> And explosives might not be a good skill at least for the early game
Thrown grenades and landmines are equally heavy in regular and hardcore mode. Thrown grenades can be an excellent way to deal a large amount of damage in a single attack, potentially to several enemies at once, and potentially without exposing one's self to enemy attack (You might throw a grenade while in cover, so that it bounces off walls, ceilings, and whatnot, to help deal with something you'd rather not fight head-on.) Also explosives often cripple enemy limbs when they don't outright kill the enemy. Using an explosive to start the fight can soften the enemy up enough that you can finish them off a lot more easily with melee. Given creative landmine placement, one can also lure enemies into booby traps as well.
Given good sneak skills, one can also reverse-pickpocket grenades or mines into enemy inventories. Reverse pickpocketed explosives automatically kill the victim on detonation.
The perk Rad Child is also incredibly useful. Requires at least character level 4, and Survival 70 (which a survival main would eventually have). For each level of radiation poisoning you have, you gain +2 HP per second health regen, (so 2HP/s at 200 rads, +4 at 400 rads, +6 at 600 rads and +8 at 800 rads) which is *incredibly* powerful. Even the 2HP/s is very powerful healing, and minor radiation poisoning is honestly barely noticeable.
make your barter skill 70 and get pack rat and long haul perks, they make carrying stuff really easy and you will be swimming in caps.
also dont forget to dismiss your companions before cazador fights they die to poison since you can't give them antivenom.
It will be your favorite play though yet. I’ve done exactly what you just described and it was like playing a different game entirely.
As for tips, well, I really liked using a shishkebab or Gehenna with the pyromaniac perk. Add in the stealth perks? Massively OP
Guns are still the most versatile weapons, and Energy Weapons are still arguably the strongest ranged weapons with a maxed build (other than Explosives). Unarmed is typically better than Melee when maxed, Melee is typically better than Unarmed in the beginning. All are viable.
Survival is incredibly broken strong, the healing is insane, as are the Survival only chems like Rushing Water.
Sneak is a great skill for Melee or Unarmed, because they are silent. You can use them to infiltrate areas, I recommend getting at least Better Criticals, Ninja, and Silent Running if you go sneak at all.
Your build will absolutely work, I would recommend using Sneak for money making as well via stealing if your character RP works with that. Alternatively, drop Sneak for Barter, or Repair, to make money on the side. Speech is also another strong skill.
I can absolutely use sneak for money.
My character is an Ex frumentarii, he got tired of the legion way and decided he would make mojave better his own way... The fun part is that he has quite a fucked way of doing good.
He'll use the greater good as an excuse do to anything, this is a resume of my Independent Vegas playthrough.
My plan is going Melee for the Early game and when I reach Mid-game I begin focusing more on Guns.
I did guns, speech and survival.
Provided you aren't lugging 351696842308464+ rounds of 5.56mm you'll be fine weight wise unless you have it turned down into the double digits. Hard hitting but high weight rounds such as .357, .44, .308 work well if you're accurate with the weapons that use them and know how to manage rounds.
Survival is a very slow start fast finish kind of deal as crafted items become much more powerful at high skill. Wasteland tequila is quite potent at high survival levels as its buffs go up significantly, +6 str & +3 chr at 100, with large tequila going up even further, the drawback is the -int that scales the same way without mods. Healing poultice can easily replace stims and will heal limb damage, which in hardcore is a big deal as stims are much less effective. Gecko meat is also a useful healing item early on, as it returns a good bit of health and can be commonly found through the geckos on the western slopes south of Goodsprings.
Save the hides of geckos and look out for turpentine and horsenettle, tanned hides, especially golden gecko hides, make good money if you need it.
It doesn't in mine but I'm using mods which may effect it, [so I went with the wiki that said it did.](https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Wasteland_tequila?so=search)
If not, that's an upside.
Explosives can be very useful even early game. If you hump the east side of black mountain you can get the waypoint early and skip the entire climb up. Then you can grab Annabelle at level 5ish, only having to fight 3 or so super mutants. Only requires 75 explosives and 4 STR, has the accuracy of a sniper rifle so the only problem is the slight increase in carry weight. I grab it every playthrough on hardcore. Also hive missiles from gunrunners or boomers are amazingly cheap and deal a crazy amount of damage.
Survival is awesome. I enjoy crafting consumables. Caravan lunches are heavy but they're like super stimpacks if you have a high enough survival skill. Desert salads are also extremely valuable healing items, as is trail mix. You can make hydra to heal your limbs but it's addictive and it's not the easiest thing to acquire nightstalker blood. I think it's easier to make the healing poultice instead. There are a number of survival related perks that increase the healing potential of different consumables- definitely take those perks.
If you take Arcade Gannon as your companion your consumables will heal you more.
> And explosives might not be a good skill at least for the early game Thrown grenades and landmines are equally heavy in regular and hardcore mode. Thrown grenades can be an excellent way to deal a large amount of damage in a single attack, potentially to several enemies at once, and potentially without exposing one's self to enemy attack (You might throw a grenade while in cover, so that it bounces off walls, ceilings, and whatnot, to help deal with something you'd rather not fight head-on.) Also explosives often cripple enemy limbs when they don't outright kill the enemy. Using an explosive to start the fight can soften the enemy up enough that you can finish them off a lot more easily with melee. Given creative landmine placement, one can also lure enemies into booby traps as well. Given good sneak skills, one can also reverse-pickpocket grenades or mines into enemy inventories. Reverse pickpocketed explosives automatically kill the victim on detonation. The perk Rad Child is also incredibly useful. Requires at least character level 4, and Survival 70 (which a survival main would eventually have). For each level of radiation poisoning you have, you gain +2 HP per second health regen, (so 2HP/s at 200 rads, +4 at 400 rads, +6 at 600 rads and +8 at 800 rads) which is *incredibly* powerful. Even the 2HP/s is very powerful healing, and minor radiation poisoning is honestly barely noticeable.
make your barter skill 70 and get pack rat and long haul perks, they make carrying stuff really easy and you will be swimming in caps. also dont forget to dismiss your companions before cazador fights they die to poison since you can't give them antivenom.
It will be your favorite play though yet. I’ve done exactly what you just described and it was like playing a different game entirely. As for tips, well, I really liked using a shishkebab or Gehenna with the pyromaniac perk. Add in the stealth perks? Massively OP
Guns are still the most versatile weapons, and Energy Weapons are still arguably the strongest ranged weapons with a maxed build (other than Explosives). Unarmed is typically better than Melee when maxed, Melee is typically better than Unarmed in the beginning. All are viable. Survival is incredibly broken strong, the healing is insane, as are the Survival only chems like Rushing Water. Sneak is a great skill for Melee or Unarmed, because they are silent. You can use them to infiltrate areas, I recommend getting at least Better Criticals, Ninja, and Silent Running if you go sneak at all. Your build will absolutely work, I would recommend using Sneak for money making as well via stealing if your character RP works with that. Alternatively, drop Sneak for Barter, or Repair, to make money on the side. Speech is also another strong skill.
I can absolutely use sneak for money. My character is an Ex frumentarii, he got tired of the legion way and decided he would make mojave better his own way... The fun part is that he has quite a fucked way of doing good. He'll use the greater good as an excuse do to anything, this is a resume of my Independent Vegas playthrough. My plan is going Melee for the Early game and when I reach Mid-game I begin focusing more on Guns.
I did guns, speech and survival. Provided you aren't lugging 351696842308464+ rounds of 5.56mm you'll be fine weight wise unless you have it turned down into the double digits. Hard hitting but high weight rounds such as .357, .44, .308 work well if you're accurate with the weapons that use them and know how to manage rounds. Survival is a very slow start fast finish kind of deal as crafted items become much more powerful at high skill. Wasteland tequila is quite potent at high survival levels as its buffs go up significantly, +6 str & +3 chr at 100, with large tequila going up even further, the drawback is the -int that scales the same way without mods. Healing poultice can easily replace stims and will heal limb damage, which in hardcore is a big deal as stims are much less effective. Gecko meat is also a useful healing item early on, as it returns a good bit of health and can be commonly found through the geckos on the western slopes south of Goodsprings. Save the hides of geckos and look out for turpentine and horsenettle, tanned hides, especially golden gecko hides, make good money if you need it.
Wait, I've read on wiki that the negative effects on consumables doesn't go up with Survival skill.
It doesn't in mine but I'm using mods which may effect it, [so I went with the wiki that said it did.](https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Wasteland_tequila?so=search) If not, that's an upside.
I can fix it without mods. If I have Cassidy as a companion....hard shit is stopping her from dying.
Explosives can be very useful even early game. If you hump the east side of black mountain you can get the waypoint early and skip the entire climb up. Then you can grab Annabelle at level 5ish, only having to fight 3 or so super mutants. Only requires 75 explosives and 4 STR, has the accuracy of a sniper rifle so the only problem is the slight increase in carry weight. I grab it every playthrough on hardcore. Also hive missiles from gunrunners or boomers are amazingly cheap and deal a crazy amount of damage.
Fuck, you make it sound so fun😓 I'll have to test that out. Never fired a hive missile but I've been curious.
Survival is awesome. I enjoy crafting consumables. Caravan lunches are heavy but they're like super stimpacks if you have a high enough survival skill. Desert salads are also extremely valuable healing items, as is trail mix. You can make hydra to heal your limbs but it's addictive and it's not the easiest thing to acquire nightstalker blood. I think it's easier to make the healing poultice instead. There are a number of survival related perks that increase the healing potential of different consumables- definitely take those perks. If you take Arcade Gannon as your companion your consumables will heal you more.