An independent New Vegas mod.

[devinpatterson]

Actually, couldn't an independent Strip side with the Legion as a vassal? I've never finished the independent questline but I think that you attack them less than the NCR... I mean you kill house and take over the Dam.

 

I did an independent NV (after doing fallout 3 throughrequiem for the wasteland, fun stuff). The last part of gods and masters is killing the legion inhabiting the dam then killing or talking down legate. During that final battle the NCR can be enemies or neutral (if you had a high standing before flipping the switch at El Dorado substation). But I don't think the legion can be anything other than opponents. I didn't get the option for the veteran rangers at the end (that you get with a NCR's Eureka quest), but the NCR helped me to clear legion.

 

One other thing: what if, as an out of the box plot upheaval, House wasn't actually dead?

 

No, House is definitely not dead. Him and Victor are a big part of the main quest lines in the mod. References to him are easier to locate on pg 1, than the most recent posts.

 

When I was referring to loosing the House faction, I only meant the actual faction as a power, not House himself. He's too important an NPC not to involve heavily in the story. The thing is I havn't figured out a novel idea for him yet. Sure there's revenge, but I'd like something interesting and surprising in addition to simple vengeance. I'v played with the idea of him simply out to kill the PC when circumstances force him, victor and the player into an alliance to stop Yesman. But I'm not even sure Yesman will be a villain, I'm hoping the player's choices can influence the story line. But some of his last words could be interpreted as potentially ominous ;

 

" I found some code snippets in one of Mr. House's databanks that will let me um, reprogram my personality! To be a little more assertive, basically! "

 

and

 

"I guess I'll see you around"

[darkus37]

You have a working quest line? Any chance of you posting it?

 

Just a suggestion - if you decide to use Mr. House - he wasn't using his body anyway, really. Why not use the Think Tank Model as an explanation for why he's able to come back and live on. He could store some of his genetic material so that he clone himself a body later, but until then, all he really needs is his brain.

 

Yes Man being a villain is probably the simplest way to make a quest line, but perhaps it would make more sense that Mr. House had a contingency plan in place, and when Yes Man accessed his computer system, a virus containing Mr. House's brain patterns imprinted on Yes Man. I think this is the best idea simply because some people could have killed Mr. House rather than just sealing him with contaminated air.

[TrooperScooperMKII]

Yeah a digital "clone" of House seems like the best way for him to get revenge beyond the grave, I mean Victor, the cop/soldier securitrons, the main monitor's face and the "dolls" all kind of seem... childish, of sorts, like his own digital playground. At the very least, I'd imagine that, say, Victor or Yes Man (or another designated bot) might serve literally as his eyes and ears at times.

[devinpatterson]

You have a working quest line? Any chance of you posting it?

 

I promise you'll know as soon as I do, that's why I had mentioned I didn't have a novel idea of how to incorporate House. We're still hashing out the whole plot, that's why I appreciate your contribution.

 

I think this is the best idea simply because some people could have killed Mr. House rather than just sealing him with contaminated air.

 

Well that's the weird thing. In my first game I did kill him (thought it was more humane) and when I went back into the control room his body was gone. I assumed that was normal, not a bug. Anybody have something different?

 

So long story short I was under the impression if you killed him, he disappeared and if he's alive he would disappear in the independent mod so the result would be the same; Through thes advanced use of life support tech he survives and Victor has transported him from the control room by inhabiting one of the Securitrons while the courier was away from teh lucky 38.

 

But he was telling the truth re: infection and since he only has a (relatively) short time to live, his plans become much more of a gamble than his normal methodic, well thought out plans pre-courier.

 

But a House type virus isn't out of the question.

 

Yeah a digital "clone" of House seems like the best way for him to get revenge beyond the grave, I mean Victor, the cop/soldier securitrons, the main monitor's face and the "dolls" all kind of seem... childish, of sorts, like his own digital playground. At the very least, I'd imagine that, say, Victor or Yes Man (or another designated bot) might serve literally as his eyes and ears at times.

 

But a digital clone, isn't out of the question. I just wouldn't want a intelligence/personality transfer. The main reason I want to go with an actual body/physical presence is because House chose or was forced to for 200+ years. His life support solution was dangerous (he actually went into a coma, for a long time, and almost died during one of the OS upgrades. So he must either not have the tech for a digital transference or not want to...otherwise he would have done it long ago. A program in a securitron body is a heck of a lot more resilient than the Howard Hughes-esqe husk of a body he was living in.

 

But a program that resembles him as much as is possible, ie your idea of a digital clone wouldn't be under those restrictions, and could definitely be in play.

 

But whether his facsimile is in a machine or he's just using it as a communication link, it shouldn't be hard to put a house face on one of the securitron screens for a more direct physical control over the world in his banished state, as well as bringing back Betty. I definitely believe Victor is his eyes/ears since he can potentially inhabit any Securitron, which makes him serious threat.

 

I'm also wondering where House will hide out (assuming he's still corporeal). Anyone think of a good vanilla spot....might have to make a new location. Perhaps he had a little summer mansion he used to get away from it all, a isolated retreat.

Edited August 27, 2012 by devinpatterson

[darkus37]

Well, I think the disappearing body is most likely due to the game engine removing dead npc's every three days. That doesn't mean a reasonable explanation can be used - i.e. the Lucky 38 was designed to keep House alive, no reason he could have made other arrangements if his pod became compromised or if he died from old age before he accomplished his goals. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it fit's his personality completely to have a Plan B. You can then have an interesting quest line where Yes Man fights to keep his own personality while fighting off Mr. House's mind who has infected the securitron. The thing is, Mr. House is not really a villain, per-se. He's a fascistic antagonist, no question, but a true enemy? I don't know.

[devinpatterson]

Well, I think the disappearing body is most likely due to the game engine removing dead npc's every three days. That doesn't mean a reasonable explanation can be used - i.e. the Lucky 38 was designed to keep House alive, no reason he could have made other arrangements if his pod became compromised or if he died from old age before he accomplished his goals.

 

Or alternately he was clincally dead (assuming the player excercised the option to kill him) and the pod also acts as a autodoc emergency emt type device. Loaded him back in and through advanced trauma management was able to sustain him. So when the player goes back into the control room and checks the teminal a log will have been created

 

In fact, I would go so far as to say that it fit's his personality completely to have a Plan B. You can then have an interesting quest line where Yes Man fights to keep his own personality while fighting off Mr. House's mind who has infected the securitron. The thing is, Mr. House is not really a villain, per-se. He's a fascistic antagonist, no question, but a true enemy? I don't know.

 

You didn't get a chance to to see this part because I was editing my post when you added your reply, but I'm pessimistic about any kind of true intelligence/personality transfer;

 

I just wouldn't want a intelligence/personality transfer. The main reason I want to go with an actual body/physical presence is because House chose or was forced to for 200+ years. His life support solution was dangerous (he actually went into a coma, for a long time, and almost died during one of the OS upgrades. So he must either not have the tech for a digital transference or not want to...otherwise he would have done it long ago. A program in a securitron body is a heck of a lot more resilient than the Howard Hughes-esqe husk of a body he was living in.

 

But that doesn't mean we can't follow something very similar to what your suggesting (house vs yesman) with a advanced AI, that is digital House facsimile/clone. Although I tend to think House would be unlikely to create one, especially if it was intelligent and could learn and evolve. On the other hand, he must have known he couldn't live forever and he had no protegee. So I guess it depends what angle you look at it from.

 

It could have been activated when House died, but it would have had to kept under the radar while Yesman was in the mainframe....then maybe popped out while Yesman was upgrading and took control of the MF.

 

But the downside there is, it's going to be "murder house 2.0". Head up to the penthouse and destroy the program or mainframe. I guess there could be a choice where you don't fry the mainframe, so that Yesman isn't killed and the program house program flees across the network. Then we have something similar to what I wanted to do with House 1.0 (the real House), which is a chance to get out of the lucky 38 and hunt him down.

 

Don't know, what do you think?

 

I'm still kind of partial to the player having to team up with House and Victor to take down Yesman (if he goes evil), just because it's a good twist when most players are just thinking House will only be about revenge. Maybe we can incorporate both depending on the choices the player makes. Ie;

 

The House 2.0 program emerges from hiding assuming control of the MF. You try to shutdown the mainframe (to kill house 2.0) Yesman is damaged in his upgrade process, and turns evil. You kill the house 2.0 program but now you have a bigger threat on your hands. The player is forced to join with the real house and victor to take Yesman down.

 

You don't shut down the mainframe, Yesman and House 2.0 program battle it out. The House 2.0 program sets all the securitrons it can muster into teh lucky 38 looking for the players blood, tries to overload the lucky38's reactor (player has to rush to the basement and defuse the situation, before it blows) and generally does it's best to make the players life a thing of the past. The player also has a limited time to save Yesman as his program is being deleted/formatted and that means rushing to alternate terminals to reroute and gain root access to prevent Yesmans erasure. If successful house 2.0 escapes over the network and is under the real houses control or is simply deleted. Now the player has to deal with the real house and victor (track him down).

 

There is probably other permutations and all of the above could be polished up quite a bit I'm sure. But as a base it might not be a good place to start the main quest line.

[darkus37]

There was a computer game called CnC - Tiberium Sun and had a character called CABAL. Perhaps you can use some info from there? Essentially, it's an AI programmed to be as close to it's creator as possible but as an AI, it eventually diverged from it's primary mission to make it's own horrific view of the world.

 

When Yes Man (or whoever the enemy is) gains control, perhaps you can make a new version of the securitron that has the lower body of a sentry bot (4 wheels) and a backpack like the type on a enclave tesla power armor from F3? I would also suggest two smaller arms connected to the middle that are like a protectron's, but I know that would require modifying the skeleton, so forget it.

[devinpatterson]

The thing is, Mr. House is not really a villain, per-se. He's a fascistic antagonist, no question, but a true enemy? I don't know.

 

Yeah that's a good point, and I feel the same way. I don't think he's psychopath, but I think he displays strong sociopathic tendencies and can use people like pawns with very little or no concern in re: to their welfare. Or maybe that's a facet of his extreme elitism.

 

On the other hand if your loyal to him he treats you very well (according to the end slides).

 

That's why I thought, teaming up with the player to stop an evil Yesmen might work, in light of his personality. He's intelligent enough to realize the danger of AI threat, especially if it's one that can occupy other systems, and disciplined enough to set aside his immediate desire for vengeance (going off of his history of building a rival company to crush his brother, who stole his inheritance/birthright).

 

And on the other branch of the quest, I believe revenge is definitely in his nature. I don't think he'd have any trouble setting off the lucky38's reactor to kill the player if;

 

A. he thought he woudn't be able to recover the lucky38 as long as the player lived

and

B. The resulting explosion didn't take out too much of NV.

 

I just believe, that to House, life is cheap (well the life of others) in the wastelands.

 

 

 

There was a computer game called CnC - Tiberium Sun and had a character called CABAL. Perhaps you can use some info from there? Essentially, it's an AI programmed to be as close to it's creator as possible but as an AI, it eventually diverged from it's primary mission to make it's own horrific view of the world.

 

Cool, I will check that out. Although if we use a AI version of house, I'm leaning toward it being a setup for the plot outlined above (destroying the lucky38) and really a remote presence of House could be just as effective. I guess part of the reason is I like the idea of House surviving (in physical form), is it continues his story of living since pre-war times.....and that seems like a very iconic part of his aspect. Plus if he could upload his AI I think he would have, long ago. Whereas if we're going with an AI as a threat I tend to favor Yesman.

 

But it's still a solid idea (House AI) and it can be a good replacement villain if the player is able to keep Yesman on the straight and narrow. Important to have that option for the quest.

 

Maybe during the battle with Yesman, the House AI can become damaged/corrupted resulting in acquiring some of Yesman's abilities (to occupy other systems) as well as autonomous function. That way it can play the role of the evil Yesman and still allow the player to keep the real Yesman as a companion. And that could still trigger the Real House joining the player (as well as the good Yesman) in defeating the AI House (and it's control of the securitrons, plus any other systems it can compromise).....as your suggesting with CABAL.

 

When Yes Man (or whoever the enemy is) gains control, perhaps you can make a new version of the securitron that has the lower body of a sentry bot (4 wheels) and a backpack like the type on a enclave tesla power armor from F3? I would also suggest two smaller arms connected to the middle that are like a protectron's, but I know that would require modifying the skeleton, so forget it.

 

Yeah unfortunately, like we discussed before any new limbs mean a new skeleton and new animations (not from scratch, but still a lot of work). But if we use the sentry bot as a base (and we'd have to, can't go the other direction), I don't think the securitron arm meshes will be close enough to rig to the sentry bot skeleton's arm bones (we can't mix and match skeletons, just meshes). So I'm not very optimistic in regard to pulling it off :(

 

But it sounds like that might be more of a tinkerer/mad scientist project than something House would do. Securitrons were the height of his creations (even the BigMT scientists couldn't reproduce them), so I tend to think mixing them with a sentry bot would be a step backwards, IMHO.

Edited September 3, 2012 by devinpatterson

[darkus37]

I'm not going to lie to you devinpatterson, I really just want to see this robot in-game. :)

[devinpatterson]

Yeah, definitely, but it's just far beyond my skill level, I'm afraid.