Fallout 4 is one of the many quest-driven RPG action games set in a hostile environment out in the market. It is not that difficult to play for a beginner. By this, we mean that the gameplay is pretty straightforward. However, there are many unique elements of the game that you should understand to start playing it in the best possible way. In this Fallout 4 guide, we will offer many tips & tricks for beginners who are just starting to play the game.
Although most of the features of the game are similar if you have played the previous installments of the game, the Settlements feature is something new. Let us start the Fallout 4 Guide by discussing the assistant first.
Fallout 4 Guide: The PIP-BOY is very useful
Those familiar with Fallout game will know that the personal assistant in the game is very helpful.
The Pip-Boy functions in the game as an interactive in-game menu. It addresses many practical needs of the player including equipping weapons and apparel for the character.
This instance of Pip-Boy is very simple and intuitive. However, there are a few less obvious features that you should consider making full use of. These features include features like sorting option in the inventory system or the function to reorganize items by weight. You can also sort your weapons and armor by the amount of damage that they can cause to the enemy.
Although the Pip-Boy is very useful for all these things, it does not help in sorting or classifying the quests based on main missions and optional missions. Once you have completed the quests though, the Stats section will keep track of the categories of the quest.
Fallout 4 Game Guide: VATS Enhancement
The Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting system in Fallout 4 is inspired by the body targeting feature from the original Fallout game. It is called as VATS in short. VATS offers the player plenty of advantages in the actual battle. This does require you to be good at managing your action points (AP). If you can manage your AP well, VATS will allow you to selectively target different body parts on your enemy.
VATS will also give you the percentage readouts of hits that you can do on each arm, leg and the head. The higher the readout, the better the chances of you hitting the part.
A point to note here is that unlike the body targeting system in the original Fallout game, VATS doesn’t freeze time. It merely slows it down and thus, offers the enemy a small chance of hitting you even when you are in the VATS mode.
Fallout 4 Game Guide: Be a Hoarder
Gathering of resources is just as important in Fallout 4 as killing enemies and completing quests. Resource items are scattered all across the environment in Fallout 4. You must, therefore, investigate every drawer and look into every corner. If there’s a place where some item may be hidden, don’t forget to check it out.
Keep hoarding the items as much as possible. Many items may feel worthless at first look. However, you may never know when you will need them. We understand that you can only carry a certain amount of load with you. But then, this is where Sanctuary Hills come in. You can safely drop all the excess stuff you have gathered there.
A good idea is to use Pip-Boy’s sorting option to find items which are least important for you and drop them off. When your load is lighter, you can come back for these items. If these items are very common, you may not need to come back for them.
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Fallout 4 Game Guide: Scrap when Necessary
There are many items which would have been useful before the whole area became a wasteland but are useless in the game. Items like toasters and refrigerators are of no use after the Great War. However, you can still salvage them for their parts. Highlight these items in the workshop mode and repurpose them into new items or even new weapons.
Although this feature is useful, use it scarcely and wisely. A gear can be scrapped and turned into steel. But a gear is often more useful to make defense weaponry for the settlement. Scrape items when you are really sure you won’t have any use for them.
Fallout 4 Game Guide: Settlements
Now, this is a new feature in the Fallout series. Whether you have played all the previous installments or this is the first game you are trying out, the challenge of building settlements is something you would never have faced before.
The game’s new Settlement feature allows you to build settlement buildings. In order to do this, you will first need tons of resources. In order to gather these resources, you can go into workshop mode and look around for everything that can be scrapped. If an item is highlighted when you look at it in workshop mode, it can be scrapped. Items ranging from toasters to fallen houses can all be scrapped.
Make sure that you don’t scrap light poles as you can hang electricity bulbs on them in later parts of the game.
Scrapping for resources
Keep on scrapping items all around the old settlements. Once you have enough resources, you will be able to start work on your settlement.
Take these resources to any crafting station and select store all junk. This will free up your carrying capacity and also make these resources available to the whole settlement.
Make sure to put at least one bed per person in your settlement. If the number of bed drops, people will become unhappy. You can go into any room and scrap it for resources before putting a bed in the room. To make beds, go to Furniture and select Beds in the Settlement management screen.
Food management
You must also ensure to have enough food for the population for your settlement to be happy. Without enough food in your settlement, your settlement will stop growing. In order to plant food plants in your garden, you will first need to collect them from all around. These can mainly be found in other towns in existing gardens.
Once they have grown for a few days, you can harvest them and replant them to expand your food supply. Ensure to assign settlers to your garden. For this, you must plant your plants in rows. This can be done by going to Resources in the Settlement management screen and these selecting Food. From there, select the types of plants that you have on hand. Then, plant them in rows. Select one of the settlers now and they will be assigned to the plants.
Water for your settlers
In order to survive, we need food as well as water. So do the people who settle in your settlements in Fallout 4. You can either choose to install normal pumps or water purification pumps. Your water resource must be higher than the number of settlers in your settlement. The higher the water resource, the happier they will be.
Although water purification pumps sound good at first, you will need electricity generators for them. The water purification pump can be put in the stream near the bridge.
There are many more nuances to building a successful settlement but these can be covered in advanced tutorials.
Fallout 4 Game Guide: Craft Weapons
Scrapping junk items for their resources is useful not only for settlement building but also for weapon crafting. 
With the use of crafting, you can give new life to obsolete weapons. In fact, the weapons you can craft in Fallout 4 are amongst the best weapons available in the game. Although, this is not that easy. You must have the right parts needed to create these weapons and to add certain add-ons to the weapon. Luckily, you can find out the required parts before you start crafting your weapon from the crafting menu. The menu clearly tells the player all the ingredients required for a given weapon.
Fallout 4 Game Guide: Power Armor
Any Fallout game feels incomplete without the Power Armor. Although you can’t easily get your hands on the first set of power armor easily, once you get the power armor, your enemies are doomed.
The game gives you a finite amount of energy in the power armor. Hence, you will be constantly hunting for fusion cores which are the main source of fuel for the armor. If you are constantly running out of fuel, you can leave the power armor in any of your settlements and use the armor only for the main quests and in intense battles.
Fallout 4 Game Guide: Fast Travel
Use Fast Travel as much as possible in order to save time. It is also an efficient way of hauling your looted resources from the battlefield to your settlements.
It is advisable to use fast travel as much as possible.
Fallout 4 Game Guide: Cook often
The game allows you to cook your food items. And the wasteland has tons of things you can eat. Apart from humans (also possible with cannibal perk), you can eat nearly everything in the game but the quality may not always be good.
Use the cooking stations to cook any items which may be unhealthy on their own. If you find dirty water during a battle, don’t worry. Collect it and use the cooking station to make it drinkable.
Fallout 4 Game Guide: Healing
There are many aid options available in Fallout 4 for when you need saving. The problem is that you have a limited carrying capacity. For example, Yao Guai meat and Deathclaw are dishes that can replenish a lot of your health quickly. But these must be cooked first in order to remove the radiation from the food.
The most efficient health resource in the game, however, are Stimpaks. They can mostly be found on the bodies of humans you have killed in combat. They are easy to carry as they are light and you can use them quickly to heal your character.
There are many other elements to the game that you must devote enough time to learn. These include settlements, trading, etc. For example, switching between buying and selling, unloading items for caps, distributing items you want to sell to different sellers are some tricks you will learn through advanced guides or through trial and error. But this guide for beginners covers all the basics of the game and should help you start playing the game in the best possible manner.
What did you think about this Fallout 4 Game Guide? Should we have expanded more on some elements? Should other aspects of the game be included in the guide? How’s your experience playing the game? Tell us all of this and more in the comments section below:
