Now that Fallout 4 is finally out, millions of player are emerging from their own underground vaults to see what awaits them in the expansive wastelands of Boston. While hardened veterans will likely feel right at home with the game’s open world setting and play mechanics — since they’re very similar to Fallout 3 — for those who are just getting into the series, there are probably a few things you should know if you want to avoid perpetually scrambling for ammo and chronic death.

10. Put Some Thought Into Your Starting Stats

There are ways to make every stat in Fallout 4 useful so don’t worry if you’ve already set up your starting attributes. But, if you want to make your early game experience a little easier, there are a few guidelines you should follow:

  • Don’t put all of your points into a single skill. Try to distribute your points to make a somewhat balanced character and worry about putting points in as you level up (or even just collect bobbleheads throughout the game) to improve specific stats later.
  • Since you can no longer spend points to increase you powers of persuasion and bartering, charisma is more important than it was in previous Fallout games. Increasing your charisma will also open up new dialogue options when you converse with NPCs.
  • For some added navigational help, make sure you pick up the “V.A.N.S.” level 1 intelligence perk. When you have it, a guided path to your nearest objective will be displayed whenever you enter V.A.T.S. mode.

9. Invest In Pistol Skills Early

From the moment Fallout 4 was announced, people everywhere started fantasizing about creating the perfect post-apocalyptic persona. But in order to get far enough in the game for you to realize your vision, you’ll need to find a way to survive and level up. To help make the earlier stages of the game a little less difficult, make sure you put some of your skill points into pistols. They’re the most common firearm found in and around the starting locations, so it’s a good idea to make good use of them. To this end, the “Gunslinger” perk is extremely useful early on since it improves the damage dealt by non-automatic pistols and scales up with each increase in rank.

8. Don’t Rely Too Heavily On The Pip-Boy

The Pip-Boy is like a giant wristwatch that contains every piece of information you’ll ever need. It’s a handy way to check your inventory and character stats but, after a while, it can get pretty cluttered. To avoid scrolling through a massive list of junk to find what you’re looking for, try setting up a quick menu using the directional pad on your game controller or the number pad on your keyboard. This will enable you to quickly access up to 12 items without having to stop and go into the Pip-Boy menu.

7. Try To Avoid Radiation Poisoning

In other Fallout games, getting radiation poisoning was pretty annoying but it didn’t terribly hamper your ability to continue playing. That’s all changed in Fallout 4. Now, when your body absorbs too much radiation, your health capacity shrinks at a rate of 1 percent for every 10 rads.

To guard yourself you’ll need to use Rad X to build up your resistance and constantly be wary of radiation sources like piles of nuclear waste, mutated creatures, and certain foods. But if you do happen to get radiation poisoning (which you more than likely will) you can eventually cure it by visiting a doctor or using Rad Away.

6. Eat, Sleep, Pray

Stimpaks are quite a bit harder to come by in Fallout 4 than they were in the previous games. Consequently, eating is more vital than ever since food can be scavenged throughout the game and can provide you with vital hit points in times of need. But food only replenishes your HP incrementally and eating too much can often lead to radiation sickness. In order to fully heal your character, including any broken bones, you should find a bed to sleep in. Sleeping will also grant you the “Well Rested” perk which gives you a 10 percent experience boost for a limited period of time. And, speaking of perks, if you ever find yourself at the All Faiths Chapel in Diamond City, make sure you take a seat at one of the pews. Doing so will earn you a five percent experience boost for a short while, which you can use to level up faster.

5. Stash Items at a Workshop

Fallout 4’s new workshop is extremely useful because, in addition to allowing you to modify your weapons and armor, it provides a place for you to stash all your hoarded items. Since junk is a lot more useful than it was in previous games, you can now use all those seemingly useless items to build up your home settlement, create new weapons, and craft ammo. Make sure to drop off all your junk at a workshop when you become encumbered because chances are you’ll end up using it for something at some point.

If you unlock and activate the “Local Leader” perk, you can even set up supply lines that allow you to share all the inventories you’ve accumulated at different settlements. This way you won’t always have to spend all your time back-tracking to old sites to retrieve specific items.

4. Remove Any Mods Before Scrapping Weapons

As you go through the game you’ll progressively be picking up new weapons and upgrading old ones. Over time, your collection of unused weapons can get pretty big, so it makes sense to scrap some of the ones you aren’t using anymore and use the materials you get to make something more practical. However, before you do this, you’ll want to remove any mods on the weapon. Keep in mind that when you remove a mod it will go straight into your carried inventory, which can take up valuable space since they’re quite heavy. To avoid over-burdening yourself, you should try to only remove weapon mods when you’re at a workshop so you can immediately stash them.

3. Save Your Game Often

This tip might seem a little obvious but it’s absolutely imperative if you want to make any progress. There are no checkpoints in Fallout 4, so the only time the game saves is when you tell it to. If your last save was six hours ago and find yourself suddenly being torn to pieces by a deathclaw, that’s it, you just set yourself back six hours of gameplay. Luckily, Bethesda included a feature in the options menu where you can set the game to autosave periodically and, if you set it to save every 30 minutes or so, you’ll probably save yourself a lot of stress in the long run.

2. Use Your Power Armor Sparingly

Unlike in the previous Fallout games, you gain access to power armor fairly early on in Fallout 4. The first time you use it, you will feel practically indestructible as you mow down hordes of raiders and mutant beasts without getting so much as a scratch. But don’t get too addicted to that feeling because your power armor runs on hard-to-come-by fusion cores and you’ll need to maintain it for the fights that really matter.

To better conserve your power armor, try to avoid sprinting and jumping, as those actions use up a lot of energy very quickly. The best thing you can do is store the armor in a safe place, like a settlement or workshop, and only use it when you know you’re going to be getting into some pretty intense situations. Just remember to take the fusion core with you so random enemies don’t take your power armor for a spin (seriously, it can happen).

1. Dress Nice When Talking To NPC’s

Presenting yourself well when you go out and converse with people will go a long way in Fallout 4. By putting on nicer clothes and carrying special items you can raise your charisma stat, and as your charisma rises, more dialogue options will open up to you. So, if you come across a fancy suit or pair of sunglasses, make sure to save them and put them on when you’re probing people for information. By the same token, you should remember to remove power armor and helmets before talking to people since they will block any charisma bonuses you’re receiving from other headgear you’re wearing. Common courtesy is evidently very important in the Boston Wasteland.