Fallout 4

[mandru]

I wasn't aware of the Vault Overseer's desk so that's good to know.


I was goofing around trying to rush full affinity with Deacon using the console cheat tdetect which makes you undetectable by enemies (as long as you've not attacked them).  Tdetect also blinds settlers, and most NPCs to all other NPCs enemies or not.  Companions on the other hand still follow you, converse (except for affinity progress cut scenes) and accept orders.

It was under these conditions that I noticed a nearby settlement was under attack.

I hoofed it there quick but when I arrived the Rust Devils had moved into the settlement and were availing themselves of all the amenities afforded by well equipped living accommodations. 

One was perched on a stool at the tavern enjoying a beverage that wasn't served in a dirty glass for a change while another one of them (a fem-devil) had tucked herself into one of the unassigned beds and was snoozing away.  The apparent leader of the raiders (a Legendary) was up on the open air garden level of my build having a go at the pommel horse and weight bench.  There was even a couple devils complaining about the clicking and flashing of the bank of slot machines I'd set up to assure happiness.

One complication that came with this quasi-peaceful assembly of raiders (which optimally I wanted dead and my settlers whom I  wanted to avoid unsettling) was that there was a pair of Quantum bots.  A Rust Devil variant of an Assaultron and a Sentrybot.  Each of these two bots were capable of exploding upon being destroyed.  I determined to deal with them last.

I almost felt bad digging a low level switchblade out of the workshop (to avoid area affect) and disposed of the human enemies one by one.  Then by attacking the bots just a little bit with the switchblade I was able to draw them far enough away from any of the settlers to finish them off safely.

It made me want to break out the Industrial Abraxo and sanitize the whole settlement. 

[Art Blade]

 

that is actually funny. A bunch of raiders making themselves at home over at one of your polished settlements I like that the game allows that stuff for comedy reasons but I still prefer the mod that completely stops any attempts of home invasion. I hated it when I was in Nuka World, inside of a building area with loading screen between inside and outside when I got a message that a settlement in the Commonwealth was under attack. Like, worlds apart. Ever since I installed that mod, I had my peace of mind.

[mandru]

 

I know there's a console command I read long ago about setting the various factions to be non-hostile towards one another but I'm thinking using something like that would foul up any unplayed story line.

[fragger]

That's a funny story mandru I guess that would never happen without that console tweak. I wonder what Synths or Super Mutants would do? Just wander around the settlement, I guess. Synths don't party and SMs are too thick to figure out what a pommel horse is for

I actually don't mind the settlement attacks as they give me an opportunity to up my XPs. They don't happen very often so it's not like it's a very frequent nuisance. I just have to be careful about who I aim at. There has been more than one instance of some dumb settler running right in front of me just as I fire and taking one in the back I lost a Junkyard Dog at Nordhagen Beach settlement a couple of days ago though. The silly mutt apparently thought it would be a good idea to play chew-toy with the leg of a Super Mutant Suicider... Now I have to keep an eye out for Gene so I can buy a replacement pooch.

I had an oddie at Spectacle Island not long ago. I built an arena there and I put in a Deathclaw cage and a Yao Guai one, to see who would come out on top (the bear did, to my surprise). I reset the traps and went away for a few game days. When I came back, the traps hadn't yet caught anything but there were no less than four Deathclaws wandering here and there on the island. The DC trap must have attracted them somehow as I've never seen them there before.

After the traps filled and I watched another bear vs. big lizard bout (the bear won again), I left the traps un-reset. Haven't seen any DCs on the island since.

[Art Blade]

that's also a funny story

[mandru]

An interesting observation to see bears beating deathclaws. 

If you have the cages to catch the above specimens then you should have access to dog traps as well.  Also out on Far Harbor the SM Ericson sells a choice of Dogs, SM Hounds and a variety of Wolves glowing and otherwise.  Those dogs can be assigned to any settlement in the Common Wealth or in Nukaworld as well.

If buying from Erickson first make a note of the name of the dog you want to buy so you get the animal you actually want.

[fragger]

Thanks mandru, I keep forgetting about Ericson I didn't realize you could send a dog from him to the Commonwealth. Dunno how they'd get there. An awful lot of dog-paddling must be involved, I guess

I've tried using a dog cage but I seem to get more Wild Mongrels and SM hounds that I immediately have to shoot than proper dogs. And since Gene is hard to come by, Ericson would be the go-to "guy" for a dog, I think.

[T.V.]

Nice funny stories. 

But if You have maxed out the inhabitants of the settlement (Charisma value +10 settlers), You can not send a dog from Ericson to that settlement.
(You might "buff-up" though, to get a temporary higher Charisma.)
I think the same rules applies with Gene's dogs.

[fragger]

Cheers, T.V.

[fragger]

I just made a cool discovery. A "Charge Card" (either the one you get from Parker Quinn, a rare one from another vendor, or one that can be found in a dumpster in a ruined house near Fort Strong) can in fact be redeemed for 100 caps by the merchant "Brooks" in Far Harbor.

If you approach and interact with Brooks while you have a Charge Card on you, a new dialog option will appear: "Charge Card" (up arrow). After a little bit of dialog, Brooks will give you 100 caps for the card.

After discovering this, I checked with the Wiki and Brooks is the only merchant in the game who will do this. The Wiki also says, "Only one charge card is able to be turned in to Brooks". I don't know if that means only one card at a time, or only one card ever. I'll have to wait until I can find another one to check.

Vendors who VERY occasionally might have a Charge Card available for barter:

Deb at Bunker Hill
A lone vendor SE of Walden Pond (who very rarely has one)
Any Level 4 Trader (also very rare).

Of course you can always buy the one from Quinn, then try to pickpocket him to get your money back. You can actually kill him if you're so inclined without it counting as a "murder" in your stats or having any negative effect on your companion, should you be travelling with one.

[Art Blade]

I suppose that "one" refers to the guy in the street who sells "one" to you, that random encounter, the one I kept killing

[Dweller_Benthos]

Yeah I traded mine into Brooks for the cash, but wasn't aware you could get more than one from other sources than that guy who sells them.

[fragger]

I suppose that "one" refers to the guy in the street who sells "one" to you, that random encounter, the one I kept killing

Quinn the card seller isn't a random encounter, he always hangs around the same spot in South Boston, even after you've bought the Charge Card off him. He never offers a second one though. If you approach him later after you've bought one, he instead tells you about an apartment in Trinity Tower you might be interested in... There is no such thing of course, but you can no longer engage him in a dialog choice-type conversation after buying the card. I usually put my weapon away, bring up my dukes and sock him one whenever I'm passing, just for the heck of it

It appears that you can only redeem a Charge Card with Brooks once. I went back a couple of game days later with another one and the dialog option to redeem didn't reappear, so it seems it's a one-off thing, like when you sleep with Magnolia About the only thing you can do with any other cards you may happen across is scrap them for 1 Plastic each, or sell them for a cap each.

Yeah that's right about the vault equipment boosts. But I think I recall there being a time limit though? Maybe not. Probably in the wiki.

There may not be a time limit. I've had a Strength boost active for three game days now, it doesn't appear to be going away. Unless the time limit is longer than that. I'll keep tabs on it.

[Art Blade]

thanks, mate

I deleted your post prior to the last one because it was identical except my quote was missing.

[fragger]

Thanks Art. Must be the heat here...