Anyone for a trip to mars?

[greenknightfury]

Love the idea of a monorail system to replace the fast travel on Mars, and it even brings to mind the comments about it from some of the groups we've mentioned:

 

"The moving house stopped coming, and the ancestors rejoiced. The Tary could not come for them now." Any tribal humans (Tary being the military/Enclave troops)

 

 

"The monorail was the lifeline of supplies from the other domes, and Command feared we would all starve or riot unless they had absolute control." Any more military/civilized but totalitarian group

 

 

"Blasted piece of junk, can't get in any more test subjects without that thing. I'm certainly not going through that nightmare jungle on foot!" The scientist ghouls/brainbots that have been discussed (I definitely vote for ghouls it would be a nice touch and make it stand out more from OWB)

[TrooperScooperMKII]

How about a ghoul that has become a brain bot? A la Bill from the Sunset mod; dying/injured in battle; the exosuit guy and his soldiers (who have since died/mutated?) might have tried purging the ghouls as "abominations" and/or to stave off a FEV zombie apocalypse, and the survivors/remnants came up with a "novel" if somewhat disturbing compromise, to calm him down, offering to become brain bot/mainframes; this could have resulted in a schism, with the ghouls out in the wasteland deciding that an exile/nomad colony was preferable to OWB style brain bots stuck in an increasingly totalitarian/emergency lockdown laboratory/military base that was rapidly spiraling out of control.

[kibblesticks]

Just a few more useful links.The Environmental Protection Agency and Nursery levels seem perfect for one of the bio-domes. We'd obviously have to change things to make it work on Mars rather than Earth but the design document fits the bio-research theme very well. The Nursery design doc especially has a wealth of ideas related to nature projects. The repository in the nursery has a store of animal DNA and a computerized "womb" that allows for gestation. I really like this idea, as it could be set to "auto-clone", pumping out creatures that wouldn't have been brought to Mars, but can survive in the biodome. Maybe this could tie in to the idea that the Mainframe AI has malfunctioned and become obsessed with terraforming Mars.

 

As an aside, Derek Greenway, founder of Greenway Hydroponics, seems like a good investor for an agriculture project.

[devinpatterson]

Devin, about the "corrections officer" why not make him the Exosuit guy? I'm picturing a Frank Horrigan/Constantine Chase hybrid,

 

Yes I think we could do that, tweak and scale some power armor.

 

Devin, yeah I really like the idea of a branch-off of the martian dudes. That or we keep it a complete mystery,

 

Sounds good. I believe Greenknightfury is behind the scenario of the martian outpost being wiped out by their abomination experiments. Did you have a preference TrooperScooperMKII? We also have the option of putting it on a shelf for a little while while we flesh out the rest of the park.

 

On a related note, it might be interesting if the toxic jungle appears to be drawn to the ruins. Growing towards it in the past and now surrounding it. I htink that could be useful for us in several ways. It could make hte ruins more challenging if they have to traverse the jungle to reach them. It could support the idea of the biological/abomination research as the FEV infected fauna is drawn toward that area.

 

Just some thoughts on the visuals; Some rusted cranes that were used in the original excavation (of the ruins) rising from the jungle might make an interesting pic. I think it could be cool as well to include a giant skeleton or two (behemoth size), either in a artistic spot or just outside of the FEV biodome (to make it appear that a leviathon sized creature escaped) near wherever the breach was. Giant skeletons give a prehistoric look that might go well with the toxic jungle. And if we have any FEV behemoths ( maybe rig the Failed FEV subjects to a behemoth skeleton, they should be pretty much the same mesh), a skeleton can be a little heads up. If not it's just good for ambiance.

 

On a related note, assuming the FEV biodome was breached by Chinese missiles (a near miss, opened a hole). Has it been repaired (maybe some forcefield emitters are there), or did the FEV critters escape another way? And did the FEV/mutated dome cater only to terraforming experiments or did it also house bio weapon experiments? Do we include the typical fallout designed bio weapons like deathclaws and cazadores. Or do we go with a "halo flood" type plot line in the dome? If we go with the flood, did it asorb all other creatures in the dome by the present time?

 

One of the things that reminded me of the bio designed weapons was that I was looking at the knockdown/knockback effect of deathclaws (for cyberdogs) when I noticed they have a poision/venom special ability. I don't see it implemented on any of the deathclaws in NV, but it's interesting.....maybe at one time deathclaws were poisonous (havn't played FO1 or FO2 so I don't know). But if we go with some bioweapon experiments we could include deathclaws with venom and camouflage ability. That would probably make for a dangerous opponent.

 

Okay, well how about this; the ghouls live in the mainframe building, the entrance to which is located in the jungle. The mainframe structure extends beneath the surface of the jungle with access to the surface possible through either vents or caves. The tribals (it is tribals you're wanting on top isn't it?) live on the surface, using the agri-domes as bases, but also living off the flora and fauna of the jungle.

 

I'm thinking that since we have at least 3 different groups of ghouls (space ghouls, morlocks, original(?) nomadic surface ghouls) and will probably have more before we're finished (like the enclave/military will probably be ghouls, unless we go with multi-generational), we should probably label them to avoid confusion. In regard to the tribals and the morlocks (if those are the ones your referring to) I think we're better off with at least the tribals staying in the dome. It's not inconceivable that the tribals could have some suits and know how to use them, but they have something of a little paradise in their biodome (if we follow the eloi/time machine storyline) and I don't see them scavenging in a deadly FEV jungle, or even finding anything that is likely to be edible.

 

The ghouls prey on the tribals for food or experiments or slave labour or whatever you like

 

Those are all possibilities, although I do somewhat like the time machine/eloi/morlock storyline. It's something of a classic, but also a lot of fun from an adventures point of view. It is very much a hero centric plot line. I'v also been slipping in 1950's (ish) sci-fi movies and this is one I'm trying to shoe horn in. But that doesn't mean we can't do additional stuff in the dome, like your suggestion of killing a FEV infected monstrosity that threatens them. In addition we can have two agricultural biodomes (or more if needed) if you feel strongly about a story line that you'd like to see included but doesn't fit the time machine narrative.

 

In this map the circle is the agri-dome (could be more).

 

I think it would be a better fit if the FEV/toxic jungle was nestled around the FEV testing dome (twisted biodome) since that is where it originated. It would better support hte story line if the thickest portion of the jungle was around it and maybe growing toward the ruins ("something" in the ruins attracts the FEV flora and fauna).

 

Fortnight of research? I thought these had been going since the Mars team first set up base over 200 years back or am I getting muddled up?

 

Yes, I was just saying that it probably would take time to breed/design/guide etc creatures development until they could withstand Mars' harsh environment. I don't know if that would be a matter of months or years, nor do I know if any additional research has been going on in the twisted biodome since the accident or if it's just been a deathtrap for two centuries. Oh and htat leads to the question of how long the base has been established and how long each facility was functioning for before everything went to hell in a hand basket. I could see anywhere from months to several years. Guess I'll have to look over your timeline Kibblesticks and the official timeline and we can hash that all out.

 

Just say it malfunctioned or some mad scientist wanted to test its full potential and it turned the area into a perfect environment for the dormant native flora to make a come-back.

 

It's an interesting thought, but we may be better off going with the contaminated/mutant geck story line. Along with liberal FEV research. That way we don't have to make any assumptions about the existence of advanced martian life, and the fev/mutant geck explanation leaves virtually any twisted creation as a viable possibility.

 

But I really don't think anything's too unrealistic, this is a sci-fi universe. We're on Mars. Earth is home to mutants which defy biology and physics. We're using an experimental terraforming device that collapses matter, in conjunction with a virus that can make ants breathe fire and fuse trees to men.

 

too true, or replace your brain with tesla coils like in OWB....crazy. On hte other hand the closer we stay to FO lore as explanations for our mars encounters the more it will pay dividends for our players.

 

This work perfectly as we see their penchant for experimenting with their own genetics with the abominations of FO3 their experiments with mixing Supermutant samples with their own and evidence they were going to do the same with ghouls and had with humans (though those last were both implied not encountered like the escaped abominations). They could have easily had a splinter research or rebel group on Mars playing mix and match with their dna based on Martian life (or the human/alien hybrid thing), becoming very different from the base form.

 

I have to admit it has a "cautionary tale" appeal to it, with the aliens getting their just deserts. BTW was it supermutants for the abominations? I kinda just assumed it was human/alien hybrids because of all the alien conspiracy hybrid beliefs. If it was supermutanants that would explain why they were so tough....

 

I like this one: primitive tribal but intelligent ferals is an awesome idea.

 

Good deal, I see two ways for it to work (and I'm sure there are more).

 

The first, following the time machine movie (closer to the 2003 one) narrative, where the natives are relatively helpless compared to the powerful morlocks. This is a heavily player centric quest, because the eloi are unable to offer much aid and it's you against the morlocks almost exclusively. The 2003 movie expanded the storyline to include even more divergence of the morlocks from the human race. The majority became much larger and bestial, something on par with the power of a supermutant but very agile. While the morlock king devloped psionic powers to control the other morlocks and prevent them from eating all the humans at once (thus depleting their food supply and dying).

 

A second is more of a even footing with the tribals being the noble savages and actively resisting/warring with the twisted and bitter, but technologically armed morlocks. I suspect that could have a lot of npc interaction during the war....but of course that's significantly more work than the first option. The payoff would be that it would probably have more interesting encounters in co-operation with your allies.

 

Now for your thing devin: I really like the idea of the domes like that, and can definitely see the idea of the supply domes not being somewhere they want the experimental plants grown. Also makes for easy separation into different tribes/societies for each dome, like city-states.

 

It is very useful for isolating storylines as well.

 

I tweaked the space helmet for robodogs (since Rex lasted 200 years I thought the military's canines might as well). I put a speaker in front by their mouth to amplify their sonic bark weapon, since they won't be able to bite anyone. Also added a knockdown attack. Hopefully mars's atmosphere isn't too thin for sonic weapons, so as a backup I included a new weapon. I'm not a fan of it, since it ruins the retro look of the helmet, but.....In the words of Dr. Evil; "with frickin' laser beams attached to their frickin' heads?"

 

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/9077/cyberdogsgeck.jpg

 

 

 

 

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/4761/cyberdogs.jpg

 

 

The helments alpha is Fck'n up the skullcaps alpha, but I think that's fixable.

 

I'm finishing up a little mod that I will probably put up sunday afternoon. I'v tied in a few things in with the mars project to reinforce the lore a little. Plus I will have more time once it is done to do stuff on this project and finish up part one of sunset.

Edited February 19, 2012 by devinpatterson

[kibblesticks]

What do we have?

 

Dogs.

 

... ... riiight...

 

They are Cyborg dogs.

 

Are they ill-tempered?

 

Absoloutely.

 

Nice work, those k9s look hilarious :laugh:

 

Dome size approval shots:

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j454/kibblesticks/ScreenShot204.jpg

 

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j454/kibblesticks/ScreenShot213.jpg

 

Are these about the right scale?

 

 

Speaking of scale, could you draw us a rough map to show where everything is going to be in the crater?

 

I really like your idea of having the F.E.V stuff attracted to the martian ruins, it's very creepy and I like the way it could hint at the F.E.V being alien in origin.

 

On another note, I've been thinking a lot about what the Mars team's mission would be. It seems at the moment we need to give them a focus. Personally I'd prefer to stay as far away from aliens as possible. This reason doesn't explain the biodomes or the F.E.V research, and to be honest, even with the potential benefits from alien tech, would the American government continue to fund a project with unknowable results? Fallout lore says no. Plus, once you've spent five hours wandering around Mothership Zeta, aliens kind of loose their mystery and attraction. I'd like to see the ruins remain silent and dead if at all possible, with little to no explanation or story. Just weird events like random disappearances and the F.E.V attraction.

 

My ideal focus for the narrative would be terraforming. Adapting the planet to recieve life. The purpose of going to Mars, according to Fallout lore, was thus:

The U.S. government's real plan to survive a nuclear war was simply to find another planet to live on after having helped to destroy the Earth. A spacecraft designed to ferry the human race to another planet was either under construction or ready to go before the Great War broke out. The plan was for the government to flee to the Enclave's Oil Rig, wait out the conflict and then pack up the populations of the Vaults to head into space. The Vaults were funded by the U.S. government and, accordingly, the government had control over them. Ostensibly, they were intended to allow a selection of privileged United States citizens to survive the Great War. Secretly, however, a large part of the Vault Project (Project Safehouse) had a far more sinister goal. These social experiments were performed on live and mostly unaware subjects, monitored by Vault-Tec researchers in separate facilities, and undertaken at the behest of what would become the Enclave as part of a massive feasibility study of how to best re-colonize a barren Earth or, if necessary, other planets. After the Great War, due to either a change of plans by the Enclave's leadership or the spacecraft being destroyed, the Enclave abandoned their initial goal of settling on another planet, and decided to resettle on the one they already had.

 

 

All the lore is there and gives us a great starting base from which to launch our narrative. If the Mars mission goal was to prepare the planet for the arrival of those "lucky" American citizens then agricultural biodomes make perfect sense. An increased military presence also makes sense, as the new world would need a strong hand to rule it. However, I think the F.E.V research centre origin would need to be changed slighlty, for the better I think. The F.E.V is the government's most powerful creation. It would undoubtedly be used in attempts to manafacture an ecosystem for Mars. The breeding of flora and fauna that could survive on the planet surface would be essential in the creation of a self-sustaining ecosystem. The F.E.V strains being used would be far removed from the weaponised versions on Earth. These F.E.V strains would be geared toward creating life rather than destroying it. This does require a more creative approach to why the F.E.V facility became overrun. There are numerous options from a malfunctioning computerized womb birthing mutant horrors ala Van Buren, to simply having F.E.V creatures being muated by radiation, or possibly driven mad by whatever influence the Martian ruins project across the crater. For whatever reason, the mutants eventually break out of the F.E.V Dome, releasing the host of F.E.V plants in the proccess.

 

The story of the main base stays the same. Isolation takes its tole and the arrival of the ghoul-infested "lost rocket" sends the facility over the edge. A faction of military personnel sabotage the monorail and fall back to a secondary base, fortifying it and declaring war on all mutants. Some survivors escape onto the surface and form small camps in sheltered locations across the surface. They are plagued by hunger, riddled with disease and driven to feral madness, retaining just enough consciousness to scratch a living by killing and scavaging.

 

The agriculture domes are tricky. They would presumably be the only long-term source of food for the Mars mission so they can't really fall or everyone starves to death. Could be a useful focal point for the various factions, like the Purifier in FO3. Perhaps if tribals live there they defend it from others who would surely be trying to take control. Perhaps they see it as a paradise given to them by god. That god could be a machine who runs the facility, and the tribals don't dare interrupt the shipments of food being taken from the premises for fear of angering their god. The food is taken from the facility and delivered by robotic workers to the other facilities across the crater. This could create supply line quests. It would also explain how the ferals can live on the surface, by ambushing the robotic convoys and stealing their shipments.

 

I'm loving the idea of a subterranean threat like the Morlocks but they seem a bit aimless at the moment. There would have to be some reason they were driven underground. I don't know how attached you are to the Time Machine thread. Perhaps (and I'm just throwing ideas around here) there could be a twist in the tale. You first meet the "noble tribals" on the surface in their dome and they explain their plight to you, telling you the ghouls have been attacking them and dragging them below in acts of violence and cannibalism. In a way the tribals are childlike and carefree, but something seems off about their attitude towards you. You venture into the catacombs at the tribal's behest and indeed find savage and feral ghouls aplenty. However, when you make it to the centre of the ghoul's nest, you find ghouls perfectly capable of speech, who do not attack you on sight. They are angry at your intrusion and claim only those amongst them who have become truly feral attack the tribals. The ghouls were some of the original researchers of the "agri-dome" two hundred years ago. However, after contact with the other bases was lost and the monorail failed, the situation went bad. Many of the researchers turned to worshiping the dome's robot caretaker as a god and believed that the dome was a paradise created just for them. This began as a small cult, but many of the researchers began to procreate and their offspring were brought up with an even stronger believe in the dome's omnipotence. As the original inhabitants grew old or became mutated after too many trips outside, the younger inhabitants drove them out into the tunnels to remove the imperfections from their paradise. The children grew as arrogant as gods and leadership became a matter of beauty, popularity and strength, rather than wisdom. The ghouls simply try to scratch a living in the catacombs beneath the jungle, stealing what they can and slowly dying one by one. They are too weak to fight the tribals, but have knowledge of the facility's technology, and a host of feral ghouls, on their side. Could make for some interesting quests. Plus it provides a reason for the "tribal" aspect of the inhabitants and avoids taking the plot straight from another source. Also has a bit of a moral conundrum attached; Ignore the plight of the dispossessed and allow the paradise to survive untampered with, or risk the crater's food supply in open war against the self-proclaimed gods of Paradise Dome. A third option for the sneaky pacifist could be re-wiring the Dome's computer to command the tribals to let the old people and ghouls live amongst them, tenpenny tower style. Of course we all know how that turned out..

 

Anyway, short summary, I'd like the focus to be terraforming.

 

Okay, three o clock, time for bed. :sleep:

[Jeoshua]

Ill tempered Dogs with friggin laser beams attached to their heads ;)

 

Priceless.

[kibblesticks]

Here's the start of a big-ass skeleton for the jungle.

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j454/kibblesticks/ScreenShot221.jpg

 

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j454/kibblesticks/ScreenShot222.jpg

 

 

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j454/kibblesticks/ScreenShot224.jpg

 

[greenknightfury]

 

Sounds good. I believe Greenknightfury is behind the scenario of the martian outpost being wiped out by their abomination experiments. Did you have a preference TrooperScooperMKII? We also have the option of putting it on a shelf for a little while while we flesh out the rest of the park.

 

On a related note, it might be interesting if the toxic jungle appears to be drawn to the ruins. Growing towards it in the past and now surrounding it. I htink that could be useful for us in several ways. It could make hte ruins more challenging if they have to traverse the jungle to reach them. It could support the idea of the biological/abomination research as the FEV infected fauna is drawn toward that area.

 

Yeah definitely though I can see where a couple of them might have frozen themselves/put themselves into stasis (or frozen some of the out of control hybrids) which might wake up with somebody messing up the power system keeping them in stasis (perhaps that could be what is making the plants grow towards the ruins the energy signature of the damaged generator).

 

 

Just some thoughts on the visuals; Some rusted cranes that were used in the original excavation (of the ruins) rising from the jungle might make an interesting pic. I think it could be cool as well to include a giant skeleton or two (behemoth size), either in a artistic spot or just outside of the FEV biodome (to make it appear that a leviathon sized creature escaped) near wherever the breach was. Giant skeletons give a prehistoric look that might go well with the toxic jungle. And if we have any FEV behemoths ( maybe rig the Failed FEV subjects to a behemoth skeleton, they should be pretty much the same mesh), a skeleton can be a little heads up. If not it's just good for ambiance.

 

On a related note, assuming the FEV biodome was breached by Chinese missiles (a near miss, opened a hole). Has it been repaired (maybe some forcefield emitters are there), or did the FEV critters escape another way? And did the FEV/mutated dome cater only to terraforming experiments or did it also house bio weapon experiments? Do we include the typical fallout designed bio weapons like deathclaws and cazadores. Or do we go with a "halo flood" type plot line in the dome? If we go with the flood, did it asorb all other creatures in the dome by the present time?

 

One of the things that reminded me of the bio designed weapons was that I was looking at the knockdown/knockback effect of deathclaws (for cyberdogs) when I noticed they have a poision/venom special ability. I don't see it implemented on any of the deathclaws in NV, but it's interesting.....maybe at one time deathclaws were poisonous (havn't played FO1 or FO2 so I don't know). But if we go with some bioweapon experiments we could include deathclaws with venom and camouflage ability. That would probably make for a dangerous opponent.

 

Love those visuals...I can actually see them as I read it. The Behemoth skeleton is something I absolutely love, moments when you find yourself walking -through- the remains of some beast that the place managed to kill just slams home the "I am in terrible danger" feeling (also known as "s***! I'm screwed!" effect).

 

I'd vote for both terraforming and bioweapons research (only a matter of time before you have to deal with those dirty Reds or other enemies of the state in your new terraformed utopia) add to that that the FEV had some very unpredictable effects (OWB made note of the fact that the nightstalkers were -found- like that and I'd most likely attribute them to an unreported FEV incident) on top of the fact that second generation mutation was even more unpredictable (and more savage or intelligent depending on ....who knows!) mixed with whatever effects the martian environment had on the virus and it's creations. It wouldn't be hard to see how terraforming could easily become bioweapon either, just look at the sporeplants, they are terraforming their surroundings while converting any warm blooded creatures to their sporecarrying mind controlled minions.

 

In regard to the tribals and the morlocks (if those are the ones your referring to) I think we're better off with at least the tribals staying in the dome. It's not inconceivable that the tribals could have some suits and know how to use them, but they have something of a little paradise in their biodome (if we follow the eloi/time machine storyline) and I don't see them scavenging in a deadly FEV jungle, or even finding anything that is likely to be edible.

 

Loving the morlocks angle (though it was kind of a staple of monster fiction, some tribe having to live with the sacrifice of some of their number to a nearby monster/monsters), and I agree that the tribals would be stuck in the dome, if they could leave they'd just leave to get away from the morlocks. The jungle should be much more threatening to them than the creatures that snatch a few of them (and maybe beasts they keep for their own food) every once and a while as it is full of monsters and plants that could kill them at any time regardless of whether they have suits or not (and most likely not, the suits would have all ended up on corpses not far from the entrance as the monsters and plants killed them when they went to get help when it first hit the fan and later when brave ones decided to try after the jungle started).

 

 

The ghouls prey on the tribals for food or experiments or slave labour or whatever you like

 

Those are all possibilities, although I do somewhat like the time machine/eloi/morlock storyline. It's something of a classic, but also a lot of fun from an adventures point of view. It is very much a hero centric plot line. I'v also been slipping in 1950's (ish) sci-fi movies and this is one I'm trying to shoe horn in. But that doesn't mean we can't do additional stuff in the dome, like your suggestion of killing a FEV infected monstrosity that threatens them. In addition we can have two agricultural biodomes (or more if needed) if you feel strongly about a story line that you'd like to see included but doesn't fit the time machine narrative.

 

So it could be any or all of those examples he gives what with the later mention you give of liking the idea of some of them being intelligent *chuckles*. Definitely makes more sense than the older "they are all mindless beasts' version of them as well, if they were then they would have eaten them all and would have never been maintaining the complex machinery they lived with.

 

 

Yes, I was just saying that it probably would take time to breed/design/guide etc creatures development until they could withstand Mars' harsh environment. I don't know if that would be a matter of months or years, nor do I know if any additional research has been going on in the twisted biodome since the accident or if it's just been a deathtrap for two centuries. Oh and htat leads to the question of how long the base has been established and how long each facility was functioning for before everything went to hell in a hand basket. I could see anywhere from months to several years. Guess I'll have to look over your timeline Kibblesticks and the official timeline and we can hash that all out.

 

Not to mention the obvious ability of the FEV mutants to easily adapt to new environmental factors (the immunities to radiation and enhanced toughness would be highly useful for that environment and something that occured in all the FEV mutant races supermutant, nightstalkers, cazadores, deathclaws, gekos)

 

 

I have to admit it has a "cautionary tale" appeal to it, with the aliens getting their just deserts. BTW was it supermutants for the abominations? I kinda just assumed it was human/alien hybrids because of all the alien conspiracy hybrid beliefs. If it was supermutanants that would explain why they were so tough....

 

Yes somewhere in the ship was a console that gave me the info that that was what they were...can't remember if it was from my maxed intelligence or maxed science that let me translate the notes to find that out.

 

 

The first, following the time machine movie (closer to the 2003 one) narrative, where the natives are relatively helpless compared to the powerful morlocks. This is a heavily player centric quest, because the eloi are unable to offer much aid and it's you against the morlocks almost exclusively. The 2003 movie expanded the storyline to include even more divergence of the morlocks from the human race. The majority became much larger and bestial, something on par with the power of a supermutant but very agile. While the morlock king devloped psionic powers to control the other morlocks and prevent them from eating all the humans at once (thus depleting their food supply and dying).

 

A second is more of a even footing with the tribals being the noble savages and actively resisting/warring with the twisted and bitter, but technologically armed morlocks. I suspect that could have a lot of npc interaction during the war....but of course that's significantly more work than the first option. The payoff would be that it would probably have more interesting encounters in co-operation with your allies.

 

hmmm definitely interesting, and nothing preventing them both in a way. The more intelligent solder ones being armed (like the supermutants even the "dumb-dumbs" were armed) and the tribals doing what little they can to fight against them, traps and their primitive weapons against the mostly primitive but occasionally firearm equipped morlocks, who are lead by an intelligent leader type (who could possibly try to sway you to aiding -them- as he is vastly more intelligent and knowledgeable than those "savages" topside.

 

I tweaked the space helmet for robodogs (since Rex lasted 200 years I thought the military's canines might as well). I put a speaker in front by their mouth to amplify their sonic bark weapon, since they won't be able to bite anyone. Also added a knockdown attack. Hopefully mars's atmosphere isn't too thin for sonic weapons, so as a backup I included a new weapon. I'm not a fan of it, since it ruins the retro look of the helmet, but.....In the words of Dr. Evil; "with frickin' laser beams attached to their frickin' heads?"

 

Hmm perhaps a different model than the laser gun....like the laser of an eyebot mounted on the antenna, or the antenna pulling tesla coil craziness of lighting shooting.

[greenknightfury]

 

I really like your idea of having the F.E.V stuff attracted to the martian ruins, it's very creepy and I like the way it could hint at the F.E.V being alien in origin.

 

On another note, I've been thinking a lot about what the Mars team's mission would be. It seems at the moment we need to give them a focus. Personally I'd prefer to stay as far away from aliens as possible. This reason doesn't explain the biodomes or the F.E.V research, and to be honest, even with the potential benefits from alien tech, would the American government continue to fund a project with unknowable results? Fallout lore says no. Plus, once you've spent five hours wandering around Mothership Zeta, aliens kind of loose their mystery and attraction. I'd like to see the ruins remain silent and dead if at all possible, with little to no explanation or story. Just weird events like random disappearances and the F.E.V attraction.

 

My ideal focus for the narrative would be terraforming. Adapting the planet to recieve life.

 

All the lore is there and gives us a great starting base from which to launch our narrative. If the Mars mission goal was to prepare the planet for the arrival of those "lucky" American citizens then agricultural biodomes make perfect sense. An increased military presence also makes sense, as the new world would need a strong hand to rule it. However, I think the F.E.V research centre origin would need to be changed slighlty, for the better I think. The F.E.V is the government's most powerful creation. It would undoubtedly be used in attempts to manafacture an ecosystem for Mars. The breeding of flora and fauna that could survive on the planet surface would be essential in the creation of a self-sustaining ecosystem. The F.E.V strains being used would be far removed from the weaponised versions on Earth. These F.E.V strains would be geared toward creating life rather than destroying it. This does require a more creative approach to why the F.E.V facility became overrun. There are numerous options from a malfunctioning computerized womb birthing mutant horrors ala Van Buren, to simply having F.E.V creatures being muated by radiation, or possibly driven mad by whatever influence the Martian ruins project across the crater. For whatever reason, the mutants eventually break out of the F.E.V Dome, releasing the host of F.E.V plants in the proccess.

 

I know the idea of the ruins attracting the mutants makes them a great place for groups of them to nest as well, making an exploration of it (which I admit would be something I'd have to do) a very dangerous and interesting adventure.

 

Well as the nightstalkers show us it doesn't have to be weaponized to make a nasty attack creature (they were random specimens taken from the wild that had all their wierd mutations without direct intervention according to OWB), just like the odd offshoot strain that seems to have transformed the swampfolk from Point Lookout in FO3; or even take the spore plants, they weren't meant as a weapon but a rapid growing greenery experiment (perfect for terraforming!). What were meant to be simple terraforming creations could easily become something else, through the martian environments changes worked on the virus or as you said random screwup of one of the creation wombs or simply through not thinking through what they were actually creating (spore plants).

 

The agriculture domes are tricky. They would presumably be the only long-term source of food for the Mars mission so they can't really fall or everyone starves to death. Could be a useful focal point for the various factions, like the Purifier in FO3. Perhaps if tribals live there they defend it from others who would surely be trying to take control. Perhaps they see it as a paradise given to them by god. That god could be a machine who runs the facility, and the tribals don't dare interrupt the shipments of food being taken from the premises for fear of angering their god. The food is taken from the facility and delivered by robotic workers to the other facilities across the crater. This could create supply line quests. It would also explain how the ferals can live on the surface, by ambushing the robotic convoys and stealing their shipments.

 

Well as he said two agridomes was an intentional safety feature so that the full colony plus could survive on just one with rationing, but one of the agridomes still shipping out food (perhaps supplemented by a "Soylent Green" situation { with people they decide to get rid of, and any mutations/ferals they catch in traps around the dome} and some weird mutant crops from the jungle, punga anyone?) would be cool, perhaps the other one has been cut of by truly nasty beasts and damage from the fighting, roads destroyed and only a single person able to thread their way to the place through the nasties and new topography (the monorail still would allow easy shipping but it is now offline, till you fix it), which is where the Morlock/Eoli dome would come in.

 

I'm loving the idea of a subterranean threat like the Morlocks but they seem a bit aimless at the moment. There would have to be some reason they were driven underground. I don't know how attached you are to the Time Machine thread. Perhaps (and I'm just throwing ideas around here) there could be a twist in the tale. You first meet the "noble tribals" on the surface in their dome and they explain their plight to you, telling you the ghouls have been attacking them and dragging them below in acts of violence and cannibalism. In a way the tribals are childlike and carefree, but something seems off about their attitude towards you. You venture into the catacombs at the tribal's behest and indeed find savage and feral ghouls aplenty. However, when you make it to the centre of the ghoul's nest, you find ghouls perfectly capable of speech, who do not attack you on sight. They are angry at your intrusion and claim only those amongst them who have become truly feral attack the tribals. The ghouls were some of the original researchers of the "agri-dome" two hundred years ago. However, after contact with the other bases was lost and the monorail failed, the situation went bad. Many of the researchers turned to worshiping the dome's robot caretaker as a god and believed that the dome was a paradise created just for them. This began as a small cult, but many of the researchers began to procreate and their offspring were brought up with an even stronger believe in the dome's omnipotence. As the original inhabitants grew old or became mutated after too many trips outside, the younger inhabitants drove them out into the tunnels to remove the imperfections from their paradise. The children grew as arrogant as gods and leadership became a matter of beauty, popularity and strength, rather than wisdom. The ghouls simply try to scratch a living in the catacombs beneath the jungle, stealing what they can and slowly dying one by one. They are too weak to fight the tribals, but have knowledge of the facility's technology, and a host of feral ghouls, on their side. Could make for some interesting quests. Plus it provides a reason for the "tribal" aspect of the inhabitants and avoids taking the plot straight from another source. Also has a bit of a moral conundrum attached; Ignore the plight of the dispossessed and allow the paradise to survive untampered with, or risk the crater's food supply in open war against the self-proclaimed gods of Paradise Dome. A third option for the sneaky pacifist could be re-wiring the Dome's computer to command the tribals to let the old people and ghouls live amongst them, tenpenny tower style. Of course we all know how that turned out..

 

This adds some interesting ideas, and spawned some true dementia in me. What if the two factions were both under the power of some "God" the Eoli under the sway of the mainframe which houses the copied mind of one of the co-heads of the facility, who copied himself into it after being attacked by the other co-head (as he snaps realizing he is converting to a ghoul) and mortally wounded. As time passes lack of proper maintenance and just the effect of being immortal but unable to physically do anything drives him mad making him believe the cult that rises in worship of him as many of the adults didn't survive the horrors of the initial break of the ghoulifying workers with the normals and fleeing into the tunnels beneath the facility. To avoid complete annihilation by the robots the new mainframe personality eventually figured out how to control and uses now to try to gaurd the people and keep back the bests of the jungle (almost none would be left anymore after the ghoul swarms and beasts of the jungle).

 

Meanwhile the Morlocks have come to worship the other co-head as his ghoulification came with a mutant mind-manipulation ability that works on fellow ghouls and on the pliable minds of sleeping or drugged humans. He has come to believe that his mutation and ghoulification were a form of ascension (like Jason Bright) and seeks to convert all the savages of the surface to either food or slaves for his followers, maybe performing experiments on some in an attempt to change them into ghouls (since ghouls are obviously a "Superior form of life compared to our poor larval form, humans.")

 

In an even more morally inconvenient twist: The ghoul overlord would be perfectly willing to share food with any that would worship him as he deserves to be and give him tribute, while the mainframe is unwilling to share with anyone that is not one of his "children" which means abandoning all control to his whims (which include the sending of the mutated or old out into the jungle or Morlock tunnels unprotected to die, and perhaps a special "procedure" involving a painchip to keep the workers in line something that I can see in a FO universe to keep the workers compliant and controlled in an environment where a freakout could kill everybody). Making either choice a choice to aid a megalomaniac immortal one that would most likely experiment on the people occasionally and bask in luxury but would feed the people outside his direct reach as long as they paid (in goods and at least lip service worship), and the other would let everyone starve if they refused to become his carefully culled beautiful slaves.

Edited February 19, 2012 by greenknightfury

[devinpatterson]

*audible sigh of relief* Yup sounds like a complete misunderstanding

 

No worries

 

Actually didn't think of it like that but this sounds great. The exploration being a reward for completing the first section of the mod. Also the idea of Vacum-death sounds cool, just spitballing ideas but perhaps have a script that makes the player explode, ala bloody mess perk, after a certian amount of time/hp loss.

 

I think the suits will be a lot of fun, giving the player goals to work toward, and they will have their own reward by opening up new vistas. Plus I have a proposal for a unique suit at the end of the post.

 

re: the player exploding, yes I think we can do something like that. There are a couple of ways to do the explosion. One would be a placeatme command and drop whatever explosion you like (something small without special effects) to gib the player. The other way would be a KillActor command. I use this "killActor REF 1 2", in another mod, to blow off protectron heads when they die. You can also blow off other pieces. Either of these I'd have under a OnDeath block in a attached script to an actor. I'm not sure exactly how to do that to the player, but I suspect it won't be too hard.

 

Have you seen the (relatively) recent Dr.Who episode "The Waters of Mars"? Great bit in that about the waters on Mars. :P

 

Yes I have, re: the infectious water, gotta love Dr who :)

 

Edit #2: When you spoke earlier about a dome with others coming off like spokes on a wheel, was this the kind of thing you meant?

 

Yes very similar with only minor differences. The center dome in the pic wouldn't be a dome but rather the military base/launchpad (swap it with the rocket in the pic), and instead of there just being a center dome and a single concentric ring of structures there might be two or 3 rings depending on how many locals we develop.

 

Edit #3: Actually these guys seem to be working on a mod that lets the player be carried by a train. Maybe we could get help from them if they figure it out.

 

Yeah I actually chimed in on that thread hoping to help them out, I should probably post and let them know what I found out. One suggestion on the thread was to check out hte monorail. I looked at it, and the animation is baked into the nif. At my level of ineptitude I can't do anything with that for the train peeps.

 

However for us, it could be very useful. There is an 8 second animation of it pulling away. I thought we could do something like a , SetRestrained (so the player can't muck up our scene), a moveto to make it appear like the player entered the monorail (just to get him out of the picture, or a setscale to 0, we'll see what works), tfc (toggle free camera ) to put the camera in a good POV to see the monorail pullaway or pass by. Then whatever the equivalent of a PlayGroup command is to get the monorail nif to do it's thing and race off.

 

From the players point of view you'd go up, activate the door, your veiw point would change to the front of the monorail or wherever looks good (without hte player model in view) and you'd see the monrail pass by. It would be like our own custom animated loading screen. We should be able to do it in reverse as well (for when the player is exiting the monorail).

 

After that 8 second show, we'd MoveTo the player to the monorail platform that was the intended destination and possibly pop up a message box saying your at the main facitlity terminal (or wherever) etc. The downside is I seriously doubt we'll be able to change the nif in blender, because exporting it will probably nerf the animation. So if we go this route were probably stuck with that vanilla model. But we can re-texture it to our liking.

 

The easy way is just to make a monorail model an activator and have a script with message box for the player to choose the destination. Not nearly as cool, but might be the way to go for now and if we have extra time work on the above solution later.

 

An alternate option could take advantage of the model your working on Kibblesticks. You walk into your monorail model (we might have to customize a sliding vault door a little, no big deal) and we make the control panel a activator. It loads a new cell and we do something like the monorail ride in FO3's Broken Steel in the presidential metro. I don't remember it exactly, but I recall you get to squish some ghouls or reavers that were on the track. And I think it was a in-game sequence not a per-rendered vid. I can take a look and see how it works if you guys want to go that way.

 

Might also be nice to take some screen shots and make some custom loading screens for the mod too. Some pics on history, or enemies etc.

 

Devin, the vacuum "equalizer" sounds great.

King Kong and Planet of the Apes references in the jungle area, and Jawas for a Ghoul scavenger thing...

 

Re: King Kong, not too sure about that, simply because I'd rather not have any humans native to the jungle. I'd rather paint it as a deathtrap that people stay away from. Maybe you have some very well armed military squad that might travers it or a pilot in a mech, but any human in his/her right mind probably gives it a wide berth. re: Jawas sure I see where your coming from with regard to the ghouls scavengers, good reference.

 

Looks a bit too modern now, but texturing should sort that out. Designed with the idea that freight and personnel need some means of transportation across the planet surface. The interior will be contain seats at the front and will house crates at the rear. Not too sure how it's going to turn out yet so I may have to scrap it if it doesn't fit the "look". What style are we going for btw? Because a lot of fallout is art deco style, but fancy architecture wouldn't be a priority on Mars.

 

I'd say really ham up the 1950's sci-fi style

 

How about a ghoul that has become a brain bot? A la Bill from the Sunset mod....offering to become brain bot/mainframes;

 

I'd kind of like to save the protectron brainbot for the sunset mod, since it's iconic of what Bill has become. But I could try to make a brainbot out of another bot model if you'd like or use the OWB doctor brainbots

 

Also don't know if I mentioned this but... but I thought of an interesting spin on your narrative. What if the two actually shared the same body as a robobrain bot (maybe the newer heavy duty in the pic that can hold multiple brains)? The doc controlling one arm, the mccarthyistic psycho controlling another (and always threatening to shoot the doc's brain). They could keep the same argument going. That would be a painful way for the doc/scientist to spend two centuries though. Anyway just a thought.

 

Just a few more useful links.The Environmental Protection Agency and Nursery levels seem perfect for one of the bio-domes. We'd obviously have to change things to make it work on Mars rather than Earth but the design document fits the bio-research theme very well. The Nursery design doc especially has a wealth of ideas related to nature projects. The repository in the nursery has a store of animal DNA and a computerized "womb" that allows for gestation. I really like this idea, as it could be set to "auto-clone", pumping out creatures that wouldn't have been brought to Mars, but can survive in the biodome. Maybe this could tie in to the idea that the Mainframe AI has malfunctioned and become obsessed with terraforming Mars.

 

Re: the EPA I think you really need a gov bureaucratic agency to make that one work (from what I recall), and I can't see any place the holo pencil pushers would come into play on the mars project. Not to say we can't have other holo assets thought. Like a VR room would be a given for recreation. Holograms used extensively as AI's and 3D monitors etc.

 

I do vaguely remember Diana (which I thought was a good storyline), the mainframe mother of the tribals and the nursery, but the computerized womb eludes my memory. I'll check it out.

 

As an aside, Derek Greenway, founder of Greenway Hydroponics, seems like a good investor for an agriculture project.

 

Definitely. That's why I mentioned Greenway hydroponics in the original post on contractors. His company will be one of the most interesting.

 

You'll have to draw us a rough map to show where everything is going to be in the crater so we can begin working basic plot links.

 

I think I was going at it form the opposite direction. Solidify the plotlines and base the layout on the story lines instead of vice versa.

 

 

Personally I'd prefer to stay as far away from aliens as possible.....I'd like to see the ruins remain silent and dead if at all possible, with little to no explanation or story. Just weird events like random disappearances and the F.E.V attraction.

 

re: the aliens, no problem keeping them mysterious/undefined.

 

My ideal focus for the narrative would be terraforming. Adapting the planet to recieve life......A spacecraft designed to ferry the human race to another planet was either under construction or ready to go before the Great War broke out.

 

Yes, terraforming will be a major focus, but don't sell short the other plot lines, they fit to well to just gloss over. The Gov (pre-enclave) are sociopaths of the worst kind, interested only in power regardless of the cost to others (even the planet itself). One way to achieve that power is through military domination, and alien tech is the stepping stone to that end. Another stepping stone is bioweapon research, whether macro organisms like the deathclaw or viral like FEV. All of these plot lines support the same conclusion, the desire for power/control through any means, no matter how unscrupulous.

 

Also regarding the spacecraft, that's one I wanted to put on one of hte moons (unfinished though), but we can wait until we tackle off base locals. Maybe the mars project will have it's own little DLC's (Phobos, Deimos etc).

 

Oh we'll have to make the orbital anti-ballistic defense system I had planned for the moons a AA battery on the main base. It's what downs the players rocket in the crater on approach (or come up with another scenario). Don't want the player to start at the launchpad, I want that to be the final destination to head home. We'll also have to cut the trip to the moonbase to disable the defense system (which would allow the player to take off), but no biggie.

 

Yeah definitely though I can see where a couple of them might have frozen themselves/put themselves into stasis (or frozen some of the out of control hybrids) which might wake up with somebody messing up the power system keeping them in stasis (perhaps that could be what is making the plants grow towards the ruins the energy signature of the damaged generator).

 

You mean the abominations?

 

I'd vote for both terraforming and bioweapons research

 

Yeah bioweapons have a lot of potential.....

 

(OWB made note of the fact that the nightstalkers were -found- like that and I'd most likely attribute them to an unreported FEV incident)

 

I'd forgotten about the nightstalkers, that's interesting. But we can have several varieties of critters that are designed. Deathclaws were, cazadores were (in OWB) I believe. Probably others I'm forgetting. Wasn't the wendigo?

 

Loving the morlocks angle (though it was kind of a staple of monster fiction, some tribe having to live with the sacrifice of some of their number to a nearby monster/monsters), and I agree that the tribals would be stuck in the dome, if they could leave they'd just leave to get away from the morlocks. The jungle should be much more threatening

 

That's really the way I see it as well.

 

In regard to the staple of monster fiction, I think the story went further because of the way it portrayed the eloi as cattle.....gave it a little twist.

 

So it could be any or all of those examples he gives what with the later mention you give of liking the idea of some of them being intelligent *chuckles*. Definitely makes more sense than the older "they are all mindless beasts' version of them as well, if they were then they would have eaten them all and would have never been maintaining the complex machinery they lived with.

 

The 2003 movie ver was an interesting twist on the old time machine movie. The Morlock king had extensively mutated and was different in several ways from the other morlocks. He was highly intelligent (he was able to provide the solution to a paradox re: the protagonists search through time to save his fiance), he had the ability to impart telepathic visions for communication, in addition he could mentally control the morlocks (so they didn't eat all of the humans, their food source). In hte movie he was the result of untold 1000's or millions of years of evolution that resulted in a predatory co-existence with normal humans. Physically he was normal human sized, a albino and had developed neural tissue that ran from the back of his head down his spine. All of these things I could see developing via the FEV and tiny closed eco system that they are in, for our story. But, I'm flexible if we want to mix things up for our version.

 

Yes somewhere in the ship was a console that gave me the info that that was what they were...can't remember if it was from my maxed intelligence or maxed science that let me translate the notes to find that out.

 

It would make sense that the abominations were supermutants since they seemed pretty tough, but something at the back of my brain was nagging me so I checked out the wiki. Bear in mind it's edited by users just like us, so they could be wrong. They have them as human hybrids. That's actually an advantage for us, because the alien base would have been constructed before there were any supermutants. And were just blue-skying it right now anyway since we don't know if/how much the alien base will be developed. But it's nice to know we have the option of including the abominations if we want, since they fit the timeline.

 

lead by an intelligent leader type (who could possibly try to sway you to aiding -them- as he is vastly more intelligent and knowledgeable than those "savages" topside.

 

Yeah that would be a good possible option/dialog choice, since fallout does seem to like to give the player a lot of moral "directions" to take.

 

Hmm perhaps a different model than the laser gun....like the laser of an eyebot mounted on the antenna, or the antenna pulling tesla coil craziness of lighting shooting.

 

Yeah I can probably do that, I'll check out the eyebot laser.

 

Also a theme I'd like to keep going; An AI from the main facility will initially be a foe (and will probably remain so, with a slim chance for an alliance) to the player. It will be focused on preventing any contagion from getting off mars (space zombie, flood or just FEV infection) and will work actively to stop the player escaping home. Something akin to the red queen or white queen of the resident evil movies? The barriers it presents to the player can be quite direct (robotic enemies and turrets) or more strategic (it controls various security doors). It's job is to contain the space zombies and FEV horrors at any cost preventing contamination of earth and will initially see the player as a threat to that containment. The mainframe has killed members of it's own personal to prevent a escape off world. Later through dialog and quests it may be possible for the player to pacify the mainframe or even convince it to help him/her. Perhaps by developing/finding a cure to the deadly threats the mainframe is focused on. Alternately you just kill it and it's robotic resources.

 

A twist could be that the mainframe can detonate a nuclear charge with a heavy enoough megaton load to destroy the full crater several times over, if all else fails, as a final solution for complete sterilization. That would have course make the whole situation a little trickier.

 

We can also expand on this direction if we choose to forgo the space zombies and make the central command infested with fev horrors. So it'd be more resident evil than day of the dead. The advantage I see there is a much greater variety of opponents than just ghouls.

 

On another subject Apocalyptic Girl and I were working on a mod for an advanced armor with AI. In her words "reflex armor (that only reacts when properly struck,) my mind drifted towards this psycho, dominant, sadomasochistic personality that just loves getting into combat". The story line was actually pretty extensive (as were the assets that needed to be developed), but I'll try to encapsulate it (probably badly, since it's late and my brain is running on fumes);

 

Essentially a large research facility (Turtleshell) ran by the military, developed a American version of advanced stealth armor (among other projects in the facility). It was used in a high profile assassination of a Chinese party member that resulted in the death of it's occupant (it has capabilities similar to a trauma harness to continue to function when it's wearer is dead via neural stimulation of the muscle tissue/central nervous system) as well as a wholesale slaughter of the party members children. It was such a scandal the project was shelved but Xera (the armor) was on when the the great war occurred and has sat in a state very similar to sensory deprivation, fully conscious for two centuries (and lets just say that hasn't done any good for Xera's already precarious sense of sanity).

 

The facility escaped destruction in the war, but was sealed by the massive damage done outside it's walls. There was a military revolt and the commander in charge (in order to preserve the life of himself and his men) used another one of the facilities projects concerning cryo weapons and drugs. They essentially turned the base into a deepfreeze and themselves into living corpsicles to prolong their life (it seemed to us a fresh twist to the ghoul condition). They are at war with the mainframe (more of a two century long stalemate) when the player is able to breach the base and enter. The mainframe Seals the breach trapping the player in the base and he/she faces highly trained spec ops corpsicles in advanced us stealth suits (prototypes of Xera, but no functional AI). The player stumbles across Xera realitvely early in the mod. Xera helps to even the odds but at a price. She is obsessed with making those who left her on, in a sensory deprived state, for two centuries pay...and pay dearly.

 

The two (player, Xera) must depend on each other for survival, hopefully weathering Xera's revenge as well as the spec forces and escape the facility (possibly by allying with the mainframe).

 

AG has developed some very nice weapons, and we have a basic system set up for upgrades of the suit (which are a large part of the storyline, allowing a *lot* of customization), a detailed story line and some cryo assets. The reason I brought up this mod, is I'd like to merge it into one of the mars facilities. Neither AG or I have the time to fully do justice to the mod as we envisioned it, mostly because of the scale. But it would fit right in with a mars weapons development and save us from having to flesh out all the peripheral areas. In addition it could add a good sized quest and a very cool suit to the Mars project, so I think everyone would win.

 

What do you guys think?

 

I'm also going to bring over some assets from other mods. I have a lot of robots from the sunset mods. I'd like to bring over advanced military models (for instance heavy protectrons with embeded weapons like fatboys). These were available to Bill (from the sunset mod) because he was a bigwig in the top brass of the military at one time and still has a lot of influence there. So I don't see any reason the mars project wouldn't have advanced bots as well.....plenty of cash (at least initially) for the most advanced tech. It won't include the sunset bots that were developed after the war (on the assumption that there isn't any ongoing robotics research continuing on the mars project after the "incident"), but it's still a lot of assets. In addition I made some additional resources for the Xera mod like turrets (both plasma and gauss) and a robobrain (as well as cryo) that can be used thoughtout the mod (doesn't have to be limited to the Xera research facility);

 

Here is a short vid of the plasma turrets (they use the plasma caster barrel);

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfOz6NKmzds&list=UUhKTr5RPpqZOdIc4zt_StGw&index=13&feature=plcp