Caravan

[MrLamar]

Hey all. I LOVE playing Caravan in New Vegas. It just is really fun to me, and i love collecting cards. What about you all? Do you like to play? What is your strategy? Feel free to talk about anything related to Caravan.

 

 

Also, do you think Caravan could be played in real life? I would imagine it could, but idk. I'm going out of town for a week and i think it would be fun to play cards, but do you think i could play it by myself? (Playing as both people)

 

Thanks!

[Minto44]

I'll be honest and say I've never really bothered to learn it.. I tried it once and failed horribly since I had no idea what was going on, since then I never bothered.

 

Is it actually worth it? Can you make money playing it?

 

I would appreciate it if someone could explain the rules/tricks to me better than the in-game holotape too.

[MrLamar]

The holotape honestly made it more confusing than it actually is. You won't make loads of money off it unless u make high bets, which i would reccomend you being very good before doing that. It is still really fun in my opinion, though.

 

This guide helped me out a LOT.

http://www.playstationfuture.com/2010/10/26/fallout-new-vegas-a-wasteland-guide-to-the-basics-of-caravan/

[gsmanners]

Maybe if they didn't allow discards at the start, it would be fun. The way it is now, you can just discard until your hand is what you want, and you can win all too easily.

[MrLamar]

I think it depends on the skill of your opponent

[vas14]

Caravan's kinda fun, but a bit too easy. With the right deck setup, it's impossible to lose.

[MrSomeguy]

I have no idea what it is or how it works.

[WuphonsReach]

It's a good way to make a few thousand caps quickly:

 

1) Buy up everything expensive in the merchant's inventory (only if they will play a hand of Caravan)

2) Win at Caravan, repeat twice more so you maximize income

3) Go to another merchant who won't play Caravan and sell off all the expensive stuff

 

A merchant's starting bid is 1/4 of their caps on-hand, but they will increase that about 50% if you raise them to the maximum possible.

 

I generally won't bother to play against any merchant that has less then 500 caps to their name, or that doesn't have enough inventory that they can have 500+ caps to their name after I clean out their merchandise.

[Brianide]

A merchant's starting bid is 1/4 of their caps on-hand, but they will increase that about 50% if you raise them to the maximum possible.

The function that calls up the Caravan menu actually takes a float parameter for bet percent. I'm not sure if it controls their initial bet, max bet, or both, but certain players will bet different amounts.

 

It hardly matters, though; like you said, all you really need to remember is that you can use Caravan to effectively get free (and them some) items from the Primm and Novac merchants. The crazy old guy in Novac also carries a whole lot of caps, which respawn every few days.

 

I'd dismiss Caravan as grotesquely game-breaking if it wasn't so much fun.

[WuphonsReach]

The merchants that I regularly hit up are (I prefer to tackle the merchants as I can buy supplies, boost their caps, then rob them blind in three games of Caravan):

 

 

Johnson Nash in Primm

Lacey (bartender) at the Mohave Outpost

Cliff Briscoe in Novac

(then go sell at Gun Runners or the 188)

 

No-Bark seems rather poor in my game, but I see that he's one of the NPCs that can sometimes have extra caps. I need to go try out Mayes at Camp Forlorn Hope as he may get added to my merchant tour.