Hello all,

I've steered clear of hardcoe up until now, largely because hardcoe mainly means more weight to carry and followers being mortal. With their poor AI, it is next to impossible to keep followers alive in some situations. But I'm curious to try and I have some questions:

1) As far as combat skills go, Explosives - my absolute favorite - is probably a poor fit because of follower mortality and crippled limbs, although there are perks to minimize both. As ammunition has weight, it needs to pack maximum possible punch per weight unit, which narrows the "optimal" choices to Cowboy guns, shotguns and high DAM Energy. Which of the three is the most efficient in the long term?

2) What food has the best FOD to healing to weight ratio?

3) How does one stay fed in OWB, where food seems to be less than abundant?

Any general hardcoe tips will be appreciated as well.

Presumably, you are adding a lot of points into Survival? For campfire recipes? Also, I like maize. It's light, no rads and helps hunger and dehydration.

You can get by with a survival skill of 25 early on in the game. You only need Gecko steak as that weighs less then one pound, and is a good healing source. hardcoe mode is not hard for drinking and eating food. the biggest adjustment is the stimpaks healing over a few seconds instead of instantly. you will be fine with explosives as you normally are. you just can't carry 4,000 and 80 hundred 40mm rounds for your grenade rifle. You don't need to carry more then 30 to 50 anyways, as you can always buy more from merchants. Just acquire all the bottles of water you come across. I tend to keep 5 to 20 bottles on me, but I don't even need that much. Its probably overkill, but its just a habit.

Combat will be the only adjustment you need to make. Keep your distnace more, fire from range, use cover, use explosives. You'll be fine.

Great point about the gecko steaks. Easy to find, easy to kill.

1) It is possible to use any weapon skill/type effectively in hardcoe mode, but to address your concerns:

a: Explosives is easy to use but difficult to specialize in with hardcoe mode. The primary issue isn't blowing your followers away - that's solved by a quick reload. The primary issue is tearing your own limbs apart, because they are harder to heal in hardcoe mode.

b: Recharger weapons are second most efficient per unit of ammunition weight, but the Minigun is an honorable contender as is the Gobi Rifle. I don't use shotguns, so I can't tell you about them. Energy weapons are absolutely not ammunition weight efficient. The most efficient weapons in the game, weight wise, are Love & Hate and Blood-Nap. I highly recommend trying melee if you're concerned about ammunition weight, or you just want a new experience.

2) MRE. ~600 FOD, 3(15) healing, and weighs .3lbs. Practically speaking, I recommend the Gecko Kebab for ~176 FOD, 110 H2O, 2(40) healing, weight of 0.25 lbs at the Survival necessary to craft it. MREs are found in LR, Gecko Kebabs are made from 1 Gecko Meat, 1 Banana Yucca, and 1 Jalapeno for 2 at 60+ Survival. I don't know if Gecko Kebab has the best restoration to weight ratio, but I know its ridiculously common and when combined with Maize, Healing Poultice, and Nuka-Cola one can live and heal on that alone.

3) Bloatfly Sliders & Dog Steaks. Bloatfly Meat (You know where I'm speaking of)+ Prickly Pear Fruit (unlimited supply) and killing those darn Cyberdogs. And of course there's the vegetables of the bio gardens.

There's only four adjustments to make.

1: Take a sip whenever you pass a water source, no matter how irradiated.

2: If you intend to help the PGs take over Goodsprings, don't do it until after you find a second doctor.

3: Carry -300 FOD & -300 H2O of items at all times - in case you become dehydrated after fast traveling or waiting.

4: Switch your companions to ranged weapons, and prioritize getting them armor.

Honestly, you don't need to change anything about combat - the rules for combat haven't changed. If you were relying on Stimpak insta-healing in the first place, you were doing it wrong.

I find theres actually too much food and water in this game. May seem daunting at first, but once you get the lay of the map, and traders. You can be a fat wastelander in no time.