Talk: Nuclear Anomaly

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Help![]

Mostly everytime i activate this perk i have a good amount of rads and it doesn't even heal me! Should i have more DR or how do i fix this??? I was on Normal.

Rads don't affect anything in this perk. The perk will only heal you by 20 hp and hopefully kill everyone around you. If it doesn't your kinda screwed because you won't explode again for another 10 seconds. The explosion has a decent range but the damage is laughable. It has 1/4 the damage of a fatman. See my post below if you want to see why.--Orion9060 14:25, 3 June 2009 (UTC)

i had 35 dr jeez do i need lower than that? works on easy and very easy

Gonna be fun[]

I bet thats fun while being swarmed by Mirelurks. 77.25.159.140 11:42, 5 May 2009 (UTC)

I really don't see this being useful. By the time you're level 30, being at 20 health will pretty much mean you down to your last dying breath, and if anyone is outside the range (and enemies have very good aim from long distances with inaccurate guns) then you're still screwed.-DragonJTS^{Leave me a message} 15:20, 5 May 2009 (UTC)

Runner up for worst perk ever, more than likely. If an enemy is attacking you, it's probably with a gun, and it'll probably do more than 20 damage per hit if you're that weak. If you survive, your companions might have just been nuked by you - good show! Not to mention that these perks are becoming more and more arbitrary; they used to at least resemble something a person could do, now they're just pulling things out their ass.

If you use it by itself, then yeah it's not that great. However, when you get stuff like Adamantium Skeleton, Nerd Rage, and that perk that increases limb regeneration when irradiated, suddenly you become a much tougher beast to kill. Combine that with the fact that if you keep your rads up, you do ridiculous damage (since the perk expels all your radiation to make that blast.) at the high end you do more than a fat man shot.

I guess since they repaired the story, they had to put the fail somewhere else. 77.24.40.160 16:17, 5 May 2009 (UTC)

That was so funny, I had to post to tell you well done. Nice. XD! --TheREALBloodscar 05:05, 10 May 2009 (UTC)

Oh balls, I thought it was 20% not 20 health. I was sooo excited about this too. How can this even be used effectively? Run around and look for enemies with flamethrowers? Dannyc 17:01, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

Seems ok to me. Makes you invincible against the beast melee enemies like deathclaws. Sounds like fun too.--81.156.12.216 20:18, 5 May 2009 (UTC)

It may not make you "invincible" to deathclaws if the deathclaws can do more than 20 dmg... which is likely, depending on your play style, equipment, etc. For example, if you're at say 22 hp and the deathclaw hits you for 25 dmg, you wouldn't trigger the perk at all. 72.235.91.236 21:47, 5 May 2009 (UTC)

It might not be as bad at a lower level, but sicne you can't get it until level 30, there really won't be too many thing capable of brining you down to 20 health that can't do >20 damage a hit.

i guess i do agree with dragonjts, but it still be helpfull when verusing mutants, deathclaws, and yuo guia.--That70sdude 12:07, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

Stop being haters guys. This perk was never intended to be a combat perk. It was made simply for comic value... you know, if the player is about to die let him "go out with a bang." ~Unsigned 6 May 2009

I agree with the guy above and plus their showing that the lone wanderer is becoming a literal almost god.

Is it just me or does this perk turn you into a non-Ghoul Glowing One? --Nymphonomicon 05:46, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

this may be a good perk at incredibly low levels, but at level 30, it's useless due to the fact that theres nothing that doesn't hit you for more than 20 points (except maybe radroches), so unless you get incredibly lucky (you have say 40 remaining points, and someone hits you for between 20 and 40) then this perk is just to look cool. anyone that says this is a better choice than almost perfect is either joking, lieing or has an INT of 0.98.142.49.26 17:25, February 25, 2010 (UTC)

well i got it in the middle of mothership zeta during the generator bit so i thought it would be useful and at first i thought it be like the megaton explosion (seen it one youtube i disarmed megatons bomb) also is the guy up top saying the higher the radss the more effective if so then i need some iraddiated food on zeta

Mod Idea[]

Someone should make a mod that gives this perk to everyone else in the game but not your character.

Patch?[]

Bethesda needs to get their act together and get this perk patched. I mean that if they can get a perk from being runner up for worst perk ever to one of the top 10 perks, they need to do it. -- Master1337cheeZ 00:24, 30 May 2009 (UTC)

If it had more Damage and was changed to, say, 10% of max HP, it could be very useful. 68.192.9.90 21:27, October 22, 2009 (UTC)

they could make it way better if it made you temporarily invincible. Your health could go down to 1 hp but the explosion would go for 10 seconds and you would be invincible for that amount of time. It would allow you to kill enemies and let you heal yourself. I sure hope bethesda could make a patch for something like that.

Already mentioned[]

I'm pretty sure this perk is one of the ones that was a runner up at Bethesda's old contest where people submitted their own perks. In that contest Grim Reaper's Sprint actually won, but this one was close. --Clean Up 00:28, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

Close. as i stated in the article, it resembles the perk nuclear man, thoguh that would have let you give off a nuclear burst on command once a day (and would have been much more useful). -DragonJTS^{Leave me a message} 00:29, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

I don't think this sucks...[]

Uhh, this does heal you when it goes off to so...kill everything around me and heal myself up before I die? I love it.

Exactly the reason this isn't considered -that- great. Heal you up before you die? How often do you expect to find yourself in a situation like that, when your level 30 while wearing some Power Armor and having a whole lot of stimpacks? You are going to have to weaken yourself to be able to even use this perk. Normally, I wouldn't let myself go near 20 hp.. Also, this perk is a large threat to your allies. --Melankh 10:42, 10 May 2009 (UTC)

You do realize its a last ditch kind of thing...if your about to die and dont notice it, you heal and the damage isnt based on your Rad its based on your Damage Resistance btw...so is the healing... --TheMagnus 06:01, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

Is there something wrong with my game (Xbox)? Nuclear Anomaly doesn't heal my HP, even with 500+ Rads, so I'm continually under 20 HP, setting off explosions every few seconds, and each one takes away ~2 HP. There isn't even anyone else around me, hostile or not. So anyone got any idea about what's wrong?--99.139.78.30 02:24, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

I think you need to have less DR to get healed more. Makes no sense I know but just try it.

Useful on normal or lower difficulty[]

This perk is more useful on normal or lower difficulty because on higher difficulties enemies do more damage to you, causing you to die just as the explosion detonates. So if you want to use this perk effectively, turn down the difficulty level!

thats reat i always have mine on very easy because deathclaws and enclave helfires kept on killing me i never changed it since so this is a perfect thing for me i bet even in that 1 place near the reg. hq full of enclave and raiders.

Effects according to GECK editor[]

Honestly I thought this perk would be cool so I looked it up on the GECK editor to see how it works. I followed the trail starting from perk to ability, ability to effect, and effect to script. The script says this:

ScriptName DLC03NuclearAnomalyScript

Float HealOffset
Float Timer

Begin ScriptEffectUpdate
       If GetAV Health <=20 && GetAV Health > 0 && Timer <= 0
               Set HealOffset to Player.GetAV DamageResist / 100
               Set HealOffset to 1 - HealOffset
               Set HealOffset to 400 * HealOffset
               Set HealOffset to HealOffset + 20
               Set Timer to 10
               RestoreAV Health HealOffset
               RestoreAV RadiationRads 9999
               PlaceAtMe DLC03NuclearAnomalyExplosion
       EndIf
       If Timer > 0
               Set Timer to Timer - GetSecondsPassed
       EndIf
End

A quick summary of the code for those that can't read it:

If player health is less then 20 and it has been 10 seconds since last explosion then

Restore health by 400 times the heal offset plus 20. The heal offset is equal to 1 minus the player's damage resistance divided by 100.
- For example, if your damage resistance is at 75 then the amount of health restored is going to be 120, and if your damage resistance is equal to 0 then the amount of health restored is 420. The player's health ingame only gets restored by 20 due to the damage taken because of the explosion (explained later).
After the player's health is restored, all the player's radiation is removed. This is where people seem to think that the explosion's power is based off the amount of rads the player has. This is false. If you have evidence to the contrary please show me, I would like to see.
The explosion effect is placed at the player.

The explosion itself is quite simple and has NO script effects.

Force: 450 (This is the variable that launches objects)
Damage: 400 (This one is pretty self-explanatory)
- Note: The reason your ingame health is restored by only 20 is because the player takes damage from this explosion too. If your damage resistance is 75 then you will take 100 damage from the explosion. You don't die because your health was restored by 120 before the explosion was activated. No matter what, the player's health is restored by 20.
Radius: 1200 (Area of effect)

All these numbers are pretty meaningless unless compared to something we have all seen, like a fatman explosion.

Force: 550
Damage: 1600
Radius: 800

A fatman explosion does 4 times more damage than the explosion created by Nuclear Anomaly. Nuclear Anomaly does have a 50% bigger range but honestly, I would prefer more damage.

--Orion9060 00:15, 15 May 2009 (UTC)

I'm not an expert on the GECK, but it looks like this won't do anything about limb damage. In personal testing, I've noticed that after the explosion I will regain the 20 HP, but frequently have new crippled limb effects (I'm testing by having the last bits of damage done by a radroach on Normal difficulty, so I doubt the attack itself is crippling me). Given that the idea is to be healed (a little) by the explosion, this seems worthy of a mention in the bugs section (maybe a quirk, not a bug). ShadowRanger 17:38, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

Does anyone know if i can use console commands to change the damage the explosion does?

Console commands cannot edit scripts. However, you can use/make a plugin to change the script itself. Rydiak 23:21, January 4, 2010 (UTC)

Just cleaned up the article[]

I just spent that last half-hour scourering GECK for all information on this ability. Orian9060's post is DEAD on. There is absolutely no increase to damage or radius from the level of radiation your character has. The only thing this ability does is calculate how much damage you will take from the 400 damage explosion, and subsequently heals you for that amount plus an additional 20 hp (to make sure you won't die from it). It then clears all of your RADs so you won't die to radiation poisoning from the huge 10 rad/sec irradiated zone it leaves behind.

In summary: Your RAD level does NOTHING to affect this ability. You are only healed for the amount of damage you will be taking. The explosion does 400 damage. I've removed all references to your radiation level affecting this ability because they are downright FALSE. Rydiak 16:05, 1 June 2009 (UTC)

Well, I plan to take it anyway. Here's why.[]

This is my fourth character, for crying out loud. I am sick to death of "Almost Perfect". Anyone else know what I mean?? Not that it's a bad perk, but I'm sick of limping through the whole game, intentionally passing up Bobbleheads, just to arrive at level 30 and get a "prefect" character... that I'm never going to play again. That's right, at level 30, my characters go in a backup savegame folder, and I start a new one in order to play the game differently. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who does this. Basically what I'm saying is this... the only other level 30 perk is Almost Perfect. But what is the point of raising your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attributes after the game is effectively over? I'm sure some people continue to play their characters after level 30, but I just can't bring myself to do it. Without being able to advance my character in any way, I just lose interest, y'know? SO. In order to make this perk actually FUN, which is all it's really meant to be, I'm going to do a few things: (1) dismiss my followers (except for Dogmeat, who will have 15,000 health by that time, thanks to the great Broken Steel bug, and even if Bethesda fixes the bug, I'll just make my doggy "essential") (2) take off all my armor so I won't have to worry about repairing it (or maybe just use the console to dress myself up in Pint-Sized Slasher mask); (3) take Nerd Rage! to make sure I can survive safely into the 20-health "sweet spot;" (4) take the perks Rad Resistance, Rad Tolerance, and Rad Absorption to make the after-effects of the blast less annoying; (5) set the game difficulty to Very Easy... I mean, why not, when you can't earn XP anyway? And lastly, (6) equip some stupid melee weapon that I would normally never use, like a Pool cue, and just charge willy-nilly into large groups of enemies, swinging my fists and/or nailboard or whatever, and going "YIYIYIYIYIYIYIYI!!!!" and then exploding. I honestly think that this is more or less how this perk was intended to be used. I could be wrong here, but I don't believe that anyone at Bethesda ever seriously thought that some hard-core level 30 player who likes to crank the difficulty all the way up, use the best armor and weapons available, and make maximum use of available cover, tactical positioning, sneak attacks, and consumables in order to have the absolute greatest possible edge in high-stakes combat, would actually choose (or benefit from) this perk. Put simply, this was not added to the game for the "min-maxers," the hard-core, or the people who take themselves or their Fallout characters way too seriously. (Like the person who complained that this perk was not realistic, even though the idea of completely recovering from two broken legs and a concussion by sleeping on a dirty mattress for an hour doesn't seem to phase anyone... come on, folks!) Just my two caps, that's all. I'm going to choose this perk, and by golly, I'm going to enjoy it. Or at least try to!12.204.48.130 08:36, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Ha! i love that€! you make this perk sound good,and fun,and you have a point...3 points...possibly more--JoeHanSon 08:46, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

-Fail. Almost perfect FTW. I would take a perk that makes me feel more accomplished [AP], rather than a perk that would fail more than it would actually work. WHY THE FUCK WOULD I SET IT TO VERY EASY JUST TO LET OFF A DAMN PERK? Rlly? i would like to be challenged by a game, rather than laugh at it for being so laughably weak. Who rlly aims to play a game on the lowest difficulty and feel good about it?

Didn't read a word, did you? SteveZombie 21:00, January 5, 2010 (UTC)

--At Level 30 you are a god. Hell, at level 20 you were already tougher then a coffin nail. Almost perfect is good, but it doesn't really expand gameplay.

I agree, I plan on taking this perk with my dumb-as-a-rock, collects shiney objects, jet addicted big guns character. She can't go from blowing up a corner of her house by shooting her live mine pile (she has no house theme... just several different piles of "shineys" and "explodies") and drinking the most irradiated water because it tastes "burny" to an INT of 9 and playing chess and having tea with Wadsworth. Exploding is just so much funnier. Useless, but funny. Snakewyvern 19:45, May 22, 2010 (UTC)

well..I tried this perk as well for testing (and hell, trying to make it as much fun as possible) and I have to say..im EXTREMLY dissapointed in it..usually by nature, I survive most things and tyhroughout the entire game, I didnt even drop to 20 at all (either I died or I just walked away from a fight and won)..its better to just have a FatMan and aim directly at your feet with a DR of 85 if you really want to have fun :/ seriously, this perk either needs a ton of fixing or just shouldnt be picked at all..epic fail of a perk indeed, while for the comments on Almost Perfect being SERIOUS..its a game, the perk itself is actually fun, Falcon Punching Obidiah and watching him explode/fly in backflips never ceases to amaze me XD (plus with 3 ranks to iron fist, its just pure fun) and finally I dont need to hunt down beer or buffout to increase my weight limit when Im already at the max, letting my mind settle for more easier things (like slicing trogs up or deathclaw-slash a mutant) so in reality?..Almost Perfect is just the way to go..

Who gets the kill?[]

If this perk goes off, who is credited for the kill? I'm making a pacifist character. No killing except those required by the main quest (the opening Radroach and the Super Mutants in the Jefferson Memorial). I figure since this is involuntary, it wouldn't violate the "ethics" of this character, but I'd also prefer to avoid showing any kills in the stats on my PipBoy. Will the resulting explosion be counted as kills for me in the stats? If not, I might even go so far as to play obsessively to get my level to 30 before clearing the Jefferson Memorial, thereby allowing me to "swear off killing" after my dad makes me kill a helpless radroach. :-) ShadowRanger 18:15, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

Follow-up. I've tested myself, and you do not appear to get credit for a kill caused by this perk. Of course, it doesn't matter all that much (since you've already hit the XP cap). ShadowRanger 17:33, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

...one question,how are you gonna get exp for that? i suppose hacking and lockpicking will get you to about lvl 6,assuming you put ALL points into those skills,and i suppose could do most of the damage then have a follower take em out--JoeHanSon 04:22, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

I won't "cheat" like that. No followers allowed, as I consider allowing them to kill on my behalf against the "rules." If I hire them and give them a gun, I'm responsible for what they do with it. On the subject of XP, you'd be surprised how much you can get. In a non-pacifist game I've picked open 300+ locks and hacked over 125 computers; with a 10% XP boost from staying Well Rested, and assuming they are mostly average difficulty, that's 425 * 44 XP = 18700 XP, 50 shy of what you need for 16th level. And since I don't need weapon perks, I sink a level or two into Swift Learner to rise even faster. And that's still ignoring exploration XP, scrap metal collection XP, and quest XP. I also get XP from the Operation:Anchorage sim. In the sim they're not real people, so I don't consider it killing. And although I don't get XP for the kills, I can swing the balance of the subsequent fight simply by pickpocketing all the ammo off the rebels; the fact that they turn on their (armed) leader without checking if they have ammo isn't my fault. :-) I had a pacifist character that I was playing shortly after the release of Operation:Anchorage and got him up to 10th or 11th level before I reached GNR. I would have probably boosted him close to 20, but a bug made both the Brotherhood and the Outcasts hate me (particularly annoying since I *know* I didn't kill any of them), which short-circuited that attempt. I intend to try again soon though. ShadowRanger 06:15, 11 July 2009 (UTC)

Shadow ranger, can you tell us all the POINT of being a pacifist in fallout 3? It was given the age rating it has for a reason and that reason is purely violence. Also, what do you do when traveling across the wasteland? When you are cornered? P.S. this isn't hate.

It's a roleplaying game. The point is to role play. I'd like to play the role of someone sickened by the violence in the world who refuses to add to it. Don't get me wrong, I also play other characters who rack up a significant body count, I just like to switch it up a bit for the sake of novelty. I should point out that it was possible to play a pacifist in Fallout 1 and 2 as well, and they weren't exactly E for Everyone either. The developers of the first two games believed that virtually any approach to the game should be supported and encouraged, and the pacifist approach was one of them. I was kind of disappointed that it wasn't supported in Fallout 3, but I'm hewing as close as possible. The idea is to try and find stealthy and persuasive ways to get around obstacles, rather than take the direct "blow 'em all to hell" approach. ShadowRanger 10:28, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Forgot to answer your other questions. One, traveling across the wasteland is done entirely in stealth mode, and I always take a high Perception (easy, since I don't need half the other stats if I'm not engaged in combat) so I usually see enemies before they could see me. You just have to play it careful until you get Silent Running and the Chinese Stealth Suit. And you're never really cornered. Worst case scenario, you run like hell (also easier without a weapon). For fast enemies that are sufficiently tough, I might use a dart gun to cripple their legs so I can get away, but I only do it if it won't kill them; it's bending the pacifism rules a bit, but since the goal is for both parties to survive, it could be justified. And of course, from a metagame perspective, you can always reload to before you were discovered. ShadowRanger 10:34, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

One last point: When I say "pacifist" I'm using it in the sense of "no deaths which I am directly or strongly indirectly responsible for," not stricter definitions where some actions (like using the dart gun to cripple legs in a strong enemy) would be off-limits. The line isn't perfectly clear, but some ground rules are:

1. I can't shoot anyone with the intention of killing them, or weakening them for someone else to kill.

2. I cannot acquire followers; as their leader, I'm responsible for their kills.

3. I cannot kill indirectly if the action would, following basic physical laws, lead to the death of the target. So no shooting cars next to enemies and killing them with the explosion.

4. I *can* kill indirectly through persuasion, hacking, etc. Showing the love note to Mrs. Wellington, convincing a computer system to self-destruct (trying to avoid spoilers), pickpocketing ammo off a group of people before they start a fight with another group, etc. Simple turrets are an issue: Am I allowed to turn on turrets after clearing targeting parameters? From the game point of view, the turret (and the targets) make the decision on who to fire on. But I knew exactly what would happen when I did it. Ah, moral dilemmas.

5. Deactivation != killing. I can use Robotics Expert to deactivate robots, but destroying them is off-limits. I'm a little torn on whether I should allow myself to destroy them; if they have no mind, it's harder to get self-righteous about it.

6. Killing is allowed in simulations if no real world person is killed. This allows you to play Operation: Anchorage and Tranquility Lane, though interestingly, it requires the Bad Karma path in the latter, since the Chinese Invasion sim kills people, but the Bad Karma actions don't.

Again, I personally have no moral qualms about it one way or another (though I suppose in real life I lean in favor of a certain amount of gun control). This is purely for roleplaying purposes, as well as the challenge of accomplishing it. A less stringent approach is to refuse to kill sentient beings. So animals, robots, and possibly even feral ghouls would be legitimate targets. I usually go with the more strict parameters, though I might make the occasional allowance for the purposes of a long quest. I have been known to fully test the mole rat repellent to finish the Wasteland Survival Guide. I could try and justify it as "it's supposed to repel, not kill, so there was no intent", but after the first couple heads explode, that's not a real convincing argument. ;-) My interest in Nuclear Anomaly is that it might allow for some limited deaths that I could not be blamed for: If my enemies were shooting me, and through no fault of my own, I explode, then I haven't broken my personal code. ShadowRanger 14:28, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

-Why would you seriously put that much effort into playing a game.....to not PLAY the game?

You arent Ghandi sir.

White Knights + Fallout = Cosmic alignment goes out of whack. AlbinoTitan 19:53, 29 July 2009 (UTC)

Who says he isn't playing the game? The great thing about Fallout 3 is that you can play it anyway you want. If he wants to play through the game without killing anyone, well, all the more power to him RudiganRex 09:08, September 18, 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the support. I think the FPS elements of the game make people assume it requires inordinate amounts of violence. I still fondly remember the first two games where they intentionally allowed for a pacifist playthrough, precisely because it is a role playing game and they wanted to let you play any role you felt like. I love Fallout 3, don't get me wrong, but I feel it lacks a little as far as full role playing breadth, as well as being a little shy on side quests to flesh out locales. -96.232.29.232 02:41, September 19, 2009 (UTC)

Will this perk allow you to complete all 5 DLC's without any kills???? (except Broken Steel, since you have to blow up either the enclave or brotherhood)

I would agree that this seems a little silly until I think back to planescape torment, where I did any roleplaying alternative just to give the game another play through. Seriously some of the things I did were almost out of the scope of what would be considered normal or even normal for a lunatic, yet I still did it. I have to say though, in this instance you must have a crap load of free time as it takes me 100-200 hours per play through and I could not imagine becomming so bored as to try this unless I played this game straight for years(planescape torment is exceedingly fast once you know all the quests). Anyone else keep a 32-bit computer around just to play old games?

The worst perk?[]

Unfortunatly I ~~think~~ know this to be the worst perk in Fallout 3. Why? First of all what is it supposed to do? Heal you once your health reaches 20 or below and kill everything around you. This effect doesn't work on hard difficulty or higher because the explosion kills you before the restore health part kicks in first. But when would you need this if you weren't playing on hard mode (or very hard for that matter)? So in my oppinion all this perk does is decrese better or more experienced player's playing on higher difficulty settings heath by 20. And the really tragic part of this all? Its a level 30 perk meaning its the last one you can take! Chaos ian7 16:36, March 8, 2010 (UTC)

This is to everyone complaining, not just you...DONT USE IT. It is a simple process. When you reach level 30 and the perk list comes up to pick one, do NOT press accept on it. I doubt it is even meant to be practical. Besides, at level 30, what more do you need to survive? This was clearly made for screwing around with. Hell I initially thought you did not survive it and was made so you can literally go out with a bang. Also, just because you are level 30, and there are perks only obtainable at level 30, does not mean you can ONLY get those. If you really wanted, you could get a perk from before even level 5 that you ignored if you were so inclined. Well,that concludes my counter-rant. Miumaru 21:02, April 13, 2010 (UTC)

I know where you are coming from, and yeah, you don't have to take it. However I am saying that its a level 30 perk and you should want to take it, and not want to avoid it. Chaos ian7 00:55, July 15, 2010 (UTC)