Okay, you're in the thick of it now. You've built up Sanctuary, you're on track to find your missing child and the weapons you have aren't utter trash. The thing is, even if you're ten hours into Fallout 4, you still know absolutely nothing about Fallout 4. This is the type of game that will eat your life for at least the next month, so we here at Hardcore Gamer want to ensure that you take a few things into consideration on your journey across the Commonwealth. While you aren't going to be able to get some Dunks in the middle of Southie while angry people shoot you glares, there are a ton of things that you should consider on your quest to become the ultimate Fallout player. Here are three tips for those who have begun to get eaten alive by Fallout 4:

1) Take a deep breath every time you head into the Perk Chart

This might seem like the most pretentious piece of advice you're going to get all day, but it's going to allow you to make the best decisions possible when you level your character up. Bethesda has completely reworked the perk system for Fallout 4, and while you're going to be tempted to pick a new adorable Vault Boy animation simply for the sake of hilarity, you should take the type of player you're looking to be into consideration. The worst feeling in the world is arriving at an Advanced Terminal, realizing you haven't spent a single point on the Hacker perk and shaking your head at the thought of looking for Nick Valentine. Make sure that you set yourself up for success by balancing the damage-based Perks with those that affect how you react with the world around you. Being that you can dump points into the main S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats whenever you level up, consider increasing your Luck and Charisma before becoming a walking tank. After all, who cares how much damage you receive if you only find one cap in every other container? Take a step back whenever you are spending your points and when you come back, you'll probably wind up being a better player for it.

2) Don't just throw weapons into your favorites list

Even though you have the ability to bring up your Pip Boy at any time, it's still a bit of a pain to have to navigate through a menu every time you want to heal yourself. Consider throwing your Stimpaks and Sweet Rolls into your favorites list so that you can heal yourself on the fly. At first, you'll probably be tempted to throw all of your best weapons into your favorites menu, as being able to switch your weapons quickly is definitely an awesome tool. At the same time, it's going to be really tough to look through how much ammunition each of your weapons has in real time, so consider making your favorites a group of items you know will be helpful in the middle of battle. Sure, being able to switch between your shotgun and 10mm pistol at will is going to be nice, but having to head over to your Aid tab every two minutes isn't necessarily going to make for the ultimate Fallout 4 experience.

3) Every inch of morality is grey here, so think in the moment

Our final tip for intermediate players is definitely a weird one. After all, isn't it odd to not plan for the future? Because your main character has only two real focuses, namely finding his or her child and staying alive, the state of all of the factions you come in contact with is inherently secondary. If you find that the Brotherhood of Steel is fighting your Initiate allies, consider killing your "friends" in order to put yourself in a position to succeed. Case and point, one of the Institute missions I was tasked with completing could not be triggered because of a fight between a Courser and a Knight, so like any good Vault Dweller, I killed the Knight, stole his stuff and proceeded along my journey. Furthermore, if something seems fishy to you, you can always take out your gun and end things in a less than peaceful fashion. If that cult in the middle of the Wasteland seems like it's giving you the runaround, why not forcefully take all of their stuff? There is no good or evil here, only survival, so try to think in the moment and don't get bogged down in whether you're doing the right or wrong thing. After all, the rules of the Commonwealth are very different than the rules of the real world, so embrace this.