Fallout 76 | Creating camps in the wasteland

[jawa2]

twitter.com/jawafour/status/1360333910060781570

I've finished my latest camp! I decided to go back to the rough / wooden style of building rather than the modern style that I've kept to in past months. It turned out okay; it feels cosy. I included a few of the new "metal hubcap" flowers and they add a nice dash of colour. Got four large water purifiers going and they're all accessible by the metal walkway on the left side of the building.

[jawa2]

In past weeks I've spent time building CAMPs rather than wandering around or doing missions... and a side-benefit of this is that I've built up my appreciation for the weather effects in the game. My newest camp is on the river and during the hours I spent building I experienced glorious sunshine, falling rain, a radioactive storm and plain ol' overcast weather. Each brings it's own ambience, lighting and sound and the change between each is done so subtly. It's tremendous.

[jawa2]

...moved camp. Again. To my favourite spot near the lighthouse. Again. .

But, hey, I unlocked the "build 76 camps" achievement! Gonna spend some time setting everything up today; I'm basically re-building my last waterside camp in this forest spot. I'm not getting as much water here (no large purifiers!) but I am excavating iron/steel.

I really hope that glass wall set will become available to purchase at some point. It was only available during season 2 by completing all of the game board; and as I rarely do missions - at least not to that degree - there was no way I was gonna get it. The glass looks so good, too... can't wait until I can build with it.

[jawa2]

twitter.com/jawafour/status/1362417547207979010

I've finally done it! Completed a camp in the Toxic Valley area!

It's a demanding section to build in as there are so many goons around that will attack you. Historically I never stayed there as it was a bit too demanding. However, I've located this spot which seems okay... and I was able to build a few large water purifiers, too.

And the lighting is just lovely. At night a range of colours cascade across the place... it's a really place cool to setup camp if you can.

Oh, and of course:

[OrangeRKN]

Looking good!

Genuinely miss building camps

[Victor Mildew]

I had an infuriating session on this last night, was making my way around thst giant Land excavator thing, and noticed a big enemy camp nearby. I had a mission to go and find an associate of my companion which was pointing to this place, and decided to go in. Such a tough area, about 20 enemies after me, I finally clear the place and try to let this guy out of a cell, but I don't have a key. Ah it must be on a body outside. Open door, game crashes. Start it up again and im outside the camp with all the enemies back again Wasted a good 40 minutes meticulously clearing that place, only for it all to be undone.

That looks like a good spot Jawa, I might set up somehwere a bit closer to the middle as it gets a bit samey going back to the same forest river all the time.

[jawa2]

Looking good!

Genuinely miss building camps

Ta, Orange. You can always pop back and build if you want to!

I had an infuriating session on this last night, was making my way around thst giant Land excavator thing, and noticed a big enemy camp nearby. I had a mission to go and find an associate of my companion which was pointing to this place, and decided to go in. Such a tough area, about 20 enemies after me, I finally clear the place and try to let this guy out of a cell, but I don't have a key. Ah it must be on a body outside. Open door, game crashes. Start it up again and im outside the camp with all the enemies back again Wasted a good 40 minutes meticulously clearing that place, only for it all to be undone...

Dang! That's a pain, man. I have yet to experience a crash on my PS4 version so hopefuly that will be a rarity.

...That looks like a good spot Jawa, I might set up somehwere a bit closer to the middle as it gets a bit samey going back to the same forest river all the time.

It's tricky! The map is massive and you *can* build virtually anywhere although, outside of the forest, it can can frustrating due to high-level goons spawning close by. It's always a balance of resources, water and enemies... I think I have three fave spots so far.

[Buffalo]

I know exactly the mission he means and it’s no joke. Couldn’t believe it when I survived it, complete fluke. I think a couple of enemies fell off that massive structure and killed themselves.

[jawa2]

I just "rage quit".

Well, that's an exaggeration - I wasn't on a mission to actually quit; I just got annoyed and closed the game down because I'd had enough at that time.

It's my same old complaint... enemy levelling is strawberry-floatin' boll@cks. I was building a new camp in the Forest area and a group of four ghouls started attacking. The Forest area is meant to be the "easier" area; but because of enemy levelling that is no longer the case. The ghouls move so quickly it's a joke; they're literally jumping at you with a second or two of appearing. I'm level 46 and so, due to levelling, the four ghouls were each level 46, too. I tried moving away but that's virtually impossible due to the speed they approach at. I tried shooting my .308 rifle at them but they each take around five shots to kill; so that's around twenty shots to kill all four. During that time they're mauling you and taking energy.

So I died in the floatin' Forest area. I may as well go back to building in the Toxic Valley; there's no difference in terms of enemy level.

There are aspects of F76 that I dang well love - i.e. the map, the environments, the sound, the lighting, the atmosphere, the building... but it has - IMHO - practically been trashed by the enemy-levelling system. It makes no sense, it doesn't work (it hurts lower-level players far more than higher-level) and... it's boll@cks.

[OrangeRKN]

When I was building camps I found that there was a bit of luck as to whether you were near a spawn point for whatever enemies, sometimes moving the location around slightly can be enough as I think any spawn point actually inside the camp gets deactivated?

I'd also just strongly recommend you get a good shotgun or melee weapon (build depending), a rifle is great for sniping but if you're being rushed by ghouls or whatever an automatic shotgun is a great thing to have.

Turrets aren't incredibly strong but they can be pretty useful as a distraction if nothing else. Rather than placing them on your roof, place them somewhere the enemies can get to and they can take some of the aggro, giving you space to get some more shots in!

[Buffalo]

Your 308 is the main problem because it’s rate of fire is so slow. A good 10mm pistol isn’t the worst thing in the world, and I remember shotguns being a really common find - they’re much better options.
But yeah, the ‘levelling with you’ deal is a bit messed up. No feeling of progression or building of strength at all.

[jawa2]

When I was building camps I found that there was a bit of luck as to whether you were near a spawn point for whatever enemies, sometimes moving the location around slightly can be enough as I think any spawn point actually inside the camp gets deactivated?...

Oh, definitely, Orange - whenever I build a new camp I first check the local area out for spawn points and try it a few times to see what arrives. I was in a very quiet area; a random group of three things arrives every now and again but it's not too bad. It's the levelling that frustrates me... but I probs need to look at my weaponry and character build. Which leads us on to...

...I'd also just strongly recommend you get a good shotgun or melee weapon (build depending), a rifle is great for sniping but if you're being rushed by ghouls or whatever an automatic shotgun is a great thing to have...

Your 308 is the main problem because it’s rate of fire is so slow. A good 10mm pistol isn’t the worst thing in the world, and I remember shotguns being a really common find - they’re much better options...

Yeah, I generally just use my .308 sniper rifle but it often needs a lot of hits to take an enemy down; as in up to six or seven shots for a ghoul or mutant. I barely use a melee weapon or anything else!

I probably need to use a shotgun and check my character setup. I'm gonna dig out the details later and post 'em here just to see if you guys can spot anything obviously wrong or to suggest if the weapons I have available are good or not.

I think I'm struggling a bit because, although I'm level 46, I've only got that from playing for hours rather than completing missions and upgrading. I tend to just wander around and find spots to build a camp :-).

[jawa2]

twitter.com/jawafour/status/1365349698178007040

Whilst building my new camp - back in the Toxic Valley - I heard a commotion and we had a surprise guest.

[imbusydoctorwho]

Finally booted this up yesterday and you know what it's really good, I absolutely hated Fallout 4 but I'm enjoying exploring and completing the mainline missions.
I've just done the firefighter quest and I'm about level 11.

[Victor Mildew]

It's a lot better than fallout 4, especially in the variety of locations. It actually feels like a wrecked slice of a large area, rather than a few bits here and there with one big main dense bit to go to.

Had a few annoying sessions recently where I've had server disconnects right at the end of a long mission or bit of exploration, meaning an area that's packed with enemies resets and you have to do it again.

[jawa2]

I think I have a bit of a problem.

I am addicted to building camps and, recently, as soon as I finish building one, I tear it down and move elsewhere to repeat the process. I'm okay right up until the moment when the camp is finished and then - boom - I suddenly want to move. It's all a bit odd as I spend a long time building each camp.

[OrangeRKN]

I am very glad I'm no longer alone in arguing this is better than Fallout 4!

[jawa2]

What I'm doing right now

I went back to the river and started a new modern build - I haven't done that style for a while - and it was coming along well but, before that was finished, I had fresh ideas for a "run-down" kinda build back over in my fave Toxic Valley spot. So I'm gonna travel back over there and build that.


So... fighting enemies

I went off on another "let's try and fight stuff" expedition yesterday; just wandering around and trying to - surprise! - fight enemies that I come across. I think my key issues are:

> I'm level 46 - *quite* high level for the main game - but my stats and, especially, weapons don't really match that. I've only got to level 46 by hours and hours of tiny XP gains so I'm not kitted out to fight enemies of my level.

> Enemy movement is ridiculously fast. Without using VATS I dunno how you could actually get a hit on an enemy. VATS is still broken, too - you can be focussed at 95% and shots still won't take an enemy down.


My updated verdict on the game

Of course, I've barely scratched the surface on the main game missions and haven't tackled any major beasts in the game. I've done a lot of building and exploring, though. With that in mind, my assessment of the game after over two years of playing is:

Exploration: A huge, varied (differing environments) landscape and intriguing buildings [9]

Atmosphere: The general vibe and feeling is great with some excellent colour and weather conditions [9]

Building: You can choose to build almost anywhere and in a multitude of styles; the build system is great but also clunky and obtuse at times - but in the main it's still tremendous [9]

Online play: I've only had a handful of server disconnection in hundreds of hours of play. However, as an online game that is always being updated, there are bugs and it is frustrating how things are fixed and, err, "un-fixed" on a regular basis. The game has evolved hugely but the quality assurance doesn't really keep pace with the changes made. [4]

Fighting: Oh boy. The enemies look great but, in the main, they're just too tough; very fast, take too many hits to kill and their movement is so buggy. And I've already said more than enough about my disdain for enemies scaling to match the player level... ugh! [3]

It's almost impossible, for me, to give an overall rating. I dang well love and am frustrated by the game in equal measure. The building and wandering keeps me playing whilst the fighting almost turns me away. Thankfully the better aspects are enough to just about edge out the annoying parts. It's so frustrating at times but it's still one of my all-time favourites.

[Victor Mildew]

Agree on almost everything bar the building part as I just don't care for it, but then that's on me and not the games fault.

What IS the game's fault is the lag that's present on anything you interact with. Every single button press for collecting etc, lag lag lag lag. And oh my god the combat is appalling, fighting fast enemies with gooseberry fool shooting mechanics in the previous games was bad enough, but take that and add input lag, oh my god. I've had several enemies rush me and the shoot button just flat out not register several times in a row. It's infuriating and the reason I've dropped it again for now, which is a shame as the world and atmosphere are the best since new Vegas.

[OrangeRKN]

There are certainly a lot of bullet sponges but I wouldn't say it was a hard game (playing before the scaling changes). But then I never experienced bad input lag either, and VATS used to work fine.