Guide 101: Building Your Safe Network

Guide 101: Step-by-Step White Knight Startup

Get a strong start exploring solo!
Season	{{{season}}}
Status	On Hold for Season 3
Completion	3%
Authors	Henry
This Chapter	Building Your Safe Network
More Chapters	Guide 101: Title Page Crawling Out of the Sandstorm Building Your Safe Network
Notes	{{{notes}}}

WARNING: Re-work in Progress. Do not use this page now.

Setting Up Your Safe Network

Bring 2 Combat Shotguns, 1000 rounds of ammo, 24 wooden poles, 10 fibers, and a hatchet.
Go back to Vault City, go inside the little hut by the brahmin pen, and use the workbench to craft a rope.
Exit Vault City and go back up to Gecko and talk with the ghoul, Keith about the band. He's in The Harp bar.
Exit Gecko and hike west to Modoc. Note the location of Ghost Farm.
(If ever necessary, you can do a very small amount of mining under Ghost Farm.)
You can find a lot of brahmin around Modoc. Hunt 8 brahmin to make another tent.
Exclusively hunt brahmin-only encounters. Exit all other encounters for now. The materials you're carrying are too important to risk.
As soon as you have 8 brahmin hides, craft a folded tent and build a Safe House by Modoc.
Use your new Modoc house as a staging point for crafting additional tents. Hunt brahmin. Craft tents.

PROGRESS STATUS: Being Re-Written from here down.

Keep hunting brahmin, getting hides, and craft tents until you have 8 more tents ready.

Once you have 8 tents ready to go, shed as much weight as needed so that you can carry 4 of them, with 12 wood.
Head straight west to Klamath and avoid all encounters on the way. You'll likely find Den nearby too.
Find Klamath mine and set up one of the tents there like you did next to Junktown quarry.
Use 3 wood on the fire to upgrade it to a Safe House, and rename it to "Klamath Mine".
Walking in a straight line from Klamath to Den, keep going on that line until you reach Redding.
Use another tent next to Redding and upgrade the fire with 3 wood. Rename it to "Redding".
Turn straight south and walk south until you find Broken Hills. Use your next tent next to the city.
Rename it to "Broken Hills" and drop all items on the ground there. Walk naked blue over to the city.
Head south toward Shady Sands with a tent, and find the NCR quarry in zone 32:28. Build a house there and rename it.

soon
Let's sell some of what you just crafted, get some caps and go finish those tents.

REWORK IN PROGRESS
At some point, drop everything and run naked blue to zone 28:34. Collect junk there and bring back to your house.
(Junk collecting sucks. It's heavy, it's hard to spot, and PKs hunt you there. You need junk though so...)
Use junk to craft extended magazines to improve your Desert Eagles, and to make some 40mm grenade ammo.
You could go haywire crafting stuff. Stick to ammo and tier 1 guns now that you have a profession.
Keep the guns with bonus stats, and sell the rest for caps. Use the caps to buy more Books.
Keep mining and crafting, selling and saving caps until you're close to level 7 which won't be long.
BREAK
You now have high enough Outdoorsman skill to get both Pathfinder and Explorer!
When you arrive at the VC train station (150 xp) ask four people about the man with black hair.
Exit the train station and go into Vault City. Talk with Doctor Andrew about his Medical Investigation.
(Just in case you ever need it, find the workbench in VC. It's in a small shack near the brahmin pen.)
Go back to the VC train Station and talk to four people about their health. Go tell Doc Andrew. 500 xp.
Before you run in to Gecko and risk losing your gear, let's build a tent nearby. The Gecko mine is a great place.
Hunt the zones near VC for brahmin and collect hides. Try zones 30:8, 31:8, and 32:8.
If you have no wood with you now, chop some trees in the city ruins to the east of VC.
When you have 8 hides, craft a Folded Tent.
Now go right up next to Gecko mine, a few zones east of Gecko, and build that tent. Upgrade the fire and rename it "Gecko Mine".
Now you can drop all your items and run naked blue into Gecko to further some quests. Bring 400 caps to pay Keith.
Gecko is a dangerous place. If any players see you there, they will likely shoot you.
Use the "town preview" feature before you enter Gecko. If you see other players, do not go in yet.
When it looks clear, enter Gecko and run up into The Harp bar. Talk to Keith, the ghoul Mick wants in the band. 400 xp.
When you're done paying Keith to join the band, run north all the way to the Scrapyard area of Gecko.
Find Skeeter to deliver Elmer's message. Skeeter gives you another holotape message to take back to Elmer.
Make sure you use the tape to upload it to your Pip-Boy Archives. Check Archives to make sure it loaded.
Exit Gecko by running north through a hole in the fence and out via the north exit grid. *Whew!*
Now let's move to Modoc, a better place to hunt brahmin, get hides and thus get more houses set up.
Craft at least 1 rope before you head to Modoc. You can craft the other items without a workbench.
While gathering hides, avoid all other encounters unless you're sure you can win. Craft a tent as soon as you get 8 hides.
Set up that tent near Modoc and make this your tent-crafting station, where you hunt tons more brahmin for their hides.
You'll likely need more Ropes and Wood. Gather resources, including Junk, in the city ruins above Modoc on the far north edge of the map.
Hunt brahmin, gather hides and craft 8 more tents. If you have no hatchet here, gather some flint and chop wood with a Primitive Tool.
While you're hunting brahmin, notice Ghost Farm on the map. You can mine here if you run out of ammo.
By the time you craft 8 more tents, you hit levels 9 and 10. If not, do some hunting so you do.

Welcome to level 9 and the Even Tougher perk! Distribute Skill Points: Small Guns 140, Doctor 64.

Welcome to level 10! Distribute Skill Points: Small Guns 144, Doctor 75, Traps 28.

Building Houses

We were on our way to get those Carry Weight perks. Let's get back to that. We'll build some Houses along the way.
If you have not done it already, arrange your 8 new Folded Tents in a row with 3 wood on each one.
Chop wood in the area if you have to. You need 3 wood per tent to upgrade the fire pit to a Campfire.
Upgrade the fire pit at your Modoc tent if you have not already done it. Rename the tent to Modoc.
(No need to get maps to tents yet. We'll do that later when we have a base, which should be soon.)
Now pick up 3 tents and 12 wood and let's go get them set up. Head straight west to Den and Klamath.
Find a place by Klamath and/or the quarry to use the tent. Rename it to "Klamath".
Drop everything you are carrying at this new Klamath house, and run to Klamath. You will get the Gecko Skinning perk next.
Klamath is a dangerous place. Players will shoot you so you want to carry nothing as you get this perk.
Use town preview, and enter Klamath via the Trapper Town entrance. Run up past the fence through the bottom door in the main building.
Run up through this building and out, up to the bonfire to talk to the trapper there and get Gecko Skinning.
Run back down the same way you came in, through the building but stop inside and talk to Meloy.
Ask Meloy about the Toxic Caves and he'll show you the location. Exit the conversation and avoid the next topic for now.
(The next topic is a fun quest you cannot do yet, so you'll be back here later to get it.)
Exit Klamath, go back to your tent, grab all your gear and tents and wood and head to Redding (straight past Den).
Use a tent next to Redding, upgrade the fire pit, rename it to "Redding".
Drop all gear and go naked bluesuit over to Redding. Use town preview and enter the Mine entrance when ready.
Run straight west to the building to the left of the Last Gasp Saloon. Talk with Dangerous Dan McGrew inside to get Pack Rat.
Look at that 110 Carry Weight! Nice, and it gets even better at Broken Hills.
Go back to your Redding house, grab all your gear including the tents and wood and head southeast to New Reno.
New Reno is the most brutal place on the map, so only go close enough to see it, then proceed east to Broken Hills.
At Broken Hills, use a tent, upgrade the fire, rename it, then drop everything and go naked blue over to the town.
Broken Hills is another dangerous place. Most of these northern towns are part of the Town Control system so they can be PvP intense.
Use town preview and enter via the main entrance. Run all the way down the main street to the open well.
Francis is a mutant arm wrestler in the building just below the well. He will give you the Strong Back perk. Return to house and get gear.
Check out your Carry Weight now! 140 woohoo! Now you can mine more materials per run into a mine.
You're not far from Shady Sands (NCR) so let's go there to get some perks that will help you travel faster.
In Shady Sands, run into town and go back inside Dusty's Cantina. Talk to Hoss to get Pathfinder.
Then exit Shady Sands and run over to the Train Station. Talk with four people about their health.
Talk to Mantis, the ghoul inside the train station, to get the Explorer perk. 250 xp.
Remember your deal with Hammilton? You've tracked the man with black hair back to here. Do you see him?
(Choosing the right dialogue options, he points you to where your target is camping.)
Find the hideout and talk to the man. Are you a white knight?
Head back to your Modoc house to get four more tents. Now that you can skin geckos, hunt Goldens when it's not too much trouble.
Whenever you carry valuables like tents or maps, you are taking a big risk. The more you carry at a time, the more can be lost at once.
If you are carrying precious goods like tents, it is critical that you exit forced encounters quickly and avoid them if possible.
When you are carrying such valuable items, do not go for xp. Avoid all encounters! Get to your destination first.
Head to San Francisco mine. It's another good place to have a safe spot. Do not hunt on this trip; its too risky.
You'll be crossing the desert on foot. If your character fails, you'll have to go back to Modoc and craft new tents.
(As careful as I am, I was killed here by NPCs throwing Plasma Grenades, so i had to go back to Modoc to hunt more brahmin.)

Losing a Fight Near San Fran
When you lose a fight near San Fran, you get a unique opportunity to go on a quest from within the regeneration location. Do the Radscorpion Subway quest.

Stop in the San Fran train station and talk to four people about their health.
Run in to San Francisco and talk with the doctor to get Faster Healing. He is in one of the first buildings.
Back on the map, note the location of Mariposa Military Base in 15:27. It has an advanced workbench.
Use your last 3 tents at Waterworks, Boneyard train station, and back at Shady Sands. Upgrade fires and rename them as you go.
Stop in Hub along the way to complete The Wasteland Band quest. 1500 xp!
Remember you're much tougher now with those perks and you should gather Golden Gecko pelts whenever you can safely do so.
Head over to Necropolis to deliver the reply message to Skeeter. 3000 xp!
Put your shotgun on single shot, and kill the rats in the sewer again. They are too easy now. 965 xp.

Welcome to level 11! Distribute Skill Points: Small Guns 150, Traps 38.

High Quality Mining

Head back north to set up your last house near Shady Sands quarry. Upgrade the fire and rename it.
Continue north back to Vault City so we can complete the Medical Investigation and get paid.
Talk to Doc Andrew about the other stations and get 1500 xp more, plus 1750 xp for completing the quest.
With your higher Carry Weight, let's do some HQ mining! Drop off your gear at your Gecko mining house.
Bring only a shotgun, some ammo, your jacket, and a sledgehammer into the mine.
Kill the geckos in the tunnels as you mine all the materials inside. Make runs back to your house when needed.
(You won't get any gecko pelts from the geckos in the mine, but you will get xp while you work.)
Use your workbench to make Good Metal Parts, Advanced Gunpowder, regular Metal Parts and gunpowder too.

Welcome to level 12! Distribute Skill Points: Lockpick 64, Traps 50. Your next perk is your decision to make. Getting both Action Boy perks will make you faster, which works nicely with your Fast Shot trait. It also makes you a faster miner which means more efficient use of your time. Getting Lifegiver for more Hit Points is tempting too, but then again, you're doing pretty well as it is, right? You decide. In my run-throughs i went with Action Boy to work faster and got Lifegivers later.

More Professions

By now you may be behind this guide or ahead of it. Hunt golden geckos, mine, and craft your way to level 13.
Good Metal Parts are an ingredient when crafting containers like lockers, which you'll want to add to certain houses soon.
Sell goods to merchants. Use caps to buy more skill books. Use Science books to boost Science skill to 50. Get professional training:
- Jacob in Hub: Big Guns
- Simon in Salvagers, Boneyard: Armor
- Dangerous Dan back in Redding: Demolitions
- Hank inside the reactor at Gecko: Energy Weapons

(more soon)

Links