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NCR is the prototype of police state, i.e., there's police everywhere and at the slightest sign of mischief, they shoot. Other than that, I found it to be a pretty decent and civilized place. Anyway, do NOT ever enter the proper city if you're holding a weapon OR any of your men is holding one. Tell them to put away your weapons. Before the first 1.02 patch, that also seemed to include Goris's claw, when you pick him, but he can't drop his claws, so if you didn't apply the patch, always leave him outside. Otherwise, the police will start shouting and almost immediately start shooting, too. The result will most likely be you slaughtering the whole city and missing the quests.
Note that it may seem an easy thing, but later when you come back to
the city, you'll have the option of entering straight into the city or
even to the council area. Don't. Chances are your men will still be
holding their weapons from a previous encounter, and you'll have a
jolly good shoot-out with the police.
Right where you arrive, there'll be a guns shop and three guards in
green combat suits. Steal their Bozar's. Good weapon, and worth a
load of cash when you sell it. The guy in the shop didn't want to
deal with me first time I came there, for some reason. Several hours
and quests later, he did want to trade. Next time again he didn't.
Since his message doesn't state WHY, it tooke me a while to figure out
it's based on hour. (OK, so I'm stupid :) After 8:30AM it seemed to
be ok.
There's also a bum who'll offer to guard your car for 5 bucks. Is
that really necessary? Don't know. I paid the bum, mainly because 5
bucks isn't that much to be worth the risk.
Another bum will offer to do some upgrade to your car for 1000$. I
did this, too.
Now tell your men to put away their weapons, and enter the city.
Inside, on the north-west side, there's a short guy with a weapon
shop. You can get yourself hired as a caravan guard to Redding here,
though I didn't need it, and anyway there are more quests to be done
here and now. You can also talk him into giving you the password to
the back room, which is an illegal gambling house. If you invested
lots in gambling skill, here's one of the places it pays off. And, of
course, you can buy weapons from him. Do check all his tables, like
he told you. Don't just talk to him. One of the tables has different
equipment.
Among the eq here, there's a sort of a SMG, named HK P90c. Weird
thing about it is that it comes loaded with rare 9mm ammo, yet you
can't reload it with 9mm. You reload it with 10mm. Bug? The result
is that you get a weapon that does good damage per round, and has a
massive 12 round burst, with cheap 10mm ammo. By now I had my car's
trunk full of 10mm ammo. It is IMHO the ultimate weapon based on
small guns skill, and in fact with the right perks it easily outguns
the normal minigun (though not the Avenger or Vindicator). However,
you don't have to buy it here. You can get it for free from one of
the bandits on level 3 in Vault 15, which is the next area you'll go.
Just thought I'd mention it now, though.
Go talk to the dude in lab coat, in the building right across the
street, to the south. He'll ask you to test his mutant cure on a
super-mutant in Broken Hills. Take it, but DON'T use it in Broken
Hills. Use it on a super-mutant in the military base, when you get
there. Of course, you may have to do it in the middle of combat, but
you do get the quest without making more enemies than strictly
necessary. The cyber-dog you'll get for the quest is crappy, though,
if you ask me.
(In case you're thinking what I've been thinking, no, you can't save
the serum for a quick kill against the mutant boss at the end of the
game. It didn't have any effect on him. I tried. So just do the
quest for 1000xp on a mutant in the Military Base.)
Now look for a building with a woman and a robot in front of it. Save
before talking to her. Apparently, some loony is trying to blow up
their power station. If the girl doesn't want to talk to you yet,
come back later. Don't shoot the idiot. Talk him out of it.
"Empathy" perk would be nice here, but if you saved, you can just go
by trial and error. It's worth 6000xp, so it's not a waste of time.
Then talk to the girl again, and she'll give you some manuals.
South of that building is another one, with a broken car after a
chainlink fence. Go talk to the girl in green armour on the left
side, and say the slavers are filth. She'll tell you to go take care
of the slaver outside the town. So go outside, talk to that slaver.
You can also take a quest from the slaver, to find a map for the
rangers' houses. It's on the table, in the rangers' house, in the
room with the guy with the minigun. Bring it back to the slaver for
500$. Then waste the slavers and free the slaves. Tell your men to
put away your weapons, then come back and talk to the armoured girl
again. That's 3000xp.
She'll also give you a badge saying you're an official New California
Ranger, with code wheel and everything... Beats me what does that
help with.
In one of the houses there's a church of the Hubologists. You can BS
the preacher to give you a letter for their AHS-9 (a.k.a. cult leader)
in San Francisco. He can also give you an alignment check (or "zeta
scan"), but it lowered my luck and critical chance by 1. I'm sure it
didn't do that before the 1.02 beta patch.
At the hospital, the doctor offered to cut my leg off. Beats me why.
I refused, anyway. If it's about that extra toe thingie, the doctor
in the Vault City courtyard can do it without cutting the leg.
Talk to the bartender in the bar and find out that President Tandi is
looking for a specialist. Don't talk to the other guy in the bar,
'cause he only wants trouble.
Go south, to the council alrea. Talk to the guy in the first room,
then with Gunther, then with President Tandi. Offer to help, say you
have a way with words. (Apparently, unlike Lynette in Vault City,
Tandi doesn't see genocide as the only solution to all problems.) You
can ask about all sorts of things, and you get a propaganda holo-disc
if you ask about the NCR. Other than giving you a good reading on the
PIP-Boy, doesn't seem to serve any purpose.
Now you can leave town and head for Vault 15. (Talk to the guy doing
your car upgrades first, to see if he's finished. If not, rest for a
while.)
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