Fallout 4 Adventures in Survival Mode – A Personal Experience

wolfgrimdark

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Adventures in Survival Mode (SM) – A Personal Experience

As the title says this is just me making some comments about the new survival mode in FO4. This is not a review or preview or anything at all like that. Just my impressions of playing SM. This post is mainly for those who enjoy the game but haven't tried SM yet and might be curious about it.

Apologies for typos and such – didn’t have time for extensive editing and re-writing (nor is it meant to be formal or anything). Images are a mix of my own Grimwolf ENB/ReShade Institute ASD preset and Symphonic Vintage, made by a friend.

For context I should explain that I am a casual role-player gamer by which I mean I like exploring but will sometimes use fast-travel; I like some combat but not as my main focus; I like sticking to my characters personality and won’t try to do everything in the game, become friends with every companion, or do things just to get achievements; and I love immersion but flexible enough to edit lore to fit my own story.

I explain this as I almost always play a game on easy or normal. I simply enjoy it more that way (everyone has their own style). I hadn’t planned on trying survival mode but something about it intrigued me. I liked the idea of food and water actually being needed. I liked the idea of cooking being actually useful and needing to sleep. Frankly I have played the game three times through and never once had to cook, use a doctor, or sleep except as a role playing mechanism. Having something built into the game sounded really cool even if harder than my normal style.

The only flaw, for me, was that they linked the combat to it. I had really hoped the game difficulty sliders would be separate so that the survival mode would just be another option to turn on and you could then pick the combat difficulty. I say this because I liked the idea of many things in survival mode but I don’t like how combat is mainly made harder by just making the enemies sponges (which the player doing 0.5 damage and the enemies doing 2.0 is). Luckily this is a moddable game so I found a very simple mod that does only one thing – sets the damage to a 1 to 1 ratio which to me is more realistic and fair.

After taking two weeks to design and prepare a character, adjust my mods, and read up on how survival mode works, I was ready to go. I have 47 plugins and 111 mods total. But they are mostly for textures, immersion (weather, camping, fog, etc.), and lore friendly outfits that are properly balanced. I have only one weapon mod (that isn’t a texture) and that is for Regent, a balanced sword by Billyro. My guy is a bit of an urban ranger with a mix of melee and sniper abilities.

For survival mode I have four mods that directly impact it. The one that sets damage from 1 to 1, one that allows me to use the console (not for cheats but for any bugs and because I do a lot of screenshot taking and ENB/ReShade work and I need access to some basic controls), the smoking animation mod that has the option to save the game when you finish a cigarette (just like that for some reason and the price is the animation takes a minute to complete), and the camping mod as it lets me carry around a sleeping bag and campsite materials – which allows for more convenient saving while still keeping to the theme. Oh and a simple mod that lets me have Dogmeat with one other companion but at the moment doesn’t come into play as it’s just me and Dogmeat. Hmm… I also have a mod that enables working sinks so I suppose that makes it easier to find dirty water at least when exploring the city. Think that’s it though.

Fenrir aka Fenn Finn-Gall, also known as Fenn de Wolfe, fresh from the Vault

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My character’s name is Fenrir, otherwise known as Fenn Finn-Gall (Fenn is old English for a marsh or fen and Finn-Gall refers to a type of Viking). He was about 25% into the game with his buddy Robert MacCready when survival mode came out so I decided to restart him in survival mode. If I like it I will delete the other game and focus on this more challenging version.

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Anyhow wrote a book like I always do – now on to my experience of how Fenrir dealt with things for the first week in Survival Mode. Basically leaving the vault, setting up Sanctuary, and saving Preston and his friends in Concord. It is very random as I am writing down my thoughts as I played through things over the last few days.

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I play Fenrir as an ex-black market smuggler who had moved to Sanctuary after some bad deals. There he met Nora and when the bombs went off he saved her from her husband (he was a war vet with PTSD problems and the sirens pushed him over an already shaky edge - he pulled a gun and tried to kill his family saying he didn't want them to suffer from an atomic war). Fenrir rescued Nora and Shaun right before Nate turned the gun on himself. Thus it was Nora lied and told the guards he was her husband. This in turn saved his life as the Institute agents left him alive - not knowing he wasn't related to Nora or Shaun).

I found the survival mode was in effect even as I explored the vault. This was before I added the mod to make the damage 1 to 1. The roaches were still pretty easy to kill so I was feeling confident from the start. I enjoyed hunting down empty bottles that I then filled up at the water fountains. Was that always in the game or maybe it’s the working sink mod? I never knew you could do that if vanilla. I like it a lot. I have a reason to collect water – the vault water is purified and water in the wasteland is usually dirty but I can purify it at cooking stations so still useful.

I wandered through the vault collecting everything, especially food and water but also precious building supplies for the city. A mix of meta-gaming and role playing as Fenrir is a bit like MacGyver from the old TV show – he is good at making things from random items. I had good strength and endurance as I felt they would benefit me in survival mode even if melee is extra hard in this mode. Over time I will build up perception and agility as well.

Speaking of which choosing perks for me in the past was hard but now it’s amazingly difficult. I don’t want to min/max and I still role play (that is my goal with SM) but I do need to account for the added difficulty. Fighting is way more dangerous but so is the environment as I need to eat and drink. The perks become a lot more useful all of a sudden in SM.

Reading Corner at Fenn's Shack

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I escaped the vault without any serious issue, maybe 20% lost health which I recovered from drinking fountains for the most part. Once outside I did a little scouting and then headed to Sanctuary. I collected plants (usually skipped that in the past) as I could now use them to make herbal remedies and chemistry. After chatting with Cogsworth I began to explore and started to feel the next effects of SM – I was gaining fatigue (which lowers AP points in the same way RADS affect health) and needed sleep. I was also hungry and parched. I built two water purifies to provide clean water and built a simple bed. Then I cooked up some roasted bloatfly and radroach (ick!) and after a meal went to bed.

Next few days was setting up my base of operations in Sanctuary and Red Rocket (more like a hideout). I wanted a good defended safe base in Sanctuary and then plan on making some hideouts spread out from the base as I explore. Each hideout will have a stash of emergency supplies – since I can’t carry everything with me. Simple clean beds when I have the ability to craft them. Otherwise exploring will depend in my camping abilities (from the mod by FadingSignal) to keep me rested and fed.

Got my first illness, Insomnia, as well. No matter how I rested I was always tired. Luckily I found an antibiotic in Sanctuary and cured it. With Sanctuary and Red-Rocket prepped I was finally ready to take Dogmeat and attempt Concord. Well stocked up I headed to the city.

Exploring Concord

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I admit was feeling pretty confident at this point with dealing with survival mode (SM). Bloatfies, radroaches, mole rats, and giant mosquitoes all fell to my weapons. Even the first raider went down in three shots (normally one) with my sniper rifle while hidden. But then his friends came, two of them, and in about 3 seconds I was dead. I realized just what the 0.5 and 2.0 damage was going to be like. I just don’t enjoy combat that unbalanced (to me) so that was when I left the game and installed the mod for 1 to 1 damage ratio. This was much better.

Sure happy to help … little did he know ….

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It is still very much a challenge to me – as I don’t min/max my character armor, weapon, perks, or abilities. They are built around the urban ranger and “wolf” like personality of Fenrir. Healing – forget it in battle. Stimpaks, food, water … they all take too long to heal health to be much use in actual combat. Running away and hiding and then using those helps but you do have to wait. But this I found I enjoyed as it seemed more realistic (versus the unfair damage ratio) and forced some strategy and planning. Took a while but by a mix of sniping and some close up melee (like running around the corner to get someone) I made my way to Preston inside the Freedom Museum. I died twice and had to reload from an old save at my bed in Red Rocket but that was okay – learning the ropes.

Say what now? The Sight? Okay then …

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I will mention as well that the lack of seeing enemies and areas of interest as easily in SM adds a lot of difficulty as well. I hadn’t realized just how dependent I was on it from previous games until it was gone. It adds a more tension and excitement not having that warning. You have to listen with your ears and move around carefully. I like it so far.

Death and claws hun? Sure thing Mama Murphy. Fenrir was a skeptic but no longer.

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Things started to get complicated, however, after I accepted the mission to finish off the raiders. I set up my sleeping bad by the Power Armor (PA) and napped/saved. After waking I went to enter the PA and was told I had caught an illness (sleeping out in the rain I suspect as it was raining at the time – but that is my role playing reason and doubt it was the games). As the infection spread it would cause random damage – sometimes a little and sometimes a lot (probably 30% of my max health at its worst).

Dogmeat plays with his toy oblivious to what Fenrir is going to get him into

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I had no antibiotics. You need ingredients and the chemistry perk, which requires intelligence 7, to make them. Not like I could stock up on them and Fenn’s intellect is only at 4 – High school graduate. You can buy them from doctors and merchants but I had not made it to any merchants yet (and travel is risky – you don’t just run around willy-nilly in SM, it takes some time and care) nor to Diamond City. I think there is some doctor in a shack around the area but forgot where and that is meta-game knowledge anyhow. That pretty much means finding them at random (for now) and they are rare.

On the balcony waiting for the Claw (pip-boy light only on for screenshots, normally its off for stealth reasons)

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Sick or not I had a job to do so I ordered Fenrir into the PA and jumped off the building. I finished off the raiders with the minigun, after dumping some excess weight when I realized I could not run as I had no backpack in the PA to carry extra things. Derp moment there. Now came the true challenge – the Deathclaw, who I will simply refer to as the Claw. On easy, or even normal, difficulty all I had to do was run backwards and finish him off. Not so now, and keep in mind I was only level 5.

Fenrir is learning patience as he waits for his prey

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That Claw … Mother … In power armor and minigun maybe got about 10% damage before it picked me up and ripped me to shreds. Three deaths all pretty damn quick even trying to run and get behind things. It would just rip aside anything in its path. Like a living tank with a one track mind - kill the tin can with the BB gun.

Ready … aim …

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Also dogmeat was crippled from the Deathclaw in the street and new game mechanics meant I had to save him or he would abandon me and return home – like I would EVER abandon poor Dogmeat, the very thought is alien to my mind. But the Claw was patrolling the street and of course Dogmeat was in the middle of it. But I got lucky and a left over raider distracted the Claw while I was hiding in stealth in a nearby building. I slowly snuck out, healed Dogmeat with a stimpack and then immediately booked it for The museum. Made it just in time.

At that point it was 1:30 am (in real life I mean) and I was done-in. Fenrir laid out a sleeping bag and went to sleep while I went to bed in real life. The next day we were both ready to try again. I ate and drank best I could and decided the hell with the power armor; just slowed me down and was bulky. Fenrir is an agile Ranger not a tank. So I left Dogmeat guarding the armor and I snuck out alone.

… and fire!

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Taking water and Stimpaks to fight the infection I explored the town until I found a balcony that overlooked the street. It was tight quarters, too tight for a massive Claw to get in, and covered part of its patrol. Thus began my long battle against the Claw. I was using the laser musket as it did more damage, especially from stealth. I also used some Jet and Mentats (all I had for drugs) even though Fenrir hates using drugs. One big bonus though from the exploring – I found a chem box and lo and behold in tit was a Med-X and a single antibiotic. Finally I was able to cure my illness.

Everyone waits for Fenrir to return with good news … if he returns at all.

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Anyhow the final battle lasted almost an hour. I died three more times and had to reload each time and start again. The problem was the balcony was low enough for the Claw to reach if I did not move fast enough. Once he knocked me off and the other two times just killed me on the deck by reaching up with a large swipe. In the end I got him by hiding, getting 2-3 shots off with the musket, then retreating before he reached me. Wait until hid again and repeat. I ran out of cells for the musket so the last three attacks were with the mini-gun.

A bit too long perhaps for a single fight but considering my level and that of the Claws was amazed I did it at all. Personally I think the Claw was a mistake. They should have made it like a young-child claw (not an adult) and also optional. It would be cooler to be low level and know a Claw was out in the city somewhere you had to avoid … until you were powerful enough to take it down. But you have to kill it for the quest so I had no choice. Learned a lot in the process though.

Running Home

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The rest was fairly easy. Returned to Preston and then, since no fast travel, led my new troops … err friends … back to Sanctuary. I took the PA with me – mainly to sell the parts and keep it safe from raiders.

All in all, so far, I rate the SM about a 7 on the fun factor for me. With the damage mod added and sleeping bags/cigarette saves I boost it to 8 which is a very decent rating on 1 to 10. There are some things that need improving in my opinion though – you need to drink WAY too much water. Every time you use a drug or stimpak it makes you thirsty. Seems like many things make you thirsty. I was always drinking. Glad I could fill up bottle and purify them. Also taking perks to reduce radiation from food and water.

Okay this one time I will help the settlers … just don't ask me again!

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Next the antibiotics are cool but needing intellect of 7 and the chemistry perk really took some fun out as it seems a little steep, combined with needed ingredients, to be able to make them. Especially starting out. It might not be so bad if the illness were not so frequent. I got two in three days (game time). Guess that is why herbal remedies exist – except they do not say how long they last and I have not had the things needed to make them yet. If they boosted resistance for a full 24 or 48 hours then that would be better. Lastly a high endurance should make you more resistance to illness as should being well fed and rested. Yet they seemed to have no impact and the illness was very random.

Fenn and Dogmeat are home safe and sound. They have their beds right next to each other. Fenn says goodnight - he is exhausted and needs some sleep!

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In conclusion I am enjoying it so far even though I feel it could use more tweaking – ideally some flags in the settings when you enable it for people to fine tune it themselves a bit more. Still I find I am really enjoying it (so much so that I took a vacation day off from work today so I could beat the Claw and finish Concord) and like how important many things are in the game as it adds a lot more immersion and planning.

Anyhow hope some of you enjoyed a glimpse into survival mode from someone who normally plays on easy mode and finds themselves having fun with the harder difficulty to their surprise.
 
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When fighting the claw, I used the store across from the museum. The door is missing and the windows are broken, so you can shoot the claw, but he's way too big to come in there. I had also found a couple mines that I used to help take him down. It still takes a ton of ammo to kill him.
 
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When fighting the claw, I used the store across from the museum. The door is missing and the windows are broken, so you can shoot the claw, but he's way too big to come in there. I had also found a couple mines that I used to help take him down. It still takes a ton of ammo to kill him.

I think that was where I was except I went up on the balcony - and he could reach it in parts. I had some mines but I forgot to grab them back in Sanctuary. Not used to fighting this way at all so its a learning experience. Thanks for the ideas.
 
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A follow up set of shots and impressions. I write these up for Nexus since I know its not a popular game here - but figured its a quick copy/paste for anyone who may be interested around here.

Cheers!

Further Adventures in Survival Mode

Helping Trudy - This image taken with vintage preset by Symphonic



In my previous post about survival mode (SM) I talked about my first exposure to it and some of the difficulties involved. There is a definite learning curve if you are a player who is not used to this type of game style, like myself. I have been playing it steadily every night, usually for two to three hours depending on time, and it is becoming easier as I figure out the nuances and learn/memorize important things about the mechanics.

To my surprise survival mode is still a lot of fun and going pretty well so far. I like the challenge as it provides a sense of progress when you overcome it. I also enjoy immersion and feel survival mode adds a lot of immersion because you feel more like you are in the world - as you have to think about things you normally do not have to - sleep, food, shelter, health, strategy and planning, being careful when exploring, etc.

Sanctuary Water Purifier (JoPineapple Preset)



That being said I also don't want to feel too stressed or frustrated. I have a busy job, chores, my dog, and real life responsibilities that limit my gaming time. Consequently saves were a major concern for me as I hate having to redo content that I literally just did. I don't mind the occasional death and redoing a lost 10 to 20 minutes of game time - but lose over a half hour and I will be pissed. Yet not being able to save all the time helps provide tension and danger to the game and makes exploring more exciting.

Captain Fenn - This image taken with vintage preset by Symphonic



More annoying is a bug with the game that after about an hour of playing the game will start to stutter madly - to the point that even though my FPS says 40-50 I am moving as if it is like 2-3 fps, with each frame jumping as I move. At that point I have to restart the game to fix it. So I had to come up with some compromises that kept some challenge/excitement but didn't tick me off. So I came up with three things that work for me as far as a balance between difficulty and fun.

Besides the mechanics provided by SM I use the Camping mod (lets me lay down a sleeping bag although I can't get well rested on it - but does let me save); a cig animation mod that saves when the animation is done (takes a minute); and allow myself a single temporary console save that I use for emergencies and delete when the session is over.

Concord Civic Access (JoPineapple Preset)



Fast Travel is the only other annoyance, besides lost time from a reload, I really have with SM. Yet, unlike the saves, I will not make any exceptions to adjust this. Mainly because no fast travel is the number one driving force behind SM. It is what drives all the other things. Traveling on foot is what exposes you to danger and enemies; uses time that requires sleep, food, water, and shelter to recover from; increases risk of illness and disease; forces you to really plan what you will carry with you; makes many perks more important; makes settlement building more challenging; and pretty much drives everything else. Remove the block on fast travel and might as well not play SM at all.

At the moment it’s a love/annoyance thing with having to go every place on foot. The itch to just fast travel and unload a ton of junk at a settlement or by-pass a large amount of time running and fighting/avoiding enemies can be high at times. Yet the plus is far more immersion and excitement. In previous games I noticed I was just using FT to constantly bounce all over the place - and abused it completely. Oh I need some oil? I got some in Sanctuary. FT and get the can and back to the other settlement. Oh I forgot the gears? Do it again. Really made a lot of things pointless to me in the game. I was losing all sense of challenge and immersion.

Concord Civic Access (JoPineapple Preset)



So while I miss the convenience at times I am loving the excitement and planning in doing things on foot. Which is actually what prompted this second post - my journey to get Robert MacCready in Goodneighbor. But I will cover that in a moment below. I wanted to just address two other issues I had from my last post on SM - antibiotics and illness/disease. I complained about how hard antibiotics were to get and that I could not make them as you need the chemistry perk which requires intellect of 7. Well it isn't an issue anymore. As soon as I started to explore a lot more I started to find them. Not as often as rad-away or stimpaks but enough that I now have 6 of them in my backpack. I also find one or two on a merchant every now and then.

Herbal remedies, however, do not require any perks and they last a long time (at least 24 hours from the looks of it). I have been able to cook some of them and merchants also sometimes sell them. So I have a small stockpile I am slowly making. I use them though - they increase resistance against various things so if you don't use them no point in having them.

Concord Civic Access (JoPineapple Preset)



All of the above reduces the cap bloat and makes money a bit more pressing. You can't carry as much crap or teleport all over the map selling things. You need to save money for equipment, the doctor, and supplies. I still don't suffer too much cap wise but it’s better than it was before. Now I have some actual motivation to earn caps.

In conclusion, then, most of my issues with SM have been resolved - either by a mod (saves), acceptance (fast travel), or vanilla mechanics that just took some patience to understand and use. Whether I continue this for an entire game is still unknown. A lot will depend on my patience with redoing content I did before that I won't be able to "speed" through to get it over with, lack of fast-travel, getting one-hit deaths too often or just dying too easily in general, and the general fun factor and immersion versus time demands and patience.

For now loving it and give it a solid 8.

Concord Civic Access (JoPineapple Preset)



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Note: All images below are taken with my own ENB/ReShade preset - Grimwolf Institute ASD

Morning Mist in Concord



When last we saw Fenrir (aka Fenn) he had rescued Preston and returned to Sanctuary. Since then he has built the town up - two new buildings, more food and water, more furniture and lighting, another water purifier, and better defense. He also got Mama Murphy off drugs and improved overall moral at the settlement. He then spent a few days exploring the area and building up crafting supplies and making various drugs and remedies - either for sale (as they are light weight so a good source of income) or personal use.

Fenrir and Dogmeat at the USAF Satellite Station Olivia



During the explorations Fenn met the Abernathy's and retrieved a stolen locket for them. While working on that mission Fenn was killed three times in a row by a legendary random dog. That was very annoying as Fenn has 185 hit points and seemed like a lot for one-hit. Regardless Fenn decided to be a bit more alert traveling. The fourth time I got Dogmeat to distract the beast and with a little boost of caffeine and a new gun I was able to kill the beast before it could get to me. Often his set-backs (death) are just lack of tactics and awareness of the surroundings.

Camouflaged and fighting a legendary mongrel



The raiders at the space center (or whatever that place is called between Sanctuary and Tempines) got Fenn once but otherwise he got through them thanks to stealth, Dogmeat, and some well-placed shots.

At Tempines Bluff Settlement



After he accepted the mission to help Tempines kill off the raiders (Corvega) Fenn decided it was time to track down his buddy in Goodneighbor, Robert MacCready aka Freckles. Spent a couple game-days selling with various merchants he had found and improving armor and weapons while stocking up on supplies. Once well prepared Fenn and Dogmeat set out - heading first to Diamond City (Corvega will wait till later).

Talking with Paladin Danse



On the way Fenn did stop to help our Paladin Danse against the ghouls but told him he would have to wait for help on any other work till he recruited MacCready.

Helping Piper get into Diamond City



The Interview



From there Fenn make it to DC without any other real issues except a pack of rabid mole rats in some alley. He helped Piper get into the city, met the Mayor, did the interview, helped out Sheldon and gave him a job working at the Red Rocket, rested and then it was time to go to Goodneighbor. That was a hard journey and took over an hour. The pip-boy doesn't show enemies or landmarks as much in SM and Fenn was trying to find it based on a few comments from Piper (i.e. my failing memory). After getting lost a few times (and dying to super mutants twice) Fenn tuned the pip-boy in to the Silver Shroud radio station and then used the pip-boy to lead him to the source in Goodneighbor (i.e. finally got a map marker for it). He successfully fought his way through a super mutant camp to get there - and that was one heck of a fight. Dogmeat was invaluable there and don't know what Fenn would do without him. Just enough help to give Fenn breathing space to reload, slow heal from water and stimpaks (again SM slows down healing rates so more strategy is needed), and fight off the enemies.

Rad Storm at Junkyard



Entered Goodneighbor, disposed of his loot, and made his way to the Third Rail. According to the visions Mama Murphy had told him, before he cut off her Jet supply, there was a man vital to his future he was too meet at there. Fenn was dubious but he had learned to trust in Mama Murphy and so after some negotiating he hired Robert MacCready to be on his team. Exhausted from his travels he and MacCready went to the local hotel and that was where their adventure ended for the night.
 
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Very nice! Great to see your adventures spread to other franchises :).
 
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I'd love to see Aubrielle do one of these. She likes red-headed girls, so that'd be a fun story for me :D Kind of the counter to wolfgrim's story arc! I could see Aubrielle's character and Cait having great fun together.
 
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