so i'm starting a new game first time with hardcoe. any noobie advice for me? also i want to try making items, what stuff should i be picking up and saving? thanks

Get survival so your food will heal more than stimpacks. Of course make your own food and stuff. Didn't have too much problems staying hydrated or finding a place to sleep. Be warned that the Dead Money DLC will make it hard to keep your sleep meter down because of the lack of sleepable beds. Though there is a glitch (or intentional glitch) that stops your sleep meter from getting any higher during DM, as long as you don't ever sleep in a bed.

Don't rely on guns.

Unless you have experience with hardcoe Mode.

Ammo will take up a lot of weight, so don't think that you can carry a large number of projectile weapons.

The Survival skill is very important. Collect a large amount of food items and ingredients, and use campfires often.

Be careful where you take your companions.

Always have a few bottles of Purified Water on hand.

Get to know where there are free sources of unlimited fresh water (rad-free sinks/toilets, Freeside water pump, Lake Mead, et cetera).

Here's the most useful recipe in the game IMO:


Campfire + Gecko Meat + 25 Survival Skill = Gecko Steak

I live by this simple recipe. Good food value. Good healing value. Low rads.
If you have no fresh fruit and are hungry, eat one.
If you have no Sarsaparilla and are hurt, eat one.


Here are some tips regarding food use:

1. To save on stimpaks you'll use food more for healing than for hunger so, if hungry, eat the food that heals the least and save the "health" food for healing. (e.g. Fresh fruit can be picked free all over the place, it gives very little healing but it's food and water value that adds up if you eat it in little bunches.)

2. Sarsaparilla is "food" that heals fairly well (albeit slow) but does not remove hunger. It's found free all over the place. Use it before any other healing food because all it does is heal you.

3. High survival skill increases the benefit of food (health, hunger, hydration) so beyond 25 its a great dump stat for excess skill points. I'd say the increased health benefits from food, when you increase this skill, outweighs the the benefit of also unlocking more recipes, though that's a bonus for sure.

Bloatfly Sliders, Gecko Kabobs, and Desert Salads are all awesome foods to make.

Bring Doctor's Bags. Once you get better with the hardcoe experience you probably won't need many of them but since this is your first time, make sure you have some on hand.

Sell most of the Stimpaks you find. Keep some on hand for companions, but don't bother using them on yourself.

thanks a lot evreyone for tips. i'm loving hardcoe it adds a lot more to it all. thanks again

Get your survival skill up to at lest 30 so you can cook gecko steaks, they are easy to get and easy to cook and will replenish your hunger a lot. Get your medic skill high so stimpaks will heal you better and faster. Always carry 5 doctors bags at the minimum! (the high medic skill will let the doctors bags will heal your limbs more as well, and you can make your own at 40). Ammo adds weight so carry about 5 different weapons so you have more ammo for those guns. It depends on which weapons you like. I usually carry 2 projectile weapons, Rebar Club, and some explosive weapons (Grenade's Grenade Launchers ect). Get about 6 hours of sleep every 2 days.

That's about it.

Also if you are playing Dead Money the air will hurt your lungs when you are in the villa and you will lose a couple of health points every couple of seconds (I forget how much and how long)

Disagree.

Although you said unless you have experience with hardcoe mode. When i first started hardcoe i didnt have no problems whatsoever (except a few money problems here and there)

Honestly, anyone saying hardcoe Mode is dangerous and tough is being silly, or they just had trouble with the mode. I went in nervous, expecting the Wasteland to be tough, but I found it to literally be babysitter mode.

Yeah after several playthroughs on hardcoe its just too easy now

I'm currently looking for an overhaul mod that makes hardcoe more hardcoe (hopefully something that does more than just simply raise h20 and food requirements). If anybody knows any good ones let me know

After several playthroughs? Hell it was easy the minute i started. U ask me it fits into fallout 3 more then New Vegas.

I agree, HC was easy from sec 1. Also you said that it fits FO3, I agree there as well, the story would have mattered that much more if your character would have been thirsty sometimes.

It is fairly easy to get used to, but I honestly don't think I would ever be interested in doing a non-hardcoe playthrough.

Beginners often don't have good enough accuracy or experience with guns to carry around minimal ammo (which is what you have to do on hardcoe since it has weight).

I am using both Guns and Energy Weapons in a high critical build on hardcoe ATM.

hardcoe makes the game more realistic, but not quite enough. It's a cakewalk.