Rockside

Rockside is the tutorial location of FOnline 3.

Introduction

Let's start with the basics:

0. Leaving Rockside is a permanent and irreversible action.

1. Everything you have will be taken from you when you leave.

2. PvP is disabled in Rockside.

3. Experience gained in Rockside increases with each major patch.

4. The optimal time to farm experience in Rockside is Sunday (CET), due to a weekly server-wide experience multiplier event that stacks with Rockside's patch-based bonus.

5. The ~reroll feature is free to use in Rockside. Make sure you take full advantage of it!

6. If you stay in Rockside long enough, you will be able to choose a class perk: Regulator (required level: 25), Chosen One (30), and Combat Master (35) become available fairly early, followed by Soldier (100), Killer (100), and Random Boy (100).

7. Every time you leave your private room, you enter a random instance of Rockside. This means that you may not be able to return to your corpse to get your loot back.

7a. To know which instance of Rockside you are in, check the area next to Francis after leaving your room. The two versions are: (1) burned carpet, (2) empty.

8. After you're done with this guide, you may also want to take a look at the Advice for beginners page.

Time to explore Rockside.

First steps

A good way to start your Rockside adventure is with a melee build. Although weapons and ammo are fairly cheap here, it's generally a good idea to save up some resources first using melee and to reroll around level 15. Recommended build: S 10 P 4 E 6 C 4 I 7 A 8 L 1 with two traits: Gifted and Loner. Loner is essential due to its massive accuracy bonus. Recommended level perks: Bonus HtH Damage, Medic, Vampire, Lifegiver, Bonus Move, Bonus HtH Attacks, Action Boy, Gain Agility.

Create your character, step into the wasteland, and die. You'll wake up in a room that only you can enter. That room will be your home base—your respawn point and your only safe stash—for the rest of your stay in Rockside.

Walk outside the room and talk to Francis, the first NPC you meet. He'll introduce you to Rockside and send you on your first quest: getting him a bottle of beer. Quests are optional but highly recommended, as they're a quick and easy way to earn your first experience points. To get the beer, you'll need to descend to the basement level (two floors down since your private room is on the first floor) and head southeast to the Tap House. Tell the bartender you need a beer for Francis and then return to Francis to claim your reward, but before you do, speak to Arnold to receive your first support perk: Strong Back. On the same level as Francis and your private room, just to the south, there is a woman standing next to a computer terminal; if your Intelligence is 6 or higher, you can talk to her to receive the Swift Learner support perk, which will increase your XP gains by 10%. In the northeastern portion of the map, you will find stairs leading down, with a man named Hunter next to them, who will give you Leather Jackets and Leather Armor for killing rats and scorpions respectively. Once you're done exploring the floor, go down the stairs.

You are now on the ground level (there's a green exit grid at the bottom); your immediate goal is to find the robot that teaches you how to drive a car, located in the room to the southwest of the stairs you just took. While learning to drive may not seem like an immediate priority (there are no cars in Rockside), completing the quest awards nearly 6000 experience points, which is a huge boost for a newly created character. To complete the quest, use the following dialog options: Teach me... / I am... / Sure... / Listen Further [X6] / Try to remember... / Next... / You take... / Red Button / Press and Hold Red Button / Insert Microfusion Cell / Press Red Button.

You should now be around level 4. Note for later that there's a ghoul arms dealer in a room to the west. Leave the area using the green hex grid to the east and head straight for Chopper's shack to get yourself a Hatchet. Don't lose it; you'll need it to chop down trees for Wood! Your next step is to talk to Justin to get a shovel that will allow you to clean up brahmin crap for experience and caps; you'll need the latter to buy your first weapon from the ghoul merchant.

Always keep your eyes open for random loot lying around. Any dead player's loss is your gain, if you're in the right place at the right time. Finding a lucky pile of gear can jumpstart your leveling, but keep in mind that when you die, your gear will likewise end up on the ground, ready to be snatched by anyone who stumbles upon it. As already mentioned, your gear is only safe in your private room.

Basement quests

There are several mini-quests that can be completed in the basement location; they're a great way to get your first levels:

1. Francis needs a beer. Find and talk to Cooke; return to Francis.
2. Alexis Fritz needs someone to talk to the Van Graffs. Go upstairs, find and talk to Constantine, report back.
3. Judith needs some rum. Find and talk to Cooke; return to Judith; go back to Cooke and buy the requested item (25 caps); return to Judith.
4. Doctor Redwolf needs 5 empty hypos. Find and talk to Cooke; report back.
5. Doctor Redwolf can't find his pet scorpion Bruce. Find Bruce in the bottom-left corner of the basement; report back.
6. Interact with the terminal next to Bruce if you haven't already and select the correct dialog options to get your reward.
7. Kyles01 Prime wants a beer. Get beer; report back.
8. Sally wants 20 rounds of 10mm ammo; bring it to her to get a 10mm Pistol.

Combat progression

The area to the west of the first outdoors location you enter is full of radscorpions. Since they are slow, lack ranged attacks, and have low hit points, they're the perfect target to practice the basics of combat on if you're new to FOnline. The mantises, dogs, and molerats in the next location to the west will be significantly more challenging. To the north, there is a small cave full of rats; they give more XP than radscorpions but are a bit tougher. Take your time and remember to use First Aid if your hit points drop dangerously low.

The spore plants in the area to the west along the green river bank are also a good target for a low-level character. Since they're immobile, you will rarely be attacked by more than one at a time, which allows you to clear them at your own pace so long as you're mindful of their ranged attacks. If you have a Wrench, you can often kill them without being hit at all! As you level up, getting your combat skill of choice up to 100% (or 200% without the Loner trait) should be your first priority. Your second priority should be increasing First Aid to 200%: it'll make the skill more effective and allow you to use it more often.

Once you feel confident enough and have some gear stored up, you can attempt farming the aliens/deathclaws in the cave, or even the tribals in the village to the far west of Rockside. You get considerably more experience in these areas, but the difficulty and danger level increase as well. Once you're able to kill deathclaws with ease, you should be strong enough to engage the ranged combatants in the city ruins southeast of the village.

Once you're able to comfortably clear the city ruins, you can continue heading east where you will find much more heavily armored Slags. Fight through them and head down the stairwell inside the shack to the bunker below. This is the final area of Rockside, full of high HP robots. At this point, the real grind can begin. While you may be tempted to leave Rockside at this point, remember that farming XP in Rockside is very cheap compared to the outside world where ammo procurement can be a real challenge, especially for a new/solo player.

Tip: If you receive a dangerously high dose of radiation while fighting aliens, keep in mind that there is a doctor on the second floor of the large building in the basement who can cleanse it for you.

Repeatable quest

Hunter, an NPC located in the same area as your private room, will give you rewards in exchange for a story about killing 10 of the same critter.

Critter Reward Geckos Robe Rats Leather Jacket Radscorpions Leather Armor Deathclaws Metal Armor Aliens Combat Armor Men Cat's Paw Issue 5 Robots ?

Hunter's location

Graduation

When you decide to leave, Rockside residents will give you a goodbye gift based on the level you have achieved:

Level	Rewards
5–11	Random T1 armor + weapon, ammo
12–23	Random T1 armor + weapon, skill books, ammo, tent
24–49	Random T2 armor + weapon, skill books, ammo, tent, T3 blueprints
50–99	Random T2 armor + weapon, skill books, ammo, tent, T3 blueprints, T2 drugs, currency
100–499	Random T3 armor + weapon, skill books, ammo, tent, T3 blueprints, T3 drugs, currency
500+	Random T3 armor + weapon, skill books, ammo, tent, T3 blueprints, T3 drugs, currency, one random WE stat