OK, so I keep reading the Survival Guide when I get stuck as I don't want to follow a precise walkthrough unless I have to and I found some Tips & Tricks that followed slightly too. I understand the basics but I still seem to lack some information.

First, how do you determine weapon's effeciency when they don't say anything other than their name and what kind of ammunition they use? I've a SMG and a 9mm Mouser. Unfortunately since I needed money I sold my Shotgun and Hunting Rifle.

Second, do I have to enter Inventory in combat everytime I have to use another stimpack? In case I find myself in a tought combat situation I won't have enough APs (8 currently) to use it then make an attack so all I do is taking damage until I die unless my follower(s) can help but so far that doesn't seem viable.

Third, speaking of followers. I still only have Ian and I would rather get as many as possible like I did in Arcanum to ease up on the difficulty as I enjoyed the conversations you could have with them.

Is there some kind of beginner route I could follow?

I don't mind it making more linear because I'm dreading all the time that I'm going to get stuck in some place where I can't earn more money or make any kinds of progress then having to resort to a reload losing time or ending up cheating. What I want to know is what places I should visit so I don't enter places that I can't handle. I'm level 4, almost 5, about to leave The Hub. I tried going to Necropolis and The Glow and both gave me radiation so no point going there.

I've been thinking of going back to the Raiders as I never bothered with them as I assumed combat was going to a problem and I've been avoiding that since I was rather weak in the beginning. Then I could try the Sultz gang as I've a couple of stimpacks so I should survive that encounter.

You can equip stimpack in one of the 2 slots.
I recommend you to get this perk:
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Quick_Pockets Have you attacked the Khans? They give good XP + loot. It shouldn't be hard, you even have Ian to aid you.
The ghouls at Necropolis are weak , just steal some radaway and kick their butts! :p Just a hint:
There's a very useful character at Skum Pitt. Be careful to not accidentally shoot a bald guy (like I did the first time I played!). The description should say he wears a mask.

When do I get the next perk? I'll either get that or Action Boy that if I'm not mistaken gives me more AP, that be swell. Nope, no Raiders yet. I might go there then. It has been empty when I've tried to enter it, only Neal in the room behind that apparently doesn't want to say anything useful to me. Do I have to enter that area at a certain time or? Similar to Arcanum I read that some quests are triggered by other quests or time.

You gain perks every 3 levels (unless you got Skilled trait at the start of the game. if this is the case, you gain every 4 levels) Wait a few hours. There's 4 NPCs in total. If you have trouble finding them, have a look at this guide:
http://www.kaneoheboy.com/fallout/npc.html

You can "look" at a weapon in your inventory and get a better description. This will tell you the amount and type of damage as well as the effective range. Damage is shown as a random number between X and Y, so for example one weapon may have damage at 7-10 and another 2-12. One thing to remeber is that you can never get the top number so these weapons are really 7-9 and 2-11. Your best bet is to assume the average of the numbers given will be the typical amount of damage, so in this example you have weapons that do 8 and 6 points of damage. If the weapon has burst fire capabilities the damage range represents each round.


To maximize use of AP I usually like to have two weapons equiped, one slow and one fast. If you have to enter your inventory make the most out of that AP hit and reload all weapons, switch weapons and use any stimpaks or drugs you want before closing out of it.


If you have not already done so, revisit Vault 13 and Shady Sands. There are quests to be found that only start once you have left town for a while and return. Aside from that the only begginner type of route I would suggest is to not explore and only go places you already have on your map. Also talk to everyone because there are lots of little quests here and there.

Getting a little radiated (like in Necropolis) is no problem. You can't avoid picking up some radiation now and then, it won't matter unless your radiation level is high and radiation can be cured.

The amount of radiation in the glow is deadly unless you have 100% temporary radiation resistance (take 2 rad-X as soon as you arrive at the area).

In fact if you're playing unmodded Fallout 1 radiation is insignificant except for one place in the game, and even if you get radiated there's plenty of RadAway around (and Rad-X if you know you're going somewhere hot).

The Hunting Rifle is a solid option for about the first half of the game. The 9mm Mauser is an antique and not very good. Shotguns are okay until you find a Combat Shotgun, which is quite good. Unless you feel lucky you'll want to avoid giving burst weapons to your companions, because they love shooting you in the back.

The Mauser deals little damage, but takes a base 4 Ap to fire, rather than the standard 5 (or sniper rifle's 6).

I switched to Magnum and Shotgun, I'm not sure which deals more damage but I think the Shotgun is better. I'm level 5, recruited Dog and Tycho and I rescued Tandi from Khans but I didn't manage to kill them, I tried twice and at the end Dog died and I suppose I can't "reawaken" him since this isn't a fantasy game.

I went back to Vault 13 to see if there were any quests, I found one with the water thief but of course I'm completely lost and I'm not sure if I should leave considering I'll waste the time limit if I'm going to return later.

I find it hard to pick up items too, I'm close to the limit of weigh cap all the time and so few people will trade money instead of more stuff that weighs.

There's a way to increase the remaining time... but I'm sure you don't want me to say anything else. :) I assume you're already using your companions as pack mule?

I've already paid the caravans for extra time, I did almost immediately after finding out that was possible (or where to do it because I recall I had heard about the time limit in this game and there were some hints that you can increase it).

As for pack mules, sort of. It's kind of annoying I have to buy the stuff back or is there some trick I can utilize here?

Just steal them back.
There's a chance of them noticing, then save before!
IIRC NPCs don't have a limit of how many items they can carry.

I guess I'll have to.

I went with a caravan just to have something to do, wanted to see if I could handle the potential mutants or raiders but fortunately I only met raiders on the way to Boneyard. I finished the quest with hydroponics to help their food supply and I've the holodisk to expose the Regulators but unfortunately they will kick my ass if I do, at least I recruited Katja and I managed to kill a Deathclaw at level 6, likely because I got a critical hit with 80 damage and stunned the bastard in the eye. I don't seem to be able to sneak passed them to meet the Gunners but the weapons they had I won't be able to afford anyway.

I wonder if I should farm on Deathclaws, I managed to kill it due to chance and it was alone, it gave me 1000 XP. It will take a lot of time reloading if I die or when a follower dies though. I didn't have Katja with me so I might have a better chance this time, I might be able to run while my followers kill it since it will only target me when it's alone.

That's true - provided you use the bartering interface to give them items, as the steal interface does check for weight.

You can get any one of them to carry anything you've ever found without penalty!

I honestly wouldn't recommend it with the weapons you've got available. Feel free to try, in fact I encourage giving it a shot, but I would be a little surprised if it turns out for the better on that particular load of the game. They're nasty buggers, and you'll want excellent armor before you take them on habitually.