Forum:Going to Sierra Madre...level 12

Did you know that if you plan your build carefully you can go to Sierra Madre very earlier and not from level 20+ like the game says? Also, you will not have a hard time like manny could imagine. This is a Guns + Unarmed courier, as I don't like to focus in only one combat skill, even if I'm using powerfull builds like energy weapons (I usually pick melee for them). This were my stats when beginning the journey.

My SPECIAL was 7/6/7/4/8/7/8 and I already had buyed all the implants, except the Endurance and Monocyte Breeder (health regeneration). I was already in level 12, lacking 1000 XP to advance to level 13. My real skills was as follow, since you don't have clothes or other items to enhance them in the beginning:


 * Barter = 32
 * Energy Weapons = 27
 * Explosives = 43
 * Guns = 60
 * Lockpick = 73
 * Medicine = 30
 * Melee Weapons = 36
 * Repair = 84
 * Science = 60
 * Sneak = 34
 * Speech = 60
 * Survival = 28
 * Unarmed = 50

My perks at this point were Comprehession, Black Widow (you can use with Dean ;)), Hand Loader, Strong Back, Stonewall and Light Touch. This is my third Dead Money run and I was dying to test Light Touch, this perk is too much powerfull in my opinion, that's why only work with Light Armor. For those concerning protection, the explosive colar gives 3 DT and using Sierra Madre Armor and Helmet performs a 20 DT in the end. Since most of the time I was using the Bear Trap Fist for fighting I have +5 DT from Stonewall. The total was a wooping 32 DT! Very good.

It should be noted that the Holorifle is very effective even with a low energy weapons skill. And use the Agility exploit!

First things first: you don't need a high sneak, Ghost People have 0 Perception, you need to be very close to them for being detected. As a guns courier I like to have high repair and pick Hand Loader and Jury Rigging very earlier in the game, Jury Rigging was the next perk I picked when I reaching level 14. If you have too much items with you, next to Residential Disctrict there's a shop where you can sell things and buy Pre-War Money and stimpaks. Above the shop there's a electric hot plate, so make use of those Jar of cloud residue and make Ghost Vision an poisons by dozens (then sell them in the shop). There's also a workbench nearby, so use those bunch of wonderglue, scrap slectronics, scrap metal, wrench and duck tape for making Weapon Repair Kits.

I tested Lockpick with 100% in another playthrough and simply isn't needed, there are some very-hard locks and safes in the Villa, but most of what's inside do not justify the "waste" of points in the skill. Also, if you look carefully in the Villa you will find manny Programmer's Digest, Meeting People and Fixin' Things, so these skills do not need to be too high either (I ended the DLC with 5 Programmer's Digest, for example). For those asking, one of the first things you find is a Pre-War Hat, so keep it with you and when finding a hard lock, use it!

I tested playing at the casino for gainning the Complementary Voucher with 5, 6 and 7 Luck. With 5 and 6 forget it, you can't beat the house on Blackjack and Slots, you will loose A LOT, sometimes more than you gain. With 7 Luck you will have a very hard time, but it's possible. With 8 and above it's no problem. I did not tested Roulette though. If someone have other ideas I'm all ears. For those asking, yes, I was able to lock Elijah in the Vault with my lame 48 sneak. Also, I did this in normal and hardcore mode, in hardcore mode you will have to sacrifice some points of other skills for putting in survival/medicine, but it shouldn't be a problem. What you really need is a good melee/unarmed, it will save a lot of hassle for you.

And that's it. Returning to the Mojave with Sierra Madre armor, reinforced + Light Touch Perk is simply cowardice! LOL I kill Giant Radscorpions at level 18 with my Trail Carbine without having to crouch, since a lot of shots were critical ones, no matter where they hitted. This combo is powerfull, you have high critical chance, high DT and high speed. When fighting Cazadors most of the time was funny, because they stop in the air before trying to sting me, but most of the time couldn't hit me, because I was able to run away. :D Brfritos 01:38, March 5, 2011 (UTC)