Newbie seeking info

[SublimeBW]

OK! I got a nice brand new and shiny video card that let's me run the game with everything maxed out so that game looks brand spankin' new. I am conflicted whither or not I should restart.

 

First off, I didn't get very far in my first game (just got to New Vegas) but I did a lot of side stuff. While I am not to worried about the time sink I am worried about playing the same few hours the same way I did my first play through. I normally do a sneaky thief based character (lock pick, sneak & firearms) as the base and then branch out to repair & science. I always enjoy this playstyle but I am thinking of trying a few others out.

 

One is a weak scientist that is very charismatic (Science, Speech & Energy Weap.), mainly a pacifist. I never went the speech route in any of these games and this one actually seems to benefit a lot from it. I would plan on branching out to repair & barter. My fear is that I was already running out of carry limit with a Str of 6-7 so if I had a 3-4 I may go insane. Also, I never used energy weapons as my main weapon type.

 

The other way I was thinking of going is a living off the land type of guy (Survivor, Melee, & ???). I don't know how useful survivor actually is. And melee weapons always seem to be ok at best until you get high up. Also, I thought about the throwing weapons with this set up but never messed with them. This would give me a huge carry limit but in exchange for my utility.

 

Has anyone done any playstyles like those (I assume so)? And would it be worth my time to restart or just keep going?

[drakeelvin]

Lots of people seem to like the stealth/sniper approach it works really well in this game thats for sure. With a good gun and high skill there are very few creatures or things that will survive a sneakshot from a powerful gun.

 

Science and Speech is a lot of fun and really make some of the hardest quests or confrontations in New Vegas quite easy, and for the times you have to fight your companions can cover you, just keep them well equiped and learn to work with them.

 

I found melee to be the most challenging style mainly in terms of the damage I had to endure by closing the distance with enemies. Stealth helped out somewhat but many situations have multiple enemies so once your sneak attack is done and your stealth is gone you get swarmed. Thus I used every DT perk available, plus the implants, plus I joined the Brotherhood of Steel early on, so with Power Armor my DT was 40+ at the end. Most stuff would just bounce off me but the tough monsters like Deathclaws or guys wielding powerful guns could still hurt me pretty bad. I had a lot of Sunset Sarsaparilla in my diet, let me tell you.

 

One melee advantage I found using VATS I got special attacks when my skill got higher, and I could line up a pile of attacks and even when the enemy is running away VATS let me "follow on their heels" and finish all the attacks, so it worked fairly well. I had often moved quite a distance by the time an attack sequence was done on a tough enemy so you have to remain situationally aware of your movements when watching VATS play out.

 

Another melee advantage is that there are some great perks for melee characters that increase speed, damange, and reduce enemy DT. Plus I mentioned those special VATS attacks, one type a reverse slash or something that costs very little Action Points.

 

Even if you don't use VATS I think you could do OK but be careful about attacking your friends by accident since they tend to get in your way especially in confined spaces.

 

The toughest challenge of melee was as you said, the weapons don't do as much damage. The best weapons also tend to be special ones that you only get from a certain place or NPC. At the end I was using a named Roman Machete that I got from some centurion. I don't think it was the best weapon it was just the best I could find. My character had only 8 strength otherwise because I put more into other stats.

 

Last point of my melee character, I always had a good gunner companion to team with. That made things a lot simpler when facing a bunch of gun wielding enemies. And I used a gun as a backup weapon sometimes it just made things simpler.

 

TBH using guns and stealth the game got pretty easy I rarely ever had to use stimpacks few enemies got close to me. So melee was a fun and challenging way to play.

 

As for survival, I always play hardcore and I found little point in raising survival above 30, that lets you make gecko steaks and cactus water. I found quite a few survival books, the permanent ones, and ended up with a skill close to 50 by the end. But even at 30 the health and healing benefits of food are decent. If you do raise survival very high the health and healing of food becomes very great. There is at least one mod that allows you to increase the spawn of things in the wasteland because you can go through all the creatures in the desert fairly fast, so if you want to try a hunter you might search for a mod with increased wasteland spawns. When your survival hits 40 you can also make anti-venom but I always was able to buy enough from shops -- but I also generally avoided Cazadors when I could. So 40 survival can be useful depending on your style.

Edited March 18, 2011 by drakeelvin

[MadMann135]

you can take the practical yet boring approach. I focus on Guns as my primary attack, melee weapons as my secondary attack, Repair to make caps, Medicine to live, and sneak to get in those critical hits (you need a suppressed weapon to use sneak properly, my recommendation the sniper rifle and learn to snipe from a great distance. FYI if you hit a surface the enemies will investigate where the bullet hit, great for getting them out of cover.) Boone is an all around and very dangerous companion, he decapitates enemies very easily with his rifle.

 

Guns skill is one of the most practical skills. Conventional firearms are prevalent, efficient and in the end cheap.