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Fallout 4: how to craft, customise weapons and build bases

Every item in Fallout 4 has a purpose. Here's the lowdown on weapon customisation, the importance of base building and plans for future modding tools.

How to customise weapons

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Fallout 4 lets you take a base weapon and customise it to make something completely new. A pistol, for example, can be modified into a rifle, with scopes, or other variations, should you have the right materials.

All items found in Fallout 4 have a use, and players can break down gear for materials for customisation. Who doesn't want to add blades to a baseball bat?

Most excitingly, players are able to modify their own Power Armour. So instead of it being a simple armoured suit, it becomes more like a vehicle, allowing for customisation and mods on limbs, helmet and every other part of the suit.

How to craft and build bases

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So we know you can scrap items in Fallout 4 for materials, but how far can we take that?

In real time you can rip apart items and build your own base, choosing the walls, doors, furniture and other details as you see fit. This can then be expanded to build entire settlements, which will attract traders with their all-important stock. To keep these valuable citizens in your settlement, you can plant food and build water pumps and power generators to give them a reason to stick around.

Once you have power generators you can hook up lights and other electrical equipment, including computer terminals, which can then control all the various equipment - such as gun turrets - from one spot. The bigger you settlement, the more likely it is to be attacked by Raiders, so it pays to have a solid security defence system online once you've built a place where wastelanders want to hang out.

You don't have to build settlements if that's not for you. But Bethesda has built specific locations in to the map to encourage you to nurture a community, and it's also possible to run caravans between multiple townships to create an economy.

Plans for user generated content, aka mods

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The Creation Kit for the PC version of Fallout 4 will come out in early 2016. These mods - or at least the best - will then at some point become available to Xbox One and PS4 users too. At a later date Bethesda hopes to have a Creation Kit available for the PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game.

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