Conquering Carry Weight: A Courier’s Guide to Avoiding Over-Encumbrance in Fallout: New Vegas
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So, you’re stumbling through the Mojave Wasteland, weighed down by enough scrap metal and pre-War junk to make a Brahmin buckle? You’re over-encumbered in Fallout: New Vegas. Fear not, fellow Courier! There are several ways to regain your mobility and get back to delivering packages (or causing chaos) without moving at a snail’s pace. The core solutions break down into:
- Reducing your load: Dropping, selling, repairing (combining items reduces weight), or storing excess items.
- Increasing your carry capacity: Temporarily boosting your strength, utilizing perks, or employing companions as pack mules.
- Exploiting storage options: Utilizing personal storage at locations like The Lucky 38 presidential suite or the Novac motel room.
Let’s delve into these strategies with more detail:
Strategies to Ditch the Dead Weight
Purge Your Inventory
The most direct method is to simply get rid of the stuff you don’t need. Sounds obvious, but it requires a critical eye.
- Sell, Sell, Sell: Identify merchants with sufficient caps. Gun Runners, Chet in Goodsprings, and Mick & Ralph’s in Freeside are good starting points. Prioritize valuable items like weapons, armor, and rare crafting components.
- Drop the Dead Weight: Sometimes, drastic measures are required. If you’re close to a town, drop heavy but less valuable items (like common junk) and fast travel back later to retrieve them (if you really need them). Be warned, dropped items can despawn after a few in-game days, especially in populated areas.
- Repair to Reduce: Repairing multiple damaged weapons into one fully functional one eliminates the weight of the broken items. This is especially helpful with weapons you use frequently.
- Scrap Components: If you have Jury Rigging, repair similar weapons and then sell them for a great profit.
Increase Your Carrying Capacity
A more sustainable long-term solution is to carry more in the first place!
- Boost Your Strength: Strength directly impacts your carry weight. Invest skill points into Strength when leveling up.
- Consumables to the Rescue: Chems like Buffout and alcohol temporarily increase your Strength, granting a temporary carry weight boost. Don’t become addicted, though!
- Armor Enhancement: Certain armor pieces, particularly Power Armor (like the T-45d or Remnants Power Armor), significantly increase your Strength and thus your carrying capacity. Remember to train to use Power Armor with the proper perks!
- Perks to Pick: Several perks directly increase your carry weight or negate the penalties of being over-encumbered:
- Strong Back: Adds 50 lbs to your carry weight. A simple and effective choice.
- Pack Rat: Reduces the weight of items weighing 2 lbs or less by half. Invaluable if you hoard smaller items like ammo, scrap metal and consumables.
- Long Haul: Arguably the most powerful. It allows you to fast travel while over-encumbered. This perk completely changes how you play the game, letting you loot with abandon.
Delegate and Dominate: Companion Command
Companions are more than just extra firepower; they’re walking, talking (sometimes), pack mules!
- Trade with Your Trusty Sidekick: Every companion has their own inventory. Transfer excess items to them. Be mindful of their carrying capacity, though.
- Command Them Effectively: Use the companion wheel to instruct them to attack, heal, or follow at a distance. This is useful for keeping them out of harm’s way or positioning them strategically.
Stash and Dash: Utilizing Safe Storage
- Your Home Away From Home: Most player-owned rooms (The Lucky 38 suite, the Novac motel room, etc.) have containers that provide safe storage. Use these as central hubs to store your loot.
- Faction Reputation for Rent: Certain factions, like the NCR, may give you access to their storage at certain locations upon reaching a certain Reputation level.
- Locker Organization: Utilize container naming conventions to help you store your materials in a fashion that is easily accessible and helps save time when retrieving certain items.
FAQs: More on Mastering Movement in New Vegas
1. How much weight can I carry in Fallout: New Vegas?
Your base carry weight is determined by your Strength score. Specifically, it’s 150 lbs plus 10 lbs for each point of Strength. So, if you have a Strength of 5, you can carry 200 lbs.
2. How do I increase my Strength permanently?
You can increase your Strength by allocating skill points when you level up. You can also find and use the Strength implant available at the New Vegas Medical Clinic. Remember that you have to find the implants before purchasing them.
3. Does armor affect my carry weight besides Power Armor?
Yes, the weight of the armor itself contributes to your total encumbrance. Lighter armors like leather armor or reinforced leather armor offer less protection but weigh significantly less than heavier armors like metal armor or combat armor.
4. What items should I prioritize selling?
Focus on selling weapons, armor, chems (if you’re not using them), and valuable junk items like pre-War money and circuit boards. Also, damaged items you don’t intend to repair are excellent candidates for sale.
5. Is there a limit to how much money I can have in Fallout: New Vegas?
The maximum amount of caps you can have is 655,35. Which is probably way more caps then you will ever need, but it’s there if you need it.
6. How do I give items to my companions?
Simply approach your companion, initiate a dialogue, and select the “Trade” option. This will open a trading window where you can transfer items between your inventory and theirs.
7. Do companions have unlimited carrying capacity?
No, companions have a limited carrying capacity, similar to the player. The amount varies slightly depending on the companion. ED-E, for example, has less physical carrying capacity but can be useful for other purposes.
8. Can I craft items to reduce weight?
Yes, crafting can indirectly reduce weight. For example, combining multiple pieces of scrap metal into a single piece of scrap electronics can reduce overall weight. Plus, you can create powerful consumables that can improve your performance.
9. Does Hardcore mode affect carry weight?
Yes! Hardcore mode adds weight to ammunition, making weight management even more crucial. The Pack Rat perk becomes even more valuable in Hardcore mode.
10. Can I fast travel while over-encumbered without the Long Haul perk?
No, without the Long Haul perk, you cannot fast travel while over-encumbered. You will be forced to walk (very slowly) to your destination.
11. What are some good early-game locations for safe storage?
The Goodsprings Prospector Saloon and the Novac motel room are accessible early and offer safe storage containers. The Goodsprings gas station also has storage containers which are safe, but the containers are inside of a locked room.
12. Is there a way to cheat and give myself infinite carry weight?
Yes, you can use console commands. Open the console (usually with the ~ key) and type tgm (for God Mode). This grants infinite carry weight, unlimited ammo, and invincibility. Be warned: using console commands disables achievements. The “tdm” console command gives you infinite carry weight, but you still have to reload your weapons.
13. Does my character’s size affect carry weight?
No, character size does not directly affect carry weight. However, the Small Frame trait gives +1 to Agility and reduces carry weight by 25 lbs.
14. What happens if I drop an item in a public area?
Dropped items will generally remain in place for several in-game days, but they can despawn, especially in high-traffic areas. Items placed in containers are generally safer and will remain there indefinitely unless the container is explicitly cleared by the game.
15. What is Jury Rigging and how can it help with being over encumbered?
The Jury Rigging perk lets you repair your weapons and armor with similar, unrelated, weapon and armor types. This is useful because you can repair a high value weapon, and increase the value of it greatly, with common low-level weapons that you can find frequently. It helps you overcome being over encumbered by letting you maximize value and minimize weight by turning your junk items into a high value item that weighs the same as a low value junk item.
By implementing these strategies, you’ll never be slowed down by an over-encumbered Courier again. The Mojave Wasteland awaits! For more gaming insights and resources, check out the Games Learning Society at GamesLearningSociety.org.