Addiction

Addiction to a substance, or activity, means your body (or your mind) is in need of a daily dose to avoid withdrawal symptoms.

Overview

 * You can get addicted when you use too many drugs. As an addict, you suffer withdrawal symptoms only when you run out of supplies. Many substances in the Fallout games are addictive. Each chem has a chance of addiction. One of the most addictive drugs is jet.
 * For Fallout 1 & 2, withdrawal effects occur after becoming addicted and going for some amount of time without using that chem. For non-jet addictions, addiction lasts 7 days from the onset of the withdrawal effects (nine days of non-use), while jet addiction lasts forever without the Jet Antidote.

Types of addiction

 * ¹ Only used in game files; possible bug.
 * ² Only in modded versions.

Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics

 * In Fallout Tactics you can gain the Psychotic perk which makes you suffer less withdrawal from psycho.

Fallout 3
In Fallout 3, addiction is permanent. It can, however, be cured for a price in caps by visiting a doctor (like the one in Megaton). If you own a house in either Megaton or Tenpenny Tower, the addiction can be cleared for free if you own a My First Laboratory house improvement.


 * 1Note this only applies to plain mentats, the other variations (Berry Mentats, Orange Mentats, and Grape Mentats) are non addictive.


 * Items not listed in this table are not addictive in Fallout 3; this includes Rad-X, RadAway, and some other substances.


 * Risk is a base chance of addiction per use, and only applies to alcohol items in Fallout 3.
 * UMON is an accumulating chance of addiction. See Usage Monitor for a detailed explanation.


 * Duration is the length of time required to pass without consuming the drug for the accumulated UMON value to be reduced.
 * An easy way to avoid addiction is to save before consuming said substance. If you become addicted, simply load from the earlier save. This will not work if your addiction chance has reached 100%.

Usage Monitor
In addition to addiction chance, certain items have an additional, increasing chance of addiction with each subsequent use. Internally, this effect is referred to as the Usage Monitor Effect, or UMON. Each time you use an item, its UMON value is added to the total UMON value before the addiction check is performed. This value remains added to the UMON total until its specified time limit elapses, at which point it is removed from the current running total. An accumulated value of 75 appears to equate to an additional 1% chance (added on top of any existing addiction chance), while a value of 175 appears to be equivalent to a 100% chance. The specifics of the algorithm remain unclear.

Fallout: New Vegas
New drugs and addiction-causing substances were added to Fallout: New Vegas, many with their own new forms of addiction. Due to the engine used in Fallout: New Vegas, addiction behaves the same as it did in Fallout 3. It is permanent unless seen to by a doctor. Fixer will provide temporary relief from the symptoms of withdrawal. For information about UMON, risk and so on, see the appropriate Fallout 3 section.

Bugs

 * Do not start Dead Money with an addiction because there is no way to cure it in the DLC, it is also possible for it to become permanent after completion.
 * Fixer can permanently remove addictions in an unpatched game.
 * It is possible that loading a game right after becoming addicted to a chem or other substance (I.E. to avoid getting addicted), may cause the same glitch that Fixer does, but only for that drug, or drugs that the player became addicted to. Afterwards, you may notice the message 'You are now suffering from Withdrawal', but there will be no effect listed. (Needs to be tested).

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