|
This page lists The Vault's featured articles for the Fallout: New Vegas portal.
1[]
Snowglobes are rare pre-War artifacts which are widely considered to be useless baubles, but rumor has it that some collectors will pay dearly for them.
Unlike the Vault Boy bobbleheads from Fallout 3, they do not provide permanent S.P.E.C.I.A.L. or skill increases. You can sell them to Jane for 2,000 caps a piece where they will then be added to your snowglobe display in the Lucky 38 Presidential Suite.
2[]
Powder Gangers are packs of convicted criminals from the New California Republic who roam the Mojave Wasteland.
As the NCR expanded eastward into Nevada they took over the old Southern Nevada Correctional Facility in Jean, turning it into the NCR Correctional Facility. As explained by powder gangers, no correcting was done - only manual labor. When the majority of NCR troops guarding the facility were called away to patrol the Colorado River, the convicts decided to take things into their own hands and took over the facility using improvised weapons and explosives made from small amounts of dynamite they had stashed away.
3[]
Colonel Cassandra Moore is the commanding officer for the New California Republic at Hoover Dam.
A career soldier who joined the army at the age of 16, Moore is a veritable legend among NCR troopers. She has survived four tours of duty against the Brotherhood in California and is widely considered to be one of the most competent military officers in the army. Having been injured in combat she had to leave frontline duty as a ranger to assume command behind a desk, something that turned her mood a little bitter.
4[]
Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the former US states of Arizona and Nevada. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936, located east of Boulder City.
Hoover Dam is still functioning in 2281, and is controlled by the New California Republic. According to a treaty between the New California Republic and Mr. House, the NCR must divert 5% of the electricity generated at the plant to New Vegas.
5[]
The anti-materiel rifle is a bolt-action .50 caliber rifle that uses box magazines. It has a slow rate of fire which is offset by its high damage and very low spread. It has a decent sized magazine, very high power and great accuracy. However, its ammunition is uncommon, relatively expensive and is heavy if carried in bulk on Hardcore mode.
The anti-materiel rifle can knock characters down with a single shot. A Strength of 8 (or 6 with the Weapon Handling perk) and high Guns skill is required to use this rifle with optimal performance.
6[]
Cazadores are large insects with distinctive orange wings, a blue-black carapace and a high flight speed. While there are dozens of species of mutated insects in the wasteland, few are as aggressive, invasive or as dangerous as this mutant strain of Tarantula Hawk Wasp.
Cazadores are common in mountainous regions in the Mojave region. Mimicking several species of paper wasp, they create large, basket-shaped paper nests from chewing on wood fiber and molding them into paper pulp.
7[]
Obsidian Entertainment, founded in 2003 after the disestablishment of Interplay Entertainment's Black Isle Studios, is a video game developer for PC and console systems. Several of the developers at Obsidian worked on Fallout, Fallout 2 and Van Buren (Black Isle's canceled Fallout 3 project).
On April 20th, 2009, Bethesda Softworks announced that a new game in the Fallout series, Fallout: New Vegas, was being developed by Obsidian. The game was released in late October 2010.
8[]
Caravan is a card game common in the Mojave Wasteland. It is played with two players building three opposing caravans (or "bids") of numbered cards. The goal is to outbid your opponent with the highest value of numbered cards without being too light (under 21) or overburdened (over 26).
Caravan can be an effective way of making money in Fallout: New Vegas, particularly when playing against merchants who (if anted properly) can place as much as 81.5% of their available currency on a particular hand of Caravan.
9[]
Gecko kebab is a food item made of banana yucca fruit, gecko meat and jalapeño pepper. It can be created at a campfire provided you have a Survival skill of (at least) 60. The dish provides a modest amount of health, restoring a total of 80 HP at the Survival skill level necessary to craft it.
Gecko kebab is also one of only a few food items which provide significant restoration to both the player's dehydration and starvation levels while in Hardcore mode.
10[]
Wild Wasteland is a trait which adds - or in some cases, changes existing - random encounters and locations with a humorous, though not necessary canonical, twist. Players without the trait will find less silly analogues in places where Wild Wasteland modifies things. For example, characters with the trait will encounter an alien ship north of Horowitz farmstead instead of a mercenary camp.
According to J.E. Sawyer, the trait was added as a compromise because different members of the team often suggested 'wacky' content that others thought would be out of place.
11[]
Veronica Santangelo was born and raised in the Brotherhood of Steel - her mother a scribe, her father a paladin. In her youth she fell in love with another girl, but her lover's parents disapproved of same-sex relationships.
After following the Brotherhood from California to the Mojave Wasteland, Veronica became disillusioned with their goals. Her mentor, Elder Elijah became unstable, growing obsessed with technology for technology's sake. Irritated by what she sees as the Brotherhood's unrealistic and uninformed views of themselves and the world, Veronica is a perpetual outsider caught between her loyalty to the Brotherhood and her doubts about their current course.
12[]
The Thorn is an underground settlement located within the outer walls of the New Vegas Westside. The Thorn's main point of interest is the arena, where travellers can bet on the outcome of fights between Wasteland creatures or fight in the arena themselves. The access to the area is denied from 1:00 am to 6:00 am.
The arena is surrounded by a system of raised catwalks for the guards and spectators, and along the sides are cages holding the Wasteland creatures grown and kept by Red Lucy for arena battles.
13[]
Bleak venom is a lethal hemotoxin that causes considerable damage to a target over a timespan of 10 seconds. Like all venoms, it can be applied to any unarmed or melee weapon in order to poison a target on a successful hit.
Bleak Venom is the most deadly of the poisons available in terms of raw damage, making it extremely useful for dealing with high-level and heavily-armored foes as well as those regenerating hitpoints.
14[]
The PDQ-88b Securitron is a pre-War robot produced by RobCo Industries. It is a fairly large, monowheel robot with a titanium alloy housing, resistant to explosive shrapnel and small arms fire. Its form is vaguely humanoid, with two flexible arms and pincers for hands. On the front side is a screen displaying an image of a face, indicating the unit's purpose and alert status.
Its left arm contains an X-25 Gatling laser for medium range engagements. Its right arm contains a 9mm SMG for close-range suppression and crowd control. Its shoulders contain M-235 missile launchers for long range and surface-to-air engagements, and a rapid-fire G-28 grenade launching system for close range engagements. The robots also have onboard auto-repair systems.
15[]
"You see? We remain the very picture of courtesy, even in the face of such impolite accusations. We have nothing to hide here."
Rumored to be a former all cannibal, ex-ghoul faction, the White Glove Society is the organization that runs the posh Ultra-Luxe hotel and casino. Once reformed cannibals, some of them now wish to return to cannibalism by abducting random casino patrons. They wear formal wear or White Glove Society attire, and most wear a White Glove Society mask and are armed with a dress cane.
16[]
Weapon mods allow you to customize most basic weapons and thus create weapons more suited for specific purposes.
Weapon mods by themselves serve no function, but once attached to their specified weapon will change the characteristics, look and/or function to create a distinct variant. The mods range from scopes and silencers to extended mags and several in-between. While you are not limited to the amount of mods you can apply to a single weapon, you are limited to one of each type per single weapon. Once a weapon mod is attached to a weapon it can not be removed and remains a permanent feature of that weapon. While some mods (like an extended magazine) are almost always beneficial, others (like a scope) have both pros and cons.
17[]
That Gun is a unique futuristic-styled revolver which fires 5.56mm caliber ammunition. It is considered the successor to the .223 pistol, though its effectiveness has been considerably reduced compared to the earlier titles.
According to J.E. Sawyer, its name is derived from the fact that players referred to it as "That Gun from Fallout and Fallout 2".
18[]
A remarkable individual from an unremarkable tribe in Utah, Vulpes Inculta was brought into Caesar's Legion as a child. Having survived training, he was made a legionary and fought well enough to be promoted to the rank of Decanus.
He was transferred by Caesar to the Frumentarii following a brilliant tactical maneuver, when in a battle against an unnamed tribe he broke ranks and led his squad through a hole in the enemy defenses, capturing the tribe's chieftain. While his centurion wanted him crucified for disobeying orders, Caesar saw potential in the young officer and found other uses for him. By 2281, Vulpes is the leader of the Frumentarii and the mastermind behind many of the Legion's intrigues, notably the conquests of Nipton and Camp Searchlight
19[]
Camp McCarran is the New California Republic's primary military base in the Mojave Wasteland, located in the pre-War McCarran International Airport outside of New Vegas. The site was chosen because of its close proximity to the Strip and its easily defensible location.
The airport is mostly intact, having only suffered superficial damage from wear and tear. The NCR has converted several of the guard posts into sniper nests, and the parking lot in the center into barracks with sleeping, medical, supply storage, office, mess hall and recreation tents set up as well as firing ranges. The Camp McCarran terminal building is very large, housing a science lab, an interrogation room, supply rooms as well as quarters and office space for senior NCR officers.
20[]
Dead Money is the first add-on for Fallout: New Vegas and was released on December 21, 2010 for the Xbox 360 platform.
It is set in the Sierra Madre, an opulent and extravagant resort that was supposed to be the greatest casino in the west – except that it never opened. Bombs fell before the gala opening, and the Sierra Madre froze in time, its state of the art security system locking the place up tight. Nothing could get in, and none of the guests could escape. As the years passed, the Sierra Madre faded from the history books, only occasionally being seen in posters across the wastes, until it took on mythic ghost story status... a supposed "City of Gold" in the Mojave Wasteland where all the treasures of the Old World were rumored to be held.
21[]
A pre-War gun magazine similar to the Guns and Bullets, Future Weapons Today was entirely devoted to energy weapons. The March issue that's so prominent in the Mojave Wasteland included an interview with Colonel Moretti slamming the venerable Winchester P94 plasma rifle, an article on new fully-automatic Gatling lasers, urban plasma rifles, light and compact Tesla cannons and a story covering a marine sniper with a Wattz 2000 laser rifle in Nanjing on page 42.
Reading it temporarily raises the player's Energy Weapons skill by 10 points, or 20 points with the Comprehension perk.
22[]
Mutated from Bighorn sheep, bighorners are dedicated herbivores which are primarily found in wild herds of three to seven members in the Mojave Wasteland. Domesticated drifts of varying size in settlements such as Goodsprings provide settlers with horns, meat and fur. According to Easy Pete, bighorners cannot be used as pack animals.
They are generally laid-back beasts with surprisingly docile dispositions. Wild bighorners growl and snort if someone gets too close, and only attack if the offender does not back away from them fast enough. Bighorners with young, however, become enraged if their young are approached, and fight to the death with very little provocation in order to protect their offspring.
23[]
Hardcore mode is an optional gameplay mode which introduces new, challenging aspects of survival into the game.
In this mode, the Courier must stay hydrated, eat periodically and have a regular sleep cycle. stimpaks and RadAway work over time rather than instantly, and to restore critically damaged limbs, you must use a doctor's bag, hydra or visit a doctor. Finally, ammunition has weight, so you can only carry a limited amount. In addition, recruited companions can die permanently, whereas they are only rendered unconscious in casual mode.
24[]
Caesar's Legion is an aggressive, imperialist organization, led and founded by Caesar. The legionnaires are a well-organized, jingoistic fighting force that, as of 2281, mainly operate east of the Grand Canyon and in Arizona, where its capital, Flagstaff, is located. The Legion is comprised mostly of reconditioned tribals and their young offspring.
Caesar chose to emulate the values and structure of Imperial Roman legions because he recognized it as a working template for a society equal to the challenges of a post-nuclear world, one that would prevent humanity from fracturing again and establish an age of stability, a new Pax Romana. In the words of its founder, the Legion is a nationalist, imperialist, totalitarian, homogeneous culture that absorbs everyone into itself, obliterating their previous identity.
25[]
The Survival skill allows you to create increasingly powerful poisons and consumables at campfires scattered around the wasteland. It also makes various consumables more effective, no matter whether they are crafted or not, and allows you to tan gecko hides in order to create leather armor.
In Hardcore mode, Survival governs how much a food or drink item will affect dehydration, starvation and sleep deprivation levels.
26[]
Tabitha is a first generation nightkin Mariposa super mutant who served in The Master's army along with Lily Bowen. When the Vault Dweller destroyed The Master and his army disbanded, she probably wandered aimlessly for years, at a certain point stumbling upon an old Mister Handy named Rhonda, with whom she fell in love.
At some point she joined Marcus, who founded the settlement on Black Mountain in 2278. In the same year, Tabitha rallied all second generation mutants against Marcus, forcing him to leave, and established herself as the tyrannical ruler of the newly formed State of Utobitha.
27[]
NCR armor is the official uniform of the New California Republic Army.
It consists of a khaki tunic with bellowed hip pocket and khaki britches, worn with a desert facewrap and hardened leather pauldrons, black leather fingerless gloves, arm wraps, brown boots and khaki puttees. A metal breastplate with the emblem of the NCR painted on is worn in combat, attached to two leather straps on the pauldrons. There are seven variants of this armor which differ in appearance only.
28[]
New Vegas is the post-War remnant of the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, deep in the Mojave Desert. Unlike most of the other major cities of the United States, Las Vegas was not critically hit by atomic weapons during the Great War. Most of the damage was done by the fall of society and government across the United States, background radiation or the general decay of post-atomic society.
The city itself is walled off by the tattered remains of billboards, which makes access the city difficult. New Vegas takes up a large portion of the Mojave Wasteland, but there are plenty of nearby settlements as well as large numbers of raiders.
29[]
Nightstalkers are the results of splicing coyote and rattlesnake DNA. They appear to have a canine body, but with a rattlesnake-like head and tail. They also possess fangs and forked tongues. A night stalker's right eye is blue with a round pupil, while the left eye has an elliptical pupil like most venomous snakes.
Nightstalkers generally travel in packs at night, and the specimens living north of Jacobstown have acquired the ability to cloak by chewing on Stealth Boys from nightkin corpses.
30[]
J.E. Sawyer is a video game designer active in the role playing game genre. After Chris Avellone left Interplay, he became the lead designer of Van Buren (the cancelled Fallout 3 by Black Isle Studios) before he himself left in November 2003. While at Black Isle he was known for coming up with the "Ex-Presidents" project naming system.
When Interplay closed down Black Isle Studios many team members ended up at Obsidian Entertainment, which would eventually come to include J.E. Sawyer. There, he was the lead designer and project director of Fallout: New Vegas.
31[]
Challenges are tasks which the player can undertake in order to earn experience points or special perks. They can be found on the Pip-Boy 3000's "Data" tab.
Some challenges do not show up until some progress has been made. For example, "A little critical" only shows up after you've scored at least one critical hit with a one handed gun. Other challenges are not available until a prior one of the same general type has been completed.