Alright, this is the Cheats Hints and Spoilers forum, so although I don't see a lot of cheats or hints posted here, hopefully I can get some advice on this one.

I recently got all the DLC for New Vegas. Going to have to level up a bit more before I do the actual add ons (only level 10, so Dead Money and Lonesome Road are a ways away.) But I figured I would have some fun with the new weapons and ammo types that came along with GRA.

But then they cost a lot of caps.

No really, a lot of caps.

Now, its not like I want all the GRA guns right away.

(That's my end goal, as I am a bit of gun nut and I keep a fully repaired copy of all the guns I like, even if I have moved past them or just don't use them as much.)

But I would like to get the Paciencia, Medicine Stick and maybe another couple of the other "Guns" GRA weapons. Only problem is they cost 5-15,000 for the GRA versions of regular guns, and 13,000-30,000 caps for the unique weapons. Nooooooooooooooooo!

Right now, I have 5,000 caps...... I'm at level 10. My tag skills are Guns/Repair/Sneak, and a have dumped excess points into Lockpick. My barter skill is 12.

I'm not here to complain that the guns cost a lot, or that you have to buy them. This doesn't bother me, it makes getting each one feel like Christmas morning, not too mention that it helps spread out the enjoyment over a longer period of time and they are 100% condition.

So here are my questions:

How can I get lots of cash fast? I already do the whole "repair n' sell" thing, and that only nets 200-500 caps a shot, which doesn't result in a very fast trip to 13,000 caps. Its also not sustainable. Several of the merchants I know are already almost wiped out money wise, so I can't sell stuff to them.

Does anyone here who is good at Fallout math know how to figure out how much the guns cost at different Barter levels? Right now, I have 12 barter, but always wear the Roving Trader outfit when selling/buying, so its as if I have 17 Barter. At this level, Paciencia costs about 13,000 and Sprtel Wood 9700 costs 29,000ish (those are the two ones I can remember off the top of my head, seems like the common costs are 5,000-standard weapons, 9,000-better standard weapons, 13,000-uniques, 29,000 fatty uniques.

So maybe I should raise my barter level.... How much will this help. I already have comprehension and have read one of the skill books, so I can only raise my barter 12 more points by doing that.

Anyway, thanks in advance for the help. Not good at Fallout math, and I never really had to think about caps before in Fallout, since most of the unique weapons and armor are obtained by lockpicking or shooting someone in the face.

Don't worry, by the time you get to the point where those guns aren't complete overkill, the price will seem like pocket change.

Every 20 points in your Barter skill will give you 9% better buy and sell prices. If you have a high luck (at least 7-8) you can reliably earn a nice ammount in the casinos that are on the Strip, and also the one in Dead Money.

Oh also, traders refresh their inventory (and their money) every 3-4 in-game days.

Just think of getting them as a goal you've got to try and reach. Right now at level ten most of them would be so over powered anyway its wouldn't even be funny, by the time you get to a high enough level where you'll need them they won't seem so expensive anymore.

Simple. Do the weapons glitch!. You should have 200k in about 2 hours. Start at 188 trading post and buy a sniper rifle. Note, if the merchant has two of the same weapon (any weapon) you can start here but lets say she doesn't. Buy the sniper rifle and go to Gun Runners. Sell the sniper rifle, then buy it back. Sell it again then buy it back, if required sell it again and buy it back. By now the weapon will be 100% condition and several thousands more than what you buy it for. Presto clean GR out. Wait 3 days rinse and repeat. You can do this with any vendor. What I like to do is get the weapon down to zero value, meaning it is broke ass then sell and buy back. That way it does not cost you anything when you buy it twicw. Make SURE to buy the weapon you are using twice when you are done. Note, it may be hidden in your inventory so just drop one of them and it will appear. Right in front of GR I probably have 100+ 100% sniper rifles lying around with my zero value sniper rifle sitting in the garbage can. Caps is a non-issue in FONV, same as FO3. Cheers :foodndrink:

@PeterF: Wow. This is all really good info. The barter part is interesting, maybe next level I'll move it up 10 or so it make it 5% better. The luck info is good as well, since I have a luck of 7. Looks like I'm heading to the casino. And thanks for info on the traders too. I'll just rotate who I sell to.

@apex predator: but I wanna have them now..... But yeah, I kind of expected that. I was trying to see if I could get at least 1 incredibly earlier than I should have so that I could dominate some guys for a few levels. Goals are cool to though. Like I said, the wait makes it seem like Christmas morning when you can get one

@ddamien1717: I have heard about this one a million times, but have never attempted it. You have a pretty detailed explanation of how to do it so I'll probably refer to yours when I attempt it. Might try it to get a weapon or two for the reasons I mentioned above, but I'll probably get the rest the regular way. Otherwise I feel like I would just get incredibly bored since I would be a level 10 just murdering everyone with Bozar all day.

Don't worry about obtaining them when you're level 10, they all surpass the level 16+ weapons.
Plus maintaining them will be tough until you get Jury Rigging anyway.

Vicky and Vance casino. 500k caps in 1 minute if done right...

There are plenty of low end GRA weapons

Not having caps to buy the weapons... I know it svcks, believe me, but later on in the game you can be swimming in piles of caps with nowhere to spend them. It takes a little effort and a good dozen-to-few hours' worth of gameplay until it happens, unless you're really busting ass on it, but an abundance of caps is one of New Vegas's problems. GRA gives you high-end things to spend those caps on and present choice conflicts - implants or GRA whoopass, repair my armor or save up for Gehenna ... New Vegas needed these high-end items and their expenses.

Remember a certain achievement/trophy that requires you to .. you know .. at the you know wheres? Winning? A lot? Keep that in mind and consider that the game fully "expects" players to achieve a certain wealth, but then it did not supply an application for that wealth. Now there's an application for that wealth.




(As for New Vegas's other problems, STABILITY. I am officially hating this game more than loving it.)

Hey you have Dead Money. The entire GRA set is just a DLC away then.

As others have said, gambling is a good way to get lots of caps early on. Although personally I used most of my winnings to buy implants from the local doc.

Another way of getting some easy money is to go straight into the Lonesome road DLC. There are some decent weapons laying around in the first bunker as well as on the dead marked men on the top floor (ok, you have to fight a few sentry droids first but EDE can handle them with a little help from you).

A few arc-welders, plasma rifles, plasma defenders, nail guns, as well as other bits and pieces can all bring some decent caps in trade. Not to mention the EDE upgrade that allows him to repair your weapons, meaning more money when you sell them.

And the joy of this dlc is that you can jump in and out whenever you want to.

At lower levels you can go for the GRA equivalents of some of the early weapons, such as the Plasma Pistol, which aren't all that expensive. If you have the caps/trade goods and find the wandering merchants, you can go for the GRA Plasma Defender instead, which is a tier higher than the Pistol and won't break your bank.

Guns are a bit more limited in GRA terms early on, although there are a couple of options (I've been concentrating on the EW, so not as familiar with the early GRA Guns weapons).

As for how to buy the stuff, just take everything not nailed down and trade it for the items you want. Even though a lot of it isn't worth much individually, there are literally tons of things lying around you can gather and trade, and it adds up faster than you might think. A high Barter skill also helps, but isn't required, however when going for the big-ticket stuff it will save you thousands of caps in trade value so should be a serious consideration.

The only time I really invest in Barter is whenever I play on hardcoe mode, but that's just me.
The earliest I've ever gotten a GRA gun was about level 8-9 and I'm talking about Paciencia. The trick is that I scavenge everything that I deem valuable and get companions as soon as possible to maximize inventory space. This can take awhile if you're not as insane as I am about scavenging and the all important caps to weight ratio. A quick way to get several thousand caps quickly is to sneak kill the two Gunrunner's guards who patrol the around the outside of the building just behind the Vendortron's shack. Killing them won't affect your ability to buy weapons from the Gunrunner's and won't even change the prices.

Exploit every possible discount to get your gun, Paciencia is sold by Cliff Briscoe in Novac and his discount is probably the easiest to get in the game. Talk to Jeannie May Crawford about the store, tell Cliff that she referred you there and the discount has been gained.

The most useful GRA weapons in my opinion are the fully modded Katana(which is actually pretty cheap compared to the other GRA weapons and considering how useful it is)and the the Lil' Devil(which is one of the most expensive, but once I got it I never used another sidearm. Sleepytyme, the Medicine Stick, Esther and Paciencia are all pretty amazing too.

Dang, a bunch of responses overnight. Seems like the general sentiments are:

Gamble it up on the Strip.

Those weapons are super powerful for a level 10 character, and even when you start getting them at 15 they are going to be powerful.

Later on, you are going to have a bunch of caps with nothing to buy, so the GRA weapons will fill that role.

Stuff that I found interesting:

@Kor'Ah: Yeah, but from what I heard it involves running out of a room before you get blown up, while massively over encumbered.

@Hooligantuan: Hmm, what you said about New Vegas being really cap heavy seems to explain some of the attitudes I've been seeing around on the forums. Wasn't really aware of this myself, to be honest. I put 400+ hours into Fallout 3, and got to level 23 after about 90 hours in New Vegas about a year ago. But I took a huge break due to some issues, and missed a lot of the comversations that probably went on in the months after the game was released. And to be honest, even thought I put 90 hours into New Vegas on that one character, I didn't really do a whole lot, so maybe I just never got to point where the caps start just accumulating. Anyway, interesting thing that I hadn't really been aware of before.

@General Masters, The Lobotomite: Yeah, I need just to start picking up and sellin everything. I already do the whole "Wonderglue weighs 1, and is worth 10, so its more useful to me than bubblegum for sales purposes", but I might start going back to what I did for a while in FO3, and after I clear an area like Repconn, get a companion, go back with nothing on me but a Cowboy Repeater, and then just steal everything not tied down. I'm talkin hammers, Red Plates, shot glasses, everything. Then just load me and the companion all the way up, fast travel back to Novac, sell, repeat until the area is literally empty.

@The Lobotomite: I actually really appreciated your opinions on which weapons you found most useful. I always enjoy hearing what people liked most and for what reasons, what they use it for. Also might help me decide my next purchase. My first purchase is and always was going to be Paciencia, but maybe I'll buy Lil Devil second instead of some of the other guns I was considering.

There is one fairly big disadvantage with Paciencia that I only learned about after having a lot of my long range shots missing(I'm not saying I'm the best shot ever, but this gun and the Hunting Rifle have the second lowest spread of any weapon) and I looked on the wiki. The problem with this and the unmodded Hunting Rifle is that the iron sights are very slightly off. This isn't an issue at short to mid range, but long range sniper shots are a crap shoot. It still helped me a hell of a lot and I will always love that gun, but I eventually traded it in for a fully modded Hunting Rifle for the near perfect scope.