Guide 101: Step-by-Step White Knight Start-Up Guide

Guide 101: Step-by-Step White Knight Startup

Get a strong start exploring solo!
Season	2
Status	On Hold for Season 3
Completion	3%
Authors	Henry
This Chapter	Title Page
More Chapters	Title Page Crawling out of the Sandstorm Building Your Safe Network
Notes

Purpose

This guide is intended to provide new players with a structured route for starting strong, exploring the map, discovering features, and becoming familiar with the mechanics. This guide provides you with a lead character build to get started, and a few important support builds for optimizing production. As you get set up, you'll learn the following:

Finding jobs and earning your first caps
Getting your first level ups and boosting gun skills so you can fight
Exploring the quests in a logical order and getting Support Perks along the way
Gathering resources, mining and crafting your own fresh gear
Becoming a crafting professional so you can craft even better gear
Building your own base, and a network of tents and Safe Houses all over the map
Embracing the game's economy, and making more caps via Bartering with NPC Merchants
Buying a vehicle for faster, smoother travels
Finding great places to hunt and level up
Fighting hostile encounters in Real-Time and win
Opening locked containers and getting numerous items like blueprints
Getting a human NPC companion to travel with you and assist you in combat

Current Status
As it is, this guide can help a new player get started. It is, however, far from done. One of the first goals is to get the player to a point where he saves up 10,000 caps and uses it to buy a DIY Outpost base. Then drop all of your tent maps there in neat piles of 10. That way, when you start each new character, you can add his name to the base terminal, allow him access there, and then he can go there at level 1 and read all maps. He will have instant safe locations all over the map, plus he can read whatever skill books you drop there so he has a stronger start. Additional chapters will be added later that take the new player on board the stranded ship (quest from Klamath), taking on the Rail Line Gang in NCR, to Glow, to Ares, and beyond. This was started in season 1 and became slightly outdated when season 2 began. It will need a serious re-work with season 3.

Play Style

White Knight means you're a total good-guy, so you won't be murdering children or enslaving anyone according to this guide. If you're okay with that, then use this guide. If however you already know you're going to be a bad-guy, then don't even bother reading this - use some other guide instead.

Orientation

One of the very first things to accept is that, while you can play this game with only one character, a multi-character approach better lends itself to the game's build limitations. This guide will start you off with one lead character, who is a strong support provider for your additional characters most of whom will specialize more in fighting. So you start with support, work hard to build up some infrastructure, then add fighters to your network. Your fighters will thus be well supported, and you'll be able to level new ones faster.

Remember this is not "Fallout 2 Online". There is no such game. This is a massive multi-player and it runs mostly in Real-Time. The game's best features are in RT too, like Town Control, but even public locations are all in RT anyway. If you go to Ares Rocket Silo, you're in RT regardless of your setting. Same with Warehouse and all of the PvP in New Reno, etc. When you travel in a vehicle (including the vertibird!), you will get into forced encounters. You can escape quickly if you're in RT mode, but you're stuck there until combat ends if you're in TB. I hope you win that fight or you lose your car. Easier just to get used to the fast-paced world of Real-Time. You'll level up faster too.

That said, TB can be fun, but TB characters have specific builds with certain perks. Player-Killers will set Turn-Based traps on the map. It is times like those when having a TB-optimized fighter can be fun. Watch for red dots on the map where PKs have lit flares to attract victims. Go there if you think you can handle it, but otherwise avoid them.

Configuration

It is recommended you use the Item Highlighter, by drot and consider some of the interface options and other tools listed on the forum. The default GUI works but most PvP players use a slimmer version with semi-transparent features.

For best results, switch to Real-Time mode. You may be a big fan of the old original Fallout games which were in Turn-Based, and you can play in TB here, but you'll be exploring quests according to this guide, and most quests are much more enjoyable in RT. Some are even so bad in TB that players call them bugged. A 30 minute fun RT quest can become a 2-hour snore-fest in TB mode. We cannot have you falling asleep so...go into your FOnline Reloaded game directory on your computer and find the two Config files:

FOConfig.exe

Keyboard Language Switch: Alt+Shift
Always Run: enabled
Default Combat Mode: Real-Time
Ammo Amount...Display: Lines and Numbers
Damage Indication on Head: Delay 5000ms

FO2238Config.exe

Enable All Displays: Player Names, On-Screen Awareness, TC Countdowns
Display TC Zones: Show Area
Set Main File Paths: master.dat and critter.dat
Set Key Bindings: R for Weapon Reload, X for Detonator, S for Super Stimpak, Control+Q to Disable Aim.
Set other Key Bindings as you see fit. Maybe one for Healing Powder or regular Stimpaks, other keys to aim.

Hostile Environment

Following this guide, you go into this world exploring the map and getting into casual PvE adventures. Meanwhile much of the player activity is team-vs-team PvP combat, brutal and highly competitive. When you get killed in Broken Hills for example while just trying to mine resources, try to remember that it, like other northern towns, is a hot zone for player fights. Especially during a Town Control operation, teams are paranoid about enemy scouts. They don't know you. That's why they killed you. You could be a scout for the enemy. Letting you live is a tactical risk most will not take. They need you to leave and killing you is the fastest way to get rid of you. So watch for PvP activity and know in advance that you are a target to teams simply because you're not on their team. It's not personal. No, you usually cannot come back and get your stuff. It's gone. It's a big map so do something else and try there again later. (Or become so strong that you return and clobber them yourself!)

Minimal Staff

Remember, this game is free. The developers do not get paid. Do not expect immediate technical help. You can find some help from the player community, mostly via Discord chat (click Chat link on forum's top menu bar - use browser-based version for quickest results). When things go badly in this harsh world, is there some big giant hand that reaches down from the sky and makes everything right again? No, you often have to tank some damage, recover and figure it out on your own. Let those experiences make you tougher and smarter for next time. That's the only way to survive here. Complaining about unfairness in the wasteland will mostly get ignored and draw criticism from a hateful crowd, so don't bother with that.

Watch Out for Worthy Friends

This guide assumes you're learning the game solo, but be willing to find a good team along the way. Players form factions and some might be a good fit with your play style. If you like the good-guy approach, consider Peacekeeper Squad for example. Some teams are into RP, some only do PvP, and most teams use a voice chat program for superior communication. Peacekeeper Squad does it all, and with a strict APK approach.

Do Not Fear Wipes

Yes, every so often the entire server gets wiped clean of all player data and we all start over from scratch. Use the time between now and then to learn the game, so by the time a new season begins, you'll know better what you're doing. There is no Wipe schedule, so don't ask. If it hasn't been officially announced on forum by a dev, then it's likely just shallow rumor, but eventually there will be one, and its always Soon.

A Build

Can you feel it? You're about the start this game right. You're presented here with a PvE Lead Character Start-Up build. It's a Strong Explorer and it works. It's just a support character for getting you all set up. Once you're established, you can add some specialized fighters.

You can alter this build if you like, but remember: this guide is written with specific goals and steps, so if you change it too much, you'll break the guide a bit.

Strength 5: Allows Adrenaline Rush, a popular perk for raising defense in combat.
Perception 1: You'll play a sniper later. For this role, this works fine.
Endurance 10: 10 is considered mandatory for almost all who want to stay alive, even PvE.
Charisma 1: Seems low, but you can get a NPC human companion easily and two more later with enough leveling.
Intelligence 8: This will enable Educated for more Skill Points, and allow you to get Rad Resistance.
Agility 10: Work and shoot faster with max Agility.
Luck 5

Trait 1: Fast Shot means you shoot faster. You cannot aim with VATS but this is just a support character.
Trait 2: Good Natured means you get a NPC human companion sooner.

Tag Skill 1: Small Guns has the most weapon options, starts higher than Big Guns or Energy Weapons, and benefits from Skill Books.

Tag Skill 2: Lockpick. You'll open locked containers sooner, and find good loot including combat armor, weapons, Drugs, and ammo.

Tag Skill 3: Outdoorsman. You'll travel faster and safer, which is important since you'll be carrying materials and valuable things to sell.

Your Strong Explorer will be very versatile and get a lot of Support Perks. Refer to Builds: Strong Explorer for build details.

Register this guy, write down your password, log in, and get ready to crawl out of the sandstorm!