Life As A High-Roller, In The Fast Lane
by Sange13
Contents
1. Intro
2. Starting Out
3. Caravan
4. The Strip
5. The Casinos and Blackjack
6. Targets of Opportunity
7. Final Thoughts
8. Version Info
9. Legal
|- Intro -|
This guide is intended to be as spoiler free as
possible, but does contain some minor spoilers. I wrote
this guide because I found that certain merchants in
the game have really expensive loot, but at the early
stage that I encountered them, I was counting the lint
in my pockets. There wasn't an existing FAQ to help
make some fast and easy caps without using some kind of
cheat, bug, or exploit, and those ruin games for me.
After a few different characters and some practice, I
found some good methods to achieve enough wealth to
afford the majority of anything I could want from those
merchants.
So here I will point out some of the things I have
learned in the hopes that it will benefit you, and help
you set your new character up for the long road ahead.
One final disclaimer: This is not a walkthrough of the
game. There are other guides for that all over the web.
This guide is intended to point you in the right
direction when you reach certain points in the game, as
well as provide some general advice.
|- Starting Out -|
There many ways to build your character, and many
styles to choose from. The only aspect of your
character creation that has noticeably varying results
from the advice and tips in this guide is your LUCK
stat. This is primarily important for clearing out the
casinos later on. I personally start with a LUCK of 6,
put one more in through the Intense Training perk, and
purchase the implant to bring it to 8. That said, the
perk is completely optional, and you can get your LUCK
to 8 through other means. More on that later.
During the tutorial phase, it's usually a good idea to
set your character up in such a way that they can pass
most of the skill checks available in Goodsprings.
While not a comprehensive list, here's some of what you
will need:
Speech 25 (Trudy's allies)
Explosives 25 (Easy Pete's dynamite)
Barter 25 (Chet's supplies)
Repair 25 (fix the radio)
Medicine 30 (before leaving Doc Mitchel's house, talk
to him again after you get your Pip-Boy)
Lockpick 25 (for most locks) or 50 (for the safe in
Sunny Smiles' house)
You can also take the Swift Learner perk during this
phase of the game to maximize the gain from the
creatures and the skill checks. After you have
recruited all of the assistance that you can, but
before going back to Ringo, you can leave Goodsprings
to head to the NCR prison for the quest "I Fought The
Law." If you choose to do this, make sure to rebuild
your character how you really want them when you leave
town as this will be the last opportunity to make
changes.
BE SURE TO GRAB THE SNOWGLOBE FROM THE CEMETARY BEFORE
LEAVING GOODSPRINGS FOR GOOD.
I recommend having a base LUCK of 6 or 7. I also
recommend raising the Lockpick skill to 50 before
leaving the NCRCF.
There are many locks to be picked on the road to The
Strip, and the majority of them are only Average (50)
or lower. It is also useful to have a Speech of 30 or
better, even if your CHARISMA is only 1.
When you are done with Goodsprings, the NCRCF, Primm,
and Mojave Outpost, you will want to be sure to raid
some of the houses in Nipton. They have various energy
weapons and safes that are worth the detour. The next
major stop will be in Novac. The main thing you want
out of here is That Gun from the Dino Bite Gift Shop.
The key is that you want to steal it without getting
caught. You only have to pass a Very Easy lock and
close the door behind you. This is a great early gun if
you are using Guns as a major skill, but it's also
worth a good number of caps if you choose not to use
it.
As you make your way to The Strip, try not to spend too
many caps. You will want a couple thousand saved up.
|- Caravan -|
Seeing as how there is already a fairly good Caravan
guide, I'll refer you to that:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/xbox360/959557-fallout-new-
vegas/faqs/61184
The main difference between my play and the author of
that guide is that I prefer to run only 6's, 10's,
Kings, and Jacks.
Just keep the deck at 30, but replace everything you
can with one of those four types of cards. The primary
strategy is about the same, but I feel my set up offers
more strategic flexibility since the AI likes to hit a
lot of my cards with Jacks.
Caravan is a great way to make easy money once you get
the hang of it. Ringo in Goodsprings, Johnson Nash in
Primm, Cliff Briscoe in Novac, and many others all
play. If you rob--erm, win--caps from people you meet
on the way to The Strip, it isn't hard to have your net
winnings exceed two or three thousand caps by the time
you get there. This is also a good way to get your caps
back if you spent a lot on a merchant who plays.
|- The Strip -|
Before you get to the strip, you will want to make sure
you either have 7 LUCK and the Naughty Nightware from
Mick & Ralph's "select goods" (Speech of 30/50,
respectively), OR have 8 LUCK as a base stat through
S.P.E.C.I.A.L., perks, and the implant. The implant
costs 4,000 caps, but easily pays for itself in the
end. You can get it from Dr. Usanagi in her medical
office next to the Crimson Caravan compound.
You may be asking, "Why is this guy so obsessed with
LUCK?" Or you don't care, and you're just following
instructions.
Either way, LUCK directly influences you odds at the
casino games. While it is possible to reach the maximum
winnings with a LUCK of 7, it takes much, much longer
to do so. With a LUCK of 8 (or higher), you can
comfortably win big and win often.
When you get to the outskirts of the strip, more
commonly known as Freeside, you will want to head over
to the Old Mormon Fort right away. Enter, and take an
immediate right, follow the wall to the door in the
corner, enter, go upstairs, and grab the snowglobe on
the shelf. Leave the fort. Head over to Mick & Ralph's,
pass the Speech check, and get the Naughty Nightwear.
Even if you already have a LUCK of 8, this will help
speed the process. You will want to clean out The
Atomic Wrangler before you head into The Strip proper,
but you can skip this step until the next section if
you like.
Once on The Strip, go through the gate to the other
side and keep going until you find the Vault 21 Hotel.
Go inside, and go through the door on the far wall,
down the stairs, and into the vault. Once inside, head
to the bottom floor (with the diner on it), and head to
the northeast section of the building.
When you find the only closed and locked door (50
skill), sneak, pick the lock, and go in. On the table
against the wall you will find a snowglobe. Take it,
then leave the hotel.
Go across the street to the NCR embassy. Inside, find
the NCR embassador, and challenge him to Caravan. You
can rob him of almost 2,000 caps by taking advantage of
his bad play and gambling addiction.
Go back to the Lucky 38, meet Mr. House, go to the
Cocktail Lounge, take a right (hugging the inner
counter) and you should find another snowglobe behind a
cash register. Take all four of them up to his "woman"
robot for 8,000 caps.
Now the fun begins.
|- The Casinos and Blackjack -|
There are a total of four casinos to "clear" before you
cannot gain money from them this way:
The Atomic Wrangler - Run by the Garrets, this casino
has the lowest maximum payout. ~5,000 caps.
Gomorrah - Run by the Omertas. ~9,000 caps.
The Tops - Run by the Chairmen. -10,000 caps.
The Ultralux - Run by The White Glove Society. ~15,000
caps.
It's clear to see that this will be our bread and
butter. At nearly 40,000 caps, this is a worthwhile
target indeed. With our high LUCK, this will be a cake
walk. Whichever casino you choose to start at is up to
you, but be sure to play 10 games of Roulette and Slots
before heading to the Blackjack tables so you can pick
up some easy experience (challenges).
The reason you want to focus on Blackjack is that it is
the game that relies the least on actual luck (not just
the LUCK stat). With a high enough LUCK, slots are a
viable way to max out your winnings as well. Roulette
is too inconsistent for my tastes, so I wouldn't go
that route (though the payouts can be quite tempting).
-------------------------------------
For those who don't know, I will explain the rules of
Blackjack:
The goal is to get as close to a sum total of 21
without going over as possible.
The player with the closest number wins.
Players who go over "bust" and lose automatically.
Each player is dealt a card face up, and one face down.
Number cards are worth the value shown.
Face cards are worth 10.
Aces are worth 1 or 11, at player discretion (the game
handles this automatically).
If a player is dealt a hand that sums 21, he
automatically wins unless tied with another player who
was dealt the same.
Players may "hit" to draw another card. There is no
limit to the number of cards a player may have until
they bust.
If a player is dealt two cards of identical value, he
may "split" and play them as two separate hands.
A player may "double down" to risk twice his bet to
draw one more card. He may not draw again after.
The dealer must draw until he reaches at least 17, or
busts in the attempt.
-------------------------------------
With that out of the way, LUCK plays a significant role
in the outcomes of the game. With a score as high as
ours, we can consistently and quickly make gains
despite our losses if we follow these guidelines:
Only stand on an 18 or higher. Yes, this means hit on
17. LUCK will help keep a lot of these cards low.
Don't bother with Splits. They don't yield any higher
of a payout, but they make the process take longer.
If dealth a sum of 10, or 11, Double Down. LUCK will
keep many of these cards high.
Always bet maximum.
Always taunt the Floor Manager after he bans you from
gambling in his casino.
|- Targets of Opportunity -|
So now that we've cleaned out The Strip and broke the
bank, we should have a lot of money, right? Wrong! The
thirst of our greed is not so easily slaked. Now that
we've made money the legal way, our resources are
starting to look quite dry.
As so many other great minds of history (Al Capone,
Jimmy Hoffa, the oil industry) have shown, it's time to
turn to crime if we really want to be rich. It's a good
idea to establish a "safe house" to keep your regular
gear and spare loot before we head out. The suite in
the Lucky 38 is just fine, but set yourself up wherever
you're comfortable. The other important thing we will
need is a good fence. I prefer to use the Gun Runners'
Vendortron. Here we go:
The Silver Rush, Freeside:
Upon entering for the first time, DO NOT go past the
guards until they leave their position. They will
mention there is a "meeting" going on, but you can
observe through the chain-link fence. After that's all
done, head down the hall on the left wall from the
entrance and open the door (it leads to the bathrooms).
Then use whichever button/key you have assigned to
manipulate objects without picking them up to grab
everything of value and throw it in a pile in the hall
there. When you are finished, go in the hall, close the
door, sneak, SAVE, and grab everything up. When the
guard gives you a supsicious look on your way out, just
casually remark that you were only "browsing."
Nellis Air Force Base (Boomer territory):
I'll skip the part about how to get in, but don't
forget that there's a couple dead Brotherhood bodies
with perfectly sellable Power Armor on them in the
ruined town just outside, after you convince the
Boomers to not blast you into microdust. The first
thing you want to do is head to the museum building,
and grab the snowglobe off the desk in there. Then head
to the munitions storage hangar, and locate the
Munitions Supply Manager. Sell whatever you want to
offload to him until he no longer has caps for you,
then SAVE. You will want to sneak on the other side of
his stall and use the wooden boxes to block his view of
you. Steal EVERYTHING using a method similar to the
Silver Rush robbery. Try not to break this stuff down
via repair if it's condition is over 50% since many of
these weapons are worth 1,000 caps or more each. Be
sure to turn in the snowglobe later.
Camp McCarran AFB
This place isn't nearly as much of a jackpot as the
other two, but it's worth noting that a couple of the
big tents in the middle of the main outdoor area have
some easy to lift goods. One of the tents is a medical
supply cache, and the one right next to it has a bunch
of gun cabinets and ammo boxes. There are also lots of
ammo boxes, footlockers, and random other lootable
containers all over the base.
|- Final Thoughts -|
Between the 5 snowglobes, the casino winnings, and the
Caravan winnings, you should easily have over 50,000
caps. If you went on the little crime spree, I suspect
you should have another 10-20 thousand (at least). I
hope that's enough for you to buy all the implants and
equipment you had your eyes on. If so, I can claim
mission success.
This is my first guide on GameFAQs, so I would
appreciate some feedback to let me know if you found
this helpful, or if you know of some other great places
or ways to make a lot of caps in a short amount of
time. I must stipulate that I will not endorse the use
of any hacks, glitches, exploits, bugs, and so on
within my guide. Fair warning. I check the GameFAQs
boards fairly frequently, so send your comments,
questions, critique, etc as a private message to me on
GameFAQs.
|- Version Info -|
Version 1.0, 01-07-12
|- Legal -|
Copyright 2012 James Boger
This guide is copyright protected. Users have my
permission to view, print, and link this guide for
personal use.
This guide is not to be used for profit of any kind.
Other uses of this guide must follow the restrictions
given by GameFAQs.
