New Vegas Builds

[Callie Del Noire]

E3 2010 Live: Fallout: New Vegas Demo

It's coming out soon. VERY soon.

So anyone got an idea what they are doing for the first run through? I'm thinking of going gun slinger/lucky with the weird west perk for the silliness. :D

[Jude]

One of the builds I'm going for is an evil genius with 10 intelligence/charisma and kind of "meh" other stats who tries to get through the game with as little combat as possible by using speech to manipulate others :D

[King_Furby]

my brother is pretty much going pure gun combat.

[Leonard Washington]

Just bought this game last night on pure impulse because it just looked really cool. I'm aware that there have been other Fallout games but this is the first I've played. Sooo...does anyone have any advice for a n00b?

[Callie Del Noire]

I went agility/Luck with some boosts to Int.. so far it's been 'I shoot you in the face with my weather 10mm'. Works pretty good so far.. the 10MM is a nasty round. I dropped protecto-bots with a shot pretty easy.  Mr. Grunty still takes tnt though.

[Sabby]

Just bought this game last night on pure impulse because it just looked really cool. I'm aware that there have been other Fallout games but this is the first I've played. Sooo...does anyone have any advice for a n00b?

Okay man, here's the plot basics. Gameplay basics follow :)

It's alternate reality, where after WW2, we keep researching Nuclear power. Pretty much everything has a small reactor in it, cars, clunky robots, guns... basically, it's what the 1950's though the year 2000 would be, minus living on the moon and flying cars. China and America had a bit of a tussle, things escalated, and when WW3 was starting to look a reality, people started buying spaces in nuclear fallout faults. Both sides started dropping nukes, and almost everything on the surface of the planet was destroyed.

I know a few places survived, but not many, and the radiation eventually spreads to those places. If I remember correctly, the games are set roughly 200 years after the Great War, when the Vaults have opened and joined the surface survivors.

There were mutated humans resulting from 'super soldier' experiments, there leader being The Master (I only say this because he's mentioned on the radio in the game. Don't want ya to get lost :)) And then theres The Enclave, power armoured American Government lead by an AI fashioned after past presidents, the Brotherhood of Steel, same deal but concerned only with preserving technology, especially weapons, and finally, Ghouls, humans so irradiated they are basically immortal, but constantly rotting like corpses.

Thats the basics, everything else, like the different factions, are new to the series, as far as I can tell :)



The best advice I can give is not to drop any stat below 4. Keep everything at least at a 4, read the descriptions carefully, and if you can, sink as many extra stat points into INT as you can, regardless of your builf. It means more skill points at level up, and better perks.

Oh, and ALWAYS choose Guns. Regardless of your build, your going to need to shoot sometimes, and Guns is the most common combat skill. Even if you want something like Energy Weapons to be your primary skill, you'll still need Guns.

I hope that helps you :)

[Jude]

1)  CHR is useless unless you plan on using a lot of companions.  If you're not playing on hardcore this is totally unnecessary as companions can't die unless you're playing hardcore.  1 CHR is fine for almost every build.

2)  Don't take a non-even INT stat unless you play on rushing to New Vegas to get the implant.  Skillpoints on level up are 10 + INT/2 (so if it's odd, you round down and it does nothing).

3)  STR is primarily useful for melee characters, but everyone needs a decent score to use weaponry (as guns now have STR requirements).  A starting value of 4 will do.

4)  LCK determines success at casinos, critical hit rate, as well as a lot of other minor things.  There's a trait which reduces critical rate for unarmed (and maybe melee weapons), so if you take this trait you can ignore LCK pretty much and just do a straight damage build with OK results (this is the only time I would suggest not pumping luck).  However, for anyone else, LCK is fairly important.

5)  END is super important.  For every point of END you have you can equip 1 implant.  There are 9 implants total, one for each SPECIAL stat (which raises it by 1), 1 for +3 DR, and 1 that has health regeneration.  Ideally you want to be able to get nearly every implant -- personally I don't INT is worth it since you'll be hurting your skill point gain on the first few levels (and INT doesn't effect anything but skills) and CHR is equally pointless.  The END implant isn't necessarily for all builds either -- it's a little counterproductive if you're trying to max your character overall since you'll need to put another point in END to get that implant, so you end up spending another point in END that you'll need elsewhere.

6)  AGI is important for VATS AP, movement speed, and reload speed.  It's also good for perks for just about every class.  I recommend at least 7 post-implant AGI -- higher certainly can't hurt.

7)  PER doesn't seem to affect accuracy like the description says.  Dunno if this is a bug or not.  For now, you only need it if you're planning on getting a perk associated with it.

As far as skills go, sneak is useful for every build, as are lockpick, repair, and science.  Don't bother upping medicine unless you go with a high INT/educated build.  Focus on 1, maybe 2 weapon types (only 1 if you're a low int and no educated build).  Energy weapons are easy to find this time around so you don't really need to use guns as a stopgap measure.  There's a laser pistol in the doc's office at the very beginning of the game, and after that you can find plasma pistols pretty early on.  Explosives are better this time around, especially with the large amount of dynamite you can find, but I still don't know if they're a viable weapon on their own.

When making a build consider what you want your character to be ultimately, peruse the list of perks on fallout.wikia.com, and plan what SPECIALs and Skills to pump from there.

Good luck!

[Leonard Washington]

Wow I didn't expect such great advice!  :-) Thank you very much for getting me up to speed on the story and also the build aspect, it should all be a great help. Can't wait to play some more. ;D

[Combicon]

It came out today here - I had preordered the collectors pack awhile back, and was anxiously waiting for it to come.

The preorder edition comes in a nice slip case (which, I suppose is unnessasary and annoying - or so lots of people believe), but as it has the number of my collectors edition out of however many were made (955 out of 3400), I feel I need to keep it. It's got a nice textured card case unserneath that that looks roughed up a little - I guess the texture could be of leather, as the roughed areas are a light brown under the black - as well as the 'fallout new vegas' 'stamp' thats in the middle. I haven't tried to put pressure on it, but it feels more solid than most board game boxes. I was actually expecting it to be heavier than it was; from the pictures I had seen online - not that it matters too much. The interior is lined with a black felt which is a nice touch, even if deviating a little from the outside of the box

Opening the top of the case (much like a shoebox opens), you are greeted with a hardback book - a comic about new vegas - the cover of which features a scene with lots of wastelanders in a post-apoc city of some sort (having only played a few hours of the game, I can't say which city as of yet).Removing that, we have the game itself, a 'lucky 38' chip, and seven casino chips. The 38 chip is metal, perhaps about two to two and a half inches big, with a roulette wheel style design on both sides. The casino chips are plastic, but certainly don't feel cheap - I'm no expert on plastics, but my brother informs me it's probably something like vinyl.
Removing the game (as the chips and 38 chip are in their own small seperate compartments), we have a Making of DVD, with the fallout-mascot logo on one side, and 'the making of fallout: new vegas" on the other - the case does feel like a normal cheap cardboard CD case, but I wasn't expecting it to be much better - and am not really concerned. Underneath that, we reach the bottom of the box with it's last item - playing cards. The case has been made to look vault-esque, having the instantly recognisable vault-door-logo on the front (with a number - although, I am unsure if the same number appeares on all cards, or this is another identification mark.), beneath which it says "Playing Cards // Official Training Aid // Control Group 52-1487.3 - Vault 21 // Standard Edition" and at the bottom "A vault-tec distribution." with the repeat on the reverse, One side of the box says "Fallout: New Vegas" while its opposite has "Enjoy your stay", the top having "Vault Playing Cards", and the bottom copywrite information about Bethy.

I found the playing card box to be quite a tight fit, and need a little bit of leverage / force to get it open, but once you do, you are greeted with alright quality cards - although I'm unsure if they weren't made 'brilliantly' (smooth, shiney, new etc) as to continue the canon feel, or if they skimped out a little - I'm going to go with the canon feel though. Each card has a character on it, as well as looking quite worn (the image that is; the cards themselves are obviously new), and contains rules for 'Caravan', a card-game made specifically for New Vegas.
The backs of the card are where I saw my first 'problem' - I like playing cards to have the same backs to them, however these do not - some of them look as if taken from casinos (continuing the 'lucky 38' theme), some look like they're cigarette packets - and some are the 'standard issue' vault cards - although this is a minor detail, as they are still usable; and is (as I feel I keep repeating in this 'review') that - I hope - it is for canon-effect.

I can't really think of much more to say about it; it's a pretty good collectors edition, but considering the only other collector editions I've got have just come with an art book, or some art cards and a case, it would be. I can't really think of anything else I would like it to include, and can't actually find much wrong with it, so I'd give it a 9.6 out of 10.

[Callie Del Noire]

It's a Caravan deck, it's not the same as a normal card game. You use a mix of cards to 'build' your deck. You can buy them from traders all over. Haven't tried it yet as I'm trying to scrimp up the 2k I need to buy into the Strip proper.

[Inkidu]

Actually Charisma is no longer a dump skill. Now that dialogue options are not a percentage of success but a stone-cold "meet this or fail" requirement. Charisma and barter can be good stats. If you're interested in exploring the game from an actual realistic position. Super-soldier who can't die and wrestle death claws? Sure go ahead dump it.

On that same immersion token intelligence can also be dumped for some pretty funny options in dialogue. It's not caveman grunts like Fallout 2 but if you enjoy watching your character miss the importance of every uttered word it's absurdly hilarious thing.

Oh and don't write of energy weapons right yet. Sure there are less options but with weapon repair kits and alternate ammo options they're not as stale as they were in previous games.

[Callie Del Noire]

I got to admit that the laser pistol isn't as nice as my 10 mm BUT it's got an EVIL rate of fire. Which saved my butt against a nightkin. Ran out of ammo on everything else.

[Jude]

If you want to use speech and barter just up them directly, raising CHR still isn't worth it in my opinion.

[meikle]

It's a Caravan deck, it's not the same as a normal card game. You use a mix of cards to 'build' your deck. You can buy them from traders all over. Haven't tried it yet as I'm trying to scrimp up the 2k I need to buy into the Strip proper.

Playing Caravan is a really good way to scrimp up that 2k in a span of like 15 minutes.

[Jude]

Caravan is excellent once you learn the rules -- I really like it a lot more than the other minigames.

[meikle]

I think it would have been cool if, instead of switching things up like they did with the card backs (and thusly making it pretty much unplayable in real life), they just put in complete 54-card decks that were from a random casino, but consistent -- like a Gomorrah deck, or a Tops deck, or a Vault Tec deck.  I like the cards, but I'd like them more if I could play with them.

Also, I finished the game/completed the main questline last night.  That was pretty cool, and started my second + more thorough playthrough today.  Already encountering stuff I'd just completely missed the first time through (and that first time was a 25 hour play-through!)

[Sabby]

Obsidion did a MUCH better job then Bethesda, but I've always found Bethesda kind of terrible when it comes to writing :/ At least, their current stuff, so that doesn't really include Morrowind.

There's so many more quests and item variety... now I'd like to see what Obsidion would do with the Elder Scrolls license if they got to give it the New Vegas treatment.

[Inkidu]

Obsidion did a MUCH better job then Bethesda, but I've always found Bethesda kind of terrible when it comes to writing :/ At least, their current stuff, so that doesn't really include Morrowind.

There's so many more quests and item variety... now I'd like to see what Obsidion would do with the Elder Scrolls license if they got to give it the New Vegas treatment.

I do find that Bethesda does a better job of completing a thought. Obsidian is so focused on exploring every cool idea that they typically have a glitchier or less cohesive product that Bethesda. Seriously I played Fallout 3 for a days worth of hours about and found one glitch but play New Vegas for ten minutes and you'll definitely see it. It's not a deal breaker by any stretch of the imagination most are harmless.

Hardcore mode isn't exactly as much fun as I thought though, it can get overly tedious. Fun for sim junkies but I think I'm just going to get the achievement and write it off.

[meikle]

I don't think hardcore ever suggested it would be anything but tedious.  I thought that was the point! :p

I really love New Vegas (I put so much time into it those first few days!), but I'm not ready to say it's outright better than FO3.  I love both games.  I imagine I will have put ~100 hours into either game before I'm done with them, and I'm sure I'll keep coming back to them in the future.  New Vegas does a lot and has a much more engaging + interesting plot than FO3.  There's a lot more ways to handle things and a ton of options.  The ending isn't retarded.

But any time I think of comparing the two, I think back to FO3, finding a generic radio station broadcasting an SOS, talking about a kid with a broken leg and running out of food, and following that to an unmarked sewer and finding a family of skeletons, one a child's with a broken leg, down there.  Not a marked thing, no reward for finding, just ... part of the awful ambience of FO3's wasteland.

FONV has some of this, too -- but not as much, that I've seen.  Also, cazadors and invisible walls.

[Sabby]

Bah... such an idiot...

I'm a sneaky asian sniper and hacker and negotiator. I'm at the Gun Runners, and see two weapons. A sniper, and a scoped assault rifle. Both were 7000 caps, so I could afford one, barely... both were insanely powerful too. Naturally, I go for the sniper, and quick travel... and only now, when it's too late to back out, I find my error.

The things so narly it requires 8 STR. Seriously, barrel a mile long, and it literally sends people cartwheeling. But the aim is all wonky... it's guna take me two Intense Training Perks, AND Weapon Handling just to use it, and you don't get a perk each level anymore :/ so I'll have to work my ass off to use this thing...

[Inkidu]

I'm beginning to wish that Obsidian would just stop making games. They're good from a creative standpoint but creativity with a horrible technical sense is just modern art. I found two nasty glitches: The first comes at the end of the entire game. I went with Mr. House as his doer and gopher. So at the end when I have to fight what is essentially the boss (by the way he's really tough and armored and I had to jack it down to very easy to damage him with an anti-material rifle, though I was lvl 13 so maybe it's just bad scaling) and I beat him. Well, the quest doesn't update. That was fixed when I turned the 360 off in anger and came back to it in the morning. Fine.

New glitch that I don't know how to fix. I can't level up! I get the xp but I just don't level up. Maybe because I forgot to change back to normal from very easy and the xp goals are different I don't know but I think I'm going to have to restart my new game. Again, they're rare but when they show up they're monsters... I realize I'm probably just mad at that and still not finding any of that awesome ranger armor with the duster and everything...

[Callie Del Noire]

I restarted and got my gal up to 8th in a few hours.. more sneaky shooting (need to work up stealth) with lots of repair/hacking/lockpicking.. nearly had to restart again when I ran into the legion assassination team.. 6 of the nastiest boys you'd run into. I ran them through TWO travelling merchants and made a dash for the ranger station to survive after several utter wipes (two decap shots in a row on one! Never seen a shiskabob do that before)

NASTY guys..and I'm definitely putting a bullet in legion ass after that.

[Callie Del Noire]

The anti-material gun is nice but the strength requirement is hideous. (Not looking forward to getting up enough to qualify for it)

[meikle]

Bah... such an idiot...

I'm a sneaky asian sniper and hacker and negotiator. I'm at the Gun Runners, and see two weapons. A sniper, and a scoped assault rifle. Both were 7000 caps, so I could afford one, barely... both were insanely powerful too. Naturally, I go for the sniper, and quick travel... and only now, when it's too late to back out, I find my error.

The things so narly it requires 8 STR. Seriously, barrel a mile long, and it literally sends people cartwheeling. But the aim is all wonky... it's guna take me two Intense Training Perks, AND Weapon Handling just to use it, and you don't get a perk each level anymore :/ so I'll have to work my ass off to use this thing...

I played a sniper with 4 strength and never had too much trouble with the sniper rifle.  If the aim is really bad for you, invest in some Steady!

[Sabby]

No no no, not a sniper. Anti-Material Gun. It's the kind of sniper from WW2 that they used to punch through tanks >.> .50 cal ammo. Until I beef up a bit, it's just a really awesome shotgun. No seriously, it slams Ghouls into the wall so hard they'd be filled with shattered bones xD