![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.impulsegamer.com\/news\/fallout.jpg\")
<\/p>\nFallout: New Vegas > Official Strategy Guide Blog > 02 > Crafty Beggars: Living off the Land, and on the Lam<\/p>\n
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Adventuring across the sandstorms of the Ivanpah Dry Lake, or the rocky terrain around Bitter Springs can be arduous. Partly due to the vicious critters — ranging from packs of Coyotes to lolloping Alpha Deathclaws \u2013 but mainly because you need to keep a constant check on your health, especially in Hardcore Mode. Although it\u2019s certainly possible to live off Stimpaks on the easier difficulty modes, real wasteland explorers expend their Tag Skill Points on Survival, a brand-new Skill that enables you to enjoy the natural (and mutated) wonders of the stark, rugged Mojave and then exploit those resources for fun and profit. Welcome to the world of Crafting.<\/p>\n
Geckos are highly prized; not only is their meat delicious when cooked as a steak, but their hides can be tanned and sold to merchants for considerable Caps. That is, if you\u2019ve focused on Survival and Crafting.<\/p>\n
Crafting doesn\u2019t involve making papier-m\u00e2ch\u00e9 Vault Boy heads; this is all about hunting and scavenging, and then combining items to create much more potent food, drink and equipment. Indeed, the official strategy guide goes to extended lengths to provide you with the most helpful information to get you tracking down the tastiest morsels and most delicious beverages. Or the most potent poisons with which to coat your melee weapon, and charge head-long into that Fiend encampment you\u2019ve been wanting to ransack. There\u2019s a mind-snappingly large number of items you can craft over a Campfire after collecting various wild plants, pieces of meat you\u2019ve sliced off a dead animal, and other accoutrements. You haven\u2019t lived until you\u2019ve tasted Rose\u2019s Deathclaw Omelet; a special recipe only given out to those who\u2019ve returned triumphantly with a \u201cspecial\u201d egg or two. And of course, you don\u2019t want to run across the monstrosity that laid those eggs\u2026<\/p>\n
Of course, there\u2019s a more violent, anarchic point to Crafting too. With the introduction of Reloading Benches, you (and your associated Skill) can spend time searching for any type of ammunition \u2013 including bullets you normally would never use \u2013 and break them down into their component parts. Then, with a modicum of talent, you can craft variations of your standard bullets, shells, and clips to suit a variety of (usually blood-soaked) situations. Naturally, the official guide details all the bullet types, how to create them, and their strengths (and weaknesses), so let\u2019s focus on one example of a common bullet type: the 9mm.<\/p>\n
Pistols (such as the unique offering on show here called \u201cMaria\u201d) can manage to deliver devastating blows \u2013 even to armor-clad entities \u2013 as long as you\u2019ve loaded up the correct bullets for the job.<\/p>\n
You should have shot at Raiders and Centaurs throughout the Capital Wasteland armed with a weapon that fires these bullets. But as battle-scarred Mojave wanderers will tell you, they tend to be pretty feeble against anything more than a lightly-armored target. With low damage, but common availability, this ammo type used to be a stop-gap measure until something better was found. Not anymore! With some Reloading Bench hijinks, a Hollow Point variable can be created. This increases the damage you inflict by 75 percent, which makes combat 75 percent more satisfying. However, it also triples a target\u2019s DT (Damage Threshold, which is the amount of absorption a foe\u2019s armor can take before the strike hits soft, squishy flesh). So this is much more of a lethal strike, but only if your foe isn\u2019t armor-plated. Time then for the \u201c+P\u201d variant; this increases your damage by 10 percent, but it also reduces a target\u2019s DT by 2, effectively letting more damage pass through armor — until your weapon disintegrates, as there\u2019s 20 percent more wear on the firearm with these bullets, too. Naturally, you can counter-act that with Weapon Repair Kits, or a Ghoul with some exceptional tinkering abilities\u2026<\/p>\n
Now factor in the dozens of ammunition types, balanced out by Weapon Upgrades, Unique Weapons, and Followers \u2013 all of which can negate certain shortfalls of Crafted ammo variants and play up to the ammo\u2019s strengths — and you\u2019ll start to understand how much additional depth Fallout: New Vegas has to offer the veteran explorer. But which set of ammunition is the best? And what are the top ten Craftable Items? And how do I stop dying in Hardcore Mode? And is there one place where I can check the statistics of every weapon in the Mojave Wasteland against every other one? And who is this Mr. House guy anyway? Well, those answers (and several thousand more) are all revealed in the Official Game Guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n Come back next time when we reveal some of the breathtaking vistas, and filthy Fiend alleyways of the New Vegas and Mojave Wasteland landscape\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Fallout: New Vegas > Official Strategy Guide Blog > 02 > Crafty Beggars: Living off the Land, and on the Lam<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Adventuring across the sandstorms of the Ivanpah Dry Lake, or the rocky terrain around Bitter Springs can be arduous. Partly due to the vicious critters — ranging from packs of Coyotes to lolloping Alpha Deathclaws \u2013 but mainly because you need to keep a constant check on your health, especially in Hardcore Mode. Although it\u2019s certainly possible to live off Stimpaks on the easier difficulty modes, real wasteland explorers expend their Tag Skill Points on Survival, a brand-new Skill that enables you to enjoy the natural (and mutated) wonders of the stark, rugged Mojave and then exploit those resources for fun and profit. Welcome to the world of Crafting.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Geckos are highly prized; not only is their meat delicious when cooked as a steak, but their hides can be tanned and sold to merchants for considerable Caps. That is, if you\u2019ve focused on Survival and Crafting.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Crafting doesn\u2019t involve making papier-m\u00e2ch\u00e9 Vault Boy heads; this is all about hunting and scavenging, and then combining items to create much more potent food, drink and equipment. Indeed, the official strategy guide goes to extended lengths to provide you with the most helpful information to get you tracking down the tastiest morsels and most delicious beverages. Or the most potent poisons with which to coat your melee weapon, and charge head-long into that Fiend encampment you\u2019ve been wanting to ransack. There\u2019s a mind-snappingly large number of items you can craft over a Campfire after collecting various wild plants, pieces of meat you\u2019ve sliced off a dead animal, and other accoutrements. You haven\u2019t lived until you\u2019ve tasted Rose\u2019s Deathclaw Omelet; a special recipe only given out to those who\u2019ve returned triumphantly with a \u201cspecial\u201d egg or two. And of course, you don\u2019t want to run across the monstrosity that laid those eggs\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Of course, there\u2019s a more violent, anarchic point to Crafting too. With the introduction of Reloading Benches, you (and your associated Skill) can spend time searching for any type of ammunition \u2013 including bullets you normally would never use \u2013 and break them down into their component parts. Then, with a modicum of talent, you can craft variations of your standard bullets, shells, and clips to suit a variety of (usually blood-soaked) situations. Naturally, the official guide details all the bullet types, how to create them, and their strengths (and weaknesses), so let\u2019s focus on one example of a common bullet type: the 9mm.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Pistols (such as the unique offering on show here called \u201cMaria\u201d) can manage to deliver devastating blows \u2013 even to armor-clad entities \u2013 as long as you\u2019ve loaded up the correct bullets for the job. <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n You should have shot at Raiders and Centaurs throughout the Capital Wasteland armed with a weapon that fires these bullets. But as battle-scarred Mojave wanderers will tell you, they tend to be pretty feeble against anything more than a lightly-armored target. With low damage, but common availability, this ammo type used to be a stop-gap measure until something better was found. Not anymore! With some Reloading Bench hijinks, a Hollow Point variable can be created. This increases the damage you inflict by 75 percent, which makes combat 75 percent more satisfying. However, it also triples a target\u2019s DT (Damage Threshold, which is the amount of absorption a foe\u2019s armor can take before the strike hits soft, squishy flesh). So this is much more of a lethal strike, but only if your foe isn\u2019t armor-plated. Time then for the \u201c+P\u201d variant; this increases your damage by 10 percent, but it also reduces a target\u2019s DT by 2, effectively letting more damage pass through armor — until your weapon disintegrates, as there\u2019s 20 percent more wear on the firearm with these bullets, too. Naturally, you can counter-act that with Weapon Repair Kits, or a Ghoul with some exceptional tinkering abilities\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Now factor in the dozens of ammunition types, balanced out by Weapon Upgrades, Unique Weapons, and Followers \u2013 all of which can negate certain shortfalls of Crafted ammo variants and play up to the ammo\u2019s strengths — and you\u2019ll start to understand how much additional depth Fallout: New Vegas has to offer the veteran explorer. But which set of ammunition is the best? And what are the top ten Craftable Items? And how do I stop dying in Hardcore Mode? And is there one place where I can check the statistics of every weapon in the Mojave Wasteland against every other one? And who is this Mr. House guy anyway? Well, those answers (and several thousand more) are all revealed in the <\/span>Official Game Guide<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Come back next time when we reveal some of the breathtaking vistas, and filthy Fiend alleyways of the New Vegas and Mojave Wasteland landscape<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fallout: New Vegas > Official Strategy Guide Blog > 02 > Crafty Beggars: Living off the Land, and on the Lam Adventuring across the sandstorms of the Ivanpah Dry Lake, or the rocky terrain around Bitter Springs can be arduous. Partly due to the vicious critters — ranging from packs of Coyotes to lolloping Alpha<\/p>\n