They become cookie cutter when all the lazy people start to copy it. What is uniqueness in a single player game? Its not a collective effort. I am not a goon.

You sound like someone bitter after being kicked out of a group for having a bad build.

Ah but I only play single player games. In any case, I'd think that players would get more satisfaction from developing their own unique character, rather than copying a statistically min-maxed cookie cutter build. Not only will you be playing with an uncreative and unrealistic character, but you'll make the game far less challenging. There's a very fine line between powergaming and cheating -- many are basically exploiting game mechanics, making the game easier. Due to this, I always find it amusing when powergamers act tough and brag about how easy the game was to them. People playing on easy difficulty, without powergaming, usually face far tougher challenges. Powergaming is like bicycling with support wheels.

Well, I don't know exactly what kind of character I will choose. I'd like to take high strength and then explore the melee and unarmed combat since I never played FO3 that way, but I'm not sure. What I do know, is that I will probably set my perception to 1 or 2. Not because perception is not a good skill, but because a low perception will make combat much harder (get because you get ambushed easier), and a little more realistic because I'll need to go out and actually scout areas using stealth and what not.

On a side note, I actually wish that perception worked a little more like the NCR sniper companion's perk works. For those that don't know, his perk highlights enemies when you ADS. I think instead of a little red dot on the compass that shows enemies and what direction they are in (even on the other side of a large hill or building), it would be better if I can only perceive what is within line of sight or just barely out of LOS. Then the higher my perception, the more enemies I can identify, and the more brightly highlighted those enemies would be.

I've been contemplating this for a while also, so naturally I have it written down
Name: My name
Age: 18
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male

SNIPER-

Strength - 6
Perception - 5 (+1)
Endurance - 5
Charisma - 6
Intelligence - 5
Agility - 7 (+1)
Luck - 6

Traits - Four eyes & Small frame

Guns -
-Sniper ( Anti-material Rifle )
-Pistol ( Maria )
-Assault rifle ( Carbine )
-Melee ( Anything sharp, cool and/or pointy )

Karma - Very good
Rep - NCR

Tag'd -
-Survival
-Guns
-Sneak

INFO - A sneaky sniper character, with a tendency to sneak up for a critical shot or quick Melee kill and uses that flashy pistol for abit of flare. Karma will be very good and I will help everyone. However, I will not agree with or help those whose morals I disagree with or/and clash with my own. I have pre decided on joining the NCR's course, this may change however.

Yes, but if your making a general character they will be gods by the time they reach level 15, atleast on Normal mode.

just out of curiosity where and when was the tesla cannon confirmed cause i cant find anything about it in NV anywhere


anyway im planning a limited char first playthrough

"Jack Alltrades"

s-7
p-6
e-6
c-2
i-6
a-6
l-2

traits-good natured, trigger discipline
tags- firearms, energy weapons, repair

Please feel free to comment and point out any weakness you see. i appreciate it!




First playthrough:

Focus: Gambler with high gun skills

Special:
Luck- gambling
Agility - V.A.T.S., Small Guns
Intelligence- skill points
S: 6
P: 1
E: 5
C: 1
I: 9
A: 9
L: 9

Perks:
Comprehension
12 - Long haul- needs barter 70*
14 - Jerry rigging

Companions:
Rex
Craig Boone or Veronica

Traits:
Wild wasteland

Tag Skills:
Small guns
Repair


Thoughts?

I find it interesting that to some extent the game does continue the "guns early game, energy weapons late game" philosophy of earlier iterations through its perks. While viable weapons of either type may be available at all points during the game, the gun specific perks (professional, shotgun surgeon, cowboy) all come fairly early, while the energy weapon specific perks (plasma spaz, meltdown, laser commander) come later, and by and large seem stronger (certainly meltdown and laser commander, anyway).

It's Jury Rigging. Jerry rigging is a slur against German craftsmanship.

SPOILERS if knowing names of perks / skill formula bothers you




From what I've heard, skill formula is 10/level + 1/2Int, which makes high Int less automatic. Also makes Educated perk the equivalent of 4 points of Int for skill point purposes.

Here's my take.



S 6 P 6 E 5 C 2 I 4 A 8 L 9
Tag: Guns, Repair, Melee

2: Rapid Reload
4: Educated
6: Shotgun Surgeon
8: Cowboy
10: Mysterious Stranger
12: Miss Fortune
14: Silent Running
16: Hand Loading
18: Better Criticals
20: Jury Rigging
22: Finesse
24: GRS
26: Nerves of Steel
28: Sniper
30: Action Boy

It's good news to me that you can't really make the perfect or almost perfect character in this game. In Fallout 3 no matter what you do your character ends up as the same jack of all trades. But now it seems that depending on the 15 perks you pick and the 5-6 skills you raise you can build unique characters with their own distinct strengths and weaknesses. This is great from a roleplaying perspective and also adds to the replay value of the game.

There wil be min-maxxed builds out there, designed to beat the game as quickly as possible, etc. My perfect character is one who can explore and survive. I intend to explore every inch of the game before I complete it, so I'm going to tag secondary skills and build a weapon skill or two as I go.

However, none of us will know what is possible stats wise until we see the math of the skills breakdown.

Yet, in the end, the perfect character is one that matched your play style perfectly, and from a RP point of view, is one that you can believe in.

Couldn't have said it better. :nod: