An even betterer gauss rifle!
I continue my play diary of Fallout 4 on the PlayStation 4. As I move forward, I’ve made a decision to knock off all the fast traveling. Well, maybe not all, but most. I may still do the odd quick trip to dump gear or defend a settlement, but other than that, it’s me and my walking shoes, baby!
Fallout games tend to devolve to fast-travel-a-thons after a while. Get an assignment, fast-travel to the closest place, run to the assigned place, fast-travel back, wash, rinse, repeat. Walking takes longer, but it’s the only way to see the amazing number of non-quest locations, unmarked easter eggs, staged scenes and lush landscapes.
One side-benefit, shared with upping the difficulty level, is that I’m getting a lot more gear. One legendary raider I decapitated dropped my new baby: an explosive shielded gauss rifle. After some basic tinkering I’ve got a rifle that does 217 points of base damage plus 15 points AOE explosive damage. With my perks, that’s over a 1,000 points of damage on a sneak attack! I’ll miss my Endless gauss rifle and never having to reload, but and extra few dozen points of damage seems more than worth it.
Obviously, there will be spoilers ahead!
Hancock, No!
Oh no!
When I decided to stop traveling with Hancock on Day 20, I sent him to help out at Warwick Homestead. He seemed to enjoy it. It was sunny and there were lots of people to talk with. I even made sure he had a chemistry station to keep him busy.
I visited often, but recently he had made himself scarce. I didn’t think anything of it… until I found his corpse in the tall grass a short walk outside the settlement. His trademark tri-corner hat was missing, but I recognized him immediately (with the help of the floating green text).
Yeah, buddy *sniff* sure it is.
Yes: Hancock is dead. I likely wouldn’t have found him at all if I hadn’t taken up walking everywhere. I considered carrying him back to good neighbor – a long journey from Warwick, but one I would undertake with honor – but he was too heavy to carry. I made him as comfortable as I could and left him lying where he was.
Here’s to you old, dear friend! Those wishing to pay their respects can send a donation of caps to the Glitched Essentials Tag Foundation. Together, we will find a cure.
My Story so Far
Walking everywhere uncovers interesting things. I had stopped a super-mutant attack on Greygarden and was walking to Diamond City. I came across a cluster of burning trees. Moving closer I saw a crashed… craft of some kind. Casting about, I saw what might have been blood, except it was green, leading away from the site to a small cave. Within, I found the only survivor of the crash and he wasn’t human!
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- Spaceship!
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- Alien!
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- Loot!
Aliens! So many questions to ask! We’ll learn so much! Surely this will be the seed of a new understanding between our great races!
Nope. Game made me shoot him in the face. I took his nice gun.
Unlike the little brat at Bunker Hill, Austin actually showed me around.
We had some other minor adventures and eventually ended up at Vault 81, a place I was told about very early in the game. The was tension at first, but I put on my sexy chatty clothes and convinced them to let me in just because.
After being cleared by a pleasant Overseer and an unpleasant technician, I watched a cat run outside. Knowing that I would never hear about that again, I headed down into the Vault proper. I was immediately met by the welcome party: a small boy named Austin. He offered me a tour for caps. I – warily – took him up on it and have to say: I got my money’s worth.
New hair-do!
As part of this, he introduced me to his friend, Erin, who – wouldn’t you know it? – was missing a cat! I promised the tyke I’d go outside and find her cat. I waded through blood bugs and super-mutants to do it. While I was there, I also broke down and let the local barber give me a trim. A girl’s gotta pamper herself, ya know?
Later, my little buddy – I call him that; he calls me “Skipper” – got into something he shouldn’t have and ended up on death’s door. Turns out there was another vault, coexistent with vault 81, that was designed to use the population of 81 as unknowing lab rats. The original overseer sabotaged them, however, and never allowed them to complete the work.
A bed not covered with shit!
That didn’t stop them from trying, until they died. All that was left was a large population of huge, diseased mole rats and a single robotic scientist, left hard at work for 200 years. Austin got a cure. I got the Medicine Bobblehead and a room of my very own in the vault as thanks.
The room is nicely, if sparsely, appointed. On the plus side it features a clean bed and a collectible bobblehead stand. On the negative it also has a window that can’t be closed and requires two load screens to reach.
A very dedicated scientist.
The robot, Curie, now free to do as she wished, offered to accompany me as a companion in order to further her studies. Tempted as I was, I politely turned her down. Once Nick comes to his senses and loves me, I’ll head back for her.
My plan is to see about Nick’s idea of digging memories out of Kellogg’s ever ripening chunk of brain. The whole idea seems hinky to me, but what have I got to lose? We all know how anxious I am to find Shaun! It’s off to Diamond City for me!
