Regardless of what they said before the game came out I'm finding leveling very slow. Especially once I hit about 10th level. It seems the only way to really get good amounts of EXP is to do side quests and follow the main quests, but I'm wanting to just 'play my character' and it's making it a slow process.

I just recently helped Cait get her cure. I'll tell you that taking Vault 95 when I'm only 17th level was a challenge. I knew that the Southern areas of the map were supposed to be harder ... but dang.

So what are some quicker ways to level? I do a lot of crafting with weapons and armor already. Anything else like that?

Thanks.

I got about level 35 before touching many quests by just being self-sufficient. Crafting everything and only doing radiant quests. I find the leveling to be quite fast.

High int or idiot savant(I'd have called it Lucky idiot but nobody asked me), sleep for bonus xp, do minute men quests, get xp for kills and turning in the quests, unlock settlements and get xp for building them up and crafting/modding, cooking up rad roaches or psycho jet or whatever you have. Multi source xp, gotta love it.

Idiot Savant is the fastest way to level up.

Just do minuteman quests for the longest time and watch as you get 2000XP on every 4th one.

Wait, do you get EXP for just building things in the settlements? Like beds, structures, etc. I've basically left Sanctuary alone after doing the minimum and having them grow Multi-Fruit, Corn and Tato for my Glue Stew.

Sure do. You get experience for every little thing you create. Hell, you get experience for just about everything you DO in the game.

So basically I could do a lot of leveling before ever leaving Sanctuary just by clearing it and build up new houses everywhere.

I wonder if that's what Bethesda intended for us to do, cause it sure goes against the role-play I'm doing now. Oh well.

Yep, I have been doing minutemen stuff almost exclusively, lvl 24 or 25 atm. Took me a while to realize that most of the stuff I was doing were radiant quests. Sheesh. Preston won't leave me alone for 1 second!! Ended up doing some of the same ones again... wait a sec, you just asked me to clear out the raiders from the supply depot last week!? More exp, more loot, same quest again. Kinda weird, but I like loot and exp... so...Off to work i go.

No kidding! Preston doesn't stop. I got around level 30 just doing settlement stuff and clearing random raider dens in between haha

As no one has mentioned it, intelligence determines how much exp you get.

Also, I make sure I am "well rested" (+10% exp) or have slept in my "lover's embrace" (+15%) prior to doing more radiant quests for Preston. Did a little main quest so I could be on friendlier terms with a particular red trench coat wearing intrepid reporter.

As a suggestion...DO leave Sanctuary alone. Go find Hangman's Alley and start building there. If you want to go full out, massive settlement go for Starlight Drive In.

I thought about going to Starlight Drive and using the 'Scrapall' console command just to totally clean the place up. Save myself a few hours of scrapping things manually.

I have to admit that the scrapping of every piece of junk and trash in a settlement has got to be one of the most 'un-fun' things Bethesda ever added to a game.

Thats a command? Does it put all the junk in your workshop?

I haven't tried it yet, but I sure hope so or it's a total waste. I just read about it somewhere here. Thought I'd save, try it, then check the storage.

Keep me updated! I can't play right now and knowing whether or not it works would save me a metric ton of time.

I assume it's going to clear everything, including workbenches, which is why I thought the drive-in was a good place to try it.

Faction quest give a lot of exp

Yeah I went ahead and finished Cait's story arc and then dropped her back home and joined the Brotherhood. I'll just do their radiant quests for a while to level up some more. I just feel like 18th level is just to low to pursue the MQ. Besides there are still some Perks I need to finish 'defining' my character.