Fallout New Vegas strong character builds

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Talis
Sea Gull
Sea Gull

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Joined: 1 Aug 2010
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 247
Location: California

28 Oct 2010, 1:25 am

I figured I'd post this here instead of the other New Vegas topic just since it's likely going to be a bunch of numbers and stats... so why not have a special place for that? :D This place is mainly to post your character build for others to evaluate and help them decide on how to build their characters. NV is kind of tedious to predict if you are going to level up well from the start without careful preparation since skill points are given in lesser amounts and Perks are only granted every even level. I guess just at least be level 20 (And confident with your character's performance) so People can get a good idea of what the outcome of the character will be. Maybe try and be descriptive and say what skills you pumped points into and maybe mention if you hoarded skill books because those can change the skill numbers drastically since I never put a single point into science and with books I have it at 40. Also maybe describe how you play right off the start... If you like to rush in with belt driven mini guns... not everyone will want to reference and build themselves based on that play style if they are more the silent assassin type. Also try and say why you picked certain perks and don't be afraid to say you wish you hadn't picked it at all if that's how you feel :wink: Also mention perks you have purchased like implants... but maybe don't bother listing the award perks as those are kind of a given that if you play the game you will get them anyway. Also it's completely optional but you could even express your weapon loadout for the fun of it... just make sure your stats aren't affected by stat boosting factors like apparel or chems.

There could be spoilers here just as a warning... I'm not that sure there will be or not though since this topic should just be for character building :?
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I'll post my level 20 for now until I hit level 30 :)

First off my play style is as a long ranged assassin. I deal with precision with a sniper rifle to take enemies out from far away with sneak shot critical hits and if the enemy get's too close he can deal with his legs being blown off because I plant plenty of frag mines around my sniping position when I know enemies may draw near. If the mines fail I rip out my light machine gun and rip them apart. My only Nemesis is The Carzador when in flocks of more than 2 at a time since they move so erratically or the NCR Ranger in any moderation due to their superior equipment and ability to shrug off damage and tear me apart with their weaponry when I've been confronted. Deathclaws are unpredictable but manageable on Normal mode/ Hardcore. At the cost of heavy hitting critical hits and having them come frequently I have Lined Paper hit points and the charisma of a full blown aspie so confrontation is a big no even in dialogue most of the time.
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Character level: 20
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Female... just saying because this affects how a few characters react to you and makes two separate skills available per gender.
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S.P.E.C.I.A.L.

S=6 to S=8 this stat was increased through an implant and a rank of Intensive training
P=6
E=4 to E=5 This stat was increased through an implant
C=1
I=10
A=7
L=6

An 8 in strength is so I can carry high level snipers and not lose accuracy. The Anti-Material Rifle I am currently equipped with requires a level 8 strength. This gun isn't acquired until around level 14 so there's not a huge rush to go buy the implant or take that perk in intensive training til later on. In the same light the light machine gun carries an 8 S requirement and so do many explosive launchers like the missile launcher, Grenade machine gun, and Fat Man. The 6 in perception was mainly so I could buy better criticals as a perk later on. My endurance was low so that cost me some overall hit points. My charisma is 1 because it only affects speech and bartering which don't mean much to me when I play since I can usually get by without having charisma... it's the least important stat in my opinion unless you want to make friends with people in a virtual world. I do boost bartering early on to 25 just so ammo doesn't cost twice as much as it should early in the game. Intelligence is set to 10 for a good reason. I get 15 skill points per level up so in the end I can max more skills out and be a bit more diverse. Agility is 7 just because I like being quick and 7 is still pretty high and the highest perk requirement of agility is 7 anyway. Agility increases the speed at which you attack and reload and also affects how many action points and how fast they regenerate so my build uses it mostly for being quick on my feet since I'm fragile in combat. Luck is set to 6 because it's another requirement for better criticals I believe and it raises critical hit chances... and supposedly also affects your luck in gambling... I haven't gambled so I don't know if that's true. I could have left it at 5 and bought an implant to boost and not had to spend a perk on intensive training had I known about implants when I was in character creation.
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SKILLS

Barter: 25 : this started at 7... I had to boost it to make buying ammo more affordable early on.
Energy Weapons: 25 : Didn't put a single point here... just my perception and skill books made it get here.
Explosives: 98 : I boosted this after Guns and Lockipicking to add powerful mines to my play style... still need 2 points.
Guns: 100 : I maxed this first along with Lockpicking. For high level guns... I like guns.
Lockpick: 100 : Same as Guns. Lock picking opens up many doors and a high level even opens great weapon caches.
Medicine: 25 : I haven't gained a point here... an Int. of 10 makes this stat 25.
Melee Weapons:21 : Haven't touched this one... my strength and maybe a book or so makes this one 21.
Repair: 80 : Boosting this one to 90 currently so I can get the Jury Rigging perk.
Science: 40 : I will eventually boost this one to 80. I haven't touched it yet though. It started at 25 and I read science books.
Sneak: 70 : this one I've slowely placed excess points into from the start of the game and I read a book. I intend on maxing it.
Speech: 17 : I intend on boosting this to 80 so I only have to read skill magazines if there is a lvl 100 challenge.
Survival: 15 : Absolutely useless in my opinion... I haven't and will not place points here.
Unarmed: 23 : I'm not sure why this is 23. It must be from reading books and it's associated skill cuz I don't fist fight.
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PERKS

Better Criticals: +50% critical Damage. This is awesome for sneak sniping since it kills most with a single shot :)

Commando: Accuracy in V.A.T.S. is significantly increased for rifle weapons. I mostly use sniper rifles so this is nice for the occasion I need to use vats.

Comprehension: Double the bonus from magazines and gain 1 more point from skill books. This helps with those skills you use infrequently like if there's a high level 100 speech challenge and you have an 80 a magazine will raise it to 100 teporarily instead of just 90... it saves 10 skill points for skills you rarely use and have magazines for. The extra point per skill book is a bonus :)

Demolition Expert (x2): Each rank gives explosive weapons 20% more damage (So 40% more for now). It makes mines much more explosive as well as other weapons. Oddly this bonus doesn't seem to affect the damage output for C-4, Time Bombs, or Bottle Cap Mines... I have no idea why this is.

Educated: Gain 2 additional skill points upon level up. I took this as soon as I could to get the best use out of it. It's a decent amount of skill points by the end of the game to get 2 per level up when you take it as soon as it is available.

Endurance Implant: Endurance plus 1. Bought it obviously but should mention it.

Finesse: Higher critical hit chance… it's supposedly equivalent to 5 points of Luck in battle. It probably is since I hit criticals all the time.

Intense Training: I added 1 point into Strength for this one... I believe I did this around level 12 or so. It was to help reach level 8 strength so I could carry high power weapons. Had I known about implants during my character generation phase I would have stripped a point from luck and added it to strength so I wouldn't have wasted a perk here... but oh well.

Light Step: Never set off an enemies land mines or floor traps… I don't think I have to explain why I picked this one. I never look for land mines and they are usually in the last place you'd expect one and catch me off guard. It's very annoying to get your legs blown off in hardcore mode since it requires seeing a doctor... I won't forget the times I noticed them and was too slow to disarm them and had the mines blow up in my face. A crippled head is practically the worst body part to cripple since it blurs your vision rhythmically every so many seconds.

Rapid Reloading: Reload weapons 25% faster. I don't like slow reload animations... this was a personal preference perk. I don't believe it's necessary but it does make reloading in close quarter fights much more likely that you survive.

Strength Implant: Strength plus 1. I bought it. Again it was just to add to my strength so I could carry high power weapons.

Sub-Dermal Armor: Plus 4 DT. It's nice I guess since I wear robes that usually only give 1 to 2 DT. It makes having no DT into having some I guess. I bought this implant as well.

Trigger Disapline: 20% more accurate with guns, but fire 20% slower. This was a picked trait from the start of the game. I picked it out of the fact that I picked it on my first play-through and don't know what it would be like to lose 20% accuracy with a sniper rifle. The rate of fire definitely suffers. I also don't know if this only applies to Guns Skill weapons or if it is a generalized term for things you shoot.

Wild Wasteland: Erm… a picked trait… most useless perk in the game. I'm 1000% positive of that. I've not run into more than one encounter on my own and I didn't understand the humor of the encounter so I basically didn't even know what was amiss until someone told me what was going on. It still wasn't funny and really when it happened I looked around and couldn't figure out what happened. I honestly thought the game was just being silly by making a trippy noise >_< I would only pick this if you aren't going to pick a second trait. I was actually expecting the game to change into a joke mode with funny noises and odd-ball dialogue but it seems to be that they did next to nothing with it. I was at least expecting dialogue to change on main quest line dialogue… but it's nothing to do with that. Wasted perk as far as I'm aware… although if I hadn't have picked it I wouldn't have picked a second perk anyway. Most all of the traits have terrible set backs that aren't worth taking.
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EQUIPMENT LOAD-OUT

Weapons:

I have 3 rifles I switch between for different situations:

Anti-Material Rifle: It's good for a first shot when you don't care about getting noticed. It has a 111 damage with a lvl 100 guns and the sneak criticals + the Better Criticals perk makes it amazing. It's draw backs are that it has a 2.06 second delay between each shot and is as subtle as screaming fire during a bank robbery. It also weighs 20 and it's ammo weighs .25 per bullet and each costs a lot. It can be bought around level 14 or so. It takes all action points to fire this beast in vats so it's best used are long range... without vats.

Gobi Campaign Scout Rifle: This is a unique version of the Sniper Rifle. It's locked in the Sniper's Nest in a locker requiring a lvl 100 lock pick skill. It's my fastest firing sniper. I can get two shots off in vats instead of one. It has more shots per clip than my sniper and it weighs 4.5. It has no silencer so it's for combat sniping in mid to close ranged encounters.

Sniper Rifle +: This is a sniper with carbon fiber parts and a sound suppressor. It is the gun I use the most as it lets me snipe from afar for quite a while without being noticed. Usually I can kill an enemy and before they notice their dead friend I can pull the trigger again. It is like 2 damage more powerful than the 61 of the Gobi... so it does 63 but it has a slower rate of fire leading to only being able to fire once in vats. It weighs 3.

Aside from those 3 Rifles I keep about 6 landmines with me at a time. They are good for keeping distance if an enemy starts closing in on a failed sniping attempt. Each does 141 damage right now with lvl 98 Explosives and the bonus 40% damage. I also have a light machine gun For overwhelming odds but I almost never need to use it so I'm not going to write anything about it... it appears to be the best type of machine gun though as it has little spread and doesn't take time to rev up like a mini gun.

Apparel: I wear light armor as it doesn't hinder sneaking in any way. Currently I'm wearing Brotherhood Elder's Robes and Sunglasses so I'm really not wearing anything protective so I can remain quick and unseen. The total DT of the robes is 1. The Elder robes don't count as faction clothing too so it's nice to not have people trying to waste me just because of how I look... but anyway I just stick to Light so this info isn't that important.



Solid_Snake12345
Blue Jay
Blue Jay

Joined: 9 Aug 2010
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 81

28 Oct 2010, 5:23 am

I must say I'm interested in trying your character. If I would have one issue it's that your Charisma and Speech is so low. I understand your reasoning and I thought the same to for Fallout 3 but Charisma (to me) seems like one of the most important special stats in the game. The reason for this is that Speech can help you resolve many things peacefully, thus saving ammo, get higher rewards for quests, so you get more caps and can get you an extra follower. Charisma is important not because of the stats it boosts but because it raises an unseen stats called nerve which effects your companions skill in combat. If you combine this with a high level Boone he becomes almost unstoppable and rarely dies (this would be good for your character as the spotter perk is very good and he is great at getting long range headshots. That would however mean taking away from another special stat (I would pick intelligence personally as I don't think it's as important this game as it was in Fallout 3) but that could unbalance your character and make it ineffective (as points would need to be diverted from other things).

I strongly recommend Jury Rigging though which you've planned to get but I don't recommend putting too much more points in repair. You have to levels till your next perk and I don't think 22 has many useful ones so if you take the time and go look for some Dean's Electronics it'll be worth your while because each book raises the stat by four permanently and I think there's a total of three or four pso you potentially save 12 or 16 points on the repair skill and there's not much need to get it to 100 tbh.

I hope it doesn't appear that I'm harshy criticising your character as that isn't my intention. Oh, and don't forget you have roughly 170 skill points left so I recommend calculating the amount you'll be needing to make any more adjustments.

Oh and I highly advise you boost up energy weapons to 75! I know it may seem odd since energy weapons are so rare and generally don't do as much damage but the Gauss Rifle is a beast of a weapon yet again (at 90 [boosted with the 1st recon beret] it has a damage rating of 93 and a DPS of a whopping 336 so it makes a good alternative sniper) so you could swap it for the anti material rifle (but I must say that the anti material rifle is one of my favourites. It one hits most enemies and it's critical hit power is unparalleled making it be able to occasionally one shot Deathclaws on hard on hardcore. Maybe if you don't like the weight it brings you could leave it with a companion and take it if the situation calls for it?

Anyway, I'll post my build in a few minutes, I just don't want to post it in this post so my advice is separate from my build.



Talis
Sea Gull
Sea Gull

User avatar

Joined: 1 Aug 2010
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 247
Location: California

28 Oct 2010, 5:55 am

Solid_Snake12345 wrote:
I must say I'm interested in trying your character. If I would have one issue it's that your Charisma and Speech is so low. I understand your reasoning and I thought the same to for Fallout 3 but Charisma (to me) seems like one of the most important special stats in the game. The reason for this is that Speech can help you resolve many things peacefully, thus saving ammo, get higher rewards for quests, so you get more caps and can get you an extra follower. Charisma is important not because of the stats it boosts but because it raises an unseen stats called nerve which effects your companions skill in combat. If you combine this with a high level Boone he becomes almost unstoppable and rarely dies (this would be good for your character as the spotter perk is very good and he is great at getting long range headshots. That would however mean taking away from another special stat (I would pick intelligence personally as I don't think it's as important this game as it was in Fallout 3) but that could unbalance your character and make it ineffective (as points would need to be diverted from other things).

I strongly recommend Jury Rigging though which you've planned to get but I don't recommend putting too much more points in repair. You have to levels till your next perk and I don't think 22 has many useful ones so if you take the time and go look for some Dean's Electronics it'll be worth your while because each book raises the stat by four permanently and I think there's a total of three or four pso you potentially save 12 or 16 points on the repair skill and there's not much need to get it to 100 tbh.

I hope it doesn't appear that I'm harshy criticising your character as that isn't my intention. Oh, and don't forget you have roughly 170 skill points left so I recommend calculating the amount you'll be needing to make any more adjustments.

Oh and I highly advise you boost up energy weapons to 75! I know it may seem odd since energy weapons are so rare and generally don't do as much damage but the Gauss Rifle is a beast of a weapon yet again (at 90 [boosted with the 1st recon beret] it has a damage rating of 93 and a DPS of a whopping 336 so it makes a good alternative sniper) so you could swap it for the anti material rifle (but I must say that the anti material rifle is one of my favourites. It one hits most enemies and it's critical hit power is unparalleled making it be able to occasionally one shot Deathclaws on hard on hardcore. Maybe if you don't like the weight it brings you could leave it with a companion and take it if the situation calls for it?

Anyway, I'll post my build in a few minutes, I just don't want to post it in this post so my advice is separate from my build.


I plan on bringing my speech up to 80, but You're right about nerve. I forgot to mention I am a Lone Wolf when I play. I don't like having partners giving my position away... or worse... My critical head shot going into theirs by mistake because they get excited and rush in front of my barrel :lol:

With Jury Rigging I'm just going for 90 in repair. I don't plan on hitting 100 because 90 is very good in itself and is all that is needed to obtain the perk. I had JR on my last character and it made maintaining weapons a breeze like fixing my Anti-Material Rifle with a Varmint Rifle... and I also liked combining junk with valuable items when I was out on quests to boost item's selling values.

I had Energy weapons at 100 on my last character with a Gause Rifle and it is very good for the most part. I found that it was weak against armored targets though... but for the most part it is an awesome gun. I just don't plan on using energy weapons this time as I have opted to choose explosives over Energy this time. Honestly explosives are nice for planting traps and compliments the sniper approach. I however don't care for missile launchers or the Fat Man either as I feel they are underpowered and don't seem to do justice to the weapons they represent. Land Mines are something I have underestimated until now though. Still they lack power against heavy armor... but they don't against beasts without shielding. Also my only real dislike of the Gause Rifle even though it is an awesome gun is that it takes 5 MF cells per shot... that makes it's ammo very heavy to lug around on Hardcore mode if you like to keep at least 100 shots on you. Otherwise It is a very good weapon to have proficiency in.

Also it doesn't appear that you are harshly criticizing my build... they are valid points :) I just tend to specialize to an extreme in my build but I did notice with what you said about having 170 left... I don't even need that many more (Maybe I only need around 115 to 135 or so) so my intelligence could probably be a couple to a few points lower :? But that many remaining points means in theory I could boost my Energy weapons to around 75 with what's left over :D



Solid_Snake12345
Blue Jay
Blue Jay

Joined: 9 Aug 2010
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 81

28 Oct 2010, 7:04 am

My character (my second character) is not as specialised as the first one. Instead, mine is aimed at letting you use almost any weapon efficiently, being able to break into every terminal and lock pick, being able to sneak in an out of battle and passing as many speech challenges as possible). I guess you could say it's a gun wielding ninja politician if you wanted to shorten it. The perks are also quite vats orientated as that is how I play but ive been playing outside vats more than I use to and it still is a formidable character for most situations (using explosives is not advised with this class however so if you're looking for a class built around using a fat man, this is not it). Honestly, I'm quite happy with how it turned out but I still wish I could edit a few things and put different points in different things.

Well, I guess I'll start with the Special stats

My starting stats I am truthfully not certain of as my oldest save is level three but I'll give a guess at:

Strength - 5 (6 with implant)
Perception - 6 (7 with implant and 8 with first recon beret)
Endurance - 5 (6 with implant)
Charisma - 4 (5 while regulator duster is equipped)
Intelligence - 9
Agility - 7 (it's actually 6 but small frame boosts it to 7)
Luck - 5 (6 with Intensive Training)

In case that is wrong, (but it looks correct to me) I'll simply give the end stats which are definitely correct

Strength - 6
Perception - 7
Endurance - 6
Charisma - 4
Intelligence - 9
Agility - 7
Luck - 6

Now, let me explain the reasoning. Strength is at 6 because weapon handling lowers all te requirements by two. I have not seen a weapon that requires 9 or 10 so an 8 for holding weapons (6 +2 from the perk with regard to weapon wielding in case you don't understand why I'm saying 8 when my strength is 6)
I can't really remember why perception was 7 but I think it was for a perk but which perk I'm not sure. Anyway most of the tome it is 8 due to the 1st recon beret and this allows me to find enemies from quite a distance so it is fairly useful
Endurance was 6 through implants solely for the Strong back perk. I can't remeber what level I got it, but I do recommend getting the implants early.
This is the one stat I wish I could get higher. I wear the regulator duster so it raises to 5 but this still gives an adequate amount of nerve for your companions. In hindsight I would have removed the monocyte breeder implant and added it to this but it's too late for me to do that now.
Why isn't it ten? Because I every one point in intelligene is .5 skill points per level and I couldn't justify that when I had more than enough skill points to get everything to an adequately high level.
I like vats. Agility opens up useful perks and gives more AP. I dont think I really need to explain why this was 7 (in fact, I like this stat so much it was worth taking the Small frame trait just so this could get to 7 and I wouldn't need another intense training).
There is one reason why I brought this to six and that is Better Criticals. That really is my number one perk in the game.

My skill stats are as follows:
Barter 21 - To me, this is the single worst stat in the game. I have 400,000 caps already through exploring and scavenging, I think I can do without the tiny discount.
Energy weapons 88 - The gauss rifle is more powerful than a mini nuke and energy weapons don't require lots of scavenging for ammo. I also plan to bring this higher with books
Explosives 27 - If the ammo wasn't so heavy this'd be higher but it's not viable for me due to the heaviness.
Guns 88 - I am going to get this higher with the books I just hope I haven't already read one which'd prevent me getting to 100 but since I have the Regulator duster this gets brought to 93.
Lockpick 87 - This goes to 90 with the 1st recon beret so I can get the books and be maxed. Until then the magazines will do
Medicine 25 - I think I put one point in this so I could pass a medicine check but this is quite pointless since stimpacks are everywhere. I think I have around 367 at the moment so using a few extra won't kill me.
Melee weapons 82 - I'll get this higher with skill books so I am closer to 100 but I'll never be maxed out in this stat but that's fine as all of the melee weapons still do very high DPS at 82.
Repair 90 - Two words, Jury Rigging. I brought this up with a few skill books so I don't know what it is without them.
Science 92 - I'll bring this to max with skill books so I will have maximum lockpicking and science so I can get everything. Until then magazines will do.
Sneak 80 - I am contempt with 80 but will bring it up 16 with all the skill books.
Speech 89 - In everyone of my characters this will always be high. The regulator duster will raise this and I'll bring it high with skill books and if there is not enough left to bring it to 100 I'll just use magazines or wine it bring it to 100.
Survival 17 - Don't bother putting points here unless you like building characters with un-useful stats (well, if there is a use I'm not seeing it)
Unarmed 17 - I didn't put a point here as if you're not building an unarmed melee build I don't think this is useful.

My two traits are:
Trigger Disciple - I originally picked this for vats but I don't think it actually effects vats. Regardless it is useful outside of vats and the weapons really don't fire that slowly with it on.
Small frame - make sure you have lots of doctors bags as you'll need them with this trait. I would put on wild wasteland if you don't like agility as much as I do as with wild wasteland you can get holy hand grenades and the alien blaster but miss out on the unique gauss rifle whereas without it you can only get the unique gauss rifle and miss out on the holy hand grenades and alien blaster.

My perks are:

Abominalble - You get this through a challenge.
Animal Control - You get this through a challenge.
Better Criticals - The single most important perk if you want a high damage output.
Bug stomper (3) - You get this trough a challenge.
Camel of the Mojave - You get this through a challenge.
Comprehension - If you want max stats for as much things as possible this is important.
Cowboy - 25% extra damage never hurts (you).
Day tripper - You get this through a challenge.
Educated - There is no other perk you should get at level 4. It is foolish not to.
Endurance Implant - For Strong Back.
Explorer - This was my level 30 perk. It makes hunting for skill books and unique weapons much easier and let's you find very single place easier.
Finesse - More Criticals means more damage means more dead enemies. Simples.
Intense Training - To be got at level 2. For Better Criticals.
Jury Rigging - Less vendors repair items so this helps you do maximum damage. I got this at level 28 though so it's not majorly important early on.
Lord Death - You get this through a challenge.
Math Wrath - I like vats. I like killing enemies. To kill enemies you need to shoot them. To shoot them more you need more AP. By saving AP, you get more shots.
Monocyte breeder - Helpful if You forget to heal after a battle but it's not very important and I'd swap it with a charisma implant.
Nerves of Steel - I like vats. To use vats, you need AP. This gets you AP, faster.
Ninja - Extra sneak Criticals and it makes melee weapons much more dangerous.
Perception implant - I can't remember why I got this.
Ranger Takedown - You get this in an unmarked quest.
Silent Running - Sneak is invaluable and this makes it even better.
Sniper - Oh vats how I love thee. I picked this so I wouldn't need commando or gunslinger.
Strength implant - For strong back and to meet the strength requirements of most weapons.
Strong Back - I'm one of those people who pick up everything an this way i don't have to rely on companions or travel back to my house for longer. I can also use heavier equipment since I can carry 260 KG.
Sub-Dermal Armor - The regulator duster provides no Dr and neither dies the first recon beret. If you don't pick this you can't wear them (unless you like the death music) and you'll need to find something else to wear which'll likely be much heavier and probably won't give a stat boost like they do.
Weapon Handling - Let's you effetively use any weapon that would have a strength requirement of 8 before picking this provide you have a strength stat of 6.


I'll eventually get more perks through challenges but almost everybody will so that's not too important to note. Anyway, this character is a level 30 character and I must say Im fairly pleased with how it turned out.

Edit: forgot the equipment:
Anti Material Rifle + 100 bullets - Obliterates everything at long ranged and a sneak critical will almost certainly kill everything in one hit.
Marksman carbine + 200 bullets - short to medium range, high damage and is scoped.
Oh Baby! - It does 77 damage with 134 DPS and kills almost everything in one or two hits. The problem is it's weight.
Gauss Rifle + 300 bullets - Only if you don't bring the anti material rifle.
Mysterious Magnum + 70 shots - A great sidearm good for bringing into the casinos but leave it behind when exploring.
Laser RCW++++ + 500 bullets - If you bring this leave behind the carbine and anti material rifle and bring this and the gauss rifle and oh baby.

Really, one of the things I like about this builds is how you can use almost anything so bring whatever you want. As a general rule of thumb however is that I bring nothing I won't use unless im prepared to drop loot so normally I'll keep 190kg worth of equipment with me and leave everything else in Novac. This means I'll often have four to eight weapons with me and depending on how much damage it does, its accuracy, the weight of the ammo and how much I'll use it I'll bring a suitable number of bullets.

For clothes I strongly recommend you wear the First Recon Beret. That should never leave your head. For top I strongly suggest the regulator duster but I suppose it's up to you.

Oh and by the way, if anybody wants to try out a character but doesn't want to spen to much hours building them, grab a few (3 or 4 should suffice) and head to Helios One (Make sure your speech is 36 or you'll be slaughtered by the NCR). Do the quest and at the end meltdown the power plant. Return to Ignacious (and you have to have made him ciders that he is a Follower of the Apocalypse at the start of the quest) and tell him that you melted down the generator. You'll get 350 XP. Talk to him again and the speech option will still be there. Pick it again, and again, and again and you will keep getting 350 XP every time so you can plan out your character, test out perks (I did this at level 19 - 20 so I could see if Grim Reapers Sprint was still useful and then reloaded my save before I used it for example) or if you're feeling lazy/like cheating you can just use it to get to thirty and play on from there.



Last edited by Solid_Snake12345 on 28 Oct 2010, 9:14 am, edited 2 times in total.

Solid_Snake12345
Blue Jay
Blue Jay

Joined: 9 Aug 2010
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 81

28 Oct 2010, 7:41 am

Talis wrote:
Solid_Snake12345 wrote:
I must say I'm interested in trying your character. If I would have one issue it's that your Charisma and Speech is so low. I understand your reasoning and I thought the same to for Fallout 3 but Charisma (to me) seems like one of the most important special stats in the game. The reason for this is that Speech can help you resolve many things peacefully, thus saving ammo, get higher rewards for quests, so you get more caps and can get you an extra follower. Charisma is important not because of the stats it boosts but because it raises an unseen stats called nerve which effects your companions skill in combat. If you combine this with a high level Boone he becomes almost unstoppable and rarely dies (this would be good for your character as the spotter perk is very good and he is great at getting long range headshots. That would however mean taking away from another special stat (I would pick intelligence personally as I don't think it's as important this game as it was in Fallout 3) but that could unbalance your character and make it ineffective (as points would need to be diverted from other things).

I strongly recommend Jury Rigging though which you've planned to get but I don't recommend putting too much more points in repair. You have to levels till your next perk and I don't think 22 has many useful ones so if you take the time and go look for some Dean's Electronics it'll be worth your while because each book raises the stat by four permanently and I think there's a total of three or four pso you potentially save 12 or 16 points on the repair skill and there's not much need to get it to 100 tbh.

I hope it doesn't appear that I'm harshy criticising your character as that isn't my intention. Oh, and don't forget you have roughly 170 skill points left so I recommend calculating the amount you'll be needing to make any more adjustments.

Oh and I highly advise you boost up energy weapons to 75! I know it may seem odd since energy weapons are so rare and generally don't do as much damage but the Gauss Rifle is a beast of a weapon yet again (at 90 [boosted with the 1st recon beret] it has a damage rating of 93 and a DPS of a whopping 336 so it makes a good alternative sniper) so you could swap it for the anti material rifle (but I must say that the anti material rifle is one of my favourites. It one hits most enemies and it's critical hit power is unparalleled making it be able to occasionally one shot Deathclaws on hard on hardcore. Maybe if you don't like the weight it brings you could leave it with a companion and take it if the situation calls for it?

Anyway, I'll post my build in a few minutes, I just don't want to post it in this post so my advice is separate from my build.


I plan on bringing my speech up to 80, but You're right about nerve. I forgot to mention I am a Lone Wolf when I play. I don't like having partners giving my position away... or worse... My critical head shot going into theirs by mistake because they get excited and rush in front of my barrel :lol:

With Jury Rigging I'm just going for 90 in repair. I don't plan on hitting 100 because 90 is very good in itself and is all that is needed to obtain the perk. I had JR on my last character and it made maintaining weapons a breeze like fixing my Anti-Material Rifle with a Varmint Rifle... and I also liked combining junk with valuable items when I was out on quests to boost item's selling values.

I had Energy weapons at 100 on my last character with a Gause Rifle and it is very good for the most part. I found that it was weak against armored targets though... but for the most part it is an awesome gun. I just don't plan on using energy weapons this time as I have opted to choose explosives over Energy this time. Honestly explosives are nice for planting traps and compliments the sniper approach. I however don't care for missile launchers or the Fat Man either as I feel they are underpowered and don't seem to do justice to the weapons they represent. Land Mines are something I have underestimated until now though. Still they lack power against heavy armor... but they don't against beasts without shielding. Also my only real dislike of the Gause Rifle even though it is an awesome gun is that it takes 5 MF cells per shot... that makes it's ammo very heavy to lug around on Hardcore mode if you like to keep at least 100 shots on you. Otherwise It is a very good weapon to have proficiency in.

Also it doesn't appear that you are harshly criticizing my build... they are valid points :) I just tend to specialize to an extreme in my build but I did notice with what you said about having 170 left... I don't even need that many more (Maybe I only need around 115 to 135 or so) so my intelligence could probably be a couple to a few points lower :? But that many remaining points means in theory I could boost my Energy weapons to around 75 with what's left over :D


Ahh right then. In that case I'd agree with charisma being very low. You could get Ed-e and Boone but tell them both to wait at novac. This way they never follow you and therefore never interrupt you while you still get their perks. My comment on speech though was more about how low it currently is at level 20. It just seems like alot of options may have been missed but better late than never :P.

What I meant by that (regarding jury rigging) was I meant you could leave it at 80 and then go search for the skill books. This way you don't have to put in another point and if you already used one you'll know before it's too late (as in, if you already used one out of three you will only get 8 points so you know that you'll need to put in 2 instead of none) but I agree about leaving it at 90/92. I don't think there is anything extra at 100 that makes it worth the points, is there?

And oh. Just wanted to make sure you were aware about it as it'd be very unfortunate to realise it after the character is made (which is always really annoying).

As for explosives, I completely agree about how underpowered they are, especially when a missile is 3Kg and it does such measly damage but as you've pointed out they are great for traps and for a sudden burst of damage to many targets. Is the grenade machine-gun any good with your high explosives? it's not much good with my character but I'd be interested in if it is good with high explosives.

Thank god lol. I didn't want to come across arrogantly but feared i did so thanks for letting me know. If you don't need so many points though but have already used energy weapons I think you may find melee weapons useful. It was one I used to always overlook but they are lethal against the right people and creatures (mainly anything that charges at you). Since you find cazadors troublesome (an they certainly are) it may help you deal with them as one or two hits with "Oh Baby!", the unique super sled kills them in two hits on normal on harcore and that is without maximum efficiency.



Talis
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29 Oct 2010, 12:25 am

With the High-Speed Kit the Grenade Machine Gun seems to have one of the highest damage per second stats I've seen. It does 49 damage per grenade and deals 334 damage per second (With a 100 in Explosives). My biggest issue with it is with armored targets but the unarmored ones die pretty fast. It does have the option of buying high explosive rounds but I haven't gotten myself to buy them. The normal 25mmG cost about 3 caps a piece. The High Explosive rounds are 28 caps a piece which is a drastic increase in price but i assume with those it would be devastating to armor. Also an 8 strength and a 100 in Explosives is required to fire it effectively. I'm still playing with the gun so I don't know how effective it is in a whole. I'll have to see how it works on armor with the high explosive rounds before I judge it. As with all explosives though it is a dangerous weapon so you can really hurt yourself if you aren't careful.

Edit: this is with two ranks of Demolition Expert which is an extra 40% damage.

Also I think I read somewhere that you haven't seen a gun with a 10 strength requirement. I believe I've only seen one and it was the Mini Gun. So unless you want one of those you only seem to need an 8 strength. I'm not very big on the mini gun just because it's one of those weapons I feel should be stronger and if not stronger the enemies should at least be flinching or in shock while they have a fire hose spray of bullets pouring into them. My problem with it is having to rev it up behind cover just so I don't get hit while not hurting the enemy and also the rate it eats bullets is something to be in shock over. The ammo is fairly cheap but it's still not that easy to find that many bullets in a store... and I imagine it's pretty heavy to carry about 1000 rounds on you :roll: I'm sure the laser gatling gun is still much more superior just like in Fallout 3.



Talis
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29 Oct 2010, 10:37 pm

@Snake... can you explain what silent running means. I've never understood that perk even since Fallout 3. I'm getting near my last perks since I am now level 24 and have about 4 perks I'm looking at and that is possibly one of the 3 I'd pick. What I don't get is that I can move forward as fast as the stick will allow and I still seem to be hidden usually. What is meant by running? The description just says running doesn't affect a successful sneak attempt but crouching and moving forward isn't running in my opinion. Is that what is meant by running or does it mean you can literally stand up and book it in the shadows? I guess I'm asking if this perk does anything more than nullify a sneak check while I move when crouching because with a high enough sneak most enemies don't notice movement anyways unless they have a massive perception stat like the Carzador.

Also I nudged my Strength 1 point with Intense training at level 24 and I'm wearing power armor which nudges it further to 10. I did this because I wanted to play around with the gatling gun. With the Minigun High-Speed Motor and Damped Subframe mods... that thing isn't a beast... it's a Purebred Monster :twisted: . It pulls off 379 DPS and it can cut through enemies at a decent range with some decent accuracy. It even pushes enemies backward. Even a charging deathclaw can't push forward hard enough to reach you before it keels over. Other than it eats ammo like an elephant trying to binge rice cakes until it gets full... It's an awesome weapon. I honestly don't know what the difference between having 8 strength and having 10 strength does to the gun. Upping my strength didn't add to DPS but it seems like I can shoot a spray pretty far and still grind enemies pretty well. :wink:



Solid_Snake12345
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30 Oct 2010, 7:12 am

Hmm. It may be worth carrying around the minigun. I think I'll try the Gatling laser dirt though as I've more ammo with that.

As for silent running, when you sneak, you have to walk in order to get close to somebody. With silent running you can run at full speed while in sneak mode without getting caught. This is useful when trying to sneak past nearby enemies or to quickly kill them with a sneak attack and then run away. But if you Can get away with it with a high sneak anyway, I don't think td be much use at this stage (level 24). I'd recommend adding some more damage perks so you are more effective in combat but you get nerves of steel at level 26 and that is a very good perk for vats.



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30 Oct 2010, 9:27 am

8O

Wow... You guys are in deep. I'm still wading in the kiddie pool!

I had such a long break (damn you school! :evil: ) that I decided to go ahead and reboot...

Hell Tanner (MK II)

S: 6
P: 5
E: 5
C: 4
I: 7
A: 7
L: 6

This is an improved role playing build with a few self imposed rules: Hardcore (normal difficulty), Cowboy style combat (guns, knives/hatchets, and dynamite), NO VATS.

My tagged skills are Guns, Repair, Speech, with minor emphasis in lock picking and melee.

Traits are Wild Wasteland, and Built for Destruction (I would have considered Trigger Discipline but I'm not sure how it affects non-VATS combat).

Perks:
Lady Killer (mostly for role playing, I'm beginning to regret it)

Educated (more skill points is always better)

Toughness (+3 DT. I screwed up allocating skill points and missed the qualification for Hand Loader perk)

Cowboy (25% damage increase when using revolvers, lever-actions, hatchets and knives, and dynamite)

...and that's where I'm at, at level 8. I plan to get Hand Loader at level 10 so I can start making semi-wadcutter .44 mag hand loads for the Trail Carbine... That should give me 45/83 dmg/dps + 25% cowboy damage bonus + (-6)damage threshold for the swc .44mag.

Heh... I haven't really thought much beyond this, except to take Weapons Handling at level 16 so I can use the anti-materiel rifle eventually. :?


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No man is free who is not master of himself.~Epictetus


quocbien1994
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19 Jan 2011, 6:00 am

Solid_Snake12345 wrote:
My character (my second character) is not as specialised as the first one. Instead, mine is aimed at letting you use almost any weapon efficiently, being able to break into every terminal and lock pick, being able to sneak in an out of battle and passing as many speech challenges as possible). I guess you could say it's a gun wielding ninja politician if you wanted to shorten it. The perks are also quite vats orientated as that is how I play but ive been playing outside vats more than I use to and it still is a formidable character for most situations (using explosives is not advised with this class however so if you're looking for a class built around using a fat man, this is not it). Honestly, I'm quite happy with how it turned out but I still wish I could edit a few things and put different points in different things.

Well, I guess I'll start with the Special stats

My starting stats I am truthfully not certain of as my oldest save is level three but I'll give a guess at:

Strength - 5 (6 with implant)
Perception - 6 (7 with implant and 8 with first recon beret)
Endurance - 5 (6 with implant)
Charisma - 4 (5 while regulator duster is equipped)
Intelligence - 9
Agility - 7 (it's actually 6 but small frame boosts it to 7)
Luck - 5 (6 with Intensive Training)

In case that is wrong, (but it looks correct to me) I'll simply give the end stats which are definitely correct

Strength - 6
Perception - 7
Endurance - 6
Charisma - 4
Intelligence - 9
Agility - 7
Luck - 6

Now, let me explain the reasoning. Strength is at 6 because weapon handling lowers all te requirements by two. I have not seen a weapon that requires 9 or 10 so an 8 for holding weapons (6 +2 from the perk with regard to weapon wielding in case you don't understand why I'm saying 8 when my strength is 6)
I can't really remember why perception was 7 but I think it was for a perk but which perk I'm not sure. Anyway most of the tome it is 8 due to the 1st recon beret and this allows me to find enemies from quite a distance so it is fairly useful
Endurance was 6 through implants solely for the Strong back perk. I can't remeber what level I got it, but I do recommend getting the implants early.
This is the one stat I wish I could get higher. I wear the regulator duster so it raises to 5 but this still gives an adequate amount of nerve for your companions. In hindsight I would have removed the monocyte breeder implant and added it to this but it's too late for me to do that now.
Why isn't it ten? Because I every one point in intelligene is .5 skill points per level and I couldn't justify that when I had more than enough skill points to get everything to an adequately high level.
I like vats. Agility opens up useful perks and gives more AP. I dont think I really need to explain why this was 7 (in fact, I like this stat so much it was worth taking the Small frame trait just so this could get to 7 and I wouldn't need another intense training).
There is one reason why I brought this to six and that is Better Criticals. That really is my number one perk in the game.

My skill stats are as follows:
Barter 21 - To me, this is the single worst stat in the game. I have 400,000 caps already through exploring and scavenging, I think I can do without the tiny discount.
Energy weapons 88 - The gauss rifle is more powerful than a mini nuke and energy weapons don't require lots of scavenging for ammo. I also plan to bring this higher with books
Explosives 27 - If the ammo wasn't so heavy this'd be higher but it's not viable for me due to the heaviness.
Guns 88 - I am going to get this higher with the books I just hope I haven't already read one which'd prevent me getting to 100 but since I have the Regulator duster this gets brought to 93.
Lockpick 87 - This goes to 90 with the 1st recon beret so I can get the books and be maxed. Until then the magazines will do
Medicine 25 - I think I put one point in this so I could pass a medicine check but this is quite pointless since stimpacks are everywhere. I think I have around 367 at the moment so using a few extra won't kill me.
Melee weapons 82 - I'll get this higher with skill books so I am closer to 100 but I'll never be maxed out in this stat but that's fine as all of the melee weapons still do very high DPS at 82.
Repair 90 - Two words, Jury Rigging. I brought this up with a few skill books so I don't know what it is without them.
Science 92 - I'll bring this to max with skill books so I will have maximum lockpicking and science so I can get everything. Until then magazines will do.
Sneak 80 - I am contempt with 80 but will bring it up 16 with all the skill books.
Speech 89 - In everyone of my characters this will always be high. The regulator duster will raise this and I'll bring it high with skill books and if there is not enough left to bring it to 100 I'll just use magazines or wine it bring it to 100.
Survival 17 - Don't bother putting points here unless you like building characters with un-useful stats (well, if there is a use I'm not seeing it)
Unarmed 17 - I didn't put a point here as if you're not building an unarmed melee build I don't think this is useful.

My two traits are:
Trigger Disciple - I originally picked this for vats but I don't think it actually effects vats. Regardless it is useful outside of vats and the weapons really don't fire that slowly with it on.
Small frame - make sure you have lots of doctors bags as you'll need them with this trait. I would put on wild wasteland if you don't like agility as much as I do as with wild wasteland you can get holy hand grenades and the alien blaster but miss out on the unique gauss rifle whereas without it you can only get the unique gauss rifle and miss out on the holy hand grenades and alien blaster.

My perks are:

Abominalble - You get this through a challenge.
Animal Control - You get this through a challenge.
Better Criticals - The single most important perk if you want a high damage output.
Bug stomper (3) - You get this trough a challenge.
Camel of the Mojave - You get this through a challenge.
Comprehension - If you want max stats for as much things as possible this is important.
Cowboy - 25% extra damage never hurts (you).
Day tripper - You get this through a challenge.
Educated - There is no other perk you should get at level 4. It is foolish not to.
Endurance Implant - For Strong Back.
Explorer - This was my level 30 perk. It makes hunting for skill books and unique weapons much easier and let's you find very single place easier.
Finesse - More Criticals means more damage means more dead enemies. Simples.
Intense Training - To be got at level 2. For Better Criticals.
Jury Rigging - Less vendors repair items so this helps you do maximum damage. I got this at level 28 though so it's not majorly important early on.
Lord Death - You get this through a challenge.
Math Wrath - I like vats. I like killing enemies. To kill enemies you need to shoot them. To shoot them more you need more AP. By saving AP, you get more shots.
Monocyte breeder - Helpful if You forget to heal after a battle but it's not very important and I'd swap it with a charisma implant.
Nerves of Steel - I like vats. To use vats, you need AP. This gets you AP, faster.
Ninja - Extra sneak Criticals and it makes melee weapons much more dangerous.
Perception implant - I can't remember why I got this.
Ranger Takedown - You get this in an unmarked quest.
Silent Running - Sneak is invaluable and this makes it even better.
Sniper - Oh vats how I love thee. I picked this so I wouldn't need commando or gunslinger.
Strength implant - For strong back and to meet the strength requirements of most weapons.
Strong Back - I'm one of those people who pick up everything an this way i don't have to rely on companions or travel back to my house for longer. I can also use heavier equipment since I can carry 260 KG.
Sub-Dermal Armor - The regulator duster provides no Dr and neither dies the first recon beret. If you don't pick this you can't wear them (unless you like the death music) and you'll need to find something else to wear which'll likely be much heavier and probably won't give a stat boost like they do.
Weapon Handling - Let's you effetively use any weapon that would have a strength requirement of 8 before picking this provide you have a strength stat of 6.


I'll eventually get more perks through challenges but almost everybody will so that's not too important to note. Anyway, this character is a level 30 character and I must say Im fairly pleased with how it turned out.

Edit: forgot the equipment:
Anti Material Rifle + 100 bullets - Obliterates everything at long ranged and a sneak critical will almost certainly kill everything in one hit.
Marksman carbine + 200 bullets - short to medium range, high damage and is scoped.
Oh Baby! - It does 77 damage with 134 DPS and kills almost everything in one or two hits. The problem is it's weight.
Gauss Rifle + 300 bullets - Only if you don't bring the anti material rifle.
Mysterious Magnum + 70 shots - A great sidearm good for bringing into the casinos but leave it behind when exploring.
Laser RCW++++ + 500 bullets - If you bring this leave behind the carbine and anti material rifle and bring this and the gauss rifle and oh baby.

Really, one of the things I like about this builds is how you can use almost anything so bring whatever you want. As a general rule of thumb however is that I bring nothing I won't use unless im prepared to drop loot so normally I'll keep 190kg worth of equipment with me and leave everything else in Novac. This means I'll often have four to eight weapons with me and depending on how much damage it does, its accuracy, the weight of the ammo and how much I'll use it I'll bring a suitable number of bullets.

For clothes I strongly recommend you wear the First Recon Beret. That should never leave your head. For top I strongly suggest the regulator duster but I suppose it's up to you.

Oh and by the way, if anybody wants to try out a character but doesn't want to spen to much hours building them, grab a few (3 or 4 should suffice) and head to Helios One (Make sure your speech is 36 or you'll be slaughtered by the NCR). Do the quest and at the end meltdown the power plant. Return to Ignacious (and you have to have made him ciders that he is a Follower of the Apocalypse at the start of the quest) and tell him that you melted down the generator. You'll get 350 XP. Talk to him again and the speech option will still be there. Pick it again, and again, and again and you will keep getting 350 XP every time so you can plan out your character, test out perks (I did this at level 19 - 20 so I could see if Grim Reapers Sprint was still useful and then reloaded my save before I used it for example) or if you're feeling lazy/like cheating you can just use it to get to thirty and play on from there.


Solid Snake, what skills did you tag at the beginning of the game ?



Solid_Snake12345
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30 Jan 2011, 6:26 pm

Sorry, I havent visited this section of the forum for a while so didn't notice the message but Trigger Discipline and Small Frame. The reasons for that choice is just bellow the skill stats roughy in the middle of the post.



quocbien1994
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31 Jan 2011, 8:24 am

Solid_Snake12345 wrote:
Sorry, I havent visited this section of the forum for a while so didn't notice the message but Trigger Discipline and Small Frame. The reasons for that choice is just bellow the skill stats roughy in the middle of the post.


It's okay, but i think you are just a little bit confused here Solid Snake, so I'd like to correct you up. Trigger discipline and Small Frame are actually character traits, according to the game. When i was talking about tagged skills, i actually meant the skill stats (like Guns, Lockpicking, Speech, Barter etc.) that you have a chance to choose as your specialties at the beginning of the game.
However, a tagged skill does nothing other than just giving you an initial 15 point boost for a particular skill. If i'm not wrong, you can choose 3 (maybe 4 by a less chance) tagged skills for your character. Thanks for your time Solid Snake



Solid_Snake12345
Blue Jay
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08 Feb 2011, 7:30 pm

quocbien1994 wrote:
Solid_Snake12345 wrote:
Sorry, I havent visited this section of the forum for a while so didn't notice the message but Trigger Discipline and Small Frame. The reasons for that choice is just bellow the skill stats roughy in the middle of the post.


It's okay, but i think you are just a little bit confused here Solid Snake, so I'd like to correct you up. Trigger discipline and Small Frame are actually character traits, according to the game. When i was talking about tagged skills, i actually meant the skill stats (like Guns, Lockpicking, Speech, Barter etc.) that you have a chance to choose as your specialties at the beginning of the game.
However, a tagged skill does nothing other than just giving you an initial 15 point boost for a particular skill. If i'm not wrong, you can choose 3 (maybe 4 by a less chance) tagged skills for your character. Thanks for your time Solid Snake


Oh sorry, you are absolutely correct. In truth, I haven't played the game in a few weeks at least so I cannot quite remember but I believe that they were Speech (as that was my second character I wasn't really interested in doing every single quest to get to thirty again so picked that to get into Helios One and to convince Ignacious to confess about his membership in the Followers of the Apocalypse), Sneak (to make it through Helios One alive with as little stealth boys as you can find) and either Science, Guns or Lockpick (either for a perk or to make it into some place in Helios One, sorry I can't be more specific). I'm sorry I can't be that accurate since it's been a long time since I've made a character (and generally I go for the same tagged skills but that's not much help when you're last character was weeks ago :P). As long as you can afford each perk however it should be fine (although I'm aware planning that out isn't so easy, it's quite enjoyable to achieve what you wanted in the amount of points you have [and dead money adds more which that character doesn't account for so there is 5 extra perks and ten levels worth of skill points which is gives any character a massive boost and a wider margin of error]).



r_a_n_d_o_m
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09 Feb 2011, 3:09 am

just letting people who want to play dead money addon start stacking a melee charactor



Dav
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21 Jul 2011, 9:53 am

Talis wrote:
I figured I'd post this here instead of the other New Vegas topic just since it's likely going to be a bunch of numbers and stats... so why not have a special place for that? :D This place is mainly to post your character build for others to evaluate and help them decide on how to build their characters. NV is kind of tedious to predict if you are going to level up well from the start without careful preparation since skill points are given in lesser amounts and Perks are only granted every even level. I guess just at least be level 20 (And confident with your character's performance) so People can get a good idea of what the outcome of the character will be. Maybe try and be descriptive and say what skills you pumped points into and maybe mention if you hoarded skill books because those can change the skill numbers drastically since I never put a single point into science and with books I have it at 40. Also maybe describe how you play right off the start... If you like to rush in with belt driven mini guns... not everyone will want to reference and build themselves based on that play style if they are more the silent assassin type. Also try and say why you picked certain perks and don't be afraid to say you wish you hadn't picked it at all if that's how you feel :wink: Also mention perks you have purchased like implants... but maybe don't bother listing the award perks as those are kind of a given that if you play the game you will get them anyway. Also it's completely optional but you could even express your weapon loadout for the fun of it... just make sure your stats aren't affected by stat boosting factors like apparel or chems.

There could be spoilers here just as a warning... I'm not that sure there will be or not though since this topic should just be for character building :?
.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

I'll post my level 20 for now until I hit level 30 :)

First off my play style is as a long ranged assassin. I deal with precision with a sniper rifle to take enemies out from far away with sneak shot critical hits and if the enemy get's too close he can deal with his legs being blown off because I plant plenty of frag mines around my sniping position when I know enemies may draw near. If the mines fail I rip out my light machine gun and rip them apart. My only Nemesis is The Carzador when in flocks of more than 2 at a time since they move so erratically or the NCR Ranger in any moderation due to their superior equipment and ability to shrug off damage and tear me apart with their weaponry when I've been confronted. Deathclaws are unpredictable but manageable on Normal mode/ Hardcore. At the cost of heavy hitting critical hits and having them come frequently I have Lined Paper hit points and the charisma of a full blown aspie so confrontation is a big no even in dialogue most of the time.
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Character level: 20
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Female... just saying because this affects how a few characters react to you and makes two separate skills available per gender.
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S.P.E.C.I.A.L.

S=6 to S=8 this stat was increased through an implant and a rank of Intensive training
P=6
E=4 to E=5 This stat was increased through an implant
C=1
I=10
A=7
L=6

An 8 in strength is so I can carry high level snipers and not lose accuracy. The Anti-Material Rifle I am currently equipped with requires a level 8 strength. This gun isn't acquired until around level 14 so there's not a huge rush to go buy the implant or take that perk in intensive training til later on. In the same light the light machine gun carries an 8 S requirement and so do many explosive launchers like the missile launcher, Grenade machine gun, and Fat Man. The 6 in perception was mainly so I could buy better criticals as a perk later on. My endurance was low so that cost me some overall hit points. My charisma is 1 because it only affects speech and bartering which don't mean much to me when I play since I can usually get by without having charisma... it's the least important stat in my opinion unless you want to make friends with people in a virtual world. I do boost bartering early on to 25 just so ammo doesn't cost twice as much as it should early in the game. Intelligence is set to 10 for a good reason. I get 15 skill points per level up so in the end I can max more skills out and be a bit more diverse. Agility is 7 just because I like being quick and 7 is still pretty high and the highest perk requirement of agility is 7 anyway. Agility increases the speed at which you attack and reload and also affects how many action points and how fast they regenerate so my build uses it mostly for being quick on my feet since I'm fragile in combat. Luck is set to 6 because it's another requirement for better criticals I believe and it raises critical hit chances... and supposedly also affects your luck in gambling... I haven't gambled so I don't know if that's true. I could have left it at 5 and bought an implant to boost and not had to spend a perk on intensive training had I known about implants when I was in character creation.
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SKILLS

Barter: 25 : this started at 7... I had to boost it to make buying ammo more affordable early on.
Energy Weapons: 25 : Didn't put a single point here... just my perception and skill books made it get here.
Explosives: 98 : I boosted this after Guns and Lockipicking to add powerful mines to my play style... still need 2 points.
Guns: 100 : I maxed this first along with Lockpicking. For high level guns... I like guns.
Lockpick: 100 : Same as Guns. Lock picking opens up many doors and a high level even opens great weapon caches.
Medicine: 25 : I haven't gained a point here... an Int. of 10 makes this stat 25.
Melee Weapons:21 : Haven't touched this one... my strength and maybe a book or so makes this one 21.
Repair: 80 : Boosting this one to 90 currently so I can get the Jury Rigging perk.
Science: 40 : I will eventually boost this one to 80. I haven't touched it yet though. It started at 25 and I read science books.
Sneak: 70 : this one I've slowely placed excess points into from the start of the game and I read a book. I intend on maxing it.
Speech: 17 : I intend on boosting this to 80 so I only have to read skill magazines if there is a lvl 100 challenge.
Survival: 15 : Absolutely useless in my opinion... I haven't and will not place points here.
Unarmed: 23 : I'm not sure why this is 23. It must be from reading books and it's associated skill cuz I don't fist fight.
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PERKS

Better Criticals: +50% critical Damage. This is awesome for sneak sniping since it kills most with a single shot :)

Commando: Accuracy in V.A.T.S. is significantly increased for rifle weapons. I mostly use sniper rifles so this is nice for the occasion I need to use vats.

Comprehension: Double the bonus from magazines and gain 1 more point from skill books. This helps with those skills you use infrequently like if there's a high level 100 speech challenge and you have an 80 a magazine will raise it to 100 teporarily instead of just 90... it saves 10 skill points for skills you rarely use and have magazines for. The extra point per skill book is a bonus :)

Demolition Expert (x2): Each rank gives explosive weapons 20% more damage (So 40% more for now). It makes mines much more explosive as well as other weapons. Oddly this bonus doesn't seem to affect the damage output for C-4, Time Bombs, or Bottle Cap Mines... I have no idea why this is.

Educated: Gain 2 additional skill points upon level up. I took this as soon as I could to get the best use out of it. It's a decent amount of skill points by the end of the game to get 2 per level up when you take it as soon as it is available.

Endurance Implant: Endurance plus 1. Bought it obviously but should mention it.

Finesse: Higher critical hit chance… it's supposedly equivalent to 5 points of Luck in battle. It probably is since I hit criticals all the time.

Intense Training: I added 1 point into Strength for this one... I believe I did this around level 12 or so. It was to help reach level 8 strength so I could carry high power weapons. Had I known about implants during my character generation phase I would have stripped a point from luck and added it to strength so I wouldn't have wasted a perk here... but oh well.

Light Step: Never set off an enemies land mines or floor traps… I don't think I have to explain why I picked this one. I never look for land mines and they are usually in the last place you'd expect one and catch me off guard. It's very annoying to get your legs blown off in hardcore mode since it requires seeing a doctor... I won't forget the times I noticed them and was too slow to disarm them and had the mines blow up in my face. A crippled head is practically the worst body part to cripple since it blurs your vision rhythmically every so many seconds.

Rapid Reloading: Reload weapons 25% faster. I don't like slow reload animations... this was a personal preference perk. I don't believe it's necessary but it does make reloading in close quarter fights much more likely that you survive.

Strength Implant: Strength plus 1. I bought it. Again it was just to add to my strength so I could carry high power weapons.

Sub-Dermal Armor: Plus 4 DT. It's nice I guess since I wear robes that usually only give 1 to 2 DT. It makes having no DT into having some I guess. I bought this implant as well.

Trigger Disapline: 20% more accurate with guns, but fire 20% slower. This was a picked trait from the start of the game. I picked it out of the fact that I picked it on my first play-through and don't know what it would be like to lose 20% accuracy with a sniper rifle. The rate of fire definitely suffers. I also don't know if this only applies to Guns Skill weapons or if it is a generalized term for things you shoot.

Wild Wasteland: Erm… a picked trait… most useless perk in the game. I'm 1000% positive of that. I've not run into more than one encounter on my own and I didn't understand the humor of the encounter so I basically didn't even know what was amiss until someone told me what was going on. It still wasn't funny and really when it happened I looked around and couldn't figure out what happened. I honestly thought the game was just being silly by making a trippy noise >_< I would only pick this if you aren't going to pick a second trait. I was actually expecting the game to change into a joke mode with funny noises and odd-ball dialogue but it seems to be that they did next to nothing with it. I was at least expecting dialogue to change on main quest line dialogue… but it's nothing to do with that. Wasted perk as far as I'm aware… although if I hadn't have picked it I wouldn't have picked a second perk anyway. Most all of the traits have terrible set backs that aren't worth taking.
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EQUIPMENT LOAD-OUT

Weapons:

I have 3 rifles I switch between for different situations:

Anti-Material Rifle: It's good for a first shot when you don't care about getting noticed. It has a 111 damage with a lvl 100 guns and the sneak criticals + the Better Criticals perk makes it amazing. It's draw backs are that it has a 2.06 second delay between each shot and is as subtle as screaming fire during a bank robbery. It also weighs 20 and it's ammo weighs .25 per bullet and each costs a lot. It can be bought around level 14 or so. It takes all action points to fire this beast in vats so it's best used are long range... without vats.

Gobi Campaign Scout Rifle: This is a unique version of the Sniper Rifle. It's locked in the Sniper's Nest in a locker requiring a lvl 100 lock pick skill. It's my fastest firing sniper. I can get two shots off in vats instead of one. It has more shots per clip than my sniper and it weighs 4.5. It has no silencer so it's for combat sniping in mid to close ranged encounters.

Sniper Rifle +: This is a sniper with carbon fiber parts and a sound suppressor. It is the gun I use the most as it lets me snipe from afar for quite a while without being noticed. Usually I can kill an enemy and before they notice their dead friend I can pull the trigger again. It is like 2 damage more powerful than the 61 of the Gobi... so it does 63 but it has a slower rate of fire leading to only being able to fire once in vats. It weighs 3.

Aside from those 3 Rifles I keep about 6 landmines with me at a time. They are good for keeping distance if an enemy starts closing in on a failed sniping attempt. Each does 141 damage right now with lvl 98 Explosives and the bonus 40% damage. I also have a light machine gun For overwhelming odds but I almost never need to use it so I'm not going to write anything about it... it appears to be the best type of machine gun though as it has little spread and doesn't take time to rev up like a mini gun.

Apparel: I wear light armor as it doesn't hinder sneaking in any way. Currently I'm wearing Brotherhood Elder's Robes and Sunglasses so I'm really not wearing anything protective so I can remain quick and unseen. The total DT of the robes is 1. The Elder robes don't count as faction clothing too so it's nice to not have people trying to waste me just because of how I look... but anyway I just stick to Light so this info isn't that important.




I have a similar play style to you, though when i made my first character, I didn't plan him out (which i came to regret later). With your cazador problem, if you see them from far enough away, you can take one out with the suppressed sniper with a sneak critical. Then if you wait a sec you'll be in caution mode (when they see the body) then you should go back to hidden. But if they get close, my character has a riot shotgun on him. It will take out a cazador on hardcore with one or two hits, plus it has a 12 round drum. I'll be posting my character soon. :D



FalloutBoy
Emu Egg
Emu Egg

User avatar

Joined: 17 Dec 2011
Gender: Male
Posts: 1

18 Dec 2011, 2:59 pm

Should I give you my level 16 or wait till I hit 20/30?