First of all I couldn't stand fallout 3, the game was a joke even on very hard. Fallout New Vegas seems to have change the difficulty for the better, but i'm already playing this game on very hard and hardcoe of course.

But i've noticed with luck at 4 i'm STILL getting critical hits everytime i'm in a gun fight, why???? I thought luck was the only factor that governs critical hits. My agilitiy is at 8 but according to the manual and all the other fallout games luck is the main factor, or I'm I missing something?

Thanks

Your agility is at 8? Well then thats why.

Are you shooting in VATS? Or in sneak (not detected, obv.)? I'm pretty sure undetected sneak means more chance of a critical hit and VATS will make the game much easier. I'm afraid I'm only answering based on F:3 experience, as NV isn't released here yet, but I've heard that that side of the game hasn't changed much. Also, luck may be the main factor, but that doesn't mean it's the only factor. Hope you are otherwise enjoying the game :tops:

I've tried VATS and without and the results are pretty much the same, critical hits almost every fight. Sadly i'm not enjoying the game because the game is right now unplayable due to insane fps drops everytime I look at an npc




Oh I see, so agility governs the main critical aspect. Still on very hard I shouldn't be getting this many criticals, I just hope the difficulty ramps up later on in the game.

Thanks guys

Critical Hits are determined by many things, from Perks to Skills in FO3. Even the location of the shot, so a limb hit will be marginally less likely than a head shot to score a CH. Shooting without aiming (from the hip) decreases the chance of a CH. Agility decides skill with weapons so if it's high it'll increase the Critical Chance, increasing Critical Hits.

I imagine its the same with FNV.

OP, you still did not mention if you are sneaking (crouched) when taking the shots. THIS will do it as it is a game mechanic for those stealthy folks.

Actually in Fallout 3 critical strike chance had nothing to do with weapon skills, where the shot landed or Agility. Your base critical strike chance is equal to your Luck. Certain weapons in the game have multipliers to crit chance. Snipers in Fallout 3 for example had a 5x multiplier which leads to a 20% crit chance with 4 Luck. VATS also adds a 15% crit chance to all attacks. So using a Sniper in VATS with 4 Luck still gives you a 35% chance to land a critical hit.

If the crit mechanic is unchanged in FNV then your crit chance is dependant on your Luck, what weapon you are using, whether or not you are in VATS and any perks or affects that increase crit %.

EDIT: Also condition. But this is how it worked in Fallout 3. FNV may have changed it.

I'm also playing hardcoe mode, I have 9 luck and i'm getting lots of critical hits, maybe every other shot or every few shots. Perhaps you are getting the appropriate amount for 4 luck.

it seems like i'm getting slightly more criticals than a similar build with high luck in FO3 but it's hard to tell.

I was using some melee weapons that have crit bonus, but even with guns i'm getting a lot of crit hits.

Also in the tutorial I selected Built to Destroy trait which adds 3% crit bonus.

I'm sure Skills and the related SPECIAL (as with Small Guns and Agility in FO3) counts toward your Critical Hits mulitplier, and me thinks landing a CH on a Limb has a lower opportunity in the Critical Chance stakes than landing a hit on a Head, if the head has a helmet on it, less so. Hitting an armoured Torso would have to calculate the armour's DR against the roll and multipliers of the attacking PC, and would lower the chance of a successful CH if the armour has stats enough to dull the combined attacking roll and multipliers. So uh, yeah it does all count. There are loads of variables for calculating the CH.

Source? Or is this simply your opinion on how crit works?

Crit Chance = Base Chance (Luck + any perks, etc) x Crit Multiplier (this is dependant on the weapon being used) x Weapon Condition. If VATS is being used then the final number has +15 added on.

Skills, agility and hit location arnt included in crit calculations in the slightest.

I don't have a source I'm just basing it on common RPG logic.

Edit: Actually a quick Wiki skeg: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Critical_Hit shows that I am wrong. "Note that the chance for a critical hit is determined by Critical Chance, and is not the same as critical effect." I guess I'm talking about critical effect, then, the damage done when the Critical Hit has been decided after passing the critical chance.

I bow to your knowledge sir. I'm running on like three hours sleep over a seventy-odd hour period, I shouldn't be allowed to post. lol :laugh: