My main concern, when beginning the game, was to be able tο get all achievements with only one complete playthrough. So, this is not a detailed solution only for the specific achievement but I think this was the most appropriate place to post it...
- The game is not extremely difficult even in the highest difficulty level but rather presents a nice challenge. So, it is totally possible to begin directly in Supreme Jerk difficulty AND win all achievements with only one complete playthrough (and generally limited save-load manipulation when making major game choices). Obviously, to be successful in this, you have to suffer some spoilers by knowing beforehand the outcome of the major game choices before selecting them.
*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***- [SPOILERS AHEAD]
You should read beforehand the "November Reigns" achievement requirements, in order not be locked out of the achievement early (especially when doing the Momma Cotter quest related to the refugees). You should also read the collectibles solutions (for cassettes, lore books, vehicle upgrades, tamed companions) and see what choices you need to make in the game to obtain the missable collectibles (for example you get one cassette only by killing Brygo and two of the vehicle updates by not killing the Patriarch's sons. Also, pay attention, because they are found at the very beginning of the game, on how to acquire the lore books "Slaver's Note" and "Dorsey Prisoner's Note"). Cheers to Tropoebus, A Gamer X360 and NICKtheNlNJA for their very helpful solutions which are spot-on. Concerning the dolls and toaster repair collectibles, as far as I can tell, there are no missable collectibles.
Also, early on, choose to save the Hoon Homestead rather than the power armor from the Scar Collectors.
Finally, pay attention to the timing of your interactions with the various merchants that sell or offer vehicle updates for free (some of them, the traveling ones, are found on the map where you travel with your Kodiak with an "OPEN" sign above their store): before interacting, you should wait until you are in a "Loved" state with their faction (this is extremely important because the traveling merchants, in general, do not spawn more than one or two times). So, if, for example, you are about to frustrate the Gippers, first make contact with their trader outside Denver. Similarly, before irreparably breaking your relationship with the Machine Commune, access their two traders (Vendomatic machine and the trade bot).
- Character creation is, in my opinion, not so much of an issue, even at the maximum difficulty level, as long as you stick to the following principles: each character should have only three (or maximum four) skills and also the entire team should use all different weapon types (because of the general scarcity of the ammo). As an example, my team of six had one shotgun, one rifle, one assault, one heavy and two pistol-specialized characters (so no close combat for me). One skill for each character was dedicated to their corresponding weapon and the other 2-3 skills did not seem to matter much, as long as they were different in each character. All skills were important in my opinion, so do not leave any skill out of your team. If only one character has a skill, the team can take advantage of it, no need to have it on multiple characters.
- As written in above solutions, barter, weapon modding and armor modding skills can be assigned to characters that are not part of your team of six and remain in the HQ to be used at specific times.
- What worked for me as an update path for my characters (confirming
Jagd Gray Wolf's solution) was to first increase only the Intelligence attribute so that I could gain the maximum number of skill points every time I leveled up. After reaching maximum Intelligence, I mainly increased the Awareness (for ranged damage) and Coordination (for AP) skills and, to a lesser extent, the Speed and Strength skills. With the above, you will have characters that hit hard and have high-level non-combat skills early on (meaning that you have access to almost all conversation options and to special skills such as pick-locking, disarm traps, hack computers, etc. that provide alternative ways to complete missions early on), the disadvantage being that they will have little strength, so they die quickly and are not able to wear very heavy armor. This is not game-breaking because Health Aid and Injury healing kits can be found (or purchased) in abundance, even in Supreme Jerk or you can always run to a doctor (there are a lot) for complete healing. I am not saying the above is the only upgrade path, I am just saying that this worked for me until the end in my Supreme Jerk difficulty run.
- As companions, I started with Darius Kwon and Lucia Wesson and stuck with them until the end.
This is a great game, an RPG from old times and I totally enjoyed my time with it.