When I first started playing FO3 I definitely winged it. I've since fell in love with this game and I can't help myself - I have many templates already made for future campaigns. It is my goto time killer at work along with surfing these boards and teh vault. Just wondering if most folks start a character already knowing what it is they want to do and what type of weapons they want to use, etc., etc. Do you ever regert already knowing what will happen before you played it out or do you find knowledge is power and get satisfaction knowing that you took full advantage a quest , area or character template has to offer?

I find that a consequence of this style of play leaves little surprises. Both in terms of what a perk will do or how a weapon works as well as what consequences of my action for some quests are going to be. So I've kept myself from doing any sneak peeks at the DLC just to see what kind of trouble I can get into when I don't know the roadmap previous to the encounters. I'm betting I'm going to miss some carrot that will leave me gritting my teeth a bit but at the same time that leaves me something to look forward to on my next playthrough.

If you do not try to collect unique weapons ASAP it makes the game a lot more enjoyable. I wandered around shooting stuff on my way toward NV and ended up having a science skill of 100 when I passed the REPCONN headquarters.... got me a nice upgrade then. Then wandered around and noticed I had over 50 star caps so I turned them in for a neato weapon. Then wandering around while waiting for ED-E to upgrade I found the YCS..... If you are not planning your route it makes things a bit more satisfying.

First time through a game like this, I always wing it, no guides, no walkthroughs, no advance spoilers....usually meaning I end up with a character who specializes in nothing/makes many mistakes as I'm trying to get a feel for the game/what I like. I may start over once or twice, early on.

Second time through, I have at least a general gameplan (the order I want to do the groups of quests in). and what skills/playstyle I prefer. I choose a different main quest path. I start referring to forums & wikis occasionally. This is usually my "favorite" playthrough because I do get satisfaction from taking full advantage of a quests options/being efficient, from foreknowledge. Plus the pleasure of finding anything I might have missed the first time.

After that I read info in earnest to see if I missed yet still other things, and I keep telling myself I'm going to play a vastly different type of chr./faction and set up for that, but half way through I realize I've largely made the same chr. again. I'm a creature of habit and it's difficult to make myself change it up. lol

On my first playthrough, I definitely wing it...I don't think that there is really a way around that. On each subsequent playthrough, I've chosen my faction to ally with and weapon style. I also don't try to discover each location on every playthrough, so I have something new to check out each time. I'm on my 3rd playthrough and there are locations I've never been to and side quests I've never completed. Makes the game more fresh for me. I'm glad that it is impossible to do every quest in this game on the first playthrough.

I plan my characters, what faction they are part of, what weapons they use, what perks, their backstory, etc.

I sometimes plan out a "random" run tho, meaning i purposely act as though i am a newcomer to the wasteland... which is sort of weird, lol

I am like LadyCrimson, excpet I stick with him uit the end, then go for another character.

Then I have 1 "complete" save which would get as much done as possible, and alts which plays different.

I like to wing it. My characters never turn out like a cookie cutter but it's damn fun.

I am guilty of capacious preparations.

Check my sig

Haha, I do that same thing. I tell myself this time I'm going to concentrate on not using a sniper rifle and try to get in and mix it up with say a shotgun. So I end up picking up a Trail Carbine and scope and get to sniping... what a change, I really took a leap on that. I managed to keep a EW guy around til lvl 26 or so but I overwrote taht save on accident and since I haven't gotten an EW character past lvl 10. I figure at some point I will get tired of scoping enemies at range but hasn't happened yet.

My planning of a character never amounts to more than name, gender, any recent character-related mods I might have stumbled into or made myself, and whether they're going to be an [censored] or not. Beyond that I let the wasteland be the wasteland.

I like to play the first character cold. I don't even go to the forum or the Wiki.

FONV was an exception, however, in many ways. i usually wait for the first patch and then check the Hardware/Software Forum to see when it;s safe to play.

This time I was an early adopter and pre-ordered the game and jumped in on the 19th. I paid for it, too. Had to spend a lot of time on the Forum and fiddling with the game just to make it playable.

After the first play-through I take what I learned, lurk in the GD forum and browse the Wiki. Then I set out to conquer the waste with a vengeance.

I'm now on my Fourth time through and trying to do things I missed on the first three (within limits of my character, however. I would never side with the Legion.) :angel:

On my first playthrough, I definitely winged it. On my second playthrough (and more than likely, others in the future) I have them planned out. I followed the same formula for prior Fallout games as well. Right now I'm playing as Fry from Futurama, and doing what Fry would do (saying and doing stupid things, lots of backfires and speech fails, etc.)

My current chr. I was trying for a pistol-only build. It was going fine, wandering around plinking stuff with the 9mm and then 10mm from short to medium ranges. Then I bought a 9mm scope and suddenly I'm trying to snipe things from afar with the 9mm. It's actually working quite well on regular humans/animals w/a middling Guns skill.

But...um...yeah...scoping/sniping...can't help doing it, it seems. lol

I plot out the build, I have a little word document that would list my initial skill what skill points go into it, accounts for books with notes on the end for magazines, gear and possibly chems.
For an example.
Lockpick: 19_____4 Books=35+34SP_____+5 Outfit+20 Magazine+2 Hat+4 Metants=100
Then as I read books and added skill points I'd adjust it.
Lockpick: 30_____3 Books=42+27SP_____+5 Outfit+20 Magazine+2 Hat+4 Metants=100
I also tend to adjust the SP down before hand to account for implants as obviously raising SPECIALs raise skills.

Beyond that I wing it, I'll typically follow the main quest up to Boulder City and pick up the sidequests on the way but after that it's fairly random.

I usually create a backstory for my characters and I try to make the game as real as possible. I mean, my character has just a rifle, a pistol, a NCR armor and a Ranger hat, with few supplies and few ammunitions.

Off topic, my last ( sorry fourth from current build now ), was a med head tribal hippy, first build I have left with under 100 points in a weapon skill.
I still use the same 9mm from goodsprings, but for role decided she packs the dual army pistols her father left for her on her rite of passage.
One scoped the other not, though I tend to have better unscoped aim with the 9mm tbh.

On topic, the same as lady crimson but I avoid looking up spoiler content untill a few months of constant playing.
That and my first builds tend to go for any skill or ability that's new so I try it out and see how it works.