Three in a row
Fallout: DUST introduces various changes to the level progression and experience point (XP) gaining opportunities of Fallout: New Vegas, which are described in this article.
Level Cap
Fallout New Vegas defaults to a level cap of 30. Of the six available add-ons, four raise the level cap by 5 to a total of 50 levels: Dead Money, Honest Hearts, Old World Blues and Lonesome Road. Gun Runners' Arsenal and The Couriers Stash do not raise the level cap.
Since DUST does not change the level cap, and after v.165 requires all four level-raising add-ons and the Gun Runner's Arsenal to be installed, DUST's level cap is 50.
XP
DUST, lacking quests and their associated XP gains, doubles the vanilla XP bonus of some XP relevant actions, namely discovering map markers (20 XP) and terminal hacking and picking locks (up to 120 XP).
XP rewards for killing creatures and other NPCs are untouched. Also, XP for a kill still is only rewarded, if the player dealt at least 40% of the total damage to an opponent killed by NPCs or other means.
Leveling Up
DUST raises the number of XP required for leveling up considerably by doubling the amount compared to vanilla New Vegas. Vanilla reaches level 50 at 186200 XP, DUST at 372400 XP.
This is in part mitigated by the fact, that DUST allows picking a Regular perk at every level gained, instead of only every other level like in vanilla.
As per Bethesda's G.E.C.K. wiki, the generic formula for calculating the required XP for a specific level is:
Quoted from the G.E.C.K. wiki:
"Experience needed for level n = (n - 1) * ((n - 2) / 2 * iXPBumpBase + iXPBase)"
Vanilla uses iXPBase 150 and iXPBumpBase 200, DUST sets iXPBase to 300 and iXPBumpBase to 400.
The table following compares the required number of XP for leveling up in Fallout: New Vegas ("FNV") and DUST ("DUST").
| Level | FNV | DUST |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 200 | 400 |
| 3 | 550 | 1100 |
| 4 | 1050 | 2100 |
| 5 | 1700 | 3400 |
| 6 | 2500 | 5000 |
| 7 | 3450 | 6900 |
| 8 | 4550 | 9100 |
| 9 | 5800 | 11600 |
| 10 | 7200 | 14400 |
| 11 | 8750 | 17500 |
| 12 | 10450 | 20900 |
| 13 | 12300 | 24600 |
| 14 | 14300 | 28600 |
| 15 | 16450 | 32900 |
| 16 | 18750 | 37500 |
| 17 | 21200 | 42400 |
| 18 | 23800 | 47600 |
| 19 | 26550 | 53100 |
| 20 | 29450 | 58900 |
| 21 | 32500 | 65000 |
| 22 | 35700 | 71400 |
| 23 | 39050 | 78100 |
| 24 | 42550 | 85100 |
| 25 | 46200 | 92400 |
| 26 | 50000 | 100000 |
| 27 | 53950 | 107900 |
| 28 | 58050 | 116100 |
| 29 | 62300 | 124600 |
| 30 | 66700 | 133400 |
| 31 | 71250 | 142500 |
| 32 | 75950 | 151900 |
| 33 | 80800 | 161600 |
| 34 | 85800 | 171600 |
| 35 | 90950 | 181900 |
| 36 | 96250 | 192500 |
| 37 | 101700 | 203400 |
| 38 | 107300 | 214600 |
| 39 | 113050 | 226100 |
| 40 | 118950 | 237900 |
| 41 | 125000 | 250000 |
| 42 | 131200 | 262400 |
| 43 | 137550 | 275100 |
| 44 | 144050 | 288100 |
| 45 | 150700 | 301400 |
| 46 | 157500 | 315000 |
| 47 | 164450 | 328900 |
| 48 | 171550 | 343100 |
| 49 | 178800 | 357600 |
| 50 | 186200 | 372400 |