How safe is mutating in a toxic waste dump?

redxlaser15 · 2017-03-11T05:45:56.000Z

 I have robust genetics, which makes me assume that radiation mutation is a lot safer than before. I wanna be a mutant, cyborg, but it is a pain in the butt to get to the right cooking level for mutagen, so while i wait, why not radiation? I know it gives you a much higher change of negatives, but that is why there is save scumming! But just how dangerous would it be to do that? and what creatures are in there also?
 (I'd assume that a toxic waste dump would be radioactive, but I could be wrong I guess tho...)
 Also, in terms of followers, how safe is it for them? I want mutant followers too, since I can't have cyborg followers that i know of. (I wish that followers could potentially come with traits too. Then you could MEAT fellow cannibals!)
  This could all just be a horrid idea of course, but eh.

Coolthulhu · 2017-03-11T05:57:01.000Z

Radiation will kill the hidden health stat - if you start waking up with “holy fuck that feels horrible”, that was probably radiation.
But if you don’t need to regen fast and aren’t scared of flu, the only thing you need to care about is that you don’t get so irradiated that you start losing hp. Same for followers.

redxlaser15 · 2017-03-12T03:02:03.000Z

 Does your HP stay low? Or does the radiation end up going away enough that your 'hidden HP' goes back to normal? I got 154 base HP, so low on health should not be a problem for a long time. (I know that from my strength skill, not from that specific trait which gives your exactly HP).
 In terms of enemies tho, what is there? Or is the toxic waste dump just full of toxic waste? I dodge almost every melee shot cuz of my dodge skill and i got some pretty good armor, so fights aren't usually too hard, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared!
 Is there any particular things i should pay attention to in terms of healing my followers? They refuse to take any drugs I give them, so I doubt they would take tho anti-radiation ones. But i have infinite disinfectant which can heal any non-bleeding wound so healing isn't a problem.
 ( i don't know what's up with it, but disinfectant never gets used on my followers, first aid kits and bandages do get used tho.)

TooDAMNMuch · 2017-05-26T11:40:35.000Z

he means health, not HP points, the distinguishing thing would be that health is a measure of how healthy in general you are.

the toxic and hazardous waste dumps are an EXCELLENT source of FREE radiation, i would need to check but i seem to recall both are fairly radioactive and sewage is a usable source as well of rads.

now that i think about that again… i should actually test if sewage will help mutate, i believe i had success in the past with it, i’m sure that at the dump variation that contains sewage there is also radiation, i’m just having trouble remembering if sewage itself was of any use.

as far as how safe, very unsafe, but it also varies a TON, i’ve had plenty of characters who either simply shrugged off “fatal” doses of radiation or were actually outright actively healed by being radiated in a few cases, i think you do still have a fatal dose of some sort in the latter case but it’s insanely high.

if you’re serious about rolling around in radiation, which, you should be if you want mutations, find a geiger counter and always keep it turned on and with spare batteries and if you’re feeling lucky, when you get a hit indicating a “hot” tile, curl up and have a sleep, it’s a gamble for sure either way really, you can save a lot of purifier by doing both radiation and cooking as well.