General Suggestions From My Playthrough

[epracer71]

Hi everyone.  Long time follower of the project from the Requiem days, and I really appreciate the long hours and hard work that has gone into this project.

I am currently working my way through my first play-through, and have gathered some suggestions on some of the more often talked about subjects on the boards, primarily based on balance of the game.  FYI, I play hardcore very hard with the 1/2 XP TTW mod on.  I also don't use vats.

1.  Super Mutants.  Honestly, I think they are a welcome challenge.  If the BOS is afraid to wander into the middle of the mall, why in the world would a level 15 little girl who lived her entire life in a vault fair any better?  And once you find your first high-damage gun (plasma rifle / blackhawk / sniper / shiskebab), an experienced player should be able to get by.  If you aren't experienced, maybe turn the difficulty down initially.  Also, stimpacks can be hotkeyed.  Set "1" as your stimpack hotkey and be prepared to use it on occasion.

2.  Talon Company.  Hard is fun, getting hit with tri-beam laser riffles at level 3 when you walk up to the super-duper mart and face talon company with 15DT armor.  Not fun.  Is there any way to create a bit more balance with that?  Perhaps limit the DT on the base talon company armor?  or limit the talon company spawns to one person before level 10?  Not sure what the extent of the possibilities are here, but they were certainly overpowered initially.

3.  Skill books / skill points.  Seems like there are a lot of them available.  I am level 30 and am maxed in almost every category.  Granted I put my intellegence high to get more.  Maybe skill books should be 1/2 points instead of 3/4?  (4 with perk).  There are more of them now, so it would be more balanced.

4.  Bullet to the head.  Ok, last comment, but this is a big one.  I traveled to the Mojave at level 24 with nothing but my railway rifle.  After being shot in the head with a 1911 and losing 9 years of memories, I was still able to OHKO pretty much everything that lived in the Mojave initially.  To balance the beginning of the main Mojave quest, maybe there is a way to put in some side-effects of the bullet to the brain.  For instance, maybe take 50 skill points from every category initially?  Then, as you use those skills, you slowly learn back those 50 skill points?  For instance, Guns.  I traveled to the Mojave with it maxed.  drop it by 50 points, and for every 3 kills, get one of those points back.  150 kills later, Im back to normal.  Same can be done with energy weapons.  Lockpick, get one back every time you pick a lock.  Sneak, 1 every sneak attack critical OHKO.  etc.  I am not even sure this is possible, but it would certainly balance the game a bit and would make sense with the storyline.  After all, the premise of New Vegas is that you lost your memory.

Hope everyone enjoyed my comments, and I would like to open up the thread to other suggestions as well.  Thanks.

[wfpeterson]

What version of TTW are you using? There are only supposed to be five of each skill book according to a recent thread.

Have you played vanilla Fallout 3 on the hardest settings without seeing things like Talons at the Super Duper mart? Or the super mutants.

[TJ]

For what it's worth, instead of using my half xp mod, which slashes all xp gain by half, use Jax's that comes with TTW. It does it intelligently, adjusting it smoothly to the point that getting a level 50 in TTW takes more than twice as long as in NV.

[epracer71]

I am using the latest version.  And I played through FO3 about 3 years ago, so I don't remember much.  But i do not remember ever getting talon at super duper mart, only raiders out front.

5 skill books seems like too many, that is 20 points for each skill.  add the 10 for the bobble head, and you are gifted 30 points each skill, which just seams high to me.  Again, I get 18 skill points per level due to perks and high intelligence, so i will probably run out of things to put my skill points into around level 38.  Just seems like it would be better if the best you could do would be to max out at exactly level 50.  That might be a problem with the vanilla game though.  

[epracer71]

[quote=tjmidnight420]

For what it's worth, instead of using my half xp mod, which slashes all xp gain by half, use Jax's that comes with TTW. It does it intelligently, adjusting it smoothly to the point that getting a level 50 in TTW takes more than twice as long as in NV.

[/quote]

Ya i do use the TTW version.  Thanks though.

[JaxFirehart]

Gifted is not a vanilla trait. How can we be expected to balance around that?

And yes 5 books is 20 points IF you go hunt them down AND you take the comprehension perk. We can't balance for power gamers like that, otherwise standard players would be screwed. Your average player doesn't go looking for the magazines, so to them it's just a cool bonus when they stumble upon one.

Outside the Super Dooper Mart is a random encounter, sometimes Talon Co are that random encounter.

Super Mutants: We are trying to emulate the original FO3 experience, so the DC mutants need to be toned back a bit as they are too powerful compared to original FO3 SMs.

Talon Co: I've never had them spawn with a tri-beam laser rifle at level 3, but I will check them out and make sure they are properly spawning.

Bullet in the head: Exactly. You LOST 9 years of memories, meaning any improvements your character had made in those 9 years are lost and  you are back to whatever state you were 9 years ago. If anything your gear should actually be IMPROVED after the trip west because after 9 years you would be better equipped. Not only that, but one of the main restraints on TTW is we only modify the FNV side of things when it is absolutely necessary.

[wfpeterson]

You could use the TTW_Bobbleheads plugin, then you wouldn't get skill boosts. Whether you consider the alternate benefits too much is another question.

[orik]

I think Super Mutants should remain as difficult as they are right now.



Some sort of skill loss/side effects after the trip over would be cool though.

[wfpeterson]

Actually, the mod "Equipment looted when first arrived New Vegas v1.04" is at least halfway there. It already strips your character of all possessions, with an interesting story about how you can get them back, or not. It would be straightforward to add some lines to change skills, EXP, level, etc.

[epracer71]

[quote=JaxFirehart]

Gifted is not a vanilla trait. How can we be expected to balance around that?

And yes 5 books is 20 points IF you go hunt them down AND you take the comprehension perk. We can't balance for power gamers like that, otherwise standard players would be screwed. Your average player doesn't go looking for the magazines, so to them it's just a cool bonus when they stumble upon one.

Outside the Super Dooper Mart is a random encounter, sometimes Talon Co are that random encounter.

Super Mutants: We are trying to emulate the original FO3 experience, so the DC mutants need to be toned back a bit as they are too powerful compared to original FO3 SMs.

Talon Co: I've never had them spawn with a tri-beam laser rifle at level 3, but I will check them out and make sure they are properly spawning.

Bullet in the head: Exactly. You LOST 9 years of memories, meaning any improvements your character had made in those 9 years are lost and  you are back to whatever state you were 9 years ago. If anything your gear should actually be IMPROVED after the trip west because after 9 years you would be better equipped. Not only that, but one of the main restraints on TTW is we only modify the FNV side of things when it is absolutely necessary.

[/quote]

Excellent point on the gifted trait, i have never played a play through without it, so I guess I just forgot how overpowered it was:)

As far a super mutants, I fully understand wanting the vanilla FO3 experience, and in that light, they should probably be changed back.  That being said, is there any way an optional mod can be kept up similar to the other included optional mods which kept their power the same as it is currently?

I could very well be wrong on the tri-beam, I just remember one of the first times I went digging through my inventory I found a tri-beam and just assumed it came from the talon company, since they were the only energy users I had encountered.

As far as bullet to the head, just suggesting it as a possible optional mod.  I know that even though a person may be able to remember after something like that, they still have to often relearn even the basics like walking.  Wouldn't be too big of a stretch to have to re-learn to fire a gun.  like physical therapy:)  That being said, making my way through old world blues, and there have been a few time i was glad I had my 100 energy weapons skill!

Thanks for the feedback!