Guide 101: Crawling Out of the Sandstorm

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	Exit the Sandstorm
More Chapters	Guide 101: Title Page Exit the Sandstorm Building Your Safe Network
Notes	{{{notes}}}

You start this adventure having ducked a horrific sandstorm by taking cover in a sand hole under an old tent. You don't have much, but that is about to change...

Exit the Tent

Use the ladder to climb up, and find the NPCs there under the tent. Talk with J.D. the Caravan Driver inside this Starting location.
Ask him where they're going, about Hub, and if you can travel with them. You get the quest to deliver a message. Your first quest!
Press P twice to open your Pip-Boy and see the quest:
- Hub: Far Go Scout
Also talk with Kris, the guy at the watering hole.
Get Kris talking about how to obtain water, and get your first 50 xp.
Grab the water bag from the ground near the water's edge, and exit this Starting Location.

Welcome to the World Map!

You likely see Hub from where you start on the map. Before you take one step, read a few pointers here.
First note how many Hit Points you have starting out. You are too weak to take any big risks yet.
Press C and notice your gun skill is only 65. That's too low to use a gun yet. Try it; you miss a lot and your guns explode.
(You'll want to get your gun skill up to at least 110 before you pull any triggers.)
It's best to avoid all forced encounters for now. You'll be fighting soon, but not yet.
A safe place: You'll soon be building your first tent, a safe place to store your items.
For now, when you are forced into encounters, immediately run straight for the exit. Play it safe to just stay alive.
Whenever you get into an encounter near Hub, Junktown, Boneyard, or anywhere between these places, you have but mere moments to exit before other players will show up and kill you. So do not plan to hunt near Hub - exit all encounters.
For now, your mission is to simply stay alive. Do not trust other players, and do not expect to win any fights yet. Even ants can kill you.

Start Getting XP

Start walking to Hub, and note the location of Hinkley along the way. It is a combat training site.
When you reach Hub, do not enter yet. Use the Town/World button to enter via Old Town.
Run south and find The Sad Wife inside where she lives. Talk with her about finding Joseph. Your 2nd quest!
Note the other building has a working still, for making Rot Gut. (The workbenches there do not work though.)
Run north and talk with Jacob the merchant about a deal with Gun Runners. Your 3rd quest!
Optional: Ask Jacob about the location of Gun Runners so it highlights on your map.
Enter the building at the east end of the street. The workbench here works. You can use this later to craft stuff.
Note the workbench has a toolboard, which acts as a container. And note a guy there named Shadow.
Exit Old Town and you get your next 150 xp just for reaching the more populated part of Hub.
The Far Go Traders is right there, so go in and deliver that message from J.D. to Mitch to get 400 more xp!
(Note there are two different NPCs at Hub named Mitch. The other one is Mitch the Short Merchant.)
Exit the Far Go Traders and run west through the Market area into the bar, the Maltese Falcon.
Talk with Mick in the bar to get The Wasteland Band quest. Mick gives you some caps. Don't spend them. You need them for the quest.
You might have 600 xp now, including 150 from entering Hub and 50 from Kris at the Starting location.

Check Your Pip-Boy

Open your Pip-Boy (press P twice) and check which quests you have now. It should show these four:

Now let's make some easy xp. When you hit level 2, resist the urge to distribute your first Skill Points. Just wait.

A Humble Beginning

Run up the street and find the brahmin pens on the left. Get a shovel from Cleve (black guy in a red shirt) and agree to shovel poo.
Arm your shovel in slot 1 and now you can shovel poo in any cow pen by simply mousing over poo.
Never block a gate! You get some fast warnings a few times if you block gates and then the guards kill you.
Check the brahmin pens at Hub's main gate area. Watch for sneaky poo under the fence.
At 24 xp per poo, you can get to level 2 pretty fast. Other players do this too so poo might be scarce at Hub.
Move boxes too. Get this job from the box man (another black guy in a red shirt) near the caravan trailer.
Move 10 boxes from the cart into the hut nearby (just drop them on the floor inside) and talk to him again to get paid.
Hub is a popular place to hang out. Talk with players there to get info. Some will help. Some will not. But they all know stuff and you can learn even by simply listening to their conversations.

Now that's more poo than most players care to shovel but it helped you get to level 2.

Welcome to Level 2! Do not distribute your Skill Points yet. You'll get a free boost to Small Guns if you wait. Now let's see about those quests.

Your First Perk

(Depending on how you reach level 3, be prepared to choose Adrenaline Rush.)
(Also make sure you get Boneyard Guard before you distribute any Skill Points. See below.)
Go back to Cleve, the poo man down the street to get paid for whatever poo you shoveled.
Exit the city and note a new quest location on the map: A Tent in the Wasteland, but don't go there yet.
Remember: you're not fighting yet. You need to opt out of encounters and quickly exit the ones you're forced into. Stay alive!
Head south to Gun Runners but be careful! Boneyard is dangerous. Be ready to quickly exit forced encounters. You're in RT mode, right?
Enter Gun Runners, get 150 xp, run up into the main Gun Runners building and speak with Marshal (in Combat Armor) to get a perk.
Apply the Boneyard Guard support perk to your Small Guns skill to get a free boost. Nice.
Talk with him again to dialogue about one of your quests, the one for Jacob.
(Take the easiest dialogue options in this quest to avoid complications.)
(Note that short merchant at Gun Runners. His name is Ralph.)
Now that you got the Boneyard Guard perk, spend some Skill Points. Boost Small Guns to 110. Save the rest for now.
Before you exit Gun Runners, just look at all that poo! It's smells like...like...like xp.
If there is a lot of poo here, consider shoveling more. You can hit level 3 here in only a few minutes, though it's only 12 xp per poo at level 2.
Exit Gun Runners when done, and travel to New Adytum, just south.
Do not go to Warehouse yet. It's a very tough place to survive even for seasoned veterans.
Enter New Adytum and get another free 150 xp.
Speak with Dyer Greenberg, in Combat Armor. Ask him about Salvagers to get their location.
Back to map, head West to Salavagers and talk with the bald Regulator about Joseph. Sad news, but 500 xp.
Do not go to Crater yet. You will be radiated as soon as you enter.
As long as you're in Salvagers, you may as well move boxes, like in Hub, for caps. It's faster here and you get 300 xp.
Exit Salvagers and head back north toward Hub. Pass up Hub and go 4 more zones north to Junktown.
Enter Junktown's north gate, ignore the warnings from the guards, and run west to find Ronnie near the boxing arena.
Talk with Ronnie about getting the band back together with Mick. 250 xp.
You're coming back to Junktown soon but exit for now and head 1 zone west to see the quarry on your map.
Go back to Hub, enter via Old Town and deliver the sad news to The Sad Wife. 250 xp.
Run north and talk with Jacob again about the deal with Gun Runners. You're not done with this quest just yet.
Go to Hub's Market and tell Mick in the bar the good news that Ronnie is on board. 450 xp.
(Mick needs you to find Charlie next, who is in San Francisco.)
Exit Hub. (There is an exit in the Market area below the Gun Store and the Iguana Bits vendor. Use F4 to toggle your HUD up and down to find it.)

Welcome to level 3 and your first Perk! You will benefit greatly from the Adrenaline Rush perk. You can now use enough Skill Points to get your Outdoorsman skill to 88 and your Small Guns to 111 with a few points left over for now. This will help you get a Folded Tent, get your own workbenches and travel more safely.

Getting Tougher

As long as you're here, move boxes again to get a few more caps. You can buy a Scout book to boost OD.
(Moving boxes is a job with a timer, so if you made it back pretty fast, you won't be able to do this again just yet.)
Shoveling poo at this point is more about simply getting more caps. Books are expensive so shovel if you can.
Get paid for boxes and poo, then run south to Hub's market area into the book store.
Go into the book store, one of the four buildings in the middle of Hub's Market, above the FLC bank.
Talk with Mrs Stapleton to buy a Scout book. Read that book and your Outdoorsman should reach 100.
(You will read 9 more Scout books later for more boosts to your Outdoorsman skill.)
Run back up the street to the tent near the poo man, and talk with Dan to trade your shovel for a knife. 100 xp.
Arm the Knife in Slot 1 and run across the street into the corn fields.
Nine of the plant stalks produce Fibers. Use the knife on those to get Fibers. Find them!
Gather a bunch of Fibers, go to the workbench in Old Town and make some ropes for 5 xp each.
(Ropes are heavy. You may only be able to make 15 ropes before you are overloaded.)
Next, you can sell the rope at Beth's Gun Store in Hub's Market area. Get 100 caps each!
Exit Hub and let's go see about that little location, Tent in the Wasteland
Talk with Evelyn in the tent to agree to help her family. Go back to the map.
Now you can see their farm a few zones to the west. Go there but be ready for rats to attack!
Press Q to highlight your Field of View and notice the Red Ryder BB Gun on the ground near the farmhouse door.
Go grab that weapon and immediately run back down south under the Brahmin pen.
Shoot the few rats inside the pen first, and then go inside it and close the gate to kill the other 2 outside.
When ready, run behind the building and shoot the inside rats through the windows.
Open the farmhouse door and clear any remaining rats. There are 12 rats total in this location.
Find tools on the ground and in the farmhouse: Shovel, Hatchet, Sledgehammer, Knife.
Disarm yourself and put all items into the shelf in the farmhouse.
You're going to hike a long distance to get an important perk next, and this is a safe place to leave items for now.
Exit back to map, and start hiking northwest to Gordon's Gas Station. It's in zone 14:18 about 24 zones away.
Remember: you're still avoiding all encounters for now. Don't even stop to gather Broc Flowers yet.
When you get to Gordon's, review the wiki page about Ranger to say the right things to Tamira.
The dialogue options are: 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 and if you say something wrong, she attacks you. Fail? Try again.
Once you get the Ranger perk, you can go back to the farmhouse and get all of your stuff.
Report back to the tent to complete the quest for Evelyn the Farmer.
Evelyn leaves you a Folded Tent to use and you'll make a Safe House with it since you're a Ranger now.

Hopefully, you can be welcomed to level 4 by now. Distribute Skill Points: Science (50) and have some leftover points for now. You'll be able to get the Swift Learner perk now, and some crafting professions soon.

A Mining We Will Go

Let's set that tent up next to Junktown Quarry and craft some new gear!
Bring your tent to a map location that is very close to the quarry, almost overlapping a bit.
That close to the quarry, snugged up next to it only a few pixels away, enter an unpopulated location on the map.
Use the folded tent there. Now you have a private place to store stuff and do basic crafting!
(This is a safe location that others cannot see. They can follow you there though so watch for others in your party.)
Now drop all your items there (use Control+G) and bring only a hatchet with you. Let's go get some wood to use for crafting.
Go a few pixels to the zone above the quarry, and enter unpopulated locations from the map until you find trees that can be cut.
(You'll know if they are the right kind of trees because you get a mouse-over indicator when you hold a hatchet in slot 1.)
(You may need to enter and re-enter from the world map before you find a suitable encounter with trees that can be cut.)
(As you exit encounters, always watch your text box. If other players are nearby, their names will show in red.)
Bring as much wood as you can carry back to your house and drop it on the ground somewhere.
Use 3 wood on your fire pit to upgrade it to a Campfire. Rename your house to "[character name] JT Quarry".
Drop all your items there and head south to Gun Runners again to close the deal for Jacob.
Run back up to Hub, enter Old Town and talk to Jacob to finish his quest. 750 xp!
At Hub, talk with Mrs Stapleton in the bookstore and get Swift Learner.
Let's craft some ammo and get some xp! Keep your Sledgehammer and go back to the quarry.
Bring back some Iron Ore and Minerals to your workbench and craft Metal Parts and Gunpowder.
Use the materials to craft 12 gauge shotgun ammo. Keep making ammo until you hit level 5.

Welcome to level 5. Distribute Skill Points: Repair 50 will allow some crafting professions.

Do whatever you have to do to get 1500 caps and bring them to Boyce at Junktown near the Workbench.
(Sell ammo if you have to.) Pay for Small Guns 1 Professional training, so you can craft some good gear.
Notice that Boyce gives you a Skill Book. Read it to get a small boost to Small Guns.
Now open Fix-Boy and figure out what you need to craft 6 or 7 Combat Shotguns at Junktown.
Mine to get enough alloys to make those guns. Notice some of your crafted guns might have bonus stats!
Pick the best gun to keep for yourself and take the rest to Hub to sell at the General Store.
Mine some more and keep crafting ammo to reach level 6. You're going to need that ammo soon.

Welcome to level 6 and your second Perk! You will benefit greatly from basic Toughness. Distribute Skill Points into Repair (50) and have some leftover for later.

Becoming a Snakeater

Grab one of your Combat Shotguns and 400 rounds of ammo. Drop the rest at your tent.
Go east from Hub to Necropolis. Watch out for dangerous encounters along the way - avoid them for now.
When you reach Necropolis, enter via Watershed, run up to the manhole cover and use it to go under the street.
There are some rats down here. Kill them all and get over 1000 xp.
Go back up and into the main building. Talk with Elmer the Ghoul about a message quest.
Elmer gives you a holotape. Use the tape to upload it to your Pip-Boy Archives, and read it.
Drop the tape off at your tent and let's go fight the Black Claw Scorpions.
Enter Junktown's south gate and talk with Doc Larrikin in the clinic to get this quest.
Go back to the map and find the scorpion cave nearby.
Try not to get stung by these monsters! Their poison is far more intense than most. Kill all 13. 858 xp.
Check the scorpions to gather their eggs. You should find 8 eggs total.
(Note your current resistance to poison is 50% and to radiation is 40%.)
Bring the eggs back to Doc Larrikin. 1375 xp and 400 caps. Ask him about the venom to get the Snakeater perk. 495 xp.
Drop off the extra eggs at your House.
Now check your resistances again: poison is now up to 80% and radiation is now 60%. This will help during desert leveling.

Heading North

Bring a Combat Shotgun, 300 rounds of ammo, and 300 caps and head north to Shady Sands. 150 xp
Talk with Buster in the Guns tent about some work.
Run past the Holding Center fence and go into the Rawhide Saloon. Talk to Mira the bartender twice to get another job and Buster's smokes.
Now run into the main street past the security gate and read the billboard. Take a note about a job for Westin.
Keep running straight down the main street and go into Dusty's Cantina.
Talk with the bartender to return Mira's debt for her. Hand him the money and head out.
Run back up the street and turn left to find the entrance to the Westin Ranch, protected by an energy fence.
Talk to the guard to get in, using the job offer as a legitimate reason.
Go inside the main building and speak with Mr Westin. He's at his desk, under a cross on the wall.
Talk with Felix, the guy just outside the door there. You'll be automatically led to the the brahmin pasture. 150 xp.
Go over to the rocks to the east and wait near there for the children to arrive.
When the kids arrive, tell them they are making the animals nervous and get them to stop. Another 165 xp
Go back in to NCR and give the smokes to Buster. 880 xp. Put on that black leather jacket. Cool!
Run back to the Rawhide Saloon and confirm with Mira that you paid her debt back. 825 xp

Welcome to level 7. Distribute Skill Points into (need info - do not spend points yet)

Run north past the old wrecked cars to exit Shady Sands, stopping on the way to meet Ratch and Vortis.
(Ratch is an odd character, and Vortis is a slave dealer.)
Exit Shady Sands and keep traveling north to Vault City to get work from Doctor Andrew.
Enter Vault City and run in to the clinic there. Notice the bar and Happy Harry's with the smiley face.
Once you get the Medical Research quest, exit Vault City and you'll see their train station nearby. Go there. 150 xp.
This is why you brought some caps. Buy 3 train tickets there and talk with 4 people about their medical condition.
Wait for the train. When it arrives, board the train - it only goes one direction from here. Next stop: Shady Sands.
Once you arrive at the NCR Train Station, talk with 4 people there about their medical condition. 150 xp.
Make sure you get on the train going to Boneyard, and talk to 4 more people there. 150 xp.
(Notice there is a merchant here - many players overlook this barter location.)
Make sure you get on the train going to San Francisco, and talk to 4 more people there. 150 xp.
This time, exit to the world map, and head over to San Francisco. Be careful! Encounters here are deadly!
Enter San Fran via the Tanker. Run up into the bar and speak with Charlie about the band. 275 xp.
(On your way out of the Tanker, note the NPC merchants here. You'll be trading with them later.)
Find the stairway off the docks and exit San Fran via the west exit grid.
Re-enter San Fran's main gate.
Run north to the Archway exit grid which leads to the science lab.
Get a tough job to kill ants from Dr Wong Yi Tze. This will be a tough fight against a bunch of ants.
Exit San Fran and find the ant lair on the map not far away.
(On your way to the ant lair, note the location of the San Fran mine.)
Go to the quest location and be ready to enter-exit, enter-exit over and over again quickly.
To beat the ants, use guerrilla hit-n-run tactics. They will swarm you if you let them, so kill 1 or 2 and exit.
You might need 50 rounds of ammo to do this, accounting for some misses. Kill 'em all. 1124 xp
(Your gun skill is still low, so don't waste Action Points on long range shots.)
(If you no longer have any small gun to use, you'll need to go arm yourself first and come back.)
When you beat the ants, go back to Dr Wong in San Fran to get paid. 250 xp.
Exit San Fran and head north through the desert past Gordon's Gas Station.
Travel straight north past Gordon's to Redding in zone 14:11 to get a boost to your Carry Weight. 150 xp.
Enter Redding via the Mine, run straight west and find Dangerous Dan in his office building.
After Dan gives you the Pack Rat perk, exit back to map and return to Vault City.
Speak with "Doctor" Andrew to complete his Medical Investigation. 4125 xp! Nice.

Welcome to level 8. Things are getting better. Distribute Skill Points: Small Guns (130) and Lockpick (100).

Getting Even Tougher

Head all the way back down to Hub and report to Mick regarding the band. 1265 xp!
Mick sends you to find Keith in Gecko, so bring 400 caps.
Head back north to Vault City. Gecko is two zones north of there in zone 29:4.
Gecko is a "north town" and in the Town Control system so its another PvP hot zone. Be advised.
Enter Gecko via the Reactor, exit it and go into The Harp bar to talk with Keith about the band. 440 xp.
From the bar, run north in Gecko up to the Scrapyard area to find Skeeter. Don't waste any time here.
Talk with Skeeter about the message quest from Necropolis. He gives you a reply message to take back to Elmer.
Upload the tape immediately to your Pip-Boy, and exit north out of Gecko. Read the tape once on the map.
Next you should go to Broken Hills in zone 29:17 to get another free boost to your Carry Weight.
Remember: you are still too soft to survive most encounters, so stay on task and avoid combat for now.
(Once you get some solid armor and more Toughness, you can start hunting critters for tons more xp.)
Head straight south from Vault City to Broken Hills, and be glad you did not bring much with you. This is a PvP hot zone.
Broken Hills is one of the north towns and this part of the Town Control system. Get in, get your perk, and get out.
(If someone kills you in the town, you didn't lose much and you know how to craft more. Try again later.)
Francis is the mutant who gives you Strong Back. Run up the main street. He's in the 2nd building on your right under the well.
Exit Broken Hills and head back to your House near Junktown quarry. Drop off that holotape and grab your gun and ammo.
Go speak with Mick in Hub one last time to complete The Wasteland Band quest. 1650 xp!
Mick gives you a Scout book so read it for a 6% boost to your Outdoorsman skill.
Head back to Necropolis, enter via watershed again and hit that manhole cover to kill those rats again. 1000+ xp.
Climb out, and deliver Skeeter's reply to Elmer. 3300 xp!

Welcome to level 9 and your 3rd perk. Now we're talkin'! Even Tougher is the obvious choice. Distribute Skill Points: Lockpick (125), and Traps (36).

Treasure Hunting

The Even Tougher perk is important. While you still lack Hit Points, you can resist more damage now.
With Lockpick 125, you'll want the Treasure Hunter perk, so drop off your items at your House.
Head back to Broken Hills and speak with Mickey in the middle of the main street. Exit the city asap.
Craft 4 wooden poles, and grab 1 rope and 3 wood. Bring your gun and ammo, and let's get another tent set up.
Go into the wasteland, away from Hub and hunt some brahmin to craft a new Folded Tent.
Set up your new tent somewhere near your favorite city ruins zone (pick one you think might be safest.)
Find some random lockers and try to open them with your Lockpick skill. Watch out for traps around the lockers.
(Your Doctor skill is still low, so correcting broken limbs is a pain for now, so try to spot traps.)
(This zone has mostly BoS encounters, but be careful of hostiles too.)
Troll the map to get encounters. If they don't have lockers, just run out.
Find something good? Take it back to your tent and drop it off. Consider crafting some basic Lockpicks.
Before too long, you should find some sort of better armor than your leather jacket. Switch up and keep hunting lockers.

A Quick Inventory of Quests

Open your Pip-Boy (press P twice) and check your quest status. It should show these nine:

A Tent in the Wasteland Quest Completed
Hub: Far Go Scout Quest Completed
Hub: Find Joseph Quest Completed
Hub: The Gun Runner Delivery Quest Completed
Hub: The Wasteland Band Quest Completed
Junktown: Collect the Radscorpion Eggs Quest Completed
NCR: A Brahmin Herdsman's Job Quest Completed
NCR: Buy cigarettes for Buster Quest Completed
NCR: Return Mira's debt Quest Completed
San Francisco: It Came from the Desert Quest Completed
Vault City: Medical Investigation Quest Completed

Fun with Holotapes!
Go to the world map and use Science on your tape. This allows you to edit the tape. Put the cursor at the beginning of the text and hold down the Delete key until the entire tape is erased. Enter 3 dots and click the WRITE button to save it. I know this takes a minute, but you can re-use the tape. Erase the title too and replace it with "blank". Now you can open a new txt file on your computer and write something up to 1995 characters long (and 53 characters wide max), copy it and paste it into your tape. Then upload that tape to your Pip-Boy and you'll have that info handy at a glance in-game. You could do this, for example, to save your character's build so you can see which perks you planned to get as you level up, and all the support perks you qualify for as well. Note: There is no way, as of now, to edit or delete records once a tape has been uploaded.

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