1) How does stealth work? Do you get something akin to the eye from Oblivion? How good is the AI with regards to line of sight, the character making noise or using his pipboy to shine light?
- When you're in Stealth mode, your character crouches down and moves more slowly, though not as slow as a walk. You gain an indicator at the top of the screen that tells you if you're Hidden, if you're in danger of being spotted (when it says CAUTION), and when a hostile has pinpointed you and is coming to attack (it says DANGER). It also tells you when a nonhostile has seen you, in which case it reads DETECTED, but doesn't turn red.
It takes line of sight and the light level where you are heavily into account in determining detection. The weight of your apparel also figures into it. I haven't tried sneaking with the light on yet, but since it raises the light level around you, I imagine it would be harmful to success odds.
2) How does persuasion work? I don't think they kept the persuasion wheel from Oblivion. Do we just get different response options a la Mass Effect?
-- The game makes certain responses available to you if your Speech skill is high enough. These responses have a percentage chance of success based on your skill level. The game also checks other stats and skills too, depending on the conversation. Sometimes you can get responses that key from other skills like Science or Medicine, sometimes from stat checks like Strength or Intelligence. When a particular response is opened up by a stat or skill check, there's no percentage chance of failure. The response will have the check type that opened it up in parentheses, so you can tell it's not just an 'ordinary' response.
3) Are the AI's flawless shots even at extreme range? I'm always annoyed when a game provides the player with sniping from extreme range as an option, but then as soon as heads start popping the AI returns fire with pinpoint accuracy with whatever weapons they have on hand.[/QUOTE]
-- Depends on where you are and what they're shooting. Harder foes have better weapon skills and therefore hit more often. Foes scale with you to an extent, but only up to a certain point. Location on the map also factors into difficulty of encounters. Plus, weapons have range limits. A raider with a shotgun will have to get closer to shoot you than a raider with a hunting rifle or, god forbid, a super mutant with a minigun.