Fallout: new Vegas: starting out

[Masdraw]

Okay so in fallout new Vegas I am having trouble starting out. Okay I got new Vegas recently and i need to get better weapons and armor. All I have is light metal armor, a varmit rifle, and a 9mm pistol any advice

[Lexx]

That should be totally enough to deal with everything in the beginning.

 

Except if you walk into the deathclaw territory in the north... you should walk into the south.

[alanschu]

Progressing along the crit path story will help you get to areas that unlock better weapons.  The Varmit Rifle and 9mm should be just fine for the early parts of the game, however.

 

How, exactly, are you struggling?

 

If you try heading north at the beginning, you will find VERY VERY tough battles (you're not really supposed to head that way to start)

[AGX-17]

Okay so in fallout new Vegas I am having trouble starting out. Okay I got new Vegas recently and i need to get better weapons and armor. All I have is light metal armor, a varmit rifle, and a 9mm pistol any advice

I'm going out on a limb here to assume you've only just started the game and haven't gone far beyond Goodsprings.

Kill the guys you run into on the road to Vegas and take their guns and ammo which are better than varmint rifles. Repair them to high condition and equip them. The light metal armor that came with your merc pack is already better than most of what you'll run into prior to Camp Golf (easily stolen 100% CND combat armor and helmet,) and Durable Dunn's Sacked Caravan (two suits of black combat armor.)

Progressing along the crit path story will help you get to areas that unlock better weapons.  The Varmit Rifle and 9mm should be just fine for the early parts of the game, however.

 

How, exactly, are you struggling?

 

If you try heading north at the beginning, you will find VERY VERY tough battles (you're not really supposed to head that way to start)

If he has light metal armor he must have the Mercenary Pack, and thus the grenade rifle that comes with it. Using that you can get past the cadazors at the tribal village. I've done it before, and taken out the Vipers in Bonnie Springs (with help from the drugs lying around at the tribal village.) Edited January 31, 2013 by AGX-17

[alanschu]

 

If he has light metal armor he must have the Mercenary Pack, and thus the grenade rifle that comes with it. Using that you can get past the cadazors at the tribal village. I've done it before, and taken out the Vipers in Bonnie Springs (with help from the drugs lying around at the tribal village.

 

You may have done it before, but you probably weren't thinking "what's that super fast looking dragonfly thing?"

[AGX-17]

 

 

If he has light metal armor he must have the Mercenary Pack, and thus the grenade rifle that comes with it. Using that you can get past the cadazors at the tribal village. I've done it before, and taken out the Vipers in Bonnie Springs (with help from the drugs lying around at the tribal village.

 

You may have done it before, but you probably weren't thinking "what's that super fast looking dragonfly thing?"

 

 

No, but given the apparent inability of large numbers of new players to find/read the "DO NOT GO NORTH" signs, and the posession of a gun that shoots explosions, one can reasonably assume that some proportion, however small, of pre-purchasers/GOTY players with the Merc pack did successfully traverse that area, ignorant of the fact that they weren't "supposed to." Then again, the Cazadors fail to spawn with a not-insignificant degree of frequency, so in that case it's irrelevant and "lucky" players can head northwest unassailed. Edited January 31, 2013 by AGX-17

[BruceVC]

Okay so in fallout new Vegas I am having trouble starting out. Okay I got new Vegas recently and i need to get better weapons and armor. All I have is light metal armor, a varmit rifle, and a 9mm pistol any advice

 

 

Ah you bring back memories, I remember that feeling of almost helplessness in the beginning of F:NV with no effective equipment and having to face the big, bad post-apocalyptic world. Thats one of the reasons I love the game so much. Its the fact that during the game you constantly feel its a battle for survival

[Darkpriest]

Well in this game I have yet to play anything else than a sniper type of character... The RT combat feels for me rather bad, especially when you start to face very fast moving opponents.

 

Varmint rifle + scope + silencer and ED-E companion made me play the game almost on easy mode. Once I've found Ratslayer - enhanced Varmint rifle with all the upgrades on it already, then I started to clear up the whole map, with exclusion of Super Mutants and Deathclaws. Once I got my hands on sniper rifle though, it was easy mode all the way. It's just the time spending hunting a good sniper spot, but there are so many of them, that you really have to not care about them to miss them. I've cleared the whole Quarry Junction solo without taking any point of dmg. All you need is a sense of space and patience. (+some silenced and scoped weapon of a long range death)

 

Guns

Sneak

Silenced weapon with scope

=

Godmode

 

9mm can also have a scope, but it's shorter range and 9mm dmg is more in the rate of fire, which makes armored opponents rather tough... Radscorpions, people in medium and heavy armor, (not to mention Deathclaws - I was really shocked when I had to use AP rounds vs them to be effective)...

[HoonDing]

Okay so in fallout new Vegas I am having trouble starting out. Okay I got new Vegas recently and i need to get better weapons and armor. All I have is light metal armor, a varmit rifle, and a 9mm pistol any advice

Get Boone or Felicia Day.

[LadyCrimson]

Sniping in FNV worked really well, indeed. And yes, getting one of the human companions also made things much easier. To the point where some people didn't like to use them.

[Gorgon]

I never used them. Except the eyebot for extra storage. They have special quests, but that takes too damn long to unlock. You get overpowered soon enough, then you look back fondly on the time where you had to think before engaging that group of raiders.

[SupidSeep]

If you are really adventurous and enterprising, you can try going northeast and somehow sidestep the dangerous critters.

 

I won't say it would be easy to find a safe path though, but it is possible. In my first playthrough with no knowledge of the game at all, I remember stocking up on gecko steaks before trying to punch my way through Cazadore territory (literally, unarmed build with a Bladed Gauntlet and no ranged weapons) north of Goodsprings. I forgot how many times I limped back to Doc Mitchel to get my char patched up (playing on Hardcore mode) before I finally stomped enough bugs to clear a way to the shiny light city in the distance. Cazador territory is possible, Deathclaw territory no way.

Edited February 2, 2013 by SupidSeep

[Gorgon]

Depends on your sneak skill. Sometimes they spawn too far away and you can use the rocks near black mountain to get ot safety. Then when they give up make a run for it.

[Lexx]

If one plays the game for the first time, I would never suggest that way anyway. Even if you make it through, you are better off staying in the "low level areas" first and following the main story at least until Boulder City.

[LadyCrimson]

I definitely like playing a game, the first time, in at least somewhat of the intended order quest wise. I sometimes deviate a bit while exploring out of the way nooks and crannies, and that's fine but I like getting story information in order (main story at least) ... assuming it's a game that benefits by that. I tend to think most story/chr rpg's do.

[SupidSeep]

I personally like the option of wandering off the beaten track from the word 'go'. Glad there is the option for the stubborn and foolhardy to get somewhere earlier than intended.

 

It is not exactly fun to step in a situation potentially more that what your PC can handle, but it is memorable. After punching my way through the Cazadore path @ Level 5, soon after I ended up following a quest into Vault 22, still armed with the same Bladed Gauntlet.

 

I spent a good amount of time there at half-health, half-crippled, worrying over my rapidly diminishing cache of Gecko Steaks and wondering "What am I doing in this hellhole?"

[Lexx]

This reminds me of the first time I played the game. I was reading the signs and everything, but I thought "yeah, I am sure it will be sooo hard... yadda-yadda" ... then I was meeting a radscorpion and had to pump all my ammo into it to get it dead... That was the moment where I thought I should stick to the main path for the moment. :>

[Darkpriest]

To be honest there is quite an easy way of getting north. You find fairly early one 2 stealthboys. You easily get to Sloan without much trouble, when you start seeing first deathclaws, you activate a stealthboy, run straight towards neil's shack, then you most likely need to re-apply your second stealthboy and just run straight line to REPCON HQ, from there it's easy trek to New Vegas.

 

I had my high luck (9 luck at start) character going to Vegas, bought naughty sleepywear at Mick&Ralphs, won all the funds at Black Jack table at Atomic Wrangler, went to The Strip, broke all The Strip casinos at Black Jack tables and voila, I was level 5 with over 40k caps... I would have been lower level (2-3) if not for the fact that once you hit the strip and marks They-went-that-way as a completed quest and that's a **** load of xp at that low level

Edited February 3, 2013 by Darkpriest

[MrBrown]

You can easily get to New Vegas at the start, with no special gear or anything. Just go to Sloan, and then walk on the ledges of the mountain/hill east of the road, past the deathclaws. If you walk on the ledges, even if the deathclaws spot you, they can't climb up. Easiest way to get high enough is to go near Neil's Shack and then head up the ledges. Once your close to the Ranger Safehouse, you should be clear.

 

Works 9 times out of 10. Sometimes one of the deathclaws spawns to close to the safehouse, you can't get past it. Just reload.

[SupidSeep]

I also figured out a clear path to New Vegas from Sloan, except I sidestepped the Deathclaws by cutting across an unguarded portion of the winding road leading to Black Mountain. Don't even need a Stealthboy.

 

Be very careful to avoid xp gain and you can hit New Vegas with sufficiently low enough XP to gamble and buy the Int implant before Level 2.

Edited February 3, 2013 by SupidSeep

[MrBrown]

I also figured out a clear path to New Vegas from Sloan, except I sidestepped the Deathclaws by cutting across an unguarded portion of the winding road leading to Black Mountain.

 

Be very careful to avoid xp gain and you can hit New Vegas with sufficiently low enough XP to gamble and buy the Int implant before Level 2.

 

Before level 3 is enough, due to how the skill points work (rounded up on even levels, down on odd).

[LadyCrimson]

I personally like the option of wandering off the beaten track from the word 'go'. Glad there is the option for the stubborn and foolhardy to get somewhere earlier than intended.

Oh, I like that the option is there. I just don't tend to do it the first time, myself.

[SupidSeep]

Before level 3 is enough, due to how the skill points work (rounded up on even levels, down on odd).

Umm, if I understand the skill point allocation in F:NV, if you have 0.5 points, it is carried over to the next level.

 

Reference from Fallout wiki. 

 

So, getting the Int implant before Level 2 does make a difference of ONE SKILL POINT!

[alanschu]

Which makes the difference between ultimate victory and embarrassing defeat.

[AGX-17]

I also figured out a clear path to New Vegas from Sloan, except I sidestepped the Deathclaws by cutting across an unguarded portion of the winding road leading to Black Mountain. Don't even need a Stealthboy.

 

Be very careful to avoid xp gain and you can hit New Vegas with sufficiently low enough XP to gamble and buy the Int implant before Level 2.

Yeah, during certain times of day you can pass through Black Mountain without running into Super Mutants (but you can run into their impotent Indiana Jones boulder, good job Havok!) and there's also a wild cliff-hopping path around its left/west side. You'll be noticed by Deathclaws, but they won't be able to get you and either way you'll end up at REPCONN when you're done. Good choice for science/EW/lockpicking majors (Doctorate program in lockpicking. Didn't play Fallout 3? The wasteland is lousy with institutions of higher education!)

 

Of course, sometimes the Deathclaw Alpha Male spawns on the road while you're heading to Black Mountain/Neil's Shack.

Edited February 5, 2013 by AGX-17