@s0mbo1 Now that you mentioned it. The OP should definitely try playing a game with the Fallout New California mod installed.

Fallout New California

@ahyuser001 I was interested in it because it promised to let you side with raiders and the enclave, something that both pre nuka world F4 and NV severely lacked. Shame it just became...bad towards the end, I would like to see a similar concept with less fan-fiction thrown in

Currently, I'm playing a guns-based variant of a "tribal genius" build I've honed over the last couple years. Normally, I spec this build into Energy Weapons because I designed it with the holorifle and Compliance Regulator in mind. That's still the case here but because I'm role-playing as a White Leg (thank you, custom race mods), I specced my current character into Guns instead. I still keep the holorifle around for sniping at night, though. And the Compliance Regulator makes dealing with the strongest enemies far easier thanks to the stun effect. The fact that energy ammo is ultra-abundant and interchangeable through crafting at workbenches helps; if you have ED-E and/or Veronica with you, you ALWAYS have a workbench handy.

I've thought of doing a melee-only tribal run, using only throwing spears and protonic throwing axes at range. Not enough throwing axes in Big Mountain? No problem! That's what console commands are for! Yeah, I cheat! So what? I already use mods to begin with. Close-quarters weapons can be whatever, but I prefer the Fist of Rawr, protonic inversal axe, and a two-handed plasma sword that I added with a mod. I wanted a two-handed energy-based sword when I started my current run, which obviously isn't in the vanilla game.

I might do a cowgirl build based around La Longue Carabine, because it's the only scoped lever-action gun in the game. I'm impatient so I'll just add it to my inventory right out of Doc Mitchell's house through the console. I also don't want to kill Corporal Sterling so early in the game lest I break the quest Old School Ghoul. Just like energy ammo, .357 Magnum ammo is also among the most common ammo types in the game. If I want to be conservative about ammo, I'll use just about any .357 Magnum revolver as they use the same ammo. It'll still come back to the Compliance Regulator, though, just for the stun effect.

No matter how much of a thorn in the sides of both the NCR and Legion I am, I still end up with Very Good reputation. And this is with my usual M.O. of doing the DLCs before the main quest. I always nuke both the NCR and Legion and STILL have Messiah-level karma. Then again, I always play a genius character and max out Speech fairly early (Read: After starting Dead Money at level 10, judiciously grinding in advance). I cannot bring myself to play a low-intelligence character EVER. It just feels as wrong as playing as a male character. Dysphoria aside, playing an idiot character would lock me out of doing several quests that I'd normally do otherwise. Might as well play one-handed.

I sometimes ponder playing an evil character but still can't quite bring myself to go further than an anti-hero. I would never think of siding with the Legion, for one, because their model of "Let's enslave, pillage, and rape people" is bad for the Mojave or ANYWHERE. Even if I play as a villain, I'd at least have STANDARDS. And I always like to plan my playthroughs. Last complete run, I was an anti-hero who sided with Yes Man in the end. After doing the DLCs in the early game, I wanted to play the main quests and side quests PERFECTLY. I hedged my bets with the NCR, Caesar, Mr. House, and Yes Man before killing House, then Caesar, and finally throwing the NCR under the bus. This time, I'm at a point where I could go to the Strip, but at the same time, I want to milk Act 1 of the main quest for all it's worth. From there, there's yet more planning. I approach this game like chess--to win, you have to think several steps ahead of your opponent. More so than, say, Oblivion, because the game ends when you finish the Battle of Hoover Dam. At the very least, I might go so far as to off every male NPC in the entire game in one run. The only exceptions to that would probably be during Dead Money (at least til I enter the casino), Honest Hearts (killing Joshua and Daniel would break the DLC), and anyone who's considered quest-essential. Once I've completed those NPCs' quests, then I can rub them out.

Thanks, guys I'm gonna try a few of these.

WeissYohji wrote:

At the very least, I might go so far as to off every male NPC in the entire game in one run. The only exceptions to that would probably be during Dead Money (at least til I enter the casino), Honest Hearts (killing Joshua and Daniel would break the DLC), and anyone who's considered quest-essential. Once I've completed those NPCs' quests, then I can rub them out.

Wut?
Too bad for you that you, you can't kill off the one male NPC that matters the most. Mr. New Vegas.

@C4tt0 Do a dumb playthrough. There are some hidden gems of dialogue that are only available for dumb characters, and they are more than worth missing out on a few things for (especially if you've played the game before).

@IRORIEH "Kill every Male NPC" playthru could be fun if you play as a neon haired feminist female character, bonus points if you download one of those cringy mods that add politically biased LGBT/Feminist flags or outfits or whatever, go all ham.

As for the dumb playthrus, I kinda miss em, I love when devs punish players players for dumb reasons, such as making INT your dump stat, wish NV had more dev time and fully brought it back, rather than making a few conversations different

I like to do themed runs, always breaths new life into aging titles. An Enclave run where you use any number of mods to side with them and then either openly by force or quietly by planting secret outposts across the wasteland. I mean, if you landed an entire Enclave force in Nellis coming in via vertibird from the South-East who would even notice? I also liked the idea of trying to make a male Chosen One in Fallout 2 and then tried to use him in every game (using alternate start mods in FO3 and 4 obviously) as a Veteran Ranger who just can't help being a being damn hero even as he gets into his fifties and sixties and has to rely on implants and Big MT cybernetics more and more (he is basically Kellog by the end of NV). You could do a 'superhero' run where you play as a costumed vigilante with some self imposed morality/code. No-Kill rules don't really work, even with a knock out mod, as there are no prisons to hand and lawmen would just shoot any tied up raiders anyway, but there a still things you can do such as 'no guns' or only kill actual killers, so no gunning down petty thieves or drug dealers unless they draw on you.

Sonichu_fanboy wrote:

@ahyuser001  I was interested in it because it promised to let you side with raiders and the enclave, something that both pre nuka world F4 and NV severely lacked. Shame it just became...bad towards the end, I would like to see a similar concept with less fan-fiction thrown in

Fair warning, the Enclave path mainly consists of doing the NCR path with the occasional gear drop-pod being sent for you, and maybe two or so extra conversations across the entire game? It's very, very underwhelming.