Wasteland Diaries: Free ride
The Grand Canyon Province is where Fallen Earth is set. It is a vast place, and the public transit system is completely obliterated. Most of the towns are separated by kilometers, so walking (or running) from place to place would be sheer folly. Luckily there are alternatives to walking. If you've played Fallen Earth for any length of time, you probably know what I'm getting at. Transportation in the Grand Canyon can cost next to nothing once you get it figured out.
The goal of this post will be to get a new player up and running in the wasteland. Actually, up and driving and/or riding, rather. Once you know what to do, getting around is practically free. There are a number of ways to get yourself a better ride. Some of them involve a bit of work in-game and a good deal of time (mostly while you are offline). But there are shortcuts if your goal is to be tearing up the highways of Fallen Earth on a motorcycle as soon as possible. After the cut, I'll give you a step-by-step method of providing yourself with better transportation right up until you have a bike.
When you emerge from the LifeNet pod as a brand-new clone, you will have a pair of LifeNet-issue shoes. You may have chosen to start the game without shoes. It is an option, after all. Those shoes (or your feet) are your means of transportation. There are better options, though, the first of which is the Old Nag. If you complete the quest line that starts in the cloner (aka the extended tutorial) you will achieve level 2 and be awarded the Old Nag at some point. The Old Nag is much better than running, but it is terribly inefficient and costs too much to feed. Upgrading to a better horse should be your immediate goal.
Your first task will be to locate a nature trainer. The trainer will have various books that teach nature-related skills. The book that you will need is called Horse Training 1. Once you use the book, you will have that tradeskill knowledge and will be able to "craft" (essentially train) horses. If you are having trouble finding a nature trainer, turn on your overhead strategic map and mouse over the merchant icons to find one. They are usually near the local nature facility, which will show up on the map as a leaf icon.
The next couple of items you will need can be purchased from the horse merchant. These guys can be found at any garage. Garages are usually located near the outskirts of towns, and there is usually one near each cloning facility. Again, if you are having trouble finding one, use the overhead map and look for a horseshoe or a gas can icon. Once you find the horse trader, you must buy an Animal Training Kit. You will also need an Untrained Horse, which you can purchase from the trader as well. You will also need some scrap leather (you can get that from any animal hide or buy it from the armorcrafting merchant) and some horsefeed (which you can get at the garage from the fuel and feed merchant).
Once you've gathered up all this stuff, start crafting it. It should take about five minutes to craft the bridle. After it's done, simply use it to spawn your new horse. Before you do, make sure to send the Old Nag to the glue factory in the sky, or just park it with the stable manager. That's all there is to it. Now you have a new horse, one that still needs food, but not as much. It will regain stamina much faster than the Old Nag when at rest and will go farther on each bag. You can also use Fortify (a First Aid skill to increase its stamina regeneration) on it.
If all of this seems like way too much work, hopefully you got the ATV code when you bought the game. The ATV code can be redeemed by typing "/key" into the chat window. A dialog box will pop up, and you simply enter the code in there. This will deposit a key into your inventory. Use the key to spawn the ATV. Remember: Since you can only have one vehicle active at a time, get rid of the Old Nag first. The Fallen Earth ATV is a decent vehicle and should carry you until you finish your motorcycle. Gas can be rather expensive, but the ATV starts out with a full tank.
If you want to reach your goal even sooner, you can simply buy yourself a Badland Rider from the Fallen Earth store and be done with it. It is a nice motorcycle and will serve you well until you acquire an interceptor -- or until you get a high-end dune buggy. Some veteran players swear by their dune buggies.
Either way, if you've come this far, you are no longer on foot and you have something better than the Old Nag. Now you will have to undertake a series of quests that will lead you to five different towns. This knowledge will teach you how to make each individual part of an ATV (and motorcycle). The final knowledge that you will learn will be the ATV knowledge. This will allow you to assemble the parts into a functional vehicle.
The first place you should go is to Embry Crossroads. It should be noted that you should be at least level 5 before you start this series of quests. You should also do some of the other quests as you visit each town. ATV parts take hours to complete, so you'll have time to kill. In Embry you will learn how to construct the frame. You should begin construction as soon as you have the materials, because it will take a few hours. The clock will tick while you are logged off, and if you do log off, you should do so in a science facility to increase your efficiency. By the way: The scavenger camp near Embry is a good place to scavenge steel.
Your next stop should be Odenville. Here, you will learn how to make an ATV control system. You may want to finish some quests and gain a few levels before venturing on to Oilville. Oilville is where you will learn the basics of an internal combustion engine. This mission chain is long, but in the end you'll have learned an important knowledge. I should also mention that all of these quests will give you bonus AP as well.
Next you will go to Kingman. This is where you will learn how to make tires. This quest is not easy to do alone at the lower levels, so if you aren't able to do it, don't be afraid to ask for help. While in town, see if you can join a group that's running through the prison. It will be worth your while. Then, it's on to Pass Chris. This is where all of your previous knowledge will culminate in a finished product. You will learn how to assemble it.
Once you have crafted it, you will receive a key in your pack. You use the key to spawn the vehicle. But if you already have the ATV or a motorcycle, don't use it. You will need an ATV key to complete your motorcycle research. You'll need a pretty high Science skill to research motorcycles, so if need be, make gunpowder to increase it. Once the motorcycle research is complete, you can build that just like you did with the ATV. Later, you will learn to construct alternate fuel versions (like biodiesel and electric) and motorcycles with more cargo space. You'll want a faster motorcycle, but that's not an option; they all go the same speed.
Once you have a motorcycle, you'll be set until you can get yourself an Interceptor. You'll need to be at least level 26 to drive one, and even higher level if your Dexterity isn't maxed out. I've seen Interceptors for sale as cheaply as 12 red chips lately, so now is a good time to get one. If I see you in the wasteland and you're walking... I'll just shake my head and keep on driving. See you next week.
Ed Marshall has been playing Fallen Earth since beta and leads the KAOS clan. Wasteland Diaries is his weekly column that covers all aspects of Fallen Earth: PvE, RP and PvP. To contact Ed, send an email to edward@massively.com, find him on the official forums as Casey Royer, or hunt him down in the wastelands as Nufan, Original, Death Incarnate, and Knuckles Mcsquee.
