An independent New Vegas mod.

[Nihilisaurus]

 

Radar fence only keeps unpaired brains/bodies in. Lobotomites and Think Tanks get pulled back, anything with a brain in a (biological)body can walk straight through.

 

For OWB the radar fence would be the greatest barrier (****even though the think tank info only lists it's ability to keep things in****, and at least three people have breached it's defense), but that's not written in stone.

**** asterisks added for emphasis.

 

It's actually stated somewhere it doesn't keep stuff out, it *only* keeps specific things in. All the lobotomites wandering around are wastelanders who wandered in and became unwitting 'volunteers' for brain extraction experiments. The only thing that really stops anyone from going there in force is that it's so isolated (surrounded by barren desert) and nobody ever comes out of the crater to tell people what's there, so people assume it's deadly and/or empty.

 

That said, it'd be a funny opportunity for a quest. Lots of opportunity for silly dialog where the player proposes 'turning it [the radar fence] around' and being lauded as a genius for simple ideas etc.

Edited December 24, 2013 by Lt Albrecht

[devinpatterson]

It's actually stated somewhere it doesn't keep stuff out, it *only* keeps specific things in.

Quoting myself (in my previous response) explicitly stating that it I was aware of that attribute of the radar fence (before you posted) should have made this point a non-issue

 

(even though the think tank info only lists it's ability to keep things in

 

That said, it'd be a funny opportunity for a quest. Lots of opportunity for silly dialog where the player proposes 'turning it [the radar fence] around' and being lauded as a genius for simple ideas etc.

Thanks I'll keep it in mind

[devinpatterson]

To be absolutely honest I'm having a hard time trying to believe that the Divide could ever hope to hold some kind of settlement.

It may not be something that can be believably portrayed without a deus ex machina dropping a little sanctuary somewhere....*if* were talking about living on the surface. But I'd like to explore the idea because the story line of the courier coming full circle (and optionally atonement, even for a unwitting act) intrigues me. And I think the military installations themselves can be viable candidates. I also like the visual imagery of Darkus's high rise settlement (it might be intersting to tweak and twist several of the lonesome road high rises to form,in aggregate, a enormous post apocalyptic dark tower).

 

Between the extent of the destruction, you've got an increase in monsters, dust storms and pockets of radiation I'm skeptical about the chances for any community to survive in the area.

You definitely have an increase in monsters. The tunnelers for instance first broke on to teh world stage after the nukes created fissures to the surface. I also suspect it's the cause of the irradiated deathclaws, and we know it's the origin of the marked men. But although it created great dust storms during the detonations, the continuing dust storms are the work of weather experiments from the BigMT (IMHO) and as such were there before the settlement. And of course we have areas in the Divide that are low radiation (as well as extremely high).

 

As Greenknightfury points out (via the Pitt,) if the carrot (pre-war industrial treasures of Pittsburgh) and/or stick (slavery) is big enough, people will live in some pretty crappy conditions. I imagine there are plenty of spots in the divide more hospitable than the Pitt. So I'm looking more akin to a draw (the carrot, if you will), and at the moment the military installations (and possibly finding/clearing a safe route through the divide for trading) seem like the greatest treasures of the region. But if anyone has additional ideas on how or why a settlement could start up again, I'd love to hear them.

[devinpatterson]

re: the irradiated deathclaws, they have no DT, almost as if their hides are soft, and they give off radiation damage. I was thinking it would be nice to give them a glowing ones effect. Not just the glow, but a retexture that has the same x-ray type effect/look that makes the glowing ones skin appear gelatinous with bones showing clearly through. Not being a specialist in the deathclaw skeletal system I don't know how feasible that would be, but I do believe it would be a striking visual that would really make them stand out. And I could draw from illustrations/pics of our saurian ancestors for anatomy.

re: the tunnlers, I think their back story is great (previously hopeville citizens), but I'm not particularly fond of the little bullet sponges. So while I have no problem putting some random encounter lists for a few of them in the mojave (assuming I can figure out what direction the divide lies in), I'm not interested in a prolonged, drawn out genocidal war in NV.

With that in mind I was thinking of a quest to curtail the population before they get out into the world at large. I was thinking there are probably at least a couple of ways to slow or stop their expansion. If they have a limited number of exits to their underground vault(vaults?) it might be possible to have a choke point near the exits or in the divide somewhere. Alternately it might be possible to seal some of the fissures. Another choice could have to do with their reproduction. If they have a queen (no reason to believe they do, it's for story driven purposes) it might be possible to delve down into their nests/vaults and kill her or them. Thereby retarding the tunnlers progress/expansion by years or decades. I think one or a combination of those would make a good quest and save having to deal with the mighty munchkins infiltrating the Mojave.

[devinpatterson]

Well according to the notes the commissaries all linked to a central facility, so teleportation of inanimate objects instead of the fabrication machines that the Sierra Madre vending machines were, but the machines that built the Ed-E were definitely a larger version (probably a much earlier version) of the vending machines.

 

 

 

 

That's interesting, not just on the teleportation aspect but the idea that there is a central (probably massive) warehouse. I wonder if it's linked to the Hopeville and Ashton military facilities only or if it serves other military installations further distant.

 

Yeah the machine that reproduced Ed-E (and/or remotes scanned him) is a intriguing bit of tech.

 

I was also skimming the hopeville entry on the wiki and for the first time I read that the couriers package (that set of the nukes) was a copy of Ed-E. That makes sense in light of Lonesome road since he is used by Ulysses to begin another countdown, but is confusing in the pre-divide era. I mean I was under the impression that ED-E was the only duraframe bot produced, and if so then what copied him/her/it? It wasn't copied at the divide, by the divides tech (even if the remote scan had the range, the copy seems to be produced in the specific pod ED-E 2 was found in) since it was delivered there. And why did the copy have launch codes anyway. Is it a secure packet in the original ED-E as well? And if so why?

 

Weirdness.

[devinpatterson]

Anyway the link for the blurb about ED-E, 3rd paragraph down.....assuming the info is accurate (which I find highly suspect).

[devinpatterson]

wish I had the skill to help out in any way...

 

You do, by contributing ideas. I'll take a solid plot or a good idea over the flashiest models or special effects. Most things I can learn to do myself, thanks to the generosity of fellow modders and their turtorials. I may not do it well or quickly, but I usually muddle through eventually. So I'm far more concerned with putting together the best story lines, concepts etc.

[greenknightfury]

See my assumption from the info given in Lonesome Road was that the "package" that set off the Divide was a computer core for an Enclave mainframe al-la President Eden.

 

You are expressly told that the ED-E copy you end up with as a companion was built by the machinery after the destruction (using whatever it could locate in the Divide), after Ulysses reactivated the main systems to get his "blow up the NCR" plan rolling.

[Devilman1975]

See my assumption from the info given in Lonesome Road was that the "package" that set off the Divide was a computer core for an Enclave mainframe al-la President Eden.

 

Just had a look at the Fallout wiki and there isn't much information about the mysterious package. All we know is that the NCR found it in Navarro and that it had it the same old world markings found in the missile silos and I would guess that the NCR themselves had no idea what the package actually was. When Whitley sent Ed-E on it's way, It is assumed that the East Coast Enclave in Fallout 3 are unaware that Navarro has fallen to the NCR. Then again maybe only Eden was aware of what happened to Navarro.

 

Regarding ideas for the Divide. If we are introducing survivors from the original settlement that the Courier founded I imagine that not many would have survived and those that did became ghouls afterwards (similar to Moira Brown after blowing up Megaton). I still doubt that you could find humans willing to settle in the Divide but races like ghouls and super mutants may be better suited to surviving that particular environment. I still see the whole area as ground zero of a recent nuclear disaster. People may be tempted to scavenge in the area but they would still be aware that it's a highly dangerous place to stay for too long.

 

I would like to see the consequences of the choices the player makes at the end of Lonesome Road in regards to the missiles being targeted at either or both the NCR and Legion. I can't imagine the player being on good terms with the NCR or Legion if they have been nuked. Since the player gets a reputation boost with various factions over the nukes makes me wonder if the NCR, Legion, Brotherhood and Followers of the Apocalypse were spying on the Courier during Lonesome Road.

 

These factions may also have an interest in the tech left in the Divide. If Ulysses survives the end of Lonesome Road then I'm sure that a reason can be invented for Caesar's Legion being in the area. Maybe he can be targeted by them for desertion and if they know that the "Slayer of Caesar" is also in the area I'm sure they will try their luck against the player. If Ulysses makes it into the mod then I hope there's a way to run it with Ulysses companion mod by Cirosan http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/48600/?

 

I was also thinking of the Brotherhood's Circle of Steel making an appearance if we want to avoid using the Mojave Brotherhood under two different leaders. The NCR would probably send in their own investigators into the area since the Divide was in the process of being annexed by the NCR before the accident. The FolIowers of the Apocalypse would want to investigate the area themselves and try to deactivate any remaining missiles that they may find. I would even be happy to see the Enclave make a small appearance again (a small assault team in a vertibird) if we want to tie in the idea of the destruction at the Divide being that the mysterious package was created by the Enclave and set to activate the missile silos when delivered by an unsuspecting courier. I hope the Mk2 Enclave armor is still in the game files.

[devinpatterson]

See my assumption from the info given in Lonesome Road was that the "package" that set off the Divide was a computer core for an Enclave mainframe al-la President Eden.

Hmmm intersting idea.

 

You are expressly told that the ED-E copy you end up with as a companion was built by the machinery after the destruction (using whatever it could locate in the Divide), after Ulysses reactivated the main systems to get his "blow up the NCR" plan rolling.

Yeah, that part of the wiki makes no sense to me (ED-E or a reproduction of ED-E being the package). I suspect that was just put in there by someone and wasn't properly vetted. Tehre's no discussion to show that anyone questioned it or where it came from.