Experience is granted to Rangers and party members as they complete quests and defeat their enemies. Once enough experience points are gained, characters go up a level. The methods of gaining experience differ somewhat by game and are covered below in detail.
Wasteland[ | ]
The primary method of gaining experience in the original Wasteland is defeating enemies and performing stat and skill checks. There are no experience rewards for completing quests, aside from destroying Base Cochise, which immediately grants 10 character points and 10 MAXCON (or health).
To level-up, Rangers need to radio Ranger Center (using the R key). General Surgrue will then grant them promotions as appropriate, which come with extra MAXCON and two points to distribute. The max level cap is 181, conferring the rank of Supreme Jerk.
Experience can be ground by defeating high-level enemies using melee weapons (eg. chainsaw or Proton ax), which double the experience gained. Certain areas also allow for grinding skill checks (eg. the warehouse roof over Ugly's Hideout in Quartz constantly checks Perception, the collapsed basement in Spade's Casino underground tests climb, and swimming in the Bay of Mexico tests swim), as they passively test skills, granting experience for each test regardless if it's a success or fail. Note that each character who wants to gain experience must possess at least one rank in the appropriate skill.
Setting up key macros helps a great deal.
Wasteland 2[ | ]
Experience has been modernized as expected, and comes from defeating foes and completing missions. Grinding is more involved this time around, as it requires the player to farm random encounters on the world map (which come with the bonus effect of giving loot to trade). As with the original, Rangers need to phone home to gain ranks.
The max level is 50, with the rank of lieutenant.
Wasteland 3[ | ]
The next-generation Wasteland game is streamlined in this aspect (and because the Rangers are the commanders of the Colorado Rangers), and level-ups happen as they defeat enemies and complete tasks.
The max level is 35, though it takes a substantial amount of effort to actually reach it.
Other games[ | ]
Fountain of Dreams[ | ]
The spin-off by Electronic Arts mostly follows the original's experience system: You gain experience for defeating encounters (which also means that resolving the various plot threads that disable random encounters with the OhOhs or the Beachcombers might need to be put off for later). Each level-up grants two points to distribute and increases MAXCON.
Escape from Hell[ | ]
This unique game awards experience for succeeding in combat. Enough experience means a level-up and skill increases, on top of the usual bonus to HP.