The best thing you can do for them is giving them Power Armor. Last time I played, I used them in the final fight.

You must've been using mods.

OK. If I manage to acquire another Power Armor I'll give one to Ian and one to Tycho, I can keep the Brotherhood Armor since Katja has half their HP and doesn't seem to be able to deal any damage now so if she dies that's fine.

I thought I wrote it in this thread but I must have forgotten. I use FIXT Alpha 6.4, it's a multi-mod pack and I chose Standard installation.

Don't forget to carry a lot of stimpacks with you, you gonna need it.
You can get a lot of stimpacks in The Hub. And I'm not talking about the stores.

I completed the game 10 minutes ago.

I must say I was surprised, this game was better than I had expected but I knew very little about Fallout universe, having only tried Fallout 3 for a few hours about 3 years ago. There a few moments that showed even greater potential overall but it sadly came down too much focus on combat, unbalanced skill system (like always unfortunately) and many side-plots felt short and unexpanded, it's like the team behind the game wanted more and likely had the abilities to accomplish it but perhaps resources and deadlines held them back.

The best part about the game was figuring out the usage of even simple items and playing around with them, the holodisk system was neat too, reminded me of both STALKER and Bioshock.

Then it's time to try Fallout 2. Most things you criticize about the games have been fixed except for the combat focusing, which is worse than in Fallout.
Did you try to solve the quests with just talking or helping those in need? What makes Fallout 1 such a great gaming experience, is how you can solve almost every quest or problem without weapons, if it involves beings who can talk.

I did try as I had Speech as a tag skill and 7 in Intelligence (up until surgery I received another), but I believe several situations ended up with combat in the end although not necessarily forced but as an opportunistic combination.

For example I rescued Tandi from the Khans by lockpicking the jail she was in and then I ran out with her, no one noticed (it did feel like there was a poorly done trigger from a game designer's perspective though), but then I returned later in the game to wipe them out, mainly to get experience and sell the loot.

A different situation happened where I convinced Sherry to give up her testimony for the guard Lars. Afterwards I saved Trist, recruited Tycho then I returned to the Skulz Gang later in the game to wipe them out only to go to Lars and 'deliver' the testimony as if they were still alive, possibly a glitch, but acceptable in the atmospheric sense that I only killed the leader and his closest allies, not the entire gang. :)

In general though I always exhaust possible quest encounters with diplomatic solutions or less barbaric as it's more interesting to get to know people, it's like you're in the story rather than a typical shooter, it's to limit the amount of combat so it's less common and more fun (I did this in Planescape too, made combat great even though its not its primary strength).

The problem, though, is that I had such trouble with combat early game that I had to resort to caution bordering on the extreme and I can't say I felt challenged during combat (spiky between too easy and too hard) but it was still fun to play.

Looking back now the only regret I have is not dealing with the Thieves Circle and Decker, just before I was heading to The Cathedral, I was trying to do it but after I assassinated Hightower and stole his Necklace for the Thieves I stumbled upon a repeating crashing issue when leaving the area so I skipped it.

And yes, I already installed Fallout 2. I'm going to read up on potential difference in mechanics and planning my character. I'm very excited. :)

<SPOILER>
There's also a "hidden" time limit: if you don't clean out the Super Mutants from the Necropolis before 80 days (IIRC), the friendly ghouls there will be wiped out. It will lower your victory rating at the conclusion of the game should you fail this.

I think the only difference is whether or not you get a notice saying they'd been wiped out or not at the end slideshow. It's not really a big deal unless you're going for the "best possible" ending.

They've improved things in F2 a lot mechanics-wise, but unfortunately the plot is a bit unfocused (but that means more side-quests - some with quite long story arcs to them as well!).

The fact you can actually equip your guys with armor, and tell them what tactics to use (within limits) makes combat so much more fun.

On top of that, there are less "skill rolls" for speech - in most (but not all!) cases, if your speech and intelligence are high enough, you can (usually) talk your way into/out of a place/situation. With the exception of random encounters (which you can always run away from), it's possible to complete without firing a shot (although IMO it's much more fun to kill occasionally).

Just don't be too concerned about the slow, slow start in F2. Actually combat at the start of F2 is extremely tedious, and it feels a bit like a dungeon crawler at the start too (melee weapons only for the first two towns - mostly). But don't worry - it gets much better pretty quickly, as long as you spend the (somewhat boring) first two towns leveling up a bit.

I would definitely recommend using the RP 2.2 - some people say that you should play the "vanilla" game first, but the RP 2.2 fixed MANY bugs in the game, and tended to (in general) only add things that the designers were already thinking (actually most things added were created from existing graphics found in the game files). Most importantly, RP 2.2 includes two options for combat: YAMM and another mod - any one of which should significantly fix the serious bugs that they introduced in the combat with respect to armor piercing bullets and the like.

If you liked FO1, you'll love FO2. It has much more content, including items, NPCs and humour. By the way, both main objectives in FO1 can be accomplished without any violence whatsoever. It involves disguising yourself as a member of the Cathedral, which gives you access to restricted areas. Then you only need a good Science skill for manipulating computers and some diplomatic maneuvering to maintain your disguise, and you can walk in and out without firing a single round.

I don't know how you do it. I can't do anything, and i am feeling helpless. My character is only at lvl 4 and i have 34 days left to find the water chip. What are those other followers you are talking about?

What exactly have you done so far? I'm curious to know how you've wasted that many days and haven't leveled up further then 4.

I should link to my own thread

http://www.gog.com/forum/fallout_series/where_do_i_get_hold_of_bottle_caps_and_where_can_i_see_them

Hopefully that thread fixes your money problems, but I must confess I am curious about what you have been up to that has left you at level 4 with so little time. Where are you right now? Is anyone accompanying you? What are your stats/perks/traits/tagged skills? What takes up the most in game time for you?

Either he's mis-reading what level he's actually at and he's actually at level 14 or something like that, or I would assume he must be wandering square by square aimlessly, and likely not talking to the right people(if anybody) when he gets to a town.