Bethesda will punish unfriendly players in Fallout 76

Players who attack other Fallout 76 players for no reason will be severely punished by developer Bethesda Games Studios. They become temporarily known as wanted murderers, after which everyone can see them on the map.

In a Q&A session at QuakeCon 2018, Bethesda Game Studios explained Fallout 76, the online version of Fallout that should be released in November. In Fallout 76, every person walking around in the game is a different player. This means that there is the possibility to work together with other players, but also to attack each other. Game director Todd Howard explained in the question session that the team does not want to completely prevent this, but does want to punish. Players can duel each other, but if a player does not want to duel and is attacked anyway, the attacker is severely punished. If the player who does not want to fight is killed by the other, the attacker will be listed as a wanted murderer.

The killer is going to have a hard time, Howard says. He gets no reward for his kill and thus gains nothing with it. However, he does run a great risk. The player will temporarily appear as a red dot on the map of all other players, so that everyone can see where the player is. In addition, a reward is placed on the killer’s head, which is paid from the killer’s money supply.

Howard also explained what happens when a player dies in the game. The player then loses the Junk he is carrying. No money or other valuable items, just the Junk. That Junk remains in place when the player respawns. The Junk can be picked up by all players. For that reason, there are many points in the game world where players can store their collected Junk. You can respawn near the body and at Vault 76, the starting point of the game. There it is free. Players can also respawn in other places, but it costs money.

Howard also explained how the in-game top-up system works. It’s still based on Special, with Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck sections. Players earn certain playing cards while playing the game. As players level up, they can then award points to each of the Special categories and the number of points determines how many of the earned playing cards they can place in that category. Playing cards can also be combined to produce a stronger variant of that card.