Duck and Cover

I have noticed that in Vault City, once you become a Citizen, the Amenities shops actually increase their prices for you.

Also in New Reno, if you become a Prize Fighter, the bartenders for each of the families increase their prices for you. They give you a further price increase if you become a Made Man for the family that the bartender works for. The same might apply for being a Porn Star but I forget.

Am I alone in thinking that this is backwards? Shouldn't becoming a Citizen give you better price breaks, and having a better reputation in a town or organization likewise give you discounts?

If your a prize-fighter:
Maybe they think you are so rich that you don´t care about the costs....


The Vault City population is twisted and corrupt!

I noticed the same. It didn't really matter, though. Seeing as how I had more money than I knew what to do with.

Never really noticed it because, like Radeoteur wrote, you have so much money by then it doesn't really matter. But I think it's a bug, yes.

I never really minded either, especially with my main character who was always a thief. Just save, buy your stuff, steal money back. Easy as taking candy from a fat little baby with no motor skills.

I don't know if it is a bug or not, but I think I know why you are getting a price increase in Vault City. First of all, I don't think it is correct to call it a price "increase." You cannot buy goods in the first place if you are not a citizen, so becoming a citizen does not increase prices but rather it allows you to buy goods....at least that is what I experienced.

Anyway, if you use the barter button, the prices of the goods will be higher than if you use dialogue to initiate trade. This happened all the time in Fallout, and I am not sure why they did not fix this in Fallout 2. Maybe it is not a bug. Maybe the developers are trying to say, "If you want up to some shopkeepers and go, 'Bleah! Show me what you got!,' they will offer you crappier prices than if you talk to them a bit and ask for their wares nicely."

Okay, maybe I just don't know what I am talking about.

cowpaste wrote:I don't know if it is a bug or not, but I think I know why you are getting a price increase in Vault City. First of all, I don't think it is correct to call it a price "increase." You cannot buy goods in the first place if you are not a citizen, so becoming a citizen does not increase prices but rather it allows you to buy goods....at least that is what I experienced.

That's correct however you can have the fake citizenship papers and mayhap it's different with those papers. I don't know.

Anyway, if you use the barter button, the prices of the goods will be higher than if you use dialogue to initiate trade. This happened all the time in Fallout, and I am not sure why they did not fix this in Fallout 2. Maybe it is not a bug. Maybe the developers are trying to say, "If you want up to some shopkeepers and go, 'Bleah! Show me what you got!,' they will offer you crappier prices than if you talk to them a bit and ask for their wares nicely."

That is also correct, and the reason is that within the script the modifiers to the price happen during the talk, not during the initialization of the talk sequence (ie, when the dialogue screen appears). Say you metion "I'm a citizen, how about we trade" it'll give you the bonus because it's scripted to be given there after you said that line... As I said in the first sentence, they COULD define it at the start of the dialog, evaluate how thye should offer you goods and this way the barter would be fine.

Okay, maybe I just don't know what I am talking about.

Seems you were right on the spot actually.

I was wondering why Eldrige skyrocketed his prices to 3-5 times their value, I thought it happened because I had been to the basement to get upgrades from Algernon but now that you point this out I think you are right. I assume the later is the reason why Eldrige turns hostile when I ask for upgrades though.

You can buy goods while you are an outsider.
Perhaps it's because the citizens have everything they need given to them, so the idea of buying things from the store would seem odd.
I imagine the stores would be for traders.
I don't see why they'd give traders bargins, though. After all, I believe they have a monopoly of sorts on medical supplies/expertise. I don't remember anyone else having any notable medical facilities.

It was probably a mistake.

cowpaste wrote: Anyway, if you use the barter button, the prices of the goods will be higher than if you use dialogue to initiate trade. This happened all the time in Fallout, and I am not sure why they did not fix this in Fallout 2. Maybe it is not a bug. Maybe the developers are trying to say, "If you want up to some shopkeepers and go, 'Bleah! Show me what you got!,' they will offer you crappier prices than if you talk to them a bit and ask for their wares nicely."

Okay, maybe I just don't know what I am talking about.

I'm not completly sure about this, but I think that with the barter button, you don't look at the goods at the shop, you look at the goods that they have on them.