We're pretty much done with Primm. We've seen all that we can see, and we've done all that we can do (Right now at any rate) so it's time to move on. Let's check out the casino real quick though.
Conveniently, my last save was in the casino. So, we're going to do a bit of gambling. We don't want to break the bank and get kicked out until a future update. (When we have like 10 Luck so that this will be extremely easy)
So at this desk we can exchange our caps for chips. If we had any, we could also exchange NCR dollars and Legion coins for chips as well, but we don't have any. Let's get like, 100 chips.
Caps for chips is a 1:1 ratio.
So now there are people actually running the tables. You don't have to use the tables run by the dealers, if I remember correctly, any will do.
Once you've earned enough in the casino, this guy will give you prizes and other nice things. That is until you hit a certain limit, then he pretty much says "Fuck off" and bans you from gambling any more. Different casinos have different limits to how many chips you can win there.
Let's try blackjack first.
If you aren't dicking around and seriously looking for caps, blackjack is probably your best bet. With high luck (9 to 10 range) you'll win almost every time and make money fairly quickly.
Even with 8 Luck we have a fairly good chance of winning most of the time, even though I'm rather blindly mashing the Hit button. (More apparent in the video than the screenshots)
Alright, so we did fairly well on that hand. I have something to show off here, first let me reload the game.
This notification pops up if you reload and go straight to a gambling mini-game. Theoretically, it's supposed to stop save scumming to get tons of caps.
For some reason the NPC's in here will talk about Primm accepting NCR help, when we clearly put Meyers in charge. I don't know why this happens, it's just a weird bug.
This is the slot machine payout list. If you have a high amount of luck, if you get lucky you can break the bank in one go. People with not so high luck should just avoid it altogether.
This is roulette. I have no fucking idea how roulette works (Okay, I can kind of guess how it works but my knowledge is limited) and even if I did, I'd probably tell you to stick to Blackjack. Each round takes much too long to do, and there are a lot more variables in roulette.
Alright, so that's it for gambling. For now at least. Once we get to Vegas there will be much more gambling, don't you worry.
We're outside of Primm. It's finally time to leave this little town, and probably not return for a long time. (However long it takes for us to get our repair to like 60 or so and we might return once we can crack hard locks) We're on our way to the Mojave Outpost, which is a place we already have visited, so I won't show the trip there again.
There are a couple of areas of interest around Primm however.
There is this drive in with absolutely nothing of note whatsoever. Before you correct me, that particular Drive-In is outside of Nipton.
The other place I wanted to show off is behind Primm.
More Jackals to fight.
Alright, so after that short distraction we continue where we were going.
It's very hard to navigate this area because of the jagged rocks and invisible walls. So many invisible walls.
I realize I haven't really talked much about the weapons like I did in Fallout 3. That's solely because there are a lot more weapons in this game, but I'll work on it. This is the Cowboy Repeater. It's kind of the middle ground between the Varmint Rifle and this game's Hunting Rifle.
It has a pretty high rate of fire, but it takes awhile to reload as your character has to hand load every single bullet into it. I like it though, it's rather satisfying to use at the very least.
So obviously these raiders killed all of the Prospectors inside. The prospectors aren't actually miners, they're basically scavengers.
More Jackals in here.
There is some pretty decent loot down here, if you're wondering why I decided to come down here.
Someone went through all the trouble of hanging these rather festive looking lights up on the ceiling of the cave.
These raiders have no respect for all the hard work that person must have put into hanging up these lights. Ah well, maybe we can clear it out and have other people inhabit the place. If you kill all of the Jackals in the place, new prospectors will move in, and so will an unnamed merchant. Huh. Never knew that before.
There are more Jackals in the small building in the cave to the right.
The Jackal's head goes flying up and plops behind the dressers.
So we've cleared out the entire area of Jackals.
Another star cap.
Must have sucked to work here.
There are some nice things in this gun case right here.
This is the room farthest back into the shack.
So we teleport (fast travel) back to Mojave Outpost. We're going to do a quick sidequest for someone there and come right back.
We chat with this guy who has the ridiculous moustache.
This guy's voice totally doesn't match how he looks.
"And if you're passing through, you picked a bad time. Road north has gone to hell, and if I let a caravan through, they won't make it."
Erm, the road north is fine. Actually pretty decent in comparison to some of the other roads in the Mojave.
"Any way I can help?"
"Help? No, look, I apprec... You know, what, yes, I could use the help. And you look like you can handle yourself. I need to get the caravans moving again, the means clearing a path north. There's too much crawling the asphalt up the road to allow it."
It was clear when we came here.
"Sounds like a deal."
"Thanks, I appreciate it. Come back here when you're done, I might accidentally "lose" some supplies to pay you with."
It's a really easy job and you get some decent stuff for doing it, so why not help him?
So the ants we have to fight are down this road. Remember when they were completely clear when we came here? Filled with ants now.
TL;DR - Lots of ants died.
"You mentioned a reward before?"
"No, I mentioned you might accidentally get supplied, and I meant it. Not allowed to contract mercenaries at the Outpost. Still, a requistion form or two can get lost, and they're not going to come check... so here you go, just between us. Still, a requisition form or two can get lost, and they're not going to come check... so here you go, just between us."
For the kind of work we did, this is a great reward actually. A Service Rifle, some armor piercing ammo, a couple of weapon repair kits and a Caravan Lunch.
Few more NPC's to chat with here.
This is the bar/barracks area.
Lacey serves as the Outposts bartender but also the shop keeper as well.
"Anything you can tell me about the Outpost?"
"Not too much, lot of caravans going nowhere. Lot of troopers going nowhere, too. Few prospectors here and there, but... they don't do more than stink up the place. Everybody's backed up here. You think it'd be good for business, but most of the traders are tight with the caps, even the larger caravan outfits."
This is where all the soldiers sleep, you can sleep here too if you like. There are way more beds than soldiers in this outpost.
"No, only looking around."
"Well, keep those eyes up and turning - or I'll set 'em spinning. Got no time for gawkers... or anyone looking for something I ain't selling."
The logical thing to do would be leave at this point, probably.
"How about a drink instead?"
"How about a drink? How about a couple, is what you mean. Drinking to forget, and it's only getting me mad instead. Whiskey always gets my temper up - now more than ever. Drinking used to cause all sorts of trouble back West - before I punched enough people, that is, and they learned to lay low when the whiskey hit."
"What are you trying to forget?"
"Lost my caravan heading north, the driver burned to ash - and they didn't even take the cargo, they just burned that, too."
"Why would they do that?"
"My guess is Legion, they're trying to cut NCR's supply line... and the Mojave Outpost is proof. Got us locked up tighter than a New Vegas virgin. No caravans in, out, and just try arguing with Jackson about it. "Roads aren't safe," he says."
Come on, it's just a bunch of giant ants. They aren't fucking Deathclaws or anything, they're not a threat.
"No shit, you washed-out old fuckup, I dind't need a Brotherhood Scribe to tell me that."
"I've met him. Nice impersonation."
"Yeah, he's been with NCR so long all he can see is the worst outcome of everything - so he doesn't do anything. Jackson won't let me head north, it's not safe... and even though my caravan's gone, my caravan papers are keeping me here. So if you came here for work, my advice? Go find the Crimson Caravan branch, south of Vegas. They can help you out."
You may remember that Ringo, back from Goodsprings, worked for the Crimson Caravan. We have to do what Cass tells us to do before we can continue her storyline, so I guess we will just leave it at that for now.
"Already cleared the roads for Jackson."
"No shit? Drink's on me, then. Still, not like I'm going anywhere. Caravan title's still keeping me here, even though it's dead and gone."
"I'll be going."
"You take care now."
One last NPC to chat with, she gives us a sidequest which pertains to the next area we're going to visit.
How does everyone seem to know that we're a Courier?
On a side not, this character's model is extremely glitchy. Either her hair is glitching through her hat sometimes or her face through her glasses. This time it's both, as you can clearly tell.
"Depends on the work."
"I think there's trouble in Nipton - no traffic from there on the roads, and while I can explain that away, the smoke from the town I can't."
They're probably just having a barbecue.
"I'm sure it's been hit - what I need to know is if they survived it. Might be Powder Gangers with all that smoke in the air. If there's anybody left, they'd be in the Nipton Town Hall. Go there, check it out, let me know what you find."
"I'll do it."
"All right. Look at you, all fired up and ready to go. Wish the others around here had that kind of attitude. Listen - I don't want you getting killed ofr this, so if you head there and run into trouble, I'm asking for eyes and ears, not your life. All right?"
So just a short little recon mission, got it. Things can't be too bad in Nipton, right?
Oh by the way, while getting screens for a side update, I levelled up. Rather than keep them there, for convenience sake, I'll put it here.
Our main skills are coming along quite nicely, wouldn't you agree?
I always get the perks that give the most possible skill points right at the start, just a personal preference of mine. I think that's it for them, so we should be getting into some more interesting ones after this.
