Thread of Random Details

[Relight]

I figured that people contributing to an unofficial patch are the kind of detail-oriented people who might enjoy pointing out some of this kind of stuff, whether it's humorous, annoying or just makes you think. These are the little things that you notice while playing and want to share. I thought it might be fun to have a thread for this, because I know I love this kind of stuff, and I want to know what other people might find!

Obviously, use spoiler tags if required! I figured the third one here is devoid of enough details to be considered spoiler-free.

- Of all the plants in the game, one of the most obvious to spot are the mushrooms - not the tiny glowing ones, the big ones. And you can't pick those and eat them?

- Let's say you accept that there are undisturbed skeletons in the world. And maybe they're in a place with old cash registers, that for whatever reason haven't been looted, and you find pre-war money in the cash registers. It makes sense that you should be able to search the skeletons, and that they'd probably be carrying some pre-war money too, at the very least.

- Why is the Drumlin Diner under attack almost every single time I fast travel there? And couldn't they give Trudy something else to say as a greeting, except "I can rest easy"? First of all, I'm tired of hearing you say that - new topic! - second of all, how are you resting easy when someone is attacking you every time I visit?!

[Arthmoor]

Only one I can think of right now:

 

Why would anyone want to settle in Hangman's Alley when it's flanked on all sides by tall buildings infested with hostile factions? Surely there's better places?

 

Actually... thought of another:

 

Radstorms. They make a point of saying how horrible those are. So why doesn't anyone seem to bother seeking shelter even when there are viable indoor areas to hide near them?

[Relight]

So I looted this guy and did a double take:

http://www.falloutsearch.com/img/UFO4P/377160_2015-12-01_00011.png

Then I went closer and discovered it was a trick of the light:

http://www.falloutsearch.com/img/UFO4P/377160_2015-12-01_00013.png

[Relight]

Some of these notes getting into "I wish" little details that I wish Bethesda had just gone one extra mile

- You can knock short metal posts clean off their bases while in power armor (by Swan Pond). I shouldn't be able to kick them around while not in power armor, but hey, at least I can't separate them from their bases without power armor. Neat little feature.

- Bethesda is still moving the sunlight/shadows in chunks?

- I wish you could shoot out more lights instead of just the spotlights. So many lights I want to shoot for stealth. None of them are logically "bulletproof" especially given you CAN shoot out spotlights.

- I want to extinguish Lanterns... and light ones that are unlit.

 

Why would anyone want to settle in Hangman's Alley when it's flanked on all sides by tall buildings infested with hostile factions? Surely there's better places?

- Haven't been there yet, but it definitely ties into what I've been thinking. On a larger scale - and I'm not sure yet but I don't think I like it - in GENERAL, all enemies are everywhere. Does it make sense to have it that way? Not really - everyone would be at constant war and I would have imagined they'd all be wiped out by now. I'd rather see less of that, and not that they don't exist, but I'd rather see more strongholds in separate regions, with populations of enemies being less the further you get from a main stronghold - allowing you to work your way up to an area - and very occasional roving groups. Not every group, mixed in close quarters, everywhere. On a related note, which highlighted this "problem," there's been two parts of the main quest I've played so far where you basically get taken on a tour of every different enemy you might encounter, by having to follow something or someone.

 

Radstorms. They make a point of saying how horrible those are. So why doesn't anyone seem to bother seeking shelter even when there are viable indoor areas to hide near them?

- Excellent one. I can never find anywhere to hide when these occur. I usually end up underneath some sort of shelter, but it's not like hiding from the rain Incidentally, other than the issue you point out, I really like this idea. It just needs to be better implemented, I guess.

- I did report this one as a "bug," but figured I'd post it here too. Someone at Bethesda is being a bit silly in my opinion! I know there's people who can do crazy balancing with rocks and stuff, but I just don't believe this item would balance like this

http://www.falloutsearch.com/img/UFO4P/377160_2015-12-01_00007.png

- I wish vendors would say something after you complete a transaction. It's really weird that you finish and there's just silence. I'd rather have someone say the same stupid line over and over - like Gob having an "exit barter" line that was practically identical to his subsequent "exit conversation" line, so he basically says the same thing to you twice - than have nothing at all.

[Relight]

- I wish you could move skeletons. Don't know why you can't! If I could, I'd help this poor guy:

http://www.falloutsearch.com/img/UFO4P/151204-UFO4P-Pulowski-Skeleton-Ride.mp4

[pStyl3]

Don't really know if this fits the thread, but anyway. So the Local Leader perk has 2 ranks, right? I just rewatched the Fallout 4 - E3 Showcase World Premiere again, and noticed, that at 24m22s the perk requirement for the Trading Stand says "Req: Rank 3 Local Leader". Was that a typo in the perk requirement there, that was then fixed prior to releasing the game, or was there originally a third rank for Local Leader, that was then cut from the game?

[Relight]

Don't really know if this fits the thread, but anyway.

Yup, when thread title is "random details" it fits, thanks for joining in!

New one from me:

- In regard to the Freedom Trail quest:

The password for the underground railroad is... railroad. For crying out loud! It's a wonder you people haven't been destroyed by the Institute!)

[Makaan]

One thing I've noticed is that the only real restrooms in Diamond City are in the Security dugout area. Where is everyone going to take a wiz?

[Arthmoor]

Heh, in the pond where the water purifier is maybe?

[pStyl3]

There is a hidden duffle bag on one of the roofs of Sanctuary Hills.

[Relight]

There is a hidden duffle bag on one of the roofs of Sanctuary Hills.

Oh nice, I did not find that! I'm a sneak mode player so I gotta always remember to look up, even when not sneaking around. That's really great when a game rewards you for going out of your way. "Let's go see what's on the rooftops!" There could have been nothing there - instead, Bethesda was nice and someone thought to put something there.

Some more...

- Wish that the game would remember I was sneaking after I hack a terminal, and put me back into sneak.

- I hate Paladin Danse, and honestly most of the Brotherhood of Steel. Not really spoiler, but I'll tag it anyway.

He's like a moronic chipmunk or something. They're just a bunch of idiots running around in big suits, blindly jumping into battles because they have suits to protect them, no strategy, no nothing. The first mission you do with Danse, he tells ME that we're going to do this "clean and quiet. No heroics and by the book." Perfect! That's my playstyle! He then proceeds to do the entire mission completely NOT quietly and full of his idiot heroics. "That's how we do it in the Brotherhood!"

- I don't get Colette. Not really spoiler, but I'll tag it anyway.

It's not really a bug otherwise I'd post it as a bug - although I do have a fun "bug" that I WILL post It's just awful design with this awful dialogue wheel and awful lack of skills. Unlike in Fallout 3, where Black Widow would have given you a unique option, here the "Flirt" option in the initial wheel results in the exact same result whether you pass or fail it - and it's not even relevant to the conversation. I also "like" how, in the initial wheel, "No" results in "Yes" - effectively forcing you into the conversation. Worse, I guess my Charisma (I think I'm at 5) is already too high? I have NO option to tell her the truth, and I have no option to "try" to lie - all my optiosn are lies, and they're all green. I can't fail. It doesn't seem like that should be possible at my Charisma level.

Sorry I did a lazy job making these in Photoshop

- How do you detect a synth?

http://www.falloutsearch.com/img/UFO4P/synths-plastic-skin.png

- The powers of observation of the Brotherhood of Steel:

http://www.falloutsearch.com/img/UFO4P/brotherhood-burn-marks.png

- Loading screen tip: Every issue of Taboo Tattoos you collect adds a new, unique facial tattoo, available at any facial reconstruction surgeon. I wish they had regular tattoos that you get on various parts of your body, instead of your face. For example, the tattoo and placement that is shown in this loading screen tip:

http://www.falloutsearch.com/img/UFO4P/377160_2015-12-06_00061.png

- I always assumed that the cars we see everywhere had their windows shattered. But no... apparently they didn't make windows on their cars? So what did they do when it was raining?!

http://www.falloutsearch.com/img/UFO4P/377160_2015-12-06_00065.png

[JetpackAngel]

I love how Spectacle Island, surrounded by radioactive water, still has a raider problem.

 

And how I can kick those short metal posts at Starlight Drive-In all day long but I can't scrap them.

[Tantalus010]

My biggest detail issues with the game are these:

 

1.

The Institute has the ability to teleport to anywhere in the Commonwealth.  Why do they need to assault anyone or send synths to the surface to retrieve someone?  If they wanted to destroy the Railroad at the Switchboard, why send synths?  Just teleport a bomb in there.  Want to recruit a scientist?  Why send people up?  Just teleport the scientist down.

 

2.

If you watch the entire process of making a gen 3 synth from start to finish, it takes almost one in-game hour.  At that rate, if the Robotics division operates 24/7, they're cranking out something like 700 gen 3's per month.  Where do they all go once they go through that tiny door?  Why aren't there many more gen 3's working in the Institute?

 

3.

Going by the size of the Prydwen, the BoS could not have more than 100 soldiers (and even that is being extremely generous) and 8 suits of power armor, assuming the four bays are shared, operating in the Commonwealth.  Yet in battles, they obviously have unlimited reinforcements with power armor.

 

4.

Ditto to #3 for the Railroad, except their numbers should be even more limited.  At most, the RR should have two heavies (counting the player), maybe three if Deacon also counts.  Unnamed heavies shouldn't be a thing.

 

5. Same as #3 and #4 for the Minutemen.

 

6.

Building off of issues #1-#5, during the final assault, the Institute has superior technology and vastly superior numbers.  Any direct assault on the Institute itself, as used in the final plans of the Minutemen and BoS, would be guaranteed suicide.  The handful of soldiers you take in would face literally thousands of synths.  Only the Railroad's plan of getting synths to rise up from within has any hope of success, and even that would be a slim hope.

 

7.

Why does Father's master override only shut down some of the synths in the Institute?  Seems to me to be a rather half-hearted failsafe.

 

8.

Why are you allowed to teleport to/from Railroad HQ and/or the Prydwen and not instantly incur the Institute's wrath?  I'd buy that Father trusts you and doesn't check where you're teleporting, but not the SRB.

 

9. How do you modify the Alien Blaster to use fusion cells with no visible modification whatsoever?  You don't even see the cells you're supposedly putting into it.  What's more, how do you modify that sucker at all?  It's alien.

 

10. Institute technology is supposed to be superior to technology you can find above ground, but it really doesn't look any more advanced, just cleaner.  Even their weapons are clearly inferior to normal laser rifles.

 

11. If river water is contaminated by radiation, how is groundwater pumped from a little hand pump any better?

 

12.

How is it that none of the factions notice your decisions made during the Battle of Bunker Hill?  If you reclaim the Synths for the Institute, the RR and BoS don't say anything.  The only person who comments on it is Father.

 

13.

Why aren't you able to tell Virgil that you've seen a Courser?  You see X6-88 in Kellogg's memories and he talks about them if you listen to that memory entry.  By the time you find Virgil, you have some idea what a Courser is.

 

14.

Why can't you order Preston to go help out a settlement once in a while?  You're the friggin' General, not him.

[Makaan]

snip

Some answers

1. Because the things they teleport need, or need to be near, a relay chip for the teleporter to lock onto them.

2. Its stated that the vast majority of synths The Institute makes get sent to back areas behind the walls to do maintenance on the facility.

3. The Prydwen weights 40,000 tons, the same as a naval carrier. If it was the same size as one, which, given game scale, it likely is, it could easily hold 1,000+ people. And we know Maxon's BoS has at least 500 people in it.

4. The Railroad has safehouses going all the way from Boston to D.C., even Desdemona mentions she doesn't how the Railroad's full numbers due to how secretive they are.

5. The Minutemen are ap layer made faction, and the settlements we make are OFC vastly under scaled for the game.

6. Only the BoS attacks The Institute head on, and they do so using Liberty Prime, the neigh invincible robot, both the Railroad and Minutemen sneak in.

8. The Institute doesn't know where the RR HQ is until the mission to attack it begins, and they would assume you are spying on the BoS for The Institute.

9. The official Fallout 3 game guides suggests that much of Fallout's advanced technology like laser/plasma weaponry ceoms from alien tech. Presumably, its similar enough in design as a laser gun.

10. Actually the Institute laser weapon would be SUPERIOR to normal laser weapns as the beam would burn hotter due to being blue.

11. Purification systems inside the pumping mechanism.

12. Its explicitly stated that the Battle of Bunker Hill was a chaotic mess, and no one really knew what was going on. Too many people died, and the rest were so caught up in the event, that no one really ntoiced what happened.

14. Because the whole problem with the Minutemen is that the title of "general" meant nothing. And Preston's job is to keep order at Sanctuary, and inform you of shit he hears.

[Tantalus010]

 

1. I don't know that I believe this is accurate.  Does Father have a relay chip?  Does Allie Filmore?  What Li tells you when you first speak to her suggests that they don't.  What about that other team sent to recruit that guy (the one that you wind up having to convince from behind the door in his house)?  What about all the times regular synths are teleported into battle?  If they all had relay chips, why did Virgil send you after a Courser when you could've gotten one from any standard synth?

2. Where is that stated?  I'm genuinely curious who I didn't talk to.

3. Where do you get that figure?  Also, it clearly cannot hold 1000+ people.  There aren't anywhere near enough bunks inside, even if people sleep in shifts.

4. When does Desdemona say this?  I play on the Railroad faction a lot and have never heard her say that.  Again, not saying you're wrong, just want to hear it for myself.

6. Once you sneak in, though, the attack from there on out is head on regardless of faction.  And thousands of synths.

8. Okay, maybe not right away, but if you keep teleporting to and from the catacombs beneath a ruined church, the SRB would have to suspect something's up.  I also don't believe the SRB would accept that you were spying on the BoS for them.  Ayo makes it clear that he doesn't trust (nor should he) or like you from the get-go.

9. Alien weaponry has been in the series since before FO3, but okay.  I still stand by the statement that there should be a visible modification for changing ammo types.

10. Absolutely agree that it should be superior, but that isn't reflected in-game in the stats.

11. Okay.

12. Where/when is this stated?  If I warn the RR that the Institute is coming, argue with Dez that it's not worth blowing my cover to rescue the four synths then defy her orders and turn them over to the Institute to protect my cover because she's lost perspective, I think she'd notice.  Even if I don't warn the RR and still help the Institute reclaim the synths, that should cause the RR some concern about me flipping to the other side.

14. Meh.  He tells you that you're supposed to lead the Minutemen.  That includes him, so his job should be whatever the General deems it to be.

[Groucho-14E]

My "huh" moments:

• Everywhere I go, I see skeletons of soldiers still wearing their helmets, yet I hardly ever encounter loot-able "Army Helmets."
• There's a a rocket engine (it had some generic technobabble name, but that's what the model was), large enough to occupy an entire flatbed trailer, that's primed for a test-firing while still mounted on said tractor-trailer. I sure hope they set the parking brake!
• If I can make gun mods using cooking oil and homemade vegetable starch, why can't I make my own vegetable oil? (Pardon me while I go mod that in...)

[Makaan]

1. I don't know that I believe this is accurate.  Does Father have a relay chip?  Does Allie Filmore?  What Li tells you when you first speak to her suggests that they don't.  What about that other team sent to recruit that guy (the one that you wind up having to convince from behind the door in his house)?  What about all the times regular synths are teleported into battle?  If they all had relay chips, why did Virgil send you after a Courser when you could've gotten one from any standard synth?

2. Where is that stated?  I'm genuinely curious who I didn't talk to.

3. Where do you get that figure?  Also, it clearly cannot hold 1000+ people.  There aren't anywhere near enough bunks inside, even if people sleep in shifts.

4. When does Desdemona say this?  I play on the Railroad faction a lot and have never heard her say that.  Again, not saying you're wrong, just want to hear it for myself.

6. Once you sneak in, though, the attack from there on out is head on regardless of faction.  And thousands of synths.

8. Okay, maybe not right away, but if you keep teleporting to and from the catacombs beneath a ruined church, the SRB would have to suspect something's up.  I also don't believe the SRB would accept that you were spying on the BoS for them.  Ayo makes it clear that he doesn't trust (nor should he) or like you from the get-go.

9. Alien weaponry has been in the series since before FO3, but okay.  I still stand by the statement that there should be a visible modification for changing ammo types.

10. Absolutely agree that it should be superior, but that isn't reflected in-game in the stats.

11. Okay.

12. Where/when is this stated?  If I warn the RR that the Institute is coming, argue with Dez that it's not worth blowing my cover to rescue the four synths then defy her orders and turn them over to the Institute to protect my cover because she's lost perspective, I think she'd notice.  Even if I don't warn the RR and still help the Institute reclaim the synths, that should cause the RR some concern about me flipping to the other side.

14. Meh.  He tells you that you're supposed to lead the Minutemen.  That includes him, so his job should be whatever the General deems it to be.

1. Like I said, they need to be NEAR one, not have one themselves. Coursers are involved in most, if not all of those battles.

2. H2-22, a synth invoked in the Railroad mission "Boston after Dark", mentions that he and many synths work in tunnels both beneath and behind The Institute's walls, and that the scientists lived in a separate area.

3. The Brotherhood of Steel terminals found on the Prydwen assign every BoS member an identifier based on initials, number, and rank. The highest known number is 490, suggesting a force of around 500 http://fallout.gamepedia.com/Brotherhood_registration

3.1 The Prdywen isn't to scale you know? Everything is drastically made smaller because its a game.

4. Sometime early in the Railroad questline. She talks about how the Railroad is kept all compartmentalized, with no on known where everyone else is. She doesn't even know the location of Randolph safehouse, which is why she is surprised to hear from them again, and sends you on all those quests to make sure they aren't compromised.

6. Its literally by no means thousands of synths. Its less then 200 last time I heard someone count. And Synths are fairly easy to dispose of.

8. Ayo doesn't have to trust you, he just has to do what Father says.

10. Nor was the Enclave armor in Fallout 3, despite the fact it is in lore. Game balance takes precedence over lore in all situations.

12. Except all she would know is that The Institute attacked, people were shooting everywhere, and then the synths vanished.

14. People say a lot of things, doesn't mean thats how it actually works. Several Minutemen even tell you they dont care that you are the General because this isn't the army in that one Institute quest to get that scientist from the surface.

[Sclerocephalus]

10. Actually the Institute laser weapon would be SUPERIOR to normal laser weapns as the beam would burn hotter due to being blue.

 

Not true.

 

You're speaking of frequency here, but what makes the beam 'burn hot' relates to the amplitude. Or, if you prefer the particle point of view: while a 'blue' photon has a higher kinetic energy than a 'red' photon, this tells you nothing about the number of photons arriving at the target per unit time.

[Sclerocephalus]

Building a couch at a settlement earns you as many XP as killing a raider scum.

 

An interesting coincidence.

[Glasswillow]

Seriously? I've always thought pretty poorly of Raiders as enemies. They're either pathetically easy, or annoyingly hard. Now I'm gonna smile and think "Couch scum" every time I see one.

 

I wish more thought had gone into the Railroad ending.

 

After the BoS raid the RR HQ, the exit tunnel is collapsed so you now can only go in and out through the church. Great. Not to mention, the place is a mess, the beds are dirty and won't let you get a full night's sleep. I wish that when the RR took down the Institute, they'd have just moved in, not blown it up. It'd make so much more sense, considering their old HQ is so decrepit and hard to get to.