Chapter 46: Wide Selection

Selecting yes the perk screen popped into a split second later.

[ Perks ]

Perk Points Left: 36

Level 0 Perks

| Speed Loader | Requirements Level 0, Agility 6: Loading and reloading has never been better, gain the ability to load magazines at a substantially faster speed and see a decent increase to your reload speed. +50% to magazine loading speed and +35% to reloading speed.

Level 2 Perks

| Cat Eyes | Requirements Level 2, Perception 6, Stealth 30: Grants low light vision.

Level 6 Perks

| Nature Affinity Rank 2 | (Ranks 3) Requirements Level 6, Charisma 6, Survival 85: Your nature affinity will improve further and because of that animals and other such creatures will now find your presence pleasant. Last but not least, they are much more receptive to you and can understand you to an extent.

| Nature Affinity Rank 3 | (Ranks 3) Requirements Level 6, Charisma 6, Survival 85: Your nature affinity will improve even further causing animals and other such creatures to come to your aid in your time of need. On top of that, they are even more receptive to you and you also gain the ability to create a special type of bond with the creatures of nature. However, this bond can only be created between you and the desired creature when both of you trust each other entirely. Once a bond has been established between you and your companion, the two of you will be able to communicate telepathically with each other, no matter the distance between the two of you. Lastly, for every bond you establish, you gain a +1 to charisma.

Level 12 Perks

| Another Skill Talent | Requirements Level 12: Gain a fourth skill talent to distribute wherever you please.

| Iron Fist | Requirements Level 12, Endurance 6, Strength 6: Your fists will increase in hardness and strength and you gain +20% to unarmed damage.

Level 14 Perks

| Infiltrator | Requirements Level 14, Agility 4, Perception 7, Stealth 45: When you are infiltrating, you are harder to detect and you move 10% faster. On top of that, your stealth attacks do 35% more damage.

| Patcher | Requirements Level 14, Repair 45: Gain the ability to magically repair any item using random junk.

| Recipe Improvement | Requirements Level 14, Medicine 60: All aid, chemicals, and drugs you produce or use are twice as effective. +100% Aid, chemical, and drug positive effects and their duration.

| Smash & Bash | Requirements Level 14, Strength 3, Ballistic Weapons 50, Energy Weapons 50: +25% to ranged weapon bashing damage.

Level 16 Perks

| Commando | Requirements Level 16, Ballistic Weapons 35, Energy Weapons 35, Explosives 35, Melee Weapons 35, Unarmed 35: +25% Accuracy, +10 to energy weapons, +10 to explosives, +10 to melee, +10 to unarmed.

| Lady Killer | Requirements Level 16, Charisma 5: Deal 15% more damage against female opponents and gain similar benefits to the Sex Appeal trait when dealing with females.

| Man Killer | Requirements Level 16, Charisma 5: Deal 15% more damage against male opponents.

| That's A Lot Of Damage | Requirements Level 16, Luck 7: +50% critical hit damage.

Level 18 Perks

| Calculative Individual | Requirements Level 18, Science 70: Reduces all stamina costs by 20% and increases your calculation ability by 100%.

| Explosives Expert | (Ranks 5) Requirements Level 18, Perception 5, Explosives 50: +20% explosive damage.

| Lighter Load | Requirements Level 18: All weapons weighing 10 or more pounds will have their weight cut in half.

| Seasoned Soldier | (Ranks 5) Requirements Level 18, Agility 5, Intelligence 5, Perception 5: Gain many years of experience with all things firearms and their maintenance and the taste of your cooking is enhanced. +5 to both repair and ballistic weapons and +10% increase in both accuracy and range for ballistic weapons.

Level 20 Perks

| Assassin | Requirements Level 20, Melee Weapons 80, Stealth 80: When attacking a target unaware of your presence with a melee, unarmed, or thrown weapon, your crit chance is 100%. On top of that, stealth attacks deal 25% more damage.

| Quick Learner | Requirements Level 20, Intelligence 1: Gain experience rate equivalent to your level. For example, if you are level 5, your experience rate will increase by 5%.

| Ravager | Requirements Level 20: All kills restore some stamina and mental energy.

| Thick Headed | Requirements Level 20, Endurance 6: Your limbs are 15% harder to cripple and the effects of crippling are 50% less. The lower your intelligence, the higher the modifiers.

Level 22 Perks

| A Hunger For Knowledge | Requirements Level 22, Intelligence 4: Doubles the speed at which you can read and receive the ability to learn the entire contents of books by destroying them.

| Efficient Weapon Handling | Requirements Level 16, Strength 3: The stamina drain for weapon handling is reduced by half.

| Mutant Slayer | Requirements Level 22: Deal 25% more damage against mutants.

| Savage | Requirements Level 22, Survival 85: +20% DT when taking damage from mutated animals, mutated insects, and other such creatures and gain +25 to poison resistance.

Level 24 Perks

| Ammo Depot | Requirements Level 24, Strength 7: Ammo and magazine weight reduced by 40%

| Heavy Gunner | (Ranks 5) Requirements Level 24, Strength 8, Ballistic Weapons 50, Energy Weapons 50, Heavy Weapons 50: +20% Damage and +10% accuracy when using heavy ranged weapons.

| H.U.D. | Requirements Level 24: This perk grants you a customizable heads up display that you can use to visually track important information, such as your health and stamina, for example. You can even use it to track your nearest quest objective with a holographic line to show you the way. The H.U.D. and other elements can be toggled on and off freely on the fly. +2 Perception.

| Resource Hoarder | Requirements Level 24, Strength 10: Resource weight is reduced by 40%.

Level 26 Perks

| Bone Head | Requirements Level 26, Endurance 9: 50% Less likely to be knocked out.

| Child Of Light | Requirements Level 26: +1 to agility, endurance, strength, and gain 1 health per second when exposed to light.

| Computer Whiz | Requirements Level 26, Intelligence 8, Science 80: +100% to typing speed and gain the ability to basically perform magic on a computer.

| Tough Skeleton | Requirements Level 26: +50% to bone durability and strength.

Level 28 Perks

| Cautious | Requirements Level 28, Perception 6: When not moving, your senses are heightened and you gain +2 perception.

| Grand Slam | Requirements Level 28, Strength 9, Melee Weapons 90: When swinging at an adversary's head with a two-handed melee weapon deal 100% more damage if the swing lands on the desired location.

| Metal Detector | Requirements Level 28, Perception 8: Acquire the ability to sense metals you consider of value are within a 100 meter radius that increases by 100 meters for every point in perception after 1 perception.

| Outdoorsman | Requirements Level 28, Survival 45: Gain experience and knowledge of a man who has spent most of his life outdoors. Additionally, when outdoors, your perception and agility receive a boost of +1.

Level 30 Perks

| I Smell Ammo | Requirements Level 30, Luck 6, Perception 7: Gain the ability to detect nearby ammunition and find considerably more of it somehow.

| Mental Pressure | Requirements Level 30, Speech 50, Endurance 7, Strength 7: Your presence is intimidating and has the tendency to terrify. With the increase in your scary factor, you also gain the ability to control it and manipulate it however you like.

| Strong Back | Requirements Level 30, Strength 6, Endurance 6: +100 Carry weight.

| Tech Junkie | Requirements Level 30, Intelligence 10, Repair 100, Science 100: Gain immediate understanding of any technology when touched, no matter its origins.

Level 32 Perks

| Braced | Requirements Level 32, Strength 7: While bracing a weapon, any recoil you experience is significantly reduced. Furthermore, your weapon accuracy is raised by 20% and +10% DT when bracing.

| Leader Of The Pack | Requirements Level 32, Charisma 6: When in combat alongside your companions and your people, they deal 10% more damage.

| Penetrator | Requirements Level 32: Your attacks will have an added -15 DT once this perk is taken.

| Water Breathing | Requirements Level 32: Gain the ability to breathe underwater and no, you won't get gills.

Level 34 Perks

| Armor Smith | (Ranks 5) Requirements Level 34, Strength 8, Repair 100: All armors you've produced or modified are now 20% better across all parameters.

| Silent Steps | Requirements Level 34, Agility 8, Stealth 95: Your steps become silent and no longer produce sound and vibrations unless you wish to.

| Warrior | Requirements Level 34, Agility 7, Endurance 7, Strength 7, Melee Weapons 70, Unarmed 70: The attack speed of all your melee and unarmed attacks are increased by 50% alongside your damage with those two categories.

| Weapon Smith | (Ranks 5) Requirements Level 34, Strength 7, Intelligence 7, Repair 100: All weapons you've produced or modified are now 20% better in all parameters.

Level 36 Perks

| Great Sword Preference | Requirements Level 36, Strength 10, Heavy Weapons 40: Your strength in combination with your preference for using heavy melee weapons has unlocked the ability to exert your carry weight behind your swings. In addition, your damage output when using such weapons is increased by 25%

| Lead Foot | Requirements Level 36, Endurance 7, Strength 7: Any vehicle that you are in can go 25% faster and any damage you inflict with your legs and feet is now increased by 25% as well.

| Quick Hands | Requirements Level 36, Agility 8: Your hands can do everything they could before but at twice the speed.

| Sniper | Requirements Level 36, Ballistic Weapons 75: Gain a large amount of sniping experience and, whenever you are aiming at a head, gain a +25% to your headshot accuracy. Alongside that, when you land a headshot, the damage dealt to the target is increased by 35%.

Level 38 Perks

| Auto Loader | Requirements Level 38, Herculean Strength: Any weapons you store in your item box are reloaded after a certain period. However, for this ability to function you are required to have the ammo stored in your item box.

| Commander | Requirements Level 38, Charisma 8, Speech 80: You gain exceptional leadership skills and charisma to match. Besides that, you will have a much easier time persuading others to join under you much more easily, and finally a +10% to all damage done by all forces under your command.

| Death From Above | Requirements Level 38, Ballistic Weapons 75, Energy Weapons 75: +50% More damage dealt when dealing damage above a target.

| Death Sense | Requirements Level 38, Perception 10: You've gained the unique and incredibly useful ability to sense when life-threatening danger is near. +2 to Perception.

Level 40 Perks

| Healer | Requirements Level 40, Intelligence 8, Medicine 85: +25% More effective healing.

| Regeneration | Requirements Level 40, Endurance 10: This perk grants you the unnatural ability to regenerate, so if you lose a limb or just want to rid yourself of some old scars, then man is this the perk for you. +100% to health regeneration rate.

| Pain Resistance | Requirements Level 40, Endurance 10: Acquire the ability to deal with an incredible amount of pain with little to no effort while also gaining a +5 to DT along with a +2 to endurance.

| Tech Scav | Requirements Level 40: When salvaging robots and other electronics and technology, you have a very high likelihood of looting mostly intact components.

Level 42 Perks

| Combat Medic | Requirements Level 42, Medicine 35: The speed at which you do anything medical-related is increased by 20%.

| Eagle Eye | Requirements Level 42, Perception 8: You've gained the ability to see out to extreme distances. This ability grows stronger the higher your perception.

| Leave Nothing Behind | Requirements Level 42, Strength 6, Endurance 6: +1,000 to carry weight.

| Terminator | Requirements Level 42: Gain the ability to seamlessly drive and shoot accurately at the same time.

Level 44 Perks

| Gatling Gun Specialist | Level 44, Strength 10, Ballistic Weapons 80, Energy Weapons 80: All gatling-style weapons gain a +25% damage increase and can no longer overheat.

| Human Warehouse | Requirements Level 44: You gain +100% carry weight.

| Pleasure | Requirements Level 44: You've gained the ability to induce pleasure in others via touch. Can be controlled at will as well as being able to control how strong the pleasure felt is.

| Travel Heavy | Requirements Level 44, Survival 90: While wearing heavy armor, your movement speed is increased by 15% and your DT is raised by 3.

Level 46 Perks

| Flame Resistant | Requirements Level 46, Endurance 8: +25 Fire resistance.

| Ghost | Requirements Level 46, Stealth 100: While you're surrounded by darkness, you can phase through objects for 10 minutes each day. The duration of this perk increases in duration by 1 minute for every 10 points in stealth beyond 100.

| Second Wind | Requirements Level 46, Endurance 10: If your health reaches 1 or lower, it will restore back to full but this can only happen once a month and that cooldown is lowered by 1 day for every 10 points of endurance you have beyond 10. This ability's cooldown is capped at 1 day which will happen at 300 endurance.

| Venom Resistance | Requirements Level 46, Endurance 5: +25 Poison resistance.

Level 48 Perks

| Human Smelter | Requirements Level 48: Obtain the ability to smelt any ore or metal that is in your inventory instantly and +1,000 to carry capacity.

| Ice Resistant | Requirements Level 48, Endurance 8: +25 Ice resistance.

| Leapfrog | Requirements Level 48, Agility 10: Your jump height is doubled and you gain the ability to double jump somehow.

| Tank Commander | Requirements Level 48, Intelligence 9: You've gained intrinsic knowledge of how to best command and use heavy armor, as well as a multitude of different strategies and tactics to use for varying scenarios. +25% to armor, maximum speed, and damage output of all of your heavy armor units and forces. This perk affects all things that are considered heavily armored such as heavy tanks, power armor, heavy class personal armor, warships that are heavily armored for their class, armored gunships, etc. Adding on to that, if you are wearing heavy armor and or piloting a craft that is within the specified category these benefits apply to you too.

Damn, there are a ton of new perks, and from the brief look I had of them, I know I'm going to have a tough time deciding which of them I want over the others. On the other hand, there are a number of them that are pretty much worthless to me, such as Patcher, for instance. Reason being I already possess a perk that basically has the same effect, though that one requires time to accomplish the same thing.

Finished thinking about that, I returned to the beginning of the long list of the perks and started carefully weighing the positives and negatives of each one of them and whether it was worth taking it over the many other options I had laying right in front of me.

Starting with the level 0 perks, I'm going to pick up Speed Loader first since it will be very useful for reloading any weapons that take a pretty long time to reload, such as my Carl Gustaf and minigun.

Imagining myself reloading a recoilless rifle with lightning quick speed, I continued on down the list and picked up Cat Eyes, so in the unlikely event my equipment was damaged or disabled at night or in a low light environment I would still possess the ability to see. After that, I took a moment to inspect the level 4 perks before quickly moving onto the level 6 perks because none of the level 4 perks stood out as something I absolutely had to have.

I have that egg I'm going to be raising, thus it would be wise to grab the two remaining ranks of Nature Affinity, so the little guy and I start off on the best foot possible when it someday hatches.

Spending two points easily, I continued scanning down the list until the level 12 perks where I picked up Another Skill Talent for obvious reasons and Iron Fist because having a fist as hard as iron sounded pretty legit. Moving right along from there, I arrived at the level 14 perks.

Infiltrator wouldn't be a bad choice, but I don't see it being all that useful to me at this given moment. That said, I'll keep it in the back of mind and pick it up if I have some points left over. Recipe Improvement, in contrast, is a must have since it will enhance the effects of whatever chems, drugs, and aid items I use and produce.

That perk will increase my gains by a huge amount and provide innumerable benefits to myself and those I give my products to, and if I want, I can take advantage of the enhanced effects of my products, making all other pharmaceuticals produced by others irrelevant.

Taking that perk, I looked to the level 16 perks and picked up Lady Killer simply for the extra charm it will provide me when dealing with the fairer sex. Besides that, I also acquired That's A Lot Of Damage for the huge damage boost it will give my critical hits.

A 20% reduction to all stamina costs and a doubling of my calculation sounds pretty legit, so I'll add Calculative Individual to my perk selection. Lighter Load will cut my primary weapons' weights in half, thereby allowing me to carry a hell of a lot more shit wherever I go.

Taking that perk as well, I moved on to the level 20 perks. Although, not before taking note of Seasoned Soldier, food can never taste too good.

Yeah, I'm 100% taking Assassin, a guaranteed critical strike isn't something I can pass on. And to go along with that pick, I'm going to grab Quick Learner for the increased experience rate it provides that increases with each new level up and Ravager which will keep me fighting for longer if not in the fight till I run out of enemies to slaughter.

Done having my pick of the level 20 perks, I proceeded to the level 22 perks.

A Hunger For Knowledge would have been super useful back when I was undergoing my study and knowledge acquisition arc, but that is long over with, so the extra boost to my reading isn't all that worthwhile for me any longer. As for the other perks, I'll pick up Efficient Weapon Handling because I can never have enough stamina and Savage for the poison resistance it provides, though the additional 20% DT is nice too.

The level 24 perks aren't bad per se, however there are better options ahead, hence I'll pass on these for now and look at the level 26 ones instead... These four are a hell of a lot more useful to me, Bone Head will make it harder for me to be knocked out which is something I'd rather avoid especially in the wasteland since if I get knocked there's a good chance I won't be waking up. 

I don't necessarily need Child Of Light, but the perk will increase my health regeneration substantially, which in turn will cause my body and physical attributes to improve much faster from training. Additionally, since all it takes for it to be active is for me to be exposed to light, I'll be able to take advantage of its effects nearly all the time.

Computer Whiz is a new perk that wasn't in any of the three games and the +100% typing speed will be useful for programming, research, hacking the last of which isn't something I really need to do any longer now that I have Mechanical Domination, and its other effect has me intrigued, so why not. As for the fourth perk Tough Skeleton, I'm taking it over other perks because I want tougher and stronger bones, I didn't break any bones in the entirety of my previous life and I don't plan on letting it happen in this life if I can help it.

With all four of level 26 perks selected, I looked at the level 28 perks next to see if there were any of them I wanted to add to my current selection.

They're all great perks in their own right, but I've already spent more than half of the perk points I have available. So I'm going to need to start being frugal with how I invest the rest of my points and out of the four perks here, Metal Detector is hands down the most useful and valuable to me, given my current life circumstances.

Thus, with that decided, let me check out the next four... None of these stand out as something I gotta have. I'll for sure take Tech Junkie in the future since it will be extraordinarily useful when I someday raid Area 51 but if I were to take it now, it would be essentially useless to me seeing as there isn't a single piece of human tech within the confines of this undercity that I do not understand.

Selecting that lone perk, I began inspecting the level 32 perks and out of the four; I ended up going with Braced simply due to the defense boost it gives me whenever I'm in combat and Leader Of The Pack because of the 10% damage increase it will give all of my comrades when fighting alongside me.

When that bonus is applied one day to the many, many thousands of robots I plan building, let's just say I don't think anyone would want to be on the receiving end of their weapons, including myself.

Of the level 34 perks I would love to have all four, particularly Armor Smith and Weapon Smith however seeing as I how my combat phase will basically be nil for the next several years it's kind of pointless to invest in skills that won't be able to really prove their worth till the day I leave the undercity for the wasteland.

I could say the same for the other combat perks I've taken up to this point but they aren't just providing a 20% increase and will increase my combat power by a very substantial amount like in the case of Assassin with its ability to guarantee a critical strike. And since I've selected perks such as Assassin, it would only make sense to take Warrior as well, since it will further empower my previous choices.

Done there, I moved my focus to the level 36 perks and saw two that immediately stood out to me.

Gotta have quick hands, doubling the speed of my hands is just too good to pass on and Sniper will make hitting headshots easier and increase the already high damage I inflict when normally targeting someone's head, twenty-six perk points ten more left to spend.

All of level 38's perks are great, but I'm going to have to go with Commander for the damage upgrade it will provide to all my forces. Death Sense is another perk I can't skip, there ain't no way I can pass on having a sixth sense that will warn me of danger.

Continuing onto the next four perks, we got Healer, Regeneration, Pain Resistance, and Tech Scav. They're all decent perks, Healer would be a great perk to have in my arsenal for when I'm dispensing aid to others and myself and because it raises effective healing, it would speed up my body's regeneration.

In turn, lessening the time needed for my body to repair all the damage I deal to it every day from my daily workout and training regime that sometimes occurs multiple times a day depending on how much spare time I got.

However, when compared to Regeneration, it just can't compete and as much as I would like to add it to my picks, I think I would be better off spending the point elsewhere on a different perk. As for Tech Scav, it's entirely useless to me at this time since I'm almost entirely producing my own equipment and parts and doing next to no salvaging.

Ignoring that perk, I can't possibly do the same with Pain Resistance. The extreme pain I'm going to face in a short while from now is going to be the worst of yet with how many level ups I'm doing in one spurt. Hence, it would be wise to take advantage of everything I can to lessen the amount of suffering I have to go through.

Allotting a point for each of those two perks, I turned my sights to the proceeding four.

Eagle Eye would allow me to spot foes from an extraordinarily long ways out, thereby increasing my survivability. In addition to that it would be useful for doing precision work and will be of help with long range shooting. So I'll add it to the list and while I'm at it, I'll do the same for Leave Nothing Behind, an extra 1,000 carry weight is too good to pass on. 

I could've taken either Ammo Depot instead, but an extra 1,000 carry weight is just simply better at this time, although that won't remain the case forever when I'm one day carrying a literal ammo depot around with me wherever I travel.

Proceeding to the level 44 perks, I looked at the bunch of them and quickly deduced which of them I wanted.

Yeah, I have to have Human Warehouse, doubling my carry weight will allow me to carry so much more. Aside from that, I'll take Pleasure, to make Alice's first time enjoyable though that won't be happening for another seven years. However, in the meantime I can use it in the massages I give her after our workouts and training and whenever she requests them.

Hmm, I'm not too sure about this but I could probably use it as a torture method and for extracting information from said victims. Although there is only one gender I would be willing to use it on because there is no way I'd be participating in edging another man. Moving onto the next perks, I'm going to grab Ghost because why wouldn't want to phase through walls and shit.

Together with that perk, I'm going to select Second Wind, for the simple fact that it's a lifesaver and a major trump card to have in my back pocket. Although I have no plan on using it nor putting myself in the kind of situation where it kicks in since that's more than likely a death sentence but it's nice to know I have something to rely upon if shit ever hits the fan and becomes that desperate.

Finally, I've arrived at the last four new perks, let's see if any of them are worth replacing any of the previous perks I've already selected.

I want Tank Commander, however I don't know whether it will affect any of my robots. I consider them all heavily armored, but I don't know if the perk will or not, so it's kind of iffy. That said, I think the benefits outweigh the concerns I have and if the robots I possess are considered heavy duty enough, I can always modify their pre-existing designs and up armor them until they qualify. Now what perk should be swapped out for it...

I'm not going to be doing any sort of killing anytime soon let alone be seeing combat so I'll remove Ravager from my list and while I'm at it I'm going to replace Leave Nothing Behind with Human Smelter since it does the same thing and also gives me the ability to smelt and refine resources in my inventory. Probably won't really use since I have two not so small arc furnaces already, regardless it won't hurt to have.

All 36 of my perks points allocated, I started exploring the large, growing perk list in front of me to see if I wanted to modify my current selection of candidates.

...

I've looked back over the whole list of perks multiple times now and overall, I'm satisfied with what I've chosen. That said, I wish I had more perk points at my disposal to spend since there are a ton of perks I wish I could've taken... There's no point thinking about this further when I could be better spending my time completing this level up and getting back to the grind and continuing to progress towards my lofty goals.

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