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I've just entered The Glowing Sea for the mission in the main quest line, but am having some difficulties.

I went in wearing a Hazmat suit (giving 1000 rad resist) in order to minimize radiation damage, and am receiving <1 rads.

However because I cannot wear armor with the Hazmat suit I am struggling with enemy encounters. If they manage to attack me they do an excessive amount of damage.

I have a suit of power armor that currently offers over 1000 rad resist, so I could wear this, however I don't really want to burn through my fusion cores whilst exploring.

My question is: How much rad resist is needed to minimize the radiation damage in The Glowing Sea?

Would 100 rad resist from taking Rad-X allow enough protection to receive <1 rads, meaning I could wear my normal armor?

Does the background radiation increase the further southwest traveled, meaning I would need more than 500/1000 to receive <1 rads in the furthest reaches?

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    Considering how many rad-x and radaway it will take to explore the place, you're probably saving money burning through fusion cores. You can get all the way to Virgil on one fusion core if you don't screw around.
    – DCShannon
    Feb 1, 2016 at 13:51

3 Answers 3

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Spoilers ahead

If you finished the quest The Secret of Cabot House, you acquired a couple doses of Mysterious Serum.

Instead of increasing your rad resistance, that serum removes 10 rads per seconds during 3600 seconds (an hour). Since most areas in the Glowing Sea inflicts about 10 rads per second, you can cruise around without any effects. A single dose will last long enough for you to do the quest and explore the area.

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    I always thought it was really weird that the mysterious serum removed 36000 rads, because it doesn't specify that it will do it over the course of an hour. Will definitely be using this! Feb 2, 2016 at 9:45
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I popped like 2 rad-x and was fine. I think I used about 3 rad away while navigating, but it wasn't anywhere as near as bad as the NPC's lead me to believe.

However, there are some areas you won't want to go walking about in, as they have far higher rad ratings.

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  • Do Rad-X effects stack? Or do you mean one after the other? Feb 1, 2016 at 12:29
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    One after the other - unsure if they stack, if they do, then that's a nice easy answer :D Feb 1, 2016 at 13:07
  • When you say "and was fine", how far did you go, and how long were you out there? Just to Virgil?
    – DCShannon
    Feb 1, 2016 at 14:09
  • Visited Virgil + the loonies out there, killed a fair bit, managed to find a exploit that dropped me completely out of the map. A few hours I think? Feb 1, 2016 at 14:20
  • @djsmiley2k An exploit that dropped you completely out of the map? Is that documented on Youtube? I'd like to see. Feb 1, 2016 at 17:39
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You don't need a tremendous amount at any one time, unless you stray into certain high radiation areas.

There are a few ways to do it.

Consumables

On my last playthrough, I made it from the Edge of the Glowing Sea to Virgil's Cave on two RadAways and two Rad-X.

On the way, I discovered the Capsized Factory, the Crater of Atom, and the Decrepit Factory. I was wearing 25 rad resistance from an Assault Gas Mask and the Vault Suit. This completely took care of the radiation. I arrived at the cave with zero rads. Note that I was in a hurry. I did not fight a single creature and ran as much as I could.

Watch out for areas of ground that are glowing, or contain liquid. The radiation can be extremely high in these areas, and can overcome the rad resist from a single Rad-X and some clothes.

Rad-X does stack, so you can take several if you really need to enter a high-radiation area.

You could also use the Mysterious Serum if you have it. This gives you -10 rads/sec for six minutes.

Hazmat

A Hazmat Suit or similar outfit provides 1000 rad resist, which is plenty. You won't even need any Rad-X. You'll be extremely vulnerable in a fight though, so you'll want to hustle to your destination and avoid engagements.

Power Armor

Power armor provides as much or more rad resist than a hazard suit, but also gives you great protection in a fight. If you're going to be extensively exploring the area or fighting enemies, this is the way to go.

I can consistently make it from the Edge of the Glowing Sea to Virgil's cave on less than a single Fusion Core charge.

Cost Comparison

Rad-X has a value of 40. RadAway has a value of 80. Fusion Cores have a value of 200.

So, if two Rad-X and two RadAway are roughly equivalent to one Fusion Core, that's 240 caps for the chems versus 200 caps for the core. The chems are actually more expensive.

Of course, a hazard suit doesn't cost you anything to wear it, so that would be the most cost effective solution, assuming you can do what you need to do with no damage resistance.

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