Giving a storyline reason to travel to NV in TTW

[c0ckt4il]

Hi there,

one thing that's been bothering me while playing TTW is that the transition to NV is purely functional. There is no real motivation for my character to go to NV, especially after Broken Steel (with Rebuild the Capital). So I've been thinking of moving Vault 112 to the Mojave, since it seems to me to be the best and simultaneously relatively easiest way to redirect the PC along the Fo3 main story to NV.

 

Edit: There's no request in there so: would you kindly mod TTW so that my PC has a (good) reason to go to the Mojave?

[showler]

I can't imagine a way to make this possible. To make the lore work, you'd have to come up with a reason for your character to travel to NV and spend five years working as a courier (possibly secretly working for the Legion) including accidentally blowing up the Divide and then suddenly decide to continue with your previous life.

[gnarly1]

Hi there,

 

one thing that's been bothering me while playing TTW is that the transition to NV is purely functional. There is no real motivation for my character to go to NV, especially after Broken Steel (with Rebuild the Capital). So I've been thinking of moving Vault 112 to the Mojave, since it seems to me to be the best and simultaneously relatively easiest way to redirect the PC along the Fo3 main story to NV.

 

Edit: There's no request in there so: would you kindly mod TTW so that my PC has a (good) reason to go to the Mojave?

Gambling addiction.

[madmongo]

I don't think you need to mod anything. The player ends up joining the Brotherhood of Steel through the main quest of FO3/TTW, and even becomes a knight if they go through Broken Steel.

 

Do you know the history of the BoS? The west coast BoS and the east coast BoS are very different, despite the fact that they started out as the same group. An expedition from the west coast BoS headed east to find a group that had splintered off some time ago. That splinter group ended up in the Chicago area, but the expedition that went to look for them missed them and ended up in Pittsburgh instead. From there they continued on to D.C. and became the BoS that you are familiar with in FO3/TTW. They became the heroes of the wasteland through the events of FO3/TTW, especially Project Purity.

 

Meanwhile, things were not going so well for the west coast BoS. Instead of becoming heroes, they got into fights with pretty much everyone around them. This caused the west coast BoS to become more isolationist in their views. The east coast BoS views the people of the wasteland (at least the civilized ones) as friends. The west coast BoS has a much different view, and considers all outsiders to be hostile enemies. After a long and costly war with the NCR, the west coast BoS ends up broken and shattered. Each small group of the BoS has gone into hiding and they don't even have contact with each other any more. The Mojave chapter made a foolish stand at Helios One and lost about half of their members before going into hiding in Hidden Valley.

 

If the player has cooperated with the east coast BoS and has gone through Broken Steel, then they are already a Knight in the BoS (the player is granted knighthood in the first quest of Broken Steel). When the player learns the history of the BoS, you can wonder why the east coast BoS no longer has any contact at all with the west coast BoS. A good reason for the player to travel to the Mojave is to find out what happened to the west coast BoS and to find and reconnect with their lost west coat BoS brothers and sisters.

 

The first conversation with Veronica will be a bit weird because it won't give you the option to say that you are from a different branch of the BoS when she admits she is part of the west coast BoS, but otherwise the game works. Elder McNamara is going to treat you like an outsider, because you are an outsider to their group. You (the player) weren't even born into the BoS. There may be a few minor conversation options that are a bit off, but I don't see any major issues with it.

[showler]

Pity you can't murder little Maxson before you leave.

[c0ckt4il]

I can't imagine a way to make this possible. To make the lore work, you'd have to come up with a reason for your character to travel to NV and spend five years working as a courier (possibly secretly working for the Legion) including accidentally blowing up the Divide and then suddenly decide to continue with your previous life.

That's why I want to have Vault 112 in the Mojave, so that when you search for your daddy you have to travel there. What then happens until you get shot in the head can either be headcannon or explained through further modding, I'd think. But the base would be there, just by moving the Vault.

 

I don't think you need to mod anything. The player ends up joining the Brotherhood of Steel through the main quest of FO3/TTW, and even becomes a knight if they go through Broken Steel.

 

Do you know the history of the BoS? The west coast BoS and the east coast BoS are very different, despite the fact that they started out as the same group. An expedition from the west coast BoS headed east to find a group that had splintered off some time ago. That splinter group ended up in the Chicago area, but the expedition that went to look for them missed them and ended up in Pittsburgh instead. From there they continued on to D.C. and became the BoS that you are familiar with in FO3/TTW. They became the heroes of the wasteland through the events of FO3/TTW, especially Project Purity.

 

Meanwhile, things were not going so well for the west coast BoS. Instead of becoming heroes, they got into fights with pretty much everyone around them. This caused the west coast BoS to become more isolationist in their views. The east coast BoS views the people of the wasteland (at least the civilized ones) as friends. The west coast BoS has a much different view, and considers all outsiders to be hostile enemies. After a long and costly war with the NCR, the west coast BoS ends up broken and shattered. Each small group of the BoS has gone into hiding and they don't even have contact with each other any more. The Mojave chapter made a foolish stand at Helios One and lost about half of their members before going into hiding in Hidden Valley.

 

If the player has cooperated with the east coast BoS and has gone through Broken Steel, then they are already a Knight in the BoS (the player is granted knighthood in the first quest of Broken Steel). When the player learns the history of the BoS, you can wonder why the east coast BoS no longer has any contact at all with the west coast BoS. A good reason for the player to travel to the Mojave is to find out what happened to the west coast BoS and to find and reconnect with their lost west coat BoS brothers and sisters.

 

The first conversation with Veronica will be a bit weird because it won't give you the option to say that you are from a different branch of the BoS when she admits she is part of the west coast BoS, but otherwise the game works. Elder McNamara is going to treat you like an outsider, because you are an outsider to their group. You (the player) weren't even born into the BoS. There may be a few minor conversation options that are a bit off, but I don't see any major issues with it.

"The first conversation with Veronica will be a bit weird" Not just a bit, imo. Since you have no way to roleplay that through dialogue or quests, you'd have to do the lion's share of the lore as headcanon. Far from ideal, I'd say. I agree that what you propose would work nicely as a motivation but would also require heavy modding to make it even remotely seamless.

 

Edit: Unless ofcourse, getting shot in the head makes you forget all about DC, being a Knight and so on. That would work, I guess. But then there are way too few dialogue options about not knowing your past (to me).

[madmongo]

I didn't look through much of Veronica's dialog, but she does have a line that says "Uh-uh, I don't think so" (vnpcfollow_guardtrespass_0015871a_1).

 

You could make a pretty simple mod that gives you the option to say that you are from the east coast Brotherhood when she asks what you think about the Brotherhood of Steel, and have her respond with that "I don't think so" line to indicate that she doesn't believe you. The Hidden Valley BoS is going to treat you like an outsider no matter what since you weren't born into the Brotherhood.

 

I would have to do a full playthrough to see what else would need to change, but I suspect a fairly simple mod with a few well-placed dialog options would do the trick. The hard part is going through all of the dialog options to find some fragment or full dialog line that you can use to make the new dialog options.

[c0ckt4il]

I guess... that'd be barebones at best though. I mean, having finished Broken Steel (and possibly RTC) you come as a fairly high-ranking member of the east BoS. Knight of Lyon's Pride, Hero and Savior of the Capital Wasteland, arch-nemesis of the Enclave (and its remnants), With all that and possibly more, I don't think "a few well-placed dialog options would do the trick" in an adequate manner for convincing roleplaying. Atleast not for me. Maybe I underestimate the possibilities of splicing existing dialogue lines but I can't see how that'd be enough for the myriad of new dynamics across many characters and factions in the Mojave. Not to mention that the lore that happens between your departure from Union Station and getting shot in the head seems significantly harder to account for after finishing Broken Steel.

So I'm still of the mind of placing Vault 112 in the Mojave. Having the transition happen somewhat in the middle of the Fo3 main story just seems way better to me. You're more likely a lower level, so getting jumped by a gimp in a chequered suit with a 9mm and his meth-cooking goons seems far more likely then, than for a high-level and highly experienced BoS Knight. Who's also probably wearing Powerarmor and wielding genocide-capable weaponry. Also having to move to the Mojave in search of your father just seems more of a fitting and personal motivation, since it's somewhat also the only convincingly provided motivation for the PC in Fo3.

 

Edit: I mean no disrespect. I'd also love a way to have the Mojave part adequately reflect my PC's experiences and accomplishments in DC. I just don't see how having a handful of dialogue options (off which all go along the lines of "I don't care/believe you") could do that [for me].

[madmongo]

Edit: I mean no disrespect. I'd also love a way to have the Mojave part adequately reflect my PC's experiences and accomplishments in DC. I just don't see how having a handful of dialogue options (off which all go along the lines of "I don't care/believe you") could do that [for me].

I didn't take it as disrespect, so no worries. Everybody had their own ideas and preferences. I was just throwing my ideas out there. Feel free to do what you want with them, or completely ignore them if you prefer. I'm not offended either way.

[laclongquan]

Vault 112 is NOT going to be in Mojave for story reason

 

1. Dad's holotape in Jefferson Memorial (project purity) does mention the vault is in a garage somewhere near Evergreen Mills.

2. Dr Pinkerton's terminal in the Broken Bow, Rivet City, does have notes about he once visit V112 and steal data from there, part of which he used to create fake memory to implant into Harkness

3. Vault Tek HQ mainframe does contain some data about V112 in DC region, though the precise location is delete by person unknown.

4. Citadel Library does have one terminal with data about V112.

 

It's in writing, so doing thing your way is going to need retcon in at least 4 different group of notes. Otherwise your plan will have too many story holes to ignore. (mind you, if you are going to work your ways through all those notes just to build your case, I am willing to try your work of love).

----

People here mention about Vault Wanderer being the person to recontact West BoS.

 

It is a GOOD reason because it's not a time limit like most reason you would find. You also have reason to wander all over NCR all those years if need be, just to search for BOS clue.

Edited July 10, 2023 by laclongquan