So I was wondering if it's possible to be liked by all the factions in the game at the same time. I'm guessing it's impossible to be idolised by everyone, given that Powder Gangers - Goodsprings and Legion - NCR tread on each other's toes, but can you get everyone friendly, and if so how friendly? I'm thinking about creating an uber-diplomat, and wondered if anyone had any ideas or suggestions.

No you cannot. You can keep both the legion and NCR neutral or better for a while, but if you continue to do quests you are doomed to vilify one of them by Volare.

EDIT: I believe you can be liked by the NCR, have neutral legion, accepted brotherhood, neutral Powder Gangers, and liked Goodsprings. That's as good as I can recall ever having, trying not to alienate anyone.

Right, I figured you couldn't go the whole way through the MQ and manage it, but suppose I was going to ignore the MQ after catching up with Benny, and just try and butter everyone up instead?

Edited

Aside from Legionnaire/Powder Ganger scum, I am usually idolized by everyone by the time games over.

I tried doing this one on my Mr House play through. It worked for a long time. But eventually the only factions that didn't like me were both the Legion and NCR. Not that I mind the Legion hating me. I assassinated Caesar so they have the right to hate me. What I don't understand is how I do so many great things for the NCR in the game and I end up being called a "Wild Child" or something like that and they attack me. I have to wear Veteran Armor just to walk somewhere without getting shot.

Actually, you can. Just handle the Legion with care, you can beat the game being idolized by all.

If your going to ignore the main quests in act ii it's quite easy to be idolized by everyone except powder gangers. I'm playing one of these types of characters atm so I don't pick quests that negatively affect a faction. It is an interesting character to play, there are certain unmarked quests you can do to raise your standing with factions without ticking anyone else off. However once you start on the final quests and you get a shoot on sight quest update from another faction that does not like what your doing, your diplomacy days are over.

I've also had the idea of combining this character with a pacifist run. Does anyone know if you lose faction rep for simply knocking people out, rather than killing them? I'm trying to think of a way round the powder gangers attacking on sight thing.



Is that right? Have you managed it? I suppose you could just turn in a whole lot of NCR dogtags/Legion ears, though acquiring them in sufficent numbers without losing faction rep could be tricky.

On Goodsprings: do you have to save that scavenger from Geckos to become idolised? In my current game, I helped out Ringo and fixed the bar's radio, but failed to save the scavenger, and so am only 'liked', and I don't see any other opportunities to acquire reputation here.

I question this. How?

nah, if you want to be liked by Goodsprings your reputation with the Powder Gangers will drop at least one level

No, If you do the gecko killing quest with sunny smiles, and then talk to the blonde girl, you are liked.

If you have a silenced Sniper Rifle and a good Guns skill you can amass a fair number of tags/ears via (ab)use of the sneak-combat mechanisms. You may want to save before each attempt, just in case, but what you do is take them out from long range while [HIDDEN], and you will lose no reputation for doing so. As a side benefit you can make a steady income from both the tag/ear sales and that of the resultant loot. Tags can also sometimes be pick-pocketed from NCR troops, however not all of them carry any and they are often in 'alert' status, so this can be difficult unless you have high sneak and a supply of Stealthboys.

As far as Goodsprings is concerned: if the settler is not saved from the three Geckos at the third well you cannot get Idolized reputation with the town, as stopping the Powder Gangers will not get you there by itself.

Pickpocketing is quite easy for the tags because it has something to do with Luck and Weight. Simply hide behind a trooper (save) and enter pickpocketing if he doesn't have a tag (which seems to be pretty rare) simply exit out (he won't attack).

I think that's it. Every time they've killed her I could only be Liked.
Hey, did you know she shacks up with Trudy?

its possible to be liked by everyone with Legion as the exception...i wouldnt say that would be very hard either.

Huh, no I didn't. Well I never.

Anway, some good suggestion people, ta very much. No-one knows whether non-lethal takedowns affect faction rep, though? I'm still pondering the Powder Ganger problem (silenced sniper rifles being thin on the ground in the early stages of the game and all). Opportunities to accrue Powder Ganger rep seem to be thin on the ground, I can only think of Vault 19 and NCRF (and even that may mean getting bad NCR rep in the process). And usually just siding with Goodsprings gets me hated by the Gangers, if not vilified.

Oh! What about Animal Friend? If I had rank 2 before doing the Goodsprings quest, could I just let the local bighorners defend the town without it affecting my PG rep, or does it work like companions, and any kills they make will reflect badly on me?

It's might be possible to be idolized with both NCR and Legion. You'll have to hoard NCR dogtags for Legion fame (lots of them) and you'll also have to avoid killing faction members openly. Final battle might be hard to pull. Sneaking through the lines is the only option.

That being said, I don't know if there's some trigger that makes you instantly vilified with any faction in the main quest line.

Yeah, I can now confirm that this is definitely not true. On my Yes-Man run, I was idolised by the NCR all game, but even after saving Kimball the moment I went to the El Dorado substation my NCR rep changed to Good-Natured Rascal (or something similar). This depsite resolving every quest save the MQ in favour of the NCR.

I still think it's do-able if you forget about the MQ, but you can't beat the game and be idolised by every faction.

Stealth Boy and go in alone, worked for me. If that isn't enough, save some NCR quest for it.

I used a stealth-boy myself. None of the guards at the sub-station went hostile, but the moment I activated the console inside my NCR rep was affected (without making the guards hostile mind). It seems to be a scripted event.

Note: after this, I was still friendly with the NCR, they didn't attack on sight or anything, but I was no longer 'idolised'.

Valkebus, I know he means well, but this is probably the third time I caught him spreading information he claims is true that DEFINITELY is not. He also claimed "Throwing Knives are common among all vendors", so that should tell you where his perception of this game is really at. Intrigued by this, I forced him to tell me who all sells them aside from Chets 2 Throwing knives and Mick/Ralphs 15. He replied with "Calamity and Great Kahns". Calamity only sells medical related supplies, and after doing the inventory cycle glitch with the Great Khans Armorer 10 times and not seeing a single throwing knife, I have to call shenanigans.

He only gives information that either A: Everyone already knows, or B: Is false. Whats worst is he posts a lot. I don't know if he is just a troll, or if he REALLY does think these things are happening, but it's inconvenient for us how often he says these things, and I wish he would stop doing it.

Woah there! ("That's French for 'stop the horse'".) I'm sure valkebus isn't deliberately spreading misinformation, and calling someone a troll is a surefire way to derail my thread, which was supposed to be about working out the mechanics of the rep system and how to exploit them. So don't, please.

Well, I never accused him of intentionally being or doing either, but you're right.

I'm just saying, if you want to save yourself time and energy, take what valkebus says with a grain of salt.

if you dont focus on the main quest you can be idolized by NCR & the legion, like me