After my year layoff, I’ve been playing Fallout 76 regularly lately and thanks to events like the Test Your Metal events, Radiation Rumble, and Scorched Earth (I finally killed the Scorched Queen, yeah!), I’ve reached Level 235 this past weekend. Yay!

I’ve also have plunged into the Gold economy; basically, gold is used to buy superior armor, weapons, and other items. Also, in the “Gold Economy” you can’t trade or give away items purchased with gold; previously, most of the economy was based on Caps currency. Gold started a while back, but I finally plunged in full bore.

The differences between traditional armor and weapons is not huge, but is significant. For most of my FO76 gaming I’ve been using the always sexy-looking BOS Combat Armor as my body armor, the not-so-sexy X-01 Power Armor for big battles, and the ever deadly 50 Cal Machine Gun has always been my Go-To weapon since Level 25.

That’s me in my full set of BOS Combat Armor. It’s carried me most of the way through the game.

That’s me on top of Seneca Rock in my X-01 Blackbird Power Armor watching a nuclear blast.

However, in recent months I’ve added the Secret Service body armor (I’ll drop a photo in my next post), and this past weekend I’ve gone to full bore into the T-65 Blackbird Elite Power Armor. WHOA! Let me say this about my new power armor: Okay, it isn’t very ladylike but it gives you better chances of surviving a battle with the Scorchbeast Queen.

BTW, I also have the Hellfire Power Armor but haven’t put the necessary mods in yet.  I also have full sets of Excavator, T-45, T-51, T-60, Ultracite (with Calibrated Shocks!) power armor. More on that next post.

That me in fully “pimped out” T-65 power armor with the new Blackbird Elite paint job. I finally got all the gold needed for essential mods, especially the Calibrated Shocks. It’s a funny notion, but Power Armor is like a military tank that you can wear and walk around in.

I’m thrilled with my latest acquisitions but it takes a lot more work to go with gold economy equipment. I haven’t moved on to the gold weapons because I’m still studying them. It’s going to take a lot to dislodge me from my trusty 50 Cals (I own 8 of them).

Below is a photo from my early days in the game, it features a downed Scorchbeast Queen and me in a puny set of Excavator power armor. I think the reason for power armor is understandable when facing a monster like the Queen.

This pic was taken a couple years ago when I first started playing Fallout 76. THAT monster is the Scorchbeast Queen and the battle to stop her tyranny is the penultimate and most exciting event of the entire game. I was wearing Excavator armor and my 50 Cal was puny by comparison to the 50s I have now. BTW, this is probably the biggest beast in the game and when it is standing it is MUCH bigger and it’s bat-like wingspan is VAST. Period! Well, oh, and it flies in the air and blasts horrendous scorched poisons and blinding soundwaves at you. So, there’s that also.

A decade ago, I felt that all online multi-player gaming was infested with griefers and psychopaths, but Bethesda (now owned by Microsoft) game designers have done a good job of providing countermeasures for controlling that kind of player. In fact, if you’ve never played an online game, I think you can learn as you go with Fallout 76.

I’m way over the age of what most people would consider to be a Gamer, but I’ve become a Gamer. I really enjoy as an entertainment. If you are interested in learning more about how to get involved, let me know (Twitter, Reddit, email or here). However, gaming can be addictive.