An independent New Vegas mod.

[devinpatterson]

Well, the big thing with Benny is, well, he's Benny. :teehee:

 

No worries, I can see where your coming from and he's easy enough to include. If you want I can contact the author of the companion mod.

 

which makes me wonder what's down there

 

I didn't know that. The wiki wasn't too informative, other than to say;

 

"under orders from President Kimball, New California Republic Rangers were deployed to the area for what Chief Hanlon describes as "chasing ghosts", because Oliver prefer troopers to rangers".

 

Mexico city seems to be overrun with raiders...don't know if that also has anything to do with it.

 

freeing up the Mojave resources (it's a huge resource and morale drain, as repeatedly detailed in game)

 

Well the player gets New Vegas and the Dam, but initially that's all he/she gets for free. The NCR still has Camp Golf, Camp Mccarren and other military assets so it's not a independent Mojave unless the player earns it with blood, sweat and tears. Same re: Legion. So they'r both still heavily invested in the Mojave. But it initially frees up the troops at hoover dam and optionally on teh strip (depending on teh players wishes/rep). I'd guess they can be deployed to Golf & McCarren. But other than that point, I think we have the same vision on this.

 

provided the player was nice enough (it SHOULD be possible to make amends, re: the treaty thing, I'm basically suggesting that the NCR would want/accept a player-run Strip as an ally

 

Yeah I think so too, and I think reason 1-4 are solid but I'd also throw in a 5th....the old "enemy of my enemy" re: Caeser. Plus it would be a much less interesting story line if it wasn't. Same for Caeser, it should be possible to change hte rep somewhat, although probably even more challenging. It's not my focus, but some players may enjoy a strip where legion slaves are traded openly and the Mojave is militarily dominated by Caeser (although I can't imagine that won't come back to Lanius being tasked to gain New Vegas at some point).

 

Definitely a lot of Strip/inner court politics, and definitely a lot of assassinations, though the player isn't the only viable target.. it would be interesting to have a round of assassinations/a$$ licking to test the waters and/or reorder the totem beneath the player.

 

Sounds like a plan, I'll start reading up on the strip tribes.

 

I meant as a potential "replacement" or even allied faction against the legion

 

Yeah that makes much more sense to me. I'm sure Joshua would be more than happy to oblige.

 

OK ideas are starting to percolate, keep them coming & I'll start to implement them (probably go in chronological oder with a focus on the strip initially). I'm going to try and finish OWB expanded beta 2 tonight and then start on sunset chp 0 (the SS headquarters), but I'd like to at least get hoover dam cleaned up and the securitrons switched over so we can put up a proof of concept. Plus maybe it will direct more people to this thread and we can pick out the best ideas for the mod.

Edited June 12, 2012 by devinpatterson

[darkus37]

Darkus37, reporting for duty Sir!.

 

Let me throw in some ideas that don't necessarily have to be part of the end-game but can still be part of an independent New Vegas:

 

1) Casino Takeover. Going through the main questline and playing a good guy effectively removes the heads of the Casinos.

Gomorrah: if you help Cachino and remove the pro-legion Big Sal (I also killed Cachino) that casino doesn't have a boss anymore leaving it ripe for takeover.

Ultra-Luxe: if you kill/stop Mortimer and help Marjorie, you then become part of the White Glove Society. Considering what you stopped from happening, I'm pretty sure it's not unreasonable that Marjorie can be convinced to follow your lead.

The Tops: when you kill/force Benny to leave, S-w-a-n-k becomes the new leader and appears to follow the lead of the strongest guy, which can be you.

Lucky 38: this isn't really feasible unless you use a mod, but without Mr. House, this is the best casino on the strip.

Vault 21: this is basically under Mr. House's control but is also up for grabs, especially if you charm a certain young lady.

Atomic Wrangler: small time but controllable.

Vikki and Vance: small time but controllable.

 

You can form a sort of Syndicate like they had in Vegas in the early days. How good/bad they would act would be up to you of course, but so things don't get too complicated, the rewards for all of your hard work would be a steady income. You can also go into more lucrative things and openly allow prostitution and drugs but that would piss off both the Legion and NCR reputations. Basically, you would open up two more sections of New Vegas - a drug den and a prostitute alley (or both in one). This would increase your weekly take but make crime more prevalent. Alternately, this would disable the drunks and prostitutes or replace them some alternative. Perhaps clean up the Strip a little more as well. The more casinos part of your syndicate, the more money rolling in. If you want to be cute, add a Godfather-inspired quest where you destroy one of the robots of James Garret from the Atomic Wrangler and put it in his bed to convince him to sign with you. That would be the evil option however. There would have to be a balance; ala if you're good you get less money but some other perks, if you're evil you get more money but less perks.

 

2) This has more to do with Freeside, but considering how bad it appears to be there, why not organize a militia? You'd have to add a police station somewhere (maybe on the street where you run with the fake bodyguard), but basically have this group start out as a couple of guys, the more money you invest into them, the better they get. Armor, weapon, and stat upgrades will be available. These guys will not be walking around in power armor, but they can get pretty strong. This will disable the random attacks and their patrols will be seen walking around. If you'd like to tie-in Joshua Graham, or mayber Meyers from Primm (if you don't select him) to become head of this organization that's fine. Alternately, you can make a raiders squad that terrorizes the area and make Freeside into a raider stronghold.

 

These two ideas don't have to take place after the end-game, but they can. They also don't directly impact the NCR or Legion except to make it that much harder to take over. I'm sure I have some other ideas buzzing around and I'll post em if you're interested.

Edited June 16, 2012 by darkus37

[TrooperScooperMKII]

There's the New Vegas Restoration mod and a freeside counterpart, both of which are the first two I install (after Lucky 38 reloaded) and there are plenty of mods like that, no reason why we can't try to use what's there, right? Aside from the run the lucky 38 thing, there's also a mod (can't remember its name) for setting up new towns, and another that IIRC lets the player run Primm as mayor.

[devinpatterson]

Let me throw in some ideas that don't necessarily have to be part of the end-game but can still be part of an independent New Vegas:

 

1) Casino Takeover. Going through the main questline and playing a good guy effectively removes the heads of the Casinos.

 

Sure, and that mirrors, somewhat, Houses early days when he was able to gain control and unify the strip tribes. Thanks for the details, I'll take note of the personalities and casinos you mention. I never really paid much attention to them in game, so my knowledge of them is pretty slim.....it's an area I'll have to start researching. Feel free (if you want) to construct specifics on the story lines for the tribes/casinos.

 

Re vault 21: To begin, I intend, as I mentioned earlier, to have Sarah petition the player to clear/open the vault.

 

But I'd like to go a step further. I had some ideas for vault 21 previous to this mod. One that has stuck in my head has to do with the "My linktrue purpose" most vaults have. 21 is interesting in and of itself as a sociological experiment (differences and settled via gambling), but the true purpose (secret project) could tie into the attribute of luck itself and isn't a huge stretch in the fallout universe.

 

So the pitch would go something like; vault 21 was actually cultivating (via selective breeding & a FEV agent) psionic ability (luck, minor telekinesis, empath/minor telepathy, precog etc all abilities that could influence games of chance). Those that were most gifted would be automatically be rewarded by the social system since it was based on gambling. To expand a little on Vault 21 lore, children were restricted to those couples who won the right by lottery (once again selecting via luck, precog etc). And the FEV agent could be a unique variant designed specifically for vault 21 to focus only on the brain, specifically the psionic centers. It would be administered via a child's immunization at birth and thereafter in booster shots or the environment (food, water, air). Perhaps some of the modified FEV still survives in the vault and can add +1 to the player's luck if injected.

 

I can't recall any precedent for psionics in FO3/NV (except for the brain in point lookout) but the master achieved very powerful psionic abilities via FEV. Even the fact that they "lost" the vault to Mr. House could be explained by their "luck" as a benefit (releasing them from the vault and opening up the world for them). I think the basic idea outlined above could be a good jumping off point for a *wide* spectrum of story lines.

 

We could be very conservative and assume that most of the mod is just background story and the FEV results were very mild (if any at all). On the other end of the scale you could have actual Psychers with bona fide special abilities , or anything in between.

 

I kind of like the idea of vault 21 residents having a mild edge over others and spreading through the south western wasteland using their "skills" to excel. Some stayed in NV to become rich and successful gamblers (high luck, precog, very minor telekinesis), bounty hunters (precog and luck giving them an edge in their work), unusually lucky prospectors finding caches others overlooked etc. Maybe some NV residents even realize that 21's seem to "get all the lucky breaks". Could be a cool addition to NV lore. From a practical modders viewpoint that would mean mostly a back ground story revealed to the player along with some unique and colorful characters.

 

I had already started on a new weapons pack composed of NV themed cowboy firearms with gambling names (full house is a 10 gauge shotgun, lucky 7 is a 7 shot brush gun with a little extra crit % etc) and Vegas themed textures. It was going to be a vault 21 resident that turned bounty hunter and was contracted to deal with the courier. S/he would fit right in with the idea above.

 

Or a alternate story line; there could be additional "subjects" in the closed off sections of the vault, because Mr. House was wary of their attributes and perhaps instead of killing them or releasing them, locked them away. Perhaps he thought they'd be a danger to his cause if released but that their abilities were to valuable to simply kill them. Closed off in this section of the vault with the most gifted populace, the experiments may have continued and reached a breakthrough resulting in actual Psychers.

 

Or maybe the courier is actually a 21'r, the luckiest 21'r of all.....

 

I bet we could spin some interesting tales with the basic premises.

 

You can form a sort of Syndicate like they had in Vegas in the early days. How good/bad they would act would be up to you of course, but so things don't get too complicated, the rewards for all of your hard work would be a steady income. You can also go into more lucrative things and openly allow prostitution and drugs but that would piss off both the Legion and NCR reputations. Basically, you would open up two more sections of New Vegas - a drug den and a prostitute alley (or both in one).

 

Sounds good, are you interested in story boarding that one?

 

I think there is a lot of potential for managing (or even micro managing) the city of New Vegas. I have a little trouble getting excited about it, but I know a lot of players will appreciate it.

 

2) This has more to do with Freeside, but considering how bad it appears to be there, why not organize a militia? You'd have to add a police station somewhere (maybe on the street where you run with the fake bodyguard), but basically have this group start out as a couple of guys, the more money you invest into them, the better they get.

 

Sure, as a matter of fact I have some assets for police protectrons, that come from companion I'm working on in a sunset sarsaparilla mod and could whip up a little LVMPD (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department) station for the player to clear/loot to get the ball rolling.

 

Alternately, you can make a raiders squad that terrorizes the area and make Freeside into a raider stronghold.

 

Maybe make it so that if you kick out the NCR from New Vegas this and similar occurrences crop up, requiring you to devote resources or personally remove them.

 

I'm sure I have some other ideas buzzing around and I'll post em if you're interested.

 

Please do, that way we can pack up the best ideas in an esp and it will be a little bit of payback for all the great mods we've enjoyed on Nexus.

 

So I think the big movers and shakers, the main quests are; Yes man, Mr. House, Legion/NCR conflict and the city of New Vegas itself. I'd like to get started on plotting them out as well because they will probably take the longest.

 

Re: Yesman we have the obvious story. Yesman comes back on line, and all securitrons suddenly stop what they are doing and are frozen en mass for several minutes. When they come back online it's clear that Yesman and the players objective are no longer the same. But the idea of Yesman staging a hostile take over, while interesting from a combat/action POV, seems overly simplistic and trite. Sure we could make a mod where hte player has to fight securitrons through the strip (maybe even rescuing hostages) into the lucky 38 and dispatch Yesman personally, and I'm sure it could be exciting, but I'm hoping we can come up with a more creative story line.

 

Maybe Yesman has become something of a sentient AI virus and his code is able to infect other mainframes and networks. If he goes bad that could make him a difficult opponent to eradicate, every time you think he's been dispatched, he pops up somewhere else. And while he's not a danger in most areas of the Mojave, if he can trick the player into delivering him to the Divide (or get there some other way), who's to say what Yesman might do with nukes and his more "assertive" code.

 

Or maybe leave House as the main villian and Yesman plays a more sympathetic part. A fledgling AI that wants to learn about the world and is full of questions and curiosity, but short on common sense and the basic knowledge every human has. It's a cliche, the computer/robot trying to understand and experience the human condition, but we could still get significant mileage out of it.

 

House seems a little more straight forward, wanting vengeance and to regain his empire, but how he goes about that is the interesting part. Subtlety with Victor infecting key secruitrons in the lucky 38 or more openly by using Victor to gain a control of the securitrons in the securitron vault and sending a small army to New Vegas.

 

But more likely, with House being a master of machiavellian plots, it will be a much more involved story line and House only revealing himself at teh very end.

 

Re: NCR & Legion, lots of possibilities on this one.....so many I'll probably touch on that in a future post.

 

So I'd love to hear ideas on all of the above.

 

There's the New Vegas Restoration mod and a freeside counterpart, both of which are the first two I install (after Lucky 38 reloaded) and there are plenty of mods like that, no reason why we can't try to use what's there, right? Aside from the run the lucky 38 thing, there's also a mod (can't remember its name) for setting up new towns, and another that IIRC lets the player run Primm as mayor.

 

Cool, I'l look into all of them. Yeah definitely anything that can save work is a god send.

[darkus37]

Casino Takeover Quest Outline

 

For each quest, four possible ways (let's use The Tops For an example):

A) Skill Based - CHARISMA/LUCK/INTELLIGENCE (combination) - using just words, you convince the Leader of the Casino to hand over reins to you. (No additional rewards at first, but stable weekly income).

B) Skill Based - STRENGTH/PERCEPTION/ENDURANCE (combination) - using just words, you convince the Leader of the Casino to hand over reins to you. (additional money, but a +10% that assassins will try to kill you).

C) Quest Based - Completing the quests Talent Pool and Ring-A-Ding-Ding!. By putting the Tops back as a headliner casino, you've show you can handle being the Boss better than the current one.

D) Intimidation Based - Find or plant evidence incriminating the current Boss of something bad or twisted that would make everyone turn against them. (For this case, Swan-k was told by Benny to commit a murder of a singer.)

 

This is of course, a basic outline. It would also involve adding a new building that would act like you main office (to avoid messing further with the Luck38 and all of it's mods) and you can use the name Nevada Gaming Commission for the syndicate. :)

I've never storyboard anything, not even sure how to do it, but if you want me, you got me.

 

Vault 21 - there's no reason why Vault 21 can't be an experiment as you suggest. The failed psykers could also be a pretty good explanation as to why Mr. House decided to block off entire sections of the Vault. So let's go this way, all Vault 21 member, including Doc Mitchell (the guy who helps you in the beginning of the game), have some precog abilities. To spice up the lore, Doc Mitchell was the one who "felt" what was happening and sent Victor to get you. At birth, FEV is injected into the brain causing marked intelligence and luck improvement. 1 out of 10 experience the opposite and are basically the functioning mentally handicapped. FEV is pretty unstable at the best of times, especially when combined with radiation. So, using this premise, how about there was a leak at the power plant and those that came into contact with it began to mutate. Not into super mutants, that requires dipping into special vats, no just seriously advanced but unstable psykers. They began to rampage and were only stopped when they burned themselves out. When Mr. House send his securitrons in and found this disaster waiting to happen, he sealed off the FEV storage areas and their surrounding areas as a precaution. He didn't really care about the vault dwellers, he just didn't want them turning into mutant psykers in the middle of the strip.

 

I wouldn't open up the whole vault if I were you, just the sections you want to add. It's a lot of work and you have to keep things exactly symmetrical as part of the game Lore. I would also stay away from Courier backstory if only because there are plenty of mods out there that have changed that as well. As to being affected by the FEV, I guess a +1 to intelligence is alright as a reward, but I would rather it somehow impact the casino games somehow, like boost your chances to 75% or something.

 

An independent New Vegas, as in after the main quest is completed, precludes NCR/Legion/Mr. House involvement. They all have their own objectives that involve New Vegas being under their direct control. Now, if what you want to do is a slightly more independent New Vegas, one that doesn't take place after the main quest but during, then we're cooking with gas. However, in either case, you don't have to go think too long about Yes Man as an antagonist. Yes Man is programmed to follow anyone's command. So, if you would like, once he uploads himself into the Lucky38, someone broke in and took command of it. On the other hand, if you go with the sentient Yes Man AI or virus, it could be stipulated that it can only travel to similar systems, i.e. the vault under the Fort, and the final boss could be found in OWB securitron disassembly.

 

If you are going for more post-game content, then that too changes things. Here are some ideas:

Yes-Man: it will basically be securitrons patrolling the streets. Access to McCarran airfield tram and the NCR embassy will be blocked off. Securitrons will patrol the New Vegas perimeter.

Mr. House same as the above, except that access to The Kings, The Mormon Fort and Van Graffs will be disabled as well, he would have wiped them out as they would have opposed him.

Legion: considering the whole area being a den off iniquity, I could see the Legion burning the place to the ground. You'd probably have to disable the landmarks and just have a huge flame and smoke effect. You would probably have to add content on McCarran airfield with the NCR being replaced by Legion members. All securitrons are disabled.

NCR: all securitrons are disabled and replaced by NCR troops. They patrol the area and freeside. If you were good with the Kings and managed to convince them to work with the NCR, they're alive and well. If not, they're dead. Same with the followers, except they are forced out and Mormon Fort becomes and NCR base.

 

The scope of this thing is getting too big I think. It's an admirable project, and I would like to see it, but you should be realistic with your goals.

[TrooperScooperMKII]

Regarding the NCR or Legion takeover: what's to stop the player from using the hidden army for himself? I mean, does the NCR even know about the hidden securitrons? You could spring it on them, or turn it over, as leverage to get what you want, i.e. more control over the Strip factions. You could subsidize the followers, Kings, etc.

Also the plant vault (can't remember its name) could be reopened or reused, maybe by having your own research team look into it, either as a benign crop booster or as a plant army. Either way there's a chance that things could go wrong.

[devinpatterson]

Regarding the NCR or Legion takeover: what's to stop the player from using the hidden army for himself?

 

You know I had assumed that too, but I was going over some of the end vids and slides carefully and it turns out it's a little bit more ambiguous. Re: the securitrons Yesman says;

"I'v updated the Securitrons targeting parameters, so they know what to do! Vegas will be protected!" Yesman says he's going offline after that and the player moves to the endgame slides.

 

And that's the sum total we have to work with. Could mean they only protect Vegas.......and the player has no sway over them.

 

I mean, does the NCR even know about the hidden securitrons? You could spring it on them, or turn it over, as leverage to get what you want,

 

Yeah the NCR, for sure knows, because you have a showdown with Oliver and he realizes the securitrons at the dam are under player control.

 

p.s. there is a almost irresistible option to have Yesman

when he is threatening you (starts about 3:13 into the vid). Only my overwhelmingly good karma and iron will power allowed me to resist.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7M-Zp3V7jE&feature=related

 

You can also assume the legion knows withing a day (IMHO) due to the way news would spread within the NCR and hte legions spies.

 

i.e. more control over the Strip factions. You could subsidize the followers, Kings, etc.

 

Yeah definitely. If the player has control of the securitrons I think all the strip tribes/casino houses will fall in line (at least on the surface) just like they did for Mr. House. They'll still plot to assassinate you, subterfuge etc, but to your face, you can assume the securitrons will secure the players power over all factions on the strip.

 

I'm thinking it will be a lot more fun if the player has to gain control over the securitrons through a quest, than if we just assume Yesman gave the pc the bots under the his/her beck and call.

 

Also two notes; 1. the larger part of the securitron army holds the dam (don't know if that was in an ending slide, but I'm pretty sure it's correct) and 2. the lucky 38 has it's own reactor that can power New Vegas even without Hoover. I'll try to find citations for both of those, can't remember where I saw them for sure.

 

Also the plant vault (can't remember its name) could be reopened or reused, maybe by having your own research team look into it, either as a benign crop booster or as a plant army. Either way there's a chance that things could go wrong.

 

That's an interesting angle re: a crop booster that could potentially go wrong :thumbsup: The plant army seems a little far fetched IMHO. But yeah we can check the quest variables to see if the player destroyed or kept the data, and if he/she returned it to the NCR for caps. Then we can determine if the player can use it (good or ill) or if the NCR deploys it in their sharecroppers (possibly with disastrous results) just south of NV. That will be a plot with some interesting consequences.

[TrooperScooperMKII]

Sorry, I had a brain fart with the securitrons, I meant that if the player didn't go independent but sided with NCR or legion, there's a chance that the player could leverage the securitrons which presumably haven't appeared in the open.

Speaking of which, if the player joins one of those factions, then there's a good chance that he/she would become "senator" or "mayor" of new Vegas, or the legion equivalent, then you've got the internal politics of the respective factions instead of the internal politics with you at the top. It would be roughly similar to the independent quest lines, the difference being that you're (nominally) lower on the totem pole- the legion in particular is short on politics but heavy on killing, so there's no reason why a Joshua graham type betrayal could come up. The NCR would be a bit more distant, so you'd be more "first among equals" with the benefit of good NCR rep (probably a hero to them/the wasteland) and on the ground experience, plus political support if you move against local "dissident" factions.

[devinpatterson]

Sorry, I had a brain fart with the securitrons, I meant that if the player didn't go independent but sided with NCR or legion, there's a chance that the player could leverage the securitrons which presumably haven't appeared in the open.

 

Yes I believe so (assuming you didn't destroy the securitron vault) but there are some complications. In the last part of the (independant NV) Wild Card: Finishing Touches quest, activating the el dorado (electrical) substation and the No Gods, No Masters quest has some switches in the dam and for you to set. And the third requirement would be you would have to have Yesman, since he's the one overriding the sucruritrons. But if all those were in place I think you could.

 

In the vanilla game I think activating the el dorado sets you irrevocably on the No Gods, No Masters quest (Independent).....If I remember right it throws up a warning note letting you know before you pull the lever.....not that it's important for what were discussing.

 

But I think we should focus our energies on like 90% independent Vegas and 10% other. Just because of the scope of the mod. I mean I wouldn't rule out a mod based on the NCR ending in the future, in which case the scenario you laid out would be very important.....but lets see if we can get this one up and running first.

 

 

 

Speaking of which, if the player joins one of those factions, then there's a good chance that he/she would become "senator" or "mayor" of new Vegas, or the legion equivalent,

 

Yeah that'd be cool. It would open up a lot of story lines. One of the end slides has Chief Hanlon (ranger) campaign and become a senator of Redding due to his service. Siding with the NCR and saving the dam would surely give the courier a hell of a rep.

 

Maybe it could apply for independent too, it's a long shot but what if..........you can smooth things over with the NCR (maybe by using resources to help NCR citizens, drawing a lot of legion blood and allowing them to occupy some of the strip and dam in conjunction with teh securitrons)? Allow the NCR to annex new vegas and you can become the senator of new vegas (wonder if there would be more than one, or if the population is low enough for a single senate seat). Sort of swing a deal where handing them over NV means a senate seat for life....it would be a sweet deal for the NCR. Assuming it's possible in the senate structure.

 

Or maybe (something of longshot here) you could set up something more akin to an alliance (rather than being annexed as the NCR wanted). Sort of how the Vatican is inside Italy but is in fact it's own city state. Assuming there's no restriction on the head of a foreign Gov holding a senate seat if s/he is democratically elected. Pull some strings, dump some cash, do some political favors, run a campaign, net some serious votes from NCR citizens in the mojave and get a senate seat. The crimson caravan and van grafs are good examples of how to buy senators, they supposedly have a few in their pockets.

 

Might be the same with the Legion. The Romans are actually the originator of the term Senator (if I remember right) and senate. But it may be, that Caeser doesn't have one. Depending on what time period you looked at in Roman history they ranged from mere advisers to the king, to great political power during the early republic back to relative obscurity as one of the emperors (can't recall who) stripped them of power. I suspect if there is a senate in the legion it would be more of a powerless advisory role. I'm really not too sure how closely legion follows Roman history. Kind of reminds me of the OWB ending slide where the think tanks make all the legion believe they are romans......on the moon.

 

But you could get the same role by becoming a legate (general). Possibly Legate of new vegas? But like the NCR you'd have a lot of "making up" to do after F'ing the NCR at the dam.

 

then you've got the internal politics of the respective factions instead of the internal politics with you at the top.

 

Yeah it could definitely generate some really interesting plot lines...

 

But I think senators are required to travel to the senate and represent their respective peoples interests. I wouldn't want to make their capitals; shady sands (NCR) or Flagstaff (legion), that would be a huge project. Although maybe if it has to be included, we can just make the actual senate room and have fast travel from the Mojave to them.

 

Or maybe Senators in the FO world can use representatives for most of their senatorial work. After all it's a lot harder to travel back and forth in the wasteland (unless senators get vertibirds?). This way your Rep could pop up every now and then to keep you updated on the machinations of the senate and you could instruct him/her, before he/she heads back out to CA. That'd be easy on us from a design stand point.

Edited June 23, 2012 by devinpatterson

[devinpatterson]

Casino Takeover Quest Outline

 

For each quest, four possible ways (let's use The Tops For an example):

I've never storyboard anything, not even sure how to do it, but if you want me, you got me.

 

That'd be great if you have time. I have this almost pathologically low threshold for boredom and just can't gather any enthusiasm for the casino quests. But I know they'd appeal to a lot of players.

 

To spice up the lore, Doc Mitchell was the one who "felt" what was happening and sent Victor to get you.

 

a nice touch

 

good explanation as to why Mr. House decided to block off entire sections of the Vault.

 

So for this part of your paragraph we're talking about the trapped psychers right, not the free psychers on the strip/Mojave?

 

At birth, FEV is injected into the brain causing marked intelligence and luck improvement. 1 out of 10 experience the opposite and are basically the functioning mentally handicapped.

 

I was thinking about "Burnouts", where the most powerful psychers have a shortened lifespan and suffer multiple brain tumors or other health effects, but failure right out of the gate as your suggesting for the handicapped make sense too.

 

 

So, using this premise, how about there was a leak at the power plant and those that came into contact with it began to mutate. Not into super mutants, that requires dipping into special vats, no just seriously advanced but unstable psykers.

 

I think that's a good plot because it covers a few bases (with the slight tweak, that the 21rs don't know the actual story). It explains why the vault lower levels had to be filled in with concrete (just like Chernobyl), you don't want a unstable reactor under foot. It would explain the divergence from mild psychic abilities of the 21rs on the strip to more powerful psychers below.....in such a short time (vault 21 has only been open at most 10 years). And if the powerplant emergency was the vault 21 residents fault it could explain why they didn't tell anyone about it, but instead made up a cover story (this single bet with Mr. House for ownership of vault 21).

 

If radiation was flooding the lower levels (especially if it was a water cooled reactor) they may have sealed the doors trapping other residents or a automated response may have done it . If they petitioned House for help, (because the 21rs didn't have the resources/ability to go down into the irradiated level and fix the reactor), House could have seen an opportunity to remove vault 21 as a wild card. Maybe he just sent in securitrons to the lower level and told the residents in the upper levels that everyone was dead and the reactor needed to be sealed right now or risk a fusion/fission disaster. This way he scares everyone into gaining possession of the vault, and as you hinted at, solves the problem of some irradiated and fev exposed 21'rs (which at this point are probably acting pretty insane) from escaping they're concrete prison.

 

It could be a good explanation why the vault 21 residents would leave their brethren behind in teh lower levels, something they wouldn't do if they thought they were still alive.

 

Maybe Doc Mitchells wife was one of those trapped.

 

It also helps clear up some odd points about the vault 21 story, which always seemed a little strange to me. One being that I don't understand why vault 21 supporters of house wanted to join him, there doesn't seem to be any benefit over loosing their vault. 2nd I find it incredibly hard to believe the back story that House was unaware of vault 21 until 2071. That's a major construction going on right under his nose, and he's not a stupid man.

 

 

I wouldn't open up the whole vault if I were you, just the sections you want to add. It's a lot of work and you have to keep things exactly symmetrical as part of the game Lore.

 

No worries, I'm just gonna copy and paste so there won't be a huge workload.....the only extra work will be just adding in notes, games of chance etc that wouldn't be in a standard vault. Plus I'll leave areas inaccessible until there needed.

 

I would also stay away from Courier backstory if only because there are plenty of mods out there that have changed that as well.

 

Yeah, true. Maybe just some ambiguous notes that *could* indicate the courier. The timeline is kind of difficult sell anyway, since it looks like the vault has only been opened sometime between 2271 and 2281.

 

As to being affected by the FEV, I guess a +1 to intelligence is alright as a reward, but I would rather it somehow impact the casino games somehow, like boost your chances to 75% or something.

 

I'd rather go with making them more specific to the type of psycher. For example empaths having a +1 to Charisma by being able to naturally divine others moods/likes/dislikes. Precogs could have a +1 to perception and/or +1 to agility (they have a nack of guessing an opponents moves for example, or noticing things others wouldn't. Maybe +1 luck for minor teletkinetics. Maybe this way, if/when the player finds the "vaccines" can only choose one, but he has a choice of what to boost.

 

And I like your suggestion of a bonus at gambling. However I know nothing about the gambling at all so I don't know how to implement the bonus ATM.....but if we can, then definitely.

 

I'm thinking these will be more like intuitive/unconscious abilities, at least for the 21rs that left the vault. For the psychers that are walled in below (if we go with that) all bets are off and they could be much more powerful. So for the precog that could mean a strange flash of a future event, or something in a dream. For the minor telekinesis it might mean you need a 7 at craps and the dice just rolled over to that 7, but the 21r wasn't necessarily aware that he did it......he just thinks he's lucky. The angle I'm shooting for is that they know they're "lucky" but they aren't aware they're psychers. They can't consciously control their powers and even if they could they're relatively limited (for the topside 21rs).

 

Maybe the kid under the bridge could be a 21'r the precog?

 

We could even fold in old American pioneer myth as lore. So for example you had the belief in the 1800's (probably long before as well) that a 7th son was a lucky man and a 7th son of a 7th son was really lucky. Maybe not the exact myths, but some of the superstitious beliefs could re emerge into the wasteland slightly altered.

 

An independent New Vegas,

 

Sorry ran out of time, but hopefully I can get to your other points soon