Mod:DUST Survival Simulator/Tips and Tricks

This page provides players new to Fallout: Dust with all the advice they will need to survive the Mojave and surrounding areas.

WARNING: Some sections of this page WILL contain spoilers, namely the locations of escape routes and how to utilize them properly. Endings resulting from these escapes have been relegated towards the bottom of the page for viewer convenience. If one wishes to find the endings themselves, then avoid scrolling towards the bottom of the page.

Getting Started
Character creation in Dust should not be handled exactly as one would in vanilla New Vegas. A high-Speech, high-Barter, high-Charisma playstyle will almost certainly result in the player having a very difficult time playing Dust. This isn’t your neighborly Vegas paradise. This is a true wasteland, where almost everyone you encounter is keen on killing you and taking your equipment, or worse. Plan accordingly when creating your character.

SPECIAL Statistics
To begin, take all of your SPECIAL points out of Charisma. High Charisma is a dreadful waste of SPECIAL points, and will get the player nowhere. Rather, invest your points in more concrete statistics, like Strength or Intelligence. A high Strength can help raise your lowered carry weight, and high Intelligence will ensure that you gain more skill points upon leveling up.

Skill Point Distribution
Skill points should generally be focused towards more combat-based skills, like Guns or Melee Weapons. However, a plurality of skill points should be placed in more specialized areas, namely Lockpicking or Repair. Lockpicking allows access to many helpful supplies, and Repair can keep your equipment in good condition. Furthermore, the Repair skill can allow you to craft makeshift weaponry, which can prove very helpful.

Starting Locations
Selecting a good starting location can be especially tricky. The names placed on the doors at The Beginning are rather vague, or even deceptive. Therefore, it is recommended to save your game before selecting a starting location. This allows you to rethink your decision should you choose poorly.

A recommended starting location is the Abandoned Warehouse. The Abandoned Warehouse is located nearby to Camp McCarran, in a relatively safe position. Furthermore, the warehouse comes with a makeshift sniper rifle with ammo on the staircases, with the possibility of more weapons and equipment on corpses.

Most importantly, wherever you start, DO NOT forget to grab the Crafting Kit. The kit is an invaluable tool for survival in Dust, and weighs only a single pound. The usefulness of the crafting kit will be covered later.

Basic Survival
Survival in Dust is to be approached somewhat differently from vanilla New Vegas. Most harvestable plants have been removed, and water, especially the clean variety, is very scarce. Dust has amplified the survival needs, and as such, it is recommended to keep track of supplies to avoid running low on the necessities. If that wasn’t enough, survivors now have to deal with the Sanity system, meaning that endless slaughter of other humans for supplies will no longer be strictly profitable. Pick your fights carefully, and know when to save your ammo for more perilous situations.

Survival Needs
Hunger, Thirst, and Sleep are no longer mild inconveniences. In Dust, the hardcore mode survival needs prove a constant threat to survivor health. Stock up on food and water, even if it is irradiated, and do not be afraid to take a nap when the opportunity presents itself.

Thirst is easily the most threatening of the survival needs. Most sources of water in the Mojave are now either irradiated or absent altogether. The Courier’s Stash add-on proves immensely helpful in managing Thirst, as the Vault 13 Canteen can help temporarily stave off dehydration. Toilets are a common source of water, though often irradiated. Lake Mead has become Mead Canyon, drained of all water.

Food and Sanity go hand in hand with one another. Cannibalism solves the food issue permenantly, but can take a massive toll on Sanity. Buildings with people nearby are the best places to find food, namely Nipton. The McBride ranch house in Novac still has the many Brahmin Steaks located in the fridge, though Novac itself is heavily populated with cannibals.

Sleep is the least threatening of survival needs, but should not be overdone. Sleeping too long will cause your other needs to skyrocket, and can even cause death upon awakening. Therefore, keep sleeping low on the priorities list. Focus on Hunger and Thirst.

If all the hardcore needs are just a tad too hardcore, don’t worry. Hardcore mode, while the intended game mode for Fallout: Dust, can be toggled off at any time.

Sanity
The new Sanity system is merely a repurposed Karma system, with the good and bad roles reversed. Most actions that would normally gain Karma in normal New Vegas (killing ghouls, killing Fiends, etc.) now cause a loss of Sanity. Actions that would lower Karma (theft, etc.) now raise Sanity. However, some new Sanity boosters and perks have been integrated to work in tandem with the Sanity system.

Insanity is caused by having your sanity drop too low, and is usually caused by excessive killing and/or cannibalism. While generally regarded as bad, Insanity has its perks, both figuratively and literally. Hallucinations caused by insanity can cause Fugue States, which can lead to surprising outcomes. See the Insanity page for more information.

Combat
Combat has, as with most everything else in Dust, been made much more difficult. You are more fragile, but so are your enemies. However, this isn’t exactly an even playing field when you have no assistance in fending off a horde of cannibals. Bullets now longer appear in boxes of dozens. All munitions now appear individually, making ammunition exceptionally scarce.

A good approach to combat in Dust is stealth. Being stealthy allows you to pick off your opponents individually as opposed to taking them all at once. It also allows you to save ammunition. Stick to the shadows and strike from cover.

Escaping the Mojave
In Fallout: Dust, there is only one objective: escape the Mojave Wasteland. The problem is that you have no quest markers. You actually have to find your own way out of the Mojave and to safety, using information you find scattered about the wastes. Keep your eyes peeled, and don’t miss any details. Furthermore, use common sense. Think about vanilla New Vegas, and the locations within it. Don’t be afraid to explore on a hunch. You might be pleasantly surprised at what you find.

'''THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING. '''Beyond this point are spoilers to the escape routes and how to access them. If you want to discover all the escapes yourself, DO NOT READ BEYOND THIS POINT.

Option #1: Airplane!
This is the most obscure of the endings to Dust, and arguably the least rewarding. Many areas of the Mojave have aircraft, but only one can be made operational.

Go to Searchlight Airport in the south. Avoid Camp Searchlight itself, as there is a heavy Brotherhood of Steel presence there, and they will shoot on sight. There is a large population of radscorpions on the tarmac. Avoid or kill them, then make your way to the intact plane on the runway.

At the plane, you will find a deceased Brotherhood Scribe who attempted to repair the aircraft. Next to the plane, you will find a workbench with a clipboard on it. This clipboard is in fact a List of Materials. Picking up the list will add the Airplane Parts recipe to the workbench recipes.

Requirements for the parts are as follows: Once these requirements are met, you will be able to craft the Airplane Parts at any workbench. Once you have the parts, interact with the fuselage on the plane, just behind the cockpit. You can then repair the plane and flee to Camp Adytum in California. Walk down the street, and the game will end with you having found safety.
 * 75 Repair skill
 * 1 Conductor
 * 48 Flamer Fuel
 * 6 Scrap Electronics
 * 8 Scrap Metal
 * 2 Sensor Modules

Option #2: Big Fountain Research Center
The objective in Dust is to escape the Mojave. So why not try Big MT? It can’t be any worse, right? The only problem is that the Midnight Science Fiction Feature ended 20 years ago. Getting into the Big Empty won’t be so easy this time.

Follow the train tracks south of Nipton until you reach the train tunnel. The tunnel will require a hefty amount of Lockpicking skill to open. Once inside, you find a pile of debris to the left of a crashed train car. Removing this debris will require 5 bricks of C4 (no detonator required).

The best way to locate the requisite C4 is to visit Camp Guardian in the northeast. It’s a dangerous journey, but so are most of the endings to Dust. Avoid or kill the resident Ghost People, and enter the Camp Guardian caves. Inside the caves near the entrance is a box, which will contain at least five bricks of C4. Return to the train tunnel south of Nipton.

Upon interacting with the pile of debris, you will be given a pop-up allowing you to remove the rubble. Traveling through the tunnel will take you to Big MT. However, it has fallen apart since the Courier visited. The Sink artificial personality has flooded most of the crater in an attempt to scrub it clean. If that wasn’t enough, tech scavengers are warring with the Brotherhood of Steel over control of the crater’s technologies.

To escape, you must make your way to what was once The Cuckoo’s Nest, but is now a shrine to the Toaster. Enter the cave there, and prepare to die. In a rather cruel move, Naugrim placed a toaster mine directly at the entrance to the cave, which will likely kill any Survivor who enters. Use whatever means necessary to avoid this and the many other mines dotting the cave. On a pedestal there is the Tampered Transportalponder. Take the Transportalponder and find a location outdoors and outside of combat.

Using the Transportalponder will teleport you to a seemingly random canyon. Follow the walkway down to the tunnel. At the other end of the tunnel is Grand Staircase and safety.

Option #3: Get to the Choppa!
Most survivors who pass near the now barricaded entrance to Camp McCarran likely notice the prominent Vertibird parked on a landing pad within the confines of McCarran’s walls. There is also graffiti nearby pointing to the Vertibird encouraging readers to “RUN. GET OUT OF HERE.” If it wasn’t obvious by this point, the next escape plan involves the Vertibird in Camp McCarran. However, there is a slight problem: the entrance, as was stated, is barricaded off. Have faith, for hope is not lost. There is another way to reach McCarran.

But what is this method of entering McCarran? Amazingly, the solution lies in the McCarran-LVB monorail system, which is, amazingly, still operational. The hard part is reaching the monorail.

To reach the monorail, you must first reach the ruins of the New Vegas Strip. This can be done in any of three ways:

The first method of entering the Strip requires opening a Hard locked door on the exterior wall of the Strip. This door leads to the interior of the Tops casino. WARNING: this method is a one-way trip. There is a drop-off from one of the elevator shafts in the Tops that cannot be climbed back up.

The second option necessitates entering the Strip through Freeside. Freeside is plagued with an abundance of feral ghouls and the occasional trigger-happy survivor. If that wasn’t enough, the gate to the Strip is locked and requires a key. The key can be found on one of the NCR Rangers indoors at Camp Golf. Raiding Camp Golf is an exceptionally difficult task, as it has an abundance of NCR troopers and Rangers.

Finally, the last option to enter the Strip requires that the player character be insane. Once you are insane, get attacked by a hallucination and enter a fugue state. Explore the room you are taken to carefully. There is a trapdoor that takes the player to the Gomorrah suites.

If one of the two latter options is taken, you must enter the middle section of the Strip via a route connecting the Gomorrah cashier’s room with the Tops. This is because a truck crashed into the gate leading from the first to the middle section. There is also an unconfirmed path into the Strip via the sewers, but this option, if present, is not recommended. The sewers are arguably the most dangerous area in Dust, and should be avoided.

Next, reach the NCR Embassy on the Strip. Eliminate the occupants. One of the NCR members inside will have a key to the monorail. Take the key, enter the monorail, and go to Camp McCarran.

Inside McCarran, there is an absurd number of ghouls and NCR troopers. Avoid them (or kill them, if you’re some kind of suicidal maniac), and run for the rear of the Camp. Go through the main building for fastest results. Run to the location climb the ladder, and go up to the Vertibird. You will be given a prompt asking whether to stay or go. Obviously, just go. There’s no point in backtracking. You then enable the Vertibird’s autopilot. Sit back, and enjoy the ride.

Unfortunately, you have not won. Not yet, at least. The Vertibird’s auto pilot lead to skies filled with the Cloud. The Cloud gunks up the intakes, and the chopper crashes in the last place you’d want to end up: the Sierra Madre.

Run to the Villa Fountain. Loot the Father (a now-deceased Elijah) for his key. Backtrack to the crash site, and keep going until you find a sewer grate the key can unlock. Go to the bottom of the sewers, to a ladder. This ladder leads to safety in the form of Camp Adytum.