Poll: Hardcore/New Game on Fallout: New Vegas

[DustyDrB]

I'm trying to do my first playthrough for Mr House (I've already done one for the other three factions...well, I guess Yes Man counts as a faction). But he is going to ask me to kill the Brotherhood, and that is not something my character would do. I'll probably end up going independent again. That's the best way to go, in my opinion.

As far as the SPECIAL goes, just do whatever you want. A high intelligence isn't that important with all the DLC. My current character has an intelligence of 2 and has taken the Logan's Loophole trait (sets the level cap back down to 30 and makes it so you can't become addicted to drugs). Just make your highest stat fit to how you want to play the game (Explosives: Perception, Guns: Agility, Unarmed: Endurance, Melee: Strength, Energy Weapons: Perception. More of a noncombat approach? High charisma and intelligence. Luck is always good to have above average, though, if you like crits).

I don't like hardcore mode. I went with it my first time through and never again. I can see how it adds to the experience for some, but not for me. The extra-fiddly inventory is a pain in the ass. As much of a fan of self-imposed restrictions as I am, I still just do not like hardcore mode.

My current character:
S- 7
P- 8
E- 9
C- 6
I- 2
A- 2
L- 6

Favored Skills: Unarmed, Survival, Explosives, Barter, Lockpick

Traits: Logan's Loophole, Loose Cannon
Perks (currently at level 18): Toughness (2 levels), Stonewall, Black Widow, Strong Back, Heave Ho, Heavyweight, Sneering Imperialist, Tribal Wisdom

In combat, she splits uses both Explosives and Unarmed weapons.
Hates the Legion, killed Vulpes Inculta on sight in Nipton. But she does get along with the Powder Gangers and most other fringe factions (not at the expense of alienating the NCR, though). Undecided end game affiliation.

 

[Tallim]

If you are just doing it for the achievement work for House. You can finish it in 5 hours at around lvl 10-11. But you need to "game" the plot somewhat.

 

[RuralGamer]

snip

I was using ED-E at the time pretty much constantly and I gained a lot of Perception points through Intense Training; at level 50 I had about 7 or 8 (yeah, I REALLY like Intense training because it is so awesome). I was also admittedly relying on sneaking in close and VATSing the enemy, usually with a silenced sniper or 12.7mm pistol (I find that unless you intend to kill people in the casinos, ALWAYS stick with the 12.7; guaranteed first kill every time pretty much. May be expensive, but money isn't as hard to get in Vegas as it was in 3 I find.)

Just to clarify for everyone; my reason for using 2 perception last time was something along the lines of 'what is the point'? Personally if I don't see the benefit, especially if ED-Es with me. Besides the only threat I usually won't detect in advance (having now played this for about 300 hours) are Legion/NCR assassins. Still, next time I think I'll leave all the stats at five.
As for putting 10 in INT; I like to get all my skills up to 100 before the end of a playthrough, but that's no longer possible unless you save all of them due to the removal of skill perks; still I'll give it a try next playthrough. I miss the days of Fallout 3 when you could start with an INT of 9, run straight to Rivet City and get the Bobblehead before you levelled up twice. I just can't bring myself to play it anymore though.

Oh and PS, am I right in thinking the OWB implants aren't endurance-related?

 

[bro1667]

just watch out for poison animals, once they bite either you or your companion, your dead

oh and just get boone

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

Oh and PS, am I right in thinking the OWB implants aren't endurance-related?

Yup. I just read that on the wiki. That makes the cazadore killing one a lot mote attractive if you have the caps.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Hardcore? Meh, I wouldn't bother with it in the first place. I found that it added very little to my gaming experience. I still had tons of ammo, I didn't notice the food, water and sleep thing as I always carried enough supplies to finish the game twice over. In the end it was just a hassle. Except for Deathclaws, bloody hell...

But if you insist, I recommend a high Intelligence, Endurance and Strength. Those stats make it the easiest to deal with biggest difference in Hardcore mode; weight limit and the need for food/water/sleep.

As for skills, at least get Repair and Survival. Weapon maintenance, ammo crafting and the stuff Survival gives you makes trekking through the Wasteland a piece of cake.

just watch out for poison animals, once they bite either you or your companion, your dead

oh and just get boone

Anti-venom for the win.

 

[RuralGamer]

Oh and PS, am I right in thinking the OWB implants aren't endurance-related?

Yup. I just read that on the wiki. That makes the cazadore killing one a lot mote attractive if you have the caps.

Excellent; now if you'll excuse me, I need to have Matthew Perry shoot me in the head again.
Currently considering this for SPECIAL;
S - 5
P - 5
E - 5
C - 5
I - 9
A - 5
L - 6
(note: this is the same set-up I used in Fallout 3 practically ever time; leave Vault 101, get to Rivet City with as little fighting as possible (to avoid a level up) and grab the intellect bobblehead. Then wait till level 30 and get almost perfect before grabbing the others and get all SPECIAL and skills to max).

Or this;
S - 6
P - 3
E - 7
C - 4
I - 9
A - 5
L - 6
Trigger discipline and Skilled for traits
Gun-wielding loner (not going to waste time getting "insta-death" companions this time; last time I had a Charisma of 5 and ED-E could still be two-hit killed by a regular Golden Gecko, who he provoked by charging at them when they hadn't even detected us on the opposite side of a large road)
Faction to be determined...

Oh and another thing; did anyone else find the challenges in Gun Runner's Arsenal to be psychotically inconsistent?
Take the 3 star for example;
Kill named legion members with certain ranged weapons, meh piece of cake (or it would have been if I hadn't already wiped out the Legion's entire command structure save Lanius)
Kill named, ranked NCR members with certain melee weapons; ok a bit harder, but if you sneak, the Rangers at the outposts give ten really easily.
Kill ten Mister Gutsies or Sentry bots with basic melee or unarmed weapons; that can be fairly easily done by killing the Mr Steels at the steel plant and the sentry bots in the Securitron Vault that don't fight back; wait for the Steels to respawn and bam, done.
Kill Cazadores with long-delay explosive; that's pretty harsh... I mean, that basically means you need to stand still and throw it at your feet and the Cazador stings can send you flying, which will cause them to rush after you.
Kill deathclaws with the weakest weapons of each categories; what the heck? Is some sort of gaming puritan trying to punish us all?! (To note, I managed to do this twice; my achievements didn't work the first time, but that didn't mean I got off easy the second time; Elite Ranger armour practically broken and 20+ stimpacks used.)

Some of the two star ones were actually easier than one star ones and such.

 

[RuralGamer]

snip

Try starting to damage with the .22 (was most reliable for me), then switch to something else, get them down to 1 bar of health and then switch back; there are a good number of adults southeast of Vault 11, at the entrance to Deadwind Cavern and the promontory on the east bank of the colorado; else, try the Thorn matches or that quarry largely populated by blind deathclaws.

 

[Nevyrmoore]

As a note, if you're going to be taking Trigger Discipline, don't use the character for sniping. Fast Shot works better for sniping, while TD is better for automatics.

 

[ChupathingyX]

Why would you take points out of strenght if you are making a gun heavy character. You need a higher strength to be able to actually use the better guns effectively.

You can very easily put skills back into it using "Intense Training" or by buying the strength implant. Or you could take the "Weapons Handling" perk to reduce the weapon strength requirements, or you could use one of the armours (most of the power armours) in the game which inbcrease your strength. Finally, there is Old World Blues which features two more ways to increase your strength.