Melee and unarmed build.

[Napoleon slice]

I've always neglected those two categories in previous play through's, but trying to focus on them now. I play 30 mins, me or a companion gets killed then I lose interest for a week before trying again. It's my first PC playthrough and I was originally excited about it but I seem to have lost all feel for the game. I think I've strayed to far from Goodsprings too soon, though I have ED and Veronica. A few pointers for this melee/unarmed build would be appreciated.

Also, I have a 3080 but notice it often dips to the 50's as opposed to the 99fps it usually hovers at. Is there a performance fix also?

[psychotron666]

Not sure about new Vegas, but considering it's the same engine as fallout 3, oblivion and Skyrim, you probably shouldn't run the game past 60fps. Those other 3 games straight up break if you run fps beyond 60, breaking physics, scripts and AI.

[Mechenyi]

Publicado originalmente por Napoleon slice:

Also, I have a 3080 but notice it often dips to the 50's as opposed to the 99fps it usually hovers at. Is there a performance fix also?

It isn't a single fix to install, but following Viva New Vegas is your best option for fixing the game's performance.
https://vivanewvegas.github.io/index.html

[Tribe Reimanen]

Are you using mods? A couple years ago i started using mods heavily. It kinda worked like an addiction to be honest. It started with me downloading like 10 mods. Then 20. Then 50. Then even more. And a certain point i was more occupied with removing and downloading mods that i didnt even play. This happened for like a year and after that i was like "♥♥♥♥ it imma do Vanilla". Then i had my longest playtrough ever and had the most fun in the game i ever had. After that i did another playtrough with a few small mods and continued with other vanilla or lightly modded playtroughs.

If you lost interest in the game and youre using mods, just go vanilla and appreciate what the game has for you. I still enjoy a vanilla run after 1000 hours

[Napoleon slice]

No, no mods. I ought to have been clearer and asked how I can best buff my character and let my companions do the long range fighting. I'm coming back into it after a large hiatus and I've just lost the feel for the character build I was going for.

[Vassago Rain]

All you need to do is put 75 points into unarmed. so you unlock both the uppercut and cross attacks, then get into VATS and explode enemies with repeated cross barrages.

[Scraps]

I'd say it's very ideal to play if you're doing Hardcore, because you don't have to worry nearly as much about ammo weight as you would with firearms.

Special stats you wanna invest in are STR (punch better), END (you like being alive), and AGL (faster movement, more VATS). You can probably set PER and CHR to 1, but nothing at 10 since Implants are things.

VATS is very good for melee/unarmed builds because you do a funny teleport every strike, and it typically hits even outside of your range (it's still a little finicky, but it's Fallout). For companions, ED-E and Boone are prooobably best for range and if you don't plan on picking a fight with NCR (replace Boone with Raul or Lily if you're Legion). You can also enslave Arcade for fun. Perks to look into that aren't Melee explicit are Black Widow/Confirmed Bachelor, Adamantium Skeleton, and Grim Reaper's Sprint.

If going for Unarmed and not Melee, there are 4 NPCs that give you new unarmed skills. As long as they're not hostile, you're dandy:

Diane ( Great Khans) - Overrides left/right attack with pocket sand (complete quest)
Andy (NCR Ranger) - back attack now a powerful knockdown (complete quest / speech 30)
Lucius (Legion Praetorian) - Front attack now a strong charge (unarmed 50)
Veronica (BoS Scribe) - Perfect blocks parry (Give her the White Glove Society attire)

[Myr]

There is a perk at 90 unarmed and I think level 24 that lets you attack faster so that would be worth going to even if you wanted to use melee instead of unarmed.

If you want early melee weapons, to begin with you can buy a max quality baseball bat from the Mojave outpost near Nipton to use early on, then if you piss off the Legion which can be done easily by killing the guy at Nipton they will then give you super sledgehammers and thermal lances all gift wrapped in their "assassin" boxes.

Also outside of specific situations companions can't die unless playing hardcore so if that takes away the fun don't bother with it.

[Napoleon slice]

Thanks. I'm actually on hardcore, trying to figure out how to stay hydrated without using up too much purified water and what the vault 13 canteen is for.
I admit I almost forgot vats for melee/unarmed. I'm still only level 7 so I'll get as much xp as possible from early game locations and then I'm sure the rest will come back to me.

[Mechenyi]

Publicado originalmente por Napoleon slice:

Thanks. I'm actually on hardcore, trying to figure out how to stay hydrated without using up too much purified water and what the vault 13 canteen is for.
I admit I almost forgot vats for melee/unarmed. I'm still only level 7 so I'll get as much xp as possible from early game locations and then I'm sure the rest will come back to me.

It's pretty cheesy to do, but if you mark Goodsprings source and the east pump station near NCR sharecropper farm on the map, you can fast travel to those two locations whenever you get dehydrated. H20 goes up so slowly that you can basically always keep it under 200 by doing this.

[Napoleon slice]

Publicado originalmente por Yurodivyi:

Publicado originalmente por Napoleon slice:

Thanks. I'm actually on hardcore, trying to figure out how to stay hydrated without using up too much purified water and what the vault 13 canteen is for.
I admit I almost forgot vats for melee/unarmed. I'm still only level 7 so I'll get as much xp as possible from early game locations and then I'm sure the rest will come back to me.

It's pretty cheesy to do, but if you mark Goodsprings source and the east pump station near NCR sharecropper farm on the map, you can fast travel to those two locations whenever you get dehydrated. H20 goes up so slowly that you can basically always keep it under 200 by doing this.

Never thought of that. What about dirty water; can it be purified?

[Mechenyi]

Publicado originalmente por Napoleon slice:

Publicado originalmente por Yurodivyi:

It's pretty cheesy to do, but if you mark Goodsprings source and the east pump station near NCR sharecropper farm on the map, you can fast travel to those two locations whenever you get dehydrated. H20 goes up so slowly that you can basically always keep it under 200 by doing this.

Never thought of that. What about dirty water; can it be purified?

You can at a campfire, but it's honestly not worth putting points into survival imo. Especially since you can get a near infinite amount of purified water from empty bottles once you complete OWB.

[Tribe Reimanen]

Publicado originalmente por Yurodivyi:

Publicado originalmente por Napoleon slice:

Never thought of that. What about dirty water; can it be purified?

You can at a campfire, but it's honestly not worth putting points into survival imo. Especially since you can get a near infinite amount of purified water from empty bottles once you complete OWB.

"not worth putting points into survival imo." If you wanna do the boring meta then skip Survival. If you wanna have a tougher more fun experience then actually participating in the massive options offered by the Survival skill is a good choice

[Napoleon slice]

Publicado originalmente por ✪Reimanen:

Publicado originalmente por Yurodivyi:

You can at a campfire, but it's honestly not worth putting points into survival imo. Especially since you can get a near infinite amount of purified water from empty bottles once you complete OWB.

"not worth putting points into survival imo." If you wanna do the boring meta then skip Survival. If you wanna have a tougher more fun experience then actually participating in the massive options offered by the Survival skill is a good choice

Glad you said that: I have 50 points put into survival and I'm only at level 8.
Now, to find a way to keep a steady frame rate: the stuttering is slightly taking the edge of my fun.

[Stealth-Boy 3000]

Survival is awesome. Especially in hardmode.

[Napoleon slice]

Publicado originalmente por Stealth-Boy 3000:

Survival is awesome. Especially in hardmode.

I always didn't like myself for neglecting that part. Trying to remember what items I need for certain recipes adds greater depth.