Fallout 4 tips and tricks: your guide to surviving the Wasteland

The highly anticipated Fallout 4 has arrived on PC, PS4 and Xbox One, and thousands of gamers will be leaving the comfort of their nuclear war-proof vaults to explore the irradiated wasteland in search of adventure, valuable materials and death. Lots of death.

As with any decent post-apocalyptic world, the wasteland of Fallout 4 is full of danger, from the deranged remnants of humankind to terrifying monstrosities such as Super Mutants and Deathclaws.

While wandering the crumbling world of Fallout 4 it's incredibly easy to meet a rather nasty end, so we've gathered together the best Fallout 4 tips to help you survive.

For even more excellent tips for surviving the wasteland of Fallout 4, make sure you check out our video below as well.

Fallout 4 is an RPG (Role Playing Game) which means you can shape the character you're playing as by choosing various skills they can specialise in. At the beginning of the game you get to choose which attributes your character has, and your choices here can radically alter the way you play Fallout 4.

In Fallout 4 the attributes are referred to as S.P.E.C.I.A.L which stands for

• Strength
• Perception
• Endurance
• Charisma
• Intelligence
• Agility
• Luck

Read on to find out how each skill can help you survive the harsh world of Fallout 4.

This measures how physically strong your character is, and the higher this number is, the more damage you can do when in melee combat.

The more strength you have the more you're able to carry as well, which is handy for hoarders who just have to pick up everything they find.

The higher your character's perception is, the better their environmental and situational awareness is. This makes them more accurate when using V.A.T.S (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System) in firefights with enemies.

It also makes breaking into things with lockpicks, as well as stealing items and pickpocketing people, a lot easier.

This is one of the most important skills for surviving the wasteland. It relates to how fit your character is, and the higher the endurance, the more health you'll have.

It also reduces damage sustained in fights as well as staving off radiation poisoning. You'll also be able to run for longer if you're feeling a little overwhelmed. This makes Endurance an excellent skill to focus on if you want better odds at surviving.

The more charisma your character has, the better they are at negotiating with other people. This could mean talking yourself out of a fight, or getting a better bargain when shopping.

It works on some animals as well, convincing them to fight alongside you. It can also help prevent you getting addicted to alcohol and drugs in Fallout 4.

Like most RPGs, in Fallout 4 Experience Points (XP) are the lifeblood of the game, with every successful kill, mission and other tasks awarding you XP – and the more XP you have, the higher level your character will attain, making them more powerful.

The intelligence skill helps you earn more XP, as well as allowing them to craft more complex weapons.

The higher your agility score the better you'll be at dodging enemy attacks. You'll also be better at stealth, so if you prefer the sneaky sneaky, stabby stabby, method of gameplay in Fallout 4, make sure you boost your character's Agility score.

A high Luck score can help improve your chances of survival in Fallout 4. It can boost how likely you are to perform critical hits on enemies, which makes fighting them a lot easier.

It'll also make finding rare items easier as well, making the wasteland a veritable (yet still dangerous) treasure chest.

Each skill has its own perks which can further boost your character. As you gain XP throughout the game you'll level up – and each time you do you'll get a choice of what perk to choose from. There are 70 perks in Fallout 4, but you won't be able to use them all in one play through, so choose wisely.

Furthermore, each perk has a number of ranks, so you can focus on improving certain perks as you progress, which will again alter the way you play Fallout 4.

For example the Strength ability comes with perks such as Iron Fist (which boosts you unarmed attacks), Heavy Gunner (which raises the damage caused by your heavy firearm weapons) and Strong Back (which allows you to carry more items).

Meanwhile the Charisma skill gets perks such as Animal Friend and Wasteland Whisperer (which makes wild animals cease to attack you, and in later ranks allows you to issue commands to them) and Intimidation, which pacifies human enemies, and even allows you to tell them what to do.

By getting to know which perks you're going to improve, you can shape your Fallout 4 character to the playstyle that best suits you.

The world of Fallout 4 is tough and it's likely that no matter how good a player you are, at some point you're going to die. To minimise the frustration after meeting a sticky end and having to retrace your steps, make sure you get into the habit of quick saving often.

The quick save feature is easily accessible from the options menu, making the process of saving your progress nice and speedy – so it won't interrupt your gaming session too much.

It's also worth keeping at least three save files while you play, and overwrite the oldest save with your newest save. By keeping the save files in rotation it means that if you encounter a game breaking bug (sadly to be expected in big open world games), or you accidentally save just before an unwinnable battle or after a bad choice, you can hop back to a slightly older save to get you out of trouble without losing too much progress.

Throughout Fallout 4 you'll meet characters who can fight by your side. As you travel the world together you'll find out more about your companions and (hopefully) bond. The better you get on with your companion, the better they will fight alongside you – and it will also open up unique missions.

Each companion has their own strengths and weaknesses, so make sure you choose wisely when you're gathering up a posse, otherwise you could end up getting frustrated with constantly having to revive your sidekicks.

You can also dismiss your current companions. When you do that they will walk to a settlement you select, and if you want to enlist their help again you'll need to travel to the settlement to find them.

Because your companions aren't highlighted on the map you'll need to remember where you sent them – so it's a good idea to pick one settlement and send them all there. The wasteland in Fallout 4 is huge, so you don't want to lose your new friends!

Fallout 4 is a great game and it's likely to consume your life for quite a while. So why fight it? The Fallout 4 Pip-Boy app is out for Apple and Android devices and turns your smartphone into the iconic Pip-Boy system from the Fallout games.

It means even when you're not playing Fallout 4 you can check in on your status, inventory, map and radio while out and about.

Even if you're sat in front of your TV, it can act as a useful second screen while you're playing - helping you to keep one step ahead of your enemies in the wasteland.

It also comes with mini games to keep you in the spirit, and if you're lucky enough to have the Fallout 4 Pip-Boy Edition with a physical Pip-Boy gadget, you can insert your phone to make it fully operational.

Surviving the apocalypse has never been this much fun.

• For more Fallout 4 tips don't forget to check out our video