DeathMachineMiyagi1942

I'm surprised anyone actually dislikes the Yes Man ending, if you take J.E. Sawyer at his word that Yes Man's 'assertiveness upgrade' just means he only answers to you from now on. It basically means that the future of the Mojave is in your hands rather than in the hands of the other powers, who will all end up misusing it in some major way. Whether you misuse your power is ultimately up to how you played your courier. For the entire game, I had been doing the heavy lifting in the Mojave, solving every problem and being the key element in any given faction's victory. By the end, my 'good' courier knew the Mojave inside and out, was on good terms with almost everyone who wasn't a raider or other predatory sort, including bastions of high-tech such as the Boomers, the Brotherhood of Steel and the Enclave Remnants. Everywhere from the Strip to Primm to Nipton considered me a savior. I had Big MT on my side, ready (under my supervision) to use its scientific knowledge to slowly and responsibly bring old world tech into the wasteland. I had helped forge the Khans into a new nation in Wyoming, and was on very good terms with the NCR itself until General Oliver's little surprise at Hoover Dam. The only major faction that absolutely loathed me was the Legion (which left the Mojave with all of its major leaders dead and a crushingly one-sided loss at Hoover Dam, which to me implies imminent collapse), setting aside the deceased Mr. House. To me, that means that despite General Oliver's derisive assessment of my ability to forge a nation, I felt I was actually in quite a good position to do so, mainly because I wouldn't be doing it alone. All the communities I had helped and had strong ties with would be there to help. As for outside threats, with General Oliver and President Kimball around to take the heat for the humiliating loss of the Mojave, and my long record of service to the NCR and major attempts to minimize NCR casualties at Hoover Dam, I like to imagine that (so long as power from Hoover Dam continued to flow west) the backlash against the newly independent New Vegas would be short-lived from that direction. As House says, Kimball would be too busy being impeached to seek vengeance, and with Hanlon returning to NCR to lambast his militarism and handling of the war I think the NCR itself actually benefits from their apparent 'loss', with a good solid lesson in the dangers of imperial overreach for future generations. The Legion, as mentioned, would be too busy falling to pieces to seek retribution. The Khans in Wyoming are now friends and allies, as are whatever is left of New Canaan and the Sorrows/Dead Horses in Utah. With all known potential threats mitigated and a securitron army at my command, all military effort could be put towards pacifying the territory and keeping the roads safe for travellers and caravans, allowing the same kind of enforced peace seen in Legion-controlled Arizona without all the rape and slavery. All the above, to me, implies the Mojave would flourish under an appropriately benevolent courier. It wouldn't be 100% smooth sailing, of course, but what ever is? The will is still there to make the Mojave a new, free nation, without being ruled by the corrupt imperialists in Shady Sands or vicious Legion misogynists or a cold-hearted, detached wannabe-Randian ubermensch figure like House.