Fallout New Vegas Ultimate Caravan Guide – Starter Tips and Tricks

Fallout New Vegas is one of the Fallout games that has always had an amazing reputation. In fact, many players actually consider it the best Fallout game in terms of story (although Fallout 4 is the best for gameplay). One thing that makes Fallout New Vegas stand out is the Caravan card game. Although this game seems difficult at first, it is not as bad as it seems when you figure out the best ways to win.

What is a Caravan in Fallout New Vegas?

Caravan is the main card game of the game in which players will build their decks and try to have more points between the numbers 21 and 26 in each track (one of the three piles of cards you create) of the game. If an opponent has more points than you and stays below 26, they will win that track. If you exceed 26 points on a track, you will lose that track. Once each track has a value of 21-26, the game will end, and the player with the highest scores in two of the three tracks will win..

To begin, players draw eight cards and will spend the first three turns placing a single card down on each track. During this time, you can discard as many cards as you want and draw that number of cards. After this round, discarding cards will cost your turn. After each player has placed a card in all three tracks, the actual game begins. You can play a card, discard a card, or discard a trace during your turn; but you can only choose one.

Here's a breakdown of what each card does in the game based on the game's description:

• joker: The effect depends on the card it is played on. Check below to see what it does.
• ace: This card has a value of 1. If a joker is played on it, all non-face cards of the ace suit will be removed from the table.
• 2-10: The value of the card depends on the number that the card is (seven is seven points, 10 is 10 points, etc.) If a joker is played on one of them, it will remove all the cards of that value from the table.
• Jack: Removes the card it is played on and any face cards attached to that card.
• Queen: It reverses the correct direction of the hand and changes the suit of it.
• King: It doubles the value of the card it is attached to (six becomes 12 points, seven becomes 14 points, etc.)

How does betting in Caravan work?

Playing a game of Caravan, the player will have to bet before being allowed to start. Fortunately, the lowest amount you can bet is 1 cap, meaning you don't have to lose everything if you don't win a game.

How to build a Caravan Deck

To build a deck in Caravan, players must have at least 30 cards. When you first meet Ringo, you'll get a Caravan Deck, so you won't have to worry about that right away. However, if you want more cards, you can find them on the bodies of dead Prospectors or buy them from general stores.

There is a trick to playing Caravan that requires having specific numbers in your deck. Here are the cards you want to make sure you have in your deck:

• x3 Sevens
• x3 Nines
• x3 Dozens
• x3 Kings
• x3 Jacks

You can certainly have more than three of each card in your deck, but you want to make sure you have at least three of each. As for the rest of the cards, you can add whatever cards you want to add until you have 30 cards. You won't want to go over 30 cards because that's the lowest amount you can have, and the best way to win requires having fewer cards.

Related: How to mod Fallout New Vegas

How to win at Caravan every time

The goal of Caravan is to have the most points on each track, as long as it is 26 or lower. To do this, you'll want to use your tens, nines and sevens to get to 26. Here are the steps you will follow to win almost every Caravan game you have to play:

1. You will first draw eight cards; be sure to discard everything except the tens, nines and sevens. (You must do it at this stage so it won't count as a turn when you discard.)
2. Place one of the tens along the first track.
3. Discard whatever card was drawn if it wasn't a ten, nine or seven (or you already have three of the number).
4. Repeat steps two and three until each track has ten on it.
5. Place the nines below each ten (if you have trouble placing the cards, try moving the card below, this will allow you to place the card below the top card).
6. Place the sevenths under each nine.
7. to win

If, at any time in the game, your opponent uses a King on your cards, you can use a Jot to remove it. You can also use any Kings you have on your opponent's cards to double their points, essentially ruining any tracks that can beat your track. Every other card in your deck can be ignored because they are not as important as the number cards that get you 26 points and the two face cards that allow you to remove Kings and add them to opponents.

All Caravan opponents in the game

There are 14 NPCs you can play Caravan against. (At least if you have the Honest Hearts DLC, otherwise it's 13). Here is a list of them all:

• Ambassador Dennis Crocker – NCR Embassy
• Cliff Briscoe* – Novac
• Dale Barton – The Fort
• Issac – Gunrunners
• Jed Masterson – Northern Passage
• Johnson Nash* – Primm
• Jules – North Vegas Plaza
• Keith – Aerotech Suite 200
• Lacey* – Mojave Outpost
• Little Buster – Camp McCarren
• No-barking Noonan – Novac
• Private Jake Erwin – NCR Embassy
• Quartermaster Mayes* – Comp Forlorn Hope
• Ringo – Crimson Caravan Camp (originally found in Goodsprings)

Those marked with * are only available to play five games with. After hitting that limit, they won't play you anymore. With this in mind, it's best to save the game before picking them up, just in case you screw anything up.

For more information on the Fallout games, check out Does Fallout New Vegas work on Steam Deck? (Best Settings).