The Divide Expanded

[devinpatterson]

Anyways, are you guys modders, or do you know any we can work with?

or do we need to flesh it out more?

 

I'v done a bit of modding and can usually stumble through most projects.

[Nexusaurus]

EDIT: Devinpatterson, do you think you could just set up the skeleton by plopping a few settlers and guards in the divide to see what happens, or am I underestimating how difficult that is?

 

Heck, I don't even know what a GECK is. the closest I've come to modding was adding a attributes to units in starcraft.

 

I'm thinking of some characters for the DDC. I don't have names though.

 

1. the general, see above.

 

2. the sub generals who he is always feuding with.

 

3. the head of the wasteland exploration task force. he/she is the one conducting diplomatic talks and international assaults on bandits, PR stuff, essentially. hides his/her emotions under a cheerful facade. very charismatic, and always ready to pose for a good photograph. approaches everything cautiously and methodically, positioning his troops so that they may crush the enemy with a minimum of casualties.

may or may not secretly have some leanings toward the potential traitor advisors.

 

4. head of the Divide Merchant Organisation. he/she is a shrewd character, who always works to get the most money out of a deal, but rumors say he can't maintain that sharp mind without some chemical helpers.

 

5. internal affairs officer. Very loyal to the general. keeps the peace, kills abominations, investigates treachery in the upper echelons of command.

toying with him/her suffering fatal "accident" for knowing too much. very much the epitome of zealous, he/she is always the first to rush in, but pride may prevent admitting that he/she is in trouble.

 

6. General's second in command and one of his few loyal subordinates. a possible companion. An albino, he won't be seen during the day without full elite riot armor, possibly drunk.

he is a callous, young sounding male, and sticks to the general, possibly out of professional admiration. He enjoys killing, and has known connections with the legion. if dialogue is added, then you may find a few lines about Vulpes Inculta being a drinking buddy/father figure to him. potential black humor source.

 

7. head researcher. always looking for new ways to improve life in the divide. very serious. he/she knows in this place, a good piece of hardware can be the difference between life and death, so he always works diligently. hates the BoS with a passion, due to the fact that they do not share thier tech with those who need it the most. possible resentment due to childhood incident.

 

8. resources officer. in charge of logistics, economy, and resources. the one who categorizes the supplies and sees to the needs of the settlers. not much beyond that as of yet.

 

if you want to add more or have different ideas about a character, let me know.

Edited March 19, 2014 by Nexusaurus

[sgtKraigO]

I'm just not liking the idea of a military run state, even if its run by an ideal person. Also if he has so many people who are planning on betraying him, how did he get into power in the first place? Also I would like to see a hunters guild in there. The founder could be the one that tasks the player with wiping out the Tunnelers as (s)he sees them as the real threat to not only the Divide but the Mojave, but no one else will listen to them because of the Marked Men threat and the NCR trying to annex them.

 

One thing I just realized is, where would Ulysses come into in all of this? Would he be back at his home where you and him face off? Would he leave to explore the world feeling as though the new Divide is in better hands now? Would he join them and help build a new nation? (Although this one would be weird since his dialog wouldn't match with the story.)

[Nexusaurus]

first off, the General is trying to get rid of his past. he and his allies were high officials in the NCR, and they've seen enough war to not want it anymore.

they have seen how awful war is firsthand, and don't want their people to go through that. I thought about going with civilians, but would they really last that long in the divide? a military or ex-military presence would be needed to keep them alive through the toughest stage: colonization. also, I thought that a group of soldiers trying to atone for the sins they committed and conquer their own demons would make for a more compelling story, and fit in with the courier's goal (probably redemption for accidentally killing everyone there a while ago. he could empathize with these people, and have a good motive to help them.)

the general is more of a president, with various other representatives that can add input and vote. I may have misstated how alone he was.

he still has roughly 40% of the council on his side.

the reason the general holds on is because, while he does not have the support of most of the council, he has a large power base from the people.

The people like him because he is one of the few who advocate peace and not just more violence. the only way the council can win this is to disgrace him and get the people to lose faith in him. if they just killed him outright, the people would not stand for it. as for the average DDC soldier, I think it would be about 50/50 on each side.

 

as for the hunting guild, that sounds great, but I don't want to infringe as much in what is clearly your vision.

I can totally see that happening, though. maybe the internal affairs officer, being reckless, needs to be convinced by you and the guild about the problem to get things done?

 

and as for ulysses, there are two options I can think of.

1. if you killed him, he does not show up, obviously.

2. He shows up as a random encounter, wandering the wastelands and helping keep the peace. he has gone through a lot, and I don't think he would want power, just to keep his people safe. I imagine him as a sort of Batman of the Divide, wandering the wastes, protecting those in danger. an example would be you stumbling on a caravan attacked by tunnelers, and suddenly Ulysses appears, helps them fend off the beasts, and vanish into the storms. he could also appear in the general's meetings, dispense some warnings or advice, and disappear again. since we obviously can't get the voice actor, and I think the role suits him, I imagine him as an aloof, mysterious man of justice. also, this way we don't need to edit his dialogue and get all non-lorey.

 

I think I answered all of your questions.

Edited March 19, 2014 by Nexusaurus

[sgtKraigO]

In order for him to give advice he would have too talk. Also they aren't his people, his people were wiped out by the legion.

 

I'm still not sold on the general being in power. I could see him having some military background (Maybe he was the one that gave the orders at Bitter Springs) but I don't like the idea of someone having absolute control over the military, economy, R&D, etc etc. because absolute power corrupts absolutely. I think the general could be someone else but keep the character you created but have him the president and put someone else in charge of the military this could be where the friction comes from. The general could be trying to kick the president out and set up a autocratic stratocracy because he believes it's the best future available for the new nation and he's the man that can do it, but he doesn't realize the problems that come with that. This could also allow more aggressive players to choose the coup d'etat route.

 

The problem with this mod though is that no one, besides devin, has an interest in making it (at least from what I can tell due to the lack of comments). I would like to see your original idea of just placing NPCs around in one area, alter some stuff and there you go. But I also would enjoy quests and seeing new characters and villages but that takes time to create.

[Nexusaurus]

I get where your going, and it makes sense. Maybe it could be a choice. what would happen is that if you side with the general, then you can still bring peace to the city, but it will be much harder due to inner turmoil as well.

 

but you are probably right. the most likely result is a small mod that just adds settlers and guards around the Divide. I think if that happens, then the description of the lore of the country could go in the mod description, along with a message asking for more modders to help. I think this mod could gain some traction if we uploaded a bare bones version with generic NPCs and no quests. It may not be much, but the fact that we were willing to go that far will put us far above what most mod ideas get to, thus increasing the odds of the mod expanding and updating from there.

[Deleted10954978User]

Yeah, but I think that there does not need to be a straight up villain either. You could choose whatever side you wanted, and work with them to bring them to power peacefully or through violence.

[Nexusaurus]

Yeah, I was thinking if the mod progresses more than a few settlers, I'd like to keep the shades of grey as opposed to the black and white moral choices that are normally put in the game.

also, just out of curiosity, is anyone working on the mod?

[sgtKraigO]

If I get the spare time I could try starting the mod and then hand it over to someone more experienced. It wont be much and I'm not sure when I will get the spare time but I will try.

[Deleted10954978User]

Yeah I think that is nexusaurus's plan. he said:

"the most likely result is a small mod that just adds settlers and guards around the Divide. I think if that happens, then the description of the lore of the country could go in the mod description, along with a message asking for more modders to help. I think this mod could gain some traction if we uploaded a bare bones version with generic NPCs and no quests. It may not be much, but the fact that we were willing to go that far will put us far above what most mod ideas get to, thus increasing the odds of the mod expanding and updating from there."

 

so if you or someone could just place down some settlers and get it uploaded, it's more likely to get the attention of people who are better at modding. people are more willing to invest their time in something solid and concrete rather than pure ideas.

even if the mod starts at pre-alpha stage, it's better than nothing.

Edited March 20, 2014 by Guest