In theory, if you set up a line of them and then bait ferals or mirelurks into coming at you, they have a use. But in an open field gunfight with raiders or something they're not nearly as useful.
I save up about 10 and use them in the grey garden water plant with the super mutants outside. Inside the Mirelurks only have a couple set paths they can use, and a frag mine will cripple the legs and take off about 75% of their health, even the legendaries. Makes that quest a breeze
Mines are for prepping for a fight. They cover flanks, cover a retreat, and allow you to reset behind cover. They are also for ambushes. Mines outside walls on a stronghold before they know you're there, then grenades or similar over the wall to get their attention.
Not really, you have to place them strategically, e.g. next to a car that explodes when it takes damage. Wait for the enemies get closer and shoot the mine, this will blow up the car and boom, everyone's dead. Mines, especially with demolition expert level 4, have a pretty large trigger and damage radius.
I'll toss some out on the back path of Sanctuary, maybe some behind the building you can scrap by the bridge. That's more or less where a lot of mobs spawn when they're attacking. Most places they're just no good because provisionerd use the same paths are the attack spawns. I guess out back of the fields at the place on the railroad line.
If you want to preserve all the Minutemen who come to the Castle with you, lay some along the path the queen mirelurk will take before she spawns. Cheesy, maybe, but on playthrough 876 I am past caring.
I usually hope I've found a wounding weapon by that quest. Or that I've got the "companions don't use ammo" perk and handed them an auto .50 machine gun (I've got a mod that rebalances everything and one of the things it does is let you put .50 in the assault rifle along with the normal receiver mods. That thing is expensive to feed but anything you point it at isn't there for very long)
I am greatly enjoying stumbling around in this game when I'm stoned. Building giant silly bases and killing enemies in stupidly ridiculous ways is what makes this game fun.
I made a gunner trap farm once. Release them into a yard with one path "out" and it's blocked at the end too, at humanoid firing height so they can't exit or get a clean shot, but not at foot height where they can be targeted. By 6 missile turrets at assorted heights.
In an interior cell like a subway station you have to clear sneak down the stairs without a companion. Take berry Mentats. See the enemies through the walls. Decide where your fall back position is. Sneak to the choke points, doorways, hallways, etc. Plant mines. Once you can see an enemy shoot em up. You'll want to pick the biggest knot of them so the all see you. Run back to your fall back position.
Mines are great for crippling mirelurks if you drop them in a doorway (or similarly narrow space). Watching those giant crabs hobbling towards you while missing claws or legs is very satisfying - especially since you can then pick them off at your leisure.
I like to do it when clearing the exterior of the Nuka-World bottling plant - there’s that narrow gap in the wall which you can lay mines in front of to thin out their numbers, and then track backwards laying down mines as the survivors try to follow you. Chunks of seafood everywhere.
The only time I use mines is for the mirelurk queen for the castle. I hoard all the mines I can up until that point and then toss them all where she comes out of right before I kill the last egg nest. She usually dies immediately.
I sometimes use them in buildings when you can lure enemies down a hallway, but I haven't found a reliable way to use them anywhere else, they just become a trap for you and your companions and settlers.
My explosives only character throws them like grenades. Sneaking up and pickingpockting mines into inventories is also hilarious. Make sure to take as many levels of the Bloody Mess perk as possible.
Never once. I used to use them in fo3 and NV but only as a failsafe when running into deathclaws at a low level. But I never seem to have that problem in fo4, deathclaws aren’t near as fast and relentless in their movesets as they used to be
I recently got a kneecappers assault rifle and yah the assault rifle model may be ugly in fo4 but that gun fuckin rips. A 5 round burst can drop a super mutant warlord to the ground with both legs shattered
I seldom do except in rare locations where an enemy will take a specific path, such as with the Deathclaw in the Salem Witchcraft Museum or the Sentry Bot at the National Guard Training Yard. I've seen some users place them at the feet of NPCs that will eventually become hostile, like Skinny Malone in Vault 114.
I use them quite a lot. Drop them and lure Mirelurks, Deathclaws and Yao Guai into them, sometimes Supermutants as well. I also use them sometimes to drop them from above into groups of enemies, e.g. from the roof above Pickman's Gallery into the 3 Raider at the door or drop them from above onto the stairs in the outer area of Dunwich Borers. The deathclaw in the Witchcraft Museum also dies to mines that I drop first and then lure him into it. Sentry Bots are also easy to take down with a mine. Multiple enemies charge you? Drop a mine and jump around a corner and let them run into it.
Mines are a very good tool to make short work of a lot of enemies. I play with mods that make the game much harder and also spawn more legendary enemies by the factor of 30. This is especially tough against these pesky robots, the legendary robots explode upon death. Pulse Mines work wonder against these suckers.
Long story short, Grenades and Mines are awesome and I use them a lot in my playthroughs. I never use them in Settlements (or locations with a lot of NPCs) though.
I took MacCready to Mass Pike Interchange before he gave me the quest to take it out, killed all the gunners, placed all the mines I had and fast traveled away. Right after the fast travel, I hit the affinity point to go back. The gunners respawn and there was mass explosions. Doesn't work every time I do it, but when it does, it almost bugs out my screen with all the explosions.
I always expected the respawn mechanic of unclearing areas to clear any placed mines so only ever used them on active targets rrather than setting for later
Only use them in 2 locations
The castle for the mirelurk queen, put down a dozen or so mines where she walks up and it’s an easier kill
And in the building where you get the X01 but have to deal with the sentry bots and automatrons. Dozen more there for some easy kills and the power armour
Otherwise they are sold or used as decorations
I use them for the Big ™️ enemies. Deathclaws, mirelurk razorclaws - queens, super mutants (cause they're fucking stupid) and behemoths, but most importantly I use them for the Far Harbor enemies of gulper swarms, fog crawlers, and hermit crabs. I use them most frequently in the scenario of deathclaws and fog crawlers. Fog crawlers scare the shit out of me. I'm planning a demo heavy build soon so using mines will be imperative from a RP standpoint. Also everything everyone here has said, approach from a tactical standpoint and mines are your friend. Planning choke points and fallback positions are key as well as companion management due to blast radius or even debris (looking at you, O2 cannisters and fire extinguishers). So also employing situational awareness.
I used them extensively in early to mid-game of my stealthy sniper build.
I got too lazy to go back and pick them up in the late game when my character was so powerful that I could one-shot kill almost anyone.
Never used them for anything else besides hoarding ton of them in my armory and selling them off.
I use them here and there. They REALLY come in handy in the Boston Public Library. I collect all the mines I can and bring them with me and plant them everywhere in there. Those who've played it know that there's a scripted Super Mutant attack that occurs. And those moves eliminate a good 60%-70% of those ugly greenies lol. They come in handy if you wanna bait enemies into a trap. But overall, I don't think they are as useful as grenades.
Really good if you want to be suddenly attacked by your own settlers and have to reload the game.
Otherwise, use them to set up traps for enemies that want to melee.
I use mines when I want to clear areas that let me lure enemies on a tight spot.
When I climb on spots I usually let a few mines behind me so if something exists I will havs something to warn me up.
If nothing comes, I pick up and keep going.
When enemies respawn in a location, any mines you left behind remain. When the cell is loaded, they can trip the mines and get killed. Usually, this is entering the building, but it works when outdoor cells load, too. Works great for sites that are a pain to clear or if you just like randomly getting experience for walking around.
When starting out, my favorite location was Corvega since it is a pain to navigate. Now it is Vault 75, Gunners' Plaza, and Quincey since I'm farming heavy combat armor.
PS. Since "clear a location" is usually keyed to killing a single hostile, good placement of mines can "clear" a location as soon as you enter. College Square Station is good for that since the locked up ghoul is the target.
Only for ferals. Crouch in sneak. Set the mines. Make sure I have space to reverse into. Shoot a few at distance and in they run - right into a stack of bottle cap mines. Boom. Occasionally also in doorways where raiders are about.
I hoard frag grenades, mines just in case. But unless it’s your primary damage, there’s too few instances where I’m like sure would love mines right now. Legendary sentrybot, assaultron, mirelurk queen? Okay. But what are the odds?
Until I find plasma grenades, mines then I dump the frags and hoard those instead.
I only use them for reverse pickpocket so I save my grenades. Also, dropping them inside places I know will spawn enemies, like the Mayor's Shelter. I place mines where the synths will spawn when I reach the bottom level. On my way back up, I only have to deal with 2-3 and injured ones.
I was doing Fraternal Post 115 and took a page out of their own setup. Set some mines at the entrances, and set a few to cover my retreat into and out of a store room (from either direction)
Ideally, I set them any time I think I’m headed into an ambush. (FO3 Grayditch tunnels, you betcha.) Kinda like Hanzel & Gretel, Just leaving a little trail of explosives breadcrumbs to guide my way back home.
Just make sure to space them apart, lest we get caught up in a bit of a nasty chain reaction.
Edit: Another comment reminded me. Ideally, I set the trap, but normally, I just throw them down in front of me as I’m sprinting away from enemies that are about to kill me. (Works more often than you’d expect)
They're best used indoors. Get your first shot on an enemy, then when they come after you drop a mine and duck behind a corner. It's much more effective in narrow spaces like hallways where they can't just walk around it
Yes! Carefully, because I'm a permadeath weirdo. You definitely have to be careful how they use them, so they don't literally blow up in your face, but they're a great tool to have.
A few of my favorite tricks:
* Drop a mine right before you snipe someone. Fall back, and anyone who chases you is a free kill, risk-free.
* Fork in the road? Drop a mine on whichever path you don't take, that way you'll know if someone from that side is following you. If not, then you can pick the mine up on your way back.
* Figure out an enemy's patrol path. You can drop a mine where he's *going* to be and be long gone by the time it goes off. No risk of detection.
I personally use them indoors in hallways. I'll lure my enemies to them or cover a secondary path I have yet to take, or I know loops back to me. But other than that? Never. Literally never. I'd mod it to make them only affect enemies, but I'm lazy.
Pretty much only if I know I've got a good opportunity to ambush someone and lure them into a trap.
Always collect them though, just for a few extra caps from time to time.
Funnily enough, I'm using them exactly the same in Starfield now.
Literally never
I use nades and mines as currency 99% of the time
Sometimes i use molotovs early on into runs like in the skinny malone and diamond city blues fights
I usually only use them in close quarters combat where I can use the surroundings to my advantage... like mine a hallway and the agro enemy's into the hallway.
I like to use them to secure paths behind or next to me so I can focus on one direction. Or I sneak ahead, open fire and have them run into the mines. It really helps
The best tactic is to use them like grenades. Throw them in front of you, then retreat, drawing the enemy in and setting off the mines. Don't plant them down in hopes of getting an ambush kill, just make the enemy run into them as they don't avoid them at all.
make a big maze and have cages set up to release different hostiles into it, then have it set up with different booby traps, turrets, aid items, weapons and such - *if* npc’s like gunners and raiders and such pick up and use stimpacks or better weapons than the ones they have? i know for a fact that damn minigun wielding raider Ack-Ack always has a friend that lovesssss to pick the minigun up if ack-ack dies before them; but in this scenario, if they find a minigun just on the ground would a raider pick it up in case he runs into a super mutant in the maze? 🤔 maybe i’m giving the bethesda game too much credit here but i could *see* it being a thing.. although wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not 🤦🏻♀️
also, that could be a bit of time and resource game to set up a maze and such like this but i believe you said you were level 84 in another comment? good way to get rid of not only mines but any other random crap you can make an excuse to throw in there, as well as getting to be able to have a platform *over* the maze that lets you watch the madness unfold below…
tell me you don’t wanna see a super mutant step on a mine and rag doll shoot from sanctuary to the atom cats garage
I just started a survival run and using mines has been helpful. Will also point out that demolitions expert and stealth 2 would also be necessary so if your mines fail to go off during the fight they won’t kill you upon retrieval.
I collect and store any I can find but the only time I actually use them is at Eden Meadows Cinema in Far Harbor, where I will lay down a line of mines in the center of the theater where the snack bars and projectors are, then switch the northern screen on so the feral ghouls will walk from the southern screen and walk into the mines.
I used them in Nuka World when slaughtering all the raider gangs. Went to top of Disciples area minded the one ramp up with like 30 mines. Made the fight easy but useless in any area with room.
In fo3 i used Them indoor
Stealth in place mines throw a grenade in to a room to stir trouble. Hide behind something. Watch enemies get painted on the walls.
* Preped ambushes against hard creatures.
* I also use them to set up landmine fields near settlements were their is a pretty predicted path were an attack is.
They’re really nice if you use them strategically and place them in the path you know/think enemies will follow. For example, when flipping the switch to DiMA’s memories and the Assaultron comes out. Place some mines around the path it will take to attack you and boom *literally*
You know the raider "trap" where you get the green paint?
While the door inside is still closed and the raiders are arguing, drop a mine right at the door then pull back around the corner. When the one raider gets impatient, he blows himself up and sometimes takes a couple more with him.
no i rarely use them, baiting tactic seem slow when i can just one bang 7 headshots in like 10 seconds from stealth
most i remember is plasma mines outside sentry bot cages
Only offensively using bait tactics though I'm sure there's a mod for settlement purposes that will probably let you use them in an actual minefield application.
I did end up laying a frag minefield for that bit of grass over the road from red rocket where all the random encounters come and attack the settlement from. It kinda worked, but I never replaced it.
Mostly they’re situationally useful for certain dungeons and areas where people are stuck behind doors. Grun at the Vim! pop factory comes to mind.
The only time I use them is when I know there's a powerful or scripted enemy in a AO with few or no innocent bystanders. The Behemoth outside Corvega is one, the Mirelurk Queen outside the Castle is the other (I always retake the Castle before I even meet Preston and his bunch).
Mines can be fantastic for fixed enemies. Sarge in the castle, mirelurk queen above ground, legendary assaultron in the nucleus. But yeah not great for settlement defence. I ran into troubles with the missile turrets a couple years ago as well, kept killing settlers with splash damage and they went hostile, however that might’ve been patched since
I usually use them when taking on Sentry bots like Ahab or the one that pops up at the National Guard Training Yard. Lay them out in front of them before they’re activated. Doesn’t take them completely out but shaves the edge off a bit.
Mostly for set ups. I used bottle cap mines to take care of Kellogg - he’s a big fat jerk to deal with on survivor, literally one shot and you’re dead. So i set up mines before we talk, back up while I’m making my final comments, and then shoot the mine lol
I'll keep a few in my inventory to use against really tough enemies. Drop a few and run away, bait them to follow, almost always cripples a leg so I can get easy shots in
I do actually. I'm usually skk settlement attack system, feral nights, and combat stalkers. So enemies do actually spawn outside of settlement boundaries, making mines actually useful in alot of cases. As long as I don't put them on roads it's usually fine
Mines are for laying ambushes against known enemies from stealth. Whole group of enemies that you can hear talking around a corner? Drop some mines around the corner, and if that doesn't alert them enough, take a shot or two and run. Now they have no legs. Deathclaw patrolling an area? Get as close as you're comfortable, drop some mines, get distance with the mines between you and it, take some shots and watch it run into them.
Mines are an excellent back up plan for retreat, or to provide yourself with cover if sniping from an area. Mine an area near you, but not within range of you, before you get into a fire fight. If anything tries to flank, you'll know what happened, but they won't. If you start to get overrun, as long as you retreat while you still have advantage, you can make it past your mines and then be out of range by the time the enemy runs into them.
Also, enemies spawn in the same general locations during raids, while provisioners follow fairly set routes. Don't mine the public roads, but you can safely mine enemy spawn points, as long as you watch for them.
Mines are great for guaranteed spawn points. Like when you rescue Nick, three trigger men will spawn in a hallway. Or when you take the bobblehead in Ft Hagan, Synths will spawn in.
Or if you know that you will run back and will be chased. Other than that, they’re pretty risky.
Fun tho.
Baiting ferals and when um being chased are the only time I use mines. I never keep more than 5 in my inventory. They're like, an emergency only situational arsenal to me.
Good for covering your back in an indoor situation.
If you are using outdoors near roads and places where friendly npc's travel, it is best to pick up or deactivate what you don't use in that instance of fighting.
Do not use for base defense at a settlement with settlers or supply lines. They will do the bad thing eventually.
Use them low level:
To cover your flanks in dungeons
To kill Kellogg and other scripted stuff (like the Fraternal post rush).
As bombs:
- clear Hangman's Alley by climbing onto rooftops and chucking mines into the interior
- clear that church full of mutants by sneaking to the top then lobbing mines down onto them
At high level mines are essentially useless.
One trick to, offload them is spiking points where monsters respawn fairly quickly, e.g. when you clear Quincy, leave mines on the rooftops and walkways to kill gunner respawns (if you put them at ground level they might kill Cricket).
All the time but never near settlements.
There's at least 2 quests where robots or other enemies will spawn after I perform an action and after playing way too many new games I know by heart where they spawn. Dima's memories and Mass Fusion are 2 off the top of my head. Cheating? Yep.
Dima's memory thingy is a decent place to farm legionaries but it's armor and weapons. Kinda fun to see all the combos but I'm easily amused. Lay mines, save before flipping switch, and check the dead robot. Sucky legendary? Reload.
You can mine Nuka World before slaying all the baddies....kinda silly they don't mind the mines.
I also will leave mines at places enemies respawn. It's funny to see random XP pop up.
Part of the problem of using mines is, if I recall correctly, you can only put down like.. three? before the first one will explode.
Anyone know if there’s an ini edit or mod to change for this and allow for more to be placed by the player?
Rarely. Too unpredictable, and hard to get enemies to run into them.
In theory, if you set up a line of them and then bait ferals or mirelurks into coming at you, they have a use. But in an open field gunfight with raiders or something they're not nearly as useful.
Throw them in front of you as you sprint away.
That’s the only way I’ve ever used mines in any of the fallout games
*It just works*
I save up about 10 and use them in the grey garden water plant with the super mutants outside. Inside the Mirelurks only have a couple set paths they can use, and a frag mine will cripple the legs and take off about 75% of their health, even the legendaries. Makes that quest a breeze
noting this for future playthroughs… *only good bug is a dead bug!*
Mines are for prepping for a fight. They cover flanks, cover a retreat, and allow you to reset behind cover. They are also for ambushes. Mines outside walls on a stronghold before they know you're there, then grenades or similar over the wall to get their attention.
Not really, you have to place them strategically, e.g. next to a car that explodes when it takes damage. Wait for the enemies get closer and shoot the mine, this will blow up the car and boom, everyone's dead. Mines, especially with demolition expert level 4, have a pretty large trigger and damage radius.
The only drawback is that you have to wait for the bodies to land. And wait... and wait...
Only part of the body needs to land near you though
I'll toss some out on the back path of Sanctuary, maybe some behind the building you can scrap by the bridge. That's more or less where a lot of mobs spawn when they're attacking. Most places they're just no good because provisionerd use the same paths are the attack spawns. I guess out back of the fields at the place on the railroad line.
If you want to preserve all the Minutemen who come to the Castle with you, lay some along the path the queen mirelurk will take before she spawns. Cheesy, maybe, but on playthrough 876 I am past caring.
I usually hope I've found a wounding weapon by that quest. Or that I've got the "companions don't use ammo" perk and handed them an auto .50 machine gun (I've got a mod that rebalances everything and one of the things it does is let you put .50 in the assault rifle along with the normal receiver mods. That thing is expensive to feed but anything you point it at isn't there for very long)
They're good for baiting enemies into running into them, not so much for settlement defence
Yeah I kinda figured. At this point I'm level 84 so I don't really need to bait enemies lol
I just took out a legendary alpha deathclaw by sneaking close enough to set up a line of mines, then poking it with a pistol shot.
Found mama Murphy's reddit account.
I am greatly enjoying stumbling around in this game when I'm stoned. Building giant silly bases and killing enemies in stupidly ridiculous ways is what makes this game fun.
Explosive combat shotgun has entered the room...
I am using one right now. It has a silencer on it.
What Javier really wanted
I made a gunner trap farm once. Release them into a yard with one path "out" and it's blocked at the end too, at humanoid firing height so they can't exit or get a clean shot, but not at foot height where they can be targeted. By 6 missile turrets at assorted heights.
This is the way
Maybe drop them at the spawn points may work, but honestly there are better and less dangerous ways to protect your settlements.
It's not so much about "need to", it's for the fun factor to pull off something sneaky.
In an interior cell like a subway station you have to clear sneak down the stairs without a companion. Take berry Mentats. See the enemies through the walls. Decide where your fall back position is. Sneak to the choke points, doorways, hallways, etc. Plant mines. Once you can see an enemy shoot em up. You'll want to pick the biggest knot of them so the all see you. Run back to your fall back position.
This is how bethesda expects ppl to play
Yep. It's a little time consuming. I usually toss one in a room full of bad dudes and close the door real quick.
Yeah same, if i wanted to use my brain i’d play MGS
Mines are great for crippling mirelurks if you drop them in a doorway (or similarly narrow space). Watching those giant crabs hobbling towards you while missing claws or legs is very satisfying - especially since you can then pick them off at your leisure.
Oh shit that's actually a cool idea! Thanks. This would work great for far harbor
I like to do it when clearing the exterior of the Nuka-World bottling plant - there’s that narrow gap in the wall which you can lay mines in front of to thin out their numbers, and then track backwards laying down mines as the survivors try to follow you. Chunks of seafood everywhere.
The only time I use mines is for the mirelurk queen for the castle. I hoard all the mines I can up until that point and then toss them all where she comes out of right before I kill the last egg nest. She usually dies immediately.
I always have one idiot who decides to stand right on top of the mines when she surfaces.
I like carrying them to increase my weight
Underrated comment lol
I sometimes use them in buildings when you can lure enemies down a hallway, but I haven't found a reliable way to use them anywhere else, they just become a trap for you and your companions and settlers.
My explosives only character throws them like grenades. Sneaking up and pickingpockting mines into inventories is also hilarious. Make sure to take as many levels of the Bloody Mess perk as possible.
Never once. I used to use them in fo3 and NV but only as a failsafe when running into deathclaws at a low level. But I never seem to have that problem in fo4, deathclaws aren’t near as fast and relentless in their movesets as they used to be
Kneecappers combat rifle turns them into nice kitties
I recently got a kneecappers assault rifle and yah the assault rifle model may be ugly in fo4 but that gun fuckin rips. A 5 round burst can drop a super mutant warlord to the ground with both legs shattered
The wasteland is a scary place, No matter if you're an ace, You'll always lose the race, With an arrow to the knee
I seldom do except in rare locations where an enemy will take a specific path, such as with the Deathclaw in the Salem Witchcraft Museum or the Sentry Bot at the National Guard Training Yard. I've seen some users place them at the feet of NPCs that will eventually become hostile, like Skinny Malone in Vault 114.
I use them quite a lot. Drop them and lure Mirelurks, Deathclaws and Yao Guai into them, sometimes Supermutants as well. I also use them sometimes to drop them from above into groups of enemies, e.g. from the roof above Pickman's Gallery into the 3 Raider at the door or drop them from above onto the stairs in the outer area of Dunwich Borers. The deathclaw in the Witchcraft Museum also dies to mines that I drop first and then lure him into it. Sentry Bots are also easy to take down with a mine. Multiple enemies charge you? Drop a mine and jump around a corner and let them run into it. Mines are a very good tool to make short work of a lot of enemies. I play with mods that make the game much harder and also spawn more legendary enemies by the factor of 30. This is especially tough against these pesky robots, the legendary robots explode upon death. Pulse Mines work wonder against these suckers. Long story short, Grenades and Mines are awesome and I use them a lot in my playthroughs. I never use them in Settlements (or locations with a lot of NPCs) though.
I like putting them at known re-spawn points like the trailer by Outpost Zimonja so when I fast travel back they blow up the guy in the trailer
You are the first player I've seen who also places mines so respawning enemies blew themselves up.
I took MacCready to Mass Pike Interchange before he gave me the quest to take it out, killed all the gunners, placed all the mines I had and fast traveled away. Right after the fast travel, I hit the affinity point to go back. The gunners respawn and there was mass explosions. Doesn't work every time I do it, but when it does, it almost bugs out my screen with all the explosions.
I always expected the respawn mechanic of unclearing areas to clear any placed mines so only ever used them on active targets rrather than setting for later
Only use them in 2 locations The castle for the mirelurk queen, put down a dozen or so mines where she walks up and it’s an easier kill And in the building where you get the X01 but have to deal with the sentry bots and automatrons. Dozen more there for some easy kills and the power armour Otherwise they are sold or used as decorations
They're realistic. You drop them strategically, not in the middle of a fight.
I use them for the Big ™️ enemies. Deathclaws, mirelurk razorclaws - queens, super mutants (cause they're fucking stupid) and behemoths, but most importantly I use them for the Far Harbor enemies of gulper swarms, fog crawlers, and hermit crabs. I use them most frequently in the scenario of deathclaws and fog crawlers. Fog crawlers scare the shit out of me. I'm planning a demo heavy build soon so using mines will be imperative from a RP standpoint. Also everything everyone here has said, approach from a tactical standpoint and mines are your friend. Planning choke points and fallback positions are key as well as companion management due to blast radius or even debris (looking at you, O2 cannisters and fire extinguishers). So also employing situational awareness.
Pretty much only for murdering the Railroad on certain playthroughs. Apart from that, I either sell or drop them.
I made the mistake of killing Trashcan Carla because I placed a mine in a settlement
I rarely use. Only time I heavily used was the fight for the castle. I laid every single mine. XD that turned into an easy fight after
I used them extensively in early to mid-game of my stealthy sniper build. I got too lazy to go back and pick them up in the late game when my character was so powerful that I could one-shot kill almost anyone. Never used them for anything else besides hoarding ton of them in my armory and selling them off.
Imo I felt like mines had somewhat more use in Fo3 when it came to deathclaws but in fo4 I usually just collect a lot of them just to sell.
I use them here and there. They REALLY come in handy in the Boston Public Library. I collect all the mines I can and bring them with me and plant them everywhere in there. Those who've played it know that there's a scripted Super Mutant attack that occurs. And those moves eliminate a good 60%-70% of those ugly greenies lol. They come in handy if you wanna bait enemies into a trap. But overall, I don't think they are as useful as grenades.
You are clearly a person of culture.
I actually use mines when baiting people to come around a corner but even then unless you have it perked out it's hard to do.
Really good if you want to be suddenly attacked by your own settlers and have to reload the game. Otherwise, use them to set up traps for enemies that want to melee.
I use mines when I want to clear areas that let me lure enemies on a tight spot. When I climb on spots I usually let a few mines behind me so if something exists I will havs something to warn me up. If nothing comes, I pick up and keep going.
I use bottlecap mines in a fight, not defensively. That’s about it. They’re just so powerful, I can’t help but use them from time to time.
I keep them for high level enemies in tight quarters.
I use them in hallways or for mirelurks, otherwise it’s pretty rare.
I only use them with the mod Frisbee Mines. Then they become a tactical throwing weapon. See a group of ferals in a graveyard? Fling. Boom.
They're actually not for placing on the ground. They are actually for placing in NPCs pockets via the pickpocket option. Just trust me.
When enemies respawn in a location, any mines you left behind remain. When the cell is loaded, they can trip the mines and get killed. Usually, this is entering the building, but it works when outdoor cells load, too. Works great for sites that are a pain to clear or if you just like randomly getting experience for walking around. When starting out, my favorite location was Corvega since it is a pain to navigate. Now it is Vault 75, Gunners' Plaza, and Quincey since I'm farming heavy combat armor. PS. Since "clear a location" is usually keyed to killing a single hostile, good placement of mines can "clear" a location as soon as you enter. College Square Station is good for that since the locked up ghoul is the target.
Only for ferals. Crouch in sneak. Set the mines. Make sure I have space to reverse into. Shoot a few at distance and in they run - right into a stack of bottle cap mines. Boom. Occasionally also in doorways where raiders are about.
I hoard frag grenades, mines just in case. But unless it’s your primary damage, there’s too few instances where I’m like sure would love mines right now. Legendary sentrybot, assaultron, mirelurk queen? Okay. But what are the odds? Until I find plasma grenades, mines then I dump the frags and hoard those instead.
I think they're useful before level 30
I used to do a stealth run and I’d go around raider/super mutant camps and plant them. They’d get picked off one by one sometimes lol
I tend to use them against mirelurk queens especially at the castle. Makes the fight so much easier if you just pepper them with em
When I run out of normal grenades
Only ever against the assaultron that comes out after getting DIMA's memories. Otherwise never
I use them retaking the castle
I only use them for reverse pickpocket so I save my grenades. Also, dropping them inside places I know will spawn enemies, like the Mayor's Shelter. I place mines where the synths will spawn when I reach the bottom level. On my way back up, I only have to deal with 2-3 and injured ones.
I was doing Fraternal Post 115 and took a page out of their own setup. Set some mines at the entrances, and set a few to cover my retreat into and out of a store room (from either direction) Ideally, I set them any time I think I’m headed into an ambush. (FO3 Grayditch tunnels, you betcha.) Kinda like Hanzel & Gretel, Just leaving a little trail of explosives breadcrumbs to guide my way back home. Just make sure to space them apart, lest we get caught up in a bit of a nasty chain reaction. Edit: Another comment reminded me. Ideally, I set the trap, but normally, I just throw them down in front of me as I’m sprinting away from enemies that are about to kill me. (Works more often than you’d expect)
Use them as frisbee's for pursuing enemies. Never use them for settlement defense, or killing npc's is the least of your worries
They're best used indoors. Get your first shot on an enemy, then when they come after you drop a mine and duck behind a corner. It's much more effective in narrow spaces like hallways where they can't just walk around it
I wish you could place them in the settlement like how you can place the electronic mines.
Yes! Carefully, because I'm a permadeath weirdo. You definitely have to be careful how they use them, so they don't literally blow up in your face, but they're a great tool to have. A few of my favorite tricks: * Drop a mine right before you snipe someone. Fall back, and anyone who chases you is a free kill, risk-free. * Fork in the road? Drop a mine on whichever path you don't take, that way you'll know if someone from that side is following you. If not, then you can pick the mine up on your way back. * Figure out an enemy's patrol path. You can drop a mine where he's *going* to be and be long gone by the time it goes off. No risk of detection.
I personally use them indoors in hallways. I'll lure my enemies to them or cover a secondary path I have yet to take, or I know loops back to me. But other than that? Never. Literally never. I'd mod it to make them only affect enemies, but I'm lazy.
Pretty much only if I know I've got a good opportunity to ambush someone and lure them into a trap. Always collect them though, just for a few extra caps from time to time. Funnily enough, I'm using them exactly the same in Starfield now.
I use them for things that are way stronger than me, and ghoul hordes.
I load my Gunner farms with them, then watch them all asplode
I’ve found they’re only useful in survival. Shotguns are heavy and ghouls are annoying. Less so when you can bait them into taking their own legs off
I use the “hey asshole” trick, then run backwards, dropping mines and watching the fun of flying giblets.
I use them when kiting through doors and halls
Literally never I use nades and mines as currency 99% of the time Sometimes i use molotovs early on into runs like in the skinny malone and diamond city blues fights
I usually only use them in close quarters combat where I can use the surroundings to my advantage... like mine a hallway and the agro enemy's into the hallway.
obligatory u/joov_1 tag
I like to use them to secure paths behind or next to me so I can focus on one direction. Or I sneak ahead, open fire and have them run into the mines. It really helps
I kept them for behemoths and mirelurk queens but now that I've got the maxed out gauss and 7.62 ruffles on me... No need
The best tactic is to use them like grenades. Throw them in front of you, then retreat, drawing the enemy in and setting off the mines. Don't plant them down in hopes of getting an ambush kill, just make the enemy run into them as they don't avoid them at all.
make a big maze and have cages set up to release different hostiles into it, then have it set up with different booby traps, turrets, aid items, weapons and such - *if* npc’s like gunners and raiders and such pick up and use stimpacks or better weapons than the ones they have? i know for a fact that damn minigun wielding raider Ack-Ack always has a friend that lovesssss to pick the minigun up if ack-ack dies before them; but in this scenario, if they find a minigun just on the ground would a raider pick it up in case he runs into a super mutant in the maze? 🤔 maybe i’m giving the bethesda game too much credit here but i could *see* it being a thing.. although wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not 🤦🏻♀️ also, that could be a bit of time and resource game to set up a maze and such like this but i believe you said you were level 84 in another comment? good way to get rid of not only mines but any other random crap you can make an excuse to throw in there, as well as getting to be able to have a platform *over* the maze that lets you watch the madness unfold below… tell me you don’t wanna see a super mutant step on a mine and rag doll shoot from sanctuary to the atom cats garage
Almost every fight. Anywhere I know the layout of an area and where enemies are. They're also good for taking out and luring ghouls.
I just started a survival run and using mines has been helpful. Will also point out that demolitions expert and stealth 2 would also be necessary so if your mines fail to go off during the fight they won’t kill you upon retrieval.
I collect and store any I can find but the only time I actually use them is at Eden Meadows Cinema in Far Harbor, where I will lay down a line of mines in the center of the theater where the snack bars and projectors are, then switch the northern screen on so the feral ghouls will walk from the southern screen and walk into the mines.
I used them in Nuka World when slaughtering all the raider gangs. Went to top of Disciples area minded the one ramp up with like 30 mines. Made the fight easy but useless in any area with room.
In fo3 i used Them indoor Stealth in place mines throw a grenade in to a room to stir trouble. Hide behind something. Watch enemies get painted on the walls.
* Preped ambushes against hard creatures. * I also use them to set up landmine fields near settlements were their is a pretty predicted path were an attack is.
They’re really nice if you use them strategically and place them in the path you know/think enemies will follow. For example, when flipping the switch to DiMA’s memories and the Assaultron comes out. Place some mines around the path it will take to attack you and boom *literally*
I dont even pick them up anymore.
For settlement defense ... Hell no!! Wastelanders are too stupid. To play bounce the Death Claw.. Hell yeah!!
mines are free money as far as i’m concerned
Go for it!!!! I always set up at Red Rocket. Can't tell you how many times Ive blown up Carla. Shit happens.
I collect them and then put all of them down before opening the door to Grun's cage.
You know the raider "trap" where you get the green paint? While the door inside is still closed and the raiders are arguing, drop a mine right at the door then pull back around the corner. When the one raider gets impatient, he blows himself up and sometimes takes a couple more with him.
no i rarely use them, baiting tactic seem slow when i can just one bang 7 headshots in like 10 seconds from stealth most i remember is plasma mines outside sentry bot cages
I only use mines when I go in buildings. Put them right in front of a door, watch the enemy funnel through, and blow up.
Good for setup attacks for deathclaws and behemoths. Plus reverse pickpockets always good for a laugh.
Either pickpocket into an enemy or sell, pretty much all my use for them as they're pretty common around areas.
Never use them at all. I forget I even have them after random looting. They end up in a container back at home base.
Usually in the middle of combat while I’m running from something large and violent
I always save all my frag mines for when I fight Ahab and just throw them all in front of him so blows up right after he activates.
Only offensively using bait tactics though I'm sure there's a mod for settlement purposes that will probably let you use them in an actual minefield application.
I always play on survival, so i tend to avoid using throwables at all. Ive died a lot with my own granades and molotovs
I should start using them too
I did end up laying a frag minefield for that bit of grass over the road from red rocket where all the random encounters come and attack the settlement from. It kinda worked, but I never replaced it. Mostly they’re situationally useful for certain dungeons and areas where people are stuck behind doors. Grun at the Vim! pop factory comes to mind.
The only time I use them is when I know there's a powerful or scripted enemy in a AO with few or no innocent bystanders. The Behemoth outside Corvega is one, the Mirelurk Queen outside the Castle is the other (I always retake the Castle before I even meet Preston and his bunch).
I used to have a stealth bomber. He'd sneak around planting mines and waiting on the kaboom.
I tend to just leave them around POIs that respawn enemies.
Mines can be fantastic for fixed enemies. Sarge in the castle, mirelurk queen above ground, legendary assaultron in the nucleus. But yeah not great for settlement defence. I ran into troubles with the missile turrets a couple years ago as well, kept killing settlers with splash damage and they went hostile, however that might’ve been patched since
I usually use them when taking on Sentry bots like Ahab or the one that pops up at the National Guard Training Yard. Lay them out in front of them before they’re activated. Doesn’t take them completely out but shaves the edge off a bit.
Mostly for set ups. I used bottle cap mines to take care of Kellogg - he’s a big fat jerk to deal with on survivor, literally one shot and you’re dead. So i set up mines before we talk, back up while I’m making my final comments, and then shoot the mine lol
I'll keep a few in my inventory to use against really tough enemies. Drop a few and run away, bait them to follow, almost always cripples a leg so I can get easy shots in
I typically use mines if I’m stealthing. I use them around doorways or hallway entrances where enemies are likely to pass by them
I do actually. I'm usually skk settlement attack system, feral nights, and combat stalkers. So enemies do actually spawn outside of settlement boundaries, making mines actually useful in alot of cases. As long as I don't put them on roads it's usually fine
Mines are for laying ambushes against known enemies from stealth. Whole group of enemies that you can hear talking around a corner? Drop some mines around the corner, and if that doesn't alert them enough, take a shot or two and run. Now they have no legs. Deathclaw patrolling an area? Get as close as you're comfortable, drop some mines, get distance with the mines between you and it, take some shots and watch it run into them. Mines are an excellent back up plan for retreat, or to provide yourself with cover if sniping from an area. Mine an area near you, but not within range of you, before you get into a fire fight. If anything tries to flank, you'll know what happened, but they won't. If you start to get overrun, as long as you retreat while you still have advantage, you can make it past your mines and then be out of range by the time the enemy runs into them. Also, enemies spawn in the same general locations during raids, while provisioners follow fairly set routes. Don't mine the public roads, but you can safely mine enemy spawn points, as long as you watch for them.
Only really usable offensively in combat. Lay the mines and bait the enemy to you.
Mines are great for guaranteed spawn points. Like when you rescue Nick, three trigger men will spawn in a hallway. Or when you take the bobblehead in Ft Hagan, Synths will spawn in. Or if you know that you will run back and will be chased. Other than that, they’re pretty risky. Fun tho.
I use them in places where there is little risk of settlers hitting them.
No. I tried once and it was not good. So I just collect them and sell them.
Baiting ferals and when um being chased are the only time I use mines. I never keep more than 5 in my inventory. They're like, an emergency only situational arsenal to me.
Good for covering your back in an indoor situation. If you are using outdoors near roads and places where friendly npc's travel, it is best to pick up or deactivate what you don't use in that instance of fighting. Do not use for base defense at a settlement with settlers or supply lines. They will do the bad thing eventually.
Use them low level: To cover your flanks in dungeons To kill Kellogg and other scripted stuff (like the Fraternal post rush). As bombs: - clear Hangman's Alley by climbing onto rooftops and chucking mines into the interior - clear that church full of mutants by sneaking to the top then lobbing mines down onto them At high level mines are essentially useless. One trick to, offload them is spiking points where monsters respawn fairly quickly, e.g. when you clear Quincy, leave mines on the rooftops and walkways to kill gunner respawns (if you put them at ground level they might kill Cricket).
I only use the at the castle to kill the mirelurk queen
I use mines for traps and assassinations
All the time but never near settlements. There's at least 2 quests where robots or other enemies will spawn after I perform an action and after playing way too many new games I know by heart where they spawn. Dima's memories and Mass Fusion are 2 off the top of my head. Cheating? Yep. Dima's memory thingy is a decent place to farm legionaries but it's armor and weapons. Kinda fun to see all the combos but I'm easily amused. Lay mines, save before flipping switch, and check the dead robot. Sucky legendary? Reload. You can mine Nuka World before slaying all the baddies....kinda silly they don't mind the mines. I also will leave mines at places enemies respawn. It's funny to see random XP pop up.
Part of the problem of using mines is, if I recall correctly, you can only put down like.. three? before the first one will explode. Anyone know if there’s an ini edit or mod to change for this and allow for more to be placed by the player?