Fallout Tactics: Vault 0

[Part of the Fallout Tactics story]

With Barnaky's forces gone, only a bridge guarded by gatling turrets remains. The defenses on the opposite end are easily destroyed but the squad is caught by surprise when a second pair emerge behind them, ripping Jo into pieces before being destroyed.

Badly hurt, Frances, Pump and Malice hobble to the main chamber where they find the robot master "the Calculator" which is literally a PC connected to human brains in jars. They open fire from the doorway before it can put up any more defenses and destroy it easily - effectively shutting off the entire robot army.

How you win the game.

Alas without the Calculator, Vault 0's knowledge archives are lost forever and Dekker is expelled for his cowardice on the field (or rather, he never got on the field). Supposedly he was taken off world to join a mercenary band but others simply believe he killed himself.

Regardless, Frances is made the Brotherhood General by the remaining survivors and makes Vault 0 their main base of operations. Malice becomes captain of defense to stay near Glenda, his Reaver lover and Pump takes over leading the assault teams against all those who would try to take Vault 0 from them.

Frances knew there would be no peace. Only war, and war never changes.

Insight: If you don't shoot the computer from the door, it raises a shield and you have to clear the rest of the base behind it. At this point I just wanted to win already.

Fallout Tactics: Barnaky

[Part of the Fallout Tactics story]

With the door breached, the team found Dagger squad already securing the foothold and gunning down robot defenders. They inform Frances that the power to the lifts are out, so she takes her team fighting through the security and cryogenics sectors to find a way towards the power plant.

Surprisingly, they encounter human Vault 0 citizens but as they fight for the robots they too are gunned down. Eventually they get the power back on and descend to the lowest floor. There they encounter robot squad led by General Barnaky, whose brain and eye stalks now sit atop of a metal body.

Looks like charisma was his dump stat.

Using trinkets they took from his human corpse causes him to hesitate and is an easy kill for the team. The rest of his robot squad are more dangerous, and Dr. John who did a good job keeping everyone healthy up to this point is exploded by a rocket before the enemies wiped out.

Insight: Ammo wise, you want to horde 5.56 and 7.62 caliber for fighting super mutants. There is a lot of energy ammo for the regular laser weaponry at the end to face the robot horde with, and it also happens to be the most effective against them.

.50 cal is also great to reserve for the robots, but all the other rounds are only really useful for the pre-super mutant battles. The .44, .45, .303,. 30.06 are pretty rare too and while the 9mm is plentiful it gets out dated really fast. Make sure to level up your big guns and energy weapon skills accordingly.

Fallout Tactics: Nuke the Door

[Part of the Fallout Tactics story]

Since zero hostages were freed last mission, Dekker decided it was time to go all or nothing and send a full attack led by Frances' team to the robots base - Vault 0. Aka the Cheyenne Mountain base. Frances decided to take Dr. John with them so that the squad would have a medic at least.

The plan was simple, drive up the nuke warhead they retrieved from the ghouls long ago right to the door and detonate it - then assault the compound. Fortunately the nuke carrying truck was pretty sturdy - especially with Jo there to repair it. With half the team firing from within and half the team on foot the robots were getting smashed.

The defense towards the end became really strong though, managing to destroy one track of the vehicle. While Jo repaired it, HR1205 sacrificed himself to the gauss rifle wielding defenders. Once the path was finally clear, Jo did the honors to set the nuke. The team then fled to a nearby bunker to survive the blast.

That should do the trick!

Insight: Passengers can shoot out of vehicles and will take no damage in return, instead the vehicle will absorb all the damage. As long as you have a mechanic with tools and make enough pit stops to repair your ride they basically act like mobile bunkers.

Fallout Tactics: Brainless Fools

[Part of the Fallout Tactics story]

Since the robots managed to jam the minimap at the previous manufacturing plant mission, Frances recruits the small and lithe Reaver girl, Mac, to act as a scout when deploying on their next assignment - a rescue operation.

For some reason the robots had been taking prisoners and the detention facility is heavily guarded by every type of bot previously encountered. Mac uses her stealth to find the best path for the team, who fight through a poorly defended flank.

At the main compound Mac takes point again, but as the team follows they are detected and a huge fire fight ensues. With the team taking defensive position in a vacant structure Mac previously scouted, waves of adversaries crash upon the building. Mac, providing overwatch from above, is taken by surprise by a security squid who tears her limb from limb.

The team survives but is badly hurt, so they split up to assault the main building with Frances and Malice taking the second floor while the others sweep into the ground level. Another behemoth is defeated before Frances finds the hostages - all of whom are naked and lobotomized. Among them is General Barnaky.

Thanks for letting us know the details!

Insight: While cover is important in this game, more so is positioning. By default the squad likes to move in a clustered group. If that's the position they fire from then there are good odds that the front line will take friendly fire from their own companions. Position firing lines properly to succeed!

Fallout Tactics: No Reactor

[Part of the Fallout Tactics story]

In lieu of the tank, the team is provided with a rebuilt and reprogrammed squaddie - HR1205, made from the pieces they retrieved months before. It proves invaluable on the next mission to destroy a robot repair facility as Hurt - the team doctor - is melted into a pile of shit by a gauss round early in the piece.

While the other human members can recover hit points, the more major injuries sustained are untreatable. Being a machine, HR can still be repaired by Jo and thus takes the lead in most of this map. Despite this Malice's bomb skills make him the MVP to destroy all the self repairing generators simultaneously.

They then proceed to the manufacturing facility where they encounter and defeat a massive behemoth robot and a multitude of the squid security types who previously killed the other brotherhood team that was sent in. Toni is melted during their ambush.

The behemoth is a walking tank.

Making use of their longest range weapons and the interior cat walks, they clear the rest of bots and destroy the facility. Specifically, destroying a nuclear reactor. Somehow it doesn't explode and kill the lot of them right there.

Fallout Tactics: Tank You

[Part of the Fallout Tactics story]

Upon arriving at Newton the team finds mechanic gal Jo waiting for them with a tank! While the main gun has no ammunition, it provides ample cover for the team to fire from - especially against the new zerg-like spider scurry bots who bury themselves and wait in ambush.

It makes this mission so easy.

Jo's skills are more than enough to repair any damage to the vehicle, and soon the Reaver leadership is saved - one of whom taking an immediate romantic interest in Malice. As a reward they share their EMP weapon tech which the robots are weakest against.

With this technology secured, the brotherhood then advances West to the next forward operating base. Annoyingly, the tank can't be taken into any future missions as it is held in reserve for defense. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Fallout Tactics: Vengeance

[Part of the Fallout Tactics story]

An ex-raider medic named Hurt is found back at Bunker Gamma and she manages to fix Jo and Frances' wounds from the disastrous previous outing. There is not much time to rest as Dekker orders her to take the offensive and attack a super mutant facility being powered by large generators.

Brian and Frances opt to take four deathclaws who for some reason have decided to work for the Brotherhood, and these beasts quickly show why they are feared - closing distances quick and applying continuous knock downs to their super mutant foes. Unfortunately a grenade gets all of them while they are all clustered together, leaving Brian and Frances to complete the mission.

Effective melee, but weak to grenades.

Brian did manage to find a speedy, two seater scouter which does let them bypass the main roads, and gets them to a spot where they can infiltrate the main facility - finding it is a research lab where a super mutant scientist is trying to solve the sterility problem all super mutants have.

Despite his begging, Frances and Brian torch the place as vengeance for the fallen brothers - scientist included. Surprisingly, Dekker is not happy with that decision. Perhaps he's not as loyal to the Brotherhood as people believe him to be...

Fallout Tactics: Bugged

[Part of the Fallout Tactics story]

Frances replaces her fallen squaddies with females: the nurse Mandy, all rounder Ice, and her mechanic friend Jo who quickly gets to work repairing the hummer. Annoyingly, the Brotherhood Quartermaster is short on ammo to trade so the team is next sent out to collect batteries to power energy weapons.

Their destination is an abandoned bunker but they are pleasantly surprised to find a friendly but simple tribe living above it and barter a few things before descending into the labyrinth below. A labyrinth filled with radscorpions and radroaches! Yuck!

The boss roach is car sized. Eek!

The deeper areas are only accessible by turning on the power, which in also activates the defense turrets that the team must dodge past. They finally find the battery supply in the deepest area which is home to a giant roach. Jo is crippled by the beast before it is slain.

As they exit, they power down the turrets but find it is too late for the tribe topside as the turrets there also went live and melted over half the inhabitants. Back at the base, the injured Jo is replaced with female close quarter specialist Torn.