Nipton Rebuilt

[John2340]

Thanks for the comments people, I'm glad I'm not the only one who has considered this. I would like to flesh out and post an expanded version of what I think the plot should be but honestly, what's the point if no one's going to do it. As for Mardrigon's suggestion, I don't believe it's worth it as the mod will be big enough as it is. By my count, there are going to be 20-30 npc's added to the game as it is and the game isn't really designed for teens and pregnant women - in a practical sense, I don't think that children and pregnant women would be in a town that was completely wiped out until it's completely established.

 

You are one among the few people I've seen around here who actually considers the practical implications of creating a mod (complexity, amount of time spent on each, modder's interest) rather than simply constructing elaborate details for a mod idea no one would make due to its size or lack of interest, or simply because its just ridiculous.

 

That said, I don't think Nipton can house 20 NPCs, even Goodsprings have maybe 5 named NPCs and maybe like 10 unnamed "generic" NPCs. Nipton is a bit smaller than Goodsprings so take that scale into account.

Well, the tried and true Fallout solution is to go underground... perhaps the player could find a cellar or two some residents hid in until the Legion passed, which gives the player missions to find refugees and scattered residents in the area. I'm pretty sure boulder city and the other mostly uneventful cities could tie in (crossing fingers for NVB I & II compatibility.)

[darkus37]

Thanks for the compliment :) . Here's a list of what I had in mind:

 

At the beginning, the following NPC's will be located in what is now the City Hall:

 

1) The NCR commanding officer

2) The NCR supply officer

3) The NCR weapons specialist

4) The NCR engineer

 

Alternately, if you side with the legion:

 

1a) The Legion commanding officer

2a) 3-4 legion soldiers

3a) 2 slaves

4a) 2 dogs

 

Alternately again, if you side with the merchants:

 

1b) The merchant leader

2b) 3-4 guards

 

After picking your "side", you will have the chance to bolster defenses by hiring one of two mercenary groups whose leader will be in city hall with two bodyguards:

 

1) the mercenary group commanding officer

2) the two bodyguards

3) the actual group, 4 who remain in the town limits and patrol; two groups of three who patrol from mojave outpost to nipton / nipton to searchlight

 

The actual town will have the before mentioned 4 npcs walking around, another 4 possible traders (weapons, chems, etc.) and several brahmin. It should also have several more towns people walking around simply to show that this is a town.

 

The NCR quest line will have possibly four quest related npc's.

 

If you complete the NCR quests, there will be an additional number of npc guards stationed at sniper towers at the four corners of the town and the merc group is replaced by the NCR or alternately, completing the Legion quests will replace them with legionaries. I'm still not sure what happens to the merc group (perhaps they join up with the NCR/Legion or become your own personal strike force?).

 

I picture the setting as a bit of the good, the bad, and the ugly: the NCR are "good" - the legion is "bad" - and the merchants are "ugly" (the leader becomes a godfather like character so I can see the dialogue having a lot of references to the book/movie) as the merchants essentially become the mafia.

 

That's about 30 npc's right there. Not all have to fleshed out of course: the initial four NCR people, the legion commander, the merchant "don", and the two merc captains with perhaps two more possible.

[John2340]

What would be neat is if you could, instead of using mercenaries, also use some of the gangs existing in the wasteland. Though, I'd imagine that could definitely conflict with stuff like Bounties.

[darkus37]

From a story line perspective, what would you consider a gang? The only ones that come to mind that are not part of a military force per se are the powder gangers, fiends, etc. I pictured the "bad" merc group that wants to join the legion as the raiders from F3 or maybe the fiends (although in the case, perhaps the vipers are a better fit). The "good" merc group is more along the lines of Reilly's rangers. The vipers (for lack of a better term) have more guys and are cheaper, but are also weaker and do a terrible job at what they are hired to do. The good merc group is much more expensive, but are professionals and do a good job. If you're looking for a self-interest/legion ending, then the vipers are the way to go because you are basically hiring them not to raid your convoys/giving the legion troops to use as a trojan horse.

 

At this point in time, I'm going to go with the following:

 

If you hire the bad mercs, then side with the legion, the legion take over and kill the bad mercs since they don't need them anymore.

If you hire the bad mercs, then side with the merchants, the bad mercs are killed by the merchant bodyguards since they don't need them anymore.

If you hire the bad mercs, then side with the NCR, they let it go for a while, but if the NCR establish a working outpost, eventually the vipers are replaced and are arrested and sent to correctional facilities.

 

If you hire the good mercs, then side with the legion, the good mercs turn hostile and kill everyone or are taken out by the legion. If they survive, they withdraw to their headquarters and will kill you on sight.

If you hire the good mercs, then side with the merchants, they will work with the merchants but only for a short period of time before they are fired and replaced by goons. They make their own compound with Nipton's walls. They can be hired for emergencies (i.e. like the ranger radio) but cost a certain amount of caps to do so.

If you hire the good mercs, then side with the NCR, they will stay until the forces are built up but make their own compound with Nipton's walls. They can be hired for emergencies (i.e. like the ranger radio) with a reduced price and better weapons/armor.

[greenknightfury]

Actually Nipton should be able to house that many NPC's ...between the big town hall the attached trailer park and all the intact buildings it has it has allot more living space than Goodsprings. With cleanup and adding mattresses/bedrolls to all those trailers you get allot of space even at one per.

[sgtKraigO]

I've been looking for a Nipton mod for a while now. I always hated how Nipton is abandoned after the Legion slaughter the inhabitants as I feel that obsidian could have easily added a few quests for the town that would have made the game a bit longer. I love the quest line stated above, I really hope someone is working on this.