Stronger Merchants

[Olurum]

I'm sure it's not just me (well I'm 100% sure since there was a thread about on the beth forums) but I find the Merchants to be incredibly weak late game.

 

I'd like to be able to invest in them for better items/services but the second you go 15+ in level, then the Deathclaws come rolling in tearing everything apart. So the player gets effectively punished for advancing and simply existing, causing the world to scale in level.

 

They supposedly wander the wastelands for a living (which they probably have been doing for a long time), so I would expect them to be fairly hardened by experience. Seeing as a young inexperienced man fresh out of a vault can survive, then how come these merchants and their bodyguards get decimated within seconds?

 

I would appreciate if someone could just give them a decent buff to HP, or allow them to scale accordingly to the evnironment, just like everything scales towards the player. Maybe scaling editing isn't feasible without a CS, how about just buffing them with HP?

 

Hopefully people will agree on this issue.

 

EDIT: Oh yea, and while on the topic of merchants... is there anything to stop Shrapnel from wandering the wastelands for all eternity? I reckon a mod would be needed for that too. ;/

[MrCyberpunk]

This would only be a temporary fix until someone removed level scaling entirely.. Which I hope will happen.

 

However I agree, its a good idea.

[Uzibeatle]

I've been doing this and will see how it works in time with my new game.

 

When I run into these merchants as I travel the lands I'll offer to teach them and their muscle some tricks and .... (roleplay)

(note you should also buff the brahman as I've found merchants wandering around minus the cow and will no longer trade.

 

Console target them and do something like this.

 

SetAV health 1000 .. 2500 might be wiser.

 

(I'd like to do SetEssential on them bu t I've yet to find proper codes for these actors )

 

Give em some crazy ass gun like a 44 mag

Additem (code for gun I wont look it up for this you find it)

Lots of ammo for said gun.

 

GetAV smallguns .. if that looks weak buff it by

ModAV smallguns whatever remember it is additive to what GetAV indicates.

 

In short, you can train them.

And no, I've not fully tested this it is just what I'm doing as I go along now on my 2nd pass (hell I never finished the

game on my first character)

 

It's probably enough just to buff their health but if ya want to

go ape.. toss em some powerarmor or something. maybe for the mercenary. Laugh.

 

If they give you some lip, do a

SexChange

on the trader and wait for em to beg you for mercy.