Each time I set up a fight, I found the amount of effort that went into constructing the arenas, devising the traps, and capturing the prey far outweighed the amount of interest I had in any one battle’s outcome. Sadly, these bouts are as tedious as the process of capturing the competitors, which is mostly down to the fact that Fallout 4’s animations are neither violent nor convincing enough in a forced deathmatch context. Wasteland Workshop’s main event, then, is its arena-based matchups whereby you can set raiders, creatures and/or settlers against one another in last-man-standing-type bloodbaths. If you’re missing any one of those, it’s back into the Commonwealth you go.
#Fallout 4 building an arena install#
Bear in mind that in order to do that, you’ll need to install a Beta Wave Emitter - a beacon that tames wild creatures - which requires four portions of crystal (a somewhat rare/expensive resource in this post-apocalyptic world) and both the Animal Friend and Wasteland Whisperer perks unlocked at rank one. As you might expect, raiders, gunners, and Super Mutants can’t be tamed, however it is possible to employ, say, Mirelurks as settlement security, should you want them to guard your perimeter. Once you’ve detained your unsuspecting prey, you’re left with two options: pit them against one another, or tame them as your own.
Clicking through generic menus before having an outcome unfold automatically and independently of me and my hard work isn’t exactly my idea of fun. I don’t think I’d have as much of an issue with all of this if the hunting process itself were more nuanced. If I can attract a dog’s attention with a few cans of dog food, do I really need two servings of Softshell Mirelurk Meat to temp a small house cat into this tiny metal box? The answer is yes, apparently. This requires you venture into the Wasteland to gather provisions before you can get even started - a task which can seem especially superfluous in the occasions when you’re after smaller, less threatening targets. Besides varying amounts of copper, gear and steel, Deathclaw cages, for example, require four portions of Yao Guai meat whereas Brahmin cages ask for four helpings of Razorgrain. Setting the traps themselves is an even less inspiring ordeal, as each demands a set amount of resources relevant to the size of varmint you’re out to seize. Returning to a closed cage marks success, and only by cutting the power can whatever’s trapped inside by released. Perhaps my over-elaborate Warner Brothers cartoon aspirations were a tad optimistic, but in order to impound any one of the wild critters, savage humans, or irradiated ghouls the expansion lets you choose from, simply constructing the appropriate cage, hooking it up to a power supply, and waiting “a week or less” makes it so - which either means going off and doing other things or sleeping through a few consecutive in-game days until the allotted time has passed. Wasteland Workshop does let you imprison all of the above in your own homespun cages (as well as docile animals and raiders, among a number of other unlucky hostages), however the process of doing so is really rather boring. The idea of having my victims “face off in battle” conjured thoughts of Mad Max’s Thunderdome. Coyote’s laughably haphazard handiwork and me trying - and most likely failing in comical fashion - to snare a Deathclaw or a Mirelurk or a Radscorpion in a huge wooden box propped up by a stick with a string tied to the end. Yet for me, the idea of designing cages to “capture live creatures” nevertheless stirred visions of Wile E.
#Fallout 4 building an arena mods#
Against its more wholesome-sounding counterparts, the add on’s budget price and relatively bland title appeared to portray something not only quite basic, but also something a number of the game’s existing user mods could already offer for free. When Bethesda first announced Wasteland Workshop a couple of months back, it was certainly the least auspicious of Fallout 4’s planned trio of expansions scheduled for release in the first half of the year. But is it worth your time? Here’s Wot I Think. Beyond that, there’s not much else to it, no quests, no story, which is a fact reflected by its modest £3.99/$4.99 price tag. Wasteland Workshop is the second serving of Fallout 4 DLC that offers players new settlement items, crafting options, and the chance to capture wild creatures before pitting them against one another in purpose-built arenas.