Fallout 2 Power Armor at Game Start - Make a Run to Navarro and Loot the Enclave.

Fallout 2 Power Armor at Game Start - Make a Run to Navarro and Loot the Enclave.
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Fallout 2 Power Armor - Start the Game in Enclave Digs

A beloved classic among RPG fans, Fallout 2 boasts immense replayability even after over ten years on the market. Perhaps the only part of the game that can falter a bit over several replays is the first few character levels achieved after game start.

Hunting mole rats in Klamath to get up to a decent character level is hardly entertaining. Many of the updates and modifications to Fallout 2 focus on graphics upgrades. However, there are walkthroughs for Fallout 2 available to help speed matters up a bit at the game’s beginning. Completing the Navarro run allows early access to one of the most powerful armor classes available in Fallout 2: power armor - and a few thousand experience points if so desired.

A disclaimer prior to continuing: spoilers are definitely possible as a part of this guide, and the game will be significantly less difficult once the player’s avatar is suited up in the Enclave Mark II armor. Weapons are also available alongside the power armor that will make combat exceptionally easy. Couple these boosts in hardware with the experience points that can be garnered during an early game dash to Navarro and players can effectively begin the story with a level 8 character fully trained in the use of energy weapons and equipped with a plasma rifle. It is definitely worth thinking carefully about before starting, especially if you’ve never played Fallout 2 through before or would like it to be a challenging game.

Vault Tec’s Chosen One Creation Kit

The first step in getting the Chosen One to Navarro and back again in one slightly irradiated piece, bearing an excellent example of Fallout 2 power armor, is to create a character capable of surviving the ordeal.

There is quite a bit of leeway in creating a character who can make the Navarro run.

Surviving random wasteland encounters with a level one character requires points in agility and perception. Where you’ll be traveling, maxing out strength and endurance will not aid in survival. You won’t have any guns or armor, so you won’t be fighting your way through to Navarro. Survival will easiest for those with sufficient Agility to escape danger (by maximizing Action Points) and enough Perception to either avoid danger in the first place or be placed as far from foes as possible in combat.

An optimal Agility rating in the SPECIAL allocation is nine or ten, and Perception should be at least five to six. But beyond those SPECIAL skills, any balanced character with either melee or speech skills should be fine - although it is advisable to make one of these a tagged skill, as to get past the Navarro gate guard to get to that lovely Fallout 2 power armor will require speech or melee skills.

To Navarro, by way of Post-Apocalyptic San Francisco.

After passing the Temple of Trials and hearing the Tribe Elder’s, head south to the southern side of the Arroyo bridge. Before heading out into the wider wasteland, make sure to save the game. A successful Navarro run relies on luck - a random encounter with an Enclave patrol will result in

instant death. There is almost no way to survive an Enclave encounter at this stage in the game. So save now, and avoid having to go through the Temple of Trials portion again.

Once done saving, head out of Arroyo. Navarro is located 14 squares due south of Arroyo, but until you’ve triggered a certain quest the base itself will not be mapped. So you’ve got to trigger the a quest - and to do that you need to pay a visit to San Francisco.

On the World Map, scroll as far down as possible, and click on the lower left hand portion of the map to send your character south. You’ll probably get stuck on the coastline at some point - San Francisco is southeast of Arroyo and Navarro. When you hit a body of water, head a little bit to the east to clear it, then head south again. About 4 squares frm the bottom of the map and on the coast you’ll find San Francisco.

Fallout 2 - Navarro Map

In the bottom left portion of the first available zone you’ll see a bunker with a man in metal armor standing outside. Talk to him, and ask the question “Who are you guys”. This will lead to a text chain that allows you to accept a quest to retrieve Vertibird plans from Navarro. Accept the quest, Save the game again, exit San Francisco, and click the map to travel to Navarro.

Infiltrating Navarro: Enclave Outpost Walkthrough for Fallout 2

You may have to reload several times until you can get to Navarro without being intercepted by an Enclave Patrol. Don’t worry if it takes several attempts - the Enclave is nothing to joke around with, which is why a walkthrough for Fallout 2 is helpful.

Fallout 2 - Chris and His Gas Station

Your first view of Navarro will be a battered gas station occupied only by a man in robes named Chris. Talk to Chris, and ask him about the Enclave. He’ll deny that you’re at Navarro, and deny knowing anything about the Enclave, but you should have the option to claim you are a recruit.

Here’s where the character attributes chosen will come into play. If you’ve high enough Charisma and Speech, you’ll be able to bluff your way past the guard, posing as a recruit. He’ll direct you on a pathway through a minefield leading to the base. If you lack sufficient speech skills you can kill him. He has 74 hit points and no weapons, so he can be beaten by most level 1 characters. He will try to run away when badly wounded, but there is a door on left hand side of the station that leads to a hidden path into the bunker. If he runs out of range, go click on that - he’ll reset his position, and you’ll have a chance to close the distance for the kill. Then just open the now unguarded door, and click on the wooden platform beyond to access the base bunker.

Fallout 2 - Chris is Dead, Here’s the Secret Passage

Once the guard is out of the way, head into Navarro and explore the base. No one will question you, and in an underground bunker there will be a room with a number of lockers…one of which contains power armor, denoted by a mask icon.

Egress Navarro: Getting Out With the Loot

Fallout 2 Power Armor icon

A key part of this walkthrough for Fallout 2 involves getting out of Navarro in one piece - after maximizing the opportunity presented by the successful infiltration.

Once you have that top of the line Fallout 2 power armor you have some options. You can choose to return to Arroyo, playing the game as if your character just *happened* to come across a functioning suit of power armor. You can follow through with the quest to obtain Vertiberd plans by heading back to the surface and having a chat with Raul, a Vertiberd mechanic in one of the Vertibird hangars. There is a talking Deathclaw in down the bunker who can be released - either from the bunker or this apocalyptic mortal coil. And there’s also a robotic dog who can be repaired for experience points and a potential companion - if you’ve sufficient science and repair skills.

Completing the available quests in Navarro can result in a character level increase to seven or eight all at once, and is quite helpful for weaker but charismatic characters.

Fallout 2 - Power Armor Suited Up in the Bunker

Once you’re done in Navarro for the time being, you’ve completed the worst of the walkthrough, for Fallout 2 becomes much easier when encased in servo powered armor plating. To leave Navarro, head out the way you came into the base. Once again, save before exiting to the world map, and again as soon as you reach a safer settlement. Those Enclave patrols are still out there, and even with this walkthrough for Fallout 2 and power armor you probably still won’t survive an encounter.

Fallout 2 Fast Track to Wasteland Domination

By following this walkthrough for Fallout 2, a player can have a lot of fun even in the early stages of the game, as well as access high quality weapons if so desired. Fallout 2 reviews are almost universally positive, but at times the early game can use a little boost. As far as Fallout 2 mods go, this exploit can breathe quite a bit of life into an otherwise slow game start. Not technically a mod per se, it still feels a bit like a mod in its effect, and if nothing else is quite clearly an exploit.

A purist may balk at providing such a shortcut - Fallout 2’s story is good enough that it is worth playing through normally at least once. In addition there’s an added element of urgency to combat in the early stages of a game when you’ve no decent armor, a pipe gun that fires one 10mm bullet at a time, and a few dozen hit points. The challenge this entails is largely lost once you get to Navarro.