Things to Do First - Fallout 4 Guide - IGN (2024)

Whether it's exploring the vast wastelands, discovering hidden items, or even uncovering secrets, these are the seven things you should consider doing first before anything else in Fallout 4.

7 Things to Do First in Fallout 4

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• Go Home
• Grab a Fat Man and a Mini Nuke
• Pick Up the Corvega Storage Key and Laser Musket in Concord
• Grab Fusion Cores
• Grab Some Spare Armor
• Store Your Big Guns
• Grab the Red Menace Minigame

Go Home

In addition to getting you the inside scoop on Shawn from Codsworth, going home gets you access to a Grognak comic power-up on the kitchen counter and a You"re Special stat boost underneath the changing table in Shaun’s bedroom.

Across the street, you’ll find Crafting stations (where you can make new things and store your stuff).

The surrounding houses also contain several Safes with useful bits inside.

Here:

And Here:

Safes often contain money, ammo, and worthwhile collectibles.

Grab a Fat Man and a Mini Nuke

It’s good to be prepared. Just east of Sanctuary is the Robotic Disposal Ground. You can find it here. It’s due west of the USAF Satellite Station Olivia past the crash site.

Perched outside the station is a deactivated robot, and atop a pile of junk behind him sits a Fat Man launcher.

Take the launcher, but remember it’s not much good without ammo. Head east to USAF Satellite Station Olivia. Behind a locked door on the first sublevel is a Mini Nuke. To reach it, you’ll either have to hack the advanced terminal, or head deeper into the basem*nt. There, you’ll find a case in the back room (the one with the roaches) prominently set on a stool. The key to the locked room is inside.

Pick Up the Corvega Storage Key and Laser Musket in Concord

It’s easy to miss, but after you head down to Concord and help out Preston, you’ll be left with a lot of dead Raiders in the streets. Search them all carefully. One carries a key that opens a locked door inside the Corvega auto plant.

The door is located on the lower floor past the main entrance on the manufacturing floor. There’s a guard turret next to it. Inside the cage is a nice cache of ammunition.

Also don’t miss the Laser Musket just outside the museum next to the dead Raider.

Grab Fusion Cores

Fusion Cores are absolutely necessary for getting anywhere in Power Armor. They’re a finite resource and should be used conservatively. There are several hidden within an easy walk of Sanctuary, and you can make a point of gathering them all.

The first core is hidden in this cave directly beneath the Red Rocket outside Sanctuary. The cave is protected by Molerats. You’ll find the core on the rightmost of the three branches after entering the cave, on the floor next to the ruined reactor. Grab it quick...this area is radioactive.

Another core is located in the basem*nt of the Museum of Freedom in Concord, south of the Red Rocket Truck Stop. It’s easy to get, just follow the collapsed floor at the bottom of the huge main stairwell in the big open room. The core is behind a fence, but an easy terminal hack will open it. Preston Garvey and the Minutemen are in the room above, and you can use the core to help them out and claim a suit of Power Armor for yourself.

You’ll find another core close to Sanctuary, east of the town, in the basem*nt of the USAF Satellite Station Olivia, dominated by the huge satellite dish. The core is located in the large open power room in the basem*nt plugged into a base station.

Another very easy core is located near the robotic reclamation station near the satellite station. The core is located just outside the building, in a large green box next to the robotic body lounging outside the door.

A fifth core is easily accessible on a shelf in the larger of the two storage rooms behind the screen at the Starlight Drive-In.

A sixth core is hidden in the basem*nt of Mystic Pines, just south of Rotten Landfill. The core is located in the small basem*nt behind a locked door.

Grab Some Spare Armor

In addition to the Power Armor, you get for helping Preston in Concord, you’ll also be privy to a spare suit located in the woods near a crashed aircraft between USAF Satellite Station and the robotic reclamation plant east of Sanctuary.

The parts here can be stored and used alongside your main suit to bolster and repair or repaired themselves to give you a spare suit.

Get Power Armor in 5 Minutes

You can use one of your new cores to move the spare suit to Sanctuary or a base of your choice.

Store Your Big Guns

The Minigun you grab in Concord and the Fat Man are both heavy. You get weighed down quite a bit in Fallout, so drop them in your Workbench storage in Sanctuary for later use. This near-limitless storage area is always just a fast travel away.

Doing this will allow you to store all of the good weapons you find throughout the game. If you don't want to lose a powerful weapon, store it and come back for it later. There will be plenty of other workbenches you'll find in locations throughout the Commonwealth; just remember where you store your favorite weapons.

Grab the Red Menace Minigame

The Recreation Terminal in Vault 111 is easy to spot, but early in the game, you might not realize that you can take the game tape inside with you and play on the go.

After checking out Red Menace, be sure to grab the tape for gaming joy on the go.

• See Also: Things Fallout Doesn't Tell You
• See Also: Things Not to Do
• See Also: Walkthrough