Intense Training?

I am always using it to get my INT8 to INT9 (and then with implant to 10). Also I use it to get +1 STR and that's it. I don't feel bad about taking the perk, because usually there is nothing much better around for me anyway at this point.

 

I don't think I ever picked it in New Vegas. There are always better perks to pick, even at the beginning.

 

Same here. Thought of it on my last run due to missing a point in my build due to me messing up at start and not being arsed to remake the character. But it was no biggie.

Why on earth do people put int so high.. You can max out everything anyways with like 5 int. And there is no need to max out everything!

 

Most likely because of thinking that this is the same SPECIAL system from the original games. Of course, it's not, and the same balance of stats doesn't come anywhere close to important for characters processed in the Oblivion Engine. (At least there's no ridiculous "Almost Perfect" Perk that will allow you to obtain 10s in all 7 categories, in New Vegas.) Even with NV's character building way more balanced than FO3's, it's still pointless to have high stats in anything, except maybe AG or LK, and even then, it's merely for novelty's sake. (I love winning Blackjack just by spamming "Double Down"... XD)

 

I used it alot before I had any DLC for New Vegas. Then I still maxed out STR (9 plus implant), luck and agility.

Then I learned about save state editing for the 360

 

I use Intense Trainning to be able to carry more stuff later on without having to put all my points on ST from the beginning where being over encumbered is not a concern.

 

Used to pump my agility (yes I use VATS) and intelligence in early game, and strength further on to carry more loot. When I was playing a sniper-like character for NCR I used it to boost perception a bit.

Because it increases EXP?

 

There was absolutely no need to choose it in Fallout 3, especially with the release of Broken Steel and the Almost Perfect perk. In Fallout New Vegas it's a more helpful, being that you can't get all your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats up to 10, but unless you start with an intelligence of 8 or need to increase something for a perk requirement I wouldn't bother. Most of the attributes follow Fallout 3's recipe, making an increase of 1 in any attribute, except Intelligence, marginally useful. Shame Obsidian didn't at least use Charisma the way it was used in Fallout 2, but I'm sure there's a mod out there.

 

More skill points, which means I get my most wanted skills high fast. You don't get as many skill points from it as in Fo1/2, but it is still more. And as I have no use for most of the other stats, skill points are still more important.

Btw. in New Vegas you can not max out everything with 5 int.

 

You need the Ultimate Edition, but yes you can (having all 4 DLC raises the level cap to 50), and then not only can you max out all your skills, but you can do it legitimately (i.e. no glitches), and without the Comprehension, Educated, or Tag! perks.

YMMV, but here's how I did it (with an obvious light-armor character):

Traits:
Four Eyes
Skilled

NOTE: numbers below listed as STARTING/FINAL

S: 7/10 Implant, Reinforced Spine
P: 6/10 Implant, Four-eyes + Lucky Shades, 1st Recon
E: 6/9 Implant, Lonesome Road, IT
C: 1/3 Implant, Ulysses' Duster
I: 3/5 Implant, IT
A: 9/10 Implant
L: 8/10 Implant, Lucky Shades

Note: IT = Intense Training

Skills
1300 <----------- Total skill points needed: 13 skills * 100 each.
- 26 Base
1274
- 45 Tags
1229
-612 Level-ups: (1 * 12) + (48 * 12.5) = 612
617
-282 Non-random skillbooks without Comprehension (94 books * 3 skillpoints each = 282)
335
- 20 STR 10
315
- 60 PER 10
255
- 36 END 9
219
- 12 CHA 3
207
- 30 INT 5
177
- 40 AGI 10
137
- 65 LCK 10
72
- 65 Skilled Trait
7
- 9 3 Books from Workbench Crates in Honest Hearts
-2

Note that I have 5 INT, including Implant and one rank of Intense Training, the latter I only took to meet the requirement for Pack Rat.

One other point of note is that it's possible to get a maximum of 16 skillbooks from workbench crates, for a total of 48 skillpoints, 39 of which aren't used in the breakdown above.

These extra skillbooks plus the option of gear-swapping also allows you to potentially drop INT even further (such as, if you didn't want Pack Rat), or perhaps use a different gear/trait setup while still not going above 5 INT to max all your skills out.

And if you think that's bad, it was even worse in FO3... where gear-swapping allows you to max out all skills even if you start with an INT of 1, don't get the bobblehead until after getting Almost Perfect at level 30, don't take a single skill-only perk including Comprehension or Educated, and don't farm infinite-spawning skillbooks or use any other type of glitches.

 

Starting INT of 6 can be ok for Voracious Reader, so you can nearly unlimited true police stories, but otherwise there isn't much benefit to starting over 4 if you have all the DLC; start at 4, get one of comprehension or educated, implant for Pack Rat and maybe you won't have everything maxed out, but do really need every weapon skill maxed? The skills with common magazines like Science or Medicine don't really get much benefit from being permanently maxed either.

 

I know that with all the DLCs, I typically make characters with the Logan's Loophole Trait, so that it PREVENTS me from surpassing level 30. Even then I find it difficult NOT maxing every skill. When you play with min/max habits, and you avoid taking skills past certain levels like 70-90 at base because magazines, books, or gear will raise them to 100, it's really hard NOT taking multiple skills "past 100" where you lose the benefit of skill-changing items. And that's just with 8 IN, not even 10.

It's only a "challenge" to get every skill to 100 if you're aiming to get them AT BASE to 100, and if you're playing the vanilla game.

 

I always take Logan's Loophole. Getting to level 50 makes anything but the DLCs (which level scale like bitches) utterly trivial, and makes maxing skills (not all of them maybe, but far more than half) pretty easy without even trying. Past level 35, I tend to just pick skills at random, because everything I actually use is maxed. My current character is lvl 26, and hes maxed Guns, Science, Speech, Explosives, and has high Lockpick and Sneak which will be maxed or near-maxed by 30. I don't need much else, save maybe Repair but I swim in caps so it's not much of a problem to get something fixed.

Plus, no chem addiction is nice. Before hard battles, I tend to consume 7-8 of them (which, with Projet Nevada, means pretty damn often). I can only imagine the complete and utter trip my character is taking.