Fallout 1 Retrospective

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Hi there! My name's Lilura1 and welcome to my retrospective on Fallout's time-based reactivity.

Fallout's influence has been incalculable; for example, there would be no Arcanum, no Planescape: Torment and no Mask of the Betrayer. That is, there would have been no reactivity to follow.

In itself, Fallout is notable because it's the first RPG to seriously attempt to simulate PnP/tabletop gaming; you know, what computer RPGs are supposed to do. Before Fallout came along, role-playing a character in the genre was almost unheard of.

I n t r o d u c t i o n

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Remember that assassin who poisoned us in Baldur's Gate? And if we didn't jump through hoops to get the antidote you would die of its effects in a ten-day? "Oh yes!" I hear you say. "That quest sucked! I take great delight in dispatching him before that flag can be set!" Well yeah, me too. Love the Eagle Bow. But that's not the point: the point is that the quest is timed. It's do or die.

Now, while there are numerous examples of timed quests in many of our favorite RPGs (mostly companion/stronghold/minor quests), it is rare that you see one that employs a time limit that affects a major event in a campaign or the outcome of the campaign itself. One of these rarities — in which the passage of time is integral to the campaign — is found in Interplay's Fallout, the second-best RPG of all-time. But in this post I won't be covering its multi-faceted merits (that demands a series of posts); instead, I'll just be covering one facet of its greatness: how it employs the passage of time.

We all feel time. Sometimes we feel like we don't have enough of it, especially as we grow older. On the other hand, some people feel bored and time becomes a massive burden to them. We often ask ourselves how we should spend our time, when we should really be asking ourselves how we can best use it.

Hah! I'm only mucking around...

F i n d t h e W a t e r C h i p

Ok! This timed quest represents the first of two main phases of the campaign. I am only covering this first phase. The quest is given to you by the Overseer of Vault 13, during the opening FMV. The situation is grave indeed:

Ah! You're here. Good. We've gotta problem. A big one. The controller chip for our water purification system has given up the ghost. We can't make another one, and the process is too complicated for a workaround system. Simply put, we're running out of drinking water. No water, no Vault. This is crucial to our survival, and frankly, I... I think you're the only hope we have. You need to go find us another controller chip. We estimate we have four to five months before the Vault runs out of water. We. Need. That. Chip. We marked your map with the location of another Vault. Not a bad place to start, I think. Look, just be safe, ok? - The Overseer of Vault 13.

The Vault Dweller (you, the protagonist) exits Vault 13 to arrive in a tunnel system. She relieves a corpse of some much-needed gear and shakes off some rats en route to the tunnel exit and world map.

To the west you can see a natural light. For the first time in your life, you are looking at the outside world.

So here we have the Vault Dweller stepping outside the confines of a clinical, controlled environment (Vault 13) and preparing to enter into the harsh, post-apocalyptic world known as the Wasteland. Those bones resting at the entryway to the tunnel aren't exactly reassuring, are they? On closer inspection she thinks they may be the remains of a horned kangaroo, but she is unable to determine the cause of death. (Dehydration?)

WATER. Reminded of her quest (the rats threw her off), she checks the status of her Pip-Boy 2000, which says she has 150 days to find the water chip and deliver it to Vault 13, before everyone dwelling in it dies of dehydration: an awful fate.

Ok, so. Assuming the player is attentive and acting logically on various leads that point to possible locations of the water chip, the time limit of 150 days is more than enough to complete most content in the campaign - including side quests and a bit of aimless wandering - but the new player certainly won't know that, unless they read a walkthrough. Ergo, they will feel a sense of urgency. And even completionist veterans who average 70-80 day campaigns always have the time limit in the back of their minds, believe me.

B u r n i n g T i m e o n t h e W o r l d M a p

The lead given by the Overseer is Vault 15, several "squares" to the east. This represents about a ten-day hike, so you can see how time is a factor already, especially since some players will return to the Overseer in an attempt to inform him that the water chip is not there (from memory, you can't actually explicitly inform him but you can milk some items and sympathy from him, at least, before you head back out to look for the chip, elsewhere.)

Left circle: Vault 13 (where you start), Center circle: Shady Sands (the first "hub" of the campaign. It's important for initial questing and picking up your first companion who can mark Junktown and The Hub on your map, but it's not important in regards to your primary quest), Right circle: Vault 15.

Now, let's put the Wasteland into perspective. This is the world map in its entirety, showing only the relevant locations the player is likely to visit in their search for the water chip (nothing is stopping them heading farther south or west, but it is dangerous and there is no logical reason to do so at this stage of the proceedings). Anyway, when you compare the above journey with the distances shown below, you can see it's going to burn a fair bit of time getting to these places let alone moving back and forth between them. You really want to keep backtracking to a minimum because travelling on the world map is by far the most time-consuming activity in Fallout. It's also worth noting here that speed of movement is affected by terrain (i.e, it may be quicker to go around a mountain range than over it). The Pathfinder perk also reduces world map travel time by 25% per rank.

World map manually extracted, converted and annotated by Lilura1:

The Hub is a necessary visit because it gives you two leads that pinpoint the location of the water chip, which turns out to be a vault under the ghoul-inhabited Necropolis.

Interestingly, if you "fail" to visit Necropolis before 110 days have passed Set and his ghouls will have been invaded and slaughtered by a super mutant force, and you will miss out on some quality content (though you will meet the super mutants and all that entails).

This is a prime example of how the landscape of the Wasteland changes over time. It blew me away when I first discovered this time-based reactivity. Not just that, but I couldn't believe there was another way into the Military Base, all those leagues away. It was a complete campaign-changer. You don't see much of this in RPGs, past or present. This, as I said earlier, is one facet of Fallout's greatness. But then, we're talking about 1997 here - when people knew how to make an RPG.

As time runs down the player receives messages from their RemindBoy; namely:

• Water supplies running low in Vault 13. Find the water chip quickly. (50 day mark);

• Water supplies near gone in Vault 13. Situation critical. (100 day mark); and finally:

• Water supplies exhausted. Vault 13 dead. Mission over. (150 day mark = GAME OVER -> back to main menu.)

These are presented as FMVs that cut in as you play. Such quality of presentation, still holding up after all these years.

T i m e E x t e n s i o n

Yeah, I'm not really a fan of this. Once you reach The Hub you can pay the water merchant to transport water supplies to Vault 13, thereby giving you an extra 100 days to find the water chip. This is a real luxury, actually. Too generous. Still, it's possible many players won't even find the merchants - I didn't on my first run.

O t h e r W a y s T i m e P a s s e s

Aside from travelling on the world map there are other time-burning factors to take into consideration, but they are nowhere near as severe.

Time basically passes in real-time when you are exploring within an area (for example, a town or dungeon). However, there are a few ways it can pass quicker within an area:

• Using medical skills and studying textbooks to skill up eats an hour each time.

• Waiting until a certain time of day, obviously.

• Resting Until Healed can burn significant time (use stimpacks).

• Some quests can time-lapse you; f.e, Refugee Irwin's quest (.223!) eats two days and one plot-critical journey can eat two weeks.

• Caravan runs go from hub to hub and can take a couple days, though they are much quicker than hiking to the destination.
• Brotherhood operations (for +stats) take up to 3 weeks to perform.

So yeah, not many surprises here. These are just things to keep in mind.

O t h e r T i m e L i m i t s

• To my dismay, there was a time limit that Interplay removed in the patch: that of completing the campaign within 500 days or there would be a super mutant invasion on Vault 13! It's a real pity that they removed this because it's a logical consequence of the campaign. (The invasion can now only be caused by revealing the location of the Vault to the enemy, which is not timed reactivity.)

• The 13 year time limit for the entire campaign is just a technical limit put in place by the coders. Players should not be concerned with it at all. If you manage to exhaust it nothing special happens; you're just presented with a game-over screen and that's it.

• There are quite a few quests and other landscape changes that are based on time limits (Tandi being kidnapped by the raiders a couple of days after leaving Shady Sands, perhaps being the most famous), but they are comparatively minor. Lots of other RPGs have this sort of thing, so it's not that notable.

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I've always loved the time limits in Fallout, even though they're not perfect. I don't get why people complain about time limits because they add a layer of depth and urgency to the campaign, giving them a sense of pacing that they otherwise might not have (Fallout's pacing is impeccable). Anyway, I'd like to see more RPGs employ major time-based reactivity in the future, rather than just run of the mill stuff like companion quests and the like.

And this concludes Time in Fallout.

dat1 (FO1): Employ extract -e *.dat using KA_DAT_Extract

dat2 (FO2): Employ dat_explorer

Self-reference:

Maximum raw Action Points is 13 (AG 10 + Action Boy x3). Doesn't result in the best build, but that is the maximum. Best builds rarely if ever take Action Boy. Bonus Move is better for +mobility, and other perks are better than AB, too.

Maximum possible attacks executable per turn is 13 for unarmed (e.g, power fist) and melee weapons (e.g, super sledge) and 6 for the fastest small guns and energy weapons (BB LE, turbo plasma rifle). 13 is possible due to Fast Shot erroneously working with unarmed and melee weapons skills.

Obviously requires Bonus Rate of Fire (for firearms) and Bonus HtH Attacks (for melee weapons).

The maximum number of skillpoints that can be held in reserve is 99. Perks do not accrue.

The maximum level reachable is 21. It isn't possible to reach 21st level unless we farm Deathclaws / other critters.

Level progression. This is NOT a build. It just shows when key Perks become available and what their prerequisites are. Can easily build optimal Sniper or Slayer build with this info.

01 0 XP
02 1,000 XP
03 3,000 XP * Awareness (PE 5) or Toughness (EN 6, LK 6)
04 6,000 XP
05 10,000 XP
06 15,000 XP * Bonus Move or Bonus HtH Attacks (AG 6)
07 21,000 XP
08 28,000 XP
09 36,000 XP * Bonus Rate of Fire (AG7, IN 6, PE 4). Can Mutate.
10 45,000 XP
11 55,000 XP
12 66,000 XP * Better Criticals (req: PE 6, LK 6, AG 4). Tag can be useful. Action Boy unlocks (AG 5)
13 78,000 XP
14 91,000 XP
15 105,000 XP * Whatever
16 120,000 XP
17 136,000 XP
18 153,000 XP * Sniper ( PE + AG 8) or Slayer (ST + 8, Unarmed 80%)
19 171,000 XP
20 190,000 XP
21 210,000 XP * Doesn't matter: Silent Death (AG 10, Sneak 80%) or Action Boy or Bonus Move.

Sniper Build needs at least PE 8, AG 8, IN 6, LK 6.
Slayer needs at least ST 8, PE 8, AG 6, LK 6, PE 6 (and EN 6 if want Toughness and AG 10 if want Silent Death).

AG is the most important attribute by far, as it dictates how much what can do on our turn in combat (how far we can move, how many times we can attack).

CH is not needed for companions, and most social checks are Speech-based. Dump it.

Best Trait is Gifted. Second best is Fast Shot. Finesse can be Mutated into Fast Shot post-Slayer/Sniper acquisition. I don't recommed Fast Shot on maiden runs. Why? Because then you can't target body parts. Go for the eyes!!!

The best skill is Small Guns. Later, go with Energy Weapons. Good initial Tags would be Small Guns, Speech and Energy Weapons. Never Tag or waste skillpoints on Science and Repair. Purchase textbooks from Hub instead (raises related skill up to 91%).

Stats go up to 10, skills 300. Some perks go up to 3 (effects stack).

There is no need to raise Small Guns, Energy Weapons, Unarmed or Melee Weapons skills >150. The max chance to hit is 95%.

Maximum possible HPs on a 21st level build is 265 (Max ST and EN + Lifegiver x3). The build takes Toughness x3 as well (for DR 30%), and can fit Slayer in. The ultimate damage sponge. Also, Jet.

The best armor is Hardened Power Armor.
The best weapons are Alien Blaster, .223, BB LE, Turbo Plasma Rifle, Power Fist (unarmed), Super Sledge (melee).
Small Gun progression: 9mm, .44, Hunting Rifle, Irwin's .223, Sniper Rifle
Unarmed progression: Brass Knuckles, Sipked Knuckles, Power Fist
Melee progression: Whatever, then Super Sledge or Ripper
Energy Weapons: it's all about Alien Blaster and Turbo Plasma Rifle

The best companion is Tycho (BB LE) followed by Ian (.223). Companions cannot wear amor, limiting their late-game survivability. However, their collective attack rate can be useful in early- and mid-game even though their AI is lacking (move out of their Line of Fire).

Maximum companions is 6. Employ companions for muling.

Get Barter skill to 100 and you're quartering the price of goods. 200 isn't worth it. Bartering through "button" is cheaper than bartering through dialogue.

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