Since Skyrim has bored me, at least until the Creation Kit is released, I have decided to give my time to New Vegas. I need some help with a character though. However I do have a basic layout.

I want the theme to be Science or Science/Scavenger. I have all the official DLC except Gun Runners armory. I want to do something with Old World Blues, especially since I haven't actually completed it yet. I play on the PC so mods are welcome.

Questions:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

I want to roleplay this but I have a hard time since no matter what character I make, I always end up doing the same thing. Any suggestions to get around this?

Any tips/mods to disable or limit the use of Fast Travel? I have a hard time not using that at certain points as well.

I don't want to be rich in game unless it is casino related and RP into it.

Factions: What factions should I choose? Main, minor, ect. I do not like the Powder Gangers, Legion or Boomers. I am sick of NCR, but I am willing to help them out every once in a while.. I am split between two main factions: Independent or House.

Main Questline: I do not want to pursue it directly. I do not want Benny to be my number one priority early in game.

SPECIAL stats? I would like a good intelligence level obviously. Three tag skills? What should I focus on, not a big fan of straight melee but I will use them. Traits, if any?

I plan to eat, drink, and sleep regularly, however I do not want hardcoe mode, I feel too much rush/pressure when using it. Any tips to make the game a struggle? Any mods that could do this are welcome. I don't want tons of ammunition or guns early on.

Good companions? Anyway to RP into these companions? I don't want to just go out and search for them.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
End of questions.

Thanks guys for the help, I am looking forward to getting out in the Mojave once again. Can't wait for your suggestions and opinions!

Well that is a tall order of questions. Welp, I haven't played NV since I completed Lonesome Road (sans the Courier's Mile), but I'll give it my best shot.

1. This is the only one that I am not sure of. When you play video games, especially in first-person shooters, you tend to play it not through the eyes of Sherlock Holmes or Soap Mactavish, but yourself. After all, it is your experience and they are merely the instruments that place you in the world of the game. That's why whenever I try to play a bad character, I always end up doing the right thing and having Very High karma.

2. I never minded using Fast Travel, but a good alternative could be to get Project Nevada and disable everything in the mod except for the sprint function (which can be done in the Aid menu). Based on videos I've seen, the sprint is pretty fast and may help to curb your Fast Travel urges.

3. If ever have extra money, then give it away. Buy everything from the poor vendors, such as the owners of the Grub n Gulp, and just drop it after the fact. Or you could turn your difficulty up to Very Hard and take a stroll through OWB. Soon you'll be sinking all of your excess into stimpaks.

4. Definitely side with the BoS and the Followers at some point. And pick House if you are a scientist working for the greater good, and Yes Man if you have your own goals. Preferably goals with conquest involved.

5. Not a question.

6. SPECIAL I am going to leave up to you; I'm not sure how you are going to play through this playthrough. But my suggestions for tag skills are Science, Energy, and Survival. Those strike me as science-like characteristics, but you will have time to shape your character over 50 levels.

7. Sorry, but if you want to do that, then I have to suggest hardcoe mode on this one. You can still eat, sleep, and drink without it, but if you want the challenge, then you'll need hardcoe. But you can also see the changes made with http://newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=40040 and see if they help.

8. Arcade and Veronica. You heard about the Followers and decided to travel to Vegas to see the organization, and you run into Veronica on the way.

Sorry, but I am pretty rusty. Hope I helped in some way, though. :wink_smile:

It has given me some thought thanks. Probably should have elaborated on "5". I have a bad habit of going straight to Vegas in every character, I just need some ways to get past that urge.

I went to Zion before going to Vegas in a couple of playthroughs, and being involved in that questline seemed to draw my interest away from the main quest. I ended up returning to the Mojave and doing a lot of side quests and exploration before I really got back into the main quest.

Interesting. Problem with that is why would go there in the first place. I have also decided to have no affiliation with the BoS, I do not like the Mojave BoS, perhaps I would have some sort of connection with the Enclave.

That's true. A science based character wouldn't have much of a reason to go to Zion. But HH is the only DLC that is easy enough at lower levels, so you might want to focus on doing some of the main quest in order to have Arcade offer his Enclave quest. Then you could do OWB once you have Enclave PA and a few decent weapons.

Problem is I want to flow with the game, not try and get levels to complete certain points. Though I will cross these points eventually, I don't want them completed to be my motive of playing.

Edit: Decided to go with HC mode and Project Nevada.

Hmm, well I would suggest simply going the long route to New Vegas; try to make stops everywhere along the way and do any quests that interest you. Maybe do some exploring if you don't feel like doing certain quests; if your character is a scavenger type, then this should fit into your RP pretty well.

I'm totally the opposite as you. In games like these, especially Fallout, you need to develop a huge amount of patience, and learn to explore every nook and cranny, take time to sit through NPC dialogue, travel back to the earlier villages as often as possible. I didn't get to New Vegas till my 100th game hour, and it felt like much more of an achievement, and thrill when I saw the bright lights, and heard "Ain't That a Kick In the Head" playing there, reminding me of how far I'd come. Good luck! :foodndrink:

Ever consider developing self-control? If you truly want to be good at roleplaying and sticking to a chosen path/playstyle for a specific char, there simply is no replacement for it. There is no way to 'mod out' all of your lazy and ingrained tendencies... you'll have to actually relearn how to play games, using actual willpower instead of your old "OOH! A Twinkie! " methods. If you don't want to do something, in order to stick to an RPG plan, then.... dont do it.

If you have no willpower, and don't want to cultivate it, then nobody, and no mod, is going to be able to miraculously take its place. Sorry.

Do an unarmed character, join the legion get special tricks for unarmed and be just a bad person

Cheers

I know about Fallout it is my life. I just need some help with RPing in New Vegas, in Fallout 1,2,3 I could easily fit my different playstyles. It is just New Vegas that I seem to have trouble. I suppose what I meant by "Going straight to Vegas" was the actual route to the city. Though your comments to help in a sense you kind of tell me how you resist a set path.



I have plenty of willpower. It is just New Vegas I have trouble roleplaying. It has a set cowboy theme to it and I feel that i would fit in if I was a rifle shooting courier. I decided to play a scientist type figure whose motives were to either help the world with his knowledge and inventions or "take it over" with science, not necessarily evil but does what he wants. When I asked for mods I meant immersion type mostly, and Project Nevada has been working wonders with hardcoe mode.

I suppose my hatred for hardcoe mode was when I did it for the first time to get the achievement and I also sided with the Legion to get their achievement line. I was on the Xbox at the time. And I hated the Legion so much along with hardcoe mode, it was insane. It left an impression on me the hardcoe svcked. I have tried it again after a few months of not playing and I find it a great experience.

Oddly enough, Rping in Fallout 1 and 2 is much easier than New Vegas despite the same general location of all three games. In those games I don't feel trapped with every city a few feet from each other and all these quests and problems. It was much easier to play and enjoy. I love New Vegas too!

I guess what I really wanted from this topic was "What do you guys do in my situation?", "How would YOUR character go through this playstyle? "Good tips for immersion?" ect. Wasn't really expecting to get bashed about my assumed lack of RP abilities and Fallout love.


Oh well, I have a good idea on how I want to do this.

My scientist is an explosive expert. The only weapons he uses are explosives. With all of the DLC and some mods he has tons of recipes to turn junk into boom-boom toys. After all the patches my bombs can actually hurt deathclaws and other top end enemies so it doesn't feel as frustrating anymore. Explosives tend to require more thought put into tactics than other weapons due to the friendly fire and trap aspects, so that is why I have my scientist using them.

As an explosive junky my character has only 4-5 luck since crits do not do extra damage with most if not all explosives. I would go with 1 luck, but I have developed the habit of keeping my luck higher so that I don't blow myself up which happens quite often in the originals (Damn gamesas for watering down SPECIAL!).

I put less into AGI and more into END because I tend to blow myself up with splash damage. I have gotten away with an END of 1, but I had companions taking the heat most of the time on that character.

Having a high STR is handy, but totally unnecessary. All enemies are going to have crippled legs and/or knocked down almost immediately so melee almost never gets in range to be a threat. This allows me to get away with wearing lighter armor. The GRA explosive ammo for the AMR feels like cheating.

Hehe, sorry. It was a pretty gentle 'bash', though, more of a pep-talk with lumps in it Reason I gave it, was because the way you wrote 2-3 of your questions made it sound like you were asking for mod-crutches to help you stop doing things that simple willpower would do fine to prevent... like the not using fast travel one, not always just heading to New Vegas immediately, etc. Anyway, sounds like you got some ideas to work with, so g'luck in your travels, and don't take any wooden deathclaws!

Yeah I was just joking around about the bash, yeah I have a good idea what to do now.