For (SPECIAL Stats) set Agility/Luck to 7 this will make using VATS more effective right of the bat giving you more points to as well as higher chance to get critical shots/kills
every other stat should be at 5 or higher do NOT have a 4 or less for a stat(s) some perks require you to have a 5 to 6 or even higher to select that perk for use

Spending (Skill Points) depends on the difficulty your on easy to very easy for explorer casual type players would not need to have a 90-100 max for your combat skills you can get by with 80 tops

Saving points for extra stuff like Repair which is very important and more handy then you think being able to have a gun at high condition making that gun even more deadlier
plus never needing to rely on caps to pay other to fix your stuff

Soooooo... basically the same as fallout 3? lol but on a serious note im sure beginners would appreciate this V. much.

Also, as in Fallout3, you can make Charisma a dump stat and drop it to one with no real problems (unless you're into RP like me and feel it's unrealistic)

Unlike Fallout 3 Endurance and Strength are even more vital.

Endurance and Strength are also of great import, Endurance determines health and also effects how many stat improving implants you can get during the game (influencing how your SPECIAL stats can eventually get).

Strength determines your ability to use heavier weapons which now have an associated strength requirement. If you want to use end game weapons like the Anti-Material Rifle you're going to want at least 5/6 which can be boosted by upgrades and items to get the 8 you need. Alternately, if you want to take the weapon handling perk, STR is less vital but still bloody important.

My 2c

I think int is important too I will make my character have high int

My Tips.

Repair is not that useful, for repairing items, as you can find a person to repair your items fairly early on in the game about 3-4 "outposts" away. What repair is good for it making ammo.

Science, is a much better skill than repair, if you focus on energy weapons. You can get a laser pistol in the character creation area, and energy cells seem more common than they were in FO3. Science also makes repair kits.

You can craft items with Survival that give stat bonuses.

Barter is very handy, and is used more often in dialogue skill checks.

If you want caps, learn how to gamble in the game. Playing Caravan can earn you some easy caps.

Appreciate the advice.

From what I have found in the game, every skill is useful, no joke. Pretty much what everyone has said is true, it doesnt really matter what skills you take, just depends on how you want to play your character. All skills are useful they all help your characters in different ways choose what you want.

The Intelligience attribute in your S.P.E.C.I.A.L will grant you more points each time you level up the higher it is.

IMPLANTS whhhaaat? how does that work? what do they do? how much? is it infinite? i just turned 6 yrs old, when i saw implants lol

I highly disagree. Unless this game has people that can repair much better than FO3 there is nobody who can get your equipment even close to 100% let alone past 100%. There's nothing that comes close to improving the damage a weapon does than having it repaired to a high level.

I like how the Repair skill works in NV. As in, you being able to repair a weapon or piece of armor to max with minimal skill. It'll just take several more of that item to repair it to max. Also, if you notice that on armor and weapons there's a notch. If you can repair an item to or past that notch, it'll be at full efficiency (max dmg for weapons, max defense for armor). Not only will they be more effective in combat, but you can also make the most profit from fully repaired stuff. Hell, the 10mm Pistol, at max condition, guarantees at least 400+ caps.

Money is super easy to make if you have a high Luck skill. Just got to your casino of choice and watch the chips roll in

Never ever leave a store with less caps than you came in with. Scavenge the hell out of everything, fadt travel to a store that you know can buy most of your goods. Barter skill heps u not get screwed out of money.

1. Loot the doctor's house (the one that you start out in.) I got a bunch of useful stuff and none of it counted as stealing. I did it hidden at first, but Doc doesn't seem to care either way.

2. The money cheat from FO3 still works. I don't like to do this because it makes things too easy, but you can get all of a salesperson's caps by exploiting this trick. Find someone selling weapons or armor that has two of the same item, or one item that you have a duplicate of in your inventory. Sell him/her your duplicate item so that he/she now has two. Then buy back whichever of the items is cheaper/in worse condition. Then sell it back. Then buy it back. Now it should be in your inventory magically changed to 100% condition. You can then sell it back for the full price. You can repeat this over and over because the item goes back into their inventory at the original condition. This should work for every weapon and armor. It is also a good way to get a 100% condition weapon because you can keep your purchase after the last transaction instead of selling it back.

First guy I found that could repair my stuff got it to about 75% condition on everything.

Getting to 100% after that, is what weapon repair kits are for... You also have to consider that you need a second gun to repair your main gun, and sometimes that second gun isn't too easy to find.

Further more, most Armour only needs about 50% condition to be consider in top quality.

Of course the real trick is in order to have Agility and luck both at 7, at least one of your stats is going to have to be below 5.

Edit: I miscounted the stat points. There's enough points to get 2X 7's and a 6 without having to lower anything below 5.

Thanks for the thread. I only had a chance to play a couple hours last night so am still figuring things out. One question I had was on food and water. It seems like it only gives you a temporary boost? So is it just useful to help you get to a bed to heal up?

Same with the skill books, I am figuring out that skill books are more plentiful but the boost they give is only temporary?

Some clothing or armor helps boosts your SPECIAL STAT(S) by 1 or more so that helps

I keep forgetting about that myself so don't stress out about your stats :sleep2:

Food and water are critical in hardcoe mode...
in normal mode....well you can all but skip picking them up.

I have a few tips for people.
First off, high Intelligence taken earlier on is important for building your skills up, as it allows more points to be distributed when you level up.
Another tip is when scavenging, be sure to check the weight to value ratio. Granted, fission batteries may seem nice as they have a value of 75 caps, but at 6 weight, the ratio is somewhere in the ballpark of 1:12.
If you have the chance, it would be better to pick up sensor modules (2:30 = 1:15) or pilot lights (1:14). In addition, if you choose to eventually grab the packrat perk, all items under 2 lbs will be doubled in ratio.
Just watch for that.

@ Celan:
Skill books are actually less common, there are only 4 for each skill, but skill MAGAZINES are very common and can even be purchased from vendors, but they only give a temporary bonus of +10 (20 with comprehension(?) perk).

@capeo and KellionBane:
The first traveling merchant I encountered had a repair skill of 100 and could repair my items to full. But it would also cost tens of thousands of caps with the equipment I am using now.

And yes, armor reaches max defense at 50% and weapons max dps at roughly 75%, but higher means you get to keep it at max longer. You won't lose that nice max bonus after getting hit once.

As per the food/water discussion, yes they are essential in hardcoe, but not entirely useless in normal. Sarsparilla, for example, actually heals 50 points of health over 25 seconds, and gives you a cap (chance of star cap) every time you use one. Granted they weigh 1 lb each, but as I decided to go with packrat, life seems much easier popping one of those after I get hit once in any fight.


And watch out using the duplication technique with the current bugs, I have actually had it eat my item and caps.

Charisma is NOT a dump stat in this game. The higher your charisma, the more powerful stats your companions have, so don't screw with it unless you plan on traveling alone or waiting ond teammates who constantly die.

First NCR post gets your equipment to 100.... still i dont think repair isnt vital especially if you are going a conventional guns route.

Don't join the powder gangers. Those quests will kill you, and even if you survive, prepare to live the life of a lonely raider.