Fallout: New Vegas exploits

Exploits are "holes" in the game programming which allow a player to do something that the developers did not intend and as such, alter the balance of the game in a way that benefits the player.

Mantis Leg Swapping Infinite Experience
The first, and by far the fastest way to gain XP and advance in levels, whether or not one intends to also engage in the 28 Perks Exploit, is via the exploitation of the Mantis Foreleg XP glitch which awards XP when moving Mantis Forelegs from ones inventory into a 'container' and vice versa. It is first available in Goodsprings immediately after starting the game, and before leaving the tutorial area and finalizing character information. Its application is by no means limited to this venue, but it does carry the benefit of additional perks when applied at the stated earliest opportunity. Otherwise it is still an expeditious method of XP accumulation in any event.

The process works as follows: The XP awarded will vary, but can regularly exceed 100 XP per swap. Repeatedly and rapidly swapping back and forth even a single mantis foreleg to and from an empty container can easily generate many thousands of XP per minute. This process is most effective when only mantis forelegs are in your inventory, and the container is empty. The process can be further streamlined by preparing ahead of time and using only a single Mantis Foreleg.
 * First, Acquire Mantis Forelegs by killing Giant Mantises.
 * The first ones available for this exploit can be found inside the Goodsprings schoolhouse.
 * Then find a container object (almost any container will work, not just insect corpses).
 * Once a container is found and you are suitably prepared, swap the Mantis Foreleg(s) into and then back out of said container.

Of particular note is that:
 * Only the first Mantis Foreleg moved to a container from your inventory will register XP. Additional Mantis Forelegs do not register XP even if placed into another container. It is therefore important to move one to a container before divesting the remainder with any equipment to a different container.
 * If dropped on the ground the legs may no longer be able able to award XP. If they are later placed into the corpse of an insect again, they will be reflagged to award XP once more.
 * Placing the mantis forelegs into an insect that awards a higher amount of XP(such as a giant radscorpion) is very advantageous as it flags the mantis foreleg(s) to the XP value of the last insect it was removed from.
 * As of patch 1.5 the exploit occurs on the ps3, but only on dead bugs or in containers near dead bugs.

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XP By Infinite Skill Challenges

 * In Cottonwood Cove, speak to Aurelius of Phoenix. With 35 Barter, you can convince him to allow you to trade NCR tags for supplies. However, this check never goes away, allowing the player to get free XP for as long as they wish. This may also be the easiest XP exploit that the player can reach in the beginning of the game, making it a good one if you're playing new games to build various characters. (fixed on all platforms as of 2010-11-16)


 * During the Three-Card Bounty quest, after killing the fiends you can talk to Major Dhatri about 10 of Spades and Corporal Betsy. You can repeatedly pass a Speech check of 35 and 46 worth 20xp.


 * In the Vault 11 sacrificial chamber, you can access the mainframe in the room to the left after sitting through a presentation by Vault-Tec. Once you access the mainframe, you can repeatedly earn 550xp every time you select the third option and you do not exit the mainframe. (Patched)


 * During That Lucky Old Sun, if the Courier chooses "Full Region (Emergency Output Level)", the dialogue option with Ignacio Rivas to turn in the quest is not removed upon completion. This allows you to repeatedly obtain 350xp, 3 stimpaks, and 2 doctor's bags. After the words "Level Up" appear for the first time the experience will cease to show but it will still make the sound as though you were getting experience. Once you exited out you will not hear the sound or see the experience show up, but you are gaining it all the same. Both statements also apply to the items.


 * At the Aerotech Office Park, speak to Captain Parker about Keith. Find Keith in Aerotech Suite 200. You can repeatedly pass a Barter check of 45 worth 50xp.


 * In Camp McCarren, Doctor Hildern's assistant you can repeatedly pass a speach check to gain infinite xp.


 * In Freeside, recruit Santiago to work for James Garret, then convince Old Ben as well with a Speech check of 50. You will find Ben sitting at the bar and be unable to tell Garret that Ben is willing to join. However, you can speak to Ben and repeatedly pass a Speech check worth 50xp.


 * In Goodsprings during the Run Goodsprings Run quest, you can get infinite XP, and loot using a speech check. Bear in mind this means you cannot use this exploit to gain Perks and then continue the game from Level 1.
 * IMPORTANT NOTE: It can be time-intensive and tedious to reach Level 30 by using this exploit...
 * Takes approximately 5 minutes to do a 100 checks. (Timed at less than 3 hrs, but more than 2 & 1/2 hrs; With And Without Swift Learner Stack-up.)
 * Beginning at Level 1, it takes 66,700 XP to reach Level 30. Each speech check is 25 XP. 66,700 / 25 = 2,668 Speech checks.
 * You can speed this up by taking all three ranks of the Swift Learner perk, increasing your earned XP by 30% to make each worth 33 XP. In contrast: 66,700 / 33 = 2,022 Speech checks.
 * Agree to kill Ringo for the Run Goodsprings Run quest, kill him, return to Joe Cobb, agree to shake down store owners for supplies. Kill all the gang members, including Joe Cobb for good karma (and thus failing the quest). It is also possible to sneak kill Joe Cobb to fail the quest and quickly fast travel, gaining no Powder Gangers infamy and leaving the rest of them alive (if done properly, they will not be hostile).
 * Go to Chet in the general store and ask him to donate some supplies to the Powder Gangers. Select the first option (Barter 25), then the second option (Speech 25), after-wards, the dialog doesn't disappear, and you can keep shaking him down indefinitely. (EDIT: You can keep selecting only the first option if you want. Choosing the 2nd option doesn't affect the exploit.  You can use the 2nd option but its more clicks on the Xbox 360/Play Station 3 )
 * Loot from Chet: 25xp, a completed speech check, some Powder Gangers Fame (which you really need, since you just killed a whole bunch of them), 1 leather armor & 30 9mm rounds, which can be sold back to Chet, unlike what ever you steal from him.
 * If you use Chet, check The bodies of the gang members; both times they had leather armor in the same amounts as however many times you used this exploit.
 * You can do the same thing with Doc Mitchel (need medicine 25), the town's doctor. Rewards is 25xp, a completed speech check, spare medical supplies (worth 100caps, and weighs nothing).
 * On leaving Goodsprings (if you have not left before) (A save is recommended prior to leaving):
 * You can simply leave and keep the current build, perks and level.
 * You can choose to rebuild your character. If you choose this option, your level will be reset to 1 but certain perks  will remain. You will immediately level up again to the point you were before. This is what you should choose to pick even more perks as you will again be allowed to choose perks at each even level (2,4,6,8,etc).
 * If you rebuild and change any of your SPECIAL stats, you WILL LOSE any perk that has a minimum requirement that it no longer meets. The best way to avoid losing any perks is to use exact same SPECIAL distribution when you rebuild. Also, once you rebuild you can take the Intense Training perk, but do not take it before leaving Goodsprings or the points be lost.
 * SPECIAL stats DO NOT have to match previously chosen perk requirements. Tested by choosing Nerves of Steel (AG 7), Better Criticals (PE 6, LK 6), Action Boy (Twice, AG 6), Sniper (PE 6, AG 6), and Animal Friend (CH 6). Performed glitch and created a new build with 3 Perception, 5 Charisma, and 3 Agility, and all listed perks were retained.
 * Skill stats also DO NOT need to match previously chosen perk requirements. Tested by choosing Hand Loader, Living Anatomy, Vigilant Recycler, Nuka Chemist, Robotics Expert, Pack Rat, Mister Sandman, Meltdown, Long Haul, Jury Rigging, and several other Skill-based perks, and then rebuilding the character to not have the values for those perks.. and all the perks worked. they were still available at workbenches, reloading benches, VATS targets still showed their HP and DT. It should be noted, however, that for the perks involving workbenches and reload benches.. that the recipes added require high values in the skill needed to obtain the perk in the first place, and will likely no longer work simply due to having not enough skill to activate the recipe, such as Nuka Chemist(which requires a 90 in science to make any of the 3 Nuka Cola formulas, the same value as the perk)
 * The lost perks will be retained after level 18-20 (only confirmed for non stat related perks) on 360 platform
 * Tested on confirmed.
 * Still functional after the November patch on (confirmed 6-4-2011)
 * 360 platform still works even after patch as of 2/2/11
 * Any level 6+ perk can be used in this exploit. The 4th and 2nd level perks are lost, with the exception of Cannibal. Also, the Dead Money Perks "Light Touch", "In Shining Armor", and "Junk Rounds" do not seem to be lost if chosen at level 2 and 4.


 * Confirmed Perks that stay when doing this glitch:


 * In Camp Golf, accept the quest Flags of Our Foul-Ups from Sgt. McCredie, then go talk to O'Hanrahan and mention helping the squad, he'll ask you to talk to the misfits. Go find Razz, the man with the mohawk, and ask him about his squad mates, as long as you have 40 speech, you can repeat the dialog over and over again for 40xp each time. This appears to be fixed on PC as of 18 December 2010.


 * In the Vegas Strip when you talk to Mr. House you can ask him as often as you want about the "You seem more like a computer than a man." Which requires 35 Medicine Skill and always gives you 35xp.


 * "Mister Sandman Glitch" is back: In Bitter Springs, after having taken the Mister Sandman perk, wait for one of the refugee children to go to sleep and use the "Murder" option you get 50 XP, after-wards the kid keeps sleeping and you can simply rinse and repeat as necessary. Most children are invulnerable to the Mister Sandman perk and will only display a "talk" option when you attempt, however due to a possible labeling glitch these count both as children who can't be killed and adults who can be targeted.


 * In Primm, early in the They Went That-a-Way quest, it requires 40 speech. Before you rescue Deputy Beagle, make your way to Novac and talk to Manny Vargas about the men you are chasing.  (This might also work by going to Nipton and talking to Boxcars but hasn't been tested.)  Now you can return to Primm and clear out the convicts.  Speak to Beagle, and select the speech check that offers to free him for information.  He no longer has any information to give you, so you can repeat the speech check for XP as long as you like with only a couple of button presses.  (Tried only on the 360.)

Gomorrah infinite experience

 * After completing How Little We Know through the "good" path, stand above Big Sal's body and repeatedly punch his dead body (if it's dismembered, punching the arms/legs will still work). Each punch is worth a base of 50 XP.

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Money

 * After recruiting Fisto to work for the Garrets as their "sexbot". Talk to him at the Atomic Wrangler, he will offer to provide services to you. Just exit the conversation and you will receive 10 caps. Repeat this as many times as you wish to build up vast sums of money however quite slowly. Tested and confirmed on  even after 1.05 patch. (5/26/11)


 * At HELIOS One, if you chose not to reroute power to Archimedes II, Ignacio Rivas will give you 3 stimpaks and 2 doctor's bags, if you continue to click on this option he will continue to give you these medical supplies allowing you to sell them and resupply your stimpaks at anytime. (patched)


 * It is possible to exploit any casino for infinite caps simply by getting more than 32,768 (2^15) Chips and then dropping them on the ground. The game gets confused since it's, for some reason, never expecting you to drop this many at once. The result of dropping them is a negative number of chips the player can then pick up and use to trade for caps, NCR or Legion money. The exploit can be done with values higher than 32,768 but the negative number dropped will be smaller (65,536, or 2^16-chips dropped) the more chips you originally drop. Dropping 33,000 Chips will give you a number close to -32,000 and every time you turn Chips in for Caps, NCR or Legion money you will gain that amount, only in positive numbers. Note, save before dropping the chips; they sometimes disappear on the floor. When picked up, they don't show up in inventory anymore, but may be turned in for money over and over. If done right out of Character Creation the player may be able to get infinite caps before reaching level 2 if careful. (confirmed Xbox360)... 33,536 chips dropped equals exactly -32,000 chips. This is due to the 16-bit (4-hex) string used to store the player's number of caps and is a frequent exploit in other games that use the same method for storing numbers that are usually below 32,768 in normal play. (Confirmed 5/19/11)


 * After the Casino opens in Primm, when you choose to cash your chips in, no chips are removed from your inventory even though you are given currency for the chips. The player can cash chips in indefinitely for an infinite amount of NCR currency, Legion currency, or caps. - "Removed in the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 version" by patch.

Caravan

 * You can easily win any game of Caravan by building this deck:
 * Ace (4) 7 (4) 9 (4) 10 (4) Jack (4) Queen (4) King (4)
 * When the game starts, begin to discard all cards except 10, 9, and 7. Before playing your first move you should have 3 10s, 3 9s and 2 7s or 2 9s and 3 7s.
 * First play the 10s, one in each row. then place a 9 in your row, opposite of the opponent's 2nd highest row. Then add a 7 to that same row so the total of your row is now 26. Then add a 9 to your row, opposite of your opponent's lowest row. then add a 7 to that row, making the total 26.  You should now win the game by having two rows of 26.


 * Currently, Caravan is bugged so you win twice as many caps as you should.
 * With the 1.02 patch,Cliff Briscoe, Johnson Nash, Lacey, and Quartermaster Mayes have been limited to five games of caravan apiece. However, the player can still reverse-pickpocket caps into the inventory of non-merchant NPCs who play caravan (such as No-bark Noonan or Isaac). This allows the player to exploit the 'double caps' bug.
 * Any trader who plays Caravan can be exploited for caps. There seems to be a logic error that involves all the different types of currency, if you buy everything so that you have no caps you can still gamble with your NCR and Legion money, the game gives you back all the money in caps. If you continue to do this until the the trader has 20 to 30k it never diminishes his/her total caps. You can keep feeding the trader more caps by buying and selling stuff.


 * You can reverse pick-pocket Dale Barton at The Fort and add caps to his inventory, and he will bet the caps, but they will not be removed from his inventory if you win. Winning large amounts "5,000,000+" may cause the game to crash however. Tested on the Xbox 360 with the latest patch as of 5/26/2011.

Duplicating Money

 * You can use the above method to duplicate NCR Dollars and Legion currency
 * Simply reverse pick-pocket all the money into Dale Barton's inventory. After you win the game you will get about 70% back, but Dale will keep all of his.  (Adding 1,000,000 $100 NCR gave a return of just over 650,000).  Then add the amount you won to his inventory and win again to keep going up.
 * Using this method you can win up to 5,000,000 NCR Dollars or Legion currency every game.
 * WARNING if your total funds reaches 2,093,284,736+ then it will turn into -2,093,284,736 and prevent you from playing anymore

Loot

 * The two guards outside the Gun Runners factory can be killed without Karma loss or penalty. They both wear combat armor and carry a hunting rifle, all in roughly 50% condition, and can be then sold to the Vendortron at the booth for an easy 6000+ caps profit. This can be repeated every time they respawn. The guards can be difficult to kill at lower levels. Guards will respawn after 3 days.


 * You can fully repair all of the weapons on the table in middle of the Silver Rush without using any normal repair skills before you steal them. There is no loss of karma so stealing from them doesn't effect you at all. It takes some patience but it is worth it. First thing you do is save when you first enter the Silver Rush. Grab a weapon, bring it into the back room, make sure you are hidden then steal it, drop it, save again, then load your original save when you first entered. The item you chose will be fully repaired and sitting on the table again. Just simply pick it up again, bring it into the backroom and steal it once more. Enjoy your stolen, fully repaired weapon!


 * Using a suppressed sniper rifle, kill NCR veteran Rangers, and take their armor, which can be worth up to 7500 caps. They spawn at Camp Forlorn Hope. Make sure you are hidden before you kill them and no karma or faction penalty will be incurred nor will the NCR attack you. Simply sell their armor, fully repaired for max profit, and every time you fast travel to and from the merchants, the veterans will have respawned. If not, go to Ranger Station Delta.

Artificial intelligence flaws

 * The artificial intelligence governing Deathclaws is unable to correctly determine when a player is within reach.
 * For example, in Quarry Junction, Deathclaws do not attack players when they are mounted on the taller rocks or machinery, even when they are in reach. This flaw in the Deathclaw AI can be exploited to safely kill the Alpha Male and Deathclaw Matriarch even at lower levels. However, when Deathclaws are actively pursuing the player onto rocks or machinery, they will recognize the player as within their reach, allowing them to attack.

Barter and Repair exploitation

 * Vendor exploit: 100% weapons and armor...as with Fallout 3, player can sell damaged weapons and armor to vendors who already have at least one copy of same item in their inventory...after completing sale (ie. getting caps) repurchase item (rinse and repeat) depending on how many of same items vendor started with, player will eventually be able to purchase item at low quality cost...then have 100% fully repaired item in their inventory which they can now either keep or sell back at 100% value. This exploit allows players to clean out vendors of their inventory without spending a cap...ie. ammo shortages will rarely be a problem assuming player uses exploit whenever he/she gets a chance.  Profit from the sale is the difference between the current condition of the weapon and the full 100% condition of the weapon so choose a very damaged weapon to buy/sell.
 * Note: appears to only work if player starts with only 1 copy of item in their own inventory...Not working? Confirm you do not have a "stolen" item or hidden duplicate in your inventory.

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Karma

 * Flame damage (damage over time) kills do not count against your karma.
 * Just like in Fallout 3, you attack an opponent and not kill it then have a companion finish it off and no karma will be lost. (most of the time)

Followers

 * In the middle of battle, talk to your follower. Select the "Stay at a Distance/Stay Close" option twice, then exit the companion wheel. When you exit, your follower's health should be fully restored (although sometimes it requires the command to be pressed rapidly four or five times).


 * Increased follower weight limit: Give any follower that is near their maximum weight limit a small portion of ammo. You can then give them another small portion of that same ammo, and they'll still be able to carry it even if they go over the weight limit. For example, ED-E is at 200/210 weight and you have 20 missiles (weight of 3). You can give ED-E 3 missiles, which puts him at 209, then give him more missiles in sets of 2 until you're out of missiles, putting him at 260, but it displays it as 210/210. You do not lose any items, but taking off weight will leave your companion at their max weight until their actual weight is below their max weight.


 * The Whole Gang's Here Achievement/trophy: Get a companion and talk to them. Scroll down to the choice of telling them to head home and not be your companion anymore. As they walk away recruit them back. Repeat as many times as necessary until you get the trophy. (Only tested on PS3 and using Raul). This exploit also works in the Xbox360 using Raul Tejada.
 * 100% Critical Chance for followers: Give any follower capable of wearing different hats (Boone, Raul, Arcade) a 1st Recon Beret and in the companion wheel toggle between Ranged and Melee attack mode 19 times to add the 5% critical chance bonus from the beret 20 times. This will cause all weapons used by your companion to critically hit with every shot and this effect will not be removed until the companion removes the beret.

Have all humanoid followers in your party at once

 * Recruit Veronica Santangelo at the 188 Trading Post and visit the sites that trigger her quest I Could Make You Care. When the third trigger trips and Veronica opens dialogue with you, tell her that you do not have time right now, then fire her and send her back to 188. Hire any other companion, go back to Veronica, ask her what she wanted to talk about earlier, and when she requests that you take her to Hidden Valley, tell her to go by herself, and decline again when she persists. This will open another companion slot. You can hire another companion, go back to Veronica and redo the preceding steps, and open another one, repeating until all humanoid companions are hired, ending with Veronica.
 * A related bug with this is being able to take humanoid companion to DLC areas. The only ones that get left behind are your "active" companions (humanoid and non-humanoid). You can check to see which companion is active by entering the penthouse in the Lucky 38. You can take any companions that follow you into the penthouse into DLCs, including Dead Money and Honest Hearts.
 * You can use the related bug described above to bring your equipment into Dead Money by giving your desired equipment to the companion(s) that you know is not an "active" companion before triggering the Sierra Madre abduction sequence. Your "non-active" companion(s) will journey with you to the Sierra Madre and when you finish speaking to Father Elijah you can retrieve all your equipment from your companion(s).

Weapons

 * Using VATS, then simply leaving it when using an Anti-Materiel Rifle loaded with Inc rounds will cause your target to catch on fire and take damage without causing aggression from friendly NPCs including the one you caught on fire or those watching. This exploit has been patched on both consoles as of version 1.02.


 * When using round-by-round reloading weapons the slow speed and glitching can be remedied by having more than one ammo type and quickly tapping the change ammo type button or key two or more times depending on how many ammo types you are carrying. For example using the .357 revolver carrying regular .357 rounds and hollow point .357 rounds, after firing all 6 rounds of ordinary .357 cartridges, immediately press the switch ammo button two times to instantly reload the weapon with the first of the two ammo types you were using. (Tested on .357 revolver, cowboy repeater, trail carbine, brush gun, lever-action shotgun, hunting revolver, grenade launcher and grenade rifle.)

NOTE: This exploit still works if your copy of Fallout: New Vegas is patched.
 * Press the tilde '~' key and type . This should trigger the god mode. You also need a mine, any kind of mine (bottle cap, plasma, pulse or frag.) and any amount will do (one mine is the best). Plant the mines any place you like, any number you you want. Disarm and pick all the mines you planted.

Missile Launcher

 * Break a missile launcher, but break it by your hand, when you fire the last missile and it says the message and takes away the weapon; now after the message appears and it takes the weapon go to pipboy, weapons, select a weapon depending on the ammo you broke your launcher with.
 * If you had regular missiles equipped it will let you throw down as many placed explosives as you had regular missile ammo.
 * If you choose to break if using HE or HV rounds, you will be able to throw the missiles by equipping a throwing spear or like weapon.

Freeside energy weapons kills
Using some doors in Freeside, such as the East Gate or shops, will count as an Energy Weapon kill upon loading of the entered area; a message will appear counting the killing of an enemy using an Energy Weapon, allowing for easy completing of Energy Weapons-related challenges, and so achieving the XP you would normally earn upon completion of the challenge. Tested on Xbox 360. (Confirmed on PS3) (Confirmed on PC)

Perks

 * If a perk has a required skill level (e.g. Animal friend has a Survival requirement of 45), allocate your skill points to the number required, select the desired perk and return to the Skill point allocation screen. You can now reset your points and put them to whatever you want - the perk is still selected even though you no longer meet the requirement.


 * It is possible to obtain a total of 28 perks on your character. The easiest way (on Xbox and Pc) to do this is to kill the Mantises in the Goodsprings School and collect their legs(as listed above in the XP exploits section), and then find an Arthropod wasteland creature in Goodsprings and kill it then move the legs between the player character and the creature. This generates a lot of Exp a lot faster than the second method and does not affect faction standing. Once at the level cap, travel far enough away from the town until you are given the option to rebuild your character. By selecting yes, you are put back to level one and all stats will be reset, but most (not all) of your perks will still be with you. You will then immediately reach the level cap a second time, allowing you to choose more perks to add to your character. There is an In-Depth YouTube Tutorial below.

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Another method is achived by using the infinite speech glitch during the Run Goodsprings Run quest, you can reach level 30 before leaving Goodsprings. Once at level 30, travel far enough away from the town until you are given the option to rebuild your character. By selecting yes, you are put back to level one and all stats will be reset, but most (not all) of your perks will still be with you. You will then immediately reach level 30 a second time, allowing you to choose 15 more perks to add to your character. In-Depth HD Youtube Tutorial, contains a list of Perks which will persist.

Video
The video verbally mentions that you can pick any of the Traits in your starter build for the glitch. These will apply only while you are in Goodsprings performing the glitch. You may want to choose Wild Wasteland as there is at least one event you can get to prior to exiting Goodsprings. When you exit and rebuild your character, you are given the opportunity to choose the two traits you intend to use throughout the remainder of the game. WP4Bq3EFwhg

Barrel exploit
The player can use barrels to kill people. Simply find an empty barrel and push it against a NPC. The NPC will lose some health and the barrel will be sent flying. This can be repeated multiple times to kill someone. The person or others will not be aggressive when hit or killed. This allows lower level players to get armor and weaponry without karma loss or hostility. Note that you will also take some damage, but very little.

Armor hopping
If you press grab just a few milliseconds after jump standing on a piece of armor you can jump on it repeatably to get high off the ground. This glitch can be used to get to out of bounds, or places you are not supposed to be able to, like Legate's Camp.

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Infinite Legion loot and 12.7mm ammo
If you decide to not ally with Caesar's Legion at the Fort, you have a chance to gain an unlimited supply of Legion money, armor, and weapons, as well as a possible source of infinite 12.7mm ammo and 12.7mm SMGs. After clearing out the main area of The Fort and searching the bodies, find the corpse of the Legion Decanus and carry it to the drawbridge where you entered the area from. Drop the body and activate the drawbridge, which takes you to the outer area of The Fort. Immediately turn around and go through the drawbridge again. Check the body of the Decanus and he should have his weapon, ammo, armor, and the spent shell casings he was carrying even if you had already cleared off his body. Repeat as many times as desired. Also works with all other human NPCs in the area with the exception of the Praetorian Guard. Alternately, you can just wait for the legionaires to respawn to kill them again and again.

A post-patch 1.5 trial on PS3 resulted in twelve respawning Legion corpses (one slave also respawns, but offers negligible loot; five or more corpses either do not respawn or disappear). There were seven in the lower section between the main gate and the drawbridge at the summit, and five in the summit area: three near the drawbridge, and two in the SW area in front of the weather monitoring station. All respawned on numerous trips from the summit to the main gate; none were moved prior to respawning.

All corpses carried loot, from a minimum of armor and a machete (Legionary Instructor) to several consumables (healing powder, anti-venom and food), ammo, and a few danarii, plus more valuable armor (Vexillarius) and weapons such as the 12.7mm SMG (Decanus). The average value of loot was 750 caps per corpse over several runs, for a total of 9,000 caps or more per run. Judicious repair increased the total by over 10%. The majority of the valuable loot, about 60%, is found on the corpses in the upper section, with two Decani, Anthony and a Vexillarius, plus one Veteran.

Infinite Energy/Microfusion Cell ammo

 * If you have done enough of the Brotherhood of Steel quest line that you are told you can have some of their recharged energy cells/microfusion cells, you can leave the bunker and re-enter it and the box will always be filled. You can do this as many times as you want and accumulate an outrageous amount of energy weapon ammo. Note that there is no need to leave the bunker; going up the stairs through one door is sufficient. Sometimes you can see the initiate walking off having restocked the footlocker. Installing the game onto your hard drive can speed up loading times and make this method much more effective. You can do this an unlimited amount of times.

Easy pickpocket achievement
In Vault 21 you can keep pickpocketing the people staying in the the hotel below. When the inventory menu pops up, you can select their items but it will never leave their inventory. once you exit the menu you can keep pickpocketing the same person over and over without actually getting any items. It is recommended that you save every 3 to 5 steals because there is still the chance of getting caught and not being able to steal from that person anymore. 1 Stealth Boy could make this even easier than it already is.

Vendor cash and inventory reset

 * You can either wait several game days using the wait/sleep menu.
 * It is possible to refresh merchant inventories on the Xbox 360 by:
 * 1. Save or auto-save in the same area as the merchant(s)
 * 2. Quit to the Main Menu
 * 3. Load the save


 * The merchants in the area will have refreshed inventory and caps. This works as long as you load from the Main Menu. If you load the save while in the game, any nearby merchants' inventories will return to the state they were left in. This affects all merchants that are loaded when the save is loaded. If you are out of the "pop in" range for NPCs it will not work. The vendor will now be at full cash and inventory will be refilled including any randomized items. This will only reset a vendor(s) in the zone you are in, for example if you perform this inside the dino gift shop, that vendor resets but not any caravans outside in the courtyard.  This can be used to quickly reset vendor cash or regenerate random items.  Works with the weapon sale exploit.


 * Vendor Restock Exploit: Confirmed on PS3...If player saves game when in same "cell" as vendor (ie. same location)...then exits game, restarts game and resumes from save...the vendor will have new stock...Using Vendor exploit (above)...player can amass huge inventory of 100% weapons & armor, chems, meds ect. from one vendor (helpful at start of game!). Confirmed on Xbox 360 (02 March, 2011)

Occasionally this does not work. At this point, sign out to return to the main menu and you will see Bethesda's logo etc. Sign back in and it should work and will work if you simply quit now.

Gaining access to Legate's Camp

 * This point of interest can be reached early (pre-endgame) by getting out of the map near Bloodborne Cave and running around to the south/southwest side of Legate's Camp and its cliffs until you reach a sandy hillside which will pretty clearly lead to above Legate's Camp (some fun can be had from these clifftops sniping the unsuspecting Legionnaries/Praetorians below). Then follow the clifftops down to near the Legate's tent (the tent at the top of the winding staircase) & reach the cliff point as close to the center of the camp as possible. This will trigger your Pip-Boy as having discovered the location, allowing you to fast-travel to and from the camp as you wish. Traveling this route can make you get stuck because of the invisible walls.
 * Another way to enter this location early is to access it from the Dam directly. In order to do this you will need a lot of 5mm ammunition (this requires 5mm Staircases to be built). Walk across the dam along your left in the direction you would to the legate camp, until you come to a point where you can jump off the side (try to aim for the water). Once you hit the water, continue to proceed in that direction until you hit land again, and proceed along the wall until the wall meets a sloped surface and you can move no further. From here, you should build your first staircase out of the 5mm boxes. This is simple and should take no more than a minute. Once you get over this sloped surface, you'll see a huge drain. work your way down into that drain until you hit the bottom. Immediately looking to your left, you'll see a ladder. Go over to the ladder, climb it, and you will be on top of the drain across from where you originally were. From here, move along the outskirts of the top of the drain until you are at the road/bridge leading out of the dam. From here, just follow the main road uphill towards the legate camp. Keep moving until you hit the first of 3 gates. Use your 5mm boxes to hop all 3 (which is extremely frustrating and time consuming), and you'll be in. At the second gate, if you look to your right, you'll see a slope and to the left of it is a rock that you can get onto. Jump on the slope, drop a 5mm round and push it into the corner near the rock. Jump onto it and you will get onto the rock. You can get over the next two gates if you stick to the edge. You will most likely run into 3 legion soldiers, 2 on the other side of the wall, armed with a rifle and an axe. After that, outside the camp walls, you will run into a guard armed with a Ballistic Fist. By killing him and taking his attire, you will be disguised from the 15-20 legion soldiers, including the guards. Once you make it inside this camp, you will be able to fast travel in and out as you please. Unfortunately, you will not be able to kill the end boss as he is not present until the last mission.
 * In order to do this you will need at least one companion,lots of stimpacks, an unarmed weapon like the Power Fist or Zap Glove, and not be playing on hardcore mode. First take your companion to the location you want to get out of(must be an angled wall or cliff)then you push them as close to the wall as you can. Next you will use your Power Fist and punch them towards the wall making them slightly go up it. Then you will use your fists and go into V.A.T.S. and target your companion, hitting them once which should bring you right next to them (make sure to heal them after this step or they will get knocked out and you will have to start this exploit over again). Then you reequip your power fist again hitting them farther up the wall and repeat the V.A.T.S. step to get farther up the wall and continue doing those steps to get up over the wall. Works great on the east side right behind the main dam part of Hoover Dam to get to the Legate's Camp.2562877728_c93d6a89d3.jpg