New Vegas, Time To Find Out What All The Fuss Is About.

[2HF]

Full disclosure,

I never played Fallout 1 or 2 and couldn't possibly care less about being true to those or the series continuity or whatever. I picked up Fallout 3 one day and absolutely loved it. I loved that it took all that time to establish who you were and what your place in the world was before shoving you into the world.

I tried New Vegas right after because I expected more of the same. Then New Vegas tossed me into a desert and said "Here ya go, don't die I guess". There was no build up, no development, you just suddenly were and it didn't resonate with me. I got as far as that prison right up the street from the first town (I think it was a prison) and no further.

I'm going to give it another shot.

I love playing stealthily. Suggestions? The Chinese Stealth Armor from Fallout 3 was bombin, anything like that in New Vegas? Seems unlikely since it came from that DLC where you fight Chinese folk in Alaska.

Is there gambling in New Vegas? Will your luck stat affect your gambling?

 

[Genocidicles]

There is stealth armour, but it no longer has a cloaking effect (because that was hella OP in Fallout 3).

There's plenty of gambling, and the luck stat does affect it. You win too much and you get chucked out.

 

[Suave Charlie]

What platform you playing it on? Currently playing through on pc with a couple mods that make it even better, having previously played through on xbox.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

For stealth, start with the Silenced .22 Pistol. The pistol has ludicrously high critical hit damage, it can always be found in the general store at Goodsprings, the ammo is very cheap, and the gun is, you know, silenced. I also use a mod that increases weapon mods, so I think it's called an extended barrel for the .22 that increases the damage.

As far as apparel goes, I don't know what to say. I just checked the wiki, and default New Vegas has very few Sneak boosts. The Chinese Stealth Armor is still there, but it doesn't have the Stealth Field. You can still use Stealthboys for the Stealth Field, you can get a pretty large amount of them in one sidequest. Recon Armor is a good investment, but Recon Armor isn't available for a while (unless you want to drop ridiculous amounts of money on the Gun Runners). You may as well stick with some of the clothing that increases your Agility.

Also, I don't think there is much need to put that many points in Lockpicking or Science in New Vegas. In Fallout 3 it was probably one of my highest XP mines as well as gave me a good amount of loot, but there weren't that many times I ran into a locked door or locked terminal. Science is helpful for crafting, though.

 

[Zenn3k]

For stealth, start with the Silenced .22 Pistol. The pistol has ludicrously high critical hit damage, it can always be found in the general store at Goodsprings, the ammo is very cheap, and the gun is, you know, silenced. I also use a mod that increases weapon mods, so I think it's called an extended barrel for the .22 that increases the damage.

As far as apparel goes, I don't know what to say. I just checked the wiki, and default New Vegas has very few Sneak boosts. The Chinese Stealth Armor is still there, but it doesn't have the Stealth Field. You can still use Stealthboys for the Stealth Field, you can get a pretty large amount of them in one sidequest. Recon Armor is a good investment, but Recon Armor isn't available for a while (unless you want to drop ridiculous amounts of money on the Gun Runners). You may as well stick with some of the clothing that increases your Agility.

Also, I don't think there is much need to put that many points in Lockpicking or Science in New Vegas. In Fallout 3 it was probably one of my highest XP mines as well as gave me a good amount of loot, but there weren't that many times I ran into a locked door or locked terminal. Science is helpful for crafting, though.

This is a good starting guide.

I also recommend Science over Lockpicking. There are some things you might want to collect that are lockpick only, but the majority of the important skill checks (including a major shortcut) are all science based.

I also recommend good speech skills if you're going to be sneaky. Sneaky characters can be fragile in a firefight, speech gives you more chances to talk your way out of a problem. Speech in general is much more important in Vegas than it was in FO3, no more saving, rolling on 20% a few dozen times until you get it.

 

[2HF]

Playing on PS3 so no mods.

Anyone care to suggest an initial SPECIAL and Perk set up before leaving the Doc's place?

 

[2HF]

I bought the Ultimate Edition. Hooray for old used cheap games and 40% extra trade credit.

 

[War Penguin]

The Chinese Stealth Suit is still in the game but, like many have said already, it doesn't have the cloaking ability. Worse yet, it's in Hoover Dam, which is a ***** to traverse through. Not that it's hard, it's just so goddam easy to get lost and there's not points of interest to really give you a sense of where you are in the building. There are two of them in a crate somewhere in the lower levels, I think.

If you want to invest in Stealth, it's a good idea to invest in melee as well. The Silenced .22 Pistol is alright, I suppose, but when you're out of ammo, it's best to have a good melee weapon as a backup. At least near the beginning of the game. The best one you can get early on is called Chance's Knife. It's a unique Combat Knife with boosted damage and critical damage. It's in a grave north of Goodsprings, so you'll have to dodge some Cazadores to get there. However, it's in a grave, so you'll need a shovel to dig it up. However, there's one in Goodsprings Source, so that's perfect. I'll just post the wiki article on it here if you want additional info on how to find it: Chance's Knife

As for SPECIAL tips, when in doubt, Intelligence should not be overlooked, what with the increase to skill points and all. However, since you're going in with stealth in mind, Agility is also a good one to look into, since it boosts your Stealth as well as your Guns. Makes your sneaky time much easier.

Now, one more thing. You need to understand that Fallout New Vegas is not like Fallout 3. It looks like Fallout 3, it's controls like Fallout 3, it's even built like Fallout 3. But it is not Fallout 3. While the inclusion of Hardcore Mode and the Survival skill might make one think that exploration is the name of the game, it is definitely not the case. This is a game where you get your story/roleplaying on. I understand that you couldn't care less about being true to the series, but this is a game where you have to stay true to the series. So don't go in expecting more of the same. Just keep in mind that this will not be the Fallout you thought you were getting into. And you might not like it either. Just thought it would be fair to warn you.

 

[loc978]

For stealth, with no mods... the varmint rifle will be your friend for a long time. The Ratslayer variant can be picked up early if you know where to look, and it's pretty overpowered at the start. After that, work on getting a silenced sniper rifle (or just scour Old World Blues for the unique one).

...my first playthrough was a mostly unmodded (I grabbed nocol, those invisible walls pissed me off) stealth build. The closest thing to armor I ever wore was a merc outfit and headband, and I primarily used 5.56mm varmint rifles and .357 magnum revolvers (and one 5.56mm revolver) throughout the game. I saved my .308, .44 magnum, .50BMG, .45-70 Gov't and explosives for big fights. Gotta love watching the first schlub to charge you trip on a pile of plasma mines.

 

[Requia]

Having done stealth a lot, you won't miss the free invisibility outside of Old World Blues (which is full of enemies with perfect perception unfortunately), just grab something with a scope and take things out from a distance.

 

[cerebus23]

Would recommend project nevada, project reality, and about 50 other mods i have installed but your on the ps3.

Either way some people just like fo3 over nv, seems to simply come down to individual taste in setting, i hated the setting in fo3 hated the blocky city bits with maze like connecting subways and sewers, slogging around parts of dc was tedious as hell to me.

Versus new vegas that was expansive and open, with mods even moreso...., plus nv seemed to take some of the ideas of the modding community and run with it with the crafting system, and the hardcore mode, hc making the game that much more immersive having to eat and drink, having to plan where to get and how much water you were going to need, how much food and meds.

I liked the story and characters for the most part better than 3 also.

Also do not be put off by the nerfed level scaling stuff, you can make your way to vegas at level 3 you have to be smart lucky and save often, just like in fo2, just because stuff is hard does not mean it is impossible, and starting out in nv many things will pwn you, if it looks big and dangerous it generally is in nv.

 

[Reed Spacer]

And if you're a really tricky bugger, you can make a level one rush to New Vegas, like you can with Rivet City with Fallout 3.

And unlike 3, you get perks every two levels instead of one which is how it should be.

Also, in any situation in which you need to make a skill check (speech, etcetera), luck is no longer an issue - you skill has to be at a specific level. For instance, if you need a 30 speech skill for something and you only have 20, then you'll fail that skill test every time untill you get that skill up to 30 or more.

 

[Mossberg Shotty]

If you've already played alot of Fallout 3, then you're likely to get burned out on New Vegas pretty quickly, if you're anything like me. The trick is to make your NV playthrough vastly different from your FO3 one.

To keep things interesting/challenging I made a character that specialized in unarmed, and joined Casear's Legion. I roamed the countryside punching insurgents while listening to Way of The Fist. It was magnificent.

 

[Jimmy T. Malice]

If you want to get to New Vegas easily, here's what you need to do:

-Kill the Powder Gangers in Goodsprings and get the Stealth Boy from Joe Cobb.
-Go east past the NCR Correctional Facility and through Hidden Valley. You won't be able to get into the bunker there, but it's a good idea to go there so you don't have to walk down later.
-Go through the gap in the fence, run through Scorpion Gulch and then you'll reach Black Mountain. This is where you'll want to use the Stealth Boy so as to not get murderised by super mutants.
-Keep going north until you reach REPCONN HQ. At this point you're basically at New Vegas, but you'll need to go through Freeside in the north and obtain 2000 caps before you're actually allowed in.

 

[Reed Spacer]

-Keep going north until you reach REPCONN HQ. At this point you're basically at New Vegas, but you'll need to go through Freeside in the north and obtain 2000 caps before you're actually allowed in.

Not entirely true - if you're fast, you can use the monorail at Camp McCarran and get in for free.

 

[Rastrelly]

Full disclosure,

I never played Fallout 1 or 2 and couldn't possibly care less about being true to those or the series continuity or whatever. I picked up Fallout 3 one day and absolutely loved it. I loved that it took all that time to establish who you were and what your place in the world was before shoving you into the world.

I tried New Vegas right after because I expected more of the same. Then New Vegas tossed me into a desert and said "Here ya go, don't die I guess". There was no build up, no development, you just suddenly were and it didn't resonate with me. I got as far as that prison right up the street from the first town (I think it was a prison) and no further.

I'm going to give it another shot.

I love playing stealthily. Suggestions? The Chinese Stealth Armor from Fallout 3 was bombin, anything like that in New Vegas? Seems unlikely since it came from that DLC where you fight Chinese folk in Alaska.

Is there gambling in New Vegas? Will your luck stat affect your gambling?

There is a major difference between F3 and FNV: FNV is actually close to the spirit of original games. Fallout was never about "atmosphere", it was a mind game, a giant set of "what if?".

What if all main scientific theories of the 60-es were right?
What if this world gets to 2100 and survives nuclear war?
What if I'll go to that strange thing?
What if I'll try to speak with boss instead of killing him?
What if I'll try to rob all the citizens of this town?

You have to stop thinking linear. This is a game about experiments. Main quest is there just to be there, it's even less important then in F3. For example, on my first run I got to New Vegas via shortcut thanks to initially high stealth and two Stealth Boys. In this game YOU set your own purpose. You can try to run through mainquest and DLC. You can try to make friends and earn trust of secondary factions. You can just wonder around killing things and looting them. You can get Luck 10 and go plain robbing all the casinos. Or mix it all up. F3 was a traditional Bethesda title. There was mainquest and sidequests, mainquest was dominant, while sidequests for the most part minor with several exceptions (Moira, superhero war, Garold). FNV is much more branched and variative.

 

[Holythirteen]

I do feel like something in the narrative was lost going from FO3 to New Vegas, but I have alot more fun with New Vegas. It just feels less broken somehow(The damage threshold armor system makes way more sense than the old DR system). The perk thing is a little jarring at first, but the perks are just more awesome overall.

I like getting my repair up to 70 by level 6 and getting the hand loader perk, so I can make my ammo that does 15 to 50 % more damage, and then repair is up again to 90 by level 14 so I can get jury rigging, which is just an awesome perk that makes you money and makes your life much more convenient.

Strength is required to wield certain guns with decent accuracy, the mid-range sniper weapons require 6 strength. Perception is the same as FO3 for red markers on your compass, you need 6 for the sniper perk and the better criticals perk. Each point of endurance lets you get an implant that boosts one of your SPECIAL by one (one point limit for each stat, no bobbleheads this game) Charisma makes a good dump stat again, its useful in that it makes your companions more powerful, but the companions can be pretty damn strong as it is. Agility makes you run and reload faster, also gives you bonus action points, but VATS isn't as powerful, so don't feel like you have to max it out.

I like to make my character a critical hit junkie with maxed out agility, luck and intelligence, with an endurance of 5 so I can boost 4 of my stats plus get the subdermal armor implant. I think you can max out your skills by level 50 without getting educated if your intelligence is high.

Remember to pick up all the wrenches, scrap electronics, duct tape, wonderglue, and scrap metal you can find so that you can make a good number of weapon repair kits as early as possible.


Old world blues is damn awesome DLC, and it gives you some rather powerful bonus perks as you go through it. Lonesome road is also quite enjoyable, especially if you like ED-E. Honest Hearts is ok, I like to do that one early on so I can get the bitching service rifle it comes with. Dead Money is kinda interesting, but also kinda stupid in alot of ways, you can't take ANYTHING with you into it, and makes you feel like you're level 1 and back to scraping up every stimpak and round of ammo and feeling like each one is made of gold. I do that one last, and I like to turn down the difficulty a little bit if it gets annoying, and I boost up my unarmed skill because having enough ammo is a pain in the ass in that one.

 

[Holythirteen]

Ps You do have to follow the main quest for a bit to get started in this game. At least until you get to Novac, then the game won't punish you so much for going off the roads and exploring. Trying to go north from the starting town will have you running into cazadores and deathclaws and those things will eat you for lunch.

And remember to save a lot and check the fallout wiki if you get stuck in a quest! Bugs ahoy!