MarchUntoTorment

Those retextures actually looks really damned cool. I'm quite liking them, honestly. Also, Narmz, if you're in the business of retexturing, hit me up - I've got a few retextures I need done for a companion mod (specifically, a retex of the Blade of the East and a retex of Enclave Tesla Armour), and I'm sure that you and I could come to a certain arrangement. I'm loving the work you've shown so far.

Liking the camo recon armour, I think it'd be a really good lore addition as the Brotherhood begins to expand throughout the Mojave. Moreover, it'd make a fantastic way of showing how the Brotherhood was expanding/diversifying its tactics and evolving to fit a different battleground. I'm with Devin here, that Elijah shouldn't be taking any major role in the storyline - since there's too many possible endings to him in Dead Money to compensate for everything. However, having Elijah show up on the radio rambling about an assortment of topics would be an absolutely fantastic addition, and - although I couldn't voice him for the life of me - I'd love to write up some radio broadcasts. I like the idea of Hardin being our story's villain, and being the one to deploy forces to the Madre. Maybe he even leads off a split section of the Brotherhood, and the player has to deal with them. That could make an interesting post-game quest for the player to deal with, and a great way of showing the ideological troubles that the Brotherhood is dealing with. Christine should definitely play a key role in this storyline, one way or another. She's probably the most well-characterised Brotherhood member in the game, aside from Veronica. However, I'm not sure what her role would be - suggestions here would be greatly appreciated. That said, I've wanted to do a proper job of turning her into a Mojave-based companion for ages, and I'm actually about 1/3 done on the necessary work for that mod - maybe we could think about integrating the two mods? Oh, and Devin? That power-armoured Ghost People model is probably the coolest thing I've seen on the Nexus in a while. Arm them with a mixture of spear-like weapons from Bingle's pack and assorted power fists/ballistic weapons (the sheer impact of such devices would comfortably dismember Ghost People) and you've got a genuinely terrifying threat for high-level Couriers to deal with.

Thanks so much, Devin! I can't believe you finally made that abomination work. Awesome job!

On the Securitron Vault, I think I agree. Having such an advanced manufactory would just be too powerful for the player to have access to at a moment's notice. With reinforcements, I wasn't suggesting a mass-migration; more the addition of a few old veterans of the Brotherhood. With the Midwest and East Coast chapters, since both seem to be quite well set-up where they are, I think we'd be more seeing ambassadors from them at HELIOS and/or the Lucky 38. Maybe a Super Mutant Paladin from the Midwest? That could be interesting, I feel. My concern with the T-51b is that the chemical suits worn by the workers who became the Ghost People corroded and sealed, and I highly suspect that T-51b undersuits would suffer the same fate. On the other hand, power-armoured Ghost People could be a fantastic new gameplay mechanic... that might actually make for a very interesting quest. The player has to go in and discover the fate of a Brotherhood team who were lost exploring the Sierra Madre? Regarding the Knights of HELIOS, as I said, they were a compact group - I imagine a squad of around five people. Not some sort of big splinter faction. As for why McNamara didn't go back for them, he likely assumed that they were dead - without a radio on them, he'd have had no means of even knowing that they'd survived the onslaught. I get the impression that the retreat from HELIOS wasn't exactly an organised affair. I like the cybernetics thing a lot! We can use the port of tumbajamba's Fallout 3 mod for the cybernetic limbs, since he gave permission for anyone to use it. As for biomedical tech, I'm not sure what you want to do there - maybe they artificially 'enhance' their Paladins? Or maybe some sort of quest where the player has to bring back some troops to be healed? I'd love to do some quick character analyses on various characters - I absolutely love the idea of 'humanising' the Brotherhood. For instance, a lot of the Brotherhood lost family and friends at HELIOS - that would still weigh heavily on them, and I think we should do more with it. A few quick ideas on how to humanise some major figures, in line with their current characterisation - Hardin - A bitter but strong, and profoundly professional soldier. Lost his wife, also a Paladin, holding the line at HELIOS; for this reason, he has an invariable hatred of the NCR, and any who associate with them (including the Followers). When he was younger, he lead Brotherhood recon units on their first incursions into the Mojave, and saw the horrors of what Raiders could do firsthand; this made a strong impression on him, and he swiftly came to the conclusion that outsiders could never come in line with the Brotherhood's ideals. Quite young - not older than 40 - but years of harsh combat have rendered him old before his time, and is undergoing therapy for cancer, hence his thinness of hair. He's desperately trying to keep this a secret from everyone, only grudgingly going to Schuler about it. McNamara - Formerly old friends with Hardin, the two of them were competing for the position of Head Paladin before the Battle of HELIOS. With their chain of command disintegrating under fire, McNamara and Hardin took command of the situation and ordered a breakthrough action. However, upon their fallback to the bunker, Hardin, incensed over the loss of his wife, demanded that the Brotherhood launch a counterattack; McNamara, however, had never seen the Brotherhood lose a battle so badly, and felt that he was at an overwhelming strategic disadvantage. He couldn't bring himself to lose any more friends, and so he commanded the lockdown; he and Hardin had a falling-out, and the two more or less refuse to talk anymore. Much like Hardin, he's only 35, but his hair has been whitened by the stress of becoming Elder. Ramos - A powerful, pragmatic man with a deep interest in the group's history, as illustrated about his knowledge of the Brotherhood's past and the precedent for removal of Elders. He believes deeply in its ideals, and is fascinated by its past; he grew up reading stories of the Brotherhood's past, and a part of him wishes that he'd become a Scribe instead of a Paladin. He was on the front lines at HELIOS, and his skill in battle caused him to earn great loyalty among the troops; he's considered among the Brotherhood's best fighters, which is why he's in charge of manning the gate. Closeted gay, but hasn't told anyone; he knows full well that he could lose the loyalty his men possess if this was known, due to stigmas within the Brotherhood. Schuler - Among the more well-respected members of the Brotherhood; despite her status as a Scribe, she took up a rifle during HELIOS and sprinted along the battlefield, tending to fallen Paladins as best she could. The fighting there scarred her, however, and she's long suffered from trauma relating to the horrific wounds she saw; while previously compassionate, she's become much harder and colder ever since HELIOS. Much more concerned with helping people than with the Brotherhood's ideals; she wishes that she could share at least their medical technology with the Wasteland, and for this reason, disagrees with the codex. She needs help for her PTSD, but refuses to get it, seeing herself as the only person in the bunker qualified to deal with psychiatric issues. A close confidante of McNamara; despite her anger over Taggart being appointed instead of her, she still possesses great internal respect for McNamara (note that she's angry at Taggart over the appointment, but never McNamara). He's pretty much the only person she talks to about what she saw, and vice-versa. Doesn't get along at all with Hardin, though - nevertheless, despite her dislike, she still takes care of his cancer, and keeps his secrets. That's just a few ideas I came up with for how to extrapolate out their characters, from what little we see in-game. Let me know if you like any of them! I'd love to do it for others, too. Again, writing is kind of what I do.

Haha! That's awesome, Devin! Looks like there's still a ways to go (although I swear I've seen a similar bug happen to my weapons in gameplay... anyone ever ended up with pistols stuck inside their torso while moving?), but that looks great! Thanks so much for the help :)

Check the TTW forums. People are generally pretty happy to help you there.

You're all good, then. As for your problem with the Chinese Assault Rifle textures, it's a problem relating to Project Nevada - I used to have it myself, although I fixed it. I can't for the life of me remember how, though.

You're also running 169 .esms and .esps. This isn't possible, especially with TTW. Cut it down to about 120 or so or you're going to meet some serious problems.

Not sure what's wrong here - I think you're using a more recent ENB version than I am - but ENB will slow down your system, staggeringly. It's more system-intensive than many modern games. I can run Shadow of Mordor, on medium settings, at a smooth 60FPS, and my rig struggles to hit 30 FPS while running New Vegas with a medium-quality ENB. And no, I don't use any high-res texture packs or other demanding mods. So if you're thinking that it shouldn't be slowing down your system, you're wrong. ENB absolutely chews up VRAM. Unless you're practically using a supercomputer, don't expect high performance with it.

I think that Viva NV, in its current priority incarnation (getting the pre-dam dialogue out and clearing post-game conditions) would be a necessary base mod. Then again, it could be completely integrated into this one. I don't think that even the Brotherhood would go after Elijah once the Courier explains what their former elder's plans were. Elijah's not just mad with technology, he's a genocidal monster who'd happily wipe out an entire civilisation just because he could. So that's a 'no' vote for me on the Elijah thing. Plus, heading to the Madre would be a mistake, even for the Brotherhood - they're neither equipped nor trained for the sort of intense street-to-street fighting against the Ghost People they'd see, and I've no idea how T-51b holds up against the Cloud. I'd think that it's probable that the 'back yard' of HELIOS One (where the solar reflectors are located) would be used as a Vertibird staging ground, if the Brotherhood could lay their hands on any Vertibirds (which is not a given, remember - unless the player hands over the Remnants' one). It's got the open space to land on, and if we're going with HELIOS being their new 'citadel', then it'd be convenient, too. For convenience's sake, I'd just have the place fortified when the player gets there. Manual fortification would be a nightmare to code. If we want to get a little more creative, we can have multiple 'in-progress' incarnations of the fortifications on a timer; for instance, after one in-game week, you see the first walls rise, in the second in-game week, they're reinforced and higher, third week, there's guard towers, one month mark, they've got turrets installed... you get the idea. But that's more work than I think we need right here. Regarding the Knights of HELIOS, Devin and I already had an initial vision for them - a squad of elite Brotherhood troops wearing tabards over their T-51b (like traditional knights), and wielding heavy melee weaponry. Weaponry can be borrowed from Bingles' Melee Collection (since it's an open resource), since there's a great range of stuff there we can use. Since they've been out in the field a while, I imagine it'd be improvised stuff - maybe Shishkebab Mk IIs (greatsword-sized Shishkebabs) and Sub-Zero lances, with perhaps the squad leader wielding a Pulse Claymore. Check the mod page for all of those weapons, and more - it's got about twenty we can choose from. But yeah, that's the vision we had for them. As for implementation, I like the idea of the player picking up a radio signal and being sent by the Brotherhood to retrieve them, and maybe debrief them. I think that there could be some interesting quests integrating them back into the Brotherhood - I imagine they'd all have some serious PTSD, having spent as long as they have in Legion lands, living pretty much without hope. They're going to be damned fun to write, that's for sure.

I'll concede the point on the Boomers - I forgot that the deaths of the Paladins wasn't common knowledge in the Brotherhood. I think that McNamara would, in that case, try to leave well enough alone, since their artillery is, realistically, the only weaponry in the wasteland that poses an overwhelming threat to a squad of Paladins. It seems that Gameplay and Story Segregation is in full effect when it comes to the battlefield advantages posed by power armour (and rightly-so, for the sake of game balance). Anyway, I think that you're correct - they'd try to locate any individuals who wanted to defend the Wasteland, who displayed exceptional technical knowledge or martial skill. As time went on, they'd probably try to recruit younger Wastelanders (ages 8-16), and train them from the ground up. I also quite like the idea of a quest where you have to deal with a rogue splinter faction of the Brotherhood who disagree with McNamara's policies - maybe Hardin tries to split off? And the player either has to talk them down (with various consequences for the Brotherhood as a whole), or wipe them out, which would be no mean feat. Regarding the Knights of HELIOS, my story reasoning was that they assumed that the Mojave was lost and made a run for it eastbound - quite possibly running into Caesar's Legion along the way. It was only once word started filtering through the Legion tribes that neither side had won at Hoover Dam that captured the Knights' interest, and they headed back west, figuring that it was possible that a resurgent Brotherhood had seized the Dam. As for why they didn't hear? Well, I've taken to imagining them as not a squad of Paladins, but a group of Knights who were press-ganged into service during the Battle of HELIOS - the Brotherhood has far more armour than it does men, after all, and so it needed all the troops it could get. This also makes sense, since all members of the Brotherhood - regardless of their Order - are heavily trained for combat, and taught to use power armour. However, the best sets of armour are, naturally, always in the hands of the Paladins; hence, our little team of Knights were equipped with T-51b sets that had been partially cannibalised to keep the more frequently-used sets in service. Since probably the most delicate component in a T-51b set would be the helmet's integral radio, their armour would lack comms, with the Knights expected to communicate verbally and through hand signals. When the order to retreat was given, they were holding the line at the extremity of the perimeter, and didn't realise the situation. It was only a scant few minutes later, with the NCR overrunning their positions, that they called a retreat and made for the desert - and headed eastbound. Without a means of communicating with the Brotherhood, they made their way into the badlands of Utah. From there, they remained on the run from the Legion, surviving day-to-day as best they could; they figured that the Brotherhood was as good as dead, after all. It wasn't until the Legion began vanishing from the region that they became curious as to what had become of the Mojave. Investigation of the situation, likely through communication with civilians in the area, revealed that the Legion had largely been slaughtered at Hoover Dam - and rumour had it that the NCR, too, had been annihilated, with an unknown force seizing control of the Mojave. The logical deduction stood that the Brotherhood would be the only faction in America who could feasibly have pushed them out; while unlikely, since they believed the Brotherhood destroyed, they agreed it was worth a try. So our group, calling themselves the 'Knights of HELIOS' - now battle-hardened, wielding heavy melee weaponry to preserve ammunition and battle-hardened from years of combat with the Legion - began the long walk back west, until they learned the true fate of the Brotherhood, and rejoined them. That's when the player meets them, and what happens next is up to us. Thoughts?

A few things that we should address - 1. The Knights of HELIOS - What're your thoughts on them, Devin? I'm quite taken with them, and would quite like to actually create them as NPCs - write them up, their backstories, etc. etc. I think they'd make an interesting group to focus a few small quests around. 2. Recruitment - What do we do here? I think that, out of necessity and under the Courier's influence (since the Courier's set precedent by being appointed a Paladin), the Brotherhood would begin recruiting locals. My question is, what sort of people would they try to recruit? 3. The Fort - I agree with you about the Securitrons, Devin, and having given it some more thought, maybe the Brotherhood would try to repurpose its machinery to mass-produce weapons and armour? A lot of the components from the manufactory (the Securitron gatling lasers, the motor servos, and their armour plate) could quite easily be used to produce new sets of power armour, or produce components to refurbish damaged sets. Plus, it fits better with their attitude. 4. HELIOS One - I imagine, as I said, them fortifying it heavily. Remember that, as we see it in-game, it's just got some sandbags and a chain-link fence surrounding it. I imagine the Brotherhood building up vast scrap walls, reinforcing the exterior of the structure, and positioning automated turrets at numerous points around the perimeter. Maybe constructing 'guard towers' from which to position Paladins. I imagine that the result would look like a bastardised hybrid between HELIOS One, the NCRCF and The Citadel. 5. Euclid's C-Finder - Yeah, having given it some more thought (and given McNamara's precedent of not shooting the Courier during Veronica's quest), I think that they'd let the Courier live. Although you'd get a lot of Brotherhood rep for giving them the C-Finder, I imagine. 6. The Dam - I think they'd hold the place as best they could, and improve its efficiency. The Brotherhood are very interested in the power of electricity, partially due to its value in the maintenance of their facilities. Plus, it'd give them military supremacy over the region, and a trump card to use to force the NCR into a truce. 7. Reinforcements - It's occurred to me that with an open chapter of the Brotherhood now in control of a substantial and tech-heavy region, it's quite possible that other surviving Brotherhood chapters in the West who'd gone underground after the war with the NCR might make their way to the Mojave, to bolster the Brotherhood there. Maybe even ex-Brotherhood soldiers who integrated into the NCR, akin to the Enclave Remnants, would join the Mojave chapter. Thoughts?

Alright, I've got some free time now. Let me get some quick thoughts down: 1. The Fort: I think that among the Brotherhood's first actions would be to seize the Fort, both because of its utility and because of how extraordinarily dangerous it could be in the hands of any other faction. As time went on, I think they'd try to boot it up and mass-produce the Securitrons, which they'd repaint in Brotherhood colours and use as support for their Paladins. (In which case, can we get a Brotherhood retexture for the Securitrons up in here? I imagine them having a new face, too - maybe something akin to a knight's helmet). 2. The Strip: I've got mixed feelings here. The Brotherhood would likely secure it for their own ends, but I'm kinda unsure as to what would happen next - while militaristic, I don't think they'd see fit to completely shut it down. I frankly suspect they'd leave the Courier to run it. Oh, and they'd completely loot the Lucky 38 of anything technological. 3. The Dam: The Brotherhood would definitely immediately re-occupy the Dam, and probably park a significant military force there to boot. With their technology, I suspect they'd have it up-and-running pretty quickly. They'd also probably get some of the other gear there running, too. 4. HELIOS One: They lost it once, they're not doing it again. I suspect that they'd return their base of operations to here, and probably heavily-fortify it this time - I kinda have this image of them turning HELIOS into their 'castle' of sorts, which I can expand more on later. I think it would be up to the player whether to hand over Euclid's C-Finder to them; however, if the player reveals that they have it, they'd either need to hand it over or the Brotherhood would open fire. 5. Nellis AFB: This is where things get interesting. They're not too positively-inclined towards the Boomers, I should think, since they lost two Paladins to artillery fire; I think it'd be up to the player to smooth things over, or else pick a side. If the player sided with the Brotherhood, they'd probably be asked to sneak into Nellis, then sabotage the Boomer's guns, after which the Brotherhood would launch a raid on the base. After the raid, heavy artillery would likely appear at other Brotherhood positions around the place. 6. Brotherhood - Internal Culture: I think that the Brotherhood's culture would, out of necessity, evolve under the Courier's influence - becoming more accepting of the outside world, at the very least. I think that with a high enough Speech or Science skill, the Courier could influence them into giving away technology to help with agriculture, robotics, etc. Maybe, with a 100 Speech/Science skill, the Courier could even convince them to start taking in external volunteers, significantly increasing the number of Brotherhood personnel in the Mojave? It's clear that McNamara's thinking is already going that way, as of the end of the game. There's more, but I can't really think of anything right now. Actually, there is one thing. If you're looking for some neat melee weapons for our elite unit, check out Bingle's Melee Collection. It's an awesome mod, and there's permission to use it however we want, which would be handy for our melee squad. I've got something of an idea for them. You see, it's mentioned in passing that when the lockdown of the Hidden Valley bunker was initiated, nobody was allowed out - or in. Meaning that whoever was locked out, stayed that way. I always thought it was a great plot point that was never actually expanded upon. Therefore, I'm considering making our unit the 'Knights of HELIOS'. A group of Brotherhood warriors who didn't make it to Hidden Valley in time, and instead, retreated to an outside location. Without the gear to fully maintain their equipment, they mounted tabards over their armour to help keep out the Mojave sands, and took up advanced but semi-improvised melee weapons of all sorts in place of their energy weapons (since they'd've been running low on ammunition anyway). Ever since, they've been on the run from the NCR - until the NCR suddenly retreated from the region following the Battle of Hoover Dam, and they headed home, to find that the lockdown had finally ended. Thoughts?

Can I just quickly interject that I'd love to see a set of T-51b armour with a tabard? It'd really reinforce the idea of the Brotherhood as a pseudo-Medieval crusading order. Maybe there's an elite unit who wear T-51b armour with tabards and bear swords instead of energy weapons? Just a suggestion. And moreover, I'd be completely, 100% on board with the idea of a Brotherhood-heavy ending. They're invariably my favourite faction in NV, and if you want ideas as to how to create a Brotherhood-centric Independent ending, I'd be happy to provide you with them!

Okay, I NEED this to happen. This sounds AMAZING, and I am totally on board for any modder that would be willing to do it. I'd be willing to help code the Mr Gutsy companion, if you'd like, although I couldn't do any texture work or voicing for it.

Thanks so much, Devin! Really, you're awesome :) One quick question, though - if I wanted to move the model back a few inches (in case of using it with power armour), how would I go about doing that? Is there an easy means of doing so in NifSkope without completely breaking the model?

Ah, very good then - doing it by script is probably the safest and cleanest way of doing it. Might I ask where the decision as to which ending to take comes in? It's been ages since I've played the ending of New Vegas. Is that decision made during the final conversation with General Oliver?

One wonders if I should try to get rid of them when I go through... but I'll leave that for when we have a clearer vision for Viva NV. For now, I'll just edit out their pre-dam dialogue when I find time.

Do you have Archive Invalidation enabled?

How's the Fatman going, Devin? Here's hoping you're not running into too many problems with it! :) Oh, also, can you recommend a good guide to using Nifskope for this purpose? I can't for the life of me figure the program out, but if I could, I'd be more than happy to start rigging these models up.

Thanks, Devin! What about the major NCR characters at the dam? For instance, what became of Colonel Moore?

Hey, Devin, can I quickly ask what your 'post-Hoover Dam cleanup' precisely entailed? Just so I know what I'm doing when I go dialogue-culling.

Got about half way done with the fatman last night. I'll start on teh breathing mask and then finish up the fatman after the mask is done (it was an earlier request). Many thanks!

Might I ask what a 'glob' is? I daresay I'm unfamiliar with the terminology.

Thanks! Much appreciated.