Hello! I was just wondering... how much harder is very hard compared to normal? Like are there any numbers out there? Secondly, would you side with the NCR or the Legion and why? Thanks!

I went with the NCR for my first character, Mr. House for my second, and I'm currently going through the Legion with my third.

If I only had to play once I would probably select Mr. House or Yes Man but that's personal preference.

not sure about the numbers, but very hard = fun. hard or normal = a little too easy and not as much fun

NCR is a little boring. I'm still on my first playthrough and I think I will side with either Yes Man (take New Vegas for myself) or Legion. In any case, no matter who you side with, you can do most of the quests for the other factions by wearing disguise if necessary.

I will side with different factions during my next playthrough.

For the first 2-3 levels, quite a bit harder because your piddly broken starter weapon will have a hard time taking down even a lowly Goodsprings Gecko, so I think they have a moderate amount of more health. After that (assuming you're not self-gimping yourself to the moon in some fashion), not all that much harder. Mostly, it just takes a bit more ammo to kill stuff on average. They do more damage to you as well, of course, so you'll die quite a bit faster. Sadly I don't know actual numbers.

Normal: Somewhat more realistic

Very Hard: Not fair at all and from what I've heard the system cuts your overall damage in half and doubles enemies'

And I would side with NCR (despite how harsh they are to their citizens) because frankly I like the concept of Roman Centurions fighting in a post-apocolyptic world 200+ years from now, but any alternative is better than those zealots.

Also, I know it's a really sissy way to play the game, but if you want a much more realistic experience, go with Very Easy, realistic because:
1.) People aren't bullet sponges in real life
2.) As much as it bugs me in a way, you aren't supposed to die in the game. In Very Easy it ensures you won't.

This is from Fallout 3 I don't think they changed it in New Vegas

Opponent's damage Player dam
Very easy 50% 200%
Easy 75% 150%
Normal 100% 100%
Hard 150% 75%
Very Hard 200% 50%

Note this is damage delt.

Thanks all

Ah, so instead of more hit points they reduce your damage. So if I'm playing VH, and a guns says 26DMG, does this mean I cut it in half? Also, do you know if companions get more base damage resistance (not DT) in higher difficulties, because they sure seem more durable in that regard than they were in Normal, considering their hit points don't rise.


Not fair perhaps...but seriously, it's not much harder once you get past that lvl 3 or so (or lvl 10 at most) and find/steal/loot guns/gear and all of that.

Pretty much.
For DR I didn't think that was in the game.

I don't think DR applies to the player outside of chems, but http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1145406-ferocious-loyalty/ (in the spoiler forum) discusses the perk Ferocious Loyalty and how it strongly affects companions ability to tank deathclaws (who ignore DT). So based on that and my own eyeball observations I'm making a wild hypothesis that companions are given some DR (probably not a lot) that increases/decreases for difficulty + affected by that perk. I could be wrong tho. (edit) I wish I knew how to dig this kind of info out of the GECK...it might be in there. But I don't...

Companions get a DT boost from Charisma and said perk.
This is what the wiki said, MINOR SPOILER

I have heard a number of people complain that very hard isn't realistic because you can shoot an enemy in the head a few times before they die. This is true, and it's also not very realistic for the Courier to be able to survive many shots to the head, as is the case with normal mode and hard mode. (and in the opening cutscene of the game, for that matter

Unfortunately, on normal mode and hard mode, the game is simply too easy.

In my case, Enjoyability and Balance trump Realism. It's boring if I'm walking around practically in God mode and there are no challenging combat encounters. This was the problem with FO3 after having played it quite a lot. I like the feeling of finally making it through a tough fight where I had to die a few times before figuring out the best strategy to approach the enemy.

Even on very hard mode, combat in FNV still becomes a bit too easy if you have the super slam perk, for example. But in any case it's a lot more balanced (read "more fun") than FO3, especially with hardcoe mode + harder hardcoe rates mod + expensive wasteland mod.

Also, if you want to experience challenging combat once in a while, I believe this is not possible while traveling with companions.

@I Do Not Know:

Yes, I know that...but the point is that deathclaws ignore DT, making DT bonuses/companion armor not a part of the calculation. FL seems to enable them to take 12-15 deathclaw hits vs. their usual 2-4. That's a big difference, so FL must be DR.

I've seen others post that it feels like companions are "tougher" in Very Hard vs. Normal so I don't think I'm alone in at least feeling like they are...if enemies do 200% damage in VeryHard and companion hit points remain the same, assuming same DT, they should be less durable, not more. Maybe I'm still not "getting" DT entirely tho...

I just looked at the OSG and I guess there is DR for FL, who knew(not me.)
Like I said in my 1st post that was from the F3 OSG.