Fallout: New Vegas

All Credit goes to the guys over at Achievement Hunter, in this case Jack.

Pretty simple to get the 3 wins for this one as well for the 30 wins for the Caravan Master one as well, just build the deck Jack talks about and have some fun!

This video helped me quite a bit... and really it makes money a non issue when I can win so many caps from people playing Caravan!!

Your first chance to play Caravan is in Goodsprings, the town you start the game in. Go to the bar and talk to Trudy - she'll tell you about Ringo, who's at the gas station. Say you'll go talk to him and you can go into the gas station - one of the dialogue options with him is to play Caravan.

One user has commented that you NEED to talk to Ringo in order to be able to play Caravan EVER. I am unsure whether this is a bug or a constant thing. Either way, just make sure to talk to Ringo before it's too late. Thanks Octobot Super.

Ringo is not very good at the game so this is probably the best spot to get the achievement. Depending on your choices during his quest, he will then go to Crimson Caravans (East of Freeside) so you can play with him there too.

Note: You can hit X when deciding how much you're going to bet - set it to 1 cap at first, then there's no risk if you happen to lose

Caravan confuses the hell out of me, so here are some basic tips - I managed to get this achievement and I still have no real idea how to play. But if you're smarter than me, you can also read the holotape Ringo gives you - it explains all the rules.

Basically, both you and your opponent have 3 piles - called caravans - of cards. The aim of the game is to getting the total these piles to be between 20 and 27, and to outbid your opponents caravans by having the highest value.

General Info

- Numbered cards simply add their value to the pile. To play a numbered card, it needs continue in the same numerical direction - ascending or descending, and/or be the same suit as the previous card. Jokers placed on a numbered card remove all other cards of this value from the table.
- Aces add one to the pile. Jokers placed on an ace remove all other non-face cards of the aces suit from the table.
- Jacks remove the card it's placed on. (Tip - Placing a Jack on a King will also take away the card the King is doubling)
- Kings double whatever card you put them on.
- Queens add no value - instead, they reverse the current direction and the suit of that caravan.

How to Actually Win 3 Games

The first 3 turns you must start your 3 caravans. Try to put either high or low value cards, since you'll be either ascending or descending. Remember, aim to get the value between 20 and 27.

Also remembers you can put face cards on your opponents caravan. So if an opponent has a caravan with a value between 20 and 27, feel free to to put a King on and it will go over, or put a Jack on the highest value card to put it under.

If you've got a bad hand, you can hit LT to swap out the selected card from your hand. You can also hit RT to remove an entire caravan if you please.

So basically, just remember what face cards do, try to make all your caravans add up to 21-26, and put cards on your opponents side to 'sabotage' them. Since Ringo kinda sucks, it shouldn't be too hard.

After you get this achievement, win 27 more games and you'll get another achievement:



(Also, there's a challenge for losing caravan 5 times, it gives you some XP so when you're done with the achievement you can quickly go for that as well)

This is not at all a hard achievment to get. First off, when starting off a game (after finishing Ain't That a Kick in the Head and Exiting the House) head to the gas station in Goodsprings. In there should be a man named Ringo, he will seem paranoid at first, but just simply tell him you mean him no harm, then proceed to say you will play caravan with him.

Next, you will go to another screen where you will make a bet. You can either hit a to automaticly bet, or hit x to manually enter a bet. You will then be sent to a confusing screen with cards. All of the cards will be face up. You will want to flip over all the following cards with the a button: the 6s, 7s, 9s, 10s, and all face cards (jack, queen, ect.) and jokers face down. Then you will be sent to another confusing screen. Use the anolag stick to select any card and then hit left trigger to get rid of them. You can get rid of as many cards as you want until you play your first card. Get rid of all the cards exept the 7s, 9s, and 10s. Then hit a on a 10 and hit a again to play it. Do this until there is 3 10s on the field. If you don't have a another 10 at a point, then play a 9.

Once you have a 10 (or 9) on all 3 areas, you can make a choice. Go place a 9 on a place your oponent is not working on above. To do this, go to a pile, hit up or down until your card turns green, then select it. Next chance, place a seven, on it. Do this on another pile then you will win. Do this for 3 games to get this achievment, then 30 to get another achievment.

Please comment on how I can improve my solution. I am always open to suggestions.

It's an easy game. Look in your pip-boy notes to get the best directions. Caravans have to be made up of a collection of ascending or descending cards that equal 21-27. You must build stronger and more caravans than your opponent. Also, this is very important, if the card you are placing is of the same suit, it does not matter if it goes along with ascending/descending pattern of the caravan. It will play.

The king is the most valuable card as it doubles whatever card it is placed next to, even the CPU's side. So for example, the CPU has just placed a 5 to make 25 as his caravan. If you add the king you will bust his caravan and force the CPU to either save his caravan (rarely) or draw a card, and thus one of his caravans is destroyed and you continue building yours. It's a loose combination of the card games, Solitaire and War.

Other tips
~Your starting cards in each of the three caravans should be as close to Ace or 10 as possible. Then you'll want to descend or ascend as needed.
~Queens reverse the ascending/descending order, so lets say your caravan is 10-5-3. You can't put an 8 on there. It wont let you, so then you'd put the Q next to the 3 and next card you can then add the 8.
~Jacks take away cards on the caravans and are about half as valuable as kings when used on the CPU side. You should never need them on your side unless you make a stupid play or you need to take out a card for some reason. Again, you'll rarely need it on your side. However when used against the CPU they can take away his caravan-completing card.
~The game is a lot more difficult-sounding than it really is.
~Autosave before you play

I would like to also add something here.

I watched jack's way and i believe that is the best one. The actual game once i understood it is not that hard it reminds me of spades a little.

1 tip here and some people may have missed this because i know i did and i became extremely frustrated. To place your cards scroll down with your left stick when placing cards. I know when I was first trying to play caravan the only cards i could post were king, queen, joker, and this was because when I was trying to post another card for my caravan pile i wasnt trying to place the card below the first one.

The bases about how to play the game seem already covered by the above solutions. It gets easier to understand the more you play it and since you have to WIN 30 times, you'll get used to it. The only cards that I couldn't figure their purpose by myself were the Joker and the Queen. Interesting enough, the AI does NOT use neither of them... (probably because they're crap).

EDIT: if you want in-game instructions about the Caravan rules, go to the city/settlement you start at (Goodsprings) and talk to Ringo, the guy inside the gas station. An item will be added to your inventory for you to read. Ringo is also an opponent fairly easy to beat at Caravan. Keep reading if you want further advice on the game and how to beat more difficult opponents.

What I think it's important to add to what's already been said before is this: if you need to build up your deck (you need at least 30 cards in order to play Caravan), once you find someone who sells a bunch of cards (for me it was a cowboy named Dale Barton, at the entrance of Caesar's camp) then buy - preferably - whatever 10, 9, 7, King and Jack cards they have. After you bought the ones available, press to wait 48-72 hours and then check what they're selling again. Repeat until you have at least four of each of the mentioned cards (except Kings and Jacks, which you don't need necessarily that many) . That way you can build up your deck properly and real quick. Be careful while awaiting if you're playing on Hardcore mode because your character dehydrates, get hungry and sleepy over time and you can end up dying if you don't pay attention and tend to those needs.

On the rooster teeth video they only mention the 10s, 9s and 7s, but I figured that you get sabotaged by the AI too many times and will waste time loosing matches unless you sabotage it back too. The King doubles the value of whatever card you put it close to. So, let's say that the AI has already completed a perfect 26 pile using whatever cards and a 10. If you place your king besides that 10, then the pile's total goes to 36 instead, forcing the AI to start it over (just like it does to you sometimes). Now, when you use the Jack against one of the AI's piles it removes some or all of the cards, which is also useful when the enemy has already made a perfect 26 pile.

Other tips to play and win
1- DELETING "TIED PILES": sometimes both of you will have a 26 pile in front of the other. In those cases, in order for you to win the game, try to build up the other two 26 piles and when you do, remove () that 1 pile of yours that is tied to the opponent's. Don't ask me why, but you'll win the game in those situations only when you remove the one that's tied;

2- KEEPING SABOTAGED PILES FOR A WHILE: if the AI has sabotaged, let's say with a King, one of your "perfect 26" piles, forget that one for a while and focus on the other two, the reason being that the AI will keep throwing other kings at that same pile, which is better than having it sabotage multiple or different piles. When you complete 26 on the other two piles, choose that one that was screwed to be deleted () so you can win the match;

3- TRY NOT GO "ALL-IN": I had a lot of caps/money when I first started to play Caravan. I was tempted to try and double that money, but everytime I went "all-in" the AI beat me, no matter how well I played. So, maybe it's rigged if you bet big amounts. In any case, on the betting screen try only to match () the AI's bet and focus on just unlocking the achievement instead;

4- SAVE OFTEN: after each game you win, SAVE the game. That way you can loose a match and start a new one right away or reload the save if you prefer. When I was learning how play this I lost 3 times in a row, "small amounts" (considering the total caps I had), but then I started winning it all that back, so I didn't loose any money at all. At other times my console froze unexpectedly but I never lost progress because I was continuing saving;

I tried my best sharing the most important stuff that I've learned. If these tips help you in any way, you can leave a comment and a positive feedback/thumbs up. Cheers.