Does Anyone Invest In Doctor, Gambling, Barter, Sneak, and Throwing?

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DwayneGAnd

Look, Ma! Two Heads!
Typically, I tend to ignore these skills, except for Doctor in the second game. Though I found myself investing in Doctor in the first game since I had nowhere else to spend my points, and in case I need to heal a broken limb.

I'm the kind of guy who grinds levels at the Deathclaw Warehouse until I reach level 21. So I tend to have a lot more skill points when I'm done building up my combat skills and other secondary skills. In Fallout 2, the rising costs of increasing skills past 100% can cost more skill points as the game progresses and those skills rise higher. In Fallout 3 and New Vegas, it was possible to max all skills by endgame, something that is impossible in 1 and 2 (and Tactics).

Sneak is very useful in 3 and NV, but I'm not so sure about 1 and 2. The only time I've sneaked in the first two games was to use a stealth boy to be able to talk to Shadow-Who-Walks in the Restoration Mod to peacefully stop the raiders. One time, after beating the game, I maxed all skills with the hint book, visited the Mordino's, and then tried to stealthily kill one of the gangsters in the upstairs room. I managed to end combat without anyone else turning hostile, but when I snuck into another room to do the same to another, he initiated combat and the rest of the family attacked. So much for being stealthy!

Many items in the game can be quite expensive with a low Barter skill. It got much more use in 3 and NV since you can max all skills in those games, but according to what I read on the Nearly Ultimate Fallout guides, Barter is bugged in some situations.

Gambling has limited places to earn money, and it's much easier in Fallout 1. The games are much more complicated in 2.

Throwing is considered by many to be the worst combat skill. The only weapons in this class worth using are grenades, but there aren't many in the games. Someone told me that grenades can be useful for when enemies are clustered together, especially if you are playing as a melee character. But form what I read, grenades have accuracy problems, even at higher levels. Grenades were great to use in 3 and NV though.

Both Nearly Ultimate Guides say never to invest in Barter, Throwing, Gambling, Sneak, or Doctor (at least in the first game). What I want to know is if anybody has actually tried investing in and using these skills and what their experience was.
 
Sneaking is the strongest noncombat skill. Raise it to 120% and it's easy game https://bit.ly/3gxhi57.

You just need to know how it works, there's a thread about it... https://www.nma-fallout.com/threads/answered-fallout-1-2-sneak-formula.216813/

Doctor - In FO2 I raise it to 76% for the quests. Not a good skill in FO1. Okayish in FO1.5 because of xp drought. Not sure about other TCs.

Gambling - infinite money. Obviously completely broken, but it also makes the game boring. The only setup where I find it serviceable is if I play with 5 NPCs. Getting gear for 5 additional team members without infinite money means a lot of grinding and hauling loot from random encounters which is annoying. Works in FO1 FO2 and FO1.5

Throwing - with flares very strong and underutilized. A genuine departure from the usual combat tactics, where instead of dealing damage you rely on KOs. Pulse grenades are also nice against robots, even against Master himself. Gotta go with flares in FO1 and in FO2 it requires the infinite flares exploit. Power curve different from usual sniper builds. Shines at levels 9-15. Very good at 15-18. And obviously not as strong as a sniper/slayer build at 18+, but still good enough.

Barter - really nice in FO1 because of how powerful it is even at low percentage. At ~45% you're paying 10000 for the combat armor instead of 40000. Considering that the game engine allows you to only insert 999 caps at a time in the barter window, it saves you a lot of clicks for very few skilll points. Absolute garbage in FO2 and FO1.5.
 
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in Fallout 1, I just use my followers as pack mules as they have unlimited carrying capacity. This way I can loot everything in one location in one visit. Then I can trade it all away for better equipment and skill books. This way, I don't need to invest in gambling for money, or even gamble at all!
 
Well, sure. Gambling at the end of the day is a convenience skill. No need to loot, no need to haul the loot, etc...
 
  • Gambling:
    Technically it —should— have been the skill at detecting cheating in casino games... as often seen in the Zatoichi films. But in Fallout, it seems to be the skill at winning them; also seen in Zatoichi films. I know from experience that gambling can allow the PC to walk into a casino with 5 caps, and soon leave with 1500. Great for the early game; not necessary for the later game.

    Gambling makes sense if your character is an avid gambler.

  • Doctor:
    It's the only way the PC can self-treat blindness and crippling injuries. It gives more XP than First-Aid; takes more time too.
    It requires skill points to advance, and can open additional [colleague] dialog with certain doctor NPCs.

  • First-Aid:
    It does not require skill points to advance; it's open to all. It needn't be a dedicated career choice. Less XP, less time to use, but does not cure blindness or crippling injuries.

  • Doctor & First-Aid
    These together comprise six (free) medical attempts per day, but only three can be used to correct blindness or critical injuries; so triage the PC & Party members according to their specific needs. Use First-Aid where you don't need to use Doctor—unless Doctor is well advanced, and time is not pressing.

  • Throwing: == grenade accuracy.

  • Barter:
    Barter gets a better deal. It's kind of the opposite of Gambling. It makes sense if your character is a wheel & deal kind of person who likes to haggle—and win.

  • Sneak:
    This skill makes the PC likelier to be ignored. It can be used in conjunction with Steal, to rob people and their nearby containers with out being noticed. When used in combat [first attack only] killing the opponent in one round is an assassination, and usually goes unnoticed by others nearby.
RPG Skills in general... It's frowned upon by some (even many), but skills in RPGs are about what the PC knows—not what is statistically most useful. Not every PC will have the skills they need for all situations; ideally none will. RPGs are more about limitations than anything else; what the PC is not capable of. [IE. When the game should say, "No".]

So the PC with 150% in Science, and 18% in Small-Guns will win out when the task is scientific—just as many would if that were their interest and training; not everyone is a cop or ex-military; not everyone will succeed in a fight.

*Non-combat-centric PCs will simply need to have friends or mercenaries along to handle the combat—if they want to have high level esoteric non-combat skills. Now of course many will point out that those checks are often few and far between. To them they are too scarce to invest the skill development, but it simply means that those situations are not for their character to be good at; out of element.

There is a fantastic Fallout 1&2 Let's Play where the PC is an unlucky individual [low stat, and the Jinx trait]. For this PC, it doesn't make sense to invest in firearm skills, because their weapons won't survive the fight; they jam/break/fall apart due to excessive critical failures. They rely upon NPC's for combat.
 
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They're great in Nevada:
  • Doctor- several quests tied with healing people, including a really lengthy surgery. Also helps with making medicines. Can also be used to trade knowledge with some of the healers for First Aid boost and XP.
  • Gambling- a few quest options require it. You can also find some high stake games for meds and drugs. Also required when fixing certain items like a pool cue or arcade.
  • Barter- aside from increasing rewards and lowering prices, it's also used to access the backroom stock of certain merchants (including unique weapons). It's also required if you want to sell cola.
  • Sneak- with high enough Sneak and a guitar string you can silently murder people (though you don't get XP). Some missions are easier with it (like hitman missions). Sneaking through a certain hostile area gives you a special perk that raises your Sequence.
  • Throwing- you can get early boost from a guy throwing darts. There're some good knives you can find with metal detector. It also saved my second character from the final boss (even he can't handle a few plasma grenades).
 
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by the level cap of 21 in Fallout 1, I've finished investing in my combat skills, have 100% in both Speech and Lockpick. The last time I played through however, by level 21, I had more than 90 left over skill points. I didn't touch Barter, Gambling, Sneak, Throwing, and Barter. A few times, I raised Doctor up to 100% in case I need to restore a limb, but it very rarely happens.

How can I use those leftover skill points best for my next playthrough? How high should I raise those skills and when should I start investing in them?
 
I do, when i'm running melee/unarmed i usually tagged throwing to kite enemies, partly because i dont take bonus move perk so my walk distance is limited, and i have too many grenades to spend. And that's where my 3rd tag comes in, barter jej. Investing in barter alongside EcCo mod is nice, since i'm too lazy to get money from gambling. Without EcCo mod the price from traders npc are like capitalist lmao.
 
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