High Desert State Prison

[devinpatterson]

I was wondering if anyone wanted to collaborate or contribute ideas for a massive detention center. It would be loosely based on High Desert State Prison simply because it is the most secure and largest prison in NV.

 

The back story is that High Desert State Prison (HDSP for short) was greatly expanded and secured in the years leading up to the wars. It contains the most dangerous civilians criminals in the nation but also political agitators, Chinese prisoners, etc. As the great war approached and civil unrest/crime/revolt hit it's peak even military personal and and hardware (bots) were brought in to maintain security. It became the Alcatraz of the fallout world.....ie end of the line, no one walks away from HDSP.

 

But when the bombs fell a lot of the military staff fled, where re-assigned or died as did many of the inmates. The ones that were left alive were ghoulified and they along with all the bots became the sole inhabitants of HDSP. During the cataclysm a part of the prison was seized by inmates but even after breaching the armory on that wing, they were unable to penetrate the prison's defenses and escape. They were however, able to destroy several vehicles and the resulting explosions barricade the areas from the hardened sentry bots jailers.

 

The whole prison has been in a sort of "stasis" state for 200 years. The bots go about business unconcerned that a nuclear holocost has befallen the country. Those still imprisoned are now serving multiple life sentences thanks to the horror of the new condition (ghoulification), and find that now, even death isn't an option/release for them. Those prisoners that rioted are trapped, unable to overwhelm the bots and escape.......instead they are entombed in a terrifying scenario that resembles a cross from lord of the flies and escape from New York. As bad as HDSP was pre-war, it turns out it could get a lot worse.

 

Re: the prisoners that rioted and barricaded themselves. My thoughts are that the independents and smaller gangs are mostly or all dead, killed by the larger gangs. The larger gangs have their own territories and battle with each other. But they do work together to repel the warden and his robotic jailers. The gangs don't want to get involved in all out bloodshed because they realize that would leave them easy pickings for the warden or any other gang that'd take advantage of their weakened state.

 

A sub-plot also concerns the robobrain experiments. General Atomics International and the U.S. governments official records list only chimpanzee brains being used in Robobrains. But in reality as the war approached and robobrains were designated as the new soldier for the front lines, applied research increased dramatically and a shockingly large number of inmates had their execution dates moved up. Unfortunately for HDSP, robobrains must be routinely memory wiped or they can break their programming. During all the chaos of the cataclysm and teh riots this was not possible. As a result some robobrains broke their programming and the warden ordered the research facility (containing the robobrains, primates and some convicts) sealed long ago....no one knows what those floors contain.

 

Although some robobrains remain in the prison staff, and receive their (somewhat haphazard) routine maintenance.

 

I can see the warden as a surviving ghoul, that without any oversight and a huge chip on his/her shoulder, gives the word sadistic a whole new meaning. Alternately I could see him as a masterbrain (robobrain), a mainframe or even a sentry bot.

 

Another notable location is the Omega security wing. This is where the Hannibal Lecters of the fallout world are housed. Unfortunately for the courier, one of these is his/her objective.

 

I figure there are probably a few different ways to get the ball rolling. Perhaps some scavengers found a way in through a collapsed sewer line, or by wandering too close to the prison and the player is on a rescue mission. Maybe one of the prisoners in the omega wing has pre-war knowledge that is essential to prevent/cure a plague or other disaster.

 

But I like this idea because of the moral ambiguity that forms it's core. Can the courier leave the criminals to decades or even centuries more of incarceration under a sadistic madman. On the other hand can he/she ever justify even considering releasing the worse of the pre-war fallout scum into the mojave.....and yet, at least some the prisoners were dissidents protesting a aggressive and imperialistic pre-war America.

 

I think this would be one of the easist mods I'm working on, because it would use mostly vanilla assets. Relying heavily on the vault tile sets with some simple retextures to hide any vault-tec references. primarily interior cells only. It'd be mostly interior cells. And the voices would be ghoul or robotic, so with those distortions it's a lot easier to hide imperfections and impressions of multiple voices.

[greenknightfury]

I love this and have some twisted additional ideas for it as well:

 

1.) Guard bots locked in "prisoners escaping" mode that patrol the perimeter of the prison nabbing anyone that fits thier idea of an "escapee" (anyone not in uniform of guards/military/law enforcement that is armed and hostile) and dumping them into the prison. Adding human prisoners to the mix of every type that might get close.

 

2.) The Infirmary has been taken over by a gang led by an insane doctor (locked up prewar for his horrible experiments on kidnapped victims) that performs horrible experiments on anyone that doesn't join him. Breeding his own labrats out of the humans that are added that they capture, as well as ghoul inmates dissected alive and sometimes horrible surgical experiments combining living and ghoul parts.

[proingy747]

I've always found the FEV interesting and found it needed to be explored more. Maybye one of the missions was escorting the mad scientist to... I honestly don't know, I just think the FEV would fit in well, Allowing horrific mutated creatures.

[devinpatterson]

I love this and have some twisted additional ideas for it as well:

 

1.) Guard bots locked in "prisoners escaping" mode that patrol the perimeter of the prison nabbing anyone that fits thier idea of an "escapee" (anyone not in uniform of guards/military/law enforcement that is armed and hostile) and dumping them into the prison. Adding human prisoners to the mix of every type that might get close.

 

Definitely, "prisoners escaping"/lockdown mode also fits well with how hte player would get involved too. Some hapless wastelanders wander to close and bam the couriers on a rescue mission. And it would be good to add humans into the mix, as the prison would look pretty empty considering how few people ghoulify as opposed to just die from rads. I'll make a section that was collapsed/damaged by the canon upheavals (earthquakes etc) during the nukes, that allowed a mass escape. It can also be one potential way in for the combat oriented character (they'll be a covert way in as well for stealthier, more cunning players, as well).

 

2.) The Infirmary has been taken over by a gang led by an insane doctor (locked up prewar for his horrible experiments on kidnapped victims) that performs horrible experiments on anyone that doesn't join him. Breeding his own labrats out of the humans that are added that they capture, as well as ghoul inmates dissected alive and sometimes horrible surgical experiments combining living and ghoul parts.

 

Nice one :thumbsup: So we're looking at a cross between Dr. Frankenstein and Hannibal Lecter? Gotta love that

[devinpatterson]

I've always found the FEV interesting and found it needed to be explored more. Maybye one of the missions was escorting the mad scientist to... I honestly don't know, I just think the FEV would fit in well, Allowing horrific mutated creatures.

 

FEV is definitely fascinating. We rely heavily on in in our mars mod. I was thinking the robobrain experiments would be a focus, but I don't see why we couldn't have a section that was doing FEV (or it's precursor PVP) research on convicts condemned to death. Let me scan the wiki and see if they did any FEV human testing pre-war.

[darkus37]

I heard they're making a second chapter of Boulder Dome involving Tibbets from Van Buren which is remarkable similar to your idea devinpatterson, but here's my idea anyway: the PC is walking down the street when suddenly, the PC is hit from behind by an energy weapon. All the PC sees is a blue burst and then blackout. Upon waking, the PC finds himself naked, in what was once a high tech looking place. A voice booms over the speakers, introducing himself/herself as the Warden and explaining that the PC is now in High Desert State Prison, and has been judged and sentenced to life in this prison for crimes against humanity. The PC wakes up and is given a jumpsuit (no collar). The PC exits the cell and find himself in the middle of a gang war, with the gangs made up of ghouls. An alarm sounds, and guards (why are also ghouls) run in to break up the battle. Once the battle is over, the ghouls retreat to their various cell blocks leaving the PC surrounded by dead bodies. The PC is approached by the head guard and the background of the place is given.

 

Should I continue?

[devinpatterson]

I heard they're making a second chapter of Boulder Dome involving Tibbets from Van Buren which is remarkable similar to your idea devinpatterson,

 

Is it similar to this one (prison) or the mars one? Van buren places the player as a prisoner (if I remember right) and a big prison plays a large part in Presper's (spelling) plan. If you get a chance, connect me to the info on the boulder team that looked similar, I'd like to peruse it.

 

 

 

but here's my idea anyway: the PC is walking down the street when suddenly, the PC is hit from behind by an energy weapon.

 

Should I continue?

 

I thought about hte player being captured on the outskirts of the prison and jailed, but sometimes players get irate at scripted scenes like that, it can be pretty humbling. Plus I wanted to stress the the heroic side, so I'm leaning toward a rescue mission.

 

Perhaps we could do something like you suggest for bad karma players that are unlikely to perform selfless deeds (or just bribe them, ie one of the captured knows or has a great treasure). So essentially following your story line, except that htey are captured by the bots, instead of blackjacked in the street. Still have to have a "hook" that gets him/her in the general vicinity of the prison though.

[darkus37]

I suggest the random event, simply because it's out of nowhere. This isn't Dead Money where you basically walk into a trap to satisfy your curiosity, or Honest Hearts, where you join up thinking to make a profit. This is an ambush (I meant the bots would do the ambushing). It should be humbling since you have no control over what happens next. Of course, you get your equipment back eventually, but for the meantime, you are alone and unarmed. I was also sort of hoping that this could be a way to get Joshua Graham to join up, as he too could be there. The over-arching plot-line would involve joining up with either the gangs, guards, or warden, with the last one being the central antagonist who became unhinged after the whole Great-War-and-everyone-in-the-prison-turning-to-ghouls thing.

 

Oh, here's the link you requested.

[devinpatterson]

This is an ambush (I meant the bots would do the ambushing).

 

Yeah, lets keep that one in reserve (just the ambush part), since I don't really picture the bots leaving the prison and it's away from the city/highway to isolate escaped prisoners from potential sources of transportation.

 

I was also sort of hoping that this could be a way to get Joshua Graham to join up, as he too could be there.

 

Well we can still do that, have him as a prisoner regardless of whether we go with my idea of breaking in or your idea of breaking out (simplified, but just an easy way to tag them). BTW why Graham?

 

Oh, here's the link you requested.

 

Looks like it's just a jailer bot, don't see any any info on a plot so I don't think we're re inventing the wheel.

[darkus37]

There is no info on a plot, but since they appear to be reusing Van Buren settings, and the fact that the caption reads "Textured Warden Bot model, for Tibbets Prison, by Ozren Fuerst", I think it's safe to assume they will go with the basic storyline which involves being hunted by the ODYSSEUS computer and being brought to Tibbets.

 

Why Joshua Graham? Well, I thought he was an awesome companion; I really like the voice actor, from when he starred on Angel as Holtz; and he sort of disappears at the end of Honest Hearts without a real conclusion. Being a "bad guy", I'd like to see a sort of redemption epilogue for him.

 

The storyline I though up involved the Warden going crazy, and getting progressively worse as time goes by. He eventually begins to build a small army of robots to replace the prison guards who are more and more becoming fearful of the Warden, and in his eyes, disloyal. Once his robots are active, he begins to send them out to capture more criminals in the wasteland and bring them to him. You are the last captured before the guards rebel and steal one of the two keys necessary to run the robots (a security precaution). They take refuge in one of the cell blocks and try to keep order as best as they can. The robots, meanwhile, were tasked to stand guard around the prison office building and the perimeter, basically, preventing anyone from leaving. The Warden has limited control in allowing people in and out of the offices, but is essentially also a prisoner.

 

As an edit, perhaps you are given a quest to investigate suspicious disappearances in the Mojave. This will allow you to be a master of your fate, but you should still be ambushed in the process of investigating. Unfortunately, this is beginning to sound like the excellent mod by RogerIrrelevant.