More Advice for New Players

More Advice for New Players
Advice from veterans
Season	{{{season}}}
Status	Always adding more...
Completion	85%
Authors	Henry
This Chapter	Title Page
More Chapters	(this page only)
Notes	{{{notes}}}

Get Informed and Stay Informed

• Read the forum first when you have questions.
• This game is always changing. Enhancements are being implemented. Be informed! Read what's changed.
• Still have a question? Reloaded now has its own Discord chat channel, as well as IRC and a TeamSpeak server. Ask someone live.

Plan a Proper Character

• Expect to be attacked by other players, even if you don't plan to do PvP. You need to defend yourself, so do not just wing it when you choose a character build. There are players here who spend 2 hours or more using a planner tool to carefully design each optimal character build. They use the planner's built-in calculator to verify results, and they weigh their options when choosing Perks and Traits. If you just wing it, you'll be weak and you'll be too easily killed by most of the player population. You play to win, right? Good, so plan a strong build. Try this guide.
• Plan to use the in-game drugs and other combat advantages. Your enemies do!
• Though rare, try to get implants. Your enemies do, and they reap the benefits every time they attack you.
• Are you just starting? Consider this.

Switch to Real-Time

• You love Fallout 2, and you love the strategy of Turn-Based combat with the hex floor, but you have to get this into your head: This is not "Fallout 2 Online". It just isn't. There is still a lot of room for TB fights in this game, and you meet some TB specialists who plan character builds especially for TB fights, but this game's primary features are all about RT PvP:
  • Town Control is always in RT
  • New Reno fights are always in RT
  • Ares Rocket Silo is in RT
• Warehouse is in RT
• Leveling goes much faster in RT

So play in TB all you want while you get started if you must, but look forward to stepping up to RT. Real-Time: it's whats for dinner.

• If you think TB mode makes leveling easier, okay but it's slower. Some guys can level a new fighter in 3 to 6 hours and they do not do this in TB mode. Once you switch over to RT and let the speed shock wear off (because everything is moving faster of course in RT), you get used to it and you start reacting faster with more confidence.
• New players often die a lot during lower levels. Switch to RT to change that! You may think this is backwards, but the fact is you can run to the exit grid very quickly in RT and keep moving. You might have to practice this to master quick exits, and you likely get wounded on the way, but you stay alive. Compare that with getting stuck in a hostile encounter where you know you need to flee but you cannot since it's TB. You move your distance and they shoot you. You move again and they shoot you again. But in RT mode, the encounter loads and (assuming you have a decent fast connection) you get the jump on the exit grid. You can usually get out without even taking a single hit, but only if you stay ready to move quickly in RT mode. Combine RT with a proper build and some practice and you don't have to run nearly as much. You can take on groups of enemies solo and devastate them.
• Did you get a car? Great! Congrats. Only drive it in RT mode. You'll get into forced encounters sometimes and being in RT allows you to exit quickly. If you drive in TB mode, you'll likely lose a car (and everything in the trunk).

Set Up Hot Keys

• Use FO2238Config.exe in your game directory (or manually edit FOnline2238.cfg) and bind certain actions to certain keys. Then get into the habit of using those keys. You should have one for Superstims, and one to reload your weapons. The experienced players here use these, so if you want to be competitive, you have to keep up with the best practices.

Attitude

• It's a game. Don't get too mad. You can always get more gear. For whatever reason, this game has seemed to attract an inordinate proportion of players with a Player Killer play style. You cannot change this (and if you could, would you want to?) They say "wasteland is harsh" as an excuse. Truth is, the overly hostile environment is not for everyone. If you are prone to angry fits (or have a weak heart condition) you might want to play something else. This game is for serious hard-core Fallout/Fallout 2 fans first, and anyone else who appreciates an overly toxic and unusually hostile game world. So now you know. So when someone kills you, don't get mad. Instead, get fresh gear, hunt them down, and bring justice to them.
• Too many games are too easy. This game is hard. Most of us like it that way. Get into it and adapt, or switch games, but try not to rage, especially in the forum. It looks bad and guys will just laugh at you.

Understand Hit Chance

• Read that page and know it inside and out.
• Also read about and consider the Weapon Perks.

Use Hinkley

• If you're new to something, then you need to climb a learning curve. Hinkley helps. Go there naked (bluesuit) with no gear at all. Get free practice gear inside and get some PvP experience fighting with other players.
• When climbing the combat learning curve, one of your first PvE goals should be to solo the mutant cave quest from Gunrunners.
• Visit Ares Rocket Silo too. Don't bring anything important the first time though. See the challenge there? Let it sink in that some players go there solo and are successful. That needs to be you as soon as possible, in order to be competitive in PvP fights.
• Visit Warehouse in the Boneyard too. Don't bring anything important. It's an even tougher place! With the right team, you can dominate the place, but only with a proper fighter, and only with some practice.

Build a Private Safe House Network

• You can share tent locations with friends and share bases too, but have some locations that are private for your exclusive use. That's where you keep your best stuff and park your cars. That way when you are missing something, you know it's your own fault. It really sucks to accuse a friend of stealing from you, even if they did. Don't tempt your friends and risk losing relationships. You need those to build a competitive team. Keep your stuff separated and you will always have peace of mind, and security will never be an issue (except for sneaks who follow you). Keep things simple and the game's fringe logistics stay manageable.
• A Safe House at each town is an obvious important goal, but plan to set up a private base too. Keep your Tent Maps in piles of 10 at the base. This way, every time you register a new additional character, you can quickly add his name to the base as a Friend, and that new character will see the base. He can go straight there, read all the maps and have immediate access to your whole private network. This makes starting a new character much smoother.

Check the Guides

• Season 2, Build Advice
• Season 2, Combat Difficulty Staircase
• Season 2, Guide 101: Step-by-Step White Knight Start-Up Guide by Henry
• Season 2, Getting Ready for Town Control
• Newbie guide from DocAN
• Guide with screens - How to do basic things ? from DocAN
• Blond guide to Fonline [LOT-O-PICTURES WARNING] from 3.14