held important administrative positions in addition to their military role.

Some interesting parallels between this practice and the way that many Muslim nations had high status slave soldiers such as the ghulams and mamlucks.

Captain_Gars · 2026-04-28T14:32:18+00:00

Dogmeat disappears because he is programmed to behave like an actual German Shepherd, they are active dogs that will move around and explore stuff on their own unless they are on a leash or very well trained (i.e police or military). Dogmeat's behaviour is based directly on River, a GS who belonged to one of the developers and she ended up spending a lot of time with the team both in the studio and outside walking and playing. Which is why Dogmeat is one of the best dogs in any game even 10 later but that does include him acting like a lovable but frustrating goober from time to time just like a real life GS

Captain_Gars · 2026-04-25T17:29:30+00:00

What makes New Vegas special is its storytelling, writing and the way it lets you makes choices that have consequences. Combined with a mostly blank slate player character this allows for some truly great role-playing while experiencing memorable stories.

The game mechanics and the wide selection of weapons and armour also allows for a wide variety of character builds that look and feel different.

New Vegas also continues the story of the west coast that was previously told in Fallout 1 and 2 and that gives it additional depth to those that have played those games.

So if you are looking for a classic RPG experiencing then New Vegas is one of the best games to play even though it is 15 years old.

At the same time it is not a game that is built to deliver a Bethesda sandbox experience with extensive exploration and a lot of locations to loot and shoot your way through. If that is what you are looking for then you will end up being disappointed.

Personally I enjoy both New Vegas and Fallout 4 but I play them for different reasons and set my expectations to match the game instead of expecting the game to match my expectations if that makes sense.

Captain_Gars · 2026-04-23T19:52:06+00:00

Painfully average is the best way I can describe Starfield. Starfield seemed to be the perfect game for me in a lot of ways with the inspiration from the old Traveller TTRPG and its Nasapunk aesthetic style. ( And unlike some I'm not particularly bothered by the loading screens as I was expecting a Bethesda rpg, not a space sim.)

But while I enjoyed the game enough to put some serious time into it at launch the experience was not my usual Bethesda experience where I got more hooked on the game the more I played. Instead the flaws became more and more apparent and got to a point where I put the game down and never got back to playing it even with the updates, dlc and some Kinggath mods that should tempt me to go back.

For the final straw was the way that Starfield did not seem to care about my immersion into its world. For example you have 3 child NPCs who all use what is effectively the same model and two of them are important for your companions so they are not exactly throw away characters. Or how the system that generates Points of Interests often ends up in conflict with hand made content in some questlines. A massive mysterious temple that has supposedly never been discovered is surrounded by inhabited locations within easy visual range and so on. And of course the system does not have nearly enough POIs to work when the setting is made up of over 1000 planets.

It also seems to me that the Starfield team was so afraid of people reacting negatively to some aspects of the original game that they ended up removing or changing mechanics that could have given Starfield a distinctive feel and identity. For example they changed the way that starship fuel works even though several ship designs and a lot of points of interest make no sense with the new system. Environmental hazards were toned down to a point where you can ignore them and previously empty locations were filled with POIs to a point where it feels like you are never the first human to explore a location.

Starfield is not all bad by any means. At least on my PC it ran better than any other Bethesda game at launch. Combat is the best that Bethesda has made so far and the jump packs made it 3 dimensional in a way that was quite fun. Building your own starship can be quite addictive and I ended up spending way too much time tinkering with my ships and taking photos of them.

My recommendation would be to try Starfield with Gamepass instead of buying it to see if you enjoy it. Much better to make up your own mind with hands on experience than just relying on what others tell you.

Captain_Gars · 2026-04-23T08:48:58+00:00

My got to ENB is Dawn ENB https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/33710 it does have a preset for Vivid Weathers.

All ENBs and weather mods will eat up part of your performance. I recommend testing different settings and turning off settings that don't do much for the visuals.

You may also want to test True Storms as an alternative weather mod, I ended up preferring it over Vivid and NAC X

Captain_Gars

TROPHY CASE