You do not need 100 repair for hologram emitters. You can just shoot them. All of them.
Also, OWB is easier with Robotics Expert or Pyromaniac. Or both. Pyromaniac affects the Sonic Emitter - Tarantula, which pretty much one-shots anything but a Robo-Scorpion (two or three shots for Robo-Scorpions). It's almost impossible to miss with a Sonic Emitter, which is a plus. Pyromaniac also affects the Saturnite Fist Super-Heated and turns it into the best melee/unarmed weapon in the game.
The health scaling approximates to about double what you would see in the Mojave for Nightstalkers and Robo-Scorpions. It is, indeed, easier if you enter OWB earlier than the level cap.
Only semi-related, I'm really disappointed at the complete lack of anything interesting plasma weapon wise in NV. Maybe Lonesome Road will fix this but thus far there's little to nothing that is a plasma weapon that is worth lugging around.
It may not be "interesting", but the Multiplas Rifle is pretty devastating, even in builds not spec'ed for it. It's basically a plasma shotgun, and every projectile has a chance to crit. On Sneak Attacks, it's one of the deadliest weapons in the game.
Logan's Loophole may seem like a bum deal as a trait, but I looked at it as a challenge to spice up the game. It turns out to be a blessing in disguise. Not only do the enemies only scale to 30 with your max level of 30 (barring the handful of enemies with set levels above 30... of which, I cannot name any off the top of my head), but with a 6 starting INT, Educated, and Comprehension, and 3 DLCs, I have enough skill points to max out every skill except Explosives (which I only needed 60 points for Pyromaniac anyway).
I used the Skilled trait glitch, though. Without the glitch (if you leave Goodsprings and reapply the trait on a respec, then you get an additional +5 to all skills. Same if you use the Auto-Doc in The Sink to respec your traits), I'd be out 130 skill points, but I'd still be able to max out 10 or 11 of the 13 skills. Basically, I'd probably pooch Explosives, one of the two ranged weapon skills, and either Medicine or Survival.
When you have most of your skills at 100 at level 30, you are basically an endgame character with less difficult content than a level 45 character. I'm missing out on a lot of perks, but this is countered by the fact that Logan's Loophole removes addiction and doubles chem duration. I can pop a Psycho at any time for a damage boost or a Turbo at any time for a speed boost. Hell, I don't even have to sleep, because I can chug meds to keep away the sleep.
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ShimshaiFlush with Success!Isle of EmeraldRegistered Userregular
edited August 2011
I actually used the Police Pistol a lot on my run through Dead Money. It was excellent as a VATS weapon. Two or three hits and those ghosts were toasts. It did seem funny to me though, that the way to kill ghosts actually made them end up being easier than if I had to drop their HP to 0.
On the topic of plasma weapons, I had the great fortune in one of my new energy weapon characters, finding a plasma defender in excellent condition on one of the Bright Followers dead in a ditch someplace, and then digging up a grave near the Yangtze memorial and scoring a plasma rifle. All within an hour of starting the game.
I always like the plasma caster for energy builds. When fully upgraded, it has a respectable dps output, even if it does seem to break easily.
I find you can just avoid the holograms in Dead Money. Obviously most of them have the option to rearrange their patrols to avoid them. The later ones, not so much, but as long as you know where you're going you can just run past them.
I find it kind of funny that Logan's Loophole was added in to mollify the "it's too easy!" crowd, and then they gave it a ridiculously strong upside like unlimited chem usage.
You know, I went into OWB with a level 30-ish Gun/Melee character and had zero problems with any "bullet sponge" type enemies. A few swings on the Protonic Inversal Axe or a few rounds from This Machine/the riot shotgun killed damn near everything (except the legendary bloatfly and giant roboscorpion, naturally). Granted I took all the critical improving perks and had 8 luck, but still, nothing really took very long to die.
You know, I went into OWB with a level 30-ish Gun/Melee character and had zero problems with any "bullet sponge" type enemies. A few swings on the Protonic Inversal Axe or a few rounds from This Machine/the riot shotgun killed damn near everything (except the legendary bloatfly and giant roboscorpion, naturally). Granted I took all the critical improving perks and had 8 luck, but still, nothing really took very long to die.
Well, the most powerful enemy you'll meet at level 30ish is a Mk 4 Securitron. I think the bullet sponge complaints come from level 45 characters, who are facing Mk 5 everything. You don't deal more damage at higher levels once you get a level 30ish character with the appropriate perks and 100 weapon skill, but the health of enemies goes higher on a linear scale as you level up. It's not as extreme as, say, Oblivion. But the scaling is there.
I would really recommend to anyone doing the DLC's to do them asap and not wait until the level cap. I.E. do Honest Hearts as soon as you leave Goodsprings, then move to OWB and then Dead Money. Lonesome road will fit in there somewhere but it remains to be seen what level range it is "meant" for. It seems like it's an end game thing but maybe that's just a byproduct of me caring more about the Courier/Ulysses story than the base story of NV which was pretty damn weak.
ShimshaiFlush with Success!Isle of EmeraldRegistered Userregular
I was about level 35 in OWB and the roboscorpions seemed to have about 750hp. If I didn't have good unarmed skill and a heated saturnite power fist, I would have had to make a lot of trips back to the Sink to resupply on ammo for Guns. Hardcore mode unfortunately make carrying thousands of rounds a little impractical.
Dead Money is fairly easy to complete at cap, actually. There is very little combat, and the vast majority of the combat is completely avoidable or best left to Dog/God. The main problems are the environment and the skill checks, which you need the higher level 20+ for. Honest Hearts isn't that difficult at cap, either, although you will run into more heavily armed White Legs tribals. They can still be one-shotted by the usual suspects, and they don't have more health than the stuff in the Mojave.
In Hardcore mode, when ammo has carry weight, you are better off carrying the best stuff rather than bulk or normal ammunition. It's more damage for the load carried. Craft those Hand Loads and Max Powers. Also, carry the bigger bangs like Shotties and Multiplas rifles. You'll burn more ammunition, but the killing speed is helpful. Still, the Sink is easy to go to with fast travel, so you shouldn't have many logistics problems. Once you get the upgraded Muggy, you can self-supply a lot of ammo from the Think Tanks and Muggy's upgraded ability.
Just for an idea of the kind of health scaling goes on in the game, here are some stats from GECK for select enemies (with the minimum level for that enemy to have that particular model... note that the player level to spawn these types is typically 5ish levels below the enemy's level, depending on the manner in which the enemy is spawned).
Note that I'm not sure how the game translates this into actual in-game stats, so YMMV:
New Vegas
Monsters
Tier 1 Supermutant (min level 6) - 100 HP
Tier 2 Supermutant (min level 9) - 250 HP
Golden Gecko (min level 12) - 125 HP
Super Mutant Master (min level 12) - 360 HP
Giant Radscorpion (min level 15) - 150 HP
Fire Gecko (min level 16) - 165 HP
Deathclaw (min level 20) - 500 HP
Humans
Level 3 Fiend - 65 HP
Level 5 Fiend - 75 HP
Level 9 Fiend - 85 HP
Level 10 Legion Veteran - 145 HP
Level 15 BoS Paladin - 220 HP
Level 20 Legion Vexillarius - 215 HP
Dead Money
Ghost Harvester/Seeker (min level 15) - 100 HP
Ghost Harvester/Seeker (min level 25) - 150 HP
Ghost Harvester/Seeker (min level 35) - 250 HP
Ghost Harvester/Seeker (min level 45) - 350 HP
Ghost Harvester/Seeker (min level 50) - 450 HP
Ghost Trapper (min level 15) - 150 HP
Ghost Trapper (min level 25) - 225 HP
Ghost Trapper (min level 35) - 375 HP
Ghost Trapper (min level 45) - 525 HP (not a typo)
Ghost Trapper (min level 50) - 675 HP
Honest Hearts
White Legs scales similarly to Fiends and other Humans, with Bonebreakers starting at 130HP and Storm Drummers starting at 65 HP
Yao Guai Cub (min level 10) - 105 HP
Yao Guai (min level 18) - 215 HP
Yao Guai (min level 22) - 300 HP
Old World Blues
Berserk Securitron Mk3 (min level 25) - 225 HP
Berserk Securitron Mk4 (min level 35) - 375 HP
Berserk Securitron Mk5 (min level 45) - 525 HP
Berserk Securitron Mk6 (min level 50) - 675 HP
Robo-Scorpion Mk3 (min level 25) - 375 HP
Robo-Scorpion Mk4 (min level 35) - 525 HP
Robo-Scorpion Mk5 (min level 45) - 675 HP
Robo-Scorpion Mk6 (min level 50) - 825 HP
Military Cyber Dog (min level 25) - 250 HP
Military Cyber Dog (min level 35) - 400 HP
Military Cyber Dog (min level 45) - 550 HP
Military Cyber Dog (min level 50) - 700 HP
Nightstalker (min level 25) - 225 HP
Nightstalker (min level 35) - 375 HP
Nightstalker (min level 45) - 525 HP
Nightstalker (min level 50) - 675 HP
Lobotomite (min level 25) - 136 HP (scales up linearly with PC's level, around half health of a Securitron/Nightstalker)
Little wonder I'm having an easy time on my Logan's Loophole character in OWB...
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YggiDeeThe World Ends With You ShillRegistered Userregular
You might actually want to wait on Honest Hearts; while the White Leg's stats might not be impressive at the higher levels, their equipment sure as hell is. There is ridiculous loot if you don't go in until at least level 25 or so. I had three Anti-Materiel Rifles when I left, after repairing them all with each other.
By the time you are level 25, you should have enough scratch to buy your own A-M Rifle, and caps are pretty much worthless. The White Legs have some ridiculously powerful weapons on their leveled lists, but you should have the important ones for your chosen weapon skill by then and your backpack should be overflowing with caps. I just capped a Logan's Loophole character, and I have 100k caps AFTER buying all the OWB implants and 8 New Vegas Medical Clinic implants. I'm not even trying to make cash, either.
I personally think Honest Hearts is more valuable in the early game for a Guns character, when you need an effective holdout silenced pistol (.45 Auto), a nice automatic lead hose (.45 SMG), and excellent long range rifle (Survivalist Rifle). I guess if you are higher level and you're poor, you can give the DLC a go... you'll have plenty of carry weight due to the carry weight restriction.
In case anyone is interested, I've compiled a list of skill books in AWOP (A World of Pain, Fallout: New Vegas mod), version 2.1. I have yet to verify all of them, but I couldn't find this information anywhere (Google-fu fails me).
= AWOP Skill Books =
Big Book of Science - The Immortal's Shack (in the room with Tony's Terminal, bookshelf next to the bed, bottom shelf lined up with other books).
Big Book of Science - Viper's Lair (on the bottom shelf in the room with Vex, leader of the Vipers), a train station southeast of Harper's Shack/Primm Pass with, as the name may indicate, a lot of Viper gangers.
Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual - Vault 40 (on a bookshelf next to two beds with red sheets inside the Living Quarters, turn right at the dead Vault 40 Trooper on the ground to enter the room), southeast of Goodsprings Cave.
Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual - Jean Sky Diving Bomb Shelter (on the floor in a toilet stall, room with Rick's Terminal), inside the Jean Sky Diving building south of Goodsprings.
D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine - Frankie's Guns and Ammo (sold by Frankie), south of Goodsprings.
D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine - Underground Market Sector (sold by Schultze).
D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine - The Immortal's Shack (in the room with Tony's Terminal, bookshelf next to the bed, buried under other books in the top shelf).
Dean's Electronics - Clark Field Reservoir (side room on the West end with a generator, on the floor next to a wrench and toolbox. It is just east of the room with the two dead Wastelander Adventurer bodies.), a door at Clark Field south of Novac.
Dean's Electronics - Junction 15 Station (on a bench near Duct Tape and Weapon Repair Kit), north of Sloan on the train tracks in the Deathclaw-infested area.
Dean's Electronics - Fiend Bunker (first left when you enter the bunker in the "break room" area with Workbench, buried under two ruined books on a shelf), in the basement of Fiend House near Violet's spawn point.
Duck and Cover! - Underground Market Sector (sold by Schultze).
Duck and Cover! - Trapper's Shack (On a shelf above a bunk bed, next to a globe), a Hard locked door in Trapper's Pass (exit from Underground Market Sector).
Duck and Cover! - Primm Sewer (On a large bed in a small room with a reloading bench and workbench, near the entrance behind a Hard locked door), north of the Vicki and Vance Casino and Bison Steve's.
Grognak the Barbarian - Underground Market Sector (sold by Schultze).
Grognak the Barbarian - Infested NCR Bunker (on the lower bunk of a bunk bed in the corner of the second room), north of Mojave Outpost against the cliffs.
Guns and Bullets - Drainage Chamber (on the floor, nearby a dead wastelander on a bed in the back room)
Guns and Bullets - Goodsprings Sewers (behind a locked door in a room with a Glowing Trooper Ghoul named Baxter, bottom shelf below two ammo boxes. Difficult to miss, because he's the only non-Mole Rat enemy in the sewer.), North of Ringo's gas station in Goodsprings.
Lying, Congressional Style - Radiological Research Center (lined up with other ruined books on the bottom shelf, in a conference room with a projector near the entrance to the left), next to Hell's Motel.
Lying, Congressional Style - Summer Springs Hotel Room (on a footlocker below a bunkbed), behind a locked door in Summer Springs Boarding House south of The Thorn.
Nikola Tesla and You - Abandoned Goodsprings Home (On a table in one of the rooms). You can buy the key from Frankie for 5000 caps.
Nikola Tesla and You - The Immortal's Shack (upstairs in the broken bookshelf across from Charlie's Terminal. It is buried underneath two books on the bottom of the bookshelf).
Nikola Tesla and You - Vault 41 (in the School-like room next to the reactor, top shelf lined up with other books. The key to the Reactor Room is found on General Maddox in the Living Quarters), east of Lucky Jim Mine down the cliff next to the river.
Pugilism Illustrated - Underground Market Sector (sold by Schultze)
Pugilism Illustrated - Underground Facility Barracks (On an L-shaped desk in a room with a destroyed floor)
Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor - Sunnytime Cigarettes HQ (on a desk near the back of the offices, nearby 3 side-by-side locked safes), south of Goodsprings
Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor - Abandoned Gas Station, near Sunset Sarsaparilla HQ, unmarked location
Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor - Basement of The Immortal's Shack (Behind a bunch of lined up books on the bottom of the bookshelf. Easy to miss, because it's very well hidden)
Tumblers Today - Underground School (on the top shelf of a bookshelf lined up with other books, in computer room), in the Residential Sector of the Underground
Tumblers Today - Canyon Station Utility Tunnels (bottom shelf of a double wooden shelf, in a room with an explosives crate straddling two desks)
Tumblers Today - Summer Springs Boarding House (on a wooden shelf nearby a Sunset Sarsaparilla vending machine), South of The Thorn.
Wasteland Survival Guide - Abandoned Home in the Underground
Wasteland Survival Guide - Lost Legion Camp (on a metal stand between a Safe and a Bed in one of the tents)
Wasteland Survival Guide - Pit Stop Bomb Shelter (in the room with Roland, in a wooden nightstand near two side-by-side bunkbeds, bottom level of the Bomb Shelter), west of Nipton at the Nipton Road Pit Stop hideout for the Jackal gang
= Location Hints =
The Immortal's Shack is West of Raul's Shack. Normally, you are supposed to get the key from Mlix at the end of the AWOP Underground storyline. However, there is a spare key in a hollowed out rock next to The Immortal's Shack. Enter the locked fenced-in area and look behind the broken washing machine in the corner.
The Underground Market Sector can be reached by heading to the Freetech Broadcast Building SW of Cook-cook's spawn point. When you enter, you'll be inside the Broadcast Building Upper Levels. Head down some stairs to reach the Broadcast Building Lower Levels. Head down some more stairs and a hallway to reach the Residential Sector. Go past the rave in the Residential Sector to reach some cave tunnels to the rest of the Residential Sector, and find the exit to the Underground Market Sector in the NE corner of the map.
Man, that HP list explains why the Assault Carbine w/ Armor Piercing rounds was borderline useless in OWB. I'd need like, three clips per roboscorpion.
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ShimshaiFlush with Success!Isle of EmeraldRegistered Userregular
Does the difficulty level have any effect apart from damage dealt/damage taken?
The end section is the only one in Dead Money with speakers that have to be rushed before you can take of their shielding/disabled.
Which would have been fine if there had been some precedent prior that made you expect this. I spent way too long trying to figure out how I was supposed to diabled the shielded ones before I finally realized that I was supposed to run past them to get to a terminal or simply get past them. The worst were the few where you had 1) Shielded Emmiters you couldn't disable without running through some gauntlet and 2) Normal emmiters on top of that that needed to be disabled to give you a "dead zone" between the shielded ones.
It only happened two or three times but instead of an intuitive way of progressing the best "solution" was simply to run in and wildly flail around in hopes you would see the unshielded radio, usually having to die/reload half a dozen times before you could find it then finally take it out, just to save and repeat for the next gauntlet section.
Nothing about those portions were enjoyable. But then again, as I've said in the past, I'm of the mind that Dead Money, as far as the gameplay is concerned is...well; bad.
ShimshaiFlush with Success!Isle of EmeraldRegistered Userregular
The only emitters that gave me trouble were the ones at the end, and even that only took a couple of tries. I've never really understood how they seemed to cause people so much trouble.
I dont understand why people have so much trouble with the speakers either.
they're not trouble, they're tedious and not fun. Allowing me to shoot them all would go some way to alleviate the stupid design decision to put them in there.
The end section was the only place where I had any real trouble with the speakers, unfortunately I had a lot of trouble there. The problem there is you have to deal with ones a floor or two above you, which aren't common in the villa. A few pretty much force you to make a suicide dash and hope you find a safe spot.
It's a shame really, because I actually liked how DM made you scavenge for every little thing at first. It got me to experiment with cooking, which is something I hadn't done before, and the second time around I challenged myself to not use the holorifle. Had to be a lot more careful, not just to stay alive but also to harvest traps for weapons and parts. Minefields and grenade bouquets bring out the sneaky bastard in me, and it was fun playing that way for a while.
I dont understand why people have so much trouble with the speakers either.
they're not trouble, they're tedious and not fun. Allowing me to shoot them all would go some way to alleviate the stupid design decision to put them in there.
This so much. People always go "It was easy. You're weird." The problem isn't difficulty. The problem is that the whole bomb collar mechanic is like a black hole. All the fun just gets sucked away when I have to deal with that shit. It's like someone at Obsidian decided Dead Money was too much fun and added the collar to tone it down.
Does the difficulty level have any effect apart from damage dealt/damage taken?
I don't think so. In Fallout 3, it also scaled the XP, but this is not the case in New Vegas. I believe the multipliers are Easy: 3/2 damage dealt, 2/3 damage taken, Hard: 2/3 damage dealt, 3/2 damage taken, Very Hard: 1/2 damage dealt, 2x damage taken. I'm not certain, though.
It's a shame really, because I actually liked how DM made you scavenge for every little thing at first. It got me to experiment with cooking, which is something I hadn't done before, and the second time around I challenged myself to not use the holorifle. Had to be a lot more careful, not just to stay alive but also to harvest traps for weapons and parts. Minefields and grenade bouquets bring out the sneaky bastard in me, and it was fun playing that way for a while.
You could play like this anywhere in the Mojave, you know. Sometimes, I play "lockout", which is dumping all your equipment and gear in the Underground Hideout (easy to do, with the auto-sort buttons), heading to an indoor location (usually something in AWOP, since many of the "dungeons" are designed to be self-contained) and trying to clear out the location without any outside assistance. For a challenge, you can try clearing Vault 34 with just a Radiation Suit found outside the Vault.
Man, I miss the Iron Fist perk. I know that Piercing Strike is pretty much better (it applies to all Melee/Unarmed weapons and reduces armor by the same amount that 3 levels of Iron Fist would give), but I enjoyed being able to take on enemies without any weapons and hitting with the force of a sledgehammer.
I dont understand why people have so much trouble with the speakers either.
they're not trouble, they're tedious and not fun. Allowing me to shoot them all would go some way to alleviate the stupid design decision to put them in there.
This, they're not hard, it's not a difficult mechanic it's just stupid and not even remotely fun. The gas was a good enough environmental hazard, on top of the already existing traps in the game that the radio thing was a tedious way of trying to make sure the player didn't forget the bomb collar so that the limiting of options in the very end of the DLC made sense. They could have put a little text on the UI that said "Don't fucking forget you have a bomb on your neck" and that would have been less obnoxious than the radios.
EDIT: For example, in the vault there's a section where there's a room full of shielded speakers and two non-shielded ones. To get the first one you have to run through a bit of the vault, while it is beeping and then somehow magically know that the shootable speaker is on the wall above the room you came out of behind you. And not even an obvious behind you. It's one of those bunker rooms that stick out and the speaker is above the room, to the right in the recess above the room. Anyway, at that point there's no reason to assume there even is one that you can shoot, you don't know if you're simply supposed to run past or not and once you figure out, no, you're supposed to shoot something it becomes a tedious game of "where's the speaker" because its placement isn't intuitive at all. It's not difficult to handle it and the core mechanic of finding them and shooting them isn't difficult, it's just a crapshoot, particularly in the vault, if you're even supposed to be looking for something to shoot or running, and once you figure it out it's a matter of trial and error of reloading until you happen to find it.
Nothing about it was enjoyable. And I will tell someone who tries to tell me that the speakers in the vault were simple that they're a liar straight to their face. I will readily admit that if I ever played through it again it would be a joke because the speakers/emitters don't move. But if you're playing without a guide it's just plain stupid.
Let's put it another way... You don't hear anyone saying "Oh, I LOVED the speakers. I wish I had a bomb collar in the entire Mojave, and had to shoot all the radios and speakers in the regular game!" Maybe there are folks out there who want that sort of experience, though.
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Also, OWB is easier with Robotics Expert or Pyromaniac. Or both. Pyromaniac affects the Sonic Emitter - Tarantula, which pretty much one-shots anything but a Robo-Scorpion (two or three shots for Robo-Scorpions). It's almost impossible to miss with a Sonic Emitter, which is a plus. Pyromaniac also affects the Saturnite Fist Super-Heated and turns it into the best melee/unarmed weapon in the game.
The health scaling approximates to about double what you would see in the Mojave for Nightstalkers and Robo-Scorpions. It is, indeed, easier if you enter OWB earlier than the level cap.
It may not be "interesting", but the Multiplas Rifle is pretty devastating, even in builds not spec'ed for it. It's basically a plasma shotgun, and every projectile has a chance to crit. On Sneak Attacks, it's one of the deadliest weapons in the game.
And yeah, good advice about Robotics Expert and/or Pyro.
I really wish I could choose my perks again without starting a whole new character. /sigh
I'll have the give the Multiplas a go then.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
I used the Skilled trait glitch, though. Without the glitch (if you leave Goodsprings and reapply the trait on a respec, then you get an additional +5 to all skills. Same if you use the Auto-Doc in The Sink to respec your traits), I'd be out 130 skill points, but I'd still be able to max out 10 or 11 of the 13 skills. Basically, I'd probably pooch Explosives, one of the two ranged weapon skills, and either Medicine or Survival.
When you have most of your skills at 100 at level 30, you are basically an endgame character with less difficult content than a level 45 character. I'm missing out on a lot of perks, but this is countered by the fact that Logan's Loophole removes addiction and doubles chem duration. I can pop a Psycho at any time for a damage boost or a Turbo at any time for a speed boost. Hell, I don't even have to sleep, because I can chug meds to keep away the sleep.
On the topic of plasma weapons, I had the great fortune in one of my new energy weapon characters, finding a plasma defender in excellent condition on one of the Bright Followers dead in a ditch someplace, and then digging up a grave near the Yangtze memorial and scoring a plasma rifle. All within an hour of starting the game.
I always like the plasma caster for energy builds. When fully upgraded, it has a respectable dps output, even if it does seem to break easily.
I find it kind of funny that Logan's Loophole was added in to mollify the "it's too easy!" crowd, and then they gave it a ridiculously strong upside like unlimited chem usage.
Steam: MightyPotatoKing
I would really recommend to anyone doing the DLC's to do them asap and not wait until the level cap. I.E. do Honest Hearts as soon as you leave Goodsprings, then move to OWB and then Dead Money. Lonesome road will fit in there somewhere but it remains to be seen what level range it is "meant" for. It seems like it's an end game thing but maybe that's just a byproduct of me caring more about the Courier/Ulysses story than the base story of NV which was pretty damn weak.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
In Hardcore mode, when ammo has carry weight, you are better off carrying the best stuff rather than bulk or normal ammunition. It's more damage for the load carried. Craft those Hand Loads and Max Powers. Also, carry the bigger bangs like Shotties and Multiplas rifles. You'll burn more ammunition, but the killing speed is helpful. Still, the Sink is easy to go to with fast travel, so you shouldn't have many logistics problems. Once you get the upgraded Muggy, you can self-supply a lot of ammo from the Think Tanks and Muggy's upgraded ability.
Note that I'm not sure how the game translates this into actual in-game stats, so YMMV:
New Vegas
Monsters
Tier 1 Supermutant (min level 6) - 100 HP
Tier 2 Supermutant (min level 9) - 250 HP
Golden Gecko (min level 12) - 125 HP
Super Mutant Master (min level 12) - 360 HP
Giant Radscorpion (min level 15) - 150 HP
Fire Gecko (min level 16) - 165 HP
Deathclaw (min level 20) - 500 HP
Humans
Level 3 Fiend - 65 HP
Level 5 Fiend - 75 HP
Level 9 Fiend - 85 HP
Level 10 Legion Veteran - 145 HP
Level 15 BoS Paladin - 220 HP
Level 20 Legion Vexillarius - 215 HP
Dead Money
Ghost Harvester/Seeker (min level 15) - 100 HP
Ghost Harvester/Seeker (min level 25) - 150 HP
Ghost Harvester/Seeker (min level 35) - 250 HP
Ghost Harvester/Seeker (min level 45) - 350 HP
Ghost Harvester/Seeker (min level 50) - 450 HP
Ghost Trapper (min level 15) - 150 HP
Ghost Trapper (min level 25) - 225 HP
Ghost Trapper (min level 35) - 375 HP
Ghost Trapper (min level 45) - 525 HP (not a typo)
Ghost Trapper (min level 50) - 675 HP
Honest Hearts
White Legs scales similarly to Fiends and other Humans, with Bonebreakers starting at 130HP and Storm Drummers starting at 65 HP
Yao Guai Cub (min level 10) - 105 HP
Yao Guai (min level 18) - 215 HP
Yao Guai (min level 22) - 300 HP
Old World Blues
Berserk Securitron Mk3 (min level 25) - 225 HP
Berserk Securitron Mk4 (min level 35) - 375 HP
Berserk Securitron Mk5 (min level 45) - 525 HP
Berserk Securitron Mk6 (min level 50) - 675 HP
Robo-Scorpion Mk3 (min level 25) - 375 HP
Robo-Scorpion Mk4 (min level 35) - 525 HP
Robo-Scorpion Mk5 (min level 45) - 675 HP
Robo-Scorpion Mk6 (min level 50) - 825 HP
Military Cyber Dog (min level 25) - 250 HP
Military Cyber Dog (min level 35) - 400 HP
Military Cyber Dog (min level 45) - 550 HP
Military Cyber Dog (min level 50) - 700 HP
Nightstalker (min level 25) - 225 HP
Nightstalker (min level 35) - 375 HP
Nightstalker (min level 45) - 525 HP
Nightstalker (min level 50) - 675 HP
Lobotomite (min level 25) - 136 HP (scales up linearly with PC's level, around half health of a Securitron/Nightstalker)
Little wonder I'm having an easy time on my Logan's Loophole character in OWB...
I personally think Honest Hearts is more valuable in the early game for a Guns character, when you need an effective holdout silenced pistol (.45 Auto), a nice automatic lead hose (.45 SMG), and excellent long range rifle (Survivalist Rifle). I guess if you are higher level and you're poor, you can give the DLC a go... you'll have plenty of carry weight due to the carry weight restriction.
You should have one at level 16.
Sniper Rifle has more plentiful ammo, but some times you just want to walk into a place and wreck some fuckers with some .50cal justice slugs.
Now I just need lonesome road to come out sooner this month rather than later. I want to finish this bad boy up so I can finally get to another game.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
Big Book of Science - The Immortal's Shack (in the room with Tony's Terminal, bookshelf next to the bed, bottom shelf lined up with other books).
Big Book of Science - Viper's Lair (on the bottom shelf in the room with Vex, leader of the Vipers), a train station southeast of Harper's Shack/Primm Pass with, as the name may indicate, a lot of Viper gangers.
Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual - Vault 40 (on a bookshelf next to two beds with red sheets inside the Living Quarters, turn right at the dead Vault 40 Trooper on the ground to enter the room), southeast of Goodsprings Cave.
Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual - Jean Sky Diving Bomb Shelter (on the floor in a toilet stall, room with Rick's Terminal), inside the Jean Sky Diving building south of Goodsprings.
D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine - Frankie's Guns and Ammo (sold by Frankie), south of Goodsprings.
D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine - Underground Market Sector (sold by Schultze).
D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine - The Immortal's Shack (in the room with Tony's Terminal, bookshelf next to the bed, buried under other books in the top shelf).
Dean's Electronics - Clark Field Reservoir (side room on the West end with a generator, on the floor next to a wrench and toolbox. It is just east of the room with the two dead Wastelander Adventurer bodies.), a door at Clark Field south of Novac.
Dean's Electronics - Junction 15 Station (on a bench near Duct Tape and Weapon Repair Kit), north of Sloan on the train tracks in the Deathclaw-infested area.
Dean's Electronics - Fiend Bunker (first left when you enter the bunker in the "break room" area with Workbench, buried under two ruined books on a shelf), in the basement of Fiend House near Violet's spawn point.
Duck and Cover! - Underground Market Sector (sold by Schultze).
Duck and Cover! - Trapper's Shack (On a shelf above a bunk bed, next to a globe), a Hard locked door in Trapper's Pass (exit from Underground Market Sector).
Duck and Cover! - Primm Sewer (On a large bed in a small room with a reloading bench and workbench, near the entrance behind a Hard locked door), north of the Vicki and Vance Casino and Bison Steve's.
Grognak the Barbarian - Underground Market Sector (sold by Schultze).
Grognak the Barbarian - Infested NCR Bunker (on the lower bunk of a bunk bed in the corner of the second room), north of Mojave Outpost against the cliffs.
Guns and Bullets - Drainage Chamber (on the floor, nearby a dead wastelander on a bed in the back room)
Guns and Bullets - Goodsprings Sewers (behind a locked door in a room with a Glowing Trooper Ghoul named Baxter, bottom shelf below two ammo boxes. Difficult to miss, because he's the only non-Mole Rat enemy in the sewer.), North of Ringo's gas station in Goodsprings.
Lying, Congressional Style - Radiological Research Center (lined up with other ruined books on the bottom shelf, in a conference room with a projector near the entrance to the left), next to Hell's Motel.
Lying, Congressional Style - Summer Springs Hotel Room (on a footlocker below a bunkbed), behind a locked door in Summer Springs Boarding House south of The Thorn.
Nikola Tesla and You - Abandoned Goodsprings Home (On a table in one of the rooms). You can buy the key from Frankie for 5000 caps.
Nikola Tesla and You - The Immortal's Shack (upstairs in the broken bookshelf across from Charlie's Terminal. It is buried underneath two books on the bottom of the bookshelf).
Nikola Tesla and You - Vault 41 (in the School-like room next to the reactor, top shelf lined up with other books. The key to the Reactor Room is found on General Maddox in the Living Quarters), east of Lucky Jim Mine down the cliff next to the river.
Pugilism Illustrated - Underground Market Sector (sold by Schultze)
Pugilism Illustrated - Underground Facility Barracks (On an L-shaped desk in a room with a destroyed floor)
Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor - Sunnytime Cigarettes HQ (on a desk near the back of the offices, nearby 3 side-by-side locked safes), south of Goodsprings
Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor - Abandoned Gas Station, near Sunset Sarsaparilla HQ, unmarked location
Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor - Basement of The Immortal's Shack (Behind a bunch of lined up books on the bottom of the bookshelf. Easy to miss, because it's very well hidden)
Tumblers Today - Underground School (on the top shelf of a bookshelf lined up with other books, in computer room), in the Residential Sector of the Underground
Tumblers Today - Canyon Station Utility Tunnels (bottom shelf of a double wooden shelf, in a room with an explosives crate straddling two desks)
Tumblers Today - Summer Springs Boarding House (on a wooden shelf nearby a Sunset Sarsaparilla vending machine), South of The Thorn.
Wasteland Survival Guide - Abandoned Home in the Underground
Wasteland Survival Guide - Lost Legion Camp (on a metal stand between a Safe and a Bed in one of the tents)
Wasteland Survival Guide - Pit Stop Bomb Shelter (in the room with Roland, in a wooden nightstand near two side-by-side bunkbeds, bottom level of the Bomb Shelter), west of Nipton at the Nipton Road Pit Stop hideout for the Jackal gang
= Location Hints =
The Immortal's Shack is West of Raul's Shack. Normally, you are supposed to get the key from Mlix at the end of the AWOP Underground storyline. However, there is a spare key in a hollowed out rock next to The Immortal's Shack. Enter the locked fenced-in area and look behind the broken washing machine in the corner.
The Underground Market Sector can be reached by heading to the Freetech Broadcast Building SW of Cook-cook's spawn point. When you enter, you'll be inside the Broadcast Building Upper Levels. Head down some stairs to reach the Broadcast Building Lower Levels. Head down some more stairs and a hallway to reach the Residential Sector. Go past the rave in the Residential Sector to reach some cave tunnels to the rest of the Residential Sector, and find the exit to the Underground Market Sector in the NE corner of the map.
Because the end section is some severe bullshit
No I meant the speakers.
Which would have been fine if there had been some precedent prior that made you expect this. I spent way too long trying to figure out how I was supposed to diabled the shielded ones before I finally realized that I was supposed to run past them to get to a terminal or simply get past them. The worst were the few where you had 1) Shielded Emmiters you couldn't disable without running through some gauntlet and 2) Normal emmiters on top of that that needed to be disabled to give you a "dead zone" between the shielded ones.
It only happened two or three times but instead of an intuitive way of progressing the best "solution" was simply to run in and wildly flail around in hopes you would see the unshielded radio, usually having to die/reload half a dozen times before you could find it then finally take it out, just to save and repeat for the next gauntlet section.
Nothing about those portions were enjoyable. But then again, as I've said in the past, I'm of the mind that Dead Money, as far as the gameplay is concerned is...well; bad.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
they're not trouble, they're tedious and not fun. Allowing me to shoot them all would go some way to alleviate the stupid design decision to put them in there.
It's a shame really, because I actually liked how DM made you scavenge for every little thing at first. It got me to experiment with cooking, which is something I hadn't done before, and the second time around I challenged myself to not use the holorifle. Had to be a lot more careful, not just to stay alive but also to harvest traps for weapons and parts. Minefields and grenade bouquets bring out the sneaky bastard in me, and it was fun playing that way for a while.
Now playing: Teardown and Baldur's Gate 3 (co-op)
Sunday Spotlight: Horror Tales: The Wine
This so much. People always go "It was easy. You're weird." The problem isn't difficulty. The problem is that the whole bomb collar mechanic is like a black hole. All the fun just gets sucked away when I have to deal with that shit. It's like someone at Obsidian decided Dead Money was too much fun and added the collar to tone it down.
Steam: MightyPotatoKing
This, they're not hard, it's not a difficult mechanic it's just stupid and not even remotely fun. The gas was a good enough environmental hazard, on top of the already existing traps in the game that the radio thing was a tedious way of trying to make sure the player didn't forget the bomb collar so that the limiting of options in the very end of the DLC made sense. They could have put a little text on the UI that said "Don't fucking forget you have a bomb on your neck" and that would have been less obnoxious than the radios.
EDIT: For example, in the vault there's a section where there's a room full of shielded speakers and two non-shielded ones. To get the first one you have to run through a bit of the vault, while it is beeping and then somehow magically know that the shootable speaker is on the wall above the room you came out of behind you. And not even an obvious behind you. It's one of those bunker rooms that stick out and the speaker is above the room, to the right in the recess above the room. Anyway, at that point there's no reason to assume there even is one that you can shoot, you don't know if you're simply supposed to run past or not and once you figure out, no, you're supposed to shoot something it becomes a tedious game of "where's the speaker" because its placement isn't intuitive at all. It's not difficult to handle it and the core mechanic of finding them and shooting them isn't difficult, it's just a crapshoot, particularly in the vault, if you're even supposed to be looking for something to shoot or running, and once you figure it out it's a matter of trial and error of reloading until you happen to find it.
Nothing about it was enjoyable. And I will tell someone who tries to tell me that the speakers in the vault were simple that they're a liar straight to their face. I will readily admit that if I ever played through it again it would be a joke because the speakers/emitters don't move. But if you're playing without a guide it's just plain stupid.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand