An independent New Vegas mod.

[sgtKraigO]

So I was looking at this mod

http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/1186479-ncr-power-armor/

and thought if it's edited to something similar to what I mentioned in the thread it would fit really well in this mod.

[sgtKraigO]

I'm pretty sure some of this has been mentioned before but just in case it hasn't here are my thoughts.

 

One of the endings of Old World Blues says, in lamest terms, that the Think Tank sends the robotic dogs out into the wastes to help protect towns. I was thinking maybe add a few robotic dogs around a few towns in the Mojave and if the Brotherhood is alive they acquire them for their own use. For the NCR ending then they acquire some, but not all, and this goes the same for the Independent ending as well.

 

For ED-E I was thinking that if the player gives him to the Brotherhood and ends up killing them but leaving bunker intact then whomever takes control of the bunker finds the data on the Eyebots and begins using them. I could see one or two being sent with a patrol for either Independent or NCR and a few in/around their bases. If the Brotherhood is left alive then their patrols are seen with one or two Eyebots.

[Devilman1975]

In addition to the X-8 facility sending cyber dogs into the Mojave we've also got two other Old World Blues endings which have some effect in the Mojave.

 

The X-13 facility sends robobrains out into the Mojave to look for it's missing stealth suit. The robobrains take over Repconn HQ from fiends and use it as a research facility but this ending is dependent on the player completing all stealth suit tests.

 

The X-22 Biological Station is mentioned that it has commitments to Vault 22 which it had helped infect. It would be interesting to find some robobrains and mr handys from Big MT in Vault 22. Keeley the NCR ghoul would have to be relocated though as she stays in Vault 22 after the quest There Stands The Grass is completed.

 

With these endings I have to wonder how much control does the Courier have over Big MT? It seems like while the cat's away the mice will play.

[sgtKraigO]

 

With these endings I have to wonder how much control does the Courier have over Big MT? It seems like while the cat's away the mice will play.

 

I never really felt like the courier had any control over Big MT, just the SINK. Everything else is just doing it's own thing.

[devinpatterson]

yeah I'm kind of curious about taht myself. In fact do the think tanks even remember the courier later down the road or does that get wiped along with the rest of their memories due to their "recursion loop". They remembered other visitors, but they were recent, so......

 

No problem to add effects to the mojave from quests completed in the OWB. I hadn't planned on it due to time, but almost all the ideas I see mentioned above aren't hugely time consuming.

[Devilman1975]

I've had another look at the endings for Old World Blues and it is mentioned that the Think Tank are still running the recursion loop but are now aware of the world outside. Even if the Think Tank is destroyed the player is still regarded as the new owner of Big MT and uses the technology there for good or ill depending on your karma.

 

I usually decide to spare the Think Tank as I figured it would be handy to have them working for me and it would be impossible to run the place all by myself. However when my character returns to the Mojave to take care of things I'm a bit concerned of what those kooky scientists will do in my absence. Is Dala still creating her lobotomite teddy bears? Is Borous still experimenting with wasteland wildlife and trying to make new horrors like a deathclaw with cazador wings? As for the research facilities previously mentioned I'm not sure if they are run by an A.I or if they are programmed similar to the utilities in the Sink. It would be funny if the X-13 facility is jealous over the fact that the stealth suit prefers it's new owner and tries to have the player killed in order to retrieve the suit.

 

I wouldn't mind it if the player gets the opportunity to have a more active role in the management at Big MT in an Old World Blues addon for the mod.

[devinpatterson]

So I was looking at this mod

 

http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/1186479-ncr-power-armor/

 

and thought if it's edited to something similar to what I mentioned in the thread it would fit really well in this mod.

Yeah I still need to do the knees & shoulder pads (well lack of) as well as scuff them up. But when I finish it (probably the weekend) I'll fold it into our main project here.

[devinpatterson]

One of the endings of Old World Blues says, in lamest terms, that the Think Tank sends the robotic dogs out into the wastes to help protect towns. I was thinking maybe add a few robotic dogs around a few towns in the Mojave and if the Brotherhood is alive they acquire them for their own use. For the NCR ending then they acquire some, but not all, and this goes the same for the Independent ending as well.

It would be cool to have a few in various towns and I like the idea of some potentially faction friendly ones. So like if your a NCR allied courier, one of your mini quests could be making friends with them and bringing them into the NCR fold? Same for independent? Probably wouldn't take much, maybe help them during a battle or some brahmin steaks. Either way I'd like to do a NCR retex and BOS retex of some cyberdogs. I think that would be interesting.

 

For ED-E I was thinking that if the player gives him to the Brotherhood and ends up killing them but leaving bunker intact then whomever takes control of the bunker finds the data on the Eyebots and begins using them. I could see one or two being sent with a patrol for either Independent or NCR and a few in/around their bases.

I have always liked the idea of "a small army of Duraframe eyebots." and wish they could be expanded to other factions. I'd like to have those little guys roaming the Mojave. But I tend to think that other than the BOS & Followers, no other active faction in NV has the know how to put them together. And if the bunker is leveled I don't think you could extract teh relevant data. Wish we could, but I don't think it all fits togetehr :sad:

 

If the Brotherhood is left alive then their patrols are seen with one or two Eyebots.

Yeah they get a "small army". Not sure what that is in actual numbers, but I figured the eyebot could become as prevalent in teh Mojave as it is/was in teh capital wastelands (although spouting less propaganda).

[devinpatterson]

The X-13 facility sends robobrains out into the Mojave to look for it's missing stealth suit. The robobrains take over Repconn HQ from fiends and use it as a research facility but this ending is dependent on the player completing all stealth suit tests.

Sounds good. And I wouldn't mind taking it a little further and having a random encounter in the mojave with a brainbot "requesting" the return of the suit. Makes for a decent OWB callback.

 

The X-22 Biological Station is mentioned that it has commitments to Vault 22 which it had helped infect. It would be interesting to find some robobrains and mr handys from Big MT in Vault 22. Keeley the NCR ghoul would have to be relocated though as she stays in Vault 22 after the quest There Stands The Grass is completed.

I wish there was a little more info on the commitments; "The Garden sent back a polite refusal, saying it had prior commitments with a Vault it had helped infect before the war" Be nice if there was some indication of where the developers were going with that. Commitments as in simply continuing the research? Commitments as in dealing with the little side effect of infecting and killing almost everyone in the vault?

 

With these endings I have to wonder how much control does the Courier have over Big MT? It seems like while the cat's away the mice will play.

That's more or less the way I see it. Depending on your individual ending, the player has a lot of influence while in the sink. But the think tanks are erratic, prone to dangerous (and lets face it borderline insane/mad scientist stuff) research and experiments, have damaged programming, a lack of moral scruples, etc etc. So I suspect even if they wanted to follow the couriers instructions to the letter, and had the best intentions to do so, I wouldn't bet my life on it.

 

I've had another look at the endings for Old World Blues and it is mentioned that the Think Tank are still running the recursion loop but are now aware of the world outside.

My memory on this is a little rusty, so I dug into Mobius's profile on the wiki. He's the one that hacked the think tanks in re: to their knowledge of the outside world (and later himself), so I think unless he pulls the same stunt, your probably right, that they will continue to recognize teh existence of a world outside the bounds of the BigMT.

 

Even if the Think Tank is destroyed the player is still regarded as the new owner of Big MT and uses the technology there for good or ill depending on your karma.

&

I usually decide to spare the Think Tank as I figured it would be handy to have them working for me and it would be impossible to run the place all by myself.

That's more or less how I see it too. I just don't think the full extant of the BigMT can be utilized without the think tanks. Maybe the courier can personally or with the aid of a advanced tech faction (followers, BOS) glean some of the secrets of OWB, but I feel the wealth of their knowledge is locked up in the think tanks. Probably a great deal of it, they don't even realize they have. Either forgotten or buried deep in their damaged programming.

 

However when my character returns to the Mojave to take care of things I'm a bit concerned of what those kooky scientists will do in my absence.

Considering their personalities I think that's a safe bet. Their madness......er quest for knowledge knows no bounds. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, because it provides ample fodder for new adventures when the courier returns.

 

I know this is shading toward the territory of a separate mod like OWB expanded that I was working on, but I'd like to continue the discussion in that direction. Partly for selfish reasons (I really get a kick out of OWB), but also because I need ideas to expand it and this thread has some great contributors that come up with a lot of out of the box thinking, that I'd love to have in teh OWB expanded mod. Plus I have a ton of assets already done for it, that I would love to start putting to good use.

 

Is Dala still creating her lobotomite teddy bears? Is Borous still experimenting with wasteland wildlife and trying to make new horrors like a deathclaw with cazador wings?

Definitely. A lot of good opportunities to push the boundaries of sanity.

 

Here are some winged deathclaws I made up for a request, so we can start Borous's experiments right away;

 

 

 

http://i1066.photobucket.com/albums/u404/devinlpatterson/WingedDeathclaw_zps77fb19b8.jpg

 

 

 

As for the research facilities previously mentioned I'm not sure if they are run by an A.I or if they are programmed similar to the utilities in the Sink. It would be funny if the X-13 facility is jealous over the fact that the stealth suit prefers it's new owner and tries to have the player killed in order to retrieve the suit.

So the question of being run by an AI vs programmed would come down to retrieving a holotape to get a facility up and running, or am I missing other implications?

 

I definitely like the idea of personalities for the facilities since we don't have any human NPC's to interact with. It expands the cast of characters (although I do wonder if at some time another wastelander will eventually penetrate the BigMT and what could result from it) and gives them motivations they may ask the courier to aid them with. For example the suit, or as you mentioned before the botanical gardens may have business with vault 22 and even the refugees in Zion. Since it can't travel it may petition the courier to do some footwork for it. Maybe offer an inducement of a rare, newly mutated herb or something.

 

Building on your idea above with teh stealth suit and X-13 maybe it feels like a jilted lover. So it goes beyond simple jealousy. And when it's thwarted in it's rage, being unable to kill the player it could go into a depression, or send stalker mode or any of the wonderous malfunctions a human could in matters of the heart.

 

I wouldn't mind it if the player gets the opportunity to have a more active role in the management at Big MT in an Old World Blues addon for the mod.

Definitely, I think that would be a lot of fun. All kinds of mayham could ensue.

 

So I'm finishing up a big shed (nailingthe ceiling joists and rafters this weekend, with a little luck) and I'd like to think that after this project is done I can get back to putting significant time into modding. Hoping so anyway....

[sgtKraigO]

 

For ED-E I was thinking that if the player gives him to the Brotherhood and ends up killing them but leaving bunker intact then whomever takes control of the bunker finds the data on the Eyebots and begins using them. I could see one or two being sent with a patrol for either Independent or NCR and a few in/around their bases.

I have always liked the idea of "a small army of Duraframe eyebots." and wish they could be expanded to other factions. I'd like to have those little guys roaming the Mojave. But I tend to think that other than the BOS & Followers, no other active faction in NV has the know how to put them together. And if the bunker is leveled I don't think you could extract teh relevant data. Wish we could, but I don't think it all fits togetehr :sad:

 

 

 

I agree that if the bunker is destroyed than other factions would have difficulties building Eyebots on mass, but if the bunker is left intact then I could see them being produced, even if it's at a slower rate than the BoS. There would be a lot of information in the bunker, maybe we could see other advances in NCR/independent military and civilian tech. I'll try looking into it and see what I can dig up.

Edited November 14, 2013 by sgtKraigO