Can I have some tips for starting Fallout: New Vegas?

[Daveman]

Life will be a whole lot easier if you level up Speech, Barter, Science and Lockpick. I recommend choosing TWO of those and rolling with it.

Will make your conversations with people go a lot smoother. You get more from quests, can loot the best stuff from safes etc (bearing in mind there's often a computer attached to a safe, so you can hack the computer instead of picking the lock).

Yeah, this. Also might be a good idea and not do what I did which is plough a lot of points from the start into giving yourself 10 Luck. This tends to hamper you at the start although I do now seem to get an unreal number of crits. I also did as suggested above and put a lot into speech, barter and science which does seem to make things a hell of a lot easier quest wise.

 

[IronDefender410]

Choose your perks carefully, as you only get one every other level. You might want to stick with the guns skill for your first character, but energy weapons are more widely available than in Fallout 3, and with the latest patch they get an armor piercing capability. And I don't care how awesome your weapons and armor are, DO NOT ATTACK A DEATHCLAW FACE TO FACE. Hang back and snipe it. And be cautious around mountainous areas unless you feel like becoming a Cazador hive.

 

[foxlovingfreak]

Start colecting blue star bottel caps rightaway you'll need them to complte the legned of the star quest there hard to find and you'll need fifty of them in order to complete the quest so the sooner you start collecting the better. Check the fallout wiki for more details because if you play your cards right you can get a really good start eariley on. If your low on bottelcaps and don't have anything you want to sell winning games of carvan can really help you out (just be sure to save in case you lose) plus thers a guy who'll teach you how to play and will give you a deck of cards to play in one of the games first quest. Stay on the roads eariy on and don't wander of to explore untill your at a pretty decent level unless you want to be killied by cazadors and deathclaws. and last but not least try to recuirt as many Companions as possible the'll help you out againsit tougher ennemys ( and they won't steal your experince this time around) they'll give you special quests once they been with you awhile which will usually level them up and make them stronger plus completing one of them will net you some of the games best armoer. Plus once you reach new vegas you can bassically store them at the lucky 38 hotel so you don't have to go looking for them again at were you orginally found them. You can get your first one in primm eariy on once you repair him and he can alert you to any nearby enimes you might not be able to see preventing any sneak attacks againsit you. Plus companions will also give you special perks you can't get anywhere else. Whew that was mouthfull hope this helps.

 

[lovest harding]

Do not upset the Legion to early. I ruined my first character because I pissed off the Legion (killed some of it's members at like level five). They WILL send assassins and those assassins are a shit ton better than you for the majority of the game.

 

[Dorian]

Assuming you got the PC version, check out the Nexus [http://www.newvegasnexus.com/] for many invaluable mods to help the little problems, like text size taking up more space than necessary, and my personal favorite as of now, Wasteland Settler.

If you haven't played a Fallout game before, here's the best tip anyone can give: Caps are the main currency in the game.
They are not trash.

Also, repair your guns and armor with other guns and armor of the same general type (clothes repairs clothes, leather repairs leather, pistols repair pistols). Never explained if you don't like reading a lot.

If you want to use energy weapons, wait until you actually arrive in Vegas before putting any points into the skill. The Van Graffs are the only reason they're a sensible option in this game, otherwise the weapons would just be so damn hard to find they'd be stupid (or just plain expensive) to use.

If you're going to fight people in armor, either use a melee weapon or take out the armor piercing rounds. Personally, a good sledgehammer is my cup of tea to fight the Legion. Or NCR. Depends on my character, really.

If you'd rather avoid a fight where possible, investing in speech is not a bad idea. Especially once you get in a few levels and have points to spare.

Medicine is also a good skill. Less stimpaks used, less money spent, more money for guns, armor, ammo, and gambling.

For the love of god, if you see a Deathclaw, and you do NOT have ammo to spare, lots of stimpaks, and a powerful long-distance gun, get the fuck out of Dodge. They will mess your shit up faster than a decapitation.

Lastly, don't finish the main quests (Mr. House, Yes Man, NCR, or Legion) until you think you've explored the last bit and done all the quests you can in the Mojave Wasteland. The game doesn't allow afterplay, and it also makes the ending so much better.

 

[The_ModeRazor]

Fuck shit up.
I went into Quarry Junction and killed every deathclaw there, including the matriarch and the alpha male.
Then I went into Dead Wind Cavern, killed every deathclaw there too, including the Legendary Deathclaw.
And I was level 6. Playing on Hard difficulty, Hardcore mode. AND I used Love&Hate, a unique pair of brass knuckles. Just 'cause.

Ain't that a kick in the head.

 

[andreas3K]

Find a place called Gun Runners, it's just east of Vegas. If you have a lot of money, you can just buy all the best guns in the game.

 

[Ritter315]

Yeah! Seriously, save often. Make at least 3 back-up files. The new patch fixes MOST of the problems (I've only encounted one point where I needed to start up again, but it wasnt neccesary and only one full-up freeze and I've been playing for more than 18 hours) The comboy repeater, caravan shotgun, and 10mm pistol. As for leveling, DONT take the perks which increases your level (Here and Now) or the Swift learner perk (Increases exp) youll have plenty in the wasteland you dont need that perk. And otherwise, just pick the skills you like, its how you play afterall. Take the perks which are useful to you (Educated is good though and bloody mess if you dont mind your enemies turning to unrealistic paste everything you kill something) Best early armor would be re-enforced leather, its pretty easy to find too. North of Vegas is also a farm (Horowitz farm) a good shotgun is on the back of a truck. And vault 34 is a great latter place to find all the weapons you could need, carbines, rocket launchers all that shit in one room. Its pretty hard to get to though, whole place is irradated so make a few stops to the doc before you die of rad poising, bring plenty of radaway, get a companion or two to help fight the ghouls and lizards (Speaking of which Animal friend 1 is good, but the second leg is useless) Hope that helps a bit.

 

[ParanoidEngineer]

If you play PC, run through with some console commands first, as this will give you a good idea of how to function in the non-cheating game, get to know some guns, factions etc etc.

Don't annoy ANYONE. Don't shoot people who doesn't shoot you, don't talk evil to people, just avoid hostilities as much as you can. Trust me, the game gets a lot harder when NCR rangers are bounding over the hill every day D:

Endgame (when you get there), get Boomers for god's sake, they make the end 40 gazillion times easier.

 

[Demonic Gama]

This is a tip I use for all RPG's, and I find it very helpful. What I would do is make a new game, just play, keep playing until you realize where you screwed up. It's a good way to just get the hang of the game too.

If you don't necessarily have the time, or just want to be very careful, use fallout.wikia.com for quests, as there are a staggering amount of quests that can be glitched, unfortunately.

 

[New Vegas Samurai]

Hey Escapist's

So I just bought FNV today, I wasnt too good at the previous Fallout tbh, But I had to get this considering the immense deal they had a Gamestation (Collector's Edition for £25 brand new).

I was hoping for some tips, things to upgrade in aka small arms etc, stats upgrading or whatever.

If im talking shite its because I probably am, I aint got a clue how the leveling structure system works or anything...

Help much appreciated!

when you start up in good springs,
DON'T. GO. NORTH.
it seems really tempting to make a beeline straight for new vegas, but put some trust into this and don't you dare head northward, past the cross marker further north is instant deadville

Science would be a good move, additionally, sneak and lock pick go hand in hand.
for beginner though, guns and speech can make the game really easy.
additionally, you can pick up a laser pistol in the house of the doctor in good springs if you want to go the way of an energy weapon fighter.

 

[EHKOS]

UPGRADE LOCKPICK FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY.

 

[Irony's Acolyte]

1. Turn on the console.
2. Put it the disc.
3. Play game.
4. ??????
5. Profit!

OT: Well I'd put some points into Small guns. You'll find alot of those early on so it'll be a good way to keep survive. Puting some points into energy weapons will help later on as well as they can get pretty powerful.

 

[joshuaayt]

Save whenever you can, try to stick to a few main skills (until you have at least one combat skill maxed, anyway)

Intelligence is the most important SPECIAL stat (granting you more skill points), the rest you can actually do fairly well without (though a strength of less than four will see you using most guns inefficiently; I didn't really notice in my str=2 run, but I was a diplomat, so it rarely mattered).

A luck of ten will net you buttloads of money at the Casinos in almost no time flat.

Don't bother rushing directly to Vegas, even if you do make it through the field FULL of deathclaws, you'll still need 2000 caps to enter.

If you are attacked by flying insects that are NOT bloat flies, RUN AND GUN. They are probably Cazadores, and their poison will fuck you the hell up, if you'll excuse my necessary language use.

The weapons skills are pretty balanced, go for whichever you like, but I'd suggest maxing only one to start, so you don't have two weak ones- instead, you'll have one strong one, see?

EDIT: Oh, and you might as well play on Hardcore- it adds a little (miniscule, really) extra bit of challenge, and you get an achievement for it. I doubt you'll ever drop below the first H2O warning level, though...

 

[megaraccoon]

my advice save often, use the right tool for the job and if hardcore upgrade your surival skill often i got through all four play throughs using unarmed, melee and survival. oh and chems lots and lots of chems also
Caesar's Legion ftw am i right?

 

[TheTygerfire]

Do not enter The Strip area without an Old Cowboy Hat on until they patch the game fully. Not doing so will corrupt your autosave, don't ask me why it's that specific...

Also, don't try to evenly distribute your points if you've done that in the past. Find a play style and stick with that, there are multiple ways to go at a problem.

 

[Flamezdudes]

Life will be a whole lot easier if you level up Speech, Barter, Science and Lockpick. I recommend choosing TWO of those and rolling with it.

Will make your conversations with people go a lot smoother. You get more from quests, can loot the best stuff from safes etc (bearing in mind there's often a computer attached to a safe, so you can hack the computer instead of picking the lock).

This guy speaks truth.

Speech and Barter are WAY more useful in New Vegas than in F3. Seriously, I can't count the amount of times the skills came in handy. Lockpick is also very useful, however Science never seemed that necesarry to me.

Picks Guns for the first playthrough and if your looking for a bit more of a challenge then pick Hardcore mode too, if not then leave it for the second playthrough.

 

[ikey]

The Van Graffs are the only reason they're a sensible option in this game

not after i reverse pickpocketed them with C4 and stole their entire display stock...

I only found the Van Graffs in my second playthrough. The first time through I assumed energy weapons were completely useless, but now I know better. I practically salivated when I saw all the stuff they left out for show. I just carried all of it over to a dark corner, crouched, and stole all of it. Then broke into the locked door and stole all the stuff they had there & upstairs. They still like me, too.