NEW VEGAS!

[Dusty Lens]

Yes... I'm playing through with a melee character now and it's amusing how much harder it is to keep a machete or knife sharp than a pistol functional.

I took the 15% degradation for 3% critical bonus perk as well, which is really really giving me cause for issue as I struggle to keep my various cutting sticks in working order.

Jury rigging is likely one of the more essential perks, especially for more exotic weapons and armor.

Oh. On a note to Ench concerning weapon mods. Many of the unique weapons already contain some aspect of the available mods plus a little bonus kick. The grenade rifle, for example, can be outfitted with a extended barrel. The unique grenade rifle has that extender built in plus a 33% refire kick.

Weapon mods are a way, I feel, to add a little lifetime to early weapons to carry them longer. Remember the .38 pistol from Fallout 3? Probably not, since you started the game with a better pistol and moved on from there. Or maybe the assault rifle? No reason to use that, since the chinese assault rifle was better and available at the same time if not earlier.

Now you can upgrade your 9mil with an extended mag, sights, silencer etc etc. Or your varmant rifle with a silencer/etc. You can take effective weapons like the early 9mil and give it a degree of usefulness that carries it further into the game, rather than ditching it the second something "better" comes along. It requires an additional investment of caps but, well, in so doing you get an upgraded weapon.

My scoped/focused laser rifle took me through the entire game, where otherwise I might have needed to upgrade to plasma in order to be competitive.

Sniper rifle with silencer is simply h4><. Which is why I don't use it, to be fair, it's just silly good.

Just a thought. It's a nice addition in my book.

Oh, on hardcore mode. Needing med bags to heal limbs and stimpacks healing over time is pretty brutal in certain circumstances. Maybe not so much the mid/late game. But, man, early game when you're running around with a knife and some frakker pops your kneecap? You're in trouble.