Fallout: New Vegas - Fall 2010

If I were to go melee, do you guys prefer the run in with heavy armor route, or the sneak route?

i know a few good melee perks require sneak, but have you actually been able to take out a camp with proper sneak, taking out guys one by one? I haven't ever made a pure melee character before. I always break sneak after my initial shot. How about with NPCs. They were the ultimate sneak buzzkill in FO3.

If you can pick up the Mr. Sandman perk, you can sneak in and take out any sleeping targets quite easily. In FO3 I was able to sneak in and Sandman groups of raiders sleeping in the same room. I especially liked the little xylophone trill that accompanies Sandman kills.

Unfortunately it doesn't help you against targets who are awake. I haven't been able to sneak up behind anyone yet in NV to try a silent melee take-down. My sneak is still sub-50 for now, so that may be the issue. I did find a straight-razor, which would imply all kinds of nasty possibilities.

I find myself popping chems A LOT more here then I did in Fallout 3.

mooosicle wrote:

If I were to go melee, do you guys prefer the run in with heavy armor route, or the sneak route?

i know a few good melee perks require sneak, but have you actually been able to take out a camp with proper sneak, taking out guys one by one? I haven't ever made a pure melee character before. I always break sneak after my initial shot. How about with NPCs. They were the ultimate sneak buzzkill in FO3.

I rely on sneak alot i'm 80+ now. I love being able to shoot things at range, and the target look around for me. I wish i had started off melee though because i think i could be 1 shotting the people i sneak up on now. Thing is i spend SO much time crouching. That and after learning that 1 special move from the ranger makes going melee seem unfair.

Here's a funny question... how do you turn on/off your pip boy light?

Hold down the pip boy button. (on the 360-- no idea on PC)

Orphu wrote:

no idea on PC

Use an xbox controller and hold down b.

Hold down tab

You guys so funnny!

Oh FYI... make sure you clear out your followers inventory if you have them holding onto stuff and they get scooped up for awhile due to a quest. They come back empty

FedoraMcQuaid wrote:

I find myself popping chems A LOT more here then I did in Fallout 3.

Me too. I always avoided chems for the most part in Fallout games, but not in this one. I've taken just about every kind of drug out there. I've been addicted to Psycho, mentats, and buffout already in this playthrough, but curing addiction isn't too big of a deal. It feels like this game is harder to play solely in VATS which makes me want to buff more.

Also, party time mentats are awesome.

nVidia released new drivers today (260.99). Lists increased performance for Fallout3 (I assume that should include New Vegas since they're basically the same engine) and "Improves compatibility for Fallout 3: New Vegas with antialiasing enabled." I'm installing it soon so we'll see if it helps any with some of these crashes.

-edit-
Nope, still crashes.

ebarstad wrote:

I think it's great that I've been playing for 30+ hours and haven't found/seen things you guys are talking about, such as the space suit and ED-E.

If you didn't find Ed-E, you didn't go to the first place they tell you in the main story quests. He isn't hiding or anything, he's in one of three buildings in that town and you see him right when you walk through the door.

non-related Primm Spoilers

Spoiler:

I had the NCR take over Primm and went back a bit later. The casino was abandoned and then when I went in some NCR deserters tried to mug me. Later, I went back again and it was an open casino. Not sure why it was ever deserted to begin with. Then I hit the jackpot on slots and was banned from gambling. :)

After almost a week I have encountered my fourth bug on the 360! I rerolled a new character yesterday to play on hardcore for the cheevo, and while I was walking to Primm shooting my way through Powder Ganger after Powder Ganger, suddenly they stopped shooting at me and will no longer attack me unless I attack them first (though doing so no longer seems to alter my rep with them nor give me negative karma). They also appear friendly on my radar, even though my Pip-boy rep screen clearly tells me that they should not be. I can walk right though the NCRP facility without anyone raising an eyebrow.

EriktheRed wrote:
FedoraMcQuaid wrote:

I find myself popping chems A LOT more here then I did in Fallout 3.

Me too. I always avoided chems for the most part in Fallout games, but not in this one. I've taken just about every kind of drug out there. I've been addicted to Psycho, mentats, and buffout already in this playthrough, but curing addiction isn't too big of a deal. It feels like this game is harder to play solely in VATS which makes me want to buff more.

Also, party time mentats are awesome.

Chems weren't too necessary in FO3, but in earlier games they were incredibly helpful, and NV returns more to that. I think it's helped by (possible spoiler):

Spoiler:

the loss of the Bobbleheads, and the general lack of skill books. So far I haven't needed chems, but I expect I'll start using them when my magazines run out.

Well I use chems almost only in combat. Magazines I use more for out of combat stuff (dialog options with skill checks, hacking, lockpicking, fixing elevators, ect). I think I use chems due to how much more unforgiving New Vegas is. The odds are against you so much. I use med-x, psycho, rebound, turbo, buffout and steady all the time. In Fallout 3 I almost never touched a chem besides jet.

I've started a second science character on the side and am finding the custom made chems like rocket and Slasher to be awesome.

Schmutzli wrote:

EDIT: oops Brill posted it 5 days ago...

Hope I'm not being a dirty skimmer here (550 posts since release?) but I just had to know.

I present, Goodsprings, NV:

http://bit.ly/92GPqn
(click for google streetview)

I know it's not a big shocker since Fallout 3 had you running around recognizable places from DC, but I just think it is really cool that they took this small town and put it right into the game. Apparently Clark Gable waited for word about his wife Carole Lombard at that bar after her plane went down.

I agree.

FWIW: Sloan really has a big limestone mine,Jean has an airport used for stunt flying and sky diving, Helios is roughly several solar facilities. The dry lake locations (Ivanpah & El Dorado) are pretty accurate, as are many of the high volatage electric lines.

As a tangent to the drug angle, am I the only one who feels like it feels easier to act like a dick to people than in Fallout 3?

Vault 34... That place will haunt my dreams.

Spoiler:

I'll never throw away another RadAway or scoff at another radiation suit again...

Grubber788 wrote:

Vault 34... That place will haunt my dreams.

Spoiler:

I'll never throw away another RadAway or scoff at another radiation suit again...

This. And...

Spoiler:

It turns out you didn't need to go there in the first place.

Grubber788 wrote:

Vault 34... That place will haunt my dreams.

Spoiler:

I'll never throw away another RadAway or scoff at another radiation suit again...

[spoiler]I felt the same way after searching for just one last dogtag at camp searchlight for like an hour...

Rat Boy wrote:

As a tangent to the drug angle, am I the only one who feels like it feels easier to act like a dick to people than in Fallout 3?

Because of the new reputation system, I find myself not really caring if I'm walking around hopped up on drugs and stealing everything that isn't nailed down. As far as I can tell, my karma means diddly squat as long as I'm idolized by the general public for taking care of local problems (or bribing local officials to put in a good word for me).

I'm still a nice guy in conversations and I don't randomly shoot people, but I have no problem robbing you blind.

I made a nice non-grenade, cannon-version of the "grenade machine gun." Can't seem to get it to show up in-game though. Anyone know a guide to a good walkthrough for making giant guns appear out of thin air?

By the way, it seems that if you use console commands on the Steam version it disables achievements. Worth note if you're big on those.

Montalban wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

As a tangent to the drug angle, am I the only one who feels like it feels easier to act like a dick to people than in Fallout 3?

Because of the new reputation system, I find myself not really caring if I'm walking around hopped up on drugs and stealing everything that isn't nailed down. As far as I can tell, my karma means diddly squat as long as I'm idolized by the general public for taking care of local problems (or bribing local officials to put in a good word for me).

I'm still a nice guy in conversations and I don't randomly shoot people, but I have no problem robbing you blind.

I only saw a karma option show up once in an optional dialogue branch. Why did I need to be reminded that I lost karma for 10,000 petty thefts?

Just finished it. That is a badass game.

Spoiler:

Stuck with House the whole way through. Only regret is that a quest that ingratiated the Kings with the NCR later sours their relationship with House, so they get wiped out. Makes sense, but I didn't think that far ahead. Played almost the whole game with Cass and Rex. They go sickhouse on people's asses, and this I enjoy.

LobsterMobster wrote:

I made a nice non-grenade, cannon-version of the "grenade machine gun." Can't seem to get it to show up in-game though. Anyone know a guide to a good walkthrough for making giant guns appear out of thin air?

By the way, it seems that if you use console commands on the Steam version it disables achievements. Worth note if you're big on those.

FWIW I used the console command to go to the location of ED-E when he was lost and I'm still getting achievements on Steam. Maybe it doesn't consider that one that breaks the achievement things for some reason.

Great, thanks to a bug Felicia won't tag along with me, so I ended up replacing her with Chuck, whom I just found out is actually younger than me. The crap you learn from the Fallout Wikia.

It only disables the achievements until the game is reset. When you close out of the game console command stuff is reset (such as godmode or noclip). So when you come back in achievements will be available again until you use a console command.

Also, regarding the end:

Spoiler:

House really got me pumped for an epic ass battle "the greatest battle since the great war" or whatever. It was actually pretty small scale and lame. Compared to the battling in Operation Anchorage, Broken Steel, and the end battle of Fallout 3 this was pretty unimpressive. Though the boomers flying over in the bomber was pretty cool.

Rat Boy wrote:
Grubber788 wrote:

Vault 34... That place will haunt my dreams.

Spoiler:

I'll never throw away another RadAway or scoff at another radiation suit again...

This. And...

Spoiler:

It turns out you didn't need to go there in the first place.

Just paid V34 a visit. Eff that place. Seriously.

Spoiler:

Although the well stocked armoury at the end was welcome compensation for getting through in one piece

I just did Cook Cook and annihilated him, he wasn't an issue at all but I had ED-E and Boone with me.

I probably could have done it alone though but I had more problems with the Golf Guy.

LobsterMobster wrote:

I made a nice non-grenade, cannon-version of the "grenade machine gun." Can't seem to get it to show up in-game though. Anyone know a guide to a good walkthrough for making giant guns appear out of thin air?

By the way, it seems that if you use console commands on the Steam version it disables achievements. Worth note if you're big on those.

I have used the console to resummon Ed-E after he disappeared inexplicably, and have gotten achievements since.

I was just saying what I'd heard.

So no one knows of any good tutorials?