An independent New Vegas mod.

[Mktavish]

IDK ... I guess I just don't like the idea of VR period.

But if you like it , cuz it's your mod , Let it be so .

 

I can still manufacture the pieces ... err more to the point ... I want to be a part of creating this mod.

 

You had me sold when you said we release it starter/small .esp

Then continue to write and update the file .

 

Which goes very well with my battle arena plugin game play feature.

[devinpatterson]

IDK ... I guess I just don't like the idea of VR period.

 

Each to their own, but to me it allows some really interesting campaign environments.

 

But the VR I'm proposing is a reasonable\plausible consequence of House's circumstances. I mean, can you imagine being locked into a pod roughly the size of a coffin for days, months or years.....and with nothing but a monitor? I don't know about you, but that's a rough existence. But VR tech was in existence and your talking, arguably the richest man in teh world.....so I think it's fair to deduce that he'd use it. It's probably the only thing that would keep you sane with those physical circumstances or restraints. Plus in the wiki there was a scandal about scanning a startlet he was "dating", which I believe was for VR purposes.

 

Now House wasn't conscious during the whole, time. There was a great deal of his existence in which he was in a coma, but even a few months or years living in a sarcophagus has got to get old, and wear on your nerves a bit.

[devinpatterson]

But instead of spending the time to make it render in game for test ... we just set up a terminal to simulate the council meeting in a general text response / player input (the gist of it) which then sets the variables for down the road render. And we can set up and test that easily without having to change the on screen render every time. Plus it will make a nice template for the final render set up.

Possibly, but keep in mind a terminal has roughly the same limited amount of choices as dialog (like 9 menu items, or something in that ballpark), so may have to dig through sub menu's where as just typing in a console can bypass everything to change a var directly. But it could be preferable to some

 

In re: to

1. is Emily Ortal

 

Hmm what's your angle with her ? But sounds an interesting avenue to explore.

No clue, at the moment, I'm hoping you guys may have some ideas. I do however think it's amazing that she was able to what she did. In this one instance she was able to best the worlds (arguably) foremost authority on robotics in the known world. So even though she's sort of a afterthought in the plot line, I believe there is something here.....a potential story hook perhaps.

Maybe she comes on board with the courier to help with Yesman's development.

 

One of the plot lines I've described earlier in the thread pitches the idea of Yesman being compromised and the courier having to fight his way through new vegas against a hostile securitron army. She could play a part in that as the "questgiver" explaining what has happened to Yesman, and relaying to the player how to disable or fix Yesman.

 

At the very least ... could be how the player turns on the means for the battle arenas ... something in the way of mobile factory ?

Mobile?

 

I'm hesitant to have the vault be a factory, simply for the sake of game balance. The securitron army is very powerful as it is, and if the player can create more securitrons I'll be hard pressed to write a story where even the "big boys" (read NCR, Legion or other super powers of the region) are a threat.

I want the courier to be a player in the wasteland's geo politics and balance of power, but a up and coming player, not over powering (I don't think there's a lot of fun in a campaign if there's no challenge). Being able to refresh or increase your robot army could be, to my way of thinking, overpowering.

 

in re: to the green lasers and plasma rockets

 

I guess I should explain something about the player in the arena.

This is upgrades that are connected to the real world experience of the courier (which is why they require the experiences at repcon and vault 22 as a pre-requisite). That doesn't mean they can't be co-opted for the battle arena if you like, but that's not their primary purposes.

[ElrazielMoon]

Well Emily could be a central character in the main quest mod. In fact, she could be recruited to make manutention to Yes Man and that could lead to some quests (the hacking securitrons quests or sort of)

[devinpatterson]

Well Emily could be a central character in the main quest mod. In fact, she could be recruited to make manutention to Yes Man

Sorry, could you rephrase that, I'm not quite following.

 

and that could lead to some quests (the hacking securitrons quests or sort of)

 

Yes, I'm looking for plot lines or just small story tidbits to liven things up that feature her. I think there might be something interesting in the fact that she's a physician and a "self taught" robotics expert (or maybe AI expert would be more accurate, I'm not sure). Maybe something to do with cybernetics. That field of study could benefit from those two areas of expertise. Although it may be a bad choice since it could lead to macabre implications, akin to robobrains.

 

I'm not sure, I haven't quite found an angle yet, but it seems like this is a very unique and under explored npc, and there should be potential for something interesting to come from her life story.

 

 

[ElrazielMoon]

 

Well Emily could be a central character in the main quest mod. In fact, she could be recruited to make manutention to Yes Man

Sorry, could you rephrase that, I'm not quite following.

 

and that could lead to some quests (the hacking securitrons quests or sort of)

 

Yes, I'm looking for plot lines or just small story tidbits to liven things up that feature her. I think there might be something interesting in the fact that she's a physician and a "self taught" robotics expert (or maybe AI expert would be more accurate, I'm not sure). Maybe something to do with cybernetics. That field of study could benefit from those two areas of expertise. Although it may be a bad choice since it could lead to macabre implications, akin to robobrains.

 

I'm not sure, I haven't quite found an angle yet, but it seems like this is a very unique and under explored npc, and there should be potential for something interesting to come from her life story.

 

 

 

well, she could be in a quest involving trying to decipher the secrets she wanted to aqquire from Mr House in the vainilla quest

[devinpatterson]

well, she could be in a quest involving trying to decipher the secrets she wanted to aqquire from Mr House in the vainilla quest

I believe that was to plant a packet sniffer and maybe something with the mainframe (or packet sniffer to help break the mainframe's encryption). Something like that, I'll double check, but the upshot is all that is kinda moot since the player controls yesman and the mainframe. He can just let Emily have full run of the house. So it wouldn't on it's own be much of a quest. Maybe some extra dialog where you have the choice to give some of the data she was looking for to the followers for good karma, or sell it?

 

I think to follow your pitch it would have to be something deeper, maybe a encrypted file on the mainframe that yesman can't access?

 

Hmmm. I'm not sure, any ideas?

 

One that comes to mind, is a little bit of a sub plot, but is in relation to vault 21. I had an idea (I think it's in this thread), that vault 21 wasn't just a experiment in Government via chance but something more sinister. Behind the facade was experiments in FEV neurotropic viruses. This is reminiscent of King's the Shop, where psychers are created (or Niven's idea of the puppeters breeding humans for psychic abilities, like luck). In a nutshell psychers would self select for more powerful psychers via the birth lotteries. Now I'm not talking about mutants like 11, that are tossing around big rigs, I'm talking very subtle phsycher abilities that are probably only realized by the subconscious. Things like minor TK, limited pre-cog (a flash of intuition), extra luck etc. All things that would be selected and be a benefit to games of chance.

 

My story line is this is why House really filled the vault with concrete. He was aware of the experiment and possibly was even monitoring it remotely, and as the psycher abilities began to show greater effectiveness/power he decided to step in and put a stop to it. The difficult part is that he (House) won a game of chance to acquire the vault and to do that he would have had to have cheated (because he's facing professional gamblers with Psi abilities). At least that's the most plausible explanation I'v come up with that fits in the story I'm trying to weave.

 

Removing or penetrating the concrete in vault 21 will allow access (with House's files/info) to the secret portion of the vault, the experiment behind the experiment, where bots had supervised and monitored the experiments. The altered the fev strain of neurotropic virus via administering yearly immunizations before the lower vault was sealed, and even surreptitiously implanting embryos for "winning" moms of the birth lotteries . Mostly this is just for creating some rather interesting NPCs that are part of the vault 21rs (super lucky peeps, knife throwers with a bit of TK psi ability, gunfighters with an unerring knack of knowing where to place a slug a split second before the target is even visible etc).

 

But I suppose it's possible the newest batches of embryos that was slated for the next generation could have had much greater psychic abilities, perhaps even fearfully so....and some of the experiments maybe still be located in the hidden research wing. Anyway, just a though I'v been toying with over the past.

[Mktavish]

 

 

Yes, I'm looking for plot lines or just small story tidbits to liven things up that feature her. I think there might be something interesting in the fact that she's a physician and a "self taught" robotics expert (or maybe AI expert would be more accurate, I'm not sure). Maybe something to do with cybernetics. That field of study could benefit from those two areas of expertise. Although it may be a bad choice since it could lead to macabre implications, akin to robobrains.

 

I'm not sure, I haven't quite found an angle yet, but it seems like this is a very unique and under explored npc, and there should be potential for something interesting to come from her life story.

 

 

 

I kind of like the macabre implications ... but without building a whole new set of cybernetic creature assets.

Would be kind of hard to pull it off with the already existing assets. Seems we at least need a few new robots down the road though. Err how bout the Zeta assets , wana get spacey with it ? Have it turn out Emily is really an alien ?

I was thinking the other day about something with the securitrons (House is dead right ?)

What if little things started manifesting with the securitrons , stuff that would indicate House has some sort of consciousness within their network? Albeit it's probably already been mentioned in the 160 pages here right?

 

But what was your thoughts on the Beam Link to command Robots I mentioned. What if Emily gives that to the player ... but then also one or a few others got stole from her lab. Hence how the securitrons get hacked.

Anyways just some thoughts.

 

Eeeesh , I'm having trouble with the arena thing , trying to get the satellite view to work right. I have to try it a different way , because perching the player 2500 units higher with disabled player controls won't let them use the beam link properly. Unless I can just do it with VATS some how to select units , but the range on that seems pretty low. Or I might just go back to trying the jet pack idea? Without the high up view it kinda falls apart.

Not that the story concept I set up there wouldn't still work , even building the little robot factory base out of gathering resources there. I figure it out in a few days though.

 

And scratch my idea about doing a mock up of the council in a terminal. I don't know what I was thinking ... Terminals are so limited and tedious. The dialogue window would be way better , and just use the main frame creature for the conversation , or talking activator ? But maybe it would be just as easy to start plopping npc's in a room and linking place holder dialogue.

[devinpatterson]

I kind of like the macabre implications ... but without building a whole new set of cybernetic creature assets.

Would be kind of hard to pull it off with the already existing assets. Seems we at least need a few new robots down the road though.

I'd like to hear a little more about this, what did you have in mind?

 

 

Have it turn out Emily is really an alien ?

I think that is great out of the box thinking, but I'd say save it for another character, it could be a whole adventure in itself. But I'm a fan of the idea.

 

I've long wanted to do a ufo mod with a ton of the alien conspiracy, men in black, Illuminati, nazi antarctic etc angle. Here is an old post "Of UFOs, Nazis and secret antarctic bases" that lists it. There is an alien companion that plays a central role, but I never considered him/her/it posing as a human when you first meet (or if I did I'v long forgotten it).

I know the zeta ships are gone, but this could have been a scout (in a crashed ship) on earth when the lone wanderer dealt with the Zetan threat. Or alternately they have superluminal ships and another mothership has arrived.

 

What if little things started manifesting with the securitrons , stuff that would indicate House has some sort of consciousness within their network? Albeit it's probably already been mentioned in the 160 pages here right?

Yeah, it is the plot line behind the securitron rebellion/trap, it starts around page 5, but the basic concept is that there was a backup, a sort of digital clone of house that was activated when he died. He laid low and at some point usurps control of the mainframe. The player is forced to wage a battle with embedded securitrons fighting his or her way to the lucky 38 under withering fire and with limited time to reach the mainframe (otherwise Yesman is deleted).

However I also like you spin in the idea of odd little things happening (that at the time some bizarre but not dangerous) during House's clandestine infiltration.

 

But what was your thoughts on the Beam Link to command Robots I mentioned. What if Emily gives that to the player

She's pretty capable, I could see her developing something like that.

 

because perching the player 2500 units higher with disabled player controls won't let them use the beam link properly

Keep in mind you can disable player controls selectively. Off the top of my head I don't remember the exact switch but you can disable movement and still allow weapons.

 

 

[Mktavish]

 

I kind of like the macabre implications ... but without building a whole new set of cybernetic creature assets.

Would be kind of hard to pull it off with the already existing assets. Seems we at least need a few new robots down the road though.

I'd like to hear a little more about this, what did you have in mind?

 

The macabre implications being along the lines of the Borg from Star Trek. But more than human cyborgs , have creature cyborgs. Stuff that makes sense for troop production. But like I said , would need a bunch of model/creature assets made.

Can't just put them in a suit of armor like the NPC's to simulate it ?

For more robots though ... there is the eyebot , sentrybot and protectrons to add to future battle arena's. But with Fo3 I was also going to add Liberty prime. Which we don't have him FNV. So I guess I was alluding to a mech unit or 2 ... or maybe some other robots , not sure what. But the protectron itself is a bit lack luster , which I guess the securitrons are meant to replace it in FNV ?... so maybe it could be scaled up and turned into a mech unit ?

 

But am getting ahead of myself there , just need this present scenario to get done , and see if that whole concept is even feasible.

 

 

Have it turn out Emily is really an alien ?

I think that is great out of the box thinking, but I'd say save it for another character, it could be a whole adventure in itself. But I'm a fan of the idea.

 

Alrighty , to far off base for this story line then.

 

What if little things started manifesting with the securitrons , stuff that would indicate House has some sort of consciousness within their network? Albeit it's probably already been mentioned in the 160 pages here right?

Yeah, it is the plot line behind the securitron rebellion/trap, it starts around page 5, but the basic concept is that there was a backup, a sort of digital clone of house that was activated when he died. He laid low and at some point usurps control of the mainframe. The player is forced to wage a battle with embedded securitrons fighting his or her way to the lucky 38 under withering fire and with limited time to reach the mainframe (otherwise Yesman is deleted).

However I also like you spin in the idea of odd little things happening (that at the time some bizarre but not dangerous) during House's clandestine infiltration.

 

Ahh I just had an epiphany with your many mentions of VR and this plot line.

What if we borrow from the movie Tron , setting up a bunch of interior spaces , to fight your way through the computer system to finally get rid of House ? Guess depends on what kind of building kit assets are there , and what we can do with them as far as looks ... and not to hokey of an idea ... hehe :geek:

 

But what was your thoughts on the Beam Link to command Robots I mentioned. What if Emily gives that to the player

She's pretty capable, I could see her developing something like that.

 

So you think the Beam Link would make a good item to add in the regular game play then ?

 

because perching the player 2500 units higher with disabled player controls won't let them use the beam link properly

Keep in mind you can disable player controls selectively. Off the top of my head I don't remember the exact switch but you can disable movement and still allow weapons.

 

The problem is disabling movement also disables part of the HUD ... specifically the crosshair and any scope overlay.

You can still zoom the view , but very hard too hit anything. Also seems something is off with where the projectile gets projected from. I don't remember this as a problem in the Fo3 engine though ... because I had an elevator raising the player that needed movement disabled, and their gun seemed to work fine during that ?

However , I think I found my solution with VATS hopefully ... these functions , with which the player doesn't even have to shoot them for the issue command feature to work ... I think ?

 

Con_SetGS fVATSMaxEngageDistance 10000 ; default is 5000

 

GetVATSValue ; either with a Perk entry point , or in MenuMode 1056 , script block .

 

Which the game setting and perk/script would only be running while in satellite view.

So that VATS can function as normal the rest of the time.

At least that is my new theory to make it work ,,, I'll find out later today.