Fallout 4

This is the second part of the patchnotes, treating of the Parts IV: Lockpicking and hacking progression overhaul and V: Medicine progression overhaul.

-- Part four: Lockpicking and hacking progression overhaul --

As you seen in the Part II, the perks Locksmith and Code breaker have been removed from the game.
This removal is due to a major overhaul of the progression system of these two skills, who replaces the old progression system consisting in spending points in the perk to progress; by a system were the player plays a much more active role.

Indeed, from now on, if you wish to progress in lockpicking or hacking, you will have to train, each success increasing your skills, allowing you to attempt picking or hacking more complex systems.

This system thus replaces a system built on passivity and wait, because all you had to do was gaining levels, wait until you had enough perk points, and then, spend these points; to an active system were you are encouraged to explore the world in the search for locks and computers to lock/hack so you can train and become better.

Thus, as the old saying states, practice makes perfect, it is by successfully picking locks or hacking computers that you will become a master.

Thus, when you will reach skill thresholds, defined only by the number of successes you accumulated, you will acquire the skills and talents required to try more complex challenges, these thresholds are the following:

- When you start the game, you will be able to pick and hack Novice level items, as previously.
- Successfully opening 20 locks will make you will be able to pick Advanced level locks.
- Successfully opening 45 locks will make you will be able to pick Expert level locks.
- Successfully opening 80 locks will make you will be able to pick Master level locks.
- Finally, when you will have successfully opened 160 locks, your bobby pins will become unbreakable.

- For computers, it is the following:
- Successfully hacking 6 computers will make you able to hack Advanced level computers.
- Successfully hacking 18 computers will make you able to hack Expert level computers.
- Successfully hacking 35 computers will make you able to hack Master level computers and will reduce to 0 the amount of time the computers are locked when you fail a hacking attempt.
- Finally, when you will have successfully hacked 65 computers, you will obtain 1 extra guess for all your future hacking attempts.


Note that, as much as everything contained in this update, these modifications are retroactive, which means that no matter what your proficiency level was before your updated the mod or installed it for the first time, it will be completely disregarded and will only be taken into account your current success in terms of Lockpicking and Hacking.

This means it can both be a positive and a negative change depending on your number of lockpicking and hacking success.
These statistics can be consulted at any moment in the Data menu of your Pip-boy, allowing you to know in real time were exactly you are in terms of progression and what is your current skill level.

As part of the companions overhaul, and as to mitigate potential loss of skills by the player after the installation of the update, the companions Cait and Nick Valentine each give you a skill bonus in their respective domains.

See the Part VII for more details.


-- Part five: Medicine progression overhaul --

As you seen when reading the Part II, the perk Field Medic has been removed from the game and has been replaced by Master of the elements.

This removal intervenes as part of the Medicine progression overhaul, which also includes an overhaul of healing items, and the addition of new variants to the game.

Previously, in order to increase the effect of Stimpaks and Radaway, you only had to spend points in the perk Field Medic.
From now on, the potency of these substances, including its progression, will be determined not by the number of points you invested in a perk, but by the amount of medical knowledge you possess, which will allow you to get the better of these drugs.
Thus, the magazine previously known as "Massachusetts Surgical Journal" has been renamed to Monthly emergency review and counts 12 issues, one of each month.

The Monthly emergency review contains all the knowledge required to learn how to treat serious injuries, bleeding, or radiation poisoning.

Thus, each issue who the Monthly emergency review obtained will increase the potency of Stimpaks and Radaway.

Most issues of the Monthly emergency review can be found in places related to medical care: hospitals, clinics, labs.
Some of them can also be found in the hideouts of some survivalists, including in remote places like Nuka-World and Far Harbor.

This modification is not the only aspect of this overhaul, indeed, major changes have been made to the Stimpak and the Radaway, and new variants of these substances have been added to the game, and each variant, including the standard ones, has its own unique characteristics, as shown below:

- The Homemade Stimpak has been added to the game.

The Homemade Stimpak is a subpart variant of the Stimpak, generally crafted by raiders and drifters, who more often than not, don't have the means to obtain medicine of quality.

The Homemade Stimpak restores 15% of your max health in 8 seconds.

Being a low quality product made by individuals who have no medical knowledge, the Homemade Stimpak doesn't contains any of the substances normally used in prewar standard Stimpaks, thus, it means its effects are not reduced in combat, however, this lack of quality components also means it is not possible to increase its potency.

The Homemade Stimpak can mostly be obtained on raiders and low level humans and ghouls, and can be found in place of the Stimpaks they had previously in their possession.

The Homemade Stimpak can be prepared at the chemist workbench from the beginning of the game, and this without any need for medical knowledge.

Due to its very low quality, the Homemade Stimpak has a negligible monetary value.


- The Stimpak has undergone major modifications.

They are now rarer in the world, be it on enemies or in stores, due to an obvious shortage caused by the destruction of all labs who could produce them before the war.

The Stimpak now restore 30% of your max health in 8 seconds at the beginning of the game.

The active substances contained in the Stimpak are of great quality, but are also very potent, and as a consequence, mix very poorly with adrenaline produced by the organisme of the players during combat, which reduces the effects of the Stimpak by 35%.

However, and in the opposition to the Homemade Stimpak who is made by individuals lacking medical knowledge and resources, the Stimpak has been designed by professionnals and has been mainly to be used by professionnals in an appropriate environment.

Thus, although the Stimpak only restore 30% of your max health in 8 seconds at the beginning of the game, improving your medical knowledge will allow you to take the better of its potential.

Thus, each issue of the Monthly emergency review will increase by 3% the amount of health restored by the Stimpak.
Also, obtaining 6 issues, regardless of the order, will increase the speed at which the Stimpak cures you by 2 seconds, and obtaining the complete collection, meaning the 12 issues, will again increase that speed by 2 seconds.

At the end, owning the complete collection will allow you to use Stimpaks who will restore 60% of your max health in 4 seconds.
It is also said that obtaining the rare Medicine bobblehead can induce a state of relaxation in its owner, allowing then the Stimpaks' effects to not reduced in combat.

Stimpaks can still be obtained the same way as before, but due to the shortage mentioned above, they are now rarer, and like in every capitalistic system, even in a post-apocalyptic world, what is rare is also more costly, thus, the Stimpak's price is now of 200 caps, up from 100.

It is also still possible to craft your own Stimpaks, however, as they are complex substances, they now require to get the medical formula, that you will probably find in places related to medical care, or in some survivalist's hideouts, including in places as far as Nuka-World and Far Harbor.

However, finding the medical formula is not enough: you also need to actually understand what they mean, thus, on top of requiring the possession of the aforementioned plans, you will also need to have at least 6 points of Intelligence to even see the recipe in the chemist workbench.

Finally, while it is indeed possible to acquire medical knowledge, and thus, increasing the efficiency of the Stimpaks, nothing is better than the presence of a professionnal on your side who will be able to directly give you the medical treatment you need, with a even greater efficiency.
Therefore, when Curie is on your side, the efficiency of your Stimpaks will be increased by 20%.

For more details on the bonus given by Curie, read the Part VII: Companions overhaul.


- The Super Stimpak has been added to the game.

The Super Stimpak is a prototype version of the Stimpak, paid for by the US Army who needed an improved version of the Stimpak for its military operations.

The Super Stimpak is designed to be used very easily, even by someone who doesn't possess any medical background: indeed, the Military wanted its men to be able to apply an emergency treatment on their fellow soldiers without having the risk of missing qualified personal at a critical moment.

On top of this, the Super Stimpak contains an experimental and improved version of the substances already present in the Stimpak, the goal being to made it powerful enough to bring back to life a mortally wounded soldier.

For these reasons, the Super Stimpak restore 100% of your maximum health in only 2 seconds, and in 4 seconds if you play in Survival mode, indeed, due to its potency, the Super Stimpak doesn't abide to the same rules than the others healing items.

Also, has it is designed to be used in the heat of the battlefield, the effects of the Super Stimpak are not reduced in combat.

However, such a powerful medicine is not without secondary effects: indeed, because it is a prototype secretly developed right before the Great War, the labs responsible for the creation of this substance did not have the time to finish their creation and work on reducing these secondary effects.

Because the active substance present in the Super Stimpak are so potent, they are also invasive for the organism, thus, for 60 seconds after using a Super Stimpak, you will suffer from a penalty of 2 points in all your SPECIAL.

Although the Super Stimpak doesn't require particular medical knowledge, the presence of a health professionnal on your side can help mitigate these secondary effects, as he will be able to apply the treatment with greater competence.
Therefore, when Curie is on your side, the duration of the penalty is reduced by half.

Due to its status of secret prototype developed shortly before the Great War, the Super Stimpak exists only in very small quantities.

Super Stimpaks can only be obtained on high level enemies, and very rarely in some stores or in medical centers, but be careful: due to its immense power as a medical treatment, and its rarity, the Super Stimpak is a highly sought after product, that only the richest, or the most well-armed, can obtain.

As it is a prototype developed in some extremely high tech labs before the war, the Super Stimpak cannot be crafted, as it requires knowledge that as long been lost, and machines and logistics that have been destroyed in the bombings.


- Curie's Super Stimpak has been added to the game and essentially acts as a replacer for Curie's health pack.

Curie's Super Stimpak is Curie's successful attempt at improving the Super Stimpak, in which she managed to rid the Super Stimpak of all its negative secondary effects, all the while keeping its entire healing potential intact.

As she is the only one possessing the knowledge required to craft it, Curie is the only provider of her unique variant of Super Stimpak throughout the entire game, that she will regularly provide to you when you travel together.

Because she lacks the logistics, Curie cannot produce more than one Super Stimpak at the time.

Because of its origins, and due to the altruistic nature of Curie who believes science and medicine should benefit to everyone, Curie's Super Stimpak has no monetary value, and can't only be offered.


- The Radaway has also undergone major changes.

Like the Stimpak, it is now much rarer, also due to an obvious shortage caused by the destruction of all production centers.
The Radaway now removes 300 radiation in 8 seconds at the beginning of the game.

Just as the Stimpak, the Radaway's effect mix poorly with the adrenaline produced in combat, which reduces its effects by 35%.
Although the Radaway was a mass produced substance, readily available to everyone and who could be bought by dozens at the local mall, the Radaway was above all a medical product regular citizens couldn't use at its full potential.

Thus, as the Radaway starts by removing 300 radiation in 8 seconds, finding the issues of the Monthly emergency review will fill your lack of medical knowledge, until, once the collection will be complete, the full use of the Radaway's potential, which will then remove 600 radiation in 4 seconds.

Relaxation is also very important for a good use of the Radaway, and thus, obtaining the rare Medicine bobblehead can help you reach this state, then removing all penalties in combat.

As before, the Radaway can be obtained on enemies of average level, in medical furnitures, or in some stores, however, due to the shortage mentioned above, these are much rarer, and since they are rarer, but still highly sought after for obvious reasons, their price has gone gone through the roof, increasing from 150 caps to 275 caps per unit.

It is absolutely possible to produce your own Radaway, but before that, you will have to find the formula, that you will probably find in places related to healthcare, medical research, or maybe in some survivalist's hideouts, including in far away places like Nuka-World and Far Harbor.

Owning the plans will however not be enough: you need to be capable of understanding them, therefore, you will also need to have at least 7 Intelligence points, or else, the recipe will not be visible at all.

Finally, the presence of a health professionnal on your side can help you receiving better treatments.
Thus, when Curie is on your side, the effects of the Radaway are increased by 20%.


- The Mega-Radaway has been added to the game.

The Mega-Radaway is a prototype and superior version of the Radaway.

Like the Super Stimpak, the Mega-Radaway has been developed right before the Great War, upon fears by the US Government that China would target US nuclear plants and cause incidents.

The Mega-Radaway was designed to be used by a civil without any medical knowledge as to quickly fight against potentially lethal rediation poisoning for which the regular Radaway would not be enough.

The Mega-Radaway purges all radiation in your organism in 2 seconds, and in 4 seconds when you play in Survival mode, its effects being so powerful they don't abide to the normal rules.

However, and like the Super Stimpak, the Mega-Radaway never was completely finished, although the US Government didn't really care, and due to the very potent products inside it, who basically act as a acid shower in the veins of the user to forcefully purge it from all traces of radiation, the Mega-Radaway causes a penalty of 3 points to all SPECIAL stats for 45 seconds.

Being even rarer than the Super Stimpak, the Mega-Radaway can be obtained on high level enemies, or in some stores or medical furnitures.

In a post-apocalyptic world where the fight against radiation is an everyday struggle, the Mega-Radaway is seen as a miracle cure, and this status, on top of its extreme scarcity makes it a very costly substance, that only the richest or more armed can obtain.
For the same reasons than with the Super Stimpak, the Mega-Radaway cannot be manufactured.
When Curie is on your side, she will reduce the duration of the Mega-Radaway's negative side effects by half.


- Curie's Mega-Radaway.

Curie's Mega-Radaway is Curie's successful attempt at improving the Mega-Radaway by getting rid of its negative side effects.

Due to her being the only one possessing the required knowledge, Curie is the only source of her own variant of the Mega-Radaway in the entire game, and she will sometimes offers you one.

As she lacks the proper logistics, Curie can only produce one Mega-Radaway at the time.

Like her own variant of the Super Stimpak, Curie's Mega-Radaway has no monetary value and can only be offered for free.



--> There is now only one recipe for the Stimpak and the Radaway and it is no longer affected by the difficulty mode.

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