Wasteland Diaries: Fansites

Finding your way through Fallen Earth can be daunting at times, but there is help out there. Sometimes the people in the game might not be the most knowledgeable or helpful lot. I said sometimes. Luckily for us, even though Fallen Earth has a relatively small community, it is populated with knowledgeable and helpful people. If something has you stumped, and you just can't seem to find anyone in-game that can help you, there are alternatives. Most of your simple problems can be solved in the help channel by a HazMat Team member or by other players in region chat.

Some of your more complex problems may require a bit of research. Researching can be quite fruitless if you don't know where to look. After the cut, I'll give you several resources that you should bookmark immediately if you haven't already. Some of these resources are more up-to-date than others, but even out-dated information is still better than nothing.

Before leaving the game you should type "/support" in the chat bar and check the Knowledge Base on the in-game browser. You may find your answer there. But the Knowledge Base is a work-in-progress and will not always suffice. The Knowledge Base can also be accessed in a regular browser outside the game, if need be. It has quite a few cool articles including a step-by-step walkthrough for building your first ATV and a map of all the gas stations in Sector 1.

The forums
While you may not get an immediate answer to your question, you will get an answer eventually. The official forums are a good place to start on the quest for information. It's best to use the search function before starting a thread, because odds are, it's been discussed already. There is a ton of good information on the forums, but only a small percentage of the game's player-base actually uses those forums (like most MMOs). If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of the community and occasionally hear from the developers, the official forums are the place to do so.

GlobalTech Atlas
If you still don't have a solution to your problem, you will need to resort to using fan sites. The most popular and well-known fan site is GlobalTech Atlas. The atlas hosts the single-most valuable and indispensable tool ever created by Fallen Earth fans. That tool is the Character Planner. This tool will allow you to spend all of your AP without totally destroying your in-game character. There are no more respecs being given out at this time, so plan accordingly. The atlas also hosts the GlobalTech Database. This is a user-maintained game item database that includes vehicles and merchants (and what they have in stock). If you need to know whether you can buy scrap rubber in Boneclaw or not, check the database before you ride all the way there. Best of all, if you feel like it, you can help add data to it. There is another item database that doesn't seem as comprehensive called the Fallen Earth Crafter's Almanac, but it does appear to be a work-in-progress. The atlas itself has a lot of useful maps, as well as a large assortment of other information. While some of its guides aren't the best, there's a multitude of them. In some instances it is the place to go. For example, it has an up-to-date list of events, a list of books you can get for free as mission rewards and even a list of all the emotes in the game. It would be worth your while to check it out. There is a wealth of information there.

Broken Future
Broken Future is an up-and-coming site that is also a compendium of helpful information. While it isn't a replacement for GlobalTech Atlas, it has some interesting material to digest. It's a good resource for new players and has a lot of information on the basics of the game. Although most of the information on the site is centered around Sector 1, the site seems to be regularly updated, and I'm sure it will eventually be expanded to cover the entire Grand Canyon Province. Bookmark it.

Hamthrax Wiki
This Wiki has a few interesting articles. This site has some very good maps. It has, as far as I know, the only faction camp maps available. These maps are indispensable if you need to grind faction -- unless you are at or near max level, in which case you should be killing the veteran faction mobs in Deadfall. They drop great loot, and 500 faction per mission isn't too shabby, either. The site also has maps that show the locations of several hard-to-find spots that are not marked on the in-game maps.

FE Wasteland
While this site isn't the greatest resource, it does host an interesting and helpful tool.That tool is the Wasteland Cartographer application. We are only allowed 100 custom waypoints per character. This tool removes that limitation and allows for better organization of all waypoints. The import/export function enables you to switch out waypoints that are no longer needed for new ones. The site also has the most simplified and easy-to-understand crafting tutorial I have yet to see.

TAOWiki
This Wiki, maintained by the Lightbearer clan TAO (The Awakened Order) has dozens of helpful articles. The site claims to be the biggest Fallen Earth Wiki out there, and who am I to argue?

Suspicious Cheese Wiki
This Wiki, maintained by the CHOTA clan Suspicious Cheese, has a variety of useful information. It also boasts the most comprehensive and up-to-date list of bonus AP missions. This wiki is indispensable if you are the type to hunt down every single AP out there. I'm not that type. Enjoy your hunt.

Fallen Earth Roleplayers Haven
This site is the hub of activity in the Fallen Earth RP community. If you are a roleplayer, you should visit it regularly. I'm not one to engage in any type of roleplay beyond very light RP, but if I were, I'd frequent this site. I only wish the PvPers could get it together like this. *sigh*

There are a lot of other fan sites out there, and I have really only covered the most useful resources. Many of the great sites I haven't mentioned are more entertainment-based and the goal of this post was to showcase the informational resources available to us. I'd like to personally thank each and every person who has contributed to any Fallen Earth fan site, ever. See you next week.