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Fallout: New Vegas Hints
Exactly how does the difficulty setting affect gameplay?
1 of 9: It only affects the damage multipliers used during combat. Unlike in Fallout 3, it doesn't affect the XP you get for combat kills.
2 of 9: The "normal" difficulty setting is the baseline, meaning that on that setting, you do 1x (normal) damage to enemies, and they do 1x damage to you.
3 of 9: On the "very easy" setting, you do 2x (double) damage to enemies, and they only do 1/2x (half damage) to you. Nice, especially since the XP you get is the same as on higher difficulties.
4 of 9: On the "very hard" setting, it's pretty much the opposite. Enemies do double damage to you, and you only do half damage to them.
5 of 9: As for the other two settings, they have damage multipliers that are exactly halfway between the two settings that they're between. For instance, if you're on the "hard" setting and damage an enemy for what would be 20 points on the "normal" setting, you'd do (20 + 10) / 2 = 15 points of damage. Another way to figure it would be to use 0.75 as a multiplier: 20 X 0.75 = 15.
6 of 9: You can change the difficulty setting at any time by bringing up the main menu and choosing "Settings" and "Gameplay." However, gameplay will be very uneven if you keep changing the difficulty setting, so try to pick one early on and stick with it.
7 of 9: NOTE: Those of you who've played Oblivion on its highest difficulty setting may think the 2x multipliers used with this game's difficulty settings are pretty wimpy (they're 6x in Oblivion), but don't forget that most of the best ways to cope with Oblivion's increased combat difficulty involve magic spells and other things that don't exist in this game.
8 of 9: If you want to try playing on either the "hard" or "very hard" setting, you'll need to be much more fastidious in your application of all the basic gameplay tips, especially the ones about quicksaving often and always going into hostile areas with plenty of ammo and healing supplies (and two followers). However, there's really no point in playing on higher difficulty settings, since you get nothing for it except harder combats. That can be useful for stress-testing new character builds, but that's about it.
9 of 9: NOTE: This game's new "hardcore mode" is a completely separate thing from the difficulty setting. See the game manual's "Hardcore Mode" section to learn more about it.
