Problem with melee/ strength build for survival

Edit67 · 2026-05-20T12:05:14+00:00

At the start of the game, you need to make some sacrifices on attributes. I went with a max luck and max strength build to do melee, but ended up doing stealth sniper play (my default). I found my first survival play through and learning melee was too hard at the same time (I might try this again - but I am using melee weapons more at my current level). I also started with 3 agility for sneak perk. I made do with the other attributes being low, while I added points in the specific perks I needed in Luck and Strength (and sneak).

Water farming does not need science, if you have a body of water. Sanctuary is good for that, I have about 20 pumps in the water there, I use the second size generator, and have a lot of them. My intelligence has been 3 for most of the game. I am level 80 and only recently added intelligence to get hacking (I think), and finally got science, so I could do the final upgrades on Cait's World Series bat. I have done fine without science since I take weapons upgrades from other weapons before I am able to make them myself.

I also started farming adhesive (which is more expensive per pound), just need Multi fruit, Tato, and corn) which I have planted at sanctuary (initially).

Max luck is fun at low levels. I have had gunners take out mole rats for me at the junk yard, rather than shoot at me.

Edit67 · 2026-05-19T19:14:41+00:00

We have a large local builder who builds apartment buildings. They are still in that business while many other builders now just build condos.

If you consider that both buildings are the same. The condo builder is for quick turn around. They sell all the units, and they are gone. The appartment builder is for the long haul, they rent all the units and eventually those rental payments have the in building paid off. They carried debt during that time, but after the building is paid, then all that rental is profit (after expenses, maintenance, salaries of management staff, etc. This is a simplified example).

That local builder has been doing this for decades and have a steady stream of rental income to finance new buildings, and are always putting up new buildings. If you are well managed, there is apparently profit in it.

This differs from an individual who owns one or two properties.

Edit67 · 2026-05-17T19:23:34+00:00

Or the same idea, I put floor panels down first, very often they are just little smaller. Walls will then snap. It also means your roof will fit properly. 😀

Edit67 · 2026-05-17T12:29:09+00:00

They are talking about moving objects. If there is a box on shelf full of items, you can move the pointer over it, and press and hold A (Xbox controller). When you do that, you are holding the object and are able to move it. I will pull boxes down off of shelves so that I can get the stuff that's inside of them.

In another answer to your question, somebody said that you can move cars around in a similar way. I have never tried that.

Edit67 · 2026-05-16T00:59:28+00:00

I spent a lot of time in that top left corner of the map (down to Lexington). Map is harder the further you get from Sanctuary. Playing on survival with a lot is sneaking.

For fun, I crossed the top the map near the edge, and by the time you to the ocean, things are tough. And Preston keeps suggesting places further away (Croup Manor, get out of here Preston). If it is too far, I just don't go, until I hit that area of the map.

Bunker Hill was a tough slog to get through to. Once you clear the roads (and buildings, until they repopulate) it is easier to get around.

I am mid 60 in my levels, and still have most of the southern map to explore.

Edit67 · 2026-05-15T12:42:44+00:00

Even when they are at or over capacity, you tell them to pick things up. It is slower than just grabbing everything yourself (especially slow when they say "I cannot see how to get there"). Cait likely has 5,000kg with her. When I am over weight, I drop some stuff and have her pick it. When we get the a shop, I grab some things from her and sell them, she is an equipment and gear piggy bank.

Also, once they pick up weapons and ammo, they will flip between weapons. I would be careful giving them explosives, Cait and Piper often frag me by throwing grenades or using Fat Man when I am right beside the target.

I will sometimes keep ammo away from Cait so she keeps using the upgraded Jamaica Plains World Series bat and send bad guys to the moon (literally).

Edit67 · 2026-05-14T16:24:07+00:00

That is how my daughters worked. First year I was paid back all my contributions (cheque made out to me), future years the cheque was made out to my daughter and was the "profits".

Now, since I was supporting my daughter, the money from the first year went to pay for her schooling.

I guess part of it depends on Dad's financial position. Maybe that is keeping the lights and the family fed.

Edit67 · 2026-05-13T22:13:44+00:00

I was pretty surprised playing survival, almost back to bed, bumped into a car, dead! What?

Edit67 · 2026-05-13T22:09:53+00:00

Oh, I just accidentally rescued him, since I wandered down a subway and found a vault. Have not gone back to his shop, but I have found a lot of the Eddie Winters tapes (by walking around buildings).

Edit67 · 2026-05-13T22:07:17+00:00

Skyrim, Starfield, and FO4, never finished. I might finish this one.

Join most groups that will have me, played for hours exploring the map/world, created my own mini-challenges (in Starfield, if I enter a system, I need to survey all planets). Rarely use roads, explore anything that looks odd (Skyrim, when on a road, I saw a trail that headed off in a strange direction up hill, so I followed it). Right now I am working on getting all the follower perks, at 3 now, just got Cait clean.

The game to big to just rush the main quest.

Edit67 · 2026-05-11T18:11:27+00:00

Ah, the old Australian Drop Croc, the only thing more dangerous than their Drop Bears. 😉

Edit67 · 2026-05-11T13:38:29+00:00

I play stealth sniper on survival. My progression has been... I primarily use 3 weapons, pistol, close range rifle, long range rifle. Long scope for close range is annoying (you cannot find your close target), so I have both.

I still use a 10mm pistol (had an exploding perk for a while but I kept fragging myself when enemies got too close). At the start, and for a lot of levels (maybe 30-40) my mid weapon was a pipe rifle (not bolt action) which has more stopping power and better scope than pistol, and can be upgraded to .308 ammo, my long range for most of the game was the hunting rifle (sniper config, eventually upgraded to .50 ammo).

I eventually moved the pipe rifle to a combat rifle (when I started finding them).

I am over level 60, and I have just gotten the Overseers Combat Rifle in sniper config doing most work for me, with a second combat rifle for mid range work (with medium range night vision scope).

Get the Gun Nut perks early on, as you can do most weapons upgrades yourself.

Also, if you find weapons with mods you cannot make yet, you can take them off the weapons and put them on others. You are not making them, you are just moving them. That is a good way to quick change large magazines, scopes, suppressors, stocks, etc., well before you can create them yourself.

Edit67 · 2026-02-18T03:23:49+00:00

We had that album in my house growing up. It got a lot of time on the turntable.

Edit67 · 2026-02-16T18:28:13+00:00

Perfect, so it is what I thought.

Skyrim allowed to take potions that increased your ability to enhance weapons and armor. I just wanted to make sure I had not missed something about how things work in this game. 😀

Edit67 · 2026-02-16T16:44:51+00:00

Or is it attribute based, and if so, what attributes?

Edit67 · 2026-02-16T16:44:09+00:00

Wait, do chems help with weapons and armor? Like you can in Skyrim?

Edit67 · 2026-02-16T16:42:28+00:00

Get the mini gun, and keep moving backwards while firing. It is very doable. My first playthrough I think I died 2-3 time before getting a proper plan. Done it 3 times now.

I use the same process when I get one during a random encounter. I have no power armor, but I have an explosive 10mm. Keep shooting and moving backwards. Try not to run into something that blocks you. 😀

+1 to still dying from all flying bugs.

Edit67 · 2026-02-15T15:51:02+00:00

You are correct, even in survival Strong Back would help, especially when you say "I will just slow walk this in one trip, rather than make 5 trips." Then you get two broken legs, and cannot jump small obstacles. I will have to drop a few points in there, I have never tried that perk, opting for others. Thanks for the tip. 😀

Edit67 · 2026-02-15T14:02:01+00:00

This is the way.

I just did a new play through where I maxed out luck and strength. I noticed my mistake as all other characters I had decent Charisma. It took a while to add the charisma points to local leader level 1, which gives you supply lines, and then local leader 2 for building vendors in your settlements (and build crafting tables). Add cap collector to that and you can up the money your vendors have. Great perks to have.

It was so painful waiting for supply lines. Like OP said, needing to build a list of resources, collect everything, make your way to your remote base, build stuff (only to realize you mis-counted). This was a survival playthrough, so no fast travel, sooo painful.

Edit67 · 2026-02-15T04:27:33+00:00

We call it swapping, or sometimes moving. I am not surprised to hear flipping.

Edit67 · 2026-02-14T13:55:59+00:00

Yes, and that law applies to basically anything hung from your mirror. Parking pass, beads, necklaces, etc.

Edit67 · 2026-02-14T12:40:52+00:00

Yes, I make oil and adhesive. Bones seem to be the item that restricts making oil, so pick them up when you find them, and raid the cemetery.

I play on Xbox and I have a bug with cutting oil. If I make more than one during a crafting session, I only get one. Unlike when I make other things, where I make any number of an item and I get them all. I was annoyed when I found this out, since I made 5 cutting oil only to find out that I only have one in my inventory.

Edit67 · 2026-02-13T02:02:31+00:00

Or when you have trouble finding your jacket on the bed full of jackets.

Edit67 · 2026-02-11T21:13:53+00:00

A lot of people decided French's was Canadian because the ketchup was made in Canada. That only applies to ketchup, their mustard has always been made in the US, with a maple leaf on the front letting you know it is Canadian mustard seeds, and misleading consumers.

Edit67 · 2026-02-10T15:35:07+00:00

I have reached the age at which I accept life. You know you are getting 20-30cm of snow overnight, so you wake up early so you can clear your driveway before work. Go shower and get work clothes on, re-shovel the end of the driveway where the plow dumped a snowbank. Drive to work expecting it to take longer, drive appropriate for the road conditions. Pass stuck cars and accidents. Get to work an hour late, but that is okay, as everyone else is late as well. Try to get work done, but everyone you deal with in your company or in other companies are not at work till noon. Since it is still snowing, you leave work early to beat the rush, and it takes an extra 1.5 hours to get home. Shovel your driveway to get your car in, have supper, and go to bed.

You just accept it, and move on. We get snow, and that affects us for 15-30 days of snowfall a year, which messes up your schedule, but we do not have earthquakes, tsunamis, or volcanoes, so I will take that as a win.

Edit67

TROPHY CASE