Curious about the main plot.

[StanleyTweedle]

Hey there, fellow Wastedwellers,

 

after taking a rather long while to step aside from F3 and up to NV, i did a few hou... days and came up to Vegas. I am about to enter the strip and... got kinda scared.

Thinking back to my first F3 experience, i got to the "end" rather quick - of course without knowing in the first instance.

 

So, a simple question: The pursue of the f**** who shot and buried me, led to Vegas, the Strip (Freeside doing currently, strip not enterd). How far is this point ahead of the game in comparison to F3?

 

Galaxy News Radio? Rivet City? Vault 112? Project Purity? Raven Rock?

 

Or if it is easier to say, can it be quoted in percentage? About 15% done?

 

 

I find it a bit more "difficult" for me to go exploring, because im not thaaaat enthusiastic about the whole desert-setting. -of course i've seen only a fraction for now, but well...

 

 

So, can anybody help me out?

 

 

[dubiousintent]

So much depends upon what you want out of the game. Are you in a hurry to get through the main quest (the ""Goal")? (Doesn't sound like it.) Are you interested in getting the most out of exploring the world (hitting locations and solving side quests, including mod added ones) before completing the scripted storyline (the "Journey")?

 

I haven't played FO3 so I can't give you similar way points. (I plan to play FO3 by way of the "Tale of Two Wastelands" mod after FNV.) But I can say that entering the Strip and meeting with Mr House is an essential step to the rest of the game. Pursuing Benny and the platinum chip is the next step along the "Goal" progression. However, the crucial point comes when you confront Benny about the chip. (There are several steps in that quest prior to that key point you can safely complete.) Following that confrontation (actually when you leave the casino afterwards), you have to start making decisions that affect the ending you achieve. That is very early in the plot, barely 1% I would say. If you hold off on that particular point, you can run around the rest of the world and play the DLC content with all your options still available to your character.

 

I stopped following the main plot line at that point (the "Fallout Wiki Portal" has tons of information which I shamelessly exploited to arrive that decision) and am currently 250 hours into the game, have completed one DLC and am in the middle of the second, have done all of the side quests I am aware of at that point (including several modded additions), and have only accomplished about a third of the Steam achievements. There are still locations I know I haven't found. I'm expecting many more hours of play.

 

My biggest problem is that despite slowing my experience gain by 25% my character has maxed all stats and (with a mod) is over level 50. So if you decide to take that approach, I suggest you slow your experience gain by 100% (by mod) after you hit level 10 (and by 25-50% up to level 10) which gets you a decent set of primary skills and useful levels in the remainder by that point.

 

As for the desert setting, not sure what is putting you off about it, but that is where the random encounters are found ... and about 95% of the locations. The Fiends in particular are general "baddies" and heavily found around the north and west of New Vegas suburbs. Lots of "gangs" for you to develop love/hate relations with, especially the Legion/NCR conflict (which is a major plot choice but not until after you deal with Benny; both sides provide a single opportunity to "forgive you" for past transgressions). There are mods to increase the number of such encounters, and ones that (after you hit level 10 or so) increase the number of opponents in the encounters for a more intense experience. (The "New Vegas Bounties II" and later mods by "Someguy" can throw a 100 or so at you in waves of ~6-10. Bring lots of ammo. The "NVB I" mod is single encounters. The whole series is recommended, though there are a couple of rough spots (erratic bugs) you may have to get help to get past.)

 

According to others, you should play the DLCs in this order:
* Honest Hearts (Happy Trails Expedition - Northern Passage) before Level 10 (and after the "Volare!" quest from the Nellis Airbase "Boomers" faction).
* Old WorldBlues (Midnight Sci-Fi Feature! - Mojave Drive-In). Target: level 15+, before level 20 and Dead Money. (Suggested before the "Brotherhood of Steel" (BoS) quests.)
* Dead Money (Sierra Madre Grand Opening! - Abandoned BoS Bunker) before level 20. Target: 20+. (Suggested just after BoS quests.)
* Lonesome Road (The Reunion - Canyon Wreckage) last, before Hoover Dam War (main plot climax). Target: 25+. (Deathclaws and SentryBots).

-Dubious-

Edited June 14, 2016 by dubiousintent

[Ladez]

The confrontation with Benny (or Mr. House, depending on who you talk to first) is the culmination of the game's first act and where the game's plot is kicked properly into gear. It's at this point that you're going to have to start working for one of the factions in order to progress further. You should also be sufficiently levelled and geared up by this point that you should have less trouble exploring off the beaten path.

[StanleyTweedle]

Well, that are some useful informations. First action of today will be to set my xp gain to 10% of normal, being already on lvl 17. (playing with project nevada)

 

As for the desert setting, not sure what is putting you off about it, but that is where the random encounters are found ... and about 95% of the locations. The Fiends in particular are general "baddies" and heavily found around the north and west of New Vegas suburbs. Lots of "gangs" for you to develop love/hate relations with, especially the Legion/NCR conflict (which is a major plot choice but not until after you deal with Benny; both sides provide a single opportunity to "forgive you" for past transgressions). There are mods to increase the number of such encounters, and ones that (after you hit level 10 or so) increase the number of opponents in the encounters for a more intense experience. (The "New Vegas Bounties II" and later mods by "Someguy" can throw a 100 or so at you in waves of ~6-10. Bring lots of ammo. The "NVB I" mod is single encounters. The whole series is recommended, though there are a couple of rough spots (erratic bugs) you may have to get help to get past.)

 

 

Indeed, having F3 for a real, real bad example for story writing, i was not at all after the main plot. -Even after hearing that so much is done so much better in NV than in F3. It's just that the landmark setting of F3 was absolute awesome, to me. It's not that the Mojave is horrible, it just takes a while to acclimatize (no pun intended :P ). I can't wait to get into the Bountie-Series, it got praised alot and therefore i am sure it will be a lot of entertainment!

 

 

 

According to others, you should play the DLCs in this order:
* Honest Hearts (Happy Trails Expedition - Northern Passage) before Level 10 (and after the "Volare!" quest from the Nellis Airbase "Boomers" faction).
* Old WorldBlues (Midnight Sci-Fi Feature! - Mojave Drive-In). Target: level 15+, before level 20 and Dead Money. (Suggested before the "Brotherhood of Steel" (BoS) quests.)
* Dead Money (Sierra Madre Grand Opening! - Abandoned BoS Bunker) before level 20. Target: 20+. (Suggested just after BoS quests.)
* Lonesome Road (The Reunion - Canyon Wreckage) last, before Hoover Dam War (main plot climax). Target: 25+. (Deathclaws and SentryBots).

-Dubious-

THIS is particularly helpful! Meeting in F3 before hitting lvl 10 SuperMutant Overlords is... not as funny as it sounds. (Broken Steel adds them) And with LoneWandererEdition you can't really bring them down. Even geared up they're tough.

 

So the NV DLC are Stand-Alone Verions, which do not integrate in the "main" game? Like adding high lvl enemies?

 

 

Besides, resistance just adds to the kick of the journey, so i don't bother at all. Well, so long as it doesn't place uber-enemies in low-mid lvl questareas.

 

So long, thank you both for your help!

[Luigifan22]

So much depends upon what you want out of the game. Are you in a hurry to get through the main quest (the ""Goal")? (Doesn't sound like it.) Are you interested in getting the most out of exploring the world (hitting locations and solving side quests, including mod added ones) before completing the scripted storyline (the "Journey")?

 

I haven't played FO3 so I can't give you similar way points. (I plan to play FO3 by way of the "Tale of Two Wastelands" mod after FNV.) But I can say that entering the Strip and meeting with Mr House is an essential step to the rest of the game. Pursuing Benny and the platinum chip is the next step along the "Goal" progression. However, the crucial point comes when you confront Benny about the chip. (There are several steps in that quest prior to that key point you can safely complete.) Following that confrontation (actually when you leave the casino afterwards), you have to start making decisions that affect the ending you achieve. That is very early in the plot, barely 1% I would say. If you hold off on that particular point, you can run around the rest of the world and play the DLC content with all your options still available to your character.

 

I stopped following the main plot line at that point (the "Fallout Wiki Portal" has tons of information which I shamelessly exploited to arrive that decision) and am currently 250 hours into the game, have completed one DLC and am in the middle of the second, have done all of the side quests I am aware of at that point (including several modded additions), and have only accomplished about a third of the Steam achievements. There are still locations I know I haven't found. I'm expecting many more hours of play.

 

My biggest problem is that despite slowing my experience gain by 25% my character has maxed all stats and (with a mod) is over level 50. So if you decide to take that approach, I suggest you slow your experience gain by 100% (by mod) after you hit level 10 (and by 25-50% up to level 10) which gets you a decent set of primary skills and useful levels in the remainder by that point.

 

As for the desert setting, not sure what is putting you off about it, but that is where the random encounters are found ... and about 95% of the locations. The Fiends in particular are general "baddies" and heavily found around the north and west of New Vegas suburbs. Lots of "gangs" for you to develop love/hate relations with, especially the Legion/NCR conflict (which is a major plot choice but not until after you deal with Benny; both sides provide a single opportunity to "forgive you" for past transgressions). There are mods to increase the number of such encounters, and ones that (after you hit level 10 or so) increase the number of opponents in the encounters for a more intense experience. (The "New Vegas Bounties II" and later mods by "Someguy" can throw a 100 or so at you in waves of ~6-10. Bring lots of ammo. The "NVB I" mod is single encounters. The whole series is recommended, though there are a couple of rough spots (erratic bugs) you may have to get help to get past.)

 

According to others, you should play the DLCs in this order:

* Honest Hearts (Happy Trails Expedition - Northern Passage) before Level 10 (and after the "Volare!" quest from the Nellis Airbase "Boomers" faction).

* Old WorldBlues (Midnight Sci-Fi Feature! - Mojave Drive-In). Target: level 15+, before level 20 and Dead Money. (Suggested before the "Brotherhood of Steel" (BoS) quests.)

* Dead Money (Sierra Madre Grand Opening! - Abandoned BoS Bunker) before level 20. Target: 20+. (Suggested just after BoS quests.)

* Lonesome Road (The Reunion - Canyon Wreckage) last, before Hoover Dam War (main plot climax). Target: 25+. (Deathclaws and SentryBots).

 

-Dubious-

Lol. What random encounters? Everything is scripted to appear in certain locations.There arent any random encounter's.And what's so hard to understand about the Mojave being a boring world?

[Ladez]

I personally found the DC Wasteland to be much more dull. Nothing grows there. The Mojave has more life, in spite of it being a desert.

[StanleyTweedle]

Well, you can make both the Capital Wasteland and the Mojave look -way- more floorish if you like. Nevertheless, all boils down to personal preferences of course :)

 

But i do have another question regarding the suggestion of the playthroughs of the DLC's.

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to others, you should play the DLCs in this order:
* Honest Hearts (Happy Trails Expedition - Northern Passage) before Level 10 (and after the "Volare!" quest from the Nellis Airbase "Boomers" faction).
* Old WorldBlues (Midnight Sci-Fi Feature! - Mojave Drive-In). Target: level 15+, before level 20 and Dead Money. (Suggested before the "Brotherhood of Steel" (BoS) quests.)
* Dead Money (Sierra Madre Grand Opening! - Abandoned BoS Bunker) before level 20. Target: 20+. (Suggested just after BoS quests.)
* Lonesome Road (The Reunion - Canyon Wreckage) last, before Hoover Dam War (main plot climax). Target: 25+. (Deathclaws and SentryBots).

-Dubious-

 

 

I did a short search of where the Nellis Airbase is; waaay up north, above New Vegas. Normaly, i would not travel so far so early in the game. Does this "Volare!" quest have any impact on the Honest Heart DLC?

-Or is it simply the origin of the radio broadcast? I'm rather ashamed to say, i did not yet marked the quest to sear where it leads me, therefore...

[dubiousintent]

I'm not quite sure why the recommendation about "after Volare". The two are not connected. The only thing I can think of is that the entrance to the HH quest (i.e. Northern Passage) is near Nellis, and they have artillery and a willingness to use it. Though I didn't see any sign it ranged that far (though theoretically the "Boomers" can shell the "enemy" in the Hoover Dam war if you win them over), but I happened to have completed Volare before I tried HH, so maybe I just lucked out. But the Volare quest is the key to the "Boomers" good graces so they leave you alone afterwards.

 

All that said, the Nellis artillery is the biggest threat in that direction. (Sudden explosions out of nowhere.) If you can handle Fiends, then you can make it there as long as you can dodge the shelling they throw at you. That is tough.

 

The HH quest is in another world space that is separate from the Mojave: Zion Canyon National Park. According to the plot line it takes you two weeks to get there. In practice you step through a tunnel and exit into the Zion. It's some of the best scenic artwork in the game.

 

-Dubious-

[Ladez]

Honest Hearts is completely unrelated to the Boomers. Nellis is located north east from Freeside, while the Northern Passage which leads to Zion is north/north west of Freeside and much closer at that.

 

My personal recommendation is to play the DLC in release order: DM -> HH -> OWB -> LR. You could start with HH as it is the least connected to the others in terms of storyline and it is by far the easiest, but if you're going for continuity, DM should be played before OWB and LR should be the last.

Edited June 17, 2016 by Ladez

[bben46]

First, stop trying to play the game as a linear plot (going from A to B to C to D to End) and start looking around at all of the stuff that doesn't relate to the main quest line. (Go from A to J to H to B to W to .... you will get to End eventually but have more fun doing it ) If you see something interesting, but it is not the MUST DO THIS NEXT! Then go ahead and check it out. That run down shack just off the road just may have an extensive basement or a corpse with a note leading to a sub quest or a fight with punk raiders guarding a stash of weapons or valuable loot. Talk to the stray NPCs that cross your path. They may have some info that relates to the main quest - OR, something else of interest. Playing a sandbox game is not about finishing the game but exploring and finding new and unexpected things. :thumbsup: