ALL NOVEL Chapter 1: World Info
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Story
The game's story takes place in 2281, 204 years after the Great War, 120 years after the events of Fallout, 40 years after the events of Fallout 2, 4 years after the events of Fallout 3, and 6 years before the events of Fallout 4.
It is set in the area of the Mojave Desert, now called the Mojave Wasteland, where three major entities are vying for control of the city of New Vegas and the power generated by the Hoover Dam: the military forces of the New California Republic from the west, Vegas' mysterious ruler Mr. House and the slaver army Caesar's Legion from the east.
Main story:
The player character is the Courier, who was originally hired to deliver a package to New Vegas but is intercepted by a man in a checkered suit and a group of thugs. They steal the package, the checker-suited man shoots the Courier twice in the head and then leaves them for dead in a shallow grave. But that's not the end.
The Courier is rescued by a robot named Victor, who brings them to Doc Mitchell in the town of Goodsprings, who saves their life and nurses them to health. Once the Courier completes their medical checkup, they're sent out into the open world of the Mojave to track down their would-be killer and in doing so, decide the future of the wasteland and its inhabitants.
Primary statistics:
The S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system has remained mostly consistent throughout the Fallout series. As has been the case since Fallout, the character's S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attributes default to 5 points per attribute, with an additional 5 points to be distributed during character creation, for a total of 40 points.
As in previous games, individual attributes can be adjusted upward and downward so long as the total equals exactly 40. Also as in previous games, individual attributes cannot go lower than 1 or higher than 10; any bonuses or penalties beyond those are simply ignored.
SPECIAL:
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Strength:
Strength slightly increases melee damage and carrying capacity. Melee damage is at 1 damage for every 2 Strength (+5 damage at 10) and carrying capacity is an added 10 lbs for every point (+100 lbs at 10 Strength). Strength does not affect unarmed damage, even though Iron Fist requires 4 Strength. Unlike previous Fallout games, none of the weapons have a minimum Strength requirement, and a character with 1 Strength can use a minigun without penalties.
High Strength can sometimes be used to intimidate others when in a conversation.
While at first glance the damage bonus seems minor at best, the damage bonus is applied after a weapon's base damage has been adjusted by the Melee Weapons skill and weapon condition, making this a very significant increase for much of the game. Moreover, even with maximum Melee Weapons skill and weapon condition, high Strength can still amount to a 10% or better increase in the weapon's damage (see specific weapon pages for specifics). This is basically equivalent to, or better than, a free perk. Moreover, multipliers on damage (from perks like Entomologist) also affect the bonus damage.
Weapons strength requirement:
Not meeting the Strength requirement of a weapon will decrease accuracy (for ranged weapons), or slower swings (for melee/unarmed weapons). The Strength requirement of weapons can be lowered by taking the Weapon Handling perk.
Perception:
Modifies: Sequence, ranged combat distance modifiers, and the First Aid, Doctor, Lockpick, Traps and Pilot skills. A player character with higher Perception may notice things that allow them to open up new dialogue options on occasion. It also determines how far away they start from hostilities in random encounters. A combination of the Traps skill and Perception is used to detect traps on the ground. Having a high Perception can yield dialogue options with some NPCs
Endurance:
Modifies: Hit Points, Poison & Radiation Resistance, Healing Rate, and the additional Hit Points per level.
Charisma:
Charisma in New Vegas modifies Barter, Speech and Companion Nerve. Companion Nerve gives each companion in the party +5% to their damage and armor, up to a maximum of +50% at 10 Charisma.
Regardless of Barter or Speech level, some interactions will not be available with a too low Charisma (e.g. Corporal Betsy). These ultimately do not have any significant effect on gameplay, nor do they provide any special bonuses.
Intelligence:
Modifies: Medicine, Repair, and Science skills, as well as skill rate.
Intelligence affects skill points differently from how it did in Fallout 3. The number of skill points gained each level is based on the formula 10 + (0.5 * IN) per level, including level 1, where IN is the Courier's Intelligence. If one gets a non-whole number of skill points per level (e.g. 10.5 for INT 1) it will be saved for the next even level up (see Skill Rate).
Agility:
Modifies: Action Points available for V.A.T.S., draw and holster speed, reload speed, and the Guns and Sneak skills.
Agility determines the number of action points available for use in V.A.T.S. (base AP determined by 65 + (Agility x3), and can be raised by perks and some items).
The holster/reload time is modified in percentage by 10*(Agility-5)% from 100% base value. Agility below 5 makes reloading slower and above 5 makes it faster, by 10 percentage points per point of Agility, as a modifier to the character's speed. Speed is the inverse of time: at Agility 1, the character is at 60% of baseline speed, which means the time it takes to reload is multiplied by 1.67 (taking 5/3 as long to reload), while at Agility 10 the character is at 150% baseline speed, so the amount of time it takes to reload is multiplied by 0.67 (taking 2/3 as long to reload).
reload speed modifier=Agility−510=Agility10−12reload time in seconds=WeaponReloadTime((0.5+Agility∗0.1)∗modifier) [verification needed]
Modifier Rapid Reload = 1.25
Luck:
Luck functions in the same manner as Fallout 3. It raises the value of every skill +1 for every 2 points in Luck (see chart below Level names and statistics) and affects Critical Chance. It also improves the odds of winning at any casino game; the higher the Luck, the more likely favorable outcomes on bets will be. If having won a casino bet through the influence of Luck, the "You feel lucky" message is displayed. A Luck of 6 will begin to influence Roulette and Slot machines, though rarely. A Luck of 7 is required to win with any regularity or to begin to influence Blackjack outcomes.
CombatMain article: Fallout: New Vegas combat
Gameplay includes a combat system that allows for both first and third person view and features the ability to use weapon iron sights. The game also made a change from the true bullet flight paths in Fallout 3 to simulated bullet flight paths, which means the bullets, when fired, originate from the center of the screen's crosshairs, rather than the tip of the gun's barrel.[4]
Fallout: New Vegas utilizes the Damage Threshold (DT) mechanic. If an enemy has a high DT, some weapons may be ineffective. This is indicated by a red shield near the enemy's health bar when attacking it, both in and out of V.A.T.S. The damage threshold will be due to high armor or a built-in mechanic to that character, and will require the Courier to either retreat or attack with a more powerful weapon.
The Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, or V.A.T.S., is an active pause combat system implemented in the game. While using V.A.T.S., the otherwise real-time combat is paused. Use of one's weapon can be seen in slow motion and greater detail.
Attacks in V.A.T.S. cost Action Points and one can target specific body areas for attacks to inflict specific injuries. Melee weapons now have special moves in V.A.T.S., such as "Fore!" for golf clubs, along with special Unarmed moves such as Ranger Takedown.
The player character will take more damage in V.A.T.S. than in Fallout 3 (75%, up from 10%). One can choose to activate or deactivate a dynamic "Kill Cam," which shows one's success in combat in slow motion. The setting can also be changed to only show this cinematic viewpoint for the last enemy of a group.
Character system Fallout: New Vegas SPECIAL:
The SPECIAL system returns and directly influences speech options and quests. Traits can be chosen and perks are gained every two levels.
Gambling Main
The city of New Vegas, as well as other smaller settlements in the game, have a variety of colorful casinos or other forms of gambling to explore. In Fallout: New Vegas, several gambling mini-games have been added, including Blackjack, Roulette, and slots.
Outside the casinos, many people across the Mojave play Caravan, a card game designed by Obsidian specifically for the game. One's Luck contributes to the outcome of gambling games. One will receive money for winning, and casino floor managers will congratulate the player character with food, drink, or a comped suite at the hotel.
Winning too much money after that, however, will result in the floor manager letting them know they will not be able to earn any more winnings. Although one can no longer gamble in that casino, they are still able to enter and buy items or food.