Survival (Fallout: New Vegas)

Survival is a skill in Fallout: New Vegas. It replaces the Outdoorsman skill from Fallout and Fallout 2.

Overview
The Survival skill allows the player character to create more powerful poisons, chems, and consumable food and drink items at campfires scattered around the wasteland as the skill is increased.

Higher levels of the Survival skill also increase the effectiveness of food items, including stat changes, whether they are made from Survival recipes or not, up to a tripling effect at a skill level of 100. However, this does include negative effects such as penalties to SPECIAL stats or increases to the character's Dehydration, Starvation and Sleep while in Hardcore mode. Radiation effect on foods is not affected.
 * For example, the gecko steak:


 * Heals 2 HP/second for 15 seconds, -30 Dehydration, -75 Starvation at 0 skill.
 * Heals 4 HP/second for 15 seconds, -60 Dehydration, -150 Starvation at 50 skill.
 * Heals 6 HP/second for 15 seconds, -90 Dehydration, -225 Starvation at 100 skill.

While the skill's name "Survival" would denote it simply being a practiced form of subsistence, the survival skill also encompasses the (relatively) finer points of cuisine in post-apocalyptic America. This is well displayed with the Courier being able to prepare such food items as the wasteland omelet, fire ant fricassée, and atomic cocktail.

Equation

 * $$\text{Initial level}=2+(2\times\text{Endurance})+\left\lceil\frac{\text{Luck}}{2}\right\rceil$$

Example: A starting Endurance of 5 and Luck of 5.
 * $$2+(2\times5)+\left\lceil\frac{5}{2}\right\rceil=15$$

Effects on food are affected by the Survival skill with the following equation:
 * $$\text{Effect} =\text{Base} \times (1 + \left\lceil\frac{Survival}{50}\right\rceil)$$

In basic terms, food items become twice as effective with a Survival skill of 50, and three times as effective with a Survival skill of 100. This progression is linear, meaning at a skill level of 75 food items are 2.5x as effective.

Increasing skill

 * Permanent
 * The Wasteland Survival Guide will increase Survival by +3, or +4 with Comprehension.
 * Tag! +15
 * Leveling up +15 with 10 Intelligence, or +17 with the addition of the Educated perk.
 * Endurance Implant +2, but only if Endurance isn't already at 10.


 * Temporary
 * The Lad's Life magazine will increase Survival by +10, or +20 with Comprehension.
 * Caesar's armor increases Survival skill by 5 points, but it is a faction armor.
 * The Park ranger hat and Sorrows outfit both increase Survival by +5.
 * The US Army combat armor raises Survival by +2.
 * Any armor or clothing that increases Endurance, +2
 * Buffout +6 Survival, but only if Endurance isn't already at 10.
 * Sierra Madre Martini +8 Survival, but only if Endurance isn't already at 10.

Survival in quests and exploration

 * 20 Survival to teach Siri at The Fort to make healing powder more efficiently.
 * 20 Survival to call Ricky out when he mistakenly calls deathclaws "Deathjaws."
 * 40 Survival to deduce, when speaking to Pete, what the Boomers grow for food.
 * 50 Survival to persuade Jed Masterson to allow you to carry more weight (boosts from 75 to 100) on the trip to Zion National Park.
 * 60 Survival and 50 Guns to have Jules in North Vegas Square give you the schematics - .44 Magnum, hand load.
 * 75 Survival to teach Jack at the Red Rock drug lab how to make hydra in Aba Daba Honeymoon.
 * 75 Survival to cook the Imitation strange meat pie yourself in Beyond the Beef.
 * 90 Survival to craft all campfire recipes.
 * Several survival checks are made to access additional dialogue with Ulysses.

Behind the scenes

 * Survival appears only in Fallout: New Vegas, although it is based on the Outdoorsman skill from Fallout and Fallout 2.
 * Internally the Survival skill is identified as "AVThrowing," though one cannot see this designation unless examining the game's resources using third-party editing utilities such as FNVEdit. This is because the Survival skill takes the place of the planned, but ultimately scrapped Throwing skill from Fallout 3, including its skill "slot" and associated Form IDs.