Fallout Shelter Tips for Success: Part One

You are the overseer and your mission is to keep your dwellers alive. It’s not easy. There’s radiation, giant roaches, fire, vicious raiders and above all, the tragedy of the commons. Nuclear war will do that to ya.

Fallout Shelter, a new mobile F2P based on the popular RPG and shooter, is definitely not easy.

I failed twice. First time, my dwellers starved. Second time, they got wiped out by a swarm of Radroaches. Third time has been better, and I’ve grown to 50 dwellers. Here are some tips to get you going. This is Part One.  For Part Two, the Art of Breeding, click on this link.  For Part Three, How to Thrive, go here.

Balance, balance, balance!

Basic yin-yang stuff. If you pull here, then you compensate there, and so on. That’s the idea when expanding your vault. If you house too many dwellers, you won’t be able to feed them and they’ll starve. If you build too fast, you won’t have the power to keep the rooms running. If your population lags, rooms won’t be functional.

Three basic necessities must be met:

1) Power to keep everything running (you’re underground after all)

2) Food

3) Water

Focus on these three rooms and make sure your meters stay green. Don’t upgrade or add living quarters until you’re consistently maxed out on all three. Then add dwellers slowly and stay lean. It’s better to be a tad under-staffed than have starving and thirsty folks in your vault.

Know Your Dwellers

The acronym SPECIAL indicates the skills you need to pay attention to:

     S: Strength (makes good Power workers)

     P: Perception (good for Water)

     E: Endurance (good for later in the game)

     C: Charisma (good for radio workers and breeding)

     I: Intelligence (good for later in the game)

     A: Agility (good for Food)

     L: Luck (good for handling random events)

Most dwellers will be good at one thing over another, and it makes a difference. They’ll work faster and more efficiently if they’re assigned work that maximizes their specialty. They’ll also be happier.

As expected, dwellers with specialties in S, P and A are the most valuable at the beginning of the game.  So focus on acquiring these folks because they’ll keep the place running in tip-top shape. There’s a reason why STEM workers get paid more than artists….

At the beginning, there will be a line of outsiders waiting to get in. Don’t let them all in. Yeah, it’s sad to keep some folks outside, but your responsibility is to the Vault. Select only those peeps who can give you special skills.

Everyone wants in, but shoot them if they try… Your vault depends on it!

Also, sometimes you need to have weak workers inside your vault. If these weaklings die by roach or raider, don’t revive them. Let them die. Again, sad, but the post-apoc world is full of tough choices to make.

Traits are also very important when Breeding, which is discussed in Part 2.  After that, learn how to thrive in Part 3.