First Steps
You groggily awake in a cave littered with debris. You don't immediately recognize your sourroundings, but then it comes back to you... Running blindly through the wasteland trying to escape the horrific radiation fueled twister. At one point the twister even picked you up and threw you next to the cave. You quickly check yourself for injuries and then proceed to check your inventory (both can be done by pressing the “i” key). Luckily you still have your blue VaultTec Jumpsuit with built-in PipBoy and super pockets. Its a new day, and you feel like a new person with a renewed vigor to conquer the wastes.
As you exit the cave you notice caravan breaking camp nearby. By talking to the Caravan Driver, you can find out where you are, and where the closest towns are. If you continue to probe the driver you may find that that he has an errand for you to run to a nearby town. Always remember that the wastes are harsh, and if you say the wrong thing to the wrong person, you will quickly be killed. It is important to read the dialog.
As you are leaving the area, you check the map in your PipBoy and find that all your maps have been reset, and that there is a strange “Fog of War”. You grit your teeth and walk into the wastes with virtually no supplies, for some reason you feel that this won't be the last time this happens. As you use the mouse to left click on the map you will move toward the location selected leaving a red dotted trail behind you, while traveling you make come across Encounters with hostile enemies or other players so be careful. By using the right mouse button, you can pan the map in different directions. The mouse scroll button will allow you to zoom in and out. When you arrive at location, a green arrow will form over your position allowing you to enter that map. If you over a town with a green circle around it, you can use the town/world button on the map for additional options; such as additional entry points and the ability to preview those locations
Baby Steps
Now is the time to assess your skills and develop a strategy for surviving the wastes, since Character Creation is highly customizable, there is no single way to play Fonline 2238. You can charm, cheat, swindle, steal, heal, craft or kill your way through the game. But lets start with the basics. Like arming yourself for the wastes.
Gathering
The first skill that you master in Fonline is gathering. There are many different resources in fallout required to craft different objects, and gathering those resources should be your first move. As you gather items, you will notice that you will start to generate a “Gathering Cooldown” that will continue to grow until the cumulative time is Greater than 20 minutes, after which you will have to wait to gather until your gathering cooldown is under 20 minutes.
Flint the first resource you should attempt to gather, it looks like a small rock rock and can be found in a wide variety of different maps, and is used to make a primitive tool which can be used to gather other resources like wood, iron ore, and minerals. Broc Flower and Xander root can also be found in most places and can be used to make weak healing powder if you have sufficient skill (40% First Aid). Other plants you may encounter are Green Fruit Plants which can be harvest for 2 fruits, and brown Fiber plants that produce 2 strands of fiber when a knife is used on it. In city maps, you can find junk laying on the ground and it is used to make entry level tools, weapons, and guns. With a primitive tool or hatchet you can chop down a tree for wood as long as the tree allows you to “Use” (the “Hand” icon in the mouse menu). At mining sites, a sledge hammer or primitive tool can be used to gather minerals or iron ore depending on the deposit you mine ( use the “Examine” binoculars on the mouse menu to determine which deposit contains which material.) Iron ore makes metal parts, while minerals can make gunpowder, but 2 Iron ore and 2 minerals can be used to make an alloy. Electronic parts can be obtained from Broken Computer terminals in Vault 15 and the Amusement park. High Quality Iron Ores, High Quality Minerals, and Uranium can be found in the Redding Mine, Broken hills Mine, and Gecko Mine, however those areas are violent PvP are anything but safe.
Bartering
If you can't craft your equipment, you can always barter for it. You can barter with other players who can give you guns and equipment in exchange for raw materials, or you can barter with NPCs, however it is encouraged to shop around as vendor prices vary. Doctor's will pay good for drugs, badly for weapons. Gun traders will pay good for guns, but not melee weapons, or drugs. Traders all pay the same amount for bottle caps which allows you to sell drugs at a high price to the doctor, and buy guns from the gun trader. With 100 caps you can open a bank account, which allows you a safe place to accumulate caps that won't be lost when you die. If a vendor doesn't have caps, look at the items that they do have that you can use to sell to another vendor that does have caps, I personally recommend buying up ammo. However keep your eye out for 10 brahmin hides which can be used to build a tent. To keep items safe in the event of your death.
Crafting
With the aid recipes in your FixBoy (a Recipe book for the PipBoy, to access it you can use the “F” key), the right resources, and appropriate corresponding knowledge, you can craft everything that you need to survive in Fallout. For each item that you successfully craft you gain Xp. As you craft, you will add time (based on item complexity and XP gained) to your crafting cooldown. Once the cumulative crafting cooldown is over 1 hour, you will no longer be able to craft until your cooldown is under 1 hour.
Tools and Misc Equipment
There are various tools that can aid you in your journeys. Rope can be used to capture brahmin, or even slaves (if you are a slaver). Radio's can be used to talk to people over long distances when holding the radio in your hand, and can be used to create a distress beacon viewable by people monitoring that radio frequency. When holding tools in your hand you are given a boost to repair, lockpicks give a boost to lock picking. A shovel can be use to clean up brahmin shit which gives 10 xp, and certain Brahmin Herders will pay you to clean their pens.
Combat
“He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day.” “Don't pull a knife in a gunfight”. The first part of combat is deciding whether or not to fight, if you are not adequately equipped, or your opponent is strong, your best option is to simply run away. What you can and can't kill varies, but I always recommend that people start out killing spore plants near the Glow or scavengers near the Boneyard. Level up and kill more stuff.
