Talk:Addiction

Avoiding addiction
Could someone provide more information on how to avoid / fight addiction in Fallout 3? How to cure and how to satisfy the addiction (is 1 hit a day enough)? Got addicted to my first hits of med-x and scotch. Traius
 * I read somewhere that the first 2 hits are free, and every hit after that has a risk for addiction, but that if you wait 30 game hours between hits that your addiction chance is reduced to 0 again. However I don't know where I read this, so I don't know how valid this statement is. To cure addiction, see a doctor or use My First Laboratory in your home. Schizmoooo 17:13, 15 November 2008 (UTC)

I think you can get addicted to med x in fallout 3, I think I have got addicted once(on the 360)
 * You can get addicted to Med X in FO3, afaik. It's worth noting that you can't get addicted to Med X via the Prototype Medic Power Armor though. --DarkJeff 20:06, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

This heading was above the TOC. Added a header "Avoiding addiction" to bring it below the TOC.Deadlykris 21:54, May 22, 2010 (UTC)

Article is confusing and/or inaccurate
1. Is Rad-X addictive in Fallout 3 or not? This article says it is, but the Rad-X article says it isn't. Same thing with Nuka-Cola
 * Rad-X is not addictive in any Fallout game, though Nuka-Cola is addictive in Fallout 1 & 2. In 3, only Nuka-Cola Quantum is addictive.

2. Article says RadAway isn't addictive, but then there's a link to RadAway Addiction???
 * Rad-away addiction is a Fallout 1 & 2 only addiction.

3. Both of the above problems also relate to the fact that the invidual addiction pages don't say which specific versions they apply to.

4. There should be a complete, per game list of drugs that are addictive.
 * GECK says that Rad-Away, Rad-X, Ice Cold Nuka Cola and Nuka Cola are not addictive; there is no 'Usage Monitor Effect' property on them and their 'Addiction' dropdown says 'NONE'. 'Nuka Cola Quantum' is, and has a 'Usage Monitor Effect' of magnitude 12, duration 2880, Addiction type 'WithdrawNukaColaQuantum'.  Compare this to Jet, which is magnitude, Addiction type 'WithdrawJet'.  I will update the article.  Bsdasym 00:16, 7 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Sorry, Jet has a Usage Monitor Effect, magnitude 30, duration 108000.Bsdasym 00:18, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

Addiction Withdrawal Effects
The table is up, but I found a number of discrepancies between our wikia addiction pages and the The Nearly Ultimate Fallout Guide. I posted the issues in the table itself to help attract attention to the confusion. AshRandom (Talk) 21:41, 6 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I think we should move the FO3 addiction page to it's own page, and then maybe link to it from here, or maybe provide a disambiguation page and rename this one? The fallout 3 addiction stats are very different from those listed here and putting the distinctions into a single table is going to be very ugly.  I'll create an "Addictions (Fallout 3)" page with new content and a new table if nobody objects, populated with data from the GECK, and leave deciding how to link to it to others.Bsdasym 00:40, 7 January 2009 (UTC)
 * We should definitely make a fallout 3 specific table. You're right, the effects are different but the item names are the same, so it won't look pretty. As for a page split, I'd rather see it all on one page, divided up by titles, that way people can just link to addiction without any fuss. [[Image:Ash_Nuke.jpg]] AshRandom (Talk) 01:12, 7 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Ok. I have the table made up and am putting it in now, adding a TOC, and putting the F3 table into its own section.  Once that's all done I'll see if I can't take a stab at rewriting the intro and moving the F3 specific items into the F3 section.Bsdasym 01:22, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

Ok the F3 table is in place, now some cleanup is needed to move the fallout 3 specific stuff down into that section (where needed), or delete it entirely (F3 notes about nuka-cola, etc). The "CLASS" column is something out of the GECK (item category) that I thought might be useful for sorting or for people using the GECK themselves to find things. If it's just clutter it can go without any harm.Bsdasym 01:34, 7 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Done for now with this page. It's a start.  Sorry for the edit storm! Bsdasym 01:43, 7 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I split it up into fallout 1, 2, Tactics and F3.... but, is that right, are the effects the same in 1, 2 and tactics? [[Image:Ash_Nuke.jpg]] AshRandom (Talk) 16:16, 7 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I don't know the answer to that myself. I did a little googling but most of the hits turn up this page, the wiki is a victim of it's own success it seems.  I'll keep digging and hope that someone that knows more about those titles comes along in the interim. Bsdasym 03:37, 8 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Can't say anything about tactics, but addiction is the same in fallout 1 & 2, though unsure about lengths of addiction. Traius 06:56, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

In-game help states that addiction is more likely with continued use. This could be an explanation for magnitude + duration, ie increased chance if used again in this time. Traius

Added Mentats in Fallout 3 list
Mentats are definitely addictive in Fallout 3, but were missing from the list. I added a space for them, but unfortunately, I do now know the specific stats so I left them as question marks.
 * Doh how did I miss those, sorry! Updated with stats and added a footnote that the flavored mentats are not addictive.  According to the G.E.C.K. they have the same withdrawal symptoms as the plain mentats, but a 0% chance of addiction and no modifier (duration/magnitude). Bsdasym 00:31, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

Missing something
I noticed that after using a few Mentats, using more would put the addiction rate closer to...oh, 100%, rather than 5%! Compare that to Psycho, which I once took 11 straight hits of without becoming addicted. This must mean we're missing something from the addiction rate formula. I know that this quirk doesn't apply to everything (Alcohol seems to be exempt), but everything else...I'm not so sure about. Anyone want to look into this? System Error 00:07, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

Theory on duration and magnitude
This is my theory: duration is how long the "after period" of the drug lasts. When you use it again in that "after period", the chances of addiction, somehow determined by the magnitude, increases the chance of addiction. If you don't use a drug in the "after period" eventually the magnitude and chances of addiction will drop.

I think this is in some degree true, mainly because chances of addiction seem to increase when a drug is taken consecutively. 99.238.107.110 05:16, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

I agree, for example if you consume 4 or 5 (I forget which) Mentats in a row you are guaranteed to get addicted. E.g. you can save after consuming the 3rd or 4th one and no matter how many times you reload and try, you always get addicted consuming one more. Duration definitely seems to be time in (game) hours. Magnitude is probably a percentage, the question is how it interacts with the base percentage. E.g. after consuming one Mentat and then consuming another, do you have a 30% or 35% chance of addiction on the second one? --69.139.24.173 23:51, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

The 'addiction chance' is only used as a boolean value (zero = not addictive, non-zero = addictive) when the UMON effect is present. When the UMON effect is *not* present, then the addiction chance value is actually used. Testing this with a UMON magnitude of 1, there is no difference between a 1% or 100% addiction chance, and if addiction chance is set to 0% you can't get addicted. In both cases (1% and 100%) I consistently became addicted after consuming between roughly 75 and 90 items. With no UMON effect, and a 100% addiction chance, I became addicted instantly. This means that this table of addiction chances is incorrect. The idea seems to be that UMON magnitude = addiction chance increase, and UMON duration = how long you must go for the chance to reset to zero (I've confirmed that each individual chance increase does not fade, only all of them at once if the duration is hit.)

Now, a UMON magnitude of 100 does not guarantee addiction, although it almost does, and with 1% increases I should be able to get addicted WAY before 70% so the magnitude is not an actual percentage. It's impossible to tell for sure but an accumulated magnitude of 70-80 is roughly a 1-25% chance, and an accumulated magnitude of 100 is very close to 100%. (Also, since you can get addicted from a single usage with a 100 magnitude, the magnitude is accumulated before the check). The range the game must be using is something like accumulated magnitudes between 75 and 105 are equivalent to between 1% and 100% addiction chance, but it is nearly impossible to determine the exact values. This range might not even be linear for all we know. Sahuagin 68.145.216.57 06:24, April 9, 2010 (UTC)

With further testing I have determined that 150 accumulated magnitude is not 100% chance, but 175 accumulated magnitude is either 100% or very close to it. Similarly, 75 magnitude is either 0% or extremely close. Assuming they used a linear range 100 units wide, 75-175 is very close to the correct range values. Sahuagin 11:28, April 9, 2010 (UTC)

Nothing cures addiction?
I got my player addicted to Whiskey and Buffout in Fallout 3, both on first use. Problem is, nobody will cure me of this. I have the My First Infirmary, etc, nothing and nobody gives me the option the clean up. V1.0.0.15. Anyone else having this problem?

NeXEkho 00:18, 25 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Any big city medic can cure of your addiction for 50-100 caps. Your Home Infirmary does not cure you of your habit, but your Laboratory will, and it's listed under "Detoxify." Hope that helps. Penguindeskjob 00:32, 25 July 2009 (UTC)

Addiction and Cure in F3
Seems there's much misunderstanding about how addiction works. I must admit I don't understand it completely as well. However, some people mention duration, the main page mentions it too. Very confusing. It sounds as if the addiction will go away if you wait long enough. No. You can wait for a year (in game time) and it will not go away. The whole duration stuff should be removed from the main page, it's just confusing.

Secondly, duration doesn't seem to matter in terms of the chance to become addicted. You can wait for a year between two shots or take a second one as soon as the first one wears off and the chance is exactly the same. It seems to me the chance to get addicted is defined by first, your CURRENT endurance (not base endurance), and second, by the number of times you take a shot without getting addicted (the more psychos you take, the higher the chance to become psycho-addicted; when finally cured, chance is reduced again, probably for other drugs as well) and then re-modified by the "Chem Resistant" perk (-50%).

The "Chem Resistant" perk is absolutely useless for a low endurance character. If you save the game before taking a shot and try using a psycho or jet or med-x, you get addicted 9 out of 10 times, whether you have the perk or not. This is esp. true if you've already taken shots of the same drug before, without becoming addicted.

There are certain areas in the game like Mothership Zeta where you don't have access to a doctor or medical equipment to cure addictions. This means you CANNOT use drugs in these areas, otherwise you are stuck with lowered stats for the end of the quest, and I'm telling you, it's no fun if your agility is damaged permanently. This is very aggravating, since aliens, for example, require many shots on hardcore difficulty due to their high DR, which means you need extremely many APs in VATS, but no jet for you, since you can't cure the addiction while on board of the alien vessel. WRFan 16:20, November 13, 2009 (UTC)

Withdrawal is permanent, yes, but you accumulate 'addiction chance' every time you take a drug (exception for alcohol). The duration is how long you must go without the drug for the 'addiction chance' to reset to zero. This is why so often you get a withdrawal cure from a doctor, and then immediately become addicted on your next usage of the drug: the 'addiction chance' had not reset yet and is still lingering somewhere near or above 100%.

From my tests I have not seen a correlation between endurance and addiction chances. You were getting addicted 90% of the time, because your addiction chance had been built up to that level.

As far as 'Chem Resistant' it does not appear to have an effect on UMON addictions. This means that in vanilla F3, it will only affect alcohol (and not even NC Quantum or Ant Nectar).

Sahuagin 68.145.216.57 06:50, April 9, 2010 (UTC)

Nymphonomicon 01:33, January 9, 2011 (UTC)
 * I don't know if this is true with New Vegas and it may just be a glitch, but I noticed withdrawal is in fact not permanent in Fallout 3. I learned this while playing through Mothership Zeta; I was heavily using Buffout to carry all the Alien weapons I was finding and became addicted to it several times. At least two times I noticed that my "Buffout Withdrawal" did not take effect after the drug wore off and I was clearly addicted at the time.

Decrease in Radiation Resistance
Although I know it's not necessarily the smartest choice to drink Nuka-Cola Quantum, but let's say you get addicted to it. Now I know with other addictive items, let's say Med-X, it'll reduce your agility, intelligence (in this case), and as a result of a decrease in those stats, your skills determined by those stats would decrease (sorry I used the word "stats" alot). Now unless I'm mistaken the game will keep track of any skill passed 100, so in case for some reason one of your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats is decreased you could still have 100 in whatever skills determined by that stat (I believe it would say "100(-)" in your Pip-Boy next to that skill). What I'd like to know is if that applies to Radiation Resisitance when addicted to Nuka-Cola Quantum (the cap for Rad Resist is 72% from EN and Perks only; the cap is 85% if you use items of some kind).

TVRobot 20:41, May 29, 2010 (UTC)

F:NV cleanup specifications
So F:NV has been tagged with needing cleanup but what exactly is wanted here? Does the chance of addiction vary with each chem or dink or are they all going from the same base chance? Twoforflinching 20:19, January 14, 2011 (UTC)


 * I have done a massive cleanup for this section by adding a table with all the drugs I can see from the GECK, along with any details I can glean from it. Yet I'm missing a whole lot of details (UMON, risk, duration) that the GECK doesn't provide so I've left the cleanup notice in tact until somebody can provide those details or confirm that they're unknowable. Otherwise everything else seems to be in order for the moment. --3nexx 11:25, January 28, 2011 (UTC)

i take of the nuka cola cuamtium from fallout new vegas becoase is not present in the game sorry fom my english is not the lenguage in my contry hasta luego... i dont have an account

How does reduced chance of addiction stack?
If I have -50% chance of addiction, and then -25% and -25% does it mean I can't get addicted? Or is it 28.125%? SkyHiRider 19:22, July 24, 2011 (UTC)