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Hardcore Achievement in Fallout: New Vegas

Hardcore198 (100)

Offline Required - This achievement requires play in offline game modesSingle Player - This achievement can be obtained in single player game modesMissable - This achievement will require starting a new save file if the opportunity to obtain it is missed
Play the game from start to finish in Hardcore Mode.

AuthorSolution
SuperDanbotMkII
48,239
SuperDanbotMkII
Achievement won on 15 Jan 11
TA Score for this game: 1,656
Posted on 15 January 11 at 17:52, Edited on 31 January 11 at 22:08
This solution has 357 positive votes and 7 negative votes. Please log in to vote.
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
KingHell71 At 10) I only had one combat armour and one leather armour so I only made around 1600 credits. If this happens you can try blackjack at the Atomic Wrangler. Get 1000 chips, save and use double up alot. If things go pear shaped, reload and retry. I doubled my credits in 10 minutes.

At 18) go south from Camp McCarran to the power lines and road just south of the Camp and you can head west to the mountains without meeting any fiends. At the mountains look south and you should see a wide opening, head through and hug the mountain to your right to easily find Red Rock.

At 20), not getting hit by artillery is easy. Take the left road into Nellis, past the guy, and head NE to the first shelter. Stand in the NE corner for complete shelter, wait for the pause in firing and NE to the next building and stand in the NE corner again. At the next pause run for the fence.

At 30) you still need to blow the generators to continue. This is by activating the switch which is just around the corner from the control room.

Other than that, it's quite the elegant guide.
Posted by KingHell71 on 18 Jan 11 09:34:20
d3vilsNight This is amazing, and hilarious. I'm taking my time, playing through normally to enjoy it. But after that, I'm going to run through this method just for the fun of it. ;)
Posted by d3vilsNight on 20 Jan 11 21:04:41
d3vilsNight PS Does Charisma really not matter? I've never put any extra points into it, but if it's really that useless, I'll start taking points out of it and put them elsewhere!! thanks!
Posted by d3vilsNight on 20 Jan 11 21:05:32
karen greaves great guide - thanks
Posted by karen greaves on 22 Jan 11 14:05:11
SuperDanbotMkII Hi KingHell71,

At 7) The second Van Graff thug corpse is quite hard to spot as it blends in with the scenery. If I recall correctly, there's one next to the caravan (along with the Crimson Caravan corpse/ash pile) and one near the rope bridge.

Hey d3vilsNight,

I guess not! Haha. Personally I like having charisma points when I play through the Fallout games properly, but I guess if you're doing a speedrun it's not so important.
Posted by SuperDanbotMkII on 26 Jan 11 00:53:50
HeyMrBassman Would this also earn you the Yes Man questline achievements? (Wild Card and No Gods No Masters)
Posted by HeyMrBassman on 26 Jan 11 09:30:15
Artie65 This worked great thanks a lot and yea you should get the Yes Man questline achievements since you do complete the quests.
Posted by Artie65 on 27 Jan 11 20:33:17
Extrapolates Excellent solution!
Posted by Extrapolates on 28 Jan 11 22:09:51
Tricky Rickay After a non-hardcore/normal playthrough of 116 hours, I seriously do not think I could do that again. At first, it seemed an awesome concept but having played the length I have and still yet to explore places on my main savegame I decided to do the speed runthrough.

And this worked to a T. Finished in just under 3 hours. I hardly struggled with any part, and only drank/ate/slept once. I'll maybe go back and build a hardcore character, but for now it'll do. Thankyou for the guide.
Posted by Tricky Rickay on 31 Jan 11 18:44:02
HeyMrBassman Just finished doing this and I can confirm you get the Yes Man achievements. Excellent guide!

One suggestion for amendment to point 8: the Medical Centre is actually northwest of Durable Dunn's.
Posted by HeyMrBassman on 31 Jan 11 19:22:47
SuperDanbotMkII Good eye you have there Mr Bassman! I've now edited it for the benefit of clarity.
Posted by SuperDanbotMkII on 31 Jan 11 22:09:26
SecondHeartbeat The guide mentions nothing about putting any points into your Science skill (unless I missed it), yet you need a science skill of 75 to hack the terminal near Mr. House. I must be missing something seeing as everyone else who has commented on the guide is happy with it and the vote ratio is excellent. Please enlighten me.
Posted by SecondHeartbeat on 11 Feb 11 20:08:22
J1MMEH G What a fantastic guide. Thank you to whoever made this

Extremely easy to do in under 2 hours :)

Small note about 20:

"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."

If you do take on George's wager and give him 300 caps... don't forget to go back to him after talking to Pearl to get your 600 cap reward :D
Posted by J1MMEH G on 12 Feb 11 16:18:47
stevezep19 Wow this ruled and worked quite nicely. I am still playing offline so my cheevo hasn't updated. Thanks for the great help! I'm done with this game!
Posted by stevezep19 on 13 Feb 11 21:39:24
SuperDanbotMkII Hey Jiyuu17.

There is no terminal hacking involved at all in this solution. The terminal to the antichamber and the terminal insode the chamber can be accessed and interacted with in the regular way. The guide worked brilliantly for me!
Posted by SuperDanbotMkII on 13 Feb 11 23:38:55
SecondHeartbeat ^ ah, right. I just assumed you would have to hack it because I did on my original play-through. Thanks, SuperDanbotMkII :)
Posted by SecondHeartbeat on 14 Feb 11 18:45:36
Villa81 Utd83 Great guide, thanks for the help.
Posted by Villa81 Utd83 on 25 Feb 11 20:01:43
Digger ReZ i think my brotherhood part has glitched as veronica just keeps on saying a word and the door doesn't open
Posted by Digger ReZ on 26 Feb 11 14:20:09
SuperDanbotMkII I think so too Connor :/ Sorry to hear that!
Posted by SuperDanbotMkII on 26 Feb 11 20:26:46
teh real weasel This is an amazing guide. Just did it, and it took me ~1 hour and 15 minutes. Thanks!
Posted by teh real weasel on 03 Mar 11 20:47:16
SuperDanbotMkII Another satisfied customer! You're welcome :)
Posted by SuperDanbotMkII on 09 Mar 11 10:34:22
tdcobra99 A VERY positive vote from me. I didn't think I would get this achievement because it was "too tough". But this guide spells out everything perfectly and it took about 2 hours 45 minutes of actual play time (slightly more real time because of loading screens and a freezing Xbox). Definitely follow this guide!
Posted by tdcobra99 on 12 Mar 11 18:10:55
SaintsRecruit Thank you. another playthrough on hardcore seemed a very daunting task before i found this solution. Only multi-death part i had was getting from mccarran to red rock canyon. damn fiends kept killing veronica, plus i didn't realize you had to go so far south to get around the mountains. otherwise great guide.
Posted by SaintsRecruit on 16 Mar 11 20:34:44
Aristophane Best guide by miles positive vote from me.
Posted by Aristophane on 25 Mar 11 23:15:36
xX No0bKillr Xx if you go from Camp McCarran terminal to the strip terminal you don't need any money but you have to change your route up quite a bit.
Posted by xX No0bKillr Xx on 26 Mar 11 01:43:45
lostinaNunnery Awesome guide dude, took me about 90 mins to do. Many Thanks.
Posted by lostinaNunnery on 31 Mar 11 16:02:14
Kinesis916 Cracking solution. Personally took me just under 3hrs all told.
Posted by Kinesis916 on 10 Apr 11 19:26:25
HiradC Love it, wish it could've combined a luck setup though cos one more playthrough left for strip casinos achievement
Posted by HiradC on 14 Apr 11 19:43:36
fdhrecords Amazing. Did this last night. Took about 2.5 hours. The guide was great and Im shocked just how easy this was. The only problem I ran into was Veronica didnt want to talk to get mme into the brotherhood hideout on step 19. I went ahead and did step 20 and then went back to 19 and it worked just fine.
Posted by fdhrecords on 15 Apr 11 20:36:41
Doominatorx6 This works BUT you damn well better have a lot of stimpacks if you plan on running all the way across the dam without fighting anyone. It took me WAY too many tries to get across.
Posted by Doominatorx6 on 25 Apr 11 18:59:31
Jolly Wolfe 2.5 hours and I only used 5 stims plus one visit to the med clinic (after the boomers) Thanks a lot for this one.
Posted by Jolly Wolfe on 26 Apr 11 22:25:43
Patmaster1891 Is it even possible with a speech of 95 - 100 to complete the game with your solution? I have 98 and every time I speak to Lanius it ends up in a fight, I can't pass the one challenge. So, do I have to have 100 or is there a small possibility to get the challenge with 98?
Posted by Patmaster1891 on 01 May 11 15:44:41
Robster80 It worked great! Cut it close wth mild dehydration, plus my torso and head got crippled toards the end, but I made it. I got 3 new achievemnts. Thanks a lot!
Posted by Robster80 on 09 May 11 04:53:47
chriswatto6 That was bang tidy. Cheers.
Posted by chriswatto6 on 11 May 11 15:25:56
Plut Backwards Patmaster1891, after reloading multiple times at the Lanius part (while playing the game normally) with varying Speech levels under 100; I always had to fight him. There may be some chance, but it seems to be a rare chance.
If you only need 2 points for Speech, try: taking Mentats, wearing Sexy Sleepwear, wearing Naughty Nightwear, drinking Vodka or Whiskey, read the magazine Meeting People, or wear Benny's suit. All of them will raise your Speech at least 2 points.
Posted by Plut Backwards on 13 May 11 02:32:42
kmdeftones I'm glad that you posted this. It is a great solution!
Posted by kmdeftones on 14 May 11 22:54:42
bbgmp This is brilliant. This was the last achievement I needed to get and had all but given up as having played in regular mode for over 30 hours, there was no way I was going to start all over again in hardcore. Who knew it could be done so quickly...
Posted by bbgmp on 26 May 11 15:47:02
Ilysium Awesome guide...btw if anyone ever has trouble with h2o go inside the ultra lux casino bathhouse and drink the pool water...couple drinks and you're back down to zero with no radiation
Posted by Ilysium on 01 Jun 11 13:23:03
Ilysium Awesome guide...btw if anyone ever has trouble with h2o go inside the ultra lux casino bathhouse and drink the pool water...couple drinks and you're back down to zero with no radiation
Posted by Ilysium on 01 Jun 11 13:52:57
CHEW9190 Great guide. I messed up the first time by "accidently" killing yes man and doing a few things that weren't mentioned. Ended up wasting three hours of my life. Just stick to the guide and you're golden.
Posted by CHEW9190 on 03 Jun 11 00:48:18
visheyry By far THE BEST solution here. 10/10.
Posted by visheyry on 04 Jun 11 15:52:08
Cobalt Skin Forgive my ignorance, but why survival 45?
Posted by Cobalt Skin on 05 Jun 11 21:52:35
SepticWater wow worked great
Posted by SepticWater on 12 Jun 11 11:05:14
ll sider inc ll Wormer but the last few steps dont give much help, dont do THE bluff challenge but say that you Will meet them again
Posted by ll sider inc ll on 12 Jun 11 22:16:30
Undervirp Worked like a charm. Finished in 1:28:42
Posted by Undervirp on 13 Jun 11 15:08:03
calcwizard Just a note that might change your SPECIAL at little: Agility has no affect on movement speed. It affects AP, holster/draw speed, reload speed, Guns, and Sneak, but not movement. Other than that, this seems pretty good.
Posted by calcwizard on 15 Jun 11 23:50:04
Buff Beefbroth Ha ha, this worked great. I didn't really enjoy the game all that much, so I was glad to get a few more points out of it so quickly.
Posted by Buff Beefbroth on 16 Jun 11 00:55:30
o Smeds o @Cobalt Skin, 45 Survival is necessary for Light Travel, which makes you move 10% faster. Does give you a little help on the dam as you try to run from Praetorian Guards at the Legate's Camp.

Magnificent guide OP, just got it in ~1.75 hours. You deserve a thousand up-votes!
Posted by o Smeds o on 16 Jun 11 04:44:44
Bobo Magroto I used your guide and got this and the 'No Gods, No Masters' and 'Wild Card', you have my 'Thank you', friend :D
Posted by Bobo Magroto on 17 Jun 11 09:24:36
DaBeatJunkie perfect!!!
Posted by DaBeatJunkie on 20 Jun 11 22:33:23
drabik Fantastic solution. I can't thank you enough for this. +1.
Posted by drabik on 27 Jun 11 17:21:31
littlejay x360a Got me through it in 3:20. thanks so much!
Posted by littlejay x360a on 03 Jul 11 17:54:05
bone21 Too Long; Didn't Read

Negative Vote
Posted by bone21 on 05 Jul 11 02:11:37
DragonYen Thumb Up. Fantastic guide. 2 hours, 12 minutes. Could have been faster but I misread the comment about Survival to 45. Ended up with survival at 100, and had to grind a couple levels to get my speech up to 100. Oh well, still a lot faster than I expected.
Posted by DragonYen on 12 Jul 11 01:27:49
SmokiestDadn fantastic guide. nicely done. ty
Posted by SmokiestDadn on 12 Jul 11 11:59:36
Drachen77 Quite possibly the single best guide on TA.
Posted by Drachen77 on 16 Jul 11 19:39:48
paddycfc22 I wish ther was a map for this lol
Posted by paddycfc22 on 17 Jul 11 13:03:56
GamerComa Amazing guide. Can't believe how easy this was. Flawless. Well Done.
Posted by GamerComa on 27 Jul 11 22:37:14
SallyNasty Thanks for the guide - I just did this last night. Worked great. For those of you planning multiple playthrough, these are the achievements (in order) that I got with this run -

Ain't That a Kick in the Head
Ol' Buddy Ol' Pal
They Went That-a-Way
Ring-a-Ding-Ding
No Gods, No Masters
Wild Card
Hardcore

Total GS = 215.
Posted by SallyNasty on 01 Aug 11 14:28:37
Tank Force UK at #5 its not north its west !!! cos thats the way i had to go and i had to Google it on Wikipedia to find it and i did not cool
Posted by Tank Force UK on 04 Aug 11 23:42:17
JackBumby94 This is an amazing guide! I got through it in under 3 hours :D My only complaint is that the last step don't help too much and I ended up getting attacked by Legion and NCR whilst trying to destroy the generator in the Dam. My advice would be to get an NCR outfit and then you'll only have to find the Legion in the confined spaces of the Dam. In a similar way, when entering the camp before facing Lanius, kill the first praetorian guard and put on his armour. Just remember to change back into Benny's suit before facing Lanius as it boosts your speech, (By this point your speech may be at 100 without the suit).

Apart from the last few steps this is an excellent guide for such a difficult achievement, and it's easy to follow.
Posted by JackBumby94 on 07 Aug 11 03:12:17
BravadoMcGee It's impressive that you were able to come up with this guide. Still, it feels cheap and saddens me when an achievement that is supposed to be difficult, is easily bypassed. Not that I'm giving you a negative vote for it, just sounding off. You clearly did a great job coming up with the guide. Just doesn't seem like there'd be much enjoyment in playing a game this way. This chevo took me 40+ hours to obtain, but I enjoyed playing the game that way and earning the other chevos along the way. Oh well...
Posted by BravadoMcGee on 10 Aug 11 19:49:54
Jenova20 Best guide ever!
Posted by Jenova20 on 13 Aug 11 12:07:45
Revellus05 An excellent guide, completed it in under 2 hours, thanks
Posted by Revellus05 on 17 Aug 11 00:49:02
TheColonel great solution! and who voted negative on this? I mean... really...
Posted by TheColonel on 18 Aug 11 06:00:23
demont101 wait so you play this on very easy then switch to hardcore or play it all through hardcore and have it on very easy until it asks you to switch to hardcore when you leave docs?
Posted by demont101 on 23 Aug 11 17:06:20
Jstereomud @Demon101

At the very start, go to Settings and put it to Very Easy. When you leave Docs' you'll be asked if you want Hardcore, select 'Yes'. Although its on Hardcore its Very Easy Hardcore. ^_^

Also excellent guide =D Working my way through the now and its working brilliantly, only problem I had was looting the Combat Armor, since only one of them dropped it. The other dropped Leather Armor for me -_-
Managed to sell weapons for the rest of the caps like you suggest though.
Once again, fantastic guide =]
Posted by Jstereomud on 05 Sep 11 22:21:43
Mad Child277 All i have to say is thanks. After an initial playthrough of 50+ hours, it was nice to go through hardcore in less than 3. No notes to add since no one playthrough will be the same and nothing was overly difficult but I did go through step 19 prior to 18 so I wasn't stressed when Veronica was lost.
Posted by Mad Child277 on 21 Sep 11 16:49:54
SuperDanbotMkII Awesome. Glad you found it useful!
Posted by SuperDanbotMkII on 21 Sep 11 18:03:50
Parallax Demon Great guide. Didn't need it myself, because I already had the achievement. One thing I really don't understand. You mentioned that it can be hard to keep Veronica alive. You only need Veronica to open the BoS bunker for you. So only recruit her when you're heading for the bunker and after that she can die. So why are you insist to keep her alive till the battle for Hoover Dam?
Posted by Parallax Demon on 02 Oct 11 20:45:22
MH The Rockstar Outstanding guide. I love just exploring the Fallout worlds so this will come in handy when I finish my normal play through. Thanks a lot!
Posted by MH The Rockstar on 04 Oct 11 19:51:23
koibraces Gonna be using this tonight to help me hopefully I'll finish it too.
Posted by koibraces on 05 Oct 11 07:06:53
themegamancave Wow, this may have been this best achievement guide I've ever used. Thanks!
Posted by themegamancave on 12 Oct 11 23:04:11
DashedJUGGALO96 Thanks. I thought this was gonna be difficult, but this made it very simple. Only took me about an hour and 40 minutes to do it.
Posted by DashedJUGGALO96 on 24 Oct 11 02:25:18
SuperDanbotMkII @Parallax Demon: Are you sure I said that? Because I thought it said to keep her alive till the Hidden Valley (where the bunker is), not Hoover Dam.
Posted by SuperDanbotMkII on 06 Nov 11 11:15:38
Machina22 Great guide, worked perfectly.
Posted by Machina22 on 19 Nov 11 19:29:54
COMMANDO XTC worked like a charme!
Posted by COMMANDO XTC on 27 Nov 11 15:02:45
CASCADIAN1 This is a fun speed run. I took a few detours that cost me hours but still made good time through it.Excellent.
Posted by CASCADIAN1 on 05 Dec 11 09:40:02
Metalmask2 This guide worked great but one thing I wanted to report on my run through... When I selected the initial traits I chose good natured and wild wasteland. While I was going through the game the status on pip boy showed h20, food, and sleep, but they all remained zero for the whole game until the hoover dam battle towards the end. I kept checking to see if it was working constantly throughout the game and it stayed zero until that point at the end. Never prompted me to sleep, eat, or drink water which it usually would. Finished it and the achievement popped.
Posted by Metalmask2 on 21 Dec 11 07:44:56
ApesAteMyFlesh Perfect.
Posted by ApesAteMyFlesh on 18 Jan 12 22:41:28
Samroo91 Amazing guide! Finished it in about 3 hours, with a few small detours. I also had General Lee pushed off the dam at the end, probably because I'm evil and just wanted to kill SOMEONE in the final battle. Loved seeing him spin off the edge. Anyway, thanks for posting!
Posted by Samroo91 on 04 Feb 12 23:20:06
DavieMarshall OUTSTANDING solution.
Posted by DavieMarshall on 05 Feb 12 13:43:43
AtomicThumbs Great guide. The only trouble I had was getting from Camp McCarran to Red Rock Canyon. I had trouble finding the entrance to the canyon and almost got killed by some fire geckos. Also had some trouble on the dam once both the NCR and the Legion are hostile to you.

All in all it took me under two hours to complete.
Posted by AtomicThumbs on 12 Feb 12 13:14:24
boldfoxrd damn i cant believe this type of trick works :) i may have to attempt it when i get the ultimate edition, altough not til I've played it properly on normal first )
Posted by boldfoxrd on 03 Mar 12 00:41:03
KyleJones1989 Unbelievable solution! Thanks
Posted by KyleJones1989 on 08 Mar 12 15:05:14
SIE Zaznex great job on this one!!
Posted by SIE Zaznex on 26 Mar 12 17:33:38
Gregor Lenko 100% effective, cheers :)
Posted by Gregor Lenko on 23 Apr 12 16:30:38
BARTLEBEE i haven't even attempted it yet, but i'm SO STOKED FOR THIS GUIDE!

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE BUD!
Posted by BARTLEBEE on 10 May 12 02:03:24
Prince Jame5 Fantastic guide. follow it down to the last t and cant go wrong. well done mate
Posted by Prince Jame5 on 10 May 12 12:44:51
Jewlez Great guide thanks very much just got this achievement in about 3 hours, thought this one was going to take forever and be my last one on this game but i haven't even got half of them yet!
Posted by Jewlez on 05 Jun 12 09:54:58
Hordriss To the person who voted it negative because 'too long, didn't read'. What a knob!
Posted by Hordriss on 07 Jun 12 21:17:00
Lankey Works a treat, only trouble i had was in the scorpion gulch, but saving before helps :) +1 from me
Posted by Lankey on 23 Jun 12 15:51:02
L3Th4l Coolio you guys must suck if you need a guide to do it. wow, obv no good fallout players...
Posted by L3Th4l Coolio on 24 Jul 12 13:19:15
Liam Rising thanks for the guide worked really easily
Posted by Liam Rising on 27 Jul 12 17:29:33
TinSigmund666 I was so stupid not reading you need a 100 speech at the end to talk Lanius out of attacking. Had to do it all over, but since I knew what to do it took me no more than an hour and twelve minutes. Got this cheevo, like a sir!
Thx a lot!
Posted by TinSigmund666 on 05 Aug 12 08:14:49
Lainey80 With this guide the hardest part is finding where your going. The fallout wiki has maps for all the places if, like me, you get lost easily!

Plus 1 awesome guide.
Posted by Lainey80 on 21 Aug 12 14:22:44
Bazinga I Did everything perfect up until the dam, you say to just run past the Legates and Securitrons fighting, I have full health, armor on, and no wounds and I cant get past them without dying. Tried 15+ times.
Posted by Bazinga I on 25 Aug 12 21:01:32
Bazinga I Nevermind. Finally got past them on my like 20th try, great guide thanks.
Posted by Bazinga I on 25 Aug 12 21:13:02
boldfoxrd This is golden. I misread and took my Survival stats to 100 at level 5 not realising it doesn't need to be that high, which of cause has left me with lower Speech but I've got the items should I get desperate to raise my speech and if it hasn't reached 100 by the time I reach the endgame, then I'll just do a few extra missions.

And agreed, this has to be the best guide on here, especially for an achieve that looks so tough, even if it does have a 25% completion (although this guide is probably why)
Posted by boldfoxrd on 02 Sep 12 02:01:40
KillaKevin24 Phenomenal guide, took 2 hrs 48 mins for me and only killed 2 people. Never thought I would get this one done until I saw this guide. Thanks.
Posted by KillaKevin24 on 06 Sep 12 16:24:02
Deeskool Worked like a charm!
Posted by Deeskool on 13 Sep 12 20:30:40
ch1cag0steve One of the best solutions on this website...thanks
Posted by ch1cag0steve on 06 Oct 12 02:36:36
xBrushedRedx Or yall could be smart like me and actually do your first runthrough on Hardcore and trudge through it then once the achievement bloops, reload the save you need and turn off hardcore and get back to business :P
Posted by xBrushedRedx on 14 Oct 12 04:30:13
DarknessCaIIing I love you.
Posted by DarknessCaIIing on 30 Oct 12 12:34:51
CrankyBauer24 Worked out perfectly , was nice to get to see the end in such a short time as before , i wasnt anywhere close to beating this game the way i was playing it , helluva good guide my friend :)
Posted by CrankyBauer24 on 08 Nov 12 03:27:13
CAWZY Worked great! Thanks for the guide! i had tried hardcore earlier and was not successful. This helped out a lot!
Posted by CAWZY on 02 Dec 12 06:28:41
x Morgan Kane x Awesome guide!
Posted by x Morgan Kane x on 15 Dec 12 21:04:42
Ray N Jub Guide of the Year!
Posted by Ray N Jub on 28 Dec 12 10:10:41
thefrozeneskimo Saved me an EXTREMELY dreaded playthrough! :)
Posted by thefrozeneskimo on 03 Jan 13 23:49:46
DauntingAbyss Just finished this using this guide an hour ago and it worked like a charm. Only difference in whatt was mentioned here was that it took me a little longer (like an extra hour or so) because this was literally my first playthrough of the game, lol. Luckly the game plays so much like Fallout 3 the learning cure wasn't exactly steep and the extra time was mostly spnt making sure I was going in the right direction:luckly I found the guide to be spot on.

2 extra notes:
1) didn,t have to delete cache. the fact that this is totally done with what the game allows is awesome.

2) Getting the Khans reconized didn't automatacally happen when I went up that hilll (unless I was on the wrong one) but the longhouse with Pap Khan was there and all I had to do is go in and speak with him. Took literally 2 seconds.
Posted by DauntingAbyss on 18 Jan 13 10:37:46
PoopDecker Great guide worked for me. Thank You
Posted by PoopDecker on 20 Jan 13 16:13:40
SteampunkZomb1e when do you get prompted to change to hardcore mode-?
Posted by SteampunkZomb1e on 24 Jan 13 19:59:12
cyrodilicbrandy @SteampunkZomb1e, you get prompted to turn on hardcore mode right after the game begins, before you leave to explore Goodprings. You can turn it on at any point during the game, but I'm not sure if the chevo only counts when you turn it on when prompted and never turn it off.
This works brilliantly. Just got my 100GS.
Posted by cyrodilicbrandy on 03 Feb 13 19:36:13
SteampunkZomb1e Thanks Cyrodilicbrandy. Will attempt this soon.
Posted by SteampunkZomb1e on 05 Feb 13 14:30:20
Ganesh78 This is an excellent guide, thank you. For those having trouble at the dam, remember the towers have restrooms in them, drink water from the sinks, and save stimpaks. Also, once you go through the credit check on the Strip, you can spend your caps on anything you want, I bought as many stimpaks I could find. Wish I would have bought more doctor's bags though, had head trauma at the end and everything was woosy.
Posted by Ganesh78 on 17 Feb 13 07:32:34
Rhyolitic One thing I might mention is that when exiting the dam, I was confused as hell trying to find the exit. There's a second tower entrance/exit on the eastern most side of that level with the Control Room. THAT's where you head out to the Legate's camp.
Posted by Rhyolitic on 21 Feb 13 08:23:15
Sargoth 01 Good walkthrough, worked great for me.
Posted by Sargoth 01 on 18 Mar 13 10:03:29
ll SM4SH ll GUIDE BEST OF ALL TIME
Posted by ll SM4SH ll on 25 Mar 13 12:00:37
Traveller Nick Seriously, this is one of the best solutions on the site! Very clear and easy to follow, also very well written, thank you. I feel you deserve my 200 TA points haha.
Posted by Traveller Nick on 31 Mar 13 17:19:49
Herbal42 Awesome guide, took about 3.5 hours and everything was spot on.
Posted by Herbal42 on 04 Apr 13 00:05:44
IstIngiliz Great guide! Achievement in about 2 hours :)
Posted by IstIngiliz on 03 May 13 17:03:20
TWIGHLIGHT Z0HA Nice guide thanks a bunch, Also a big thanks to KingHell71 for some extra info!
Posted by TWIGHLIGHT Z0HA on 07 May 13 18:02:46