Benny as a Follower/Companion

[someguynamedjoe]

Same here. I wanted to make a Marilyn companion.

[drg6525]

Since I've been asked by multiple users about my progress on this mod, I'll just post an answer here for everyone;

 

I've been on a hiatus dealing with some real-life issues and been swamped with work when I wasn't, and as such I haven't had time to work on this at all. I can't give an ETA on this, nor can I even really pick it up right now until Obsidian releases an updated G.E.C.K. that's compatible with the latest patch. I will say, though, that I haven't given up on this, nor do I enjoy dragging my projects out as long as possible.

 

Again, my apologies to those who have been eagerly waiting on this since I first (perhaps mistakenly) announced I was working on it.

[someguynamedjoe]

Hey, no worries Drg. Your personal life is more important than modding. :)

 

But I won't lie when I say I'm really glad to hear this project wasn't abandoned.

[nivea]

I am glad to hear its not tossed too, ah real life how you can kill our modding time. D:

[MajikMoshos]

Interesting concept here.

 

This is a very interesting initiative; I guess we all have hoped to find Benny waiting for us and wailing to join us once we liberated him from the Fort, but there was nothing …

Benny could have been a great companion with a strong personality!

Still this topic gave me hope to see this realized!

 

For the recruiting I think that Benny should be the hardest companion to acquire! Why? Because he is the main antagonist and I’m not talking about the Courier, Caesar and Mr. House want him dead too … and because his is a man capable to change things! He knows what is needed to be done, he has a goal and he can do it alone! He and the Courier are rivals none depends on the other, and both have their own reasons to hate each other … still if they have the same goal they could work together and even if hardly they could find a compromise and become Partners, but if the Courier are getting away from the Independent Vegas scenario he could expect a deadly betrayal from Benny!

 

Recruiting:

Like I said before, Benny should be hard to acquire and teaming with him would make many unhappy! There are three scenarios that I found interesting:

- Help Him escape the Fort: this will confront the courier to the entire legion, he will become vilified. But still Benny will be grateful and wait for the Courier outside the Fort.

- Untie Him after being crucified: if the Courier want to torture Benny for what he did to him, and to avoid fighting against Caesar and his praetorian guards, this is the scenario to take, still the legionaries will be maddened and vilify him! after untying Benny, he will have his legs and arms crippled, and even if saved he will hates the Courier and look forward for a revenge!

 

- Buy him as slave: if the Courier is a pro-legion, this scenario is for him, but this option will require a high speak and barter skills! At least 60 or 70! If Caesar is convinced to sell Benny he will demand 2000caps negotiable, if the Courier don’t have that money, Caesar will give him 3days if he don’t collect the money Benny will be crucified!

 

The Perks:

(My Favorite) Ace Top: (sorry I didn’t find a better name)

Wearing Pre-War stuff gives bonus:

The Suits: Increase AP regeneration (with bonus on each kill), damages with one handed gun & gives bonus DT based on Charisma/1.5 + 1.5.

The Outfits: half AP regeneration (no bonus on kill), same damage bonus with one handed gun & gives DT bonus based on CHR/2 + 1.

The Dirty ones: same as above but decrease AP & Damage bonuses and DT bonus = CHR/1.5 or 2.

The Pre-War Hats: Decrease gun spread, Increase accuracy in VATS with one handed weapon.

 

This fit with the stylish spirit of Benny, and sometime I get sick of the power armor and want to experience a more stylish touch!

 

Courier Killer:

Your shot in the head experience with Benny fashioned your own style:

You gain bonus limb damage to Head (against NPC)! Headshot kills gives bonus AP & decrease AP cost for a short period! Oh and each time the courier is hit in the head he gains AP!

 

Grimy Backstabber:

From teaming up with Benny you learned to constantly watch your back but also to observe others and wait for the perfect moment to strike!

You gain bonus DT against backstabbing attacks! As you ignore enemies DT while backstabbing them, those who are reloading suffer the same fate!

Stealth kills will restore AP and you gain bonus to the first attack on friendly NPCs!

 

Benny and Mr. House:

If you choose not to buy Benny as a slave, he will meet you outside the fort and if you didn’t kill Mr. House yet, he will tell you that he would not accompany you until you dealt with him, and till Mr. House is out of the party he will wait for the Courier in an abandoned Shake (when you fire him)! Benny will also refuse to enter the Strip when Mr. House is still alive so when approaching from the Strip/Freeside’s Entrance he will start a conversation where he tells you that he will be waiting for you in freeside’s atomic wrangler!

If you don’t kill Mr. House and let Benny waiting for too long, he will start a conversation where he’ll tell the Courier that he’s going to take the wheels from now, and then he’ll head to the Strip in order to settle things with House, the Securitrons will turn hostiles then. After dealing with the Securitrons Benny will continue his way to the Lucky38 and then after battling with the robots in the casino he’ll wait for the Courier in order to confront him or to join him and head together to the penthouse where they could deal with House once for all!

 

Such acting may sound very stupid especially from Benny, but thing about it. He’s targeted by the legion! He cannot access to the strip without Mr. House being aware of his presence, and has almost nowhere to go; his fantastic project for New Vegas is standby, so with this frustration he will loose control and try to spoil it for the Courier if this one is pro Mr. House.

Also if you let Benny for freeside for a long time, he’ll hire some body guards and team up with the kings (if their relation with the NCR is bad)! Together they’ll head to the strip and when battling with the Securitron, he will enter the Lucky 38 and wait for the Courier!

Of course this plan could be desperate too; Benny could head alone or dies in the battle as he could have a greater team and better chance fighting with the Securitons! (During that time Mr. House’s robots will turn hostiles to the courier too)

It will be interesting to have dialog option with Mr. House where things could be explained, if the Courier decide to be faithful to him and kills Benny inside the Lucky 38!

 

Benny and the Legion:

If you help Benny escape the Fort, there will be no chance to work with the Legion again! But if you buy him as a slave, Caesar will put a slave collar on him, and tell you that this device will explode after an amount of time so you’ll have to deal with Mr. House first in order to deactivate it! Being a slave Benny will accompany you wherever you go even inside the Fort, the Strip & the Lucky 38!

 

Benny and the Courier:

The relation between Benny and the Courier is very special, they both will play an important role in the future of New Vegas, and they have both the power and the know-how to change it!

Benny wants the Independence of New Vegas, but he also wants it for him alone! He’s obsessed with power and won’t hesitate to shot anyone in his way for it!

If the Courier team up with Benny he will have to watch his back because he is not a person to trust, he shot him once and he tricked him in the Tops and even if it didn’t end very well for him since then, he won’t hesitate to kill him once he gets in his way!

Still Benny has some sense of honor and won’t forget that he owe his life to his enemy once this last saved him from the claws of Caesar, if he and the Courier work together toward the Independence of New Vegas a sort of friendship could come out between the two!

So I think about four levels to situate the special relation between them:

 

- Lovers: (only with female characters, this statue could be reached easily with the Black Widow’s Perk) ---- Almost No chance to get betrayed.

- Partners: (If you’re doing right with Benny, follow the independence of Vegas option, and give him no reason to betray you) ----- very minor probability to get Betrayed!

- Rivals: (Benny will consider you rival no matter what you do) ----- you’ll be betrayed for sure!

- Worst Nightmares! (Benny hates the Courier and wants his death) ------ Watch your back if he’s still a companion ….and even if not!

 

Playing with an Independent NPC and a Backstabber:

One thing to consider about Benny, is that he’s totally independent from the Courier even if he owes him his life, he wants the Independence of New Vegas, the Power and nothing else so he can betray the Courier should this one give him a good reason!

And as an Independent NPC, Benny should have a very special AI behavior; he can loot for himself and even attack some NPCs (I’m thinking about the Omerta’s leaders once he discovers their plot and S*censored* who betrayed him....and maybe even the freaks of the WGS if you take him to their basement).

Another special thing about Benny is that he can travel alone, for example if he’s waiting in the abandoned shack (before the death of Mr. House) you can find the place empty once you returned, you can find a note that you may activate and read where he’s gone, so you can find him in a motel in Novac or Freeside….or other random places!

Why this? First, because he’s working too, he’s plotting against the Courier or Mr. House, so don’t be surprised if when arriving at Novac some Mercs will be waiting for you! And second because until he’s not secured in the Strip, his life’s at stake!

Note that Benny behavior will depend of his esteem toward the Courier, if he’s in love with her or consider her/him as partner he will always leave a message about his current position (I think about a note that could not be picked but just activated and display the current position of Benny). If he considers him as Rival he will not often tell him where he is going so the only way to find him is to travel randomly to some towns or wait a day or two and return to the spot! And of course there will be a chance for betrayal once the occasion presents itself! When he and the Courier are Worst Enemies, he will try to kill him once his back is turned, and will not hesitate to turn hostile at the slight occasion, such as having low HP or battling against tough opponent … et cetera!

 

To gain the esteem of Benny, the character should not do any quest for the NCR or the Legion! Nor helps them in any way! He should choose the right dialog lines and give him some gifts from time to time! I though about a quest, that will help you getting in the Benny’s good graces!

 

The Quest: The Top Manager

A kind of Side Bet quest, Benny and the Courier will have to prepare New Vegas for its future, and be sure that the other families won’t screw it up! So you should help him to get the Tops on the Top of the Strip! Get support from the King, the Followers and residents of Outer Vegas, you should also deal with the fiends in order to obtain a more secured New Vegas!

It’s not really a quest because investigating Gomorrah, aiding the Followers & the Kings, killing the fiend’s leaders are quests the Courier can take whenever he want but this quest is there to force the Courier to have the better ending for Vegas and also to gain esteem from Benny!

It will be better to help the Tops to perfection their casino and become the true leaders of the Strip!

 

Another thing that will be great is to make collaboration between “Benny as follower mod” and “Run the Lucky38!” Or at least create a patch that will permit Benny and the Courier to run their casino after the death of Mr. House!

 

 

Now I've just had a little idea about his loyalty quest - when I first entered the strip, one of the first things I noticed was The Tops - in particular, the damage to the upper floors, viewable from the strip. Not knowing anything about what was to come, I thought to myself "Ah, that's probably where we'll have a big encounter with benny". This didn't come to pass, dissappointing to say the least.

 

So what I'm thinking is taking Benny's big loyalty quest lead to a showdown at the exposed section. Force it to play at nighttime so we can see some lovely lights (made better by any visual-enhancing mods out there) and give a potentially dramatic shootout (that can be avoided through stealth/speech checks).

Now I imagine you could go after every high-ranking chairman in the tops, either convincing them to support Benny through favours/speech checks or taking them out appropriately. Some would be in the tops - others attend matters outside the casino and the strip. Eventually this leads to chasing the Leader (who usurped Benny's position following his capture) to this location when he's alerted of the other's deaths/betrayl. Get to him before his escape, and choose whether you want to finish him off yourself or let Benny fight him in a knife fight for supremacy. You can intervene, but this likley won't go down well with Benny unless you're his lover. Benny ultimately wins this match, forcing his rival to fall to his death. Now if you don't get to him fast enough, he'll make a getaway on a private vertibird. You get the option to shoot it down or let it leave. Either way, your choices on how to handle the Tops Boss affects Benny's ultimate outcome/ending and the speech checks required for his new perks.

 

The only problem I'm starting to see here is the dialouge issue. Unless someone is extremley skilled at audio programs, it'll be a little jarring to hear poorley copypasta'd voice acting (unlike simply re-cutting for quick companion quips). Using a good sound program however gives us the potential to make the dialouge blend in nicely. Alternatively, we'd need someone could could do a good imitation of Matthew Perry/Benny's voice.

 

Anyway, I really hope we get a good collection of modders to get together for this mod to make it something special.

Edited May 2, 2011 by MajikMoshos

[geekminxen]

Hey, no worries Drg. Your personal life is more important than modding. :)

 

But I won't lie when I say I'm really glad to hear this project wasn't abandoned.

 

I second all of this wholeheartedly-- real life should always come first, and dude, hope you are okay. :)

 

But I'm also very glad to know you haven't abandoned the mod altogether. I'm planning on buying the game again for PC *JUST* to play this mod. :D

[eliralena]

Since I've been asked by multiple users about my progress on this mod, I'll just post an answer here for everyone;

 

I've been on a hiatus dealing with some real-life issues and been swamped with work when I wasn't, and as such I haven't had time to work on this at all. I can't give an ETA on this, nor can I even really pick it up right now until Obsidian releases an updated G.E.C.K. that's compatible with the latest patch. I will say, though, that I haven't given up on this, nor do I enjoy dragging my projects out as long as possible.

 

Again, my apologies to those who have been eagerly waiting on this since I first (perhaps mistakenly) announced I was working on it.

 

I felt like a bug when I sent you PMs on a kind of regular basis... glad to hear I wasn't the only one... Yes, real life does come before a game and editting... n.n and I am really glad you didn't abondon this project! I had an idea to throw out there since I know that characters tend to stop talking all together after a certain point... Maybe, just throwing this out there... As a simple modding suggestion...

 

What you should do is create a 'whole' new benny, one that is of course Benny but isn't scripted in with the original Benny... I don't know why people didn't think of this for Mister Burke in FO3 when they wanted to make it so then he's there... If someone can great Dogmeat for FONV Benny shouldn't be too hard to recreate. You've got the whiny little Dogmeat... >.> Benny using his voice etc... But a whole new NPC (though it being a copy-cat of Benny himself) I think would help...

 

Now I'm going on a tangent... What I'm saying is...

 

Dogmeat, in FONV... WORKS

 

In FO3, someone fixed Mister Burke to Join up with you AFTER you woo him, and made it so then you could be a good guy... Bug in the system- He won't talk to you after the intial joining...

 

Easiest solution for that, which I was gonna try and work on but I don't know the first thing about making a companion.

 

"Have him say something about Tenpenny tower... Recreate him at Tenpenny tower as an extra mod... >.> Meet up with him... OMG it's a Mister Burke Companion that would work..

 

I have a feeling Benny might have the same problem after you have him join up with you... The whole not talking... So creating a new npc that looks, acts, and has the same name may work better... It'd still be Benny, and no one would be the wiser... he'd just have a different code... Big Whoop!

[someguynamedjoe]

I second all of this wholeheartedly-- real life should always come first, and dude, hope you are okay. :)

 

But I'm also very glad to know you haven't abandoned the mod altogether. I'm planning on buying the game again for PC *JUST* to play this mod. :D

Hehe, yeah, I always tell people that if they want Fallout 3 or FONV, to get it for the PC just for the mods.

[buffalowvegas]

So in reAl life you want the one Thad tried to kill you as friend ? Wierdo

[geekminxen]

So in reAl life

 

 

Oh, I'm sorry, I thought it was a game. (/smartass)

 

Seriously, though-- 1. Yes, I'm a weirdo. 2. Playing the game with Black Widow gives the player a whole different, ah, angle on Benny. <g>

 

Really, I don't understand people who poke their heads into threads they disagree with just so they can disagree with it. Dude. We're all goofy geeks about something or we wouldn't be here in the first place. :>