I've been on a bit of a Fallout 4 binge the past few days while working on my review (which should be done tomorrow) and I've come to realize that a lot of my rookie mistakes and problems could've been easily solved if the game even tried to explain things to me.
So to help you guys out I've compiled a small list of things (in video and text form) that Fallout 4 doesn't tell you about, but are definitely worth knowing anyway:
#1 The "E" key can be used instead of "Enter"!
Thanks to the kind people that pointed it out to me after my article on Fallout 4 problems I finally see the light, and hopefully you do as well now. Why the game insists on ONLY ever referring to the "Enter" key without ever mentioning the much more accessible "E" is beyond me but at least they put in the option, even if they didn't tell anyone about it.
#2 Junk items stored in the workbench count as if they were scrapped
I've wasted far too much of my time dropping random pieces of office furniture on the floor, going in to the build menu, and then manually scrapping them. As it turns out you can simply use the deposit all junk items key (T by default) while interacting with a workbench and you're done.
The items will still appear as if they weren't scrapped (so you would still see [Office Fan]) but if you wanted to craft a defense turret the fan would be instantly scrapped in order to provide you with gears. If only I knew this before I spent 30 hours with the game...
#3 You can misplace followers so make sure you send them to the right place
This one seems obvious but you can really mess yourself up if you send a follower you like to a wrong location by accident. Make sure that when you're taking a new follower and want to bench your old one temporarily you send them to a place where they will be easy to find.
I made this mistake with Dogmeat, I wanted to replace him for a single quest but due to mashing Mouse 1 in order to skip the slow generic dialogue I sent him to a random settlement I didn't even see. It didn't seem like a big deal at that point but it ended up taking me over 20 minutes of painfully scouring every settlement I owned in order to find where he was hiding. So be smarter than I am and avoid this issue.
#4 Lone Wanderer perk still works if Dogmeat is your companion
I'm not sure if this is a bug or a legitimate feature but I think its a cool addition. Lone wanderer, if you don't know, reduces the damage you take, allows you to carry more and at the final rank also increases the damage you do as long as you don't have a companion. But as it turns out Dogmeat doesn't count so its a pretty sweet deal if you planned on sticking with your canine compatriot anyway.
#5 Your Power Armor will remain where you left it
This is both a boon and a curse. On one hand its great that you can just come back with a Fusion Core and continue where you left off but its also a nightmare if you don't know how it works and you simply leave it... somewhere. I'm not much of a Power Armor user so this unfortunate scenario didn't affect me but its definitely something you should keep in your mind if like to cosplay as a Space Marine.
#6 Make sure to take out the Fusion Core from the Power Armor when you're done
Don't worry, it won't drain your charge while its offline but NPCs have an annoying habit of stealing your armor if they ever get attacked (which happens at random). You can get them out of it but better save yourself the annoyance of trying to find out which one out of 20 people nicked it and just remove the core.
#7 If you like using the Power Armor or weapons with rare ammo, get the Scrounger perk
I've talked about this in my article on the Luck stat but long story short, Scrounger gives you a decent chance to find extra ammo from boxes but not only can you find ammo you can also find MULTIPLE Fusion Cores as well so if you plan on spending long periods of time in a suit of Power Armor make sure to grab it.
pfft, no self respecting scrounger would throw away that aluminum can
#8 Don't give followers powerful weapons you plan to use
This will only happen if they also have the ammo for it but your followers can and will use your mini nukes with reckless abandon, even if the enemy are a couple of radroaches and you're standing right next to them, thanks for that one Piper.
So in short, don't use your followers as mules for your really rare weaponry, you might not live long enough to regret it.
#9 Radiation is practically harmless
That one sounded odd to write down. But yeah, in the world of Fallout 4 being bathed in heavy doses of radiation is not a thing you should concern yourself with too much. So don't worry if you don't have a Power Armor nearby, just dive in there, get all the loot you can and simply pop a Rad-Away once you're done and you'll be as good as new.
What radiation does in Fallout 4 is it simply lowers your maximum HP, and it does so rather slowly even at radiation hotspots. And if you're going to be exposing yourself to amounts higher than a single Rad-Away can handle just pop one Rad-X beforehand and you'll have nothing to worry about except the chance of growing a third leg in the future but let's not bother ourselves with that.
#10 Traders, farmers and your dedicated scrapper deposit their goods in to the workbench
If you're like me then your workbench is usually filled to the brim with every possible junk item imaginable as well as backup weapons, ammo, food and that one suit you keep thinking might come in handy.
In which case you probably didn't realize (again like me) that the traders you wasted 2000 caps on aren't actually useless but are simply depositing their profits in to the workbench. There is no easy way of getting stuff out other than painstakingly going through the whole list of items but at least you now know its there.
#11 You can quickly exit terminals
Instead of mashing Tab like you hate the keyboard manufacturer simply hold it, you won't have to go back through all of the menus and submenus, you will exit instantly. This one isn't a big deal but it will save you a decent chunk of time over a whole playthrough, and a good chunk of sanity.
#12 You can re-try terminal hacks
You have three chances to get the password right, if you simply leave the terminal after your second guess you will be able to keep repeating it indefinitely. So don't risk locking yourself out unless you're certain you know the answer, just reset.
#13 You can take weapon mods from looted weapons by "upgrading" them with standard ones
So let's say you want a long barrel for your new gun but you don't want to spent the resources to craft it. Simply find a random weapon you don't like, take it to the weapon workbench and "upgrade" its long barrel in to a standard one. This will then deposit the long barrel mod in to your inventory and you can put it on a different gun at no cost.
This one can be a gamechanger if you run across a lot of those wordy weapons as they can sometimes have a lot of expensive mods on them, mods you can "borrow" for your own uses.
#14 You can equip under-armor as well as regular armor
This one is mentioned in-game but its most important to know about early when you're vulnerable so I'll include it anyway. Things like your Vault outfit, raider's leathers etc. can be equipped as a small bonus to defense while still having a regular piece of armor over it. It might not sound like much but it can save your life when a Ghoul comes chompin'.
And that's all the ones I can think of at this time, if any more pop up in my mind I'll make sure to update the article, but I doubt I missed anything major as I'm still fresh off the game. With that said I wish you the best of luck in your Fallout travels and keep this one last very important tip in mind - make sure to have fun.