There she blows!

[minngarm]

So I've been writing out my questline mod for FO4 that takes place after the MQ (regardless of choice made.) and it is coming along fairly nicely. The only thing is I keep flip flopping on one part in particular.

 

So here goes the question to you all about it, and keep in mind it is nothing but spoilers for those that would be interested in the mod when it comes out in 2017.

 

Would you rather experience a quest line where you are a crew member on a submarine engaged in a sub battle, helpless to control the direct fight and actions of the command staff, while being required to resolve quick decisions such as sealing flooding compartments or waiting/helping rescue the crew within at the risk of sinking the entire vessel or would you rather take command of the submarine, ordering maneuvers, firing solutions, and sealing compartments/repairs as the battle goes on. (Think Das Boot/ The enemy below.)

 

The first feels like it gives the player a proper sense of horror at the helplessness of the situation, unable to control if you live or die, while still having to make rash decisions on if you risk losing (and both types will have actual loss chances, not just some scripted always win in the end deal) and potentially saving more of the crew as well as missing out on various side quests as a result of the deaths on board.

 

The next gives the player more control, and gives that cat and mouse feeling, the entirety of it takes place on the bridge while submerged, and like with every proper submarine you can not see the enemy but rely entirely on the acoustic approximation of them. The commands are pass/fail checks each and will result in crew deaths up until the ship itself is lost and you die or you win the battle of course. Now this lacks the horror you get of being one of the crew/passengers while being more action oriented and should get the players adrenaline pumping.

 

It's important to note that none of the crew will be nameless/faceless NPCs, all of them have minor storylines the player can engage in prior to this portion of the game, and those that survive will still have storylines to follow after.

 

As for the mechanics of it I've worked out how to make it operate for the most part for either scenario with the CK, it's not that hard overall really, and both are roughly the same in complexity, it's more so about which one is more engaging for the player base.

Edited August 3, 2016 by minngarm

[damanding]

One thing about the whole Minutemen thing that has always aggravated me is the lack of respect and making the player character a pawn more than a general. For example, you've just come out of a cryo sleep, horrified at a dead spouse and kidnapped child, find your home in disrepair and the world is generally f*#@ed. If you play the game the way it was expected of you, the first real thing you do is save Preston etc from raiders in Concord. Only to end up following them back to your home where they've decided to setup camp without even asking if you freaking mind. Later on you become the freaking general but still get ordered around like a private by Preston and even Ronnie. Even worse is that every time you take Preston with you to a settlement, they're ignoring you, mistrusting you, complaining or saying rude stuff even though you literally built the roof over their head and bed under their bottom and yet they're FAWNING over Preston and even giving him money. So with all those fish slaps to the face in game...quite frankly I'd rather play a quest line in which I am actually in charge for realsies and not just Preston's pawn. You know what, I wish the Institute or BOS ending let you nuke the Minutemen. Build me that quest line lol.

 

But only half joking bitterness aside, I'd rather be in charge.

[Azworai]

Aside from effort involved, is there a reason that 'Why not both'? isn't on the table?

 

I personally might change my choice there on different playthroughs, if I were to pick up such a mod.

[minngarm]

Would require changing the MQ later on if i had to kill the command crew off in the first Act.

[parrotheada1a]

I would vote for a combination of the two. Reason being, people are going to be scared shitless and panicked at the prospect of dying in a sub, regardless of how well they are trained. The skipper of the boat will not likely survive without a crew, and it will be in their best interest to keep as many alive as possible. Mutiny is always a realistic option for the crew, whether it is one person or all of 'em. Another scenario could be that the sub gets infiltrated by some faction posing as either command staff or crew. If the protagonist is in the command staff already, your immediate mission might be to discover and root out who the raiders actually are, and hopefully cancel their plan of taking over your boat. Or not.... you might decide to join the faction and help them out. Who knows what their plan is...... mebbe ransoming Diamond City for 20 million caps or nuking it into another glowing sea. Or is it to capture all the pretty commonwealth women and turn the boat into 'the whorehouse of the sea' Let the Silver Shadow figure it out!

[Mavkiel]

Helpless crewmen sounds like more fun. And it opens up all sorts of fun things. Is your captain good/bad? Competent or incompetent? What about the rest of the officers? I can just see an opening scene where you sit down in the mess and b&@*$ about the officers.

[RattleAndGrind]

Aside from effort involved, is there a reason that 'Why not both'? isn't on the table?

 

I personally might change my choice there on different playthroughs, if I were to pick up such a mod.

Mothership Zeta (my least favorite DLC all time) had both in the final act. You had to stop the combat with the attacking ship and mash some buttons to get the power back on. It was nonsense. So for me, one or the other is preferable to both.

 

As to which I would prefer, running around sealing/repairing/saving seems much more fun.

[Azworai]

To clarify, when I asked 'why not both' I didn't mean both in the same playthrough, I meant each time you play through the mod, you choose one or the other.

 

That said, given the effort it seems to involve, that's not entirely feasible.

[minngarm]

To clarify, when I asked 'why not both' I didn't mean both in the same playthrough, I meant each time you play through the mod, you choose one or the other.

 

That said, given the effort it seems to involve, that's not entirely feasible.

The mod would already cost you questlines for failures with one or the other. By making the command crew part of that cost without a out right failure for the player entirely (death) I would have to write multiple versions of everything in the following Acts.

[Azworai]

I gathered that, which was why I said it wasn't feasible, as you'd essentially be multiplying your workload. That said, I'm unsure which I'd pick. Neither of the two are something I recall occurring much in the standard playthrough.