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Adding cards.[]

This is not an official patch therefore not a fix, but a mod. 

(Bugfix)
  • This was fixed for Steam versions on 10/22

Can someone elaborate on how to add cards to your deck, I have loads of cards but cant seem to add them (xbox 360). Ouroboros Omega 16:17, October 23, 2010 (UTC)


I was having that problem too, on the xbox 360. The workaround I found on accident was this: put everything in your inventory into a box (everything, even the stuff you're wearing). When empty, add the cards one at a time to your inventory from the box. They should get added, then disappear. They should then be in the caravan deck when you go play caravan. A pain in the butt if you carry a bunch of stuff and have no house, but it seems to work every time. -- neverburnaclown

Thanks, I'll give this a try tonight. I think the patch they released in week 1 might have fixed the issue? My roommate had no problem having new cards adding themselves to his deck automatically. It was only my character whom I started *before* the patch who had the problem. (Although, I think he might have not played Caravan when first given the choice, and he later looted the corpse of whats-his-face in Goodsprings, so maybe that had something to do with it.) -- Ductyl 98.117.116.123

Caravan is broken really[]

It should be mentioned that it is incredibly easy to game the system in Caravan. A deck of only 10s, 6s, and Ks unfailingly wins every time. You end up with two 26s in a minute, literally. If your opponent has one too you drop a king on one of his cards and you win. If you do this to a shop owner you can take everything they have easily. You beat them for all their caps, buy everything in their store that you want with said caps, then win your money back moments later and still have everything in their store. The game is broken (aside from obvious problem of getting new cards in your deck that you buy).

It isn't exactly broken. You have to have 30 cards in your deck to play. If you have managed to find 30 playable 10s, 6s, and Ks, you should win, because Caravan is meant to be a collectors' game. I say "playable" because if you have two 10s of spades, both from Gomorrah, you can only play one, so having two isn't really helping you.
In game, I agree, it's very easy to cheese up money (though really, is anyone hard up for cash in this game?) Against a real opponent though, it would be easy to counter that. A deck full of Jacks and Kings. Just keep jacking away your oponents K10 or doubling them up ...
I'm level 21. I buy and grab every card I can find, because it's mildly interesting to do so; so I have a large number of cards. (I'm a collector of things in these Oblivion-style games.) I have enough playable 10s, 6s, and Ks to make the game a lot easier, but I found I had to pad my deck with some 3s (which are also very helpful, since 3 is half 6 and can be kinged), 9s (because they're close enough to 10), and even some Qs I brought just to discard them when they came up. My deck's OK, I usually win.
What the AI needs is some help being cutthroat. It never seems to 'attack' the player, maybe I'm too early on. But it uses Ks to boost its own caravan's scores, but it never seems to remember that one K can turn a winning caravan into trash. Whereas I remember that all the time. It doesn't seem to use jacks or jokers. 70.100.85.15 14:41, October 27, 2010 (UTC)
I don't know if it's my level (22) or the opponent (Nash) or the bets (I made shoppings of some 10k before trying to win it back, and was raising into 4000), but he was a pretty tough player, raining all over my parade by dropping kings and jacks on my side and victories were quite difficult (and I even lost once) especially that he had lots of jacks and I was scraping at the bottom of my deck with all my caravans broken, while he still had 20 cards or so. I guess against a live opponent a "monoculture" deck of 6s, 10s and Kings would be very vulnerable against Jokers. 83.14.232.226 13:32, May 18, 2012 (UTC)
You're right. Nash is very aggressive player.--Mroz123456 (talk) 02:44, November 26, 2012 (UTC)

Actually, you're right. They messed up in programming the game; in the rules given to you buy Ringo, it says that you're not supposed to be able to discard during the initial card placements. Instead, you can do it as many times as you want. --L3377MA573R 18:56, October 31, 2010 (UTC)

Or - alternatively to the 10s and 6es - make this deck i call 7up

3x 7, 5x 8, 4x 9, 4x 10, 3x J, 4x Q, 5x K, 1x A, 1x Jk Total: 30 cards (minimum deck size for optimum draw consistency)

A few of the more common 'complete stacks' are:

7+K+8 = 22 - 7+K+9 = 23 - 7/K+10 = 24 - 7+8+9 = 24 - 8/K+9 = 25 - 8+9+Q+8 = 25 - 7+9+10 = 26 - 8+9/K = 26 - 8/K+10 = 26 - 8+9+Q+8 = 26 - 8+10+Q+8 = 26 ... and more are possible.

The ace is to either nudge one of your stacks out of a draw or kick the opponent's stack over 26.

similar: Jacks & Joker to mess up your opponent's stacks or remove his interference. (which is RARELY required because you're simply faster - your fastest win is in 6 turns, the average is 7.)

You don't even have to hunt down a lot of cards for this one, one 8 and a king is all you really need. The rest should be available from the start - provided you got the deck of cards from Ringo. 176.127.91.80 19:00, February 16, 2014 (UTC)

It is broken in the fact you lose for unknown reasons. You sell all three caravans before the opponent, lose. They sell before you, still lose. You get 26 in all three caravans, they only have two on the board, neither at 26. Lose. TheRealMictlantecuhtli (talk) 23:55, January 10, 2019 (UTC)

Gameplay: Adding numbered cards[]

I was finding early on that I could put the initial numbered cards down, then the facecards would turn green on them, but I couldn't add any numbered cards onto any caravan, even if they fit within the rules. It wasn't until I watched a YouTube video that I finally figured out you have to press DOWN on the caravan to add a numbered card. This isn't covered very well in the rules.

Darn. That's it! You have to choose where to put the card even when there's only one place to put it! O_o And i thought it was totally bugged, but it's only an ergonomic faux pas. --unpaid lamer
Aye, absolutely nowhere apart from this page have I seen the 'use up/down keys to add card'. I was raging at mates that the game was broken, read this page and then (tragically) played till 4am raking in about 10K. I now love this game (deck loaded with 10s, 9s, 7s, Ks & 6s), although having to calm down the amount I play or else F:NV is too easy from a money point of view. You sir (unnamed OP of this section) are a hero. Monkoii 13:17, November 1, 2010 (UTC)

Bug or do I just not get it[]

When I play a game of caravan and get a card that has to be discarded, all I can do after that is continue to discard. It almost always happens on face cards. So far I have not been able to finish one game without loosing because I have to discard all cards. When I get a face card I usually always have to discard it and all following cards as well until I'm out of cards and lose. --Kilroy1975 13:54, October 27, 2010 (UTC)

Lots of people are playing this game successfully, brother; I'd say you are quite possibly just not getting it. I was unable to play until I read the "Caravan (game)" page itself on this wiki, then I was able to play. What do you mean you "have to" discard all cards? Do you mean that no other move will work? It took me a while to realize I have to select cards from my hand with the arrow keys, then try to play them with W... -.-
Once I have discarded one card, it is the only funktion that works except exit. Pressing w does nothing. Select is out, only discard card and exit is highlighted until I run out of cards. It's not possible to select after first discarded card.
He is 'getting it'. The game is broken- I have this same bug. After playing a card or sometimes even just starting the game, the only option available is discard card until I have to discard all of my cards. 216.211.119.171 01:34, October 28, 2010 (UTC)
I thought I had this 'bug'. It is actually a failure to realize that the arrow keys are used to select cards. Nothing in the interface suggests that you should be using the arrow keys. If you don't touch an arrow key, the last card in your starting deck is selected, and your only option until the game starts is to discard this.

That I know. This issue arises sometime after the game starts. Most often after the first caravan is started or after the bottom card in my stack is a picture card or after I play a picture card. Then I cannot chose a card and the only options possible are to exit or keep discarding the last card in the deck no matter value until I lose because I am out of cards. --Kilroy1975 06:19, October 28, 2010 (UTC)

I am having the same problem. I tried using my own deck and randomizing the deck, either way, I put down one card and most of the time I can't put down the next card. Sometimes I luckily get 2 cards down to start the caravan, but it seems as soon as I discard a face card (which I can't place down even if I tried), all the options revert to discard. I went through decks and decks, and after the first or 2nd caravan pile, I could never obtain the option to place a card. I might try just using number cards, but I think the intent of the game was to use certain cards that included face cards...
So I made a deck of non-face cards, and it started to work, until the game went underway. I realize now, its the ARROW keys, that have done NOTHING to do for this game, is the way to get through the deck. I honestly consider WASD equal to the arrow keys, and both should be able to be used the same way, but apparently, this game sees them differently. Its upsetting that they don't specify this at all since most of us realize that WASD = the arrow keys.

Johnson Nash knows about the bugs.[]

In multiple games against him, i've seen him abuse the ability to discard before placing any cards to stack your hand. i didn't believe it at first, but he's done it multiple times, and he's the only NPC i've seen do it. Ravirai 06:24, October 28, 2010 (UTC)

I can corroborate that. He's done it to me quite a lot the slimey-little git. Came closest to losing against him. Too bad I kept dropping kings on his 26s. Muhwahwahwahwa! Monkoii 13:19, November 1, 2010 (UTC)
Interesting! I have noticed that he tends to hit 26s very often but didn't put two and two together like you have. Good thing he doesn't know how to attack your own bids with Jacks or Kings! Although... If his AI is coded to use discards during the initial placement round, wouldn't that imply that it isn't truly a "bug" that we are allowed to discard during the initial placement round and that in fact the documented rules are incorrect? That said, it would be somewhat, um, "stupid" to design a game with such a hugely obvious weakness when it's already quite easy to beat the AI 100% consistently WITHOUT needing to discard during the opening round simply by using a strong probabilistic deck design and gameplay that capitalizes on the fastest paths to success. Shaktiboy 14:46, November 2, 2010 (UTC)

Sadly I think they may have 'broken' it to let Nash cheat (maybe others too), when you play him he says he gonna stomp you or something to that effect. His cheating in the setup phase would seem to be there to aid this. They may not have known they broke the player side as well, or maybe just hoped saying it couldn't be done would stop most folks. I could write endless speculation as to why it was broken, hopefully they will get it fixed.

Article bloat[]

The article is bloated. Too much subjectivity, too much strategy, too much advice. In most cases, such content, especially strategy, would simply be deleted from the article. However, this is a bit of a special case, since there is a lot of actual information scattered throughout the advice and opinion.

Folks who have been adding to the article, would y'all put some effort into trimming things into an objective account of the Caravan game? The article should be about half the size it is now, if not shorter. And, advice and strategy should be excluded in favor of facts and information. Thanks.--Gothemasticator 16:06, November 2, 2010 (UTC)

Understood and generally agreed, but i'll point out that in this case there is an absolutely objectively quantifiable "best" deck makeup and gameplay strategy based on statistical analysis and, frankly, a weak design underlying the game rules. There is no inductive logic or subjective opinion in the long section I added in the past few days about the "Highest probable win" strategy without exploits section. This is all absolute fact. What's more, it's somewhat complex facts, nuances, and relationships to understand and communicate without being somewhat wordy. It's fine if you anyone wants to move that particular strategy to a dedicated page of its own that is linked to from the main Caravan page, but I would be quite cross (lol) if someone just wholesale deleted that strategy, because again, it is not in any way based on subjective opinion. FWIW, I have a long history as a ranked M:TG player and a solid grasp of probability and statistical analysis especially as regards games that revolve around custom deck construction from large pools of available cards (which is required at competitive levels of M:TG play). I am 100% confident in the objective, verifiable truth of my analysis, assertions, and gameplay method. And on a different level, there are a lot of players who feel the need to exploit the current discard bug to have a decent chance of winning, simply because the game mechanics are complex enough to be difficult for some players to grasp without a clear explanation of successful versus weak strategies. Frankly, I added this strategy in the first place to give the honest players and those who prefer to roleplay and not cheat a way to feel confident about playing the game honestly, with the end goal of improving the quality of gameplay for them. If you remove this strategy, you take that away from the player base. This stuff was easy for me to figure out in all of about 15 minutes but only because I have a lot of experience with this type of gameplay mechanics. I remember how hard it was to wrap my head around the nuances and probabilities of deck construction and decision trees during gameplay when I was first starting out years ago in the M:TG world. And besides, my explanation is only one half of the equation: a player still has to absorb and grasp the points that I outline and apply them effectively.Shaktiboy 16:13, November 2, 2010 (UTC)
IMO if you want to shorten the article length, two actions are probably worthwhile: 1) Remove the completely redundant copy of the in-game rules for Caravan. They're pretty much useless to anyone who has the game. (They're also confusingly written and misleading--the "Clarifications" section here is much more valuable.) and 2) Remove the strategies that all rely essentially on exploiting the apparent bug that enables you to discard during the initial placement round. FWIW I don't personally find any nuisance in reading a wiki article that is long--that is what the TOC section at the top helps you navigate around, and it's why I chunked my long strategy into many nested sections. Trust me, nobody reads anything top to bottom any more; they just skim headings and jump into sections of likely interest. Shaktiboy 16:37, November 2, 2010 (UTC)
And if any admin-level person wants to weigh in here, I'm willing to move my strategy section under my own user page and keep only a link to it in some appropriate place in this article, but again, I think that's an admin-level call because the content is not subjective. Shaktiboy 16:38, November 2, 2010 (UTC)
Update--I've reviewed the "highest probable win" section and pruned out the only bit that I feel is subjective, and pasted it here in the Talk page in section 7 below. Shaktiboy 16:46, November 2, 2010 (UTC)
Wouldn't it be easier to just dedicate a page to Caravan strategies and keep it somewhat factual and objective? Of course the point of a Wiki is factual information, but gambling strategies are often factually effective (or not). I can certainly see the reason for not wanting it on this page though. TigerXtrm (talk) 14:36, July 6, 2015 (UTC)
Couple things:
  1. I am an admin.
  2. I'm asking that you severely trim down the article length. You and a few others put a lot of work into it, so in an effort to be politic I'm asking y'all to do the trimming. But it needs trimming, including your optimal strategy section.
--Gothemasticator 18:09, November 2, 2010 (UTC)
Well, y'all didn't show any inclination to do anything except add to the page. I have removed all the strategy. Shakitboy, while your strategy was all very reasonable and true, it remains strategy, with building a deck having a playing style in mind, valuing different hands and cards according to their strategic use, etc. And, strategy, even good strategy, is not something we include in articles here at Fallout Wiki. If you want to include your writings on your user pages, you can retrieve it from the article history.--Gothemasticator 21:02, November 2, 2010 (UTC)
LOL you cant even give somebody 24 houra to see, respond, and act on your demands? Some of usnwork for a living and have family life after work hours. I was going to move the content out this afternoon after work (only 2pm rifht now). I must say that the admin community here is rabidly, fanatically impatient overall.Shaktiboy 19:14, November 3, 2010 (UTC)


Honestly, that is an absolutely ridiculous policy. Seriously, what is the point of being so rabid in removing useful content? Is server space at such a premium that it cannot handle some extra TEXT? I agree on making things concise, I agree on things being organized...but the number of times I see useful things removed for pig-headed reasons is absurd. I end up checking the talk pages 99% of the time, because that is often where the most useful information is on this wiki...which again is absurd. In this case, personally, I came here not just looking for a description of what the game of Caravan is, but the rules and some information on how to play effectively. I got the first, not the second. I eventually came up with a 2 suit strategy as well as realizing the 10+6+K+J strategies, even though I didn't see them here. A well written and objective strategy section would have saved me a lot of time. I suspect that many people are in the same situation as I. 74.58.253.155 17:08, November 9, 2014 (UTC)

Notes about the "highest probable win" strategy[]

The deck construction and gameplay method described in the "highest probable win" section is very strong against smart human opponents, and it utterly steamrolls all of the AI opponents that the original author has played so far in all the locations along the path from Goodsprings through New Vegas. I have a 32/0 win/loss record at level 6 and have never exploited the discard bug in the initial placement round--I always play the exact opening hand that I draw. I stopped bothering to save game before engaging a new NPC long ago, and don't bother saving until after I've bled them dry with 3-5 consecutive games. At level 6 I was sitting on 14k caps even after buying expensive stuff like That Gun, etc., so I ran up to New Vegas and plopped in 3 different S.P.E.C.I.A.L implants. And all this was accomplished without yet having the "Perfect" deck described in the strategy, but instead using a less-than-perfect variant (also described in that section) that as of this timestamp still has only 4 Kings and a mixture of 10s, 8s, 6s, and still one 9 at this point. Did I mention that you don't need any exploits to consistently win with this deck and gameplay method? Win by the rules and feel good about earning those implants honestly! Shaktiboy 16:44, November 2, 2010 (UTC)

For anyone curious exactly what this strategy is/was before being removed by admins here, the statistically strongest deck is exactly 30 cards as follows: 6 Jacks, 6 Kings, 9 Tens, and 9 Eights. (You may substitute 9 Sixes in place of the Eights, or 9 Nines in place of the Tens. With proper play therre is no deck with a higher preobability of winning, and you can easily win versus all AI opponents 100% of the time WITHOUT CHEATING, by playing your initial hand completely by the rules. If you want detailed proof and detailed gameplay instructions, look at the page history for the last version that had my namestamp on it. Meanwhile, thank your friendly admin community for keeping this objectively verifiable information completely out of sight from the player community. Shaktiboy 21:25, November 3, 2010 (UTC)
There is one variation of this "highest probable win" deck that comprises 6 Jacks, 8 Kings, 8 Tens, and 8 Eights. This deck is very slightly more "risky" in that there's a slightly lower probability of drawing an "ideal" opening hand (at least 2 face cards plus at least 3 numbered cards), although the overall probability of drawing an ideal opening hand is still comfortably high. The advantage of this particular variant is that it can win the game significantly faster, overall, if you pull an ideal opening hand. The trick with this variant deck is to load as many 10s and 8s of the same suit as possible, which increases the number of ways you can achieve a "best possible bid" (BPB) of 26. How? Because you have not only the standard 10>8>K, 8>10>K, and 8>K>10 paths to a BPB, but also one additional paths 8any>10suit>8suit. More paths to BPB = higher probability to win the BPB race. A similar deck with 10s and 6s can also work the same way (10any>6suit>10suit). Shaktiboy 13:41, November 4, 2010 (UTC)
I use a simple 10 Tens, 10 Eights and 10 Kings setup. Keep a full house of numbers and 3 kings. It's not failed me yet. Eights could just as easily be swapped for Sixes. I have found no place that a Jack would help me win but a King would not (becuase the AI doesn't attack my caravans). 96.3.131.71 21:34, November 4, 2010 (UTC)
From your description "keep a full house of numbers and 3 kings", it's obvious that you're exploiting the bug that lets you discard indefinitely in your opening hand to set up that perfect hand before the initial placement round ends. This works fine if you like to exploit and not play by the stated rules, and it will still work moderately well after Obsidian patches that bug. But ultimately you have only 7 bid destroyers with that set up versus 12 or 14 in the two decks above. Try playing about 20 honest games and see whether you think your deck is still the bees knees or not. Then try 20 games with either of the above two decks. You'll see. 74.193.71.162 00:13, November 5, 2010 (UTC)

The note in the "Winning" section[]

"The tech writer who wrote the official rules failed to make an important thing clear: there are only three caravans on the board. Your three piles on your side are your bids for each caravan, and likewise for your opponent. Six bids, three caravans. As soon as all three caravans are sold, the game ends. The player who has the highest bid on at least two of the caravans at game end wins the pot."

... I don't have the heart to take this out, because it slightly improves the clarity of the game for new players who are totally baffled by its mechanics, but it's just plain wrong. Seriously. Each player has three caravans, three on each side. How do I know? Because if you look at the scores, you can also take a moment to notice that there are little words by the scores. "The Hub" and "The Glow" and so on. These aren't names for bids, that's pretty much nonsensical. They're names for the three caravans on each side.

your logic is faulty here. Those labels could easily be the two destinations at both ends of a single caravan route, with the so-called "conceit" being that two traders make bets on who can successfully pack more gear onto the caravan in a trip from their starting destination to the other. Or any one of a number of possible such "conceits". The bottom line is simply ambiguousnoriginalmrules. Mine were more clear. Shaktiboy 21:36, November 3, 2010 (UTC)
I know you're mad because your really long strategy part got taken out, but my advice is to get over it, friend. 74.36.13.146 00:10, November 4, 2010 (UTC)
-- I say that as a guy who sympathizes with all the work you got removed. Even though I suspect you weren't being 100% polite by repeatedly putting my word "conceit" in scare quotes. Anyway. It doesn't really matter if your statements - which are unbacked - are more "clear." I mean, does it? It shouldn't be in the article if you're not sure it's true. And a statement that the creators of the game made an error, which you will helpfully correct - probably shouldn't be in the article if you're not actually at least twice that sure it's true. Don't you think? Am I wrong in some way here?
The quotes were meant only to emphasize your argument and conclusion on the basis of guessing at the theme or "conceit" behind the game. Your guess is one of many possible guesses, based merely on some labels on the game board. The simple fact is that the winning conditions of the game are NOT explained clearly because certain key words in the official rules are used ambiguously and inconsistently. Again, my explanation at least was 100% unambiguous and clear, and the "conceit" behind my explanation was as good as any other. Now, with your removal of my explanation, new players have no access to the clearest possible explanation of how to achieve a winning condition or recognize that the AI is about to beat them. If you had a problem with my explanation that the tech writer behind the official rules simply made some errors of ambiguity (easy enough for even good tech writers to do, depending on time constraints among other things), why not just remove that bit but leave the rest intact? It's the urge to remove solid, useful, objective information from articles on this particular wiki that I take exception to, all in the name of a TLDR mentality. Wiki content should be inclusive, not exclusive. Trim overly wordy content down to something less wordy but still containing the essential objective info? That's a fine approach. Remove content altogether because somebody finds some portion of that content objectionable? That's throwing out the baby with the bath water and counterproductive for the overall community. Shaktiboy 13:30, November 4, 2010 (UTC)
Alright, then. Your guess - as you put it - was that there are only three caravans. Since that was just a guess, it should be removed, and it was. Problem? 70.100.81.195 05:05, November 5, 2010 (UTC)
Ah, but it was NOT a guess. That statement about there "being only three caravans" is made EXACTLY in the official rules. The problem is that the official rules also make other statements that CONFLICT, so the entire result is AMBIGUOUS and CONFUSING. Don't believe me? Here are the exact rules: can you spot the ambiguities? BTW here's a protip: never, ever argue clarity and ambiguity with a technical writer, because we can spot it a mile away. The myriad threads on the various Fallout forums where new players still say they are confused by why the game "won" over them and they don't understand the winning condition further attests to the fact that the official rules are ambiguous and confusing, which is why I added that bit in the first place.12:47, November 5, 2010 (UTC)
Official rules: "A player's caravan is considered sold when the value of his cards is over 20 and under 27. The other player may still outbid by increasing the value of their opposing pile while still staying within the 21 - 26 range. When each of the three competing caravans has sold, the game is over. In the event that one of the three cravan values are tied between players, the game continues until all three caravans have sold. The player with two or more sales wins the pot." Shaktiboy 12:47, November 5, 2010 (UTC)
And just to help you out if you can't spot the ambiguities, here's a literal interpretation of the official rules if I substitute the word "pile" for "caravan" as you insist is correct: "A player's pile is sold when the value is 21-26. The other player may still outbid your pile by increasing the value of their opposing pile while still staying in the 21-26 range. When EACH of the three competing piles (meaning all six piles) has been sold (meaning all six piles are between 21-26), the game is over. (At this point, hopefully you know that's a false statement, right?) In the event that two of the piles are tied between players, the game continues until all three piles are sold. (Huh? I thought all six piles had to be sold for the game to end?) The player with two or more sales wins the pot (but, but... In the first sentence it says that one of my piles is sold when the value is 21-26. So all I have to do is get two of my piles to 21-26 to win, right?) Shaktiboy 12:56, November 5, 2010 (UTC)
(less indent) OK, I was with you until this: "When EACH of the three competing piles (meaning all six piles) has been sold (meaning all six piles are between 21-26), the game is over." Why would "the three competing piles" mean all six piles? You've sold me on the fact that there's ambiguity, but really, I wasn't arguing that. Of course they're ambiguous. You proved it though. You just haven't sold me on your specific interpretation, which is that there are only three caravans and the players bid on them. I mean, they do use phrases like "A player's caravan is considered sold" - which would indicate that the caravan belongs to the player. Right? So if there are only three caravans, and the players are bidding for them, they wouldn't call them "the player's caravan." Again, you've sold me on the ambiguity, but the more I read the rules, the more I'm *sure* you're not right that it's intended to only be three caravans - to be honest. 70.100.81.195 18:13, November 5, 2010 (UTC)
Heh, again with the scare quotes. I ought to improve my reading comprehension skills, I didn't even see you continuing to use them... unnecessarily... (if you aren't sure what the word means, don't use it; or better yet - look it up!) but I went back to read after I posted. Anyway, good work. You gonna post your detailed strategy on your blog thing? 70.100.81.195 05:07, November 5, 2010 (UTC)
Anyway, a couple threads up you summarize, concisely, your 100% winning strategy deck. That's great. Why don't you put it on your userpage in a better formatted form instead of being all pissed off? Honestly. Anyway, you'll sort of feel consternation at this, but I win 100% of the time (and easily) using a comparatively mediocre strategy posted by some other editor, which is, always use (and only use) 10s, 6s, and Ks. I also use Js. :P 74.36.13.146 00:27, November 4, 2010 (UTC)
No consternation, because the AI is very weak and therefore weak strategies can still beat it honestly. I wrote up the "highest probability" stuff mainly for players who might try playing the game in the real world against smarter human opponents. I guarantee if you played me OTB with anything less than the two decks I list above, you'd lose far more often than you would win.
Fortunately, one only plays Caravan against NPCs in Fallout: New Vegas, so an extremely detailed strategy for winning it is not required. 70.100.81.195 05:05, November 5, 2010 (UTC)
! I noticed that you said you played against humans, above. You really? Played this game against humans? How does that work - given that it's a collectors' game? So if I showed up and had the perfect deck - your perfect deck - would you expect that all my cards were from different sets, like I couldn't use the exact same Bicycle card more than once? I mean, I assume everyone would always bring the "perfect" deck, if they're seriously playing. Which means that deck build is not a factor, since there's exactly one optimal one. Right? So it's reduced to luck of the draw? 70.100.81.195 06:10, November 5, 2010 (UTC)

Apparently the conceit is that there's some outside buyer who wants to buy three caravans, and each player makes his own caravans more attractive to "the buyer" while sniping at the other's caravans, making them less attractive. Yes? Anyway, this bit has been in the article since its early days, where it suddenly became a useful resource on how to actually win a game of Caravan, but it does need to go. 74.36.13.146 14:43, November 3, 2010 (UTC)

Search this page for the word "human" and you'll get 4 hits. In none of those hits do I say that I have actually played against humans in the real world. However, it would be easy enough to do simply by buying different decks of cards (with different backings) to simulate the 8 different decks available in the game. Not much point, really, given the weakness of the game design with only one clear winning strategy and no counters to it. However, if you *did* play against a human you'd have a much tougher fight than the AI would give you, and that's where the weakness of some of the other earlier strategies listed on this page come into play. There is one simple deck concept and playstyle that has a significantly higher probability of winning than any other deck concept if you are playing by the rules.Shaktiboy 12:47, November 5, 2010 (UTC)
You're talking about optimal strategy... for a game which has about as much depth as Go Fish... when in the PC game where the card game was invented, the AI doesn't even make the necessary (simple) countermoves to require an optimized deck in any way. In short, your very very long optimized strategy is about a fantasy scenario, a game of Caravan against a human opponent... are you really still upset that it was removed? 70.100.81.195 18:24, November 5, 2010 (UTC)
I took the part out. I just don't think it's needed now that the article has more clarity than ever, given the fact that it's also wrong information. I hate to say it (given all the work that was removed) but gothematsicator's edits were very good, the article is less cluttered now. 74.36.13.146 15:07, November 3, 2010 (UTC)

Resetting Merchants[]

I noticed if you quit the game then start it again, the merchants money and inventories reset. This makes it easy to get more cards fast at lower levels, not to mention that you can play against Lacey ad nauseum and get heaps of cash.

I have not noticed this on PC. Just my two cents. Actually, if anything I felt that merchants were taking way too long to reset, given that they had all kinds of caps I wished to relieve them of. I believe merchants are subject to the usual three-day spawn reset just like other Bethesda/Gamebryo engine games. Someone with a clue could confirm this or refute it in about two seconds, though 70.100.81.195 06:13, November 5, 2010 (UTC)
Here's what you do; Save right next to the merchant (in the same room), quit, then restart the game. You need to be close to them or it won't work. Just try it... It is kind of an exploit though and it'll probably get fixed in some patch. :) Dcruze 07:37, November 6, 2010 (UTC)

The 6,8,9,10,K strategy is very valid. I use five out of 6, 9 and 10 each then seven 8s and eight kings. Works every time, and I never need to discard in the first round. Dcruze 12:51, November 4, 2010 (UTC)

Winning the game[]

How does one win the game or the bid. I am confused. I understand the 21-26 bids, but somehow the game keeps going. Shogun of Harlem 18:14, February 20, 2011 (UTC)

ALL of the caravans must sell. If any one if them is a tie, the game continues. Either beat the opponents bid, bust them by playing a face card on their caravan or if you have two winning caravans, bust your own or discard it. --jimnms 23:11, February 23, 2011 (UTC)

Problems playing[]

Okay! So I'm having problems playing Caravan anymore, I won No-Bark at a game and after that I wasn't able to play anymore... So anything I can do??

== Where are all these caps coming from?! ==Shadow of the Wastes

Has anyone else noticed that if you play a merchant, win all their money, buy all of their stock, then win your money again, you end up with much more than the two of you previously had combined? Is there some kind of math error when calculating the payout, or am I missing something? RadRuler 02:55, November 5, 2010 (UTC)

AHEM. Okay, I've figured it out on my own. Apparently, you gain twice as much money as your opponent bets. This seems to be a programming error, since you win the pot, but the money you put into the pot isn't subtracted from your wallet. So, say, the ante is 5: if you win, you have a net gain of 10, but your opponent only loses 5 caps (I confirmed this through checking merchants inventory budgets). So the whole thing is a calculation error on the part of the programmers, at least on PS3. Can anyone confirm this on 360 and PC? RadRuler 03:31, November 6, 2010 (UTC)
Tested on PC (using random saved game in Novac) Reported note said 510 caps were added, when in fact it added 1020 which would have been then entire pot. The on screen note could have gone through twice though, something I do not know how to check for. Also This only works in the Players direction, I intentionally lost a few games and the Merchant only gained the proper amount of caps.
It'll be the same on all systems. That's not the sort of thing that differs based on platform.--Gothemasticator 03:45, November 6, 2010 (UTC)
That is a major, MAJOR bug! I'm not 100% sure it's true... but I have sort of vaguely noticed myself maybe getting too rich too fast from Caravan. I just didn't watch the numbers closely enough. I know at the end, it says "you got 1000 caps" or whatever, but I figured it was taking the 500 *I* bet (my numbers are examples of course) after the game started, so it was just giving me my 500 back when I won, as well as the 500 from my opponent. Can anyone confirm this? I don't know anyone in-game that I haven't already bankrupted, so I can't really check. 70.100.81.195 04:47, November 6, 2010 (UTC)
Same bug applies to Casino games. You only lose caps AFTER you lose the hand, not once you start the game.96.3.131.71 06:19, November 9, 2010 (UTC)
Casino use chips; the amount of chips won or loss on single play in the little I've gambled (Having a high luck makes it hard to gamble for long) has never been incorrect. That it seems to use a similar payout plan, may point to where their failure is but doesn't make it a bug since it works as intended in the casino games. (At least on the PC)
I can confirm that you win twice as much as you should on caravan on the PC.

Card Add Bug Fixed[]

PCPCFixed in Patch 1.1.1 If confirmed for other platforms we should move the note about duplicate card buying up to the obtaining a deck and additional card area and clean up the bug list. Still getting Double Caps for a win. With some further testing it appears the game won't sell you card already in your deck, but might still be able to find them as loot.

a glitch? / bug?[]

is anyone having the problem when playing caravan

during the initial drawing of cards when ever I pull a king/queen/jack I have no option but to discard that card, but then every card after that I have no option but to discard every other card after that even if it isn't a face card 

edit: I'm playing on the PC version if that helps
  • The game doesn't let you select a face card to play, until you've placed the first ace through ten card of each caravan. I've even tried discarding one my face cards first, and I can not repeat this error. You are using the cursor(arrow) keys to select cards, and where you are placing them on the board? Face cards can only be played off/on ace through ten cards. I've heard of bugs that don't let you do anything other then discard happening to a few folks, never have been able to duplicate it.

I thought I was, but as above, you are meant to use the arrow keys to cycle through the hand you have drawn - (thanks to the programmers for letting us know that). Apart from that this game seems to me to be a complete waste of time. I've already finished the game once and never bothered to gamble, plenty of loot available, and the rules are just too cumbersome to bother with. Didn't get Fallout to play cards or one-arm-bandits. Maybe instead of coding this they should have worked on making sure the quests worked properly in the first place. Though from the other posts here it seems they can't even get the maths right on the bets. Worst of all it simply isn't enjoyable...

Bugged to the point of unplayability[]

Does anyone else experience a bug where they can not play ANY numerical card after the first in a column, regardless of whether it's legal or not? I've even, in one game through luck of the draw, tried to copy my opponents move and it won't let me play the card.

Have you tried using cursor(arrow) keys to place the down from the first one?

Gashman concurs. I also have this problem and I can't figure out any way around it. Please help!


Gashman has found the solution. To play another card on the same caravan:

1. select the card you wish to play. 2. use the left and right arrow keys (if using pc) to select the caravan you wish to play it on. 3. use the down arrow key to play it at the bottom of the pile. The card should turn from red to green.

So easy yet there was no instruction given in the game. Hope that helps

It took me forever, and actually it was getting angry and moving the joystick around that helped me find it. You actually have the option of trying to play any card on top of any other card, but you can't play a number card on another number card. It gives you the option anyway. You need to place the second number card on any caravan by pushing down from the first slot on that caravan. You need to press down to get to the next slot for a card in play. They are supposed to be stacked in rows.

  • Should this be added to the main page? I had the same problem, didn't realize that I not only had to use the arrow keys, but I had to arrow DOWN to place my card properly so that it turned green. I even watched 3 YouTube videos and only one casually mentioned this.-LawdyMissMaudy 12:28, August 3, 2011 (UTC)

Such a stupid game[]

Seriously, I get 26 on all my rows yet the game continues until I've lost all my cards, it's like losing blackjack with a facecard and an ace but not being allowed to stick. - RASICTalk 04:11, November 14, 2010 (UTC) You have to WIN (Not reach 26) 2 of the 3 Caravans and all 3 have to be being WON by you or your opponent for the game to end. If there is caravan that isn't won by either of players the game will go on till one of you runs outta cards.

You can't win if there is a tie. You just have to play a Jack or King on your opponent's caravan to reduce or bust his/her bid, then the game will end. --Jimnms 10:41, November 21, 2010 (UTC)
Or, if you've won two and tied the third, you can sabotage your bid for that tied one and win the game. I do it all the time, in fact part of my strategy involves letting the other player have the first one they build on while I quickly get to 26 on another, then the last one. Also remember that just because you're losing one caravan, it doesn't mean the other player is winning it; if you've got higher than 26 on one, and the other player has lower than 21, then that caravan is still up for grabs. --Kris User Hola 12:41, August 3, 2011 (UTC)

Just plain stupid.[]

This has to be the most convoluted and ignorant card game ever thought up. What moron decided to make winning 30 games an achievement? 3 is bad enough... ReapTheChaos 15:23, November 14, 2010 (UTC)

What moron can't figure out how to play this game? It's really not that difficult, you're just being ignorant yourself. ohhhh,--Blahmarrow 21:11, January 31, 2011 (UTC)

Any RPG maker who thinks adding a stupid card game to the game is a good thing can go to fucking HELL

Indeed, who would enjoy Triple Triad? Pazaak? Gwent? Nobody, that's who!!2001:48F8:6046:508:55CA:524:B7BE:F714 02:58, November 6, 2017 (UTC)

Yes, quite stupid.[]

But considering how much money you can earn playing this game and how easy it is to win with the right strategy I can't believe anybody would complain about it. Of course if they fix the bugs in this mini-game(the money doubling thing, the fact that npc's won't use face cards against you) it could become less useful.

I suppose you are the kind of player who uses exploits to beat a game? I didn't get Fallout to play cards, I got it to explore the world. Making it so easy to win caps takes the challenge out of the game. Maybe they should just make all enemies one hit kills, would you enjoy that?
I found myself with vast amounts of caps I didn't need. Caravan's fail AI does make it easy to get money, but money isn't as useful for gaining loot as simply going around killing guys with guns is. Meanwhile, it's just plain FUN to come in with a card deck from the future, composed of the slimmest, rarest and deadliest set you could get your hands on, and annihilate the poor AI. Just don't bet the AI every red cent they have, if it disturbs you to get filthy rich in 45 seconds. 70.100.85.253 20:36, December 5, 2010 (UTC)

I like to make a deck with only 6, 8, 9, 10 numbered cards and just jacks and kings for face cards, it makes things go much faster.

Try just 10 nines, 10 eights, and 10 kings, if you can find 'em. As long as you get a good mix, just put down a nine, double it, then add an eight (that's 9*2+8, or 26). Do that for all three piles, and WIN. Nathan Hale 22:26, November 26, 2010 (UTC)
With the 6,8,9,10,K strategy (I like to eliminate Jacks eventually, though with the patch changes I might need to stop doing that), 8s and 10s are more valuable than the other number cards, since they can be paired either with each other (K on 8 for 16, and a 10 for 26) or on the other cards (K on 9 + 8, K on 10 + 6). I haven't played Caravan today or yesterday, and I didn't have the patch before yesterday, so I don't know what's changed in the patch. --Kris User Hola 12:45, August 3, 2011 (UTC)

Rules?[]

The rules state this: "The game begins with each player taking eight cards from their deck and placing either one numerical card or Ace on each of their caravans. A player may not discard during this initial round." But I seem to be able to discard as many cards as I want before setting down the first card in my first caravan and sometimes until all the caravans have been started for that matter. Is this broken?

  • is already denoted in the Bug section of the article
    • Is written in the article like it is played in game though?
      • Most the the original writers of the article placed high value on the article reflecting what was written in the game, and anything not working as written should be reported as bug in hopes of it being fixed. I'm not currently playing the game (My video card crashed and burned, be about another week or two before I replace it. just not high on my list) Anyways modified the writing to reflect that style of writing, denoting first what the designers seemed to want then noting it doesn't work that way and referring them to the bug section. This also makes it easier to clean up later, if they ever fix it.

No Bets Bug[]

I Have a bug where all caravan player dont make any bets at all, always only 0 caps. Game glitched?

I am having the same problem on the PC version. 216.232.238.83 23:39, December 8, 2010 (UTC)


I'm having this problem too. Is there any way to fix it?

Barter Skill[]

Barter appears to affect how much of their current total wealth someone will bet on Caravan. With a high enough Barter skill, you can win it all in a a single game.

Cliff's Limit.[]

The newest Xbox 360 patch seems to have added the 5 game limit to him. It also has fixed the problem where new cards wouldn't go into your deck.

Is it the new patch that has removed the Play Caravan option from Cliff, Nash and Lacey? (360) Spellunker 19:06, December 18, 2010 (UTC)

Lacey and Nash too. Fuck that noise. Looks like I'll just have to avoid the patch.86.42.220.26 21:06, December 18, 2010 (UTC)

Since I got it I've just been reverse pickpocketing caps to the guy outside gun runners (convenient to fast travel to) which works splendidly.

80.5%?[]

How do you get someone to bet 80.5%? as described in the article?

Though the article states that a merchant will bet 81.5% of his/her wealth not 80.5%, I would also like to know how this is done. Morl 06:22, May 28, 2011 (UTC)

inaccurate numbers/bug?[]

The page says that some people can only play caravan five times, but I was only able to play with Cliff Briscoe twice. Anyone else have this happen?/ maybe somebody needs to recheck their numbers? S F I R 05:26, December 29, 2010 (UTC)

Winning Strategy[]

My favorite strategy is easy to win with. You can only do it with a deck you have been putting together for a while, but you can make some substitutions and still win often. You take out all of your cards accept for 6s, 10s, and Kings. You need at least 8 of each for the 6 and 10, and the rest Kings. If you don't have enough cards yet you can use Jacks, 9s, and 7s or 8s. The way you do it may be obvious: you play either a 6 or a 10 on each caravan, and then a King on the 10s. All you do then is play the other card and you have 3 stacks of 26. You can take time waiting to draw a specific card by screwing up your opponent with Kings or Jacks. The trick is realizing that you don't need any more than 30 cards in your deck to play. You can cut cards you won't need like Aces, 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, Queens, and Jokers. Serose8

  • I have been playing with a similar strategy. I stacked my deck with 6's, 8's, 10's, and K's. You can play a 10+K with a 6, or an 8+K with a 10. When (if) you get the deck at the beginning of the game, remove everything except the 6's, 8's, 9's, 10's, J's and K's. That's 28 cards, so pick 2 cards to make a deck of 30 (I picked the two jokers) and discard them if they come up. The sets of cards you can use to get exactly 26 are: 10+K with a 6, 8+K with a 10, 9+K with an 8. -- jimnms 07:51, January 7, 2011 (UTC)
  • I play with a deck consisting of 8's, 10's, K's with a couple of J's. Where possible start with an 8 on each caravan, then lay down a 10 on top. You can then either K your 8 for a 26, or play an 8 of the same suit as the 10 for a 26. Then use your K's and J's to bust your opponents caravans if there's a tie.
  • A highly effective strategy that i use is this:
    Build a deck including all of your legal number cards 6-10 (excluding ace-5), face cards excluding queens, and jokers. It doesn’t matter if you only have the starter deck that Ringo gives you, this is a strong deck. Jacks and jokers (sometimes even kings) are useful tools for foiling your opponent’s plans should the need arise. Based on the cards you draw, you should be able to begin 3 of several simple number strings that will add up to 26 within 3 plays in a single caravan.

    h=hearts s=spades c=clubs d=diamonds K=king
    10d+6c+10c = 26
    9h+8s+9s = 26
    8s+10c+8c = 26
    6+10/K = 26
    8+9/K = 26
    10+8/K = 26
    10+9+7 = 26

    Suits are interchangeable on the first three examples, but the last two cards must be the same suit as well as a different suit than the first card. The other four are playable backwards and forwards with kings capable of being added at any time. With these combinations in mind, it should be a simple task to put together two strong caravan sales within 4-5 more turns after the first three bids. During those 4-5 turns, try to determine which caravan your opponent is going to sell first and work toward selling your other two non-rivaling caravans. Even if your opponent manages to sell a second caravan by the time you sell your two, you will generally out sell your opponent’s rivaling caravan (just be sure to not allow your opponent to sell a second caravan before you have sold it’s rival). If luck is not in the cards for you number-wise, then that means you have plenty of face cards to foil your opponent’s plans with until you get the numbers you need. ~~~kev~~~
  • Overall, I think the two earlier posters are right. The best Caravan deck is a Quick-Win, 10, 8, k, j deck. It works similarly to the "rooster teeth" strategy deck in the video above but with a few key differences.
The deck is comprised of:
x9 10s
x8 8s, as many of the same suit as possible.
x7 Kings
x6 Jacks
Depending on how you feel, you might want to make slight adjustments to the number of each card.
Just like the video above, the idea is just to reach 26 as quickly as possible. At the begining of the game, you would then ideally want to have a hand of:
x3 10s,
x2 8s,
x2 Kings
x1 Jack
If your hand is poor, consider discarding less necessary cards until it looks closer to the above.
Again, I strongly recommend watching the above "rooster teeth" strategy video to learn how this deck and how similar caravan strategies work. Anyway, once you get it, the differences aren't much. You first put down a 10 or an 8 (ideally a 10), and then put the other numbered card on top of that. If you initially put down an 8, you put a 10 on top of it at your next turn. If it was initially a 10, then you put an 8 on top of it. Then on your third turn, you put a king on your 8. The king doubles the affect of your 8, increasing the total to 26 (10 + 8 + 8 = 26). Additionally, if necessary, you can play an 8 of the same suit on an earlier 8, again bringing the total to a perfect 26 (this is why you want as many of the same suit as possible, and why playing 10s first is preferable to 8s).
Now, with the newest patch, caravan players are a heck of a lot smarter. That's where the kings and the jacks come in. Playing a Jack on any card will remove that card and any face card attached to it. And kings will double any numerical card's value. Often, they'll play jacks and kings on your caravans to mess your strategy up. The jacks you draw are used to counteract the kings they place on your caravans, as well as destroy their caravans when you have too many jacks (or if their not countering your caravans at all). And as for your kings, you can use them to play on your opponents caravans to cap their totals over 26, effectively negating that caravan. However, it's only a good idea to do this if you have too many kings than necessary in your hand. However, keep in mind your main goal is still to make caravans before they do. Only use Jacks and Kings to counteract your opponents moves when you can't supplement your own.
Their is three main reasons why this is superior over a "rooster teeth" strategy that incorporates jacks. First, this deck incorporates kings not only as a numerical adding card, but also gives them the possibility of being used offensively when you have too many. Secondly, this deck has some queen defense, that say, a 10, 9, 7 deck doesn't have. Now I have yet to see an npc really use queens offensively, but even they wanted to against this deck, this deck has a semi-built in defense against it. The only thing a queen might disrupt is an 8 of the same suit being played on another 8. But thanks to your kings, you don't have to worry about that too much. And finally, is the fact that you can top off your caravans with either a king or an eight to make 26. This means your chances of drawing the card you need to make a perfect caravan is several times higher than any other deck I know of. In this deck setup particularly, you have a one in two (15 out of 30) chance of drawing either a king or an eight.
Overall, I've got to say the original poster was brilliant. They took the strategy involving 10s, 9s, and 7s and made it slightly more effective by simply supplementing jacks and kings.--69.205.180.81 15:22, August 4, 2011 (UTC)
Great tips, thank you so much Anon!--The.true.samiam 22:50, August 30, 2011 (UTC)

Can't play at all.[]

No matter what I do it always says "You need at least 30 cards...". I've talked to Ringo, I have a Caravan Deck from him, I have over 60 cards, I've tried putting all my cards into storage and taking them out again. Nothing let's me play. What's going on? (Xbox 360, updated, Tribal pack and Dead Money DLC)


So I'm not the only one. I have this exact same problem. I KNOW I have more than 30 cards by at least 2x. I know I got a deck from Ringo and one off of Joe Cobb's body. Yet I get the same 'error' message each time I try to play with anyone. "You need at least 30 cards...". This was NOT the case prior to adding the latest DLC.

I am having the same problem with it saying that "You need at least 30 cards...", which DLC is it that is cousing this.

Whats the easyest way to get the Caravan Mater acheivement?????[]

And does the luck skill help at all??!?!

to my knowledge luck has no influence on Caravan. In addition, the easiest way would be to choose one of the better decks listed in the "winning strategy" section of this talk page. Either the 10, 8, k, j deck I mention, or a 10, 9, 7, j deck. The key is just learning how to play Caravan in the first place, which is most easily done by watching instructional youtube videos, like the one listed in that section.--69.205.180.81 05:41, August 6, 2011 (UTC)

Achievement Name[]

There seems to be a recent back and forth editing of the achievement name for winning 3 games of Caravan. The correct name is "Know When to Fold Them." It is listed as "Know When to Fold Them" on the Achievements and trophies page here, as well as well as these pages:

--jimnms 21:22, January 28, 2011 (UTC)

  • thank god somebody besides me has realized this and stands in my corner.
    i've changed it twice now. the object here should not be to have your edit stick, but to have the correct edit stick.
    ~~~kev~~~

reset[]

will their gold reset?(Vvardenfell 08:58, March 20, 2011 (UTC))

  • Oddly enough, it does, but it depends on the NPC. I've noticed with the newest patch for instance No-Bark seems to regenerate a ton of caps out of no where. However, it doesn't seem like Ringo for instance does at all. He'll almost always be penny-less once you mud-stomp his caravan deck a few times. From what I can tell, the npcs that never do are the merchant ones. It's probably related to the fact that the caps they use in caravan are also related to the supply of caps that they use to supply their shops. I.e. if you sell them something, they'll use less caps for caravan, and if you buy something, they'll use more caps in caravan.--69.205.180.81 06:33, August 6, 2011 (UTC)

AI[]

I think the thing that really cripples this game isn't its basic design. As a card game it works well, everything is structured. Try playing it with friend (we share a standard deck of cards and alternate drawing). You've got cards that can harm your opponent, buff yourself, you've got rules and restrictions on how you can win, and there's enough conditions that keep things interesting. The "discard until perfect hand" cheat doesn't work in reality. It only works in new vegas because openents don't play face cards on your stacks. If you had a "perfect" hand and your opponent used a jack, king or even a joker that tactic wouldn't work.

Therefore it's not caravan that's at fault (though a more in depth tutorial would have been good) it's the AI.

Agreed. However, with the newest patch update they actually do use some strategy against you now.--69.205.180.81 06:37, August 6, 2011 (UTC)

X Y Sensitivity[]

I had been having problems selecting cards in the hand and placing cards, and discovered that if you zero out your x and y sensitivities the game becomes much easier, I found that I was accidently putting in the wrong cards much less often.8.25.243.16 23:52, April 29, 2011 (UTC)

If you have trouble winning[]

watch this video, it is a toutorial to almost always win, you will likeley lose however if you manage to drag the game on, so go for the quick victory, target only two of your own caravans. I tried this strategy and it constantly works.

[[1]]

This strategy won't "always" guarantee a win anymore, at least not with the most recent patch. In fact, this deck isn't even as good as the 10, 9, 7 deck used in this video: [2]. The reason for that is you have more differential cards to draw from in your deck (four types, opposed to three). Which increases your chances of not drawing the cards you need to draw at specific turns. In addition, the video makes no mention of what other 14 cards you should use to supplement your deck with; which will just confuse new players who still don't understand the game completely. But anyway, the only decks that work now, against every npc, are the ones that implement jacks. Because they are the only cards that can remove kings placed on your caravans.--69.205.180.81 05:54, August 6, 2011 (UTC)

What happed to Caravan?[]

caravan us to be so ez and now i cant win it almost look likes they cheat because u cant dot he same

The patch updated npc strategies. They now play face cards on top of your caravans, which they didn't do before in the previous patch. Most notably, jacks and kings. One of the more powerful decks pre-patch was a 10, 9, 7 deck. The idea was just to hit 26 before they even had a chance to reach 26 themselves. It worked nearly every time. But now if you try that deck, any king placed on top of one of your caravans completely nukes the strategy. Which is why you should now implement decks that include jacks, and possibly kings, to counteract their strategies.--69.205.180.81 05:44, August 6, 2011 (UTC)

This game sucks!!![]

As the title says. Even with the appropriate cards I catn seem to win, WTF I cant even draw and use cards from my own deck after the the opponent drew his/her first card. This is ridiculous (this was typed after som drinking). --Radnus 00:06, July 19, 2011 (UTC)

Newest Patch Updated NPCs[]

I felt it was more than necessary to add this topic on the page. Many, many players are confused as to why they're losing Caravan games. It's because with the newest patch, npcs will now place face cards on your caravans. Chiefly jacks and kings. Jacks remove any card their placed on top of. And if it's a face card, it'll also remove the card attached to that face card. So decks that use kings as a additive value to your own caravans need to be especially careful. Additionally, kings placed on your caravans will double the numerical value of whatever card their placed on. So if you have a perfect 26 caravan, and your last card was a 10, a king placed on that caravan will bump the total to 36; effectively negating that caravan. In order to counteract these strategies, the newest generation of caravan decks need to implement jacks, and maybe kings.
Jacks can be used to remove kings placed on your caravans. But more importantly they can also be used in the same way that they are being used to destroy your own caravans. Which will allow you to delay your opponent's turns.
Kings can be used to double the value of your opponents cards. Which in turn will negate that opponent's caravan if it's over 26. It is also great at delaying an opponent's turns because if an opponent plays a jack on it, the fact that the king is a face card forces the jack to also take whatever card the king is attached to. For example: if the npc has a perfect caravan of 7, 9, and 10 (equaling 26), and you play a king on the 10, it'll change that caravan to a new total of 36. If your opponent were to play a jack on it, not only would the king be removed, but the 10 attached to that king would also be removed, making the new caravan total 16. This move would ideally delay your opponent at least two turns. Once to play the jack. And twice to replace the 10 with another 10. And possibly more if they have to use two cards instead of a 10.--69.205.180.81 06:05, August 6, 2011 (UTC)

I've been playing a new character recently and I noticed something interesting while playing Caravan with Cliff...

If you ask to play a game, then cancel (i.e. not actually play a hand); this counts towards the 5 game limit.

...seriously, this is crap. Such a simple thing, how'd they stuff this up?

So, word to the wise. If you accidentally click that option to play caravan with anyone that has a game limit, load a save game. Heck, save before you talk to them.

I haven't tested this with any other NPCs except the owner of the big dino, but better safe than sorry. On a side note, is there a way to reset the game counter to play more games? --Keeper3 09:09, October 4, 2011 (UTC)

Caravan player interaction infoboxes[]

On every single character's page that is listed as playing Caravan in this article, the infobox that displays the list of NPC interactions was showing that the character did not play Caravan. This is due to the fact that in the wiki code for these NPC interaction infoboxes was using "caravan player =yes" instead of "caravan_player =yes". I have corrected these infoboxes, but I have not made any attempt to verify that any of these NPCs actually do or do not play Caravan. 184.88.235.102 18:24, November 6, 2011 (UTC)

Interface is broken in Caravan[]

Interface for Caravan is completely broken.

I get that "I can only discard" thing when A / D (or even the mouse) should be should be selecting cards instead of arrow keys. There's NOTHING ANYWHERE that explains how to do this. EVERYTHING in the game, even the slots, poker, blackjack, and so on works off WASD/QE, so why not caravan?

Furthermore, when you finish a game, there's this "press any key to continue". A mouseclick would not do. Furthermore, that key press is registered in the game as movement! I hit "space" as that's the most innocuous key, and my character JUMPED!

Seems whoever wrote the Caravan subgame didn't talk to the rest of the team or something.

Kschang 15:24, March 16, 2012 (UTC)

Most likely an attempt to find a control scheme that works across platforms, Caravan requires more than 6 keys to play and so the arrow keys seem to have been used because of that, I do agree that they should probably be listed with the other keys in the bottom right though.

The fact that the key press is registered is probably the reason the mouseclick doesn't work, you wouldn't want to blow the head off the fellow you just played with would you? I find E is the best button to press here as it should just throw you back into dialogue with the NPC.

--Rob593 (talk) 17:11, April 26, 2013 (UTC)


Caravan for Dummies[]

Step 0.Find an NPC to play caravan with

Step 1.Build a deck

read around the talk page and read if anyone typed anything about good deck

Step 2.Play caravan

Step 3.Place your cards on your caravan routes the first time

Step 4.Use W and S to place an card on an caravan route to decide which direction the caravan goes Up/down

Step 5.???

Step 6.Profit!

--125.161.28.167 09:31, May 23, 2013 (UTC)

Game is cheating[]

Nash and I were playing a game. I had one caravan overbid, one bid and winning, and nothing. He had nothing, an underbid, and a winning bid. We both had plenty of cards left when out of nowhere he wins. WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING?!--Vorchaoffspring (talk) 20:42, May 29, 2013 (UTC) 

     This can happen if underbid and winning bid are not on the same 
     column as your winning bid.  He just finishes 2nd bid.  King his 
     winning bid first.76.76.71.200 22:30, May 31, 2013 (UTC)dcWalker

But Y thought all three bids had to be completed on either side. Only two caravans had been bid, one for me one for him

Once all three bids are completed, and there are no ties, the game ends. If you have one bid completed, and he has the other two bids completed, he wins. -99.186.225.51 22:52, September 3, 2013 (UTC)

All I can seem to do... (PC)[]

All I can seem to do in my first round is Select the first two cards, then discard everything left in my stack (discard is the only option NOT greyed out) until there is nothing left, at which point Cancel is the only option which isn't greyed out, which of course means I lose my money and back out in disgust.

What the hell? 76.84.23.7 07:42, September 13, 2013 (UTC)



Very Odd Thing Happening[]

I am seeing something bizarre on this wiki page "Caravan_(game)"

The edit text view shows :

"Once both players have started their three caravans"

But the browser standard view shows it as :

"One both players have started their three caravans"

^^ visibly says 'One "  ???

I'm on win 10 with an up to date 'Edge' browser

-

This is a really strange mutation of the edit text which I don't think I've seen on fandom before

.—Preceding unsigned comment added by Testxyz (talk • contribs). Please sign your posts with ~~~~!

Doesn't seem to be affecting the page for me. Might've just been some momentary quirk.FDSMDP (talk) 03:47, 1 April 2023 (UTC)
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