User:MeatServo/Optimized Start

=Optimized Start= Below are steps one can take to maximize their early game progress.

SPECIAL
33 points, up to 1 more each with implants, 1 to any after lonesome road and up to 10 more with intense training.

Strength 6
7 with implant. (33-5=28)

Strength helps carry weight, melee damage and weapon handling.

The highest needed for any perk is 7 base (1+5+implant),

The highest weapon needs 10 modified which can be reduced to 8 with the weapon handling perk. +2 is easily obtained through OWB

Perception 6
7 with implant (28-5=23)

Perception helps with vats accuracy, enemy detection and is used in some dialog checks.

7 base (1+5+implant) is enough for any perk. It's possible to boost it to 10 with apparel or drugs without much difficulty.

Endurance 7
Helps survival skill, HP, resistances, unarmed. Dictates the number of implants you can get.

8 is enough for all perks (1+6+implant)

8 after the implant. (23-6=17)

7 base is enough for all SPECIAL implants. 9 base is enough for all implants, but the CHA implant is not needed. The Endurance bonus from the implant does not count toward your implant allowance.


 * 1) Strength
 * 2) Perception
 * 3) Endurance
 * 4) Charisma
 * 5) Intelligence
 * 6) Agility
 * 7) Luck
 * 8) Sub-dermal Armor
 * 9) Hyperbreeder

Without intense training, one must choose 2 implants to skip. Charisma and hyperbreeder are good choices

Charisma 1
No implant (17-0=17)

Impacts speech and barter. Increases companion damage output and is used in some speech checks (@7). 6 base is enough for either perk (animal friend, ferocious loyalty).

Unless you specifically want to use charisma perks like animal friend, and since it can be boosted 8+ points on demand with drugs, charisma is a dump stat that can be left at 1 without an implant.

Intelligence 9
10 after implant. (17-8=9)

Impacts the number of skill points per level. 7 base is enough for any perk, 9 modified is enough for all speech checks. Low int offers unique dialog options in many places. Can be boosted with drugs and apparel. Recommended to set at 9 (1+8) and then get the implant.

Since the first level up is even, the .5 points from INT 9 rounds to the full 15. Meaning you can get the implant any time before level 3 for maximum perk points.

Agility 6
(9-5=4) +5 & Small Frame (4) (8) AP, draw, reload, sneak 8 base is enough for any perk (1+5+SF+implant), an extra point can be gained through small frame (at the expense of slightly less melee damage and more easily crippled limbs). A melee focused build might want to skip small frame and bump one point with intense training if the highest perks are desired.

Luck 5
(4-4=0) +4 (0) (6) Crit chance, gambling odds, slight boost to all skills 6 base is enough for any perk (1+4+implant), 9 is enough for the single highest skill check (Et Tumor, Brute?). 7 is high enough to tip all casino games in your favor. +1 with naughty nightwear, +1 with lucky shades in legion safehouse.

Final Build
The build below offers max perk points and allows access to every non CHA perk

5,5,6,0,8,5,4 (33)

6,6,7,1,9,6,5 (40)

After implants and traits 7,7,8,1,10,8,6 (47)

Tag speech, barter (both low from CHA) and some other skill of choice. Repair, survival or sneak is good. Choose small frame for the +1 agility and Logan's loophole to remove addiction risk (can be changed later). Skilled in place of Logan's loophole will get you 65 skill points and give you more time to get the intelligence implant. Educated at level 4 for 2 extra skill points per level. Comprehension at 6 for additional points with Skill books (+1/3).

Strength Perception Endurance Charisma Intelligence Agility
 * Melee Weapons
 * Energy Weapons
 * Explosives
 * Lockpick
 * Survival
 * Unarmed
 * Barter
 * Speech
 * Medicine
 * Repair
 * Science
 * Guns
 * Sneak

Locations
Go out of doc Mitchell's and turn right at the road. As you reach the end, go in the back door of the house on your left and grab the star bottle cap. Exit and fast travel to goodsprings, then tag the mailbox. Then head east toward the giant cross. When you crest a hill just north of some fences (on your right), turn to walk between with the map markers (SE, toward 2 antennas on the mountains. Once you reach the road, near a dead brahmin, turn east/northeast toward the most prominent nearby mountain. Travel southeast around it toward the map marker on the compass and you should discover hidden valley before you reach the fence.

Fast travel to that new location. Feel free to check the hollow rock in front of you, then turn east/northeast toward the hole in the fence. Run past the scorpions staying toward the Southeast/south. When you reach a giant scorpion, consider climbing up the rocks on the left and staying to that side to keep away from the rest of the scorpions. You'll come around to a valley that heads North/northeast. You'll see Helios one. As you exit, aim for the tower until you reach the uphill slope for the building. Then turn north.

You'll see a map marker, head toward that and turn east once you can see it's fence. Head toward the map marker until you crest the hill and can see the ants. Back down the hill and head ~north while keeping low and coming around toward the north east. Head toward the left most pylon and pass under it. Walk toward the overpass camp to get the marker and then move back to the pylon, continuing north/northeast past the billboard until you reach railroad tracks in the other side of the roads. Follow those tracks northwest until you see rail cars. Break right to go around them, walking the the low area pointing toward the casino tower. Continue northwest until you pass under the overpass and follow that road north.

You'll reach a wooden bridge and map marker for durable Dunn's sacked caravan. Loot all the bodies and ash piles for weapons and armor. From end of the far bridge, aim toward the water tower and you'll reach Crimson Caravan (rad free water) and new Vegas medical clinic to it's east. Talk to Alice McLafferty to start her quests - focusing on these will open up Cass as a companion. Go through crimson caravan to the far gate and turn south to reach the freeside gate and the gun runners. If you've aimed right, you'll have only discovered 8 locations and have 80xp of the 275 needed to level up. Travel to the silver rush, watch the show then steal everything (use z to pick stuff up and move it where you can't be seen in the back room). Carry the items back to the express box and ship them to Goodsprings.

Bankroll
At some point Malcolm Holmes will show up to talk to you about your star caps. Kill him and take his barter gear/caps. Keep an eye on mailboxes for a salesman weekly. One can be stolen from the saloon office. You can find food in the house South of the saloon along with doc Mitchell's. You can store items safely in victors shack (the one with the lights). There's a weapon repair kit that can be used to repair your most valuable weapon. Best value using it on the most degraded item of a given value. Look for a repair boost to make the most. A grape mentat from any merchant would give you a +10 to barter.

At this point you have access to these merchants: 188 traders, roaming traders, new Vegas clinic, van Graff's, atomic wrangler, Mick and Ralph's, gun runners, crimson caravan, Dixon, chet, trudy and doc Mitchell. If you go to 188 you can get Veronica and go straight to the BoS Bunker. Enter the actual bunker and turn around to avoid picking up a quest. Getting one more merchant and a guard that can kill enemies without getting you more XP. Keep an eye out for scrap metal, sensors and scrap electronics.

Leave Veronica at victor's shack and walk Southeast out of Goodsprings. Avoid markers, heading to primm. Once you have the marker, fast travel to it to avoid the mines, sneak in to the office and repair ED-E. Sneak away and fast travel back to goodsprings to grab Veronica, looting any bodies if ED-E kills anyone. Go back to primm and navigate toward the canyon wreckage, letting them kill the coyotes (or go solo and run past to avoid the XP). Loot the area outside the base, access the missile base to get the repair upgrade for ED-E (25% condition boost once a day in dialog). Unlock the commissary. Use mentats and programmers digest if you want to pass ED-Es first science check.

ED-E can also be used as a mobile work/reloading bench. Use the repair to boost your item value before selling. Having a 35 repair will let you boost the repair percentage to 35%, but it may not be an option until a second upgrade is obtained. Waiting through the days to refresh inventories gives you more chances to repair stuff in the meantime.

Once you have your barter gear and salesman weekly, pass the days at victor's shack repairing weapons to increase their sale value. If you're playing survival, you can hunt coyotes and other wildlife around Goodsprings cave all the way down to the canyon wreckage to have "free" food. Take the weapons to the commissary to sell when you get them fully repaired. With starting cha of 1, luck of 5, and barter tagged barter should be 22. Barter gear would get that to 32, beer to 34, moonshine to 38, mentats to 40 and grape mentats to 50. Salesman weekly would get that to 60. Items will sell for 72% of the actual value. So you'll need 5556 caps worth of trade to have enough for the luck implant.

After that you can use that implant along with the naughty nightwear to close down all the casinos. Skip the Tops until you are ready to end act 1. Since you can get the INT implant any time before level 3, you can also hit level 2 and put all 15 points into barter to sell at around 78% face value. Check into saving outside the casino (or even different interior spaces) to see if the gambling cool down can be bypassed and "maximum" payout achieved on a slot or roulette bet before getting banned.

Trudy will sell 1:1 while accepted + without infamy

Chet will give a 50% discount after run Goodsprings run, 25% more with a mixed reputation (up to 75%). Selling prices unknown.

Johnson Nash will give a 75% discount if Meyers is made sheriff. Unknown boost to selling prices.

Cliff Briscoe will sell 1:1 with the discount from Jeannie Mae Crawford and some specific Barter value

Ada Straus discount for services with positive novac rep

Julie Farkas, Dr. Usanagi, 1:1 when accepted by the followers. Discounted medical services after addressing supplies.

Great Khans Armorer, 1:1 when accepted and barter of 25+

Dr. Kemp "discount on supplies" if Morales corpse is recovered. Supposedly more if reward is declined.

Cpl Farber, discount on food after repairing the food processor

Mixed freeside rep, discount at Mick and Ralph's

Unverified BoS discount with mixed reputation

Mortimer, beef discount?

Alice Maclafferty, gun discount after gun runner theft?

Contreras, special stash at a discount after quest

Jack, discount with mixed rep

Mr. Holdout discount based on rep

Street Vendor, discount based on strip rep?

Implants
Buy the luck implant for 4000 caps, buy the naughty nightware at Mick and Ralph's (luck to 7) and then gamble at the atomic wrangler to make enough for the int implant (another 4000) before you hit level 2. Educated at level 4, comprehension at level 6, save skill books until then. Well rested bonus will offset the skill point loss when possible. If you put all 15 points in barter, that will allow trades to the commissary at nearly 80% actual value at level 2 before you unlock the Khan armory. But at this point you can start your normal gameplay.

Boosts
Weapon repair kits, armor repair kits - cheap to make and can boost item value tremendously.

Free shovel at Goodsprings source

Mail boxes in settlements - Goodsprings, freeside, novac, primm, lvb station

Snow globes - Goodsprings, test site, the strip, Hoover dam, jacobstown, Mormon fort, nellis

Don't do ghost town gunfight until you've done the other powder ganger quests. Take the powder charge schematics from the cell block.

If you want to complete them all and not be attacked on site, don't kill any yourself during GTGF and tip them off about the pending attack (will make the NCR that appear hostile, but no others, faction armor if you want to come back)

Companions
Arcade at old Mormon fort, speech check

rex at the kings, dialog after starting GI blues

Cass at MO, speech or barter check during or after you can depend on me.

Boone in novac - kill Jeanie may and then retrieve the bill of sale from her safe in the motel office

lily in Jacobs town - dialog, possibly after speaking with doc Henry

Raul on black mountain - complete crazy³ or otherwise kill the super mutants

Chances knife
Walk the hill side West of town, going north until you reach the grave. Requires shovel to access, like the one at Goodsprings Source

Monorail access and sniper rifle
Sniper rifle in the barracks tent, grab a uniform from a fallen soldier South of the airport to use the monorail (or just run, they calm down after a couple days). Also, free energy weapons.

Riot armor in LR
Access LR, release ED-E and activate the commissary terminal to purchase armor. Open the door and continue down the hallway to find an upgrade board that will give you a once a day free weapon repair (25%) through dialog with ED-E

Save Khans to get full barter, faction pricing with followers, novac, Goodsprings, etc.

Skill book recipes in OWB - good for 4 points each, require 25 in that skill (net) to craft.

Level 2
Barter +15 to 37
 * Naughty Nightwear
 * luck implant +1 to all
 * int implant +2 to medicine, repair, science

Level 3
Barter +15 to 53
 * Strength implant +2 to melee
 * Perception implant +2 to energy weapons, Explosives, Lockpick
 * Agility implant +2 to guns, sneak

Level 4
Barter +15 to 68

Educated, 17 skill points when leveling

Level 5
Repair +17 to 58

Level 6
Repair +17 to 75

Comprehension, 4 points from skill books, 20 from magazines
 * Science +4 to 30
 * Sneak +8 to 30
 * Medicine +8 to 34
 * Repair +12 to 87
 * Explosives +16 to 36
 * Melee +8 to 28
 * Guns +12 to 34
 * Speech +12 to 35
 * Energy Weapons +4 to 24
 * Unarmed +8 to 30
 * Barter +4 to 72
 * Lockpick +4 to 24
 * Survival +8 to 30

By this point you can boost your lowest stats to 50 and the highest to 100. Go play.