Direction is really at the heart of the issue. Caravans have to be loaded in one direction. If you start with a three and play a two, you can only play an ace (unless you have a suited card, which we’ll cover in a second). The reverse is also true. If you play an eight on the three, you can only play a nine or a ten on the next turn.

The exception is if you have a card of the same suit. You can ignore the direction of the caravan if the card is of the same suit as the one at the bottom. Note that this also reverse the direction of the caravan. This is useful if you find yourself backed into a corner and need to open up a few more options.

The heart of the game is still pretty simple. Either match the suits or continue the chain with your numbered cards until you get to 26.

It gets really interested when you include face cards.

Fallout: New Vegas – Caravan Basics – Face Cards

J

acks are easy. If you put them on top of a card, this will remove the card and remove any face cards that were put on top of it. This is very useful if an opponent uses a king to build a track quickly at the start of the game.

Queens are useful in certain situations. Playing it on a track will reverse the direction of the track, as if you played a suited card. Queens have no value, but it can be useful if you are forced to start a game with a weak foundation. I’ve had a lot of luck building a descending caravan with low cards to reach the teens, then using a Queen and a ten to hit 26 and secure that track.

Kings are also easy, although they have a few uses. Kings will double the value of any card that they are played on. If you use a king on a ten, then you can probably wrap up a caravan in a few turns. Kings are also good near the end of the game when you’re trying to work a 24 or a 25 into a 26. Playing a king on an ace can edge out your opponent. More interestingly, you can also play Kings on your opponent’s tracks to overload them. If he has a Jack handy, then all you did was make him waste his Jack, but if he doesn’t it can force him to abandon an entire track to you.

Jokers are interesting and really wild. A Joker played on a numbered card will remove all other instances of that card in the game. Note that this includes your own tracks too, except it will ignore the track that it is played on. If a Joker is played on an Ace, it will remove all instances of the Ace’s suit from the game, except for the track that it is played on. I personally don’t use Jokers much, since they tend to do a lot of collateral damage to your own tracks. They are useful as a last minute desparation move though, if your opponent is just overwhelming you and you need a reset.

Fallout: New Vegas – Caravan Tips

Fallout nv caravan guide reviews

Caravan is mainly about getting the basics right. If you can stack your numbered cards up right and use your Face Cards to bust or harass an opponent, then you will probably win the majority of your games.

Note that there are a few more things that you can do by building your deck. When you enter the game, you are presented with an option of looking at two decks. The top deck is your active deck that you’re going to use in the next game and the bottom one is the entire deck. Cards visible on the bottom are not in play. You can add and remove cards as you wish.

The general idea is that everything is a tradeoff. If you use less cards, you will be more sure of what you get, but you run the risk of running out of cards and limit your strategy.

With a little practice, you can probably prune your deck though. I usually don’t use many Queens or Jokers because I don’t find them to be useful in my games. If I’m going to have face cards come up, I want them to be Kings or Jacks.

Another strategy is to limit yourself to only two suits for numbered cards to give yourself greater mobility in your game. Personally, I think that that’s a little too much work for no real reward, but it’s an option for anyone that’s having trouble with a tough opponent.

As to who you should play, there are plenty of potential opponents, but a few really stand out. Travelling merchants, general merchants and adventurers usually know how to play. In particular, the NCR Ambassador in New Vegas, Dennis Crocker, seems to be the highest better I’ve found. He’ll happily go up to about one thousand caps on a single game. For easier access, you can talk to Lacey in the Mojave Outpost Bar. She usually bets about 600 caps. No-Bark in Novac is usually willing to bet a similar amount.

Hopefully these basic Caravan tips will help you get some easy money in Fallout: New Vegas and let you have a little extra fun in the game.