A Heaven Unto Stars

[omega549]

A Heaven Unto Stars

I’m designing a mod, the basic outline is this:

Upon beginning (preferably on a new save) the player receives a message on their pipboy:

 

You have received a message; the contents are brief and simple, giving locations to an area north of Vegas, signed only with “Find the Key”

Before continuing, it might be best to consider who could manipulate your pipboy and, more importantly, what their motives may be.

 

When you travel to the location, it appears as though it is a depilated house, broken and in disrepair. Upon examining it, you discover hidden in the basement is the entrance to a bunker. The message:

 

Good, you’ve found what has been hidden yet not what it holds. Do not judge lightly, for this path holds danger, drawing your destiny near. At the end, in a place you know, lies the answer to your quest.

 

The bunker is small and indescript, holding little loot. However, at the end is a single room, finely furnished, with a picture of Mr. House on the back wall. Its then you receive this message:

 

So you have found it. Good. By now I assume you know, this is House, Mr. House. I am communicating to you through your pipboy, an interface I designed myself. I know its capabilities and will give you directions from now on.

Do not play coy; I expect prudence on this matter. You are free to choose not to obey, but you must know the 38’ is locked off till the task is complete.

Do not disappoint me.

 

This is the beginning of the mod.

 

The quests are:

1) Lord Over Me

2) How Can’t it be

3) Silver and Gold

4) Seven of the Sum

5) No Guardian

6) To Burn the Sky

7) Heaven’s only Gaze

 

The quests will follow this. With what was above mentioned, you leave the bunker and go to the north of vegas, by the lodge with the supermutants. Hidden in a building is a huge military complex, Everyn Bunker. It is devastated in delapitated.

 

The player encounters a locked door which has no apparent key. Mr house informs you to return to the lucky 38 (the elevator is inoperable, so as this quest must be done before you can kill house) and enter a vault hidden below. After traveling through a relatively average industrial vault, you come to a door to some caves. In the caves are various storage rooms and a single advanced vault room, holding a figure in a stasis chamber, who is none other than Constantine Chase.

 

Another chamber is close by, house tells the player to enter, and then you enter Chase’s memories.

 

You search the now completely clean bunker, find his computer, and activate the terminal to get his keycode.

Returning to the present, you enter the bunker and activate chase’s terminal. Its then House tells you what the bunker is.

 

It’s a EMP control node, for the US built a EMP system throughout the Rockies in case the Chinese ever landed in the west and marched over them. The system is a small scale missile that is detonated ½ mile abouve the ground to create a 30 mile radius EMP shockwave.

 

Mr house needs you to set off the shockwave in order to reset the west coast satellite relay system.

Knowing the bases defenses need to be deactivated, house makes you detonate them to cripple it (the shielding was damaged when the bombs fell).

The base goes into lockdown and it is necessary to restart the power systems and enter the mainframe uplink center to give control of what remains of the US satellite system to house. You then go to the lucky 38 and continue your game regularly.

 

No voiceacting is required, all messages will be screen popups and pipboy notes.

 

Now for the discussion, if you like the mod concept comment, but what I need is help.

 

I have made a recent mod, http://newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=40515, it expands the lucky 38. I intended for it just to be a house mod, but decided in history 380 class today that im making a quest mod.

 

But I need alotta help making the quests and scripts.

 

I will design every level in the mod if it needs be; in fact I’ve already started. I you are wondering over the quality of the levels, view my mod to determine if I’m a good modder. I believe I make good levels.

 

If you want to collaborate let me know, I will give anyone full administrative access and we could make it, the quest wont be difficult, the hardest thing will be making a script for lighting changes (when the base goes into lockdown, and when the EMP turns them all off) and the quests will be average stuff not requiring a lot of attention. But if wan to be apart of something very, very good, likely to be the best quest mod for New Vegas released, please let me know.

 

So let me know or comment please, I would love to see this mod made, I’ve already put about 40 hours into the layout of the Lucky 38 and can easily make the levels required by the middle of next week. If you can make quests PM me or comment.

[Glenstorm]

It's a very good quest idea. Although it would be better if you modify the mod such that players who followed the Indy New Vegas path can also play it (Mr. House being dead at that point).

 

P.S. If you haven't found anyone to do the scripting by middle May, let me know. I'm currently busy with something else. Although the mod being still like this for that long is very unlikely.

Edited March 1, 2011 by Glenstorm

[omega549]

It's a very good quest idea. Although it would be better if you modify the mod such that players who followed the Indy New Vegas path can also play it (Mr. House being dead at that point).

 

P.S. If you haven't found anyone to do the scripting by middle May, let me know. I'm currently busy with something else. Although the mod being still like this for that long is very unlikely.

 

Im kinda planning on the mod having to have been completed before ever meeting Mr. House face to face by locking the elevator on the quest beginning, therefore it would require a new save, or maybe if it was with yes man, an old one, it just breaks immersion if you get quests by notes then go met house in person and talk to him, i think this is like a precursor, to prove you can enter the lucky 38, that way the decisions wont matter. Its alittle hard scripting, but it would remove all the headaches with dealing with yes man and house actual scripts. cause this only makes sense if you did it with house, maybe yes man but he wouldnt have much ambition to i dont think. Well have to wait and see what people who do the questing think. I can only really make the levels.

[someguynamedjoe]

Is there a reward for this quest...?

[omega549]

Is there a reward for this quest...?

 

Haven't really decided what it will be, part of it will be the fact that im turning the Lucky 38 into one of the best house mods already anyway, so that would be a reward i guess. Right now i would love to do something, but it would depend on the people who would help me make it. I dont really know what you could do, make some unique military weapons and armor, something to do with satelittes, like a perk that gives Boones spotting ability all the time because the satelittes are attached to your pipboy, +2 perception, etc, all kinds of possiblities await, just have to actually get the quests before the rewards.

[Brigand231]

The plot sounds fun and some thought has obviously gone into this, but I would also suggest against using Mr. House as a hook. The Boomers or Followers could also make use of satellite tech and would likely pay dearly to acquire it or its use. I know that doesn't fall in line with your plans for the 38.... Perhaps they could get anxious enough to contact House and part of their payment to him for your services would be the resources for the improvements you have in mind? That still ties it all to House though. I don't know - I know my very first play through of the game I killed House before I even settled with Benny the first time I entered the Strip.

 

It does sound like fun, though! I'm more than willing to help out if you need me for anything.

Edited March 1, 2011 by Brigand231

[omega549]

The plot sounds fun and some thought has obviously gone into this, but I would also suggest against using Mr. House as a hook. The Boomers or Followers could also make use of satellite tech and would likely pay dearly to acquire it or its use. I know that doesn't fall in line with your plans for the 38.... Perhaps they could get anxious enough to contact House and part of their payment to him for your services would be the resources for the improvements you have in mind? That still ties it all to House though. I don't know - I know my very first play through of the game I killed House before I even settled with Benny the first time I entered the Strip.

 

It does sound like fun, though! I'm more than willing to help out if you need me for anything.

 

Well im open to any possibilites. The thing is ive never made a quest mod. I make good levels but havent tried scripting and the other stuff. So this is more an invitation in case anyone is interested. If you are and can make the quests and scripts let me know, by the end of next week i could have all the levels ready and we could decide on the questline after. The satellite and military bunker is likely set in stone but the other stuf like mr house, etc isnt really.

[Floatsup]

I would suggest if you can make a new faction or characters, instead of House you may avoid conflicting with other mods already. I was gonna use Cass but someone suggested early on not to for that reason. Was a good thing.

 

Creating a new faction isnt that hard at all. Add some new life into it, sounds like you got a notebook at the ready. Which is what you need when your doing dialog. Thats pretty much where im at in my story line. Its like writting a damn book actually.

 

Good luck with it. You get something going I'll playtest it.

[Astymma]

Well, unless the detonation is over an area where the radius of the EMP pulse does not hit you and/or New Vegas and/or outlying settlements, you might have a plot hole explaining why all the radio stations, generators, lights, transformers, power supplies, etc. are still functioning. Using an EMP pulse as a plot device in a world in which the main driving force is the Dam's electrical output will take some careful handling involving some intricate explanations. In my opinion, as long as you explain that, you have a great idea and I would enjoy such a mod.

 

A thought might be that instead of a missile doing an airburst you could have them locate a point directly over the vault at ground level and detonate a controlled device that fires a downward EMP pulse to target only the vault shielding.

 

Or they have to install a special "EMP Resonator" on the missile before launching that makes the EMP pulse have a specific wavelength/resonance that's not harmful to everyday devices and only harms the base.

Edited March 2, 2011 by Astymma

[Brigand231]

Unfortunately, I fall into the same category when it comes to quests. I can't script them, but I can easily break them for you and show you how I broke it. :) One thing you'll want to learn that many need to go back and teach themselves later is when it comes to dialog, don't let the GECK "trick" you into making all your dialog and conversation additions with a 00XXXXXX ID format - if you have to, go back with FNVEdit later and change the ID to match your mod. That has consistently been the biggest cause for conflict in mods across many categories.