One acronym you will need to get used to right away is S.P.E.C.I.A.L. This stands for Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck. It’s the statistical system used in Fallout: New Vegas. Let’s take a quick look at some details for each stat.

Strength: How much equipment you’re capable of carrying. Important stat. Make a moderate investment.

Perception: Explosives, Energy Weapons, Lockpick, Red Compass. The latter pertains to being able to detect threats, which is incredibly important when you’re in enemy territory. Relatively important stat. Make a small to moderate investment.

Endurance: Physical Fitness. Durability. Resistant to environment and radiation. Essential stat. Make a large investment without going overboard.

Charisma: Barter, Speech. Barter is important so you can buy items for less and sell them for more. Speech is even more important because it’s all about persuasion and getting people to like you. Think of the Speech stat as the equivalent to using a Jedi mind trick. Important stat. Make a moderate investment.

Intelligence: Science, Repair, Medicine. Imperative if you want to play for long periods of time. This is the MOST important stat in the game. It also boosts earned skill points. Make a large investment.

Agility: Guns, Sneak. The importance of the Agility stat is debatable. If you’re the type of person who wants to run and gun to make the game extremely adventurous, then this is an important stat. You can use a Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System. If you’re more of the methodical type, then you should go with Energy Weapons. If you happen to be psychotic, then you can just go with Melee Weapons, but don’t expect to last too long if you do. It’s still possible to last a long time with Melee Weapons, but it’s not likely. In regards to Sneak, it’s valuable at times, but still overrated. Your investment here depends on the approach you would like to take.

Luck: A lot of people say that it’s better to be lucky than good. Well, that isn’t the case here. Perhaps the virtual world operates a little differently. There isn’t much left to chance. Either the computer recognizes and awards your skills or you fail. That might sound blunt, but that’s just the way it is. The Luck stat is by far the least important of all the S.P.E.C.I.A.L stats. It will raise all your skill levels a little, but not enough to make a substantial difference. Consider making a small investment.

Okay, so we have covered the all-important S.P.E.C.I.A.L stats. Now let’s get to the Ancillary Skills. There are 13 Ancillary Skills total. Just as is the case with the S.P.E.C.I.A.L stats, some Ancillary Skills are more important than others. Some gamers see the word “ancillary” and decide to move on. They don’t want to know any details because they think they can survive without these skills. Those are the types of gamers who end up repeating the same mistakes over and over again and never succeed. Some of these Ancillary Skills will make your character much more effective, which will make the game much more enjoyable to play. Of course, the S.P.E.C.I.A.L stats are more important, but the Ancillary Skills are the gravy that can make you an elite player. That being the case, make sure you pay careful attention to the following information.