First time tagging & pumping Gambling skill, and...

[Johnny Casey]

Boy, oh boy. This skill is simply outrageous.

I was very skeptical to people who suggest to tag Gambling, but now I know why they do so.

[Der durch die Scheibeboxxxer]

You win most time you gamble right???

[Johnny Casey]

Originally posted by Der Radikale Russe:

You win most time you gamble right???

With about 151% Gambling skill, you can win $25 bet on most cases.

[Moff]

What's the point though? Apart from combat implants, you don't really need money for anything. It's not like you'll ever run out of loot to barter for ammo and such.

[Johnny Casey]

Originally posted by Moff:

What's the point though? Apart from combat implants, you don't really need money for anything. It's not like you'll ever run out of loot to barter for ammo and such.

Mainly for the purpose of getting those skill books to increase the related skills to maximum, and getting all the end-game weapons and armors for your companions. You gotta need a lot of cash to increase your Science skill to 113% with stat decrease exploit, only with the help of reading Big Book of Science, and having all your companions to arm with Gauss Rifles and Power Armors. The amount of cash you can get from loot can't cover that much.

Plus, the gambling is available fairly early in the game. It's nice to have truck load of cashes when you're only level 6. And it's fun to see your money flowing by just spamming bets.

[Moff]

All the humanoid enemies drop their weapons upon death, and even cheap guns like desert eagle, smg and hunting rifles cost like 1k. Big book of science costs ~600-800 or something like that? And i think there's only one merchant that sells them, and he never has more than 2 at a time. Imo, if you just want to pay for that, gambling would be a waste of skill points, or at the very least a waste of a tag.

Besides, if you really-really want that cyberbrain, you might as well just tag science, and put skill points into that instead, skipping all the gambling and fishing for books part.

Gauss rifle and power armor aren't cheap, but at that stage of the game, every enemy drops like 4-6k worth of equipment, sometimes including those very Gauss rifles.

Now, i guess it could be convenient to not have to pick up loot at all, and just carry around tens of thousands of coins, but i don't know. I think i'd much rather tag an extra weapon skill, or maybe sneak, which can turn a fight against any number of enemies into a series of 1v1's, or lockpicking, or even doctor comes in handy every once in a while.

[Der durch die Scheibeboxxxer]

The problem i encountered in the ncr/reno is that i didnt have enough traders to sell my stuff. Later even my car was completely full and i couldnt sell it

[Moff]

Originally posted by Der Radikale Russe:

The problem i encountered in the ncr/reno is that i didnt have enough traders to sell my stuff. Later even my car was completely full and i couldnt sell it

Yep, but that's the point. Apart from some rare ammo, there's very few things to buy in this game, so there's not much use for money.

[Johnny Casey]

Actually, there are three merchants in the game who has Science skill book for sale, and although its value is $400, merchants will raise the cost for about $1000, and this value will increase if you're buying 2 or more books at the same time. So yeah, it costs a lot than you think. Like I mentioned, the amount of cash from the loot cannot cover that much.

And I didn't want Science skill to just get the cyberbrain. I choose to raise Science like madman to use Tag! perk exploit so that I can get all the skill points I would possibly need. It's useful to have 120%-ish on Science skill anyway, but not as useful to actually tag it in the beginning. Why bother raise it with your hard skill point when you can buy the books to do so? That would be a real waste.

It's way more convenient to waste your tag and skill point into Gambling, then just spamming 4 or 5 on the keyboard to get truck load of cash, rather than waiting for the random encounters to pop up, loot your enemies and carrying those around (not to mention the weight limits and so on) until you can barter with merchants.

Also, there aren't any enemies that use Gauss Rifle until at the Enclave oil rig, but that's literally the end game part; where selling the spoils of your enemy to merchant doesn't matter.

[Zotliatlicor]

One of the merchant have unlimited supply of 5 books. And they cost a lot more than 600-800, or 1000 caps. Unless you perk into bartering with skills and perks, and have very high Charisma, Science book starts at 4000 caps. Guns & Bullet is also very expensive, then Repair. First aid & Outdoorsman is cheaper.

Your Karma will eventually play into prices, so depending on hos you play each area prizes will change.

[rompier02]

Originally posted by Moff:

those very Gauss rifles.

which enemy drops the rifles? Enclave patrol drops Gauss Pistol/energy weapons.

[Johnny Casey]

Originally posted by rompier02:

which enemy drops the rifles? Enclave patrol drops Gauss Pistol/energy weapons.

Enclave soldiers at the oil rig have them, but that's literally the end of the game.

[TonZa]

Originally posted by rompier02:

which enemy drops the rifles? Enclave patrol drops Gauss Pistol/energy weapons.

There is a chance for you to find Robber Cave in random encounter, they wear combat armor and end game gear, they usually have couple of M72 gauss rifle on them. But it's rare encounter, I usually just buy mine from Red 888 Guns

Almost forgot, since I never play as bad guy, if you're playing as evil chosen one and have Berserker reputation title you can find yourself against bounty hunters at high level who also took their Gauss rifle against you.

[rompier02]

Exactly. Apart from the examples provided no other enemy drops gauss rifles. At end game it is moot. The cavern encounters is kool only if you survive it. Those dudes in combat armor are very tough. No other enemy drops gauss rifles in normal encounters. Hence my query. OP is right - it is expensive for the rifle & ammo. San Fran & NCR are the shops that sold both. Tagging Gambling skill is one way to raise funds for buying them.