Fallout VIII: Another Thread Needs Your Help General

[Cristo Meyers]

Mostly reinforced leather armor or the space suit when rads are a problem, but I've switched to combat armor recently. but if I can get power armor....probably that, even if I'll have to do some inventory management to figure that out. I've got a lot of weapons.

Yeah, the closer you get to the end of the game the more often your enemies are carrying the kind of weapons that just laugh at anything less than high-end armor. I did a run just wearing essentially clothes and spent the entire time just jamming my stimpak hotkey.

Both Honest Hearts and Lonesome Road both have a good armour option if you do a little hunting. It's not power armour, but it's close.

ah so.....don't do Dead Money unless I'm confident in my abilities then, got it. probably gonna Old World Blues first though. I like Science!

Confident in your abilities and are prepared to deal with frustrating mechanics. Though you'll probably love Old World Blues. The first time I did it I was rolling on the floor. Just everything about it is a level of absurd Science!

The gameplay is a little mundane or just more of the same, but the characters and story are hilarious.

[Balmas]

in other news, shotguns are apparently good in this game.

Shotguns actually suffer quite a bit from the Damage Threshold calculation, since that DT number is taken away from every pellet. However, they're also really well supported, with perks that reduce the effectiveness of armor vs. shotguns, a perk that allows you to knock over enemies with shotguns, and ammo types that help to counteract the weaknesses. You're still usually better off with a high-damage rifle, but shotguns can be made effective.

Sure its NCR, but this is the post-apocalyptic wasteland. every farm that feeds people will do more good for humanity in the long run, and lets face it, Vault 34 is so irradiated and full of ghouls that the people trapped there probably sent that SOS message years ago and become ghouls themselves since. I'd just be letting more ferals roam free.

They actually exist in the game! If you choose to free the family, they'll straggle into an NCR camp and thank you for helping them.

And no, that doesn't particularly make sense when you consider that the Boomers are supposedly the descendents of Vault 34's original residents.

I think Vault Tec didn't even expect people to take the sacrifice thing seriously. Their hypothesis must've been "oh people will just automatically say no, no one will die, the Vault will be available to open, and the experiment will be complete, who would seriously buy this sacrifice someone each year bull?"
Then two centuries later.....they finally say no, and the remaining Vault residents realize what horrible human beings they are. Ouch. the fact at any time they could've just said no and everything would've been fine must've stung hard. well, at least no utilitarian whackjobs who think sacrificing people for the greater good are going to screw things up.

For me, the horror of Vault 11 isn't so much that Vault-Tec did their presentation with the wrong attitude in mind, but that they did the presentation at all. That is to say, it's pretty obious that they don't think poeple will do it at all, but they nevertheless spent time and money on a presentation and half a dozen sentrybots.

oh and Vault 3 before that, but I forget what exactly went on there. it seem kind of normal to me, just overrun with Fiends.

Pretty sure Vault 3 was just a control vault that got the bad luck to open their doors into a band of drug addicts.

man I keep nearly dying and have to replenish my health with Stims. how much does it take to up your defense so your not the edge of death in nearly every single battle, jeez. Toughness perk took now.

There are two main ways to avoid taking damage: wear good armor, and don't get shot. Sneaking and sniping is the latter, while the former is mostly just finding armor with good DT. Leather Armor is early-game stuff; by now, you should be able to find combat armor. Vault 34 armor, though, is almost as good and light armor to boot, for better sneaking.

[Triaxx]

A lot of it comes down to understanding battlefield control, and willingness to use explosives.

I have done a clothes only, no stealth Very Hard, Hardcore Project Nevada Plus World of Pain run. Was quite the challenge for a while. Then it turns out that used properly, the Grenade Machine Gun is a very useful force multiplier.

[Lord Raziere]

They actually exist in the game! If you choose to free the family, they'll straggle into an NCR camp and thank you for helping them.

And no, that doesn't particularly make sense when you consider that the Boomers are supposedly the descendents of Vault 34's original residents.

There are two main ways to avoid taking damage: wear good armor, and don't get shot. Sneaking and sniping is the latter, while the former is mostly just finding armor with good DT. Leather Armor is early-game stuff; by now, you should be able to find combat armor. Vault 34 armor, though, is almost as good and light armor to boot, for better sneaking.

Well I also got NCR Ranger Combat armor that has a DT of 20 from the NCR safehouse, but its in poor condition. Reinforced Metal Armor I also got, but its only slightly better than Combat Armor and I think also not in good shape. so if you have any suggestions on how to make a lot of caps, I'd love to hear them because the prices for some of the cooler weapons and their repairs are ridiculous, and I've yet to get my repair up to the point where I can afford Jury-Rigging. (its only at 55)

so its either get power armor, find the DLC armors or figure out how to actually make money in New Vegas, warning: My Barter is at 7.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

The sad story of Vault 3:

Spoiler: no really, this is a tear jerker

Show

So... Vault 3.

It was one of seventeen 'control' vaults, in which they weren't f**ked with by Vault-Tec. However, they had a problem. They had a leak, which was leaking into a reactor area. Which caused the radiation to contaminate the water supply. They also had no way of repairing it with the supplies on-hand, so they opened the vault in hopes of re-connecting with Vault-Tec, whom they thought was still kicking around, and was just waiting patiently for the 'all clear' message.

They were all in a pre-war ideology, they had no idea how f**ked up the world had gotten, and one of the fundamental concepts of the vault was mutual trust. Hell, they didn't even have locks on their private room doors.

So they open up the door, and who comes calling? Fiends. Who claimed to be capable of fixing their problem. And so were let in. You can imagine what happened next.

They had maintained a peaceful, democratic, open-minded, and trusting society for over a hundred years. Think about that for a second. I don't think ANY human society in history, modern or ancient, has managed that (let's please not discuss this topic further as it will inevitably wander into politics). And what happened the moment they opened? Fiends. Not just raiders, but chem-hopped soulless raiders.

The information on how nasty the Fiends are is available in-game, but it requires some digging to delve into the true horrors of what Cook-Cook, Violet, and Driver Nephi have actually *done*. I mean, they're aptly described by the Major when getting Three Card Bounty quest, and at least one of the acts by Cook-Cook is referenced by Alpha Company if you talk to them before they ship out, but that's only the tip of the iceberg. There's a side-quest where you can track the disappearance of a few children... the results of your tracking end up in Fiend territory, and the stomach-churning results.

So you had one of the most peaceful and idyllic groups of humans in existence at the time, if not of all time... and the f**king Fiends... well, they eventually got around to killing them. Eventually. There's a Firefly quote about Reavers that would be applicable. It ends in "... and if we are very, very lucky... they will do it in that order."

So yea. It's not just that Vault 3 was a control vault, it's that it was an actual functioning democracy which kept decency and morality as key social values... and then the Fiends subjected them all to a fate worse than death before they finally granted that mercy.

Which is why, on any playthrough, even if I'm doing an irredeemably evil character who sympathies with Caesar and demands payment for any humanitarian act, even if I'm playing an altruistic allegedly-pacifist, it's *ALWAYS* open season on Fiends. Always. No exceptions.

[Triaxx]

Not least of all because they carry fantastic loot. Chainsaw your way through Fiend territory and you end up with several thousand caps worth of stuff to sell, or use. And that's if you're playing vanilla.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

The trick to making money in New Vegas is to keep an eye out for value/weight ratios when looting. Sledgehammer (weight 12, value 130) = no. Combat knife (weight 1, value 500) = yes. Even if the one you find is in bad condition, you might find another copy somewhere and mash them together for even more value/weight. It may not seem like much at first, but as you continue fighting and looting and trading it adds up.

This is made very clear when you fight Fiends, who will be wearing crappy and heavy raider armor, but may also be carrying valuable and relatively light laser guns. Not sure how bandits drugged out of their minds got hold of laser guns but hey we'll go with it.

If you're not playing hardcore mode, looted ammo is basically free money too because it's weightless. This includes missiles, rockets, and launched grenades. Even if you've traded up for a better gun, you'll still be picking up random batches of ammo as you travel. Even at 0.5 caps per unit, you can easily stockpile thousands of caps worth.

If you're short on caps and not really crafting anything, you can just ditch the random scrap metals and junk you find lying around. Pick up guns, ammo, caps and currency.

Other than that, I don't really know. Boost Luck and hit the casinos?

[Triaxx]

Luck and Casino's is good, another one is questing. It gives both caps and XP. Talk to the various NCR reps in Camp McCarran.

There is also a mod to put a third choice into the Vault 34 terminal, to both stop the radiation and free the residents. I do understand why they did it the way they did in vanilla, I find it sufficiently illogical to not mind saving them all.

And naturally the fiends got energy weapons the usual way. Killed someone and took their stuff.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

Also, when I say casinos, I mean Blackjack. It's the only game that is worth your time. Hell, I sometimes forget roulette and slots even exist, but they do and they are rigged hard. Not out of malice mind you, but due to probability. Not even Luck can help you there, in my experience.

Another tip, avoid items with a value of exactly 1, unless it's something you're going to use. Very few vendors will give you true value when buying from you, so you'll end up trying to sell items annoyingly priced between 0.5 and 0.9 caps.

EDIT: annoying -> annoyingly

[Balmas]

Alright, let's talk caps and the economy in New Vegas. You want to make money? Let's get you some dough.

Our first stop is the casinos of New Vegas. With a good Luck score (7+) you'll be able to reliably win at Blackjack, with Luck 10 being good enough to double down on pretty much every hand without worrying about losing money. If you head around to all the casinos in the base game, that'll be a handy 41,500 caps before you get kicked out. That's easily enough to set you up with whatever weapon you want, with about 20K left over for armor and ammo. The real prize, though, is the Sierra Madre of the Dead Money DLC. Just like most of the casinos on the Strip, the Sierra Madre will forbid you from gambling once you've won 10K chips from them; the difference is that you can then turn around and exchange those 10K chips for 10K stacks of Pre-War money, each of which is weightless and sells for 20 caps. That's right, you've just walked out of the Sierra Madre with 200K caps' worth of Pre-War Money. Go and use that for your vendor needs.

However, a far more successful--and long-term viable--strategy is to go where good weapons are. Fiends are flimsy and easily killed, but often spawn with things like plasma rifles and laser RCWs that sell for a pretty penny. The Nightkin of Black Mountain are much tougher opponents, but usually carry things like Incineraters or Light Machine Guns. Finally, your best source of sellables are going to be the death-squads sent after you by either faction.

I'll note that while a high Barter skill isn't essential to the success of this plan, it certainly accellerates the progress thereof. Having 100 Barter means you get close to 100% of the value of the item sold, and don't pay as much for items you buy, instead of being told that your 5000 cap LMG is only able to be sold for half that and having to pay a 50% surcharge for goods bought.

Jury Rigging is also supremely useful, and something I'd encourage you to prioritize. it allows you to take low-value items like laser pistols, varmint rifles, or service rifles to a vendor for repair, and then turn around and use that low value item to repair something much more valuable. A 100% condition laser pistol, for example, could fix up a plasma defender for a 2K cap profit, while a 9mm pistol is good for fixing up a 10mm SMG to full condition. This doesn't just apply to weapons: Jury Rigging is useful for fixing armors with normally rare or expensive default repairs. Two or three normal Legion uniforms will be able to fix up some Legion Centurion armor to full condition, and you can then turn around and use the Centurion armor to fix up some Combat or Ranger armor to full condition and gain some 7K caps' worth of value in the process.

An alternative to Jury Rigging, albeit one that only works on weapons, is to finish the Dead Money DLC and break the Casino. In addition to the 200K caps' worth of pre-war money, you'll also get a waiver every three days or so of in-game time worth 1000 Sierra madre caps. This is good, as this means you can use the Sierra Madre vending machines for a free source of virtually unlimited weapon repair kits.

There you go! That should be some good advice on how to never have to scrounge for caps ever again. If you follow this technique, you too can murderhobo with the best of them!

[factotum]

Honest Hearts is beautiful, and has some cool equipment, but not much else to recommend it. It's right in the middle of the road. Dead Money is like someone decided they just weren't being punished enough and decided to go full-on Challenge Run.

How difficult Dead Money is depends what difficulty you're playing the game on. The clouds that are supposed to keep damaging you constantly don't do anything on normal difficulty, for instance.

[Triaxx]

Though even with Hardcore mode on, if you have the Phoenix monocyte breeder implant, you can completely shrug off the constant health drain.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

While turning Sierra Madre chips directly into Old World Money for caps is definitely profitable, there's one option which is, potentially, even more profitable:

You can find the code for Weapon Repair Kits in [REDACTED], which means you can obtain them with Sierra Madre chips. Consider the price of most fully repaired weapons. Now you have effectively unlimited weapon repair kits, go forth, kill raiders or other high-value toting enemies, repair their weapons, and sell them to your local vendor.

Even better, you can return to the bunker every three in-game days, once you have beaten the DLC, and obtain another 1,000 chips. And in the bunker is a vending machine where you can redeem them.

This is the true treasure of the Sierra Madre. The gold bars are nice, but just a drop in the bucket in comparison.

[Cristo Meyers]

I always made most of my money from the snowglobes. Usually had more than enough after three or four of them.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

I always made most of my money from the snowglobes. Usually had more than enough after three or four of them.

They're only around 2k each, and only redeemable after you get to the Strip (well, except for the DLC ones). More importantly, there aren't many of them around, even though they are in fixed locations, and don't respawn. And really, the only two you can get early on are Goodsprings and Primm, unless you plan on bypassing meatwalls in some form.

They aren't bad, but by the time you can redeem them, that's pretty much chump change.

[DigoDragon]

There is also a mod to put a third choice into the Vault 34 terminal, to both stop the radiation and free the residents. I do understand why they did it the way they did in vanilla, I find it sufficiently illogical to not mind saving them all.

I just didn't understand why you couldn't do both.

This is the true treasure of the Sierra Madre. The gold bars are nice, but just a drop in the bucket in comparison.

I walked out with 3-4 bars. I don't remember the number, but I know they're just littered on the floor of my home at the Big MT.

[Calemyr]

Yeah, I'm all about the luck stat in New Vegas. Largely because Luck is a fickle Lady.

My primary character in NV is almost always Jack "Jack of Hearts" Hart because of this. A guy who has been everywhere and done everything because his luck allows him to excel at everything, but then inevitably brings it all crashing down upon him again, with bouts of courier work while recovering from the last disaster. It leaves him largely unflappable - Jack is not surprised when he stumbles into a mine with a massive stockpile of weapons free or the taking, nor is he surprised to find an alpha deathclaw asleep at the back of the cave. As a result, I always like to envision him strolling up to Vegas, getting told about the credit check requirement to get in, and just looking around. After spotting the Atomic Wrangler, he turns to his companions and says "stay here, and when I say run, run!" before walking into the casino. Five minutes later, he's fleeing the place with bags of caps and escorted by some surly security guards. He gets up, brushes off his pants, and comments to an uncaring world that "that actually didn't go half bad".

I don't know. That kind of character just strikes me as uniquely perfect for New Vegas. A lightning rod for luck, both good and bad, that can score a lucrative milk run and then get shot in the face for it. Twice. And then get right back up and go finish the job...

[Rynjin]

It's just too bad they didn't bring back the Jinxed trait or you could have it all perfectly for a character like that.

Although a quick search DOES turn up a mod for it...

[Haruspex_Pariah]

Apparently the katana is so bugged that the sheath can on appear on a completely different character, who doesn't even have a katana. Good thing it's just a visual bug with an easy fix.

Personally I think snow globes are the easiest of easy money. Pick up a thing, bring it to a person, 2000 caps. That's 8,000 caps without any sort of DLC content, random element, risk, or skill check. An extra 6,000 if you make a bit of effort. Not much compared to the mountains of caps New Vegas can give you, but if you consider it as an unmarked quest, it stacks up very well. Hey here's 1000 caps for delivering to me the game's most plot-critical item. Have 1,250 for killing three of the most dangerous Fiend leaders.

[Triaxx]

Of all the things NV is, stingy with the caps isn't one.

Actually only two of the globes are hard to get, even before you can turn them in. Though Dead Money's is the most valuable for conversion to purchase power.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

Of all the things NV is, stingy with the caps isn't one.

Actually only two of the globes are hard to get, even before you can turn them in. Though Dead Money's is the most valuable for conversion to purchase power.

Yeah, but not everyone knows all the ways and few of them are obvious at first glance. Hell, I didn't figure out the Sierra Madre chips/Pre-War Money trick until after I got out.

I'm assuming you mean the one behind a lock, and the one literally up a mountain.

[Anteros]

I dunno, I think gambling in a game about Vegas is pretty obvious. The game practically throws expensive laser/plasma weapons at you too. It's almost impossible to run out of money unless you're trying to buy every single expensive thing you run across and it's still very early in the game.

Honestly, one of the few flaws in this game is that it's way too easy to earn money.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Apparently the katana is so bugged that the sheath can on appear on a completely different character, who doesn't even have a katana. Good thing it's just a visual bug with an easy fix.

Personally I think snow globes are the easiest of easy money. Pick up a thing, bring it to a person, 2000 caps. That's 8,000 caps without any sort of DLC content, random element, risk, or skill check. An extra 6,000 if you make a bit of effort. Not much compared to the mountains of caps New Vegas can give you, but if you consider it as an unmarked quest, it stacks up very well. Hey here's 1000 caps for delivering to me the game's most plot-critical item. Have 1,250 for killing three of the most dangerous Fiend leaders.

The problem is that to turn in those globes, you need to get to The Strip. And by the time you get there, 8k caps should be pocket change. Hell, I can get that kind of change off of the loot I get from a Legion assassination Loot Squad. Last one I ran into had a fellow with a Sniper Rifle, someone with a Trench Gun, a 12.7mm SMG, and a Super Sledge. That's over 8k right there with any kind of Barter skill.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

The problem is that to turn in those globes, you need to get to The Strip. And by the time you get there, 8k caps should be pocket change. Hell, I can get that kind of change off of the loot I get from a Legion assassination Loot Squad. Last one I ran into had a fellow with a Sniper Rifle, someone with a Trench Gun, a 12.7mm SMG, and a Super Sledge. That's over 8k right there with any kind of Barter skill.

Wait, are you saying that we can't do both? I'm pretty sure the trivial amount of time and effort it takes to pick up snow globes won't be an issue for a professional assassin farmer.

[Erloas]

So clearly a lot would change with some familiarity with the setting, but I can't help but think that I've taken a much different route the the start of the game than most of you do. I've clearly missing some things. I'm not even sure what I've missed, but it is clearly different.

Along the lines of my last questions, are there any other tips or tricks or mods that I need to know/have? Like the hotkeys that are never mentioned. Or have at least "x" in skill Y to ever do anything even moderately useful, etc.?

[Triaxx]

While you're generally right Shneekey, I'd point out that those are higher level loot drops. I at least don't generally encounter that level of squad until post Vegas levels.

Which globe is behind a locked door?

[DigoDragon]

The problem is that to turn in those globes, you need to get to The Strip. And by the time you get there, 8k caps should be pocket change. Hell, I can get that kind of change off of the loot I get from a Legion assassination Loot Squad. Last one I ran into had a fellow with a Sniper Rifle, someone with a Trench Gun, a 12.7mm SMG, and a Super Sledge. That's over 8k right there with any kind of Barter skill.

If I remember, while you do have to hit the strip to start that side quest, I think once you turn in the first globe, the other globes automatically trade for caps? So you just need to raise the minimum to get into the strip to start and then go around collecting the rest.

I do agree with Triaxx that those drops are higher level ones. Early drops for me were basic legion armors and spears, maybe some pistols.

[SZbNAhL]

If I remember, while you do have to hit the strip to start that side quest, I think once you turn in the first globe, the other globes automatically trade for caps? So you just need to raise the minimum to get into the strip to start and then go around collecting the rest.

No, each one has to be turned in to ... Jane? The lady securitron. I think you're getting confused with the DLC snowglobes, which automatically convert as an anti-frustration feature.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

Which globe is behind a locked door?

The one in the hotel manager Sarah's bedroom. That's always locked, at least as far as I know.

[Triaxx]

Ah, that unlocks if you romance the lady. She'll... open things up for you eventually.