Tip Guide 1 - Exiting Vault 76

Character's Quarters in Vault 76 on Reclamation Day

This is a tip guide primarily focused on playing the game as a role-player. There are a lot of practical tips thrown in as well, but the approach taken by a player trying to maximize their character's weapons, armor, and stats is not the same as for a player trying to guide their character through the game while playing a role.

The game begins with the character inside their quarters in Vault 76. After personalizing the character in terms of gender and looks, consider looking around the quarters for clues to the personality of the character. Note that there is a framed flag that might suggest reverence for the former government. There are a number of collectibles on the shelves. There are circuits and fuses on the desk next to the computer. There is a Mr. Fuzzy in the laundry room, and three different stuffed bears. A pet food dish is on the floor. None of these things can be picked up and carried away, but what do they tell you about your character?

The kitchen table has some food items (Sugar Bombs, Blamco Mac & Cheese, Fancy Lads Snack Cakes, etc.). There is a trophy case in the room with some trophies that your character has won. There are games and toys strewn around the place. These can be fodder for building a personality for your character.

Most items inside the residence cannot be picked up. I decided to interpret this to mean that the robots were under orders about what could be taken Outside, and they enforced the rules strictly. The only item to pick up in the residence is the Pip-Boy, and a Nuka Tapper game holotape if you want to take it from the computer. 

By the way, you can earn 40 atoms for a challenge in which you locate and play all 8 of the holotape minigames found in Robco magazines. Nuka Tapper is one of these. 

Once you leave the residence, quest indicators will lead you to several stations where you can pick up the items that you are allowed to leave the Vault with. These items are: a Vault suit (which you are already wearing), black eyeglasses, a Reclamation Day party hat, a bottle of Rad-X and an IV pack of Radaway, five (5) Simpaks, purified water, and a small backpack filled with junk resources, such as steel scrap (5), wood scraps (5), cloth (5), a pen (1), and excess adhesive (1). You also pick up a device known as the CAMP that allows you to claim a space for building your personal residence. 

Role-players should consider entering any areas that are still accessible in the Vault and looking around. These spaces will give clues about what life was like in the Vault. There are also terminals in the security area and in the Overseer's office that provide some further information. The Overseer's terminal will also provide a holotape, called the Overseer's Log, that will give the character a quest that involves following in the footsteps of the Overseer.  

Leveling Up and Choosing Perk Cards

You will have to make your first decision about which perks to choose before leaving the Vault. You will level up to Level 2 while still in the Vault, and will have seven cards to choose from at that time, one for each SPECIAL category. Your character begins with one point in each SPECIAL category, permitting a single Rank 1 card in each of them. However, when you depart the Vault you will only have one perk card total. The rest will come through choices you make as you level up, and through sets of four random perk cards that you earn, called Perk Packs.  You receive perk packs at Level 4, Level 6, Level 8, Level 10, and then every five levels thereafter. 

There are also ways to earn Perk Packs via the SCORE system, though for role-players, it might be best not to allow your role-play character to claim the Perk Packs if you have another character who can claim them. One of the challenging aspects of the early game is figuring out what perks to choose, based on the cards you receive at random. Too many available cards takes away some of the challenge.

Your options for the first seven cards are Gladiator (STR), Concentrated Fire (PER), Lead Belly (END), Inspirational (CHA), First Aid (INT), Action Boy/Girl (AGI), and Pharma Farma (LCK). I recommend using Nukes and Dragons Fallout 76 Character Planner to decide in advance what perks you want to take each time you level up. I save my build as a bookmark and update it every few levels. You might want to plan about 5 levels ahead which perks you think you will want, then make adjustments depending on any issues or inconveniences that are developing as you play. For example, if your character is constantly running low on something, or having chronic problems with carry weight, then you may need to make an unplanned choice to make the gaming experience run more smoothly.

When it comes to choosing that first perk card, I strongly recommend Pharma Farma. This perk greatly increases the chances of finding chem aids in chem containers. Extra Stimpaks, Radaway, and etc. will help to make early gameplay easier, and any excess chems can be sold for caps at vendors, often for a premium compared to most other scavenged items. Concentrated Fire for gun builds, because head shots do extra damage, or Gladiator for melee builds, are also good choices.

An important point that some players don't understand is that you can increase the number of SPECIAL points for one attribute when you level up, but choose a perk card for a different SPECIAL attribute. For example, maybe you got a perk pack with Rifleman in it. You need to add a Perception point so you can use that card, but you also have other SPECIAL attributes with points in them but not enough perk cards to use those points. You just need to select the SPECIAL attribute that you want to increase, then use the Z and C keys (on PC) to scroll through the different cards available for each trait until you find the specific card you want.

Dead Responder Just Outside the Vault Entrance

Once outside the Vault, be sure to begin adding things to your quick inventory wheel for fast access in combat. On PC, use the scroll wheel on the mouse to bring up the quickwheel, then select a space and hit "C" to view items that you can include in that space. Stimpaks, Radaway, Rad-X, and Purified Water can be put in it right away. Any weapons you pick up would go next. 

Once that is done, take note of the dead Responder to your right. You can get your first weapon from him (a 38 with a few bullets). You will likely come under laser fire if you approach the railing near the body. A couple of Liberators are wandering around below, and even more as you go further down the stairs. A regular player might engage these robots to maximize experience and resources, but I decided that my character would not be confident with a gun (or with his fists, for that matter) and would avoid the confrontation. Instead, he ran away from the robots and headed down the left staircase to talk to Pennington, and then the two women who wanted to get into the Vault. 

Once you speak with Lacey and her companion and learn about the treasure of Appalachia and the Wayward, you are on your way!