Legion Improvement Ideas (Story and Lore centric!)

[Mr Lepidus]

Caesar's Legion is an awesome faction in concept; however, in execution, it's too weak and laughably shallow in implementation. While modders like CaesarInvictus have done well to beef up the Legion's strength, there is only so much modders can do, especially with New Vegas so early in its life cycle. Therefore, I've come up with this wish-list of ideal Legion Improvements. Comments, criticisms, and suggestions are welcome!

 

1. Divide the map geographically to represent the schism between NCR and Legion land.

 

In New Vegas, the New California Republic has way too much territory for there to be a balanced view of the Legion and NCR. I think that if we were to split the map into 2/5 NCR Territory, 2/5 Legion Territory and 1/5 New Vegas territory, then we could get a more fair view of the factions. Both the NCR and Legion would have a small settlement or two where civilians live. There, we could see what it's like to be a citizen of either faction. We could get hard evidence of the pros and cons of the two factions instead of just NPC rumors. For instance, the NCR territory might be slave free and have gender equality, but it would also be dangerous, poorly managed and burdened with taxes, as well as having the rich profit shamelessly at the expense of the poor. Conversely, the Legion settlement might have slaves, patriarchal values, and brutal means of justice, but it might also be very safe, fair to merchants, and free of poverty, chems, prostitutes and the like. This way, we could see more of the Legion and the player would be forced to realize that they aren't "uber evilzorz!!!@2121!!!" (I use that phrase satirically...)

 

2. Make the soldiers stronger and more diverse, and change their clothes up a bit.

 

As much as I love the Roman Empire, I acknowledge that the Legion cannot be an exact copy of Roman civilization. That said, the Legion should have a stronger army. The troops should have access to better armor and equipment. I know that Gladii, Pila, and Scuta have already been (very well) crafted by modders, and I think that's great. That said, I think that chainmail and Caesar-era helmets (Coolus-pattern helmets) should be added to the Legion's equipment roster, perhaps in elite squadrons, or perhaps only to Legate Lanius' soldiers. Also, the Praetorian Guards should have nicer, cleaner clothing, since they are Caesar's personal guards, and therefore deserve the best equipment. This addition of Roman-style armor would be welcome to the game. Also, pants should find their way onto the Legionaries occasionally.

 

I touched upon this briefly, but I think that heavy squadrons of Legionaries should be added to the game to make the Legion more worthwhile to side with, and to increase challenge for NCR players. Caesar's best men should be equipped with chain guns, rocket launchers and Super-Sledges. Of course, if these weapons are added to the Legion, the presence of NCR Heavy Troopers should be increased to make things fair...

 

3. Have a merchant to balance out the Hoover Dam Quartermaster with insane amounts of ammo!

 

So, if you play as NCR, you get access to the Hoover Dam Quartermaster, who has incredible stockpiles of ammunition. The Legion should have an "Endgame Merchant" like this guy, too.

 

4. Go into more detail with Vulpes Inculta and the Frumentarii.

 

This guy was awesome to begin, but then turned boring as the game went on. There is no reason for such a decline in detail for a man so devilishly talented and evil as Vulpes Inculta! Rather, there should be more Frumentarii quests that involve infiltrating New Vegas and NCR land to sabotage them and their efforts. These quests could be spectacularly fun and well written, and perhaps, one could even get Vulpes as a companion. He could also teach you how to disguise yourself better, since you will be in hostile territory so much.

 

5. Become Caesar's Legate!

 

If you pass certain checks, you should be able to convince Caesar that you are more worthy to be Legate. From there, you would have to duel the Legate one-on-one. If you defeat him, you get to become Legate, pick a Latin name (like we were able to choose Crime Family names in New Reno in Fallout 2), and pick you own Legate Armor. Then, you could call squadrons of Legionaries to your aid in battle. The only down-side to being the Legate is that it automatically disallows you from entering New Vegas or NCR territory without getting attacked on sight.

 

 

Again, please tell me what you think!

[ngin890]

I completely agree with you and I think you have some great ideas. I especially like the Legate idea for then you can get the Lanius's stuff and still be legion and to call in legion troops would be like the NCR's emergency radio, which the game neglects to give you something similar if you are legion. Also I completely agree with your ideas for Vulpes and I to was greatly disappointed when I could only get three measly quests from him, only one being truly worthy in my opinion. Also something that I was shocked that they didn't have was that Legion troops don't have full confidence so they can't run! I don't know how many times I have heard NPCs say that the legion is fearless and fights to the death and then I put one bullet in one of them and they hightail it out of here. Truly pathetic. Also some more legion quests would be nice for there are tons of NCR and very few legion. Edited December 21, 2010 by ngin890

[minngarm]

Really like your overall concepts, however I have to say I feel some of them are not quite fitting in the lore/cannon environment of new vegas. Correct me if im wrong on any of these, but, for starters I do believe that the territory NV takes place in IS NCR territory and the legion is only just invading it, having been repelled previously. Also with the backstory to the legion it would suggest that the majority of the legion is spread out acrossed their own territory and ever expanding, thus it is taking them years to wrap up other campaigns to mass the troops needed to crush the dam and vegas. Also they are not supposed to be acrossed the river, and only send out a handful of patrols to cut off the supply and comm lines for the NCR, as well as to keep them guessing as to where exactly the legion is coming from (on this side of the river.)

 

I also think the armor they wear is not based off the true legions but rather that of the casinos/hotels that were always such a iconic trademark in vegas, which are really not that accurate to history, but play more towards the theatrical.

 

Now if there was a quest or series of quests to further reinforce the legions beachhead on the west side of the river, that could easily result in mass legion patrols all over the mojave which would really pay off well for legion siding players. I do agree they need to be beefed up, just last night I followed a 4 man NCR patrol up to Novac who easily rolled over 2 legion ambushs' totalying 8 legionaires hitting the NCR from either side. Perhaps just upping their strength overall, giving them the heave ho perk, or just retooling throwing speers to do more damage and knockdown would really make the legion what it should be. I get that the NCR is better equiped and on a one on one fight at range the legion would not stand a chance. But legionaires are conditioned and trained from childhood to fight fanaticaly for the legion, while underequiped, they are far better soldiers, and they outnumber the NCR on what should be a 3 or 4 to 1 ratio.

 

The underpowered state of the legion really conflicts with the storyline as the NCR is supposed to be just barely holding its own, yet as mentioned above they can send a 4 man squad of joes out and wipe out a half a platoon of legionaires without any casualities.

[mdingman]

Show the civilian side of the legion, because there is one(not neccessarily put settlements outside Legion territory but put them on the Arizona side of the river). they should also be portrayed more fairly. People think that just because of Nipton that the legion is a bunch of murdering a**holes, while they really are the wasteland's best hope for a stable, just, and strong society. Also, the legion should drop the stupid football armor and just use salvaged power armor like the centurions.

 

In adddition, I think that there should be more quests for the Legion. Since there are so many quests for NCR to help prepare to defend against the invasion, i think that the Legion should have more quests to sabotage the NCR and help prepare them to invade. Off the top of my head, I can remember 4 Legion sidequests.

1:Cold, cold, heart

2:the one where you fix the howitzer

3:The one where you rescue the informant from the omertas

4:the one where you blow up the train.

 

and, @ minngarm, the legion armor and basically everything about them is based on a cache of history books about the Romans that Caesar found while he was still a Follower of the Apocolypse

 

Other than that, the armor improvements/gameplay improvements that have been listed above are excellent suggestions.

Edited May 24, 2011 by mdingman