Fallout: New Vegas

With this method you can get the achievement within just 2 hours. I did it last night- It's absolute genius! Credit goes to ThermalStone over at Gamefaqs. Here's a link to the forum thread: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/959557-fallout-new-vegas/5723...

CHARACTER BUILD:

Sex: Female (for the Black Widow Perk)

S.P.E.C.I.A.L:
Strength: 3
Perception: 4
Endurance: 10 (You'll need the hitpoints)
Charisma: 1 (I've never seen any kind of serious build recommendation that didn't have a charisma of 1)
Intelligence: 10 (You'll need the skill points)
Agility: 10 (For running faster)
Luck: 2

Tag Skills: Barter, Speech, Survival

Skills scores needed as you level up:
Survival: 45 by level 6
Speech: 95 by the Hoover Dam mission
Medicine: Put any extra points into this.
{{EDITOR'S NOTE-- I put all my points into survival first and concentrated on sinking the rest into speech once survival hit 45.}}

Traits:
Good Natured
Second Slot: Empty

Perks:
Level 2: Black Widow (to deal with Benny quickly)
Level 4: Educated (for the skill points)
Level 6: Travel Light (for running even faster)
Level 8 and above: Doesn't matter

1. Get as many stimpaks as you can from Doc Mitchell's house, as well as the doctor's bag and some food and water, then leave. Set the game's difficulty to Very Easy and choose Hardcore mode when prompted.

2. Head Southeast out of Goodsprings towards Jean Sky Diving. From there, turn north.

3. You'll come upon a trailer with some powder gangers and dead caravaners around it. Head east along the road towards Hidden Valley, running away from the powder gangers. Enter Hidden Valley. Any powder gangers still chasing you should turn away.

4. Go to the eastern fence of Hidden Valley and run along it until you see a gap. Head Southeast to Scorpion Gulch, then East to the backside of Helios One. You can easily outrun or even jump over all the scorpions you will encounter.

5. Go north until you discover the El Dorado Substation. You'll need it for fast travel later.

6. From the El Dorado Substation, go Northeast to the 188 Trading Post. Talk to Veronica there and recruit her as a companion. (Do not let Veronica die until after you go back to Hidden Valley later on!)

7. From 188, follow the road north for a long ways until it becomes elevated. There are no enemies here. Then look for a rusty water pipe and keep following that north until you see a wooden bridge. In the center of the bridge is Durable Dunn's Sacked Caravan. Strip the two dead Van Graff thugs of their combat armor.

8. From the caravan, go northwest to discover the New Vegas Medical Clinic and the Crimson Caravan.

9. Enter the Crimson Caravan and sell one of the combat armors. Exit out the west gate of the Crimson Caravan and head south to the Gun Runners.

10. Sell your other combat armor to the Gun Runners. You will now have the 2000 caps necessary to get into the Strip. With any extra caps, purchase some good light armor and a helmet for yourself. If you started the game with the armor from the Classic or Caravan pack, you don’t need anything better. Sell any non Aid items you have in your possession, including your weapons and ammo, if you need more caps.

11. Go north to the Freeside East Entrance and enter Freeside. Go through the blue door next to the Mick and Ralph's crier and head south. Pass the credit check and enter the Strip.

12. Go straight to the Tops and enter. When you see Benny, you'll gain so much experience that you'll jump from level 1 to 4. Level up as suggested above, taking the Black Widow Perk, then talk to Benny.

13. Choose the Black Widow conversation options and convince Benny to go upstairs with you. Follow him to his hotel room, have sex with him, then kill him in his sleep. Take everything off his body and grab his suit off the floor.

14. Go the door at the back of the room and find the Yes Man. Talk to the Yes Man and you’ll get a few quests. Make sure you ask him about the tribes you need to discover. Go downstairs and exit the Tops.

15. Cross the strip to the Ultra Luxe and go through the casino to the reception desk in the back of the Hotel. Talk to Mortimer and ask him about his organization. This takes care of contacting the White Glove Society. Exit the Ultra Luxe.

16. Enter the Monorail Terminal, the building directly to your right. Go upstairs and through the double doors. The NCR guards will start shooting at you. Run past them and get on the monorail to Camp McCarran. (Once you’re in Camp McCarran, no one will care that you illegally got on the monorail.)

17. Exit the McCarran Terminal then cross the parking lot to the west to find the main gate. Exit Camp McCarran.

{{EDITOR'S NOTE-- If you have some trouble keeping Veronica alive through step 18, do step 19 first and then fast travel back to Camp McCarren to do step 18. After getting into the Brotherhood's base Veronica will no longer be required.}}

18. Head directly west from Camp McCarran to Red Rock Canyon. You may want to head northwest after you cross the first bridge to avoid several powerful groups of fiends. When you reach the hills, head south, outrunning any enemies, until you reach Red Rock Canyon. Take the uphill path on the right towards the group of huts and you’ll get credit for contacting the Great Khans without actually speaking to anyone.

19. Open your World Map and fast travel to Hidden Valley. (Aren’t you glad you went the long way round in the beginning of the game?) Enter the Brotherhood’s bunker northwest of the hollow rock and let Veronica get you in quickly. Go down the steps and talk to Ramos for credit contacting the Brotherhood of Steel.

20. Fast travel to the New Vegas Medical Clinic and run northeast to Nellis Air Force Base. Save the game after you talk to George and make a run for the gate. Stay to the left and use the houses for cover until you reach the fenceline, then run left to the gate. Make the wager with George and read his notes if you want more details.

21. The Boomers will take you to Pearl. Finish the conversation with her for credit contacting the Boomers. Then exit her house and fast travel to the New Vegas Medical Clinic first for treatment if you were severely injured by the artillery, then to the Strip.

22. Enter the Lucky 38, and go the penthouse. Stand in front of Mr. House’s big screen, and look under the stairs just to the left. Use the terminal to open the antechamber, then run past the robots and use the second terminal to unlock the elevator. Take it down and Unseal the chamber, then kill Mr. House.

23. Exit the Lucky 38 and cross the street to Gomorrah. Just entering and talking to the guy who takes your weapons gives you credit for contacting the Omertas. Exit and go back to the Yes Man at the Tops.

24. Ask the Yes Man about the tribes, then tell him to ignore each one. Then tell him that you’re ready to meet him at the Lucky 38.

25. Go back to the Lucky 38, and watch the Yes Man install himself on the mainframe, then he’ll take you to the basement for a little demonstration.

26. Talk to the Yes Man again, and when prompted tell him you don’t care what happens to President Kimball, skipping the assassination quest.

27. The Yes Man will then send you to the El Dorado Substation. Fast travel there, enter the substation and activate the terminal to install the override. (Again, aren’t you glad you took the long way to discover this location before?) The guards will shoot at you but you can just run back outside and fast travel back to the Strip before they follow you outside.

28. Return to the Yes Man and tell him you are ready to begin the Hoover Dam battle.

29. Just run past every enemy and follow the waypoint markers to your goals. There’s no reason to fight anyone because you’ll have plenty of speed, hitpoints, and armor to survive on Very Easy. If you take damage, use stimpaks.

30. When you reach the NCR heavy troopers guarding the control room, pass the speech check to fool them into abandoning their post. Then enter and install the override. Keep following waypoints to your goals until you exit back to the top of the dam.

31. Run past the legion troops and securitrons battling it out and enter Lanius’s camp.

32. Run past the praetorian guards and head for Lanius. You should be at level seven by now with a speech of 95-100. Put on Benny’s Suit (+5 to speech) if needed to reach 100, then talk to Lanius. Choose the prompt about listening to reason, then pass a long series of speech challenges to convince him to withdraw the Legion.

33. Turn around and run back to the gates. As you get close, they will explode and General Oliver of the NCR will enter and talk to you. Choose options that steer the conversation towards non violence until you see a 100 Speech Challenge option. Chose that and Oliver will be convinced to withdraw the NCR, leaving you in command of Vegas. End the conversation with a peaceful option.

34. Talk to the Yes Man to finish the game.

There, you just beat the game on hardcore in about two hours, probably without ever:

Entering VATS
Killing anything (except Mr. House and Benny)
Sleeping
Eating or drinking more then once
Picking a lock
Hacking a terminal
Repairing any equipment
Crafting any item
Reaching level 9

How to get the achievement in less than 4 hours.

1) Clear your cache and play offline.

2) Once you're able to get out of Goodsprings, immediately make your way to HELIOS 1 (you will need a speech of 30 to lie your way into the building or an NCR uniform), start the That Lucky Old Sun quest by talking to Fantastic/Ignacio down there. When you're diverting power, choose the 5th dialog option.

3) Turn the quest into Ignacio (not Fantastic) and say I overloaded the plant, blah blah blah... You'll get 350xp, 3 stimpacks and 2 doctors bags and you'll be able to turn that quest in over and over until you get to level 30.

v WHILE LEVELING FOLLOW THIS v

Level your Science, Speech, Barter, Medicine to 100 (everything else do what you want with). Perks do not matter either.

Skurkitty has some great points in his comment below, here it is copy pasted.

Starting zone, finish out all the quests in Goodsprings and get to atleast level 2 or 3.
You DO need either 35 repair to fix the wiring yourself or 45 science to activate the robot to fix the wiring.
(I found this out the hard way and had to restart)
When running into the power grid you will see a door straight across, go in there (watch for mines, there are four) and hack the computer turning off the turrets. (Hacking requires 25 science...but you should have 45 already so no big deal)
After the turrets are offline, ignore killing the robots, you're a low level guy with no much firepower and it just won't happen. Run past them, jumping down ledges if you need to, to make it to the final room.
Activate the robot with 45 science (up stairs) or repair it yourself with 35 repair.
When given the option you will see Send Power Everywhere, and then another one as the fourth option to overhaul the power, pick that one and you're good to go!

4) Once you're level 30 save the game and quit to main menu.

5) Download the patch and resume play (online). Make your way to the vegas strip and walk into the Lucky 38 and kill House.

6) Make your way to The Tops, find Benny, take him to the Presidential Suite, kill him. Get the platinum chip and make your way to his room in The Tops and talk to Yes Man.

7) Follow the Yes Man ending and when you get to Hoover Dam run to the Legate's Camp and speech him into leaving.


My total playtime was 3 hours and 31 minutes from start to finish on hardcore mode. I did not need to eat, sleep or drink once.

Don't forget that once you pop the achievement you can turn hardcore mode off in the gameplay options. If you saved before the final mission at Hoover Dam you can still play the game as a level 30 with 100's of stimpacks and doctor's bags.

This solution is for people like me who just want to get this out of the way. I found an excellent video speedrun on youtube. All credit goes to "snowdick1" who is playing through the game in 36 minutes (35:39 to be accurate). Follow his video-guide and you will get the achievement very fast.

I also highly recommend the text guide from Warboy925 on this site which is based on this video. He did an amazing job with that guide!


A few details:

Choose a female character and choose Harcore-Mode when asked.

S.P.E.C.I.A.L. (as mentioned by snowdick1 in the comments of video 2/3).
Strength: 1
Perception: 1
Endurance: 10
Charisma: 10
Intelligence: 8
Agility: 1
Luck: 9

Skills: Focus on Speech (most important!), Survival and Medicine.

Perks: He chooses "Black Widow" on Level 2; Travel Light on Level 4. These two are the most important perks for this playthrough. Just watch the videos for the other perks he uses.

I used this video-guide yesterday and I can confirm that it works. There will be spots that you have to try a few times but it is all possible to do.
For example: After you leave the doctor at the beginning there will be a group of Nightskins between the mountains of Goodsprings Cemetary and Vault 19. Just run like Hell and try to make your way to the rocks of Vault 19.
And don't forget to eat and drink! I almost died because I forgot that.

I hope this will help others to get the Hardcore-Achievement out of the way.

Hardcore does bring a decent challenge to this game, but as mentioned, you can do this on any difficulty. That being said it can still be somewhat difficult if you don't know what you are doing.

Biggest tips I can give are:

1) Keep a note of places that you can restore your gauges without having to rely on items (like Goodsprings Source for water, or the Kings for both water and beds, with a food vendor reasonably close by). Doing this before you set off for your quests will help since you don't need to use up as much of your food, water and Atomic Cocktails, that you could be using mid quest.

2) Stock up on Atomic Cocktails. These are very useful and if you have plenty of Dirty or Purified water (or rehydrating foods), you can afford the +44 H20 it inflicts, as it will remove a lot of fatigue from you (I also found it temporarily disables the gauge if you have less than about 120 SLP, until the SLP ticks past that amount, but it's probably a glitch anyway).

3) Use Stims often. Regardless of damage taken, use one stim after any engagement that you took damage on. There are plenty of stims in the game, and since it takes time to heal, it's best to use them when you're not getting shot at.

4) Play Caravan. There's a LOT of caps to be made by winning this game, and those can easily afford you munitions, supplies, better weapons, armour, and implants. Another thing is that caps can be handy as a backup in case your skills aren't very high.

5) Have high Luck. The reasons for this are twofold: 1, you can score Critical Hits more easily and with Finesse added, you'll be dealing heavy damage often which will be useful against armoured enemies. The second reason is the casinos on the Strip. If you get The Courier Who Broke The Bank Achievement (which is made incredibly easy with a high Luck rating and playing Blackjack), you'll be pretty much set with well over 30k caps. Throw in earnings from Caravan, selling spare stuff and looting from bodies and objects, you'll easily be able to afford anything you want. A Luck of 8 or higher is generally pretty good. Go for 10 if you don't plan on getting improvements later on (Luck Implants and such).

6) Companions. Keep them in peak condition and they will definitely help you out, depending on the situation (like E-DE and Boone for traversing the Mojave Wasteland.). This might prove to be difficult if your Charisma is low, since their effectiveness is influenced by it.

7) Weapons. While I'm not exactly an expert on this game, I found sticking with one type of weapon is a good idea. Spare ammo and guns can be sold for caps, plus you can achieve higher skill levels much sooner, which kills things faster. If you manage to find the unique weapons to your preferred weapon + Jury Rigging perk, you're pretty much set. Weapons like Gauss Cannons can be useful, especially at the endgame. 100 Science and Lockpick will help you immensely with this too (well... with almost everything really).

8) Challenges. If possible, complete challenges. Some can prove to be very beneficial as those do give perks (Lord Death, ... And Not a Drop to Drink etc.) which improve The Courier beyond the level based perks you usually get. You get exp as well, so it's a good idea to do them anyway.

Lastly: Speech and Barter. Unlike Fallout 3, these have more use in this game, especially with speech challenges. A number of these (as well as other skill based speech challenges) can either make things easier, or let you bypass things altogether. Charisma can help, but if you have a high enough Int, you can get those skills up higher without much of a problem.

It's basically similar to what's been said before, but I have experienced some things that can make things easier in Hardcore mode.

This this a text solution based of off Lizardkingv666's video link...All credit goes to
"snowdick1" for recording the 3 part video, and Lizardkingv666 for posting it on this
site...Lizardking has part 1, but if you "watch it on youtube", links to parts 2 and 3 are posted there, I will put on the guide where parts 2, and 3 start just in case you want to SEE where or what I was talking about....I will say that I WILL copy and paste just the beginning of Lizardkingv666's solution because there just isn't any other way to say how to set up your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. and Perks... I did get Snowdick1's blessing on turning this into a text guide, the proof is here....yes, I am Warren Ras, lol


Ras is actually short for my real last name, the only person that will know my real last name is my future ex-wife

The reason I decided to do a text version is because I realized that a lot of people don't have the patience to constantly pause and rewind the video like I constantly had to while playing the game just to see what his speech choices were and what direction he took....also because it IS a 3 part video.....

Following this guide will get you at least these 3 achievements if you haven gotten Wild Card or No Gods, No Masters yet, it MIGHT also be possible to get more, but I played and beat this game before, so its possible that I got some achievements on another play-though that I would've gotten here....







You do not have to worry at all about leveling up,I was level 8 naturally and killed NOT ONE person, except Benny and Mr. House, and I only died ONCE the whole game and not at all my second playthrough making this guide.....

Important tips: Save often and know how to read your compass, I will be using N, S, SE by
E, or E by SE, and other directions often!!! Just In case you didn't know, (SE by E) or
(E by SE), for example means the point on your compass between SE and E.....on to the
game!! Oh, last tip, RUN LIKE HELL!! A couple times, you will encounter Deathstalkers,
(only around Vault 19), you may get spotted by Super Mutants by Black Mountain, just run
and you should be fine, if not, reload a save...

Choose a female character (for "Black Widow" perk) and make sure you choose Hardcore-Mode when prompted. You need to play on "VERY EASY" as well....

S.P.E.C.I.A.L., you'll want this setup
Strength: 1
Perception: 1
Endurance: 10
Charisma: 10
Intelligence: 8
Agility: 1
Luck: 9

Skill Tags: You'll want Speech, Survival, and Medicine.

Beginning 2 perks: You don't need any at all!!

Perks: Choose "Black Widow" on Level 2, and make sure you have 45 on Survival for "Travel
Light" on Level 4 (you should bump up between 2 - 3 levels while you are in the "Four Tops"), after level 4, pick whatever you want, [Correction: you might want to pick up [TOUGHNESS] as your perk at level 6], game over/achievement should pop up around level 7 or 8

BTW, if you have the Ultimate Edition, the vault 13 canteen is VERY useful, as well as the starting armor you get!! If not, I highly suggest at least getting the Courier's Stash. If you only have the base game, you will need to either buy or find some extra water and stimpaks...this is just a guide to get you though the game as quickly as possible, I'm not going to tell you when to drink or what to pick up....I'm going to assume you played this game before and know where you need to buy items....

Start of Part 1 of the video


[There are some things I had you pick up that is not in the video due to maybe you needing some money for water or supplies]

The Saga Begins: You will wake up in Doc Mitchell's office, choose being a female, then go to the "Vit-o-matic Vigor Tester" and choose the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. settings posted above (1, 1, 10, 10, 8, 1, and 9.) Go sit on the couch and just choose all the top answers, there is no right or wrong answers....when it comes to skills, just uncheck "melee weapons", and check "medicine", speech and survival should already be checked for you...when it says "CHOOSE UP TO 2 TRAITS (OR NONE)", just push "X", you really don't need any of them....

Before he walks you out, go though his house and pick up ALL the healing items you can find, plus you might need the 8 bottle caps on the bookshelf on the way to the door.. You will be forced to talk to him again, just choose "Thanks for patching me up Doc", and you will be prompted to choose Hardcore Mode, MAKE SURE you select YES!! If you have the DLC, put on the "Lightweight Leather armor", if not, just wear the "Vault 21 Jumpsuit" the kind doctor gave you....if you don't have the DLC that gave you "Vault 13's Canteen", you might want to talk to the Doc before you leave and buy at least a dirty water first since you only have 26 caps now.
(Your Medicine should be at least 30, you can pass a "[Medicine 30] speech test" to receive 3 free stimpaks and another "[SPEECH 30] speech test" for 2 more stimpaks)

To Goodsprings Cemetery: Once you step outside, look "NE", you will see a water tower in the short distance, head there...you have discovered "Goodsprings Cemetery", look on one of the graves for healing items, and grab the "Goodsprings Snow Globe" off another grave for an easy 2000 bottles caps later......head "N" under the water tower and you should get that revising your character screen, just choose "Finished - Travel Onward" and move on..you might really, really wanna save now..

To Vault 19: Continue "N" a very short way and you will see a big rock ahead of you climb along the side of it heading "E" (I asked you to save only because there is a chance you might get stuck) ignoring the bloatflies until you see 2 men on a "cross", continue "NE", you will see a road ahead of you and you may see some Deathstalkers, if they see you, just run like hell EAST by NORTHEAST until you see "Vault 19" in a fenced-in area just off the road, run inside the fenced-in area and climb up the "mountain" on the NE side,

To Samson Rock Crushing Plant: save here, then continue "E" at the "fork" on top of the "mountain", hugging the left side....now head NE towards the Powerline Towers...until you
reach Samson Rock Crushing Plant...

To Camp McCarran: You will now want to travel N by NE until you reach a "freeway", (You know you are going the right way if you see some big red containers on your left hand side), jump down into the freeway, and continue "N" until you see a small broken section on your right and a big red container that has "fallen" into the "freeway" right in front of you...go up that broken section, then run "N" for a very short while along the top side of the freeway until you reach some shelled-out buildings, run "NE" through the building and you should see 2 vertical "EL RAY" signs ahead of you, run past EL RAY MOTEL, and into CAMP MCCARRON, straight ahead of you on your right.....

Getting to the New Vegas Strip: Inside Camp McCarran, look to your right, see that big building? Thats right! We are going inside, (you want to enter the west-most set of doors)....once inside you will see a set of broken escalators on your left (I would save before going up), around the corner to the left, you will see 2 guards, run past them and enter the door (they WILL be shooting at you, so RUN!!!), run straight for the MONORAIL, and press "A" to take it to the strip, go through the double doors on the left and down the stairs where you MIGHT get stopped by a NCR Trooper, just answer, "No, I've been here before", to make it quicker, head out the double doors onto the strip..

On The Strip: Look to your left, you will see the Ultra-Lux, thats where we will be heading, go inside and just hand over your weapons...Head SE to the back of the casino and through the double doors and press "A" to talk to "Mortimer", just select "Goodbye", and head back out into the strip, (what we just did was make "contact" with The White Glove Society, it will make more sense later on in the game)....

Next stop The Tops, right in front of you, enter and turn in your weapons..wait a few seconds, you WILL gain 3 levels, put 3 points into SURVIVAL so you have 45, and ALL the rest into SPEECH, choose "BLACK WIDOW", more into SPEECH then "TRAVEL LIGHT" for level 4
First thing, walk back to the front desk and talk to Swank who is the guy next to the one that took your weapons, choose "I think you should know something about Benny", then choose the [SPEECH 15] option, then the [SPEECH 30] option, next the [SPEECH 45] option, then choose whatever you want, it goes back to "That's it. What do you think?" anyways..he gives you your stuff back as well as a key, select "Okay, I'll do it", (I think the reason you have to talk to Swank is because he lets the heat off of you after you kill Benny)....
...speaking of which, you will see him walking to the right side of the casino, talk to him and choose ALL the [BLACK WIDOW] options, and then he will give you another key to his room....go figure? Head to his room via the elevators in the SW corner of the casino, you want the 2nd one on your right...out of the elevator turn right, his room has a planter on each side of his door, enter, and wait for Benny....follow him into the bedroom and choose the top option (involves having sex with Benny)...after the dark cutscene, choose [Kill Benny in his sleep], you will want to loot Benny for his special gun, Maria, and some ammo...you should gain another level, dump it all in SPEECH..
..now, you will want to enter a door in the EAST side of Benny's room to meet Yes Man,
(You might wanna save just in case) choose all the top options up until you are able to
select "I've been invited to visit the Lucky 38", then select the following as they show up...
"What do you know about the courier Benny shot?"
"I have the Platinum Chip, remember?"
"Let's talk about something else."
"So I should ask these tribes if they'll support an Independent Vegas."
"Which tribes should I "get to know""
then finally "Goodbye", which is your queue to leave the casino and head to Lucky 38, but before you go, you can talk to Swank again before you leave and he has a [BLACK WIDOW] option that gives you 100 caps!!

On to Lucky 38: Once you are out of The Tops, turn left and head through the gate, on the
other side, the Lucky 38 is directly to your right, you need to talk to Victor the robot to be let in....Victor mysteriously teleported ahead of you by the elevator door, tell him you wish to go to the Penthouse (lack of other choices till later, lol), as soon as the loading screen is over, you will see a robot named Jane....remember that snowglobe I told you to pick up in Goodsprings Cemetery? She is the one who will buy it off of you, just select "What's with the snowglobe collection?", then select "I've got a snowglobe for Mr. House's collection", and now you are 2000 caps richer!! Now go down the stairs, you can raid the fridge around to the right first if you'd like, then head back and go through the curtain covered door..now equip the gun you looted from Benny, because we are going to be in a rush!!
See that computer terminal ahead of you? Use it to open the Antechamber, the robots now turn hostile so as soon as the door opens, run straight to the next terminal and use it to unlock the control room elevator, use the elevator door asap because the 2 robots will
be shooting you...now use the terminal ahead of you to unseal the LS chamber....use the gun to kill him....you should level up again to level 6, dump the last 5 points into [SPEECH] and the rest into [MEDICINE], (I didn't think about it til just now, but you might want to pick up [TOUGHNESS] as your perk) You can leave safe and sound now, the robots are no longer hostile..and you now have access to the Presidential Suite in case you wanna sleep or loot just to sell things for more water or food..next stop......

(Before we set out, MAKE SURE you have the quest "Wild Card: Side Bets" active!!!! The
quest will always update after making contact with any of the required factions, it will
come in handy, because on hardcore mode, you really don't want to backtrack because you
missed someone..now with that said....)

Gomorrah.....As you leave Lucky 38, it is smack right in front of you, all you need to do is enter, the guy up front will ask for your weapons, just select, "Nevermind, I'll be back", that's it!! You just had contact with the Omertas...you will be outside of Gomorrah after the thug "politely" asks you to leave...

From Gomorrah, head left and through the Freeside gate..if you need supplies, might as well get them here while we are passing through, keep going and go through the "blue Bus" looking gate, and exit the gate that usually has 3 guys standing to the left "Exit to Outer Vegas" (the real reason we went through all the gates was so we can "discover" [FREESIDE'S NORTH GATE] so we can fast travel back later)

(Just a warning, it may be easier to wait until it is early morning before we continue, Hidden Valley is hard to navigate at night because of the nighttime dust storms)

Start of Part 2 of the video


On to Hidden Valley: Speaking of fast travel...we now need to fast travel back to Goodsprings Cemetery....as soon as you arrive, look E by SE. you will see a large white cross, that is where we are going to travel, from the cross head East by SouthEast ALL THE WAY until "You have discovered HIDDEN VALLEY" pops on the left side of the screen..now fast travel to Hidden Valley...from where you "land", head NW towards the bunker door, pull out your weapon, and press L3 to crouch, as soon as the 3 brotherhood soldiers come out, pickpocket the "Hidden Valley Bunker Key" from one of them, back up and use the key on the door you just entered from and take a few shots at any of the soldiers...(the reason you shot at them was because it was an easy way to "make contact")

Road to El Dorado Substation: Once outside, head North until you get out of the fenced in area, then proceed to travel East by NorthEast until you "discover" Neil's Shack, head East up the road and Neil, a friendly Super mutant will greet you, just choose the 2 top replies and Neil will be on his way...ok, now you see that huge white satellite dish above you in the distance? We are going to head in that direction until "You have discovered BLACK MOUNTAIN" pops on the left side of the screen..now fast travel to BLACK MOUNTAIN...from there, head East then SouthEast when you are able....you should see a building soon at the foot of the mountain, head there and you will discover "EL DORADO SUBSTATION" (Reason for needing to discover this location will be apparent later)

Red Rock Canyon Bound: Fast travel back to Vault 19, head West then NorthWest hugging the
mountain on your right, if you see a Deathstalker running towards you, trust me, he doesn't want a hug or a Scooby-Snack, just RUN!!!! You will be traveling Northwest for quite a while until you "discover" RED ROCK CANYON, don't worry, the quest will update a few seconds later....when it does...

(You may want to pick up at least 3 DOCTOR'S BAGS or you can always reload the save until
you get to the gate uncrippled) (right after I wrote this, I did a reload, and I made it to the gate without any crippled limbs)

Flying to Nellis Air Force Base: (Nice pun, huh?) Fast travel back to FREESIDE'S NORTH GATE..there will be a freeway above you, we will be following it East by NorthEast until we reach a road with a shack on the left hand side (now is a VERY good time to save), run along the road then RUN LIKE HELL NorthEast until you reach the gate, pick the 2 top options, then Raquel will talk to you, tell her to "Lead the way", and you will automatically be taken to Pearl, the leader of the Boomers, just choose all 3 top replies and the conversation will end automatically and we are done with all the factions!!!

Meeting up with Yes Man: Fast travel to THE STRIP NORTH GATE, head towards The Tops where
you will see Yes Man standing out front, select, "I'm ready for you to join me at the Lucky 38."

Start of Part 3 of the video...


Enter the Lucky 38, activate the elevator and choose to go up to the penthouse you will automatically be put in a cut scene, go towards the force field to start the demonstration, after the demonstration is over, you will be brought back to Yes Man with a new level gain, put the points where you want, then deal with Yes Man...
Talk to Yes Man and select "Let's talk about the tribes I should get to know", choose to IGNORE ALL OF THEM, of course you have to do each faction one at a time......you will get
some new choices now, choose, " The NCR hates me. They won't let me within 1000 feet of Kimball.", then select, "Ok, I'll get it done."

Rapido to El Dorado Substation: (Another nice pun) And this is why we needed to take that little side trip earlier, so we can fast travel there now!! You need to run in, active the terminal, select "Power the substation", exit the building and immediately open your pip-boy to fast travel back to THE STRIP NORTH GATE (The first time I played this, I had hostile NCR troopers and I had to run for awhile until I was able to fast travel again, I JUST did this again now, and I was able to fast travel as soon as I stepped outside......just a warning in case you get the hostile NCR scenario)

Well anyways, fast travel back to THE STRIP NORTH GATE and head back to the Lucky 38 to meet up with Yes Man again, talk with him and select, "I'm ready to go to the dam", then
"Fine, just tell me how", this is going to be a point of no return (until you finish the game), if you are ready, select "Let's do this!" and you will be transported to the dam

Here at the darn dam: Run North-ish along the dam and enter the second doorway on your
right, you know its the right door if you see a lot of the Legion's troops coming from the west...enter the Elevator to Hoover Dam offices, can't miss it, it right there on your right, you may have a friendly Securitron MK II escort (which is a good thing), basic directions to your goal, left, go around the corner first left, then through the doors the 2 brotherhood soldiers are guarding, (a [SPEECH 75] test will get them to leave their post) the terminal you need to activate will be straight ahead of you...install the override chip, and now you need destroy the dam's generators, exit the room, head right then around the corner head to the other side of the hall and go left around that corner, enter the door ahead of you at the end of the hall, and prepare to get shot at, what you need to activate is the small yellow box on the left wall from where you entered, select "Overload and blow it up!"

Run Forrest Run!!: Time to blow this joint....you'll get that joke later but we need to head back past the area where we activated the first terminal...running all the way....go straight, turn right around the corner, head to the other end, and turn right around the corner again, take the first left and past the door we got rid of the 2 brotherhoods earlier, at the T-section, make a left, right around the corner, duck into the first left and take the door in there to the outside...

Stopping the Legion: Turn to your right, we are running all the way to the end of the dam, and making a left when we see our robot friends.....enter the gate to the Legate's Camp, run East avoiding all enemies until you reach some "wood steps", look up and to the left, you see that guy with the scary mask? Time to talk to him....select these options..

"If you think you've got any chance of taking Hoover Dam, you're wrong."
"Maybe you're willing to listen to reason"
SELECT ALL [SPEECH] OPTIONS.......until you get to....
"There is victory in wisdom"
Take the last [SPEECH] option

General Jackass: Head back to the gate and it will blow up, and you get another conversation with him......select.....

"Hold that thought, General. I want you to introduce you to some friends."
"General Oliver, Hoover Dam is ours. Leave at once."
"Are you sure that's wise?"
"How about I ask these robots to fuck you and your entire battalion with a rocket barrage?"
"[SPEECH 100] [Bluff] Because you're talking and not attacking?"
"Can't do a worse job than the Republic, that's for sure"
"Is that all? Because I've got work to do, and NCR words don't mean much around here"

Yes Man comes up to you and now its Game Over!!! Enjoy the achievements...

Special thanks to Lizardking for encouraging me to write this text guide, and a very special thanks to Snowdick1 for his support and permission

Guys, this guide took me literally HOURS to write, I spent all day watching the videos, pausing it, writing things down, then following it along on my game....if you need to vote negative, please explain why so I may better this, the other guides were great, but not nearly as detailed as mine, nor did they explain why things were being done...enjoy!

First off what hardcore mode does

1) Makes all ammo have Wight
2)stimpaks or sleeping don’t heal crippled limbs
3)all healing items effect overtime instead of instantly
4)more health stats are added for you to worry about so instead of just having your health and radiation you now have
Food(FOD)
Hydration (H20)
Sleep(SLP)
Once they reach 200 they will appear on your HUD your level of them increases with every 200 which will affect your stats once any of them gets to 1000 you WILL die

Most of these are easy to get round
1)Only use a small amount of weaponary .So you only carry lots of ammo Also and try not to use guns for which ammo cots a lot (say why later)
2)Try to carry doctors bags around with you if you can’t there are still ways around this if you get crippled in a fight your going have to bear it until you can fast travel to a doctor like doc Michel in the start of the game in good springs
3)for the healing effect use cover. When you need to take a stimpack get into cover use it and wait for you to be healed before fighting again (retreat if necessary but not too far.)
4)The extra stats Sleep is the easiest all you have to do a sleep when you go by a bed you don’t have to do it very often I got into new vageas and did not have too sleep Food and H20 all you have to do is when you go buy a store(one reason too spend too much caps is so you have caps for food)Buy all their food and water don’t buy beer and other alcohol because these do not have positive benefits Also drink out of anything even if it has RADs like sinks and baths anything to keep your H20 down also the pre order pack the classic pack came with a vault 13 canteen which would stop you from getting h20 sick unless you slept waited or fast travelled


Combat is harder so invest in Speech and Sneak and try too avoid combat AS much as possible.

Forget about karma, hello to reputation If you played fallout 3 karma was a big deal in new vegas it is there but not as much of a deal.
Try and stay and neutral terms with the Ncr and the legion(with the only been later one in the game exception later)and all towns don’t do many side quests as this will change you Rep dipping on the quest


***SPOILERS MAYBE INCLUDED FROM NOW ON ***






Rush though the game but do not cut corners you may know were Benny is at the tops But do all the little quest on finding were is anyway it is worth the XP.


End game tips
IF you come across a lone or small group of Ncr or legion kill them and take their outfits this can be useful to sneak past the Ncr guards and so you can talk to the legion office at the end of the game(You also need speech at 100 and this is strongly recommend)

Also Side with Yes man and do the wild cards quest why?

NCR and legion will not attack you because you can dress like them.

And only yes man and ncr(through speech only)will make it so you do not have to kill the brother hood of steel.

The only problem with yes man it killing Mr Houses his bots in the penthouse this can be done very easily with a cattle prod which is a melee weapon which makes any enemy unconscious
And easy way to get the cattle prod is to go to the Ultra luxe on the strip and talk to the cowboy sitting at the bar and offer to help him find his son then follow and quest to you have to talk to a guy called Mortimer when you talk to him use the speech change and offer to him find fresh meat he will then give you a cattle prod then go back to the luck 38 save the game then go and talk to Mr. house and say you will not give him the chip hit the bot on the right of Mr. house then go round the room anti clock wise hit the bots then go up the stairs and hit the bots their then go round the room hitting all the bots save a new slot after every pass once they are all dead active the terminal to the right of Mr. there will be 2 more bots after that use the terminal next to the lift to go down the kill or disable Mr. house

How to get past the radio-active bunker in the legion camp the main tip here is to go in third person look round the corner if there is a bot quickly pop out shoot and get back in cover for the sentry guns you can get in places they can’t shoot and be close to the edge of a door open it take a shoot close it repeat make sure you upgrade the army so you can help yes man

Other tips
Story related
When you see Benny in the tops tell him to lead the way then when he sends the ambush up just go down the lift

To get into the strip without 2000 caps see the king in the kings school(you have to bribe the door man)and do the side quest then ask for the reward of the passport

When yes man asks you to go to the dam and saves someone’s life re talk to him and say the NCR hate me

On wild card side beats you only have to talk to each faction

talk to the legion commander on the last mission by using a legion outfit to get to him and then use a speech of 100 to not have to talk to him (do not say anything about the legion retreating or he will fight you )

Do not do any side quest only do come fly with be

Try and stay natural to all big faction and grab outfits for them so when you side with yes man they do not kill you

Do not gamble in the casinos this wastes time and money even if you win

Non story tips

Stick to the road for 2 reasons

1) Mutated enemies are off the path which is hard to kill
2)most hills have a barrier that you can’t get past
3)Pick wild wasteland and can get you the alien blaster which is very powerful
(Link on how to find at bottom)

Hardcore mode adds a few "realistic" changes to the game, which I will explain and provide easy solutions too. It confuses me that people would say this particular mode is a challenge, or adds difficulty, because my first run through with hardcore mode on, and I am finding the game far easier then playing Fallout 3. A few starting tips:

- Karma is not your friend. If noone can see you take something, noone will know, and the only ill consequence is a drop in karma. Typically, if you are wanting to play a character with good karma, your going to do enough good deeds to greatly out weigh pilfering all the ammo from a local shopkeep. So use all your wits and steal anything useful that is not nailed down. Same goes for NPCs. If noone sees you kill someone, you didn't kill someone.
- Victor's Shack in Goodsprings is an excellant starting player house. Store anything there if you are unsure of selling it, it will be there when you come back. It also has a bed and clean water.
- Fight how you want, but personally, I find a scoped rifle in stealth will kill most enemies in one hit. Alot more if you use the right ammo.

Hardcore Changes:

Ammunition Has Weight:
Ammo has weight. It isn't much, but in bulk it can weigh you down. I hope you don't fancy rockets, because that there is 3kg a piece. Personally, I hold on to any ammo I can get my hands on. Alot of people say only take ammo for the guns you use, and I have never had a problem where ammo was weighing me down. Just stop in on your current player house periodically and offload any ammunition you will not be using. Ammunition parts do not have a weight.

Stimpack and RadAway Heal Over Time:
Healing is no longer instant. I have almost beaten the game, and I'm lucky if I have used 10 StimPacks. If you get in some trouble, use StimPacks as soon as you take damage, and the heal over time effect will replenish as you lose health. This was even more trivial for radiation.

StimPacks Do Not Heal Limbs:
But a doctor will for a few hundred caps. So will Doctor Bags and Hydras. Have a fair few of them floating around my inventory.

Players Must Eat:
Always carry some spare food. If you get hungry, eat. Food is very easy to come by.

Players Must Hydrate:
Hold on to bottles of dirty/purified water. Worst comes to worst, most vegetation food will provide H2O, as will any tap, lake or toilet. Just remember that NukaCola and Sunset Sarsparilla will also dehydrate you.

Players Must Sleep:
I have had a "you need to sleep" notification twice during gameplay. Beds are also easy to come by.

Companions Suffer PermaDeath:
This is the only thing that is going to be a kick in the pants. Bethesda are quite popular for their inferiour AI. Companions that fight will usually die. If you suspect yourself of getting into a heated situation, just tell your companion to wait somewhere.

Hardcore is where the game is more 'realistic.' Ammo has weight, your companions can 'die,' you have to sleep, drink water, and eat, and it's harder to repair crippled limbs. Also all healing items heal you over time and not instantly except for Super Stimpaks (use only in dire situations) but then you get that nasty Stimpak sickness. You get offered to play Hardcore mode after you leave Doc Mitchell's office at the very start of the game.

*WARNING DO NOT CHANGE THIS SETTING OR YOU WILL NOT GET THIS ACHIEVEMENT!*

I found the best way to do this is build a melee and unarmed character as ammo and guns add a LOT of weight to your inventory. It was very easy to finish this on hardcore with a melee and unarmed (helping you get the Old-Tyme Brawler, and New Vegas Samurai achievements, along the way).

If you find you are having a hard of a time of it you can always set the difficult to very easy, as this will not affect you getting the hardcore achievement, but if you are factioned with the Legion, then NCR troops go down like pussycats to your Fireaxes, Shishkebabs, Displacer Gloves, Powerfists, Super Sledges etc. Also as a side note when you are factioned with the Legion, when your allies die at the battle at Hoover Dam, they drop Fireaxes which are very effective against the NCR troops and Rangers. Heck even the Power Rangers (kekeke) went down without to much of a hassle, who protect General Oliver (just take lots of Stimpaks and Bighorner or Brahmin Steaks).

I started my S.P.E.C.I.A.L. with this criteria. It's flexible except for Strength, Endurance and Intelligence.

Strength 10 (you'll want this for capacity, damage, weapon effectiveness and Unarmed, a necessity for this build.)

Perception 1 (you won't be using energy weapons, accuracy isn't a problem with close quarters and the compass threshold while helpful is only a problem when facing Cazadors or Deathclaws)

Endurance 10 (More Hit points, Damage Threshold, Damage Reduction and Rad Resistance, pretty much all are affected when in close quarters, so therefore this stat at 10 is a neccessity)

Charisma 1 (Not necessary as you will not need or require companions, and won't be bartering or speech success'ing to much)

Intelligence 10 (Boosts all available useful skills like Medicine which you'll need for your Stimpaks, Food, and Rad-Aways, and repair for your armor and weapons as you won't have Raul to help you maintain. Also of course and all those extra skill points.)

Agility 1 (you won't be using guns, or running to fast or sneaking, AP aren't to much of a problem either. This stat is not a necessity leave it at 1.)

Luck 7 (Helps with all your other skills and also helps with Criticals, and Gambling to get lots of caps from Caravan or Blackjack)

Tag Unarmed, Melee and Medicine.

Start the game out with the first melee weapon you find. I like Knives, Machetes, Combat Knives, Lead Pipes basically anything you can get your hands on. Spiked Knuckles are great to as they are very fast and do lots of damage.

Play the game as you normally would. I would recommend getting your survival too 25 (for Geckos, Dog and Coyote) or 50 (for Brahmin and Bighorner) as quickly as possible so you can make Gecko Steaks, Brahmin Steaks and Bighorner Steaks which meat is easy to find and the Steaks help you with huge HP boosts and no Rad's plus really help your hunger meter.

Sleep meter is easy to keep low and not a problem. You don't even have to sleep long. Only 1 or 2 hours every 20 minutes or so..

H20 Meter, carry lots of Purified water, Dirty water is okay too if necessary the Rads are not to much of a problem. There is also lots of clean water around Lake Mead and in Vegas. Only select areas have high rads form drinking irradiated water.

Some perks I would recommend you take or acquire are:

'Heavy Handed' (at the start when Doc Mitchell asks you what 2 perks to take, I took this one as it makes all your Melee and Unarmed do more damage but less critical damage. Seeing as your do more regular damage over criticals this is a great perk for this build. The Pro's outweigh the Con's).

You can leave the other one empty or be a rebel and take 'Wild Wasteland' as I did :)

Might I suggest NOT to take the 'Small Frame' perk. On hardcore you cannot repair damaged limbs with stimpaks or sleep (only Doctors Bags or a Doctor). So having a crippled guy with no legs to run away, no arms to swing your heavy weapons or punch makes this a very BAD perk! Also you don't need the +1 to agility anyways. Stay away like the plague!

Head to Novac and get the 'Ranger Takedown' perk form the Ranger who asks you to check on Ranger Station Charlie just south of Novac. When you go back he will offer to teach you this manouever which when doing a power attack running backwards will knock down your opponent. Very useful and it's very easy to obtain!

Another one to get is the one from Caesars legion. It's called 'Legion Assault' You gain a manouever when power attack but running forwards this time. It's also very useful, easy to get and very effective.

Other suggestions:

'Super Slam' (has a chance to knock down any opponent. With your high luck this should happen frequently)
'Piercing Strike' (Ignore 15 Damage Threshold for all your weapons? No brainer)
'Stone Wall' (You gain 5 Damage Threshold to all close quarter weapons and cannot be knocked down? Great D Perk)
'Life Giver' (30 HP is essential. You will be a tank)
'Educated' (+2 Skill points at EVERY level after level 4 makes this very useful for boosting skills like Repair, Lockpick, Medicine, Survival, and Science)
'Toughness' (Go both levels for an extra +6 to Damage Threshold)
'Power Armor Training' (If you don't mind running very slow and fast travel often then take this perk. The benefits of having huge amounts of Damage Threshold, and Rad resistance from BoS Power Armor is a nice Perk, but not essential to success. I personally like Medium or Light Armor, but I digress. You get this from completing the BoS quests, and then asking to join the BoS, either Elder's will provide you this training. Oh! THEN blow up their bunker ;) )
'Purifier' (this will make you unstoppable, with all the other perks you've obtained you will be a beast, 50% damage to half of what you'll be fighting? No brainer.)

Sidenote: Doctor Usanagi (FoA doctor at the New Vegas Medical Clinic just outside of Crimson Caravan or Freeside) has those perks for boosting your SPECIAL or Health Regeneration or DT at a very high cap cost (remember to gamble, sell those Snowglobes to Mr. House, sell all those guns, and energy weapons to Gun Runners for easy caps). Out of the SPECIAL the only one to boost is Luck (helps with gambling, criticals and other skills, as well as the 'Naughty Nightwear' apparel you can buy from Mick and Ralph's, dirt cheap in Freeside.)

Remember to have fun! No need to rush this achievement. If you've followed my guide you'll have an easy time, razing hell through the Mojave Wasteland. Just watch out for Deathclaws they are still a hassle on any difficulty.