Last Updated at 5:23 A.M. on Friday, September 3, 2009
If you notice any inconsistencies or errors, then please notify me.
Things that need data:
Damage/Shot and Range Calculations in V.A.T.S. for weapons with spread greater than 0.
Frame Data for weapons in V.A.T.S., specifically recovery time. It may be possible to better manipulate invincibility frames with that knowledge.
This build is based on min/maxing a near-perfect (non-addon) character for combat. There’s a lot of room for variation, and the same end-result can be achieved in multiple ways. Its emphasis is based on high-AP, infinite AP recovery, ranged V.A.T.S. combat. Thus, burst is maximized while damage received is kept to a minimum. Of all of the 0-SPRD weapons Lincoln’s Repeater is my recommendation at 50 DMG and 25 AP per shot. The Alien Blaster deals 100 DMG at 20 AP per shot, but ammunition for it is extremely rare. I’m too lazy to compare and analyze the rest of the weapons (ie. the usefulness of certain non-0-spread weapons at certain distances), so this will be updated sometime in the future.
S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Cap: 70
Damage Resistance Cap: 85%
Skill Points Needed For Max = 1300 (13 Skills x 100 Points for max)
Base Skill Points = 13 Skills x 15 Points = 195
Tag! (Non-Perk) = 3 Skills x 15 Points = 45
Total Bobblehead Points = 13 Skills x 10 Bobblehead Points = 130
Minimum Total Book Points = 9 Skills x 50 Book Points + 46 (Barter) + 44 (Speech) + 48 (Small Guns) + 48 (Energy Weapons or Science) = 636 (Note: Comprehension Perk Needed)
Maximum Total Book Points = 9 x 50 + 48 (Barter; evil Tenpenny Tower completion) + 48 (Speech; evil Tenpenny Tower completion, Contract Killer Perk required) + 50 (Small Guns; Lawbringer Perk required) + 48 (Energy Weapons or Science) = 644 (Comprehension obviously needed)
Quoted from FarirKalb: “There are only 23 Barter and Speech books, but if you finish Tenpenny Towers quest the evil way, the alternate tower has a duplicate of each, bringing the total to 24. Also, one of the Speech books goes by a different name, Paradise Lost, but works exactly the same.
There is a Speech book inside the building for the Contract Killer perk, inaccessible otherwise. The Lawbringer perk has the same thing, but a small guns book.
One of the Lockpick books is situated underneath an object where you cannot reach it without lots of explosives and some luck; if you can get to it, there are 25 in total.
Each of the houses has the science theme, but the Tenpenny house gives a Science book while the Megaton house gives an Energy Weapons book; you cannot get both.
Also, Melee and Barter have two books that spawn on a highway near Temple of the Union, but they only spawn after you do Head of State. They exist, however.”
Total, Minimum Number to Maximum Skill Points Before Levelling and S.P.E.C.I.A.L.: 1006 to 1014 Skill Points (with Comprehension Perk)
1300 – 1006 – 10 (Cyborg) = 284 Maximum Skill Points Needed From Levelling and S.P.E.C.I.A.L.
1300 – 1014 – 10 (Cyborg) = 276 Minimum Skill Points Needed From Levelling and S.P.E.C.I.A.L.
Thus, this concludes that a minimum of 3 base Int is required to max out all skills (4 is needed for Comprehension, and the last point of Int can be gained from a bobblehead).
Items:
Lincoln’s Repeater: 50 DMG/Shot, 25 AP
Tribal Power Armor: +35 DR, +15 AP, +5 Melee Weapons, +1 Str, +1 LUck
-1 AGI
Ledoux’s Hockey Mask: +25 AP
Lucky 8 Ball: +1 Luck (Note: Make sure this is not in your inventory when you pick up the Luck bobblehead. Luck 8 Ball is very glitchy, especially when used in conjunction with Ranger Battle Armor or the Almost Perfect perk from the Broken Steel add-on.)
Quest Perks:
Survivor Guru: +6 Critical Hit
Ant Might: 1 Strength, 25% Fire Resistance (Ant Sight if starting Perception is 8.)
Barkskin: +5% DR
Originally, Barkskin (even according to the official strategy guide) gives +5% DR and +1 END. It was fixed to give only +5% DR in the final version of Fallout 3.
Starting S.P.E.C.I.A.L.:
Str: 1
Per: 9
End: 9
Cha: 1
Int: 3
AGI: 10
Lck: 7
Levelling Perks:
2: Black Widow/Lady Killer
3: Intense Training (Str)
4: Comprehension
5: Intense Training (Str)
6: Toughness
7: Gunslinger
8: Commando
9: Strong Back
10: Bloody Mess
11: Finesse
12: Life Giver
13: Sniper
14: Mysterious Stranger
15: Cyborg
16: Action Boy/Girl
17: Better Criticals
18: Intense Training (Str)
19: Concentrated Fire
20: Grim Reaper’s Sprint
Only Comprehension is required for maxed skills, so keep that in mind if you want to deviate from this build. Since Strong Back only requires 5 STR and 5 END, you can remove one Intense Training.
Total S.P.E.C.I.A.L. at level 20: 52 (out of 70)
Str: 1 + 1 (Bobblehead) + 1 (Intense Training) + 1 (Intense Training) + 1 (Intense Training) + 1 (Ant Might) + 1 (Armor) = 7
Per: 9 + 1 (Bobblehead) = 10
End: 9 + 1 (Bobblehead) = 10
Cha: 1 + 1 (Bobblehead) = 2
Int: 3 + 1 (Bobblehead) = 4
AGI: 10 – 1 (Armor) + 1 (Bobblehead) = 10
LCK: 7 + 1 (Armor) + 1 (Lucky 8 Ball) + 1 (Bobblehead) = 10
Action Points: 65 (Base) + 20 (10 Agility) + 25 (Action Boy/Girl Perk) + 25 (Ledoux’s Hocky Mask) + 15 (Tribal Power Armor) = 150 (Maximum Possible)
Damage Resistance: 35% (Armor) + 4% (Helmet) + 10% (Toughness) + 10% (Cyborg) + 5% (Barkskin) = 64%
DR is capped at 85%, and can be permanently increased to 84%. If you decide on getting Nerd Rage! as a perk, then keep in mind that the benefit you’ll get from it under 20% HP will only be 21%. That means you’re only using 42% of the perk.
Fire Resistance: 25%
Build-Exclusive Calculations:
Coefficient = # of skills affected x 2 (Since 1 S.P.E.C.I.A.L. = 2 Skill Points in each skill that it affects)
Luck Coefficient = .5 (13)
x = S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Value
Str: 2x (Melee Weapons)
Per: 6x (Energy Weapons, Explosives, Lockpick)
End: 4x (Big Guns, Unarmed)
Cha: 4x (Barter, Speech)
Int: 6x (Medicine, Repair, Science)
AGI: 4x (Small Guns, Sneak)
LCK: 6.5x (All Skills)
We will use the “Total, Minimum Number of Skill Points Before Levelling and S.P.E.C.I.A.L.” value: 1006
1006 + 14 (Str) + 60 (Per) + 40 (End) + 8 (Cha) + 24 (Int) + 40 (AGI) + 65 (LCK) = 1020 + 247 = 1006 + 251 = 1257
1300 – 1257 = 43 Skill Points From Levelling Needed
Let x = # of level-ups that yield 14 skill points, and y = # of level-ups that yield 13 skill points.
14x + 13 > (or equal to) 43
14x > 30
x > 2 1/15 (or 2 Remainder 2) = 3 (Rounded up)
Level-ups Needed = x+y
Level-ups Needed = 3 + 1
Level-ups Needed = 4
Theoretically the Lone Wanderer only needs to be level 5 in order to max out all stats with this build. Here’s a visual example:
Level 2: 13 Skill Points
Level 3: 27 Skill Points
Level 4: 41 Skill Points
Level 5: 55 Skill Points
In actuality, at this point we have not yet received the Cyborg Perk from level 15 or the Intense Training perk from level 18. Thus, our Lone Wanderer would need a perfect grand total of 43 – (-2) (Final Intense Training not yet obtained) = 45 skill points from levelling. Cyborg was not taken into account in the previous math anyway, so it can be excluded here. It is therefore still possible to maximize all skills at level 5.