I made a sneaky character that focuses on melee weapons and it doesn't work. I would get close enough, but get caution right away and the bastard would turn around. Sometimes it would bug and it would just switch between caution and hidden constantly. I'm really frustrated, so any thoughts?

Take it slow, stick to cover, and enter VAT.s if you're getting spotted quickly.
Up close outside is likely to get you spotted quickly.

Early on it's tough, but taking things slow and bumping up the stat asap will make things easier.
Don't move around too much, if they keep switching between caution and hidden, it just means you need to settle quitely for a bit and try to VATs rush them.

Armor, skill level, light/darkness, running vs. walking & of course Perks all affect sneak.
Don't know what level you are, but don't expect it to 'work' really effectively at such close range for some levels.

Since he's asking about sneaking, is Silent Runner broken in NV? When I try running, I always get caution signs, which I thought SR was supposed to make you undetectable while running?

No it makes you less likely to be detected..
You still have the fact that movement is going to make you detectable often.

Also they removed the +10 skill bump to sneak.. which means the effects are more noticable.
Also the system is set up to take into account extra points over 100, and then remove them from the skill first.

I:E bump sneak to 100, read a sneak book.. the skill still registers as 100,
Then knock you Agility down 1 point - 2 skill points in sneak.. your skill will still be 100.
I can only hazard that those magic numbers would effect armour weight, daylight and other negative penalties also.
Making FO3's version OP, but NV's not.

'SNEAKING' I know it doesn't work.

Yeah Same thing here Also i still here my foot steps...? It says your suppose to be undetectable. yet i get heard the moment i pop around a corner. behind a guy

What Mado says is correct. Silent Running makes it so that Running is the equivalent of walking while Sneaking. So it somewhat does what the perk describes but not fully.

Remember that different enemies also have different perceptions, which is why Silent Running up to a Ghoul is different from Silent Running to a Deathclaw.

In my experience, it's quite hard properly sneaking at lower levels, especially when trying to use Melee or Unarmed weapons. Most of the time, you will get spotted before being able to land a sneak attack but in most of these cases, you'll be close enough to land a few attacks before they draw their weapon, if it's a human. Most of the trouble goes away when you do take Silent Running but you still need to be cautious.

A good tip would be to take advantage of indoor areas. If your Perception is at a decent level, examine a NPC's route, and try to advance when they aren't looking. If a route turns around a corner, try camping at that corner. You may be able to pull off a sneak attack by attacking when they round it again. It's kinda all about patience and timing when it comes to sneaking successfully with CQC weapons. Well mind you, I wear clothing 24/7 on my current character, so the effects of armor in sneaking aren't present.

Staying still while in sneak is still a bit of an exploit but it's definitely much less used due to how much combat takes place outside so there's no real dark spots to hide in. However, being outside just means there's probably more ways to flank an unsuspecting enemy. :shifty:

So the master have spoken.

Remember there is kill impulse as well.

And with the erratic AI, I would be happy to get one melee/unarmed sneak once in a while.

Get yourself a scope and silencer for the varmint rifle, or acquire the Ratslayer. Then you can "summon" anyone/thing you like to your location. You will, of course know what to do when they get to you.

I use this a lot to feed the insane appetite of my sweetie, Oh Baby.

No problem with sneaking and guns. This time there are good enough silenced weapons to make a "Silent Assassin" possible. Never tried Sneak and Melee, no clue how that works. Stealth Boys, La Fantoma!, and Recon Armor/Chinese Stealth Suit help some more. So does Lily, though i don't use ghouls or mutants as a companion. (Don't blame me, it's my characters fault! )

Get a high damage melee with a good swing range, baseball bat is good, hammers are better (rebar club is great early on if you have the strength). Knives are really short ranged, you basically have to be pressed up against them to hit.

Take it slow, stop regularly and know their movement, few enemies are static and most have 'patrol' routes, humans indoors are the best for this. As others said, you can 'summon' a person too, fire a silenced weapon near them and they'll come a looking, hide round the corner, wait to go hidden, then strike.

Ambushes are better than sneaking up on them, sneaking requires movement, which is easily detected at lower levels, staying still works best, corners are your friend. Wait for them to walk round and then whack them.

Have a bottleneck/fall back planned, my melee character was hardcoe and used clothing only to be better at sneaking, if he ever got caught (like I screwed up for whatever reason) then having a plan was a must. Normally the one guy will go down easy if you're close to them, by the time they pull their weapon it's over, but friends are bad news. Choose somewhere they have to get close to shoot you, rooms are good, especially if they have a back door (especially especially if that back door is a loading one to a safe area).

Use Lily, I hire her and leave her so I get the perk but don't have to have her with me, I like being alone. Stealthboys do need to be used on occasion but normally it's a matter of reading the enemy and sometimes pulling them around using silenced gunfire or quickly standing then crouching, while they look for you, manoeuvre into position.

Get a high survival skill so you can make poison, which is only injectable with melee/unarmed weapons. If you're on PC you should download http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=36638, it's a mod that tweaks the currently bugged Ninja perk, which is of course a must for a sneak/melee character.

Ya I'm putting some points into survival now.

But one thing really irritated me, I was in bison steven and was sneaking up on a sleeping convict. I am 2 feet away from him and I get caution and he wakes up and starts shooting. What kind of BS is that? (he was facing away from me by the way) :banghead:

AI have 360 degree LOS while sleeping I believe.

How does that make sense at all?

When was the last time you bathed? :wink_smile:

I agree with you. I have that happen with a sneak of 75 with Silent Running, and it is but a lowly powder ganger sleeping (NCRCF).

It's the engine's fault really. If you try to sneak up on a non-hostile character, let's say Ike in Boulder City bar for instance, you'll probably be in [DETECTED] no matter which way you get him if you have a low sneak. I believe the feet of the character is the spot where you can't get detected while in sneak while they are asleep. That or somewhere around the legs.

Really, blame the engine.

I blame the developers.

This was present in FO3 as well I believe. It's the engine, not Obsidian.