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Fallout: New Vegas Hints

XP Tips

  • 1 of 7: Unlike Fallout 3, changing your difficulty setting doesn't change the XP you get for combat kills. Due to this, it's best to not play on any difficulty setting above Normal -- it's just not worth the pain.
  • 2 of 7: Combat XP isn't the only kind you can get on looting expeditions. You can also get skill-using XP for many different things.
  • 3 of 7: Disarming traps will get you XP. See the Trap Tips for more about that.
  • 4 of 7: You'll also get XP for hacking terminals and picking locks. That's why it's useful to get lots of points (at least 50) into your Science and Lockpick skills early in the game.
  • 5 of 7: Some items, like locked doors and safes, can be opened by picking the lock, using a key, or hacking into a terminal and unlocking it from there. You should never use the key if you don't have to, since it won't get you any XP. Instead, pick the lock on the door and then hack the terminal to get max XP from the situation.
  • 6 of 7: Whenever you're in an area (like a town) with friendly people, talk to them all and see if you can get any Speech checks, Barter checks, or other types of checks that you can pass. Doing so will also get you XP.
  • 7 of 7: However, note that Speech checks don't work like Fallout 3's Speech Challenges. If your Speech skill is too low for a Speech check, there's no chance of passing it. On the other hand, if your Speech skill is high enough to pass the Speech check, there's no chance of failing it.