index ... basic tips ... advanced tips
by Roger Bourke White Jr., copyright November 2016
OK... I've been playing this even longer, and here are some even more advanced tips and tricks. These changes are made to adapt to the updated versions which offer more scenery, missions and tools. The big difference this makes is in weapon choice and a couple tricks available in the main map arena.
I still love energy weapons, and I play mostly just in the main map arena so that's what these advanced tips cover.
Once again there has been change. What I have discovered is that the most important skills are science (for talk and terminals), speech (for talk) and energy weapons. So these come first, as the character is created. The important SPECIAL attributes now are:
o Intelligence -- Max intelligence means max skill points. I'll go with 9 on this, and this is my first buy from Doc.
o Endurance -- I go with 8 because I'll buy one from Doc, and pick up one from my clothes. (wilderness adventurer clothes)
o Agility -- I'll go with 8 on this, as with Endurance, and pick up one from the clothes.
o Perception -- I'll go with 8 on this, and pick up one from the 1st Recon Beret that comes with completing Boone's quest.
These are top priority. Bottom priority are:
o Luck -- I take it down to one.
o Charisma -- I play solo so I take it down to one as well.
And what is left over goes into:
o Strength -- It's nice to carry lots of stuff.
I select Science, Speech and Energy Weapons as my tagged skills. I take the Good Natured trait -- it cuts into energy weapon skill but it adds to speech, medicine, repair, science and barter which I use a lot -- and the Trigger Discipline trait which trades better accuracy for speed in weapon use -- I like hitting.
When I walk out of Doc's door, I'm ready for the Fast Start Tour as outlined in Advanced... but with some changes.
These changes are happening because of a hot item gun that becomes available when the Gun Runners Arsenal (GRA) option becomes available. When this happens Cliff Briscoe in Novac offers a one-size-fits-all energy weapon, the MF Hyperbreeder Alpha. It is a recharger and it can hit everything, including deathclaws. Once you have this sell all the others. But, it is hugely expensive, about 13,000 caps, so the fast start tour picks up the objective of assembling 13,000 worth of goods to bring to Novac.
There are three goals to this Modified Fast Start Tour:
o getting established in Novac
o acquiring the goods to buy the Hyperbreeder
o getting your intelligence bumped at Doc Usanagi's quickly so you're on the road to max skill points
High value treasure locationsHere are the hot value locations on the fast start tour o Black Mountain -- Annabell o REPCONN Headquarters -- the Q-35 matter modulator and pre-war money at the train station o Durable Dunn's Sacked Caravan -- combat armor on thug corpses |
The tour route starts the same. First head for Sloan, then head for Black Mountain. But take a detour at Black Mountain to solve the Tabatha Quest early on. Solve that and collect the Annabell weapon, then head for REPCONN headquarters.
After REPCONN head north and collect the combat armor at Durable Dunn's Sacked Caravan, and then further north to New Vegas Medical Clinic so you are ready to deal with Doc Usanagi and the merchants in that area. Then jump back to REPCONN and head south for Novac. Get situated there, buy the Hyperbreeder, and your fast tour is complete. You can now pick and choose your adventures and have both a bed and merchants at your back and call.
Here is a fun tactic I have discovered and learned to exploit. It does take some thinking and practice to do so:
Some time after you get "accepted" by the NCR, a ranger will spawn near you, come running to you, give you an NCR radio, explain it, and then head off into the distance.
But... if there are NCR enemies near you when he comes running in, he will fight with them and clear them out before he gives you the radio.
Hmm... yes, you can get clever about this. My ultimate cleverness exploiting this, so far, is figuring out how to get him to fight Caesar's Legion soldiers at both Nipton and Cottonwood Cove and wipe them out. It takes some elaborate set up, well timed fast traveling, and smart flat-out running. But when it works right... Hot dog! What a treasure haul when he is finished! And the Legion blames him, not you, so your reputation with them is not sullied.
These are some even more advanced tips and tactics that have made my advanced play more enjoyable. Have fun with them.
--The End--
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