I'm interested in what self-imposed rules you play by. Do you not fast travel? Do you restrict your weapons carrying? What do you do that the game doesn't force you to, but you do it anyway?

Me personally, I restrict my weapons carrying. Depending on what I'm wearing I can only carry a certain number and type of weapon; in Power Armour I have the choice of two long arms, a Minigun/Gatling Laser, or a long arm and a long melee weapon (Shishkebab, Extended Ripper).

If I'm not in Power Armour my options narrow down. I can carry one long arm (which includes the option of a rocket launcher/Fatman) and a sidearm. I can also carry a short melee weapon (Combat Knife, Machete, etc).

Some might think this restrictive, but I find it's an excellent way of balancing my power. It's extremely easy in Bethesda games to carry a weapon for every situation and thus the game becomes extremely easy. By doing this I find that I set myself up one way for what I think I'm going to face, but may end up having to think and adapt on my feet if things don't go the way I think they will. It also means I experience different playstyles depending on how I kit myself out. I can take a suppressed rifle and pistol with a combat knife if I want to be sneaky bastard. If I want to blow some heads off I can grab a heavy sniper rifle and a revolver with a machete. If I really want to [censored] some [censored] up I'll grab a suit of power armour with an extended ripper and go to town on the nearest raider gang, or maybe go all Team Fortress Heavy on the wasteland with a minigun.

I also avoid fast travelling when I can unless there's and in game explanation for an instant travel time. I like to experience every moment my character would.

I also build my settlements with real amenities in mind; bathrooms, kitchens, etc. I like it when they look functional and lived in.

So what do you guys do?

I don't carry around big guns, I also don't carry around things like missiles or mini nukes or 5000 5mm rounds. If I see a missile launcher and some ammo, I use then and there then dump it.
Another thing I'm doing is only taking stimpacks for healing while fighting.

On the other hand I did cheat with my carry weight because I want the junk and I prefer it to fast travel every time or hauling them back after every quest, got to say it made the pacing of the game much better and this comes from someone who rarely fast travels in previous games.

No fast travel, is the really rule I impose.

My rules when playing games like Fallout 4 and Skyrim.

(1) Main rule - Don't do anything out of character - eg: A good character will not steal or murder. Don't join factions or do quests unsuited to my character.

(2) Avoid cheating.

(3) Save often - seperate save files.

I allow fast travel and carrying anything in my inventory.

No fast travel and no meta gaming. (character doesn't know what I know)

1. No fast travel at all. First used in FO3 but it took away from the game. I was missing out on encounters so I stopped using it then. Haven't used FT since.

2. No nukes. Too easy to take out large enemy such as the Behemoth with a nuke. I prefer to get into a good battle using standard ammo (10mm, .44, .308, etc).

Those are the only two rules I currently have. Once I get into Survival Mode I may impose other rules. Unsure as of the moment.

My self-imposed rule is that once I've got a settlement up and running, I increase my carryweight to 3000 and headcanon that I send my scavengers to pick up all the loot from places I clear, rather than spending hours teleporting back and forth to get all my wrenches, pipe-guns, duct-tapes and light-bulbs into storage.

Oh... you were talking about *restrictions*? Nah, man - I don't do that.

When I finish the game on my first 2 playthroughs, I am going to try to play survival mode without taking any perks,

except lockpicking and hacking. Should be... Interesting.

Wh.. why do you hate yourself?

i dont use guns..ever!

Personal restrictions? Other than my moral code, i really only have two:

1. Power armour is special, i generally only take it out on missions, when i have a specific job in mind, and am expecting a big fight. it's not for running around or exploring in

2. Infinite ammo doesn't exist, [censored] you companions. I really hate all my companions having an infinite ammo weapon that they just pull out. So i give them all specific weapons to use, and ammo for them, and i do my best to keep them well stocked so they never start cheating

I'm trying to carry around a realistic amount of gear. Realistic as in I'm a wanderer in a wasteland not a sas member walking around with a full pack. Like 50 lbs.

Game is difficult lol. Especially after picking up a set of quest items that you can't drop until you finishing speaking strangely

1. No fast travel unless it's to build at my settlement, in which case I have to fast travel back to the same point and carry on from there.

2. No reloading if I made a decision that didn't go well.

3. No lowering of difficulty, (play on v hard).

Depends on my toon.

My favorite one atm is 'Widow', she's a cannibalistic drug using melee psychopath. The rules that apply:

.) Only Melee Weapons

.) No VATS

.) No regular Power Armor (She only uses it for high radiation areas)

I never thought that melee would work at all, especially without VATS but damn she is a monster. She has the perk "Moving Target" wich makes her playstyle really awesome, because instead of hiding and trying to lure out enemies one by one she charges into the crowd like a maniac and slays foes left and right. When shes confronted with too much firepower Med-x and Psycho does the trick, sometimes a little Jet.

First real playthrough I don't have much rules. It's just trying to beat the game but for my next playthrough that will most likely be not so story oriented I will have a lot of rules.

That will also be more of a RP round than my frist play through anyway.

Hopefully there will be a "Live another life" mod available for my next play through, and then I will play as someone who just tries to survive in the wasteland.

But basicly, maximum 2 guns and one melee weapon, that is kind of logic that you can carry. I will spend perks accordingly to the character I'm playing. Travelling will be done in daylight and in the evening I will have to find shelter, no fasttravel. I will have to scavenge to find food and water. I will definatly not loot everything I find. If/when I build a settlement I will build it like someone would actually live there with all that's required for that. To keep things real I will try to only pick upp things that logically could fit in my pockets/backpack or whatever.

There is only rule needed in roleplaying, in my opinion: "Take only those actions that are appropriate to the character."

That's what I do too, after I clear a building I shoot a flare up in the sky and when the minute men arrive I just pretened that they are the ones who are doing the actual scavenging !

No chems.
Stimpack only used for limb damage.
Use only water for healing.

Carry 1 pistol, one long gun only
Loot from bodies limited to only prewar money and ammo for equipped guns. No loot everything for cash.
Only exception to looting is legendary items

Of I die roll 10 sided die vs Luck skill. Less than luck skill means I had the sight and keep playing. Higher than luck skill I drop everything in my inventory on a body and leave it forever. Equal luck skill and I'm dead is dead.

No fast travel. Ever.

sleep 5 hours a day, eat before sleep and after waking. For daylight character must start sleep between 10pm-1am and for night owl sleep starts between 7am-10am. Need to have a regular schedule....else what's the point of sleep.

Beyond that, create an idea of the character and his values. Act accordingly and make decisions and conversation in line with character.

My only rule is if I find power armour, I stop what ever I'm doing and take it back to my HQ. Got about 14 stored at the minute, each with its own Power Armour station. The pain in the [censored] with this is I constantly have to deconstruct my house to make more room then spend ages rewiring the power and hopping in and out of PA's to put everything back in its place

I don't have hard fast rules, but I try and keep in character. The one I'm playing only used the pa on that concord quest. I only use non auto weapons, no energy ones. I use food over stimpaks. I am sneaky and not adverse to stealing, however I do not kill innocent folks. (even though the minute men and their radiant quests are making me rethink that from time to time.) I don't reload the game if something goes badly. I just let it haunt me.

I wouldn't normally walk around with 30k worth of bottle caps on me but I can't seem to take them out of my inventory.

Still on my first character so no rules yet.

Nothing yet, but I've already decided that my second character is going to be a recovering addict. So, no meds, drugs or alcohol at all - including stimpacks! Only healing items will be the food I cook or what a comforting doctor can provide (I'm hoping doctors can heal broken limbs!)

No rules. I'd like to do no fast travel, but the game doesn't seem (so far) to offer alternative methods of getting around. I need game mechanics, preferably optional ones as we all have different preferences, to support the game style chosen, rather than self inflicting rules.

This is pretty much how I was thinking, just better written than I did.

Except for the part with death, I will probably just load again. Dead is dead has never been my cup of tea.