Tanbir Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 <SPOLIER ALERT... FROM ONE FNV FAN TO ANOTHER... DON'T EVEN DARE TO READ THIS FURTHER IF YOU ARE MAKING A FIRST PLAYTHROUGH > I started my fifth complete Playthrough... (Yeah, I just can't get enough). This time I have all DLCs installed... so wow, a Level 50 character! That would be something.... (The Highest one I had was level 40, after Honest Hearts)... anyways, back to my point, I just want to ask fellow gamers what changed strategy in character build would you take (in lieu of the new aspects and opportunities all DLCs provides for us)? I'm listing mine below.... S.P.E.C.I.A.L. point distribution (without implants)... STR- 7 (+1 from implant and +2 from Reinforced Spine perk from OLD WAR BLUES )PER- 5 (yeah who needs it with ED-E and Enhanced Sensors? However +1 from implants for Sniper perk if you think so...)CHR- 1 (dump stat forever)END- 8 (+1 from implants, previously it was 7, Now I can take the PHOENIX Monocyte Breeder implant too...)INT- 3 (Yeah, previously it was 7, now we need the fewer skill points per level up as possible, +1 frm implants before level 4 to get Educated and/or Comprehension perks, if your'e still up for it)AGL- 8 ( +1 with Small Frame, +1 from implants. Its critical for all builds, faster attack in Melee and Unarmed, boost to Guns, and also we need High AP in V.A.T.S.)LCK- 8 (+1 from implants, its essential to Critical Chance...) Put the +1 S.P.E.C.I.A.L form Lonesome Road in Luck. Or Perception if you care for the Hobbler Perk!Traits... Old War Blues Totally Spiced it up... Small Frame and Kamikaze was the previous choice... Now we have Hoarder... the +25 lbs is quite considerable because I carry minimum of 170 lbs. Anyone up for Wild Wasteland? Its useless... unless you wanna jinx the DLC experience... Perks Level 2 : Intense Training(1)... no need. We can happily take Heave, Ho! now.Level 4: Educated if you still need hoards of skill points... you will max out the essential Skills anyways...Level 6: Comprehension... In my opinion, the most essential perk. +20 bonus makes it simple to temporarily boost Speech, Barter, Lockpick, Science and Repair to 100 quite early on (Level 9-10 onwards). Also saves the pain of putting valuable skill points in less priority Skills early on... i.e. until Level 26... The rest is pretty much the same depending on which build we prefer first... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drakeelvin Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 (edited) Nice power build, the luck 8 makes it a piece of cake to afford that INT implant before level 4 just by gambling if you rush to Vegas and skip all the side quests initially. I don't even play with expansions but this build is pretty similar to my power build except I have a bit more INT and AGI and a bit less of other stuff initially cause I'm only going to level 30. Edited October 28, 2011 by drakeelvin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shantih Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 You don't really need to max out AG. 7 points is all that is needed for the Slayer perk. You're not faster with more AG. I know the game says so but it's just not true. Also the difference between 7 and 10 points in AG is only 9 Action Points... and some skill modifiers, frankly I can't see the reason to max this out. My current character is similar but I did take 9 points in EN to get every implants and only 6 points in AG (including Small Frame) that would leave two extra points to spend on IN (4 is the limit to avoid "dumb" dialogue options). PE should be equal to 6 points with the implants for the Better Criticals perk. Wearing some headgear will increase it to 7 so it will be enough to pass any perception test in the game. Regarding Traits, Skilled is the best trait. The experience penalty is not a drawback. Small Frame can be nice to get an extra point. I think you make some good points with this build that is not so different from the one I'm using. I just want to point out that maxing out stats doesn't necessarily make a better character. There are some benefits to be had with 9 points in LK (especially if you intend to play in casinos) and 9 points in EN for implants but the rest is fine around 6-7 (except CH unless you really want to take Animal Friend for RP reasons). Given the increased level cap IN is not as important as before even if you don't take Educated and Comprehension. :happy: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ModelV Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 I still like adding to IN for the skill checks...however black coffee and high survival kind defeat the purpose to some degree... Agility however does increase reload speed. Which is important for me since i like gate loading weapons of all kind. I really see no point in getting Endurance above 8(starting maybe 7) charisma and healing implant arent that useful. I said 8 and not 7 because of perks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanbir Posted October 29, 2011 Author Share Posted October 29, 2011 You don't really need to max out AG. 7 points is all that is needed for the Slayer perk. You're not faster with more AG. I know the game says so but it's just not true. Also the difference between 7 and 10 points in AG is only 9 Action Points... and some skill modifiers, frankly I can't see the reason to max this out. My current character is similar but I did take 9 points in EN to get every implants and only 6 points in AG (including Small Frame) that would leave two extra points to spend on IN (4 is the limit to avoid "dumb" dialogue options). PE should be equal to 6 points with the implants for the Better Criticals perk. Wearing some headgear will increase it to 7 so it will be enough to pass any perception test in the game. Regarding Traits, Skilled is the best trait. The experience penalty is not a drawback. Small Frame can be nice to get an extra point. I think you make some good points with this build that is not so different from the one I'm using. I just want to point out that maxing out stats doesn't necessarily make a better character. There are some benefits to be had with 9 points in LK (especially if you intend to play in casinos) and 9 points in EN for implants but the rest is fine around 6-7 (except CH unless you really want to take Animal Friend for RP reasons). Given the increased level cap IN is not as important as before even if you don't take Educated and Comprehension. :happy: Yes, you make some good and relevant points, especially about the Better Criticals perk, which I forgot to mention. Anyways,regarding the maxing of Agility, it is really beneficial with a Vats build. I max out my AP such that I can take two consecutive Shots with the fully modded Anti-materiel Rifle (GRA). Also the main effect is increasing the AP regeneration rate and attack speed, which does increase (Check out the script in G.E.C.K.). I did not take the Skilled perk because I want the fewer points as possible from perks/traits and levelup. This is to increase the fun in searching out skill books and planning out strategy to get them quickly which I enjoy very much... Some awesome new unarmed weapons are there... Industrial Hand and Rawr's Talon (LR) and Greased Lightning (GRA)... apart from the ones you get from Honest Hearts and Dead Money... Also, this time I am specializing in Explosives... So,many of the newer perks would be enjoyed including Mad Bomber from GRA... Another important thing which you guys should know... the latest update patch for LR does edit the script to prevent unjust farming of caps from casinos... (Yeah I hate such changes, previously a bet of 200 chips and a 3 orange jackpot would give you 32,000 chips... but now it does not happen). This in another downgrading change I seriously hate, owing to the need of caps for purchasing weapons new weapons in GRA... (The first one was Silver Rush operatives becoming Hostile after completing Cass' quest 'Heartache By the Number')... Lastly, from the experience of my last four playthroughs, I must add that some non combat skills like Repair can be maxed out to get Perks like Jury Rigging and Hand Loader... to save caps and get highly powerful bullets which multiplies weapon damage to great extents... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ModelV Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 I dont think anyone here said anything about not maxing skills. You should always try to max a skill your using. Also skilled doesnt increase points gained per lvl you get 5 points in every skill instantly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shantih Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 A few random comments on what has been posted above: 6 points in IN should be enough for most checks. Reloading is not a big deal. It's not like a few points in AG make a perceptible difference (the Rapid Reload perk will make a difference no matter what). I really don't think it affects atack speed either and if it does the factor must be minimal. It's probably even less interesting for melee focused characters. Of course if you feel like you have to use VATS all the time then 9 Action Points may be worth the trouble. The implants only cost money so having extra perks is not a bad trade unless you really need to put these two points elsewhere. But I don't think maxing out stats makes much of a difference (except for LK if you want an easy time). Also regarding skills, I'd say they're nice to unlock perks but the truth is that most of them don't really matter. Once you get 50 points in your main skills and maybe some extra lockpick and science there is no problem facing anything the game throws at you. It's definitely not like the old Fallout games since your character can do anything with pretty average scores and potentially max out everything. I would even advocate that not investing too much into combat skills can keep the game a bit more challenging which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Personally I wait a long time before putting more than 50 points in a combat related skill. I'm not saying one shouldn't invest in certain skills (I like having 45 to 50 points in melee, repair, lockpick and survival early on). I'm just saying that the game won't punish you if you don't carefully plan your build and spend skill points randomly. Even Speech is not necessary and speech failures can make the game more fun. To sum things up I think we're almost on the same page here. The only difference is playing style as I don't feel the need to max out AG for VATS but I understand that if you're using VATS a lot you may want to make the most of it. I see VATS as a two edged sword in FNV. If you get caught in a loop it can become pretty ugly so I rarely make more than two VATS attacks in a row unless I know for sure that my character won't put himself/herself in harm's way. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanbir Posted October 29, 2011 Author Share Posted October 29, 2011 I'm happy that I'm getting a variety of replies... anyways, the intention of starting this thread was getting the opinion of seasoned players of Fallout New Vegas (minimum 3 playthroughs with all factions sided with, all weapons and specialities explored, hardcore mode + very hard difficulty veteran, knows a some about modding and scripting in G.E.C.K., has played all DLCs...) This was not focussed as a thread to highlight the S.P.E.C.I.A.L point distribution in character builds in plain version of the game (i.e. without DLCs and update patches...) The main focus is towards building a very powerful character at level 50, with all round expertise and with all essential perks... (i.e. without perks like Mr Sandman, Cannibal, Here And Now, Tag, Rad Adsorption e.t.c) :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts