The Courier and the Divide

[SayinNuthin]

Secondly, while the Divide itself could be pretty rough, from the sound of it, there was a significant waystation community. In fact it's very possible the Divide was pretty much unnuked in 2077 (not completely, but almost). This is because by necessity of the highway configurations, the Divide is modern Parhump, Nevada, and thus one of only two links between California and southern California. The Long 15 is the second, and the third is blocked by Big MT. The real life Highway system has exactly three means of approach to Las Vegas from the south and west. While the Divide itself was probably less than nice, it would cut off hundreds of miles for anyone wishing to trade through central California or the Cities of northern Nevada (which are almost all on the Western side, plus Vault City). The Divide may very well have been a truckstop version of the Hub from Fallout 1. With plenty of intact infrastructure to grow.

 

Without doubt, it WAS fought over quite viciously, and it was the lynchpin of NCR supply routes through US 160 (which you guys probably remember as Cazadore Alley just south of Spring Mountain State Park). The NCR traffic alone would have made the community rich.

 

This is something I'm currently struggling with and would be obliged for any advice or Lore from people who are familiar with the original materials. I'm trying to make a mod that opens the Sandy Valley-Pahrump district as the barren desert it's shown to be on Google Maps. And the best I've come up with is blocking the Canyon Wreckage from the north-west with blinding sandstorms full of Deathclaws and Cazadores (I dislike invisible barriers) and basically pretending it's somewhere else because I can't find the divide's cities, fly-overs and urban centres on (our world's) NV-CA border... Pahrump is a low-rise medium small city and Sandy Valley is a tiny desert community (with a well developed sense of humour - Google the Sandy Valley Yacht Club)

 

On (our world's) map, the I-160 seems to join the gamespace about where Abandoned Tribal Village is so the devs 'moved' that 40 miles south when they were cutting content and apparently kludging the map together did they? (such as putting Nopah caverns on the outskirts of Vegas...) I'm using our world's map as a guide but I'd prefer to stay within the lore - where it has any internal logic to use and fill any gaps with our-world data.

[charwo]

You have to take any sandbox play area with a HUGE grain of salt. Really New Vegas would work better if it had an overworld, like Final Fantasy or better yet, LIKE THE ORIGINAL GAME. As for Pahrump, you won't be able to find a Divide in out world because 2077 is still over 60 years away. A lot of building can occur. My suggestion is look at the highway system, cause that's the least likely to be radically changed. Skyscrappers can easily built in Arlington but highways tend not to get rerouted, especially out in the middle of bum nowhere which is most of Nevada's physical area. LAso, think both were the Highway is going from and where it must be going to.

 

And I assure you Pahrump must be the location of the Divide, there is no place that even comes close to it:

http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/1411760-roads-for-the-west-dlc-location-specualtion/

[SayinNuthin]

Nice one Charwo, I do like your reasoning as regards the roads, which would put Hopeville in the south end of Sandy Valley. Someone here (think it was Someguy2000) told me that there were plans to include Pahrump in the game but it was cut due to time and budget. It looks as if they had Nopah cavern done so dropped it into the game anyway. And that in turn makes me wonder if the NCRCF (and Vault 19) wasn't originally going to be west of Goodsprings. Of course that messes with the Primm story to some extent but might explain why you don't loose reputation with the Powder-Gangers for killing 'escaped convicts'.

 

To say nothing of why you'd place a correctional facility in a territory your trying to annex? talk about making friends and influencing people :laugh: ...

 

But it hasn't solved my problem of what to do with the divide, I can't make it in the world, I'm nowhere near good enough with all that heightmap stuff and all that busyness isn't my thing anyway so it looks like I'm stuck with pretending it's somewhere else - at least I'm in good company there eh.

Edited August 1, 2014 by SayinNuthin

[charwo]

Well good luck with it. I'd need a hands-on instructor to learn to mod and that's a REAL problem. As for the Prison, the answer there is simple: the prison is a pre-war facility. The Nevada State Women's Pen at Jean, NV. Although here the NCR screwed up BIG time as it's a minimum security prison by design and furthermore, you should only use low risk prisoners in labor prisons, especially when working with dynamite. Every major Powder Ganger (Cooke, Eddie, Scrambler, Cobb) should have been sent straight to supermax facilities or have their organs harvested in for-profit organ transplants.

[jonas66]

Interesting analysis, Charwo. I did some map-scanning when I was working on my comic, set largely at Big MT and in the Divide, about 17 years after the game (Independent New Vegas), and trying to place those things was pretty damned tricky. I wound up throwing the whole thing out the window and decided that for my world the Divide was in the remains of Lake Havasu and Fort Mohave AZ, because the roads and valleys worked with the topography, and I wanted it to be the Divide between the East and the West, being Legion land versus Mojave/California, and Big Mountain was built in the Mojave National Preserve or Providence Mountains, to allow close enough proximity between the two for their relationship during before the Great War. It nominally fits into the NCRs annexation plans, opening up a new trade route via I-40 E and Hwy 95 N. Doesn't really work with the game map or the full lore of the story but hey, I've always liked my version better anyway, haha.