Fallout 3 crafting

Schematics allow you to create homemade weapons, provided you have the proper components.

Acquiring multiple copies of the same Schematic will allow you to make better versions of the self-created weapons. Each copy you find past the first one allows you to make a better version (ie; Rock-It Launcher v2).

It's a good idea to hunt down additional copies if you plan on using the weapons often. obtaining more than one copy of the schematics will upgrade the plans. Two plans makes the condition of the weapon equal to your repair skill (80% of your repair skill with just one blueprint). Three plans will net a condition of 120% of your repair skill at construction.


 * 1 Schematic ---> 80% condition of your Repair skill (Can be repaired to 100%)
 * 2 Schematics -> 110% condition of your Repair skill (+10% max durability)
 * 3 Schematics -> 120% condition of your Repair skill (+20% max durability)

Additional Schematics for Bottlecap Mine and Nuka Grenade allow you to make more instead of giving more damage. With one schematic - you make one. With two - you make two. With three - you make three.

Note additional Schematics cease to yield benefits after three of each kind have been located.

Higher repair will allow you to potentially make homemade weapons that have higher starting condition and damage. As you make multiple copies of the same weapon you can combine them with the repair skill for higher condition and damage. Alternatively you can have an NPC repair them. Note - Bottlecap Mine and Nuka Grenade are always max condition and rely on the explosives skill for more damage.

Contrary to the in-game text, additional Schematics do not increase damage. (For example, every version of the Shishkebab Schematic creates item 434e). As the base item is the same, the base statistics are as well. The only change is in its condition (or number, for Bottlecap Mine and Nuka-Grenade).

One of the best places to find materials required by schematics is at Lucky's. Even better is Pinkerton's behind Rivet City, as he has at least one of everything needed for the schematics (with the exception of animal parts).

Price-To-Weight Ratios for Schematics Weapons
This section answers the question, "what's the price-to-weight ratio of schematics components, if I'm collecting them solely for the purpose of selling the final product?"

In this section, we'll use the terms "explosives" for the mine and grenade, and "armaments" for the other five weapons. There are important differences between the two classes, from a price-to-weight perspective. Also, "price-to-weight ratio" will be abbreviated as PWR.

Price-To-Weight Table


 * Comp. Caps and Wgt. (abbreviated CC and CW) are the total caps and weight for all four of the Components for each schematic
 * Final Caps and Wgt. (abbreviated FC and FW) is the caps and weight for the final schematic product

CC/CW is the PWR for a set of four components (if you sold them straight up), and FC/FW is the PWR for one schematic product. But the real column of interest here is the last one, FC/CW - final caps divided by components' weight. In other words, how much money do you ultimately get for lugging around the four components needed to make each weapon; what's that PWR?

The table has been sorted with explosives before armaments, and then by decreasing values in the last column.

Considerations

The "straight numbers" are much trickier than they look. Each of these inter-related points has important implications: Note that your barter skill doesn't really matter, for practical purposes. If it's real bad, it's real bad for both components and final product. Vice-versa if it's real good. Yes, it does make a difference in the absolute number of caps you get - but it doesn't make any difference to PWR at any given point in time, due to its effect on both the components and the product.
 * For explosives, having more schematics causes you to make more explosives, but for armaments, they only increase the repair level (see previous section).
 * Explosives are always at 100% repair.
 * Components are always at 100% repair - but armaments are not. (Ultimately, you might be able to make armaments at over 100% repair, but for the all-important early game, your final products will be much less than 100%.)

The one wrinkle to this is that the Bottlecap Mine uses 10 caps, which is independent of your barter skill. (If your barter skill is a crappy 50%, you could think of each mine as actually needing 20 caps.) Since mines are such a good deal, however, this wrinkle will be ignored in this discussion.

Explosives versus Armaments

The fact that explosives are at full repair can make their final PWR worth six times as much early in the game versus armaments. (Your character might start with a Repair skill of 17%; 1/.17 = 5.88.) Soon enough it will probably be around 50%, and eventually get very high - but by then, you'll be swimming in cash, anyway.

Take-home message: Explosives - i.e., their components - are worth far more than armaments, in the early game.

And if you can get multiple schematics, you double or triple your income. Due to the fact that the mine has a much better PWR than the grenade (25 vs. 10), and its schematics tend to be less involved to obtain (especially given the Nuka-Cola Challenge), you may want to focus on obtaining its schematics for early cash. Also known as, if you've done the Challenge, you are probably pretty good for caps by then, anyway.

As for components, the Mine has very even distribution rates (from 113 Cherry Bombs to 123 Sensor Modules on the map), so hang onto them all. The Grenade is rate-limited by the Nuka-Cola Quantum (93 on the map, but Machines have a 10% of producing one on initial check); everything else is plentiful, from the 373 Turpentines to 431 Abraxo Cleaners to 3,632 Tin Cans.

PWR of Armaments

The Dart Gun has the best PWR, by far (62.5). The Rock-It Launcher (PWR 11.1) only looks good compared to the worst, the Railway Rifle (7.4).

Railway Rifle: Here's where this analysis really shines: The Fission Battery has a PWR of 7.5 - and is at 100% repair. (Remember, you might only get half or even a sixth the value for the product, with early, low repair skills.) So, it's better for caps than the Railway Rifle will ever be, until you get over 100% repair when making Railway Rifles... but by then you probably have so much cash it doesn't matter. So rejoice, Vault Dwellers! Forget about all those Crutches, Pressure Cookers, and Steam Gauge Assemblies! (They're all PWR 3 or less.) And maybe even forget about Fission Batteries, depending on your personal PWR loot cutoff.

And that's without factoring in the cost for Tulip's schematics... ultimately, the Railway Rifle is probably quite a losing proposition, except perhaps for the most extremely frugal player in the game. You'll need excellent repair rates and tons of Rifles produced, and that long after you picked up all the parts (while waiting to get your repair high and multiple schematics). Sounds to me like it could be an end-game personal achievement, if you want. Even then, I'm not sure enough can be made, to make it profitable. (The least-frequent component is the Pressure Cooker, of which there are 106 on the map.)

Rock-It Launcher: The PWR for the Rock-It Launcher is a little more problematic. You need to be at an effective repair rate of 35% before it breaks even with the loss caused by repair (the 3.9 PWR of components divided by the 11.1 PWR of the final product by component weight). That's without the cost of the schematics factored in; it's fairly easy to buy two of them (from Crazy Wolfgang and Moira). It will probably take a LOT of Launchers to truly break even... at which point, again, you're probably swimming in cash. So maybe you'll take a pass on the Launcher altogether, as well. In which case, just evaluate components on a regular loot PWR basis (Leaf Blower 7.5, Conductor 6.0, Firehose Nozzle 5.0 - and thank heaven you can forget all the Vacuum Cleaners at PWR 2.0).

Shishkebab: The Shishkebab is starting to be much more reasonable, especially if you are any kind of melee player... it's arguably the best Melee Weapon in the game, so you may be buying the schematics anyway (which removes this cost from a purely PWR economic study). See if you can get multiple schematics soon, and keep in mind that the Motorcycle Gas Tank is the rarest component (93 on the map vs. 105 for the Brake, 116 for the Lawnmower Blade, and 174 for the Pilot Light). If you take a pass on it, the Brake (PWR 15) and Pilot Light (14) are much better loot than the Gas Tank and Blade (both 5).

Deathclaw Gauntlet: The Deathclaw Gauntlet looks good on paper (PWR 30), but its schematics are problematic (esp. multiples), and, of course, Deathclaws themselves are problematic. Perhaps just hold onto enough components to match the number of Deathclaw Hands you have, until you get schematics. Otherwise, Leather Belts and Medical Braces are ho-hum loot (both PWR 5), Wonderglue is 10, and the Deathclaw Hand 25. The least-frequent component (past the Hand) is the Belt, with 101 on the map.

Dart Gun: The best PWR value (62.5). So hang onto those Paint Guns; they're the least-common component (106 in the game). Harvest Radscorpions as needed.

Conclusions


 * The Bottlecap Mine is clearly the best, early in the game. Nuka Grenades also have a nice PWR, but they're much more problematic for early cash, especially if you do the Nuka-Cola Challenge.


 * The five schematic-based armaments are more problematic, and of course will depend on how you like to play. Economically, however, reasonable arguments can be made that:
 * Only the Dart Gun is an absolutely clear choice economically
 * The Shishkebab is also pretty clear, particularly if you want to equip them for melee, anyway
 * The Deathclaw Gauntlet is somewhat problematic
 * The Rock-It Launcher is not worth it til mid-game (if you want to bother at all)
 * The Railway Rifle is mostly (always?) a losing proposition. Barring masochistic personal achievements.


 * Author's Note: I've asked the sysops to allow Excel files to be posted, so I can provide a spreadsheet where you can check the math, see Counts for all components, play with the numbers yourself if you want, etc. Stay tuned -RedKnight7 00:22, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

Appearances
Schematics appear only in Fallout 3.