Random Encounters

[Deleted2547005User]

I plan on creating a mod that adds random encounters to the Mojave. The game lacked any real randomness in that vast, lifeless desert. So I have a short list of what I've come up with, and a few ideas of where some of this be placed on the map. Some of the random encounters will be similar to the old Fallout 3 ones, and a few new original encounters.

 

I want to know what kind of encounters you want to see, and where they can take place - I will only except suggestions that provide a screenshot of the area in question, words simply can't express 95% of the map. Also, Interiors are not excluded this time, but they have to be reasonably large enough to hide one.

 

Flags:

Random - Can appear anywhere within its parameters.

Not Random - Only appears in one location.

Repeatable - Can be repeated but not in the same place twice.

Not Repeatable - Only happens once.

Unique - Only happens once, in specific locations, and actors continue after the encounter occurs.

 

 

Unlike in Fallout 3, characters will continue on to a set destination, instead of repeating a looping patrol. Packages will force the actors to encounter each other using patrol markers, then once battle or conversation is over their next package sends them home to sandbox upon arrival. The events will be staged as they were in Fallout 3, using a spherical or boxed in location activators for random encounters to activate and patrol markers setup for patrols. Random Encounters are not limited to worldspaces this time, they can appear in large interiors like the sewers of New Vegas. The encounters will be housed in a new Worldspace, using one cell for one encounter. The actors will be disabled until they are moved to the encounter, then are enabled and evp'd.

 

Random Encounters:

 

• 
   
  
• Enclave Remnants drop from Vertibird and ambush the player or a group of people, like the NCR or Legion. Random (Only in large, flat areas of the map), Repeatable
  
• Enclave Eyebot passively wandering around the wastes. - Random, Repeatable (Rare)
  
• Enclave Eyebot passively wandering around the wastes and summons a Vertibird upon death. - Random (Only in large, flat areas of the map), Not Repeatable
  
• Brotherhood Patrol. - Random (In areas near Hidden Valley), Repeatable (Only after the lockdown is lifted)
  
• NCR Patrol - Random (In areas near Camp McCarran, Camp Forlorn Hope, Camp Golf, Bitter Springs, Ranger Stations), Repeatable (Until the nearby location is destroyed)
  
• Legion Patrol - Random (In areas near Cottonwood Cove, Nelson, Nipton), Repeatable (Until the nearby location is destroyed)
  
• NCR - Legion Firefight. - Random (In area where both factions overlap), Repeatable (Until the nearby location is destroyed)
  
• Escaped Legion Slaves hiding from Legion Capture Squad, the player can hand them over to the Legion or send the Legion in another direction. Random (Only near Cottonwood Cove), Unique
  
• Legion Patrol with Slaves heading to Cottonwood Cove, player can free them. - Random (in Areas near Cottonwood Cove, Nelson, Nipton), Unique
  
• Great Khan - NCR Firefight. - Random (In areas where the two factions overlap), Repeatable (Until peaceful resolution is made)
  
• Merchent being attacked by Fiends. - Random (In Fiend territory), Unique
  
• Fiends executing settlers. - Random (Near Westside area), Unique
  
• Bad Company Patrol - Random (In areas near Hidden Vally, Nelson, Camp Forlorn Hope, Red Rock Canyon, Nellis), Repeatable (Until their home is destroyed)
  
• Bad Company - NCR Firefight - Random (In areas where both factions actively patrol), Repeatable (Until their home is destroyed)
  
• Bad Company - Legion Firefight - Random (In areas where both factions actively patrol), Repeatable (Until their home is destroyed)
  
• NCR - Fiend Firefight - Random (In Fiend territory), Repeatable (Until Vault 3 is destroyed)
  
• Great Khan Raiding Party heading toward an NCR outpost - Unique (In the area of Red Rock Canyon)
  
• Ownerless Pack Brahmin wandering the wasteland - Random, Unique
  
• Vaporized Caravan with goods to loot - Random, Unique
  
• Pack of Wild Dogs attack the player or a group of settlers - Random (Interior or Exterior), Repeatable
  
• Poaching party looking for Coyotes or Night Stalkers - Random (Interior or Exterior), Repeatable
  
• Viper - NCR Firefight - Random, Repeatable
  
• Gunslingers - Gun Runner's Caravan Firefight - Random, Unique
  
• NCRCF Powder Gangers Patrol - Random (Near NCRCF), Repeatable
  
• Mysterious Craft - Wild Wasteland only - alien craft crashes in nearby hill side, will only be available in certain locations that fit. - Unique
  
• A person will commit suicide by shouting their head off, leaving a note. - Random, Unique
  
• Unworldly being - Wild Wasteland only - player encounters aliens in the forests near Jacobstwon. - Unique
  
• Rabid Pack of Rats attacks the player or a group of people - Random (Interior or Exterior), Repeatable
  
• Brahmin and Big Horner Cattle Drive to Novac. - Random, Unique
  
• Great Khan Assassin party out to kill Boone if Boone he is a companion - Random, Unique
  
• Ghoul Horde - Random (Only near Camp Searchlight and REPCONN Facility), Repeatable
  
• Super Mutant raiding party attacking a town - Random, Unique
  
• Super Mutant - Brotherhood Firefight - Random (Only after lock down is lifted), Repeatable
  
• The Red Dragon encounter - Player encounters a man named The Red Dragon - Unqiue (If player has wild wasteland trait he will have Riven's Dragon wings.)
  
• Prospector with big score heading to New Vegas - Random, Unique
  
• Lost Tourists form California - Player can send them to Cottonwood Cove to be a total dick - Random, Unique
  
• A dead Courier's body is found on the side of the road - Random (Near Roads), Unqiue
  

 

 

Bad Company are mercenaries and are a creation of my own. I do not care if it's not 'lore friendly.' Lore is what I make it.

 

As you can see these are mostly combat oriented at the moment, need more diverse and non combat encounters

Edited August 26, 2012 by Kuroitsune

[Ladez]

This sounds incredibly awesome, and I would absolutely love to play it. There's nothing that really spices up the game world like such random encounters. :)

 

I have a short list of ideas you could check out, most of them non-combat oriented.

 

• In Freeside, a drug addict asks the player for drugs, and the player can provide it to him. If this is done a few times the player can find him dead of an overdose. The player could also talk him into quitting the drugs, and give him Fixer to cure his addiction. - Not Random - Repeatable (until he dies or accepts treatment)
  
• A guy in the Strip approaches the player to sell some stolen goods. The player can choose to trade with him to get access to a few interesting items (perhaps something unique?), or he could rat him out to the NCR MP. - Not Random - Unique
  
• The player meets a prospector, dying from thirst he asks for something to drink. If the player gives him water he will give the player a key to a hidden stash. - Random - Unique
  
• After completing Ghost Town Gunfight or Run Goodsprings Run the player meets a traveler near Jean Skydiving headed for Goodsprings. If the player helped the powder gangers he can warn the traveler or send him to his death. - Not Random - Unique
  
• The player can help a criminal locked up in the NCR embassy jail to escape. Causes a loss of standing with the NCR. - Not Random - Repeatable
  
• The player encounters a malfunctioning protectron walking in circles. If engaged in conversation it will babble nonsense and start to wander in a random direction. - Random - Unique
  
• If the player has encountered the malfunctioning protectron, it will be seen again. This time some prospectors will be trying to fix it. After a while, the robot turns hostile and kills the prospectors, and will then wander off, never to be seen again. - Random - Unique
  
• When returning to Nipton after having encountered Vulpes Inculta there, a group of scavengers will be present - Not Random - Repeatable
  
• Fiends getting slaughtered by a sentry bot. Only in fiend territory. Random - Unique
  

[rjhelms84]

Some thoughts on what you have so far:

 

Firstly, my favourite encounter from Fallout 3 was that super-mutant you find wandering around in the DC ruins. Can't remember his name, only that he was a friendly mutant (and it wasn't Fawkes.)

 

So I would love to see a lot of friendly random encounters. Or even not so friendly, like someone tricking the player. But the point is, they are random, rather than just waiting in their set spots for the player to come to them. I think that would bring a lot of life into the game, like having random scavenger encounters in abandoned areas, so there's the feeling that the world is alive and moving, rather than everyone being in their set places, waiting for the player to engage them.

 

It's also really nice to be surprised, which was how I felt when I first discovered that super mutant in F3, in a place I had already been to.

 

(I hope I'm typing coherently, I'm really tired, so my brain is being sluggish.)

 

So yeah, my main idea so far is to have random scavenger encounters in locations that are otherwise lifeless, and only good for looting. These would mainly be interior cells, and the salvagers could have dialogue, maybe unmarked quests or something.

 

Here is a good page for planning encounters:

 

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas_locations

 

I'll list some specific ideas:

 

1) You could have a couple of wastelanders getting bombed by the boomers, where you first approach Nellis. Maybe you can meet one in hiding, and after the boomers are quelled, you can tell him the coast is clear or sommat.

 

2) Find Legion Veteran Atticus in other places than the legion safehouse, or maybe fighting outside it. http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Atticus I'm not certain about this one actually, but thought I'd still type it, to see what you think.

 

3) Possibly random encounters for Luria of the Followers Safehouse ( http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Luria ) and other people who maintain the other safehouses. Though I'm not sure, as they might need new dialogue, and it would probably sound cheap without the original VAs.

 

4) Patients for the New Vegas clinic. http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/New_Vegas_Medical_Clinic

Random patient encounters with dialogue for inside the clinic, and could have patients who are walking to the clinic, with various injuries. Sometimes they could tell the player they were attacked by a deathclaw, the legion, or whatever. Could even add some humour to the injuries.

 

5) http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Makeshift_Great_Khan_Camp -- Could have some Great Khans here, that stay every now and then.

 

6) http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Great_Khan_armory -- Khans travelling to armory from main base.

 

7) In Freeside, drug deals gone wrong! You overhear dialogue of a drug deal, which ends in death.

 

8) People actually trading with each other, in places like the 188 trading post. This would basically be overheard dialogue, of people bartering. So these random encounters would come in 2's or more. I think this would give some life to these areas.

 

9) People honouring the dead at the various graveyards like in Goodsprings.

 

10) Gamblers in the casinos. There are a lot of generic gamblers, that basically say nothing. So it would be good to have random gambler encounters that force-greet the player (otherwise the player will not notice them.)

 

11) A kid lost in the sewers and scared, you have to lead him back to mommy or something, heh.

 

12) An NPC ghoul in a feral populated area (who is not hostile to the player or the ferals). He tells the player he has gone feral or something, but he clearly hasn't. He's deluded.

 

These are just some ideas for now, to take or leave. Hope it's helpful. I really need to sleep now. Bout 7am here. :wacko:

[Deleted2547005User]

This sounds incredibly awesome, and I would absolutely love to play it. There's nothing that really spices up the game world like such random encounters. :)

 

I have a short list of ideas you could check out, most of them non-combat oriented.

 

• In Freeside, a drug addict asks the player for drugs, and the player can provide it to him. If this is done a few times the player can find him dead of an overdose. The player could also talk him into quitting the drugs, and give him Fixer to cure his addiction. - Not Random - Repeatable (until he dies or accepts treatment)
  
• A guy in the Strip approaches the player to sell some stolen goods. The player can choose to trade with him to get access to a few interesting items (perhaps something unique?), or he could rat him out to the NCR MP. - Not Random - Unique
  
• The player meets a prospector, dying from thirst he asks for something to drink. If the player gives him water he will give the player a key to a hidden stash. - Random - Unique
  
• After completing Ghost Town Gunfight or Run Goodsprings Run the player meets a traveler near Jean Skydiving headed for Goodsprings. If the player helped the powder gangers he can warn the traveler or send him to his death. - Not Random - Unique
  
• The player can help a criminal locked up in the NCR embassy jail to escape. Causes a loss of standing with the NCR. - Not Random - Repeatable
  
• The player encounters a malfunctioning protectron walking in circles. If engaged in conversation it will babble nonsense and start to wander in a random direction. - Random - Unique
  
• If the player has encountered the malfunctioning protectron, it will be seen again. This time some prospectors will be trying to fix it. After a while, the robot turns hostile and kills the prospectors, and will then wander off, never to be seen again. - Random - Unique
  
• When returning to Nipton after having encountered Vulpes Inculta there, a group of scavengers will be present - Not Random - Repeatable
  
• Fiends getting slaughtered by a sentry bot. Only in fiend territory. Random - Unique
  

 

I like your ideas. It's raining all day here in Kansas City so no time for playing outside (was going to the firing range but too wet) so I'll be spending all day working on ideas. That's the hard part, the ideas. I'll list through your ideas, I'll also take the time to flesh out my previous ones so they are more detailed. Also, like the way you adopted the flags.

 

1. Freeside Drug Addict - Excellent idea. Fits the surroundings, gives the game continuity, and adds depth to the types of encounters. - Random (Only in Freeside worldspaces), Unique, Repeatable (Until he dies)

2. This one could be hard to pull off considering the size of the strip, both space wise and NPC population wise. May expand into Freeside where the gate to the strip is. Having a scene for the arrest would be excellent, could ask an experienced modder for a new clothing or weapon for the guys inventory. I do have a weapon of my own I can add though. - Random (In the Strip, Freeside), Unique

3. I think that adding a new location would be best for the second half of this encounter, something simple yet rewarding. Location should be hidden and concealed until the encounter happens to prevent spoiling. - Random, Unique

4. Easily doable. - Random, Unique

5. I think this would be better if someone comes up to the player and asks them to break out the convict. Having the convict do it themselves from a set location spoils the randomness to the encounter. - Random, Unique

6. I like this idea, adds humor to the Mojave. - Random, Unique

7. Even better than the first one, very hilarious. - Random, Unique

8. I like this idea, reminds me of the random encounter about Big Town in Fallout 3. This one should be part of a bigger system that involves abandoned and destroyed locations.

9. Simple but good. The Mojave lacks the random fighting between creatures/people. - Random (Only in Fiend territory), Unique

[Deleted2547005User]

Some thoughts on what you have so far:

 

Firstly, my favourite encounter from Fallout 3 was that super-mutant you find wandering around in the DC ruins. Can't remember his name, only that he was a friendly mutant (and it wasn't Fawkes.)

 

So I would love to see a lot of friendly random encounters. Or even not so friendly, like someone tricking the player. But the point is, they are random, rather than just waiting in their set spots for the player to come to them. I think that would bring a lot of life into the game, like having random scavenger encounters in abandoned areas, so there's the feeling that the world is alive and moving, rather than everyone being in their set places, waiting for the player to engage them.

 

It's also really nice to be surprised, which was how I felt when I first discovered that super mutant in F3, in a place I had already been to.

 

(I hope I'm typing coherently, I'm really tired, so my brain is being sluggish.)

 

So yeah, my main idea so far is to have random scavenger encounters in locations that are otherwise lifeless, and only good for looting. These would mainly be interior cells, and the salvagers could have dialogue, maybe unmarked quests or something.

 

Here is a good page for planning encounters:

 

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas_locations

 

I'll list some specific ideas:

 

1) You could have a couple of wastelanders getting bombed by the boomers, where you first approach Nellis. Maybe you can meet one in hiding, and after the boomers are quelled, you can tell him the coast is clear or sommat.

 

2) Find Legion Veteran Atticus in other places than the legion safehouse, or maybe fighting outside it. http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Atticus I'm not certain about this one actually, but thought I'd still type it, to see what you think.

 

3) Possibly random encounters for Luria of the Followers Safehouse ( http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Luria ) and other people who maintain the other safehouses. Though I'm not sure, as they might need new dialogue, and it would probably sound cheap without the original VAs.

 

4) Patients for the New Vegas clinic. http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/New_Vegas_Medical_Clinic

Random patient encounters with dialogue for inside the clinic, and could have patients who are walking to the clinic, with various injuries. Sometimes they could tell the player they were attacked by a deathclaw, the legion, or whatever. Could even add some humour to the injuries.

 

5) http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Makeshift_Great_Khan_Camp -- Could have some Great Khans here, that stay every now and then.

 

6) http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Great_Khan_armory -- Khans travelling to armory from main base.

 

7) In Freeside, drug deals gone wrong! You overhear dialogue of a drug deal, which ends in death.

 

8) People actually trading with each other, in places like the 188 trading post. This would basically be overheard dialogue, of people bartering. So these random encounters would come in 2's or more. I think this would give some life to these areas.

 

9) People honouring the dead at the various graveyards like in Goodsprings.

 

10) Gamblers in the casinos. There are a lot of generic gamblers, that basically say nothing. So it would be good to have random gambler encounters that force-greet the player (otherwise the player will not notice them.)

 

11) A kid lost in the sewers and scared, you have to lead him back to mommy or something, heh.

 

12) An NPC ghoul in a feral populated area (who is not hostile to the player or the ferals). He tells the player he has gone feral or something, but he clearly hasn't. He's deluded.

 

These are just some ideas for now, to take or leave. Hope it's helpful. I really need to sleep now. Bout 7am here. :wacko:

 

Firstly, the guy you're thinking of is Uncle Leo.

 

1.) This is an excellent idea. There is one location in particular that fits well with this idea. Can also add some dialogue to trick them into walking out into the field of fire and watch them blow up.

 

2.) and 3.) I think these are a good idea, it gives the safehouses life and plausibility of survival. It's probably best to use new characters so not to cheapen the already existing dialogue. Or, revoice those characters' dialogue so it fits in and is more immersive than adding a new character. It would also be a good idea to add a random encounter of a faction supplier along the route of supply between a particular safehouse and its supply source.

 

4.) That makes things more immersive, would be a good idea to expand this to other clinics and Military locations. Give the Mojave the sense of a war it deserves.

 

5.) I'm not sure about this one, the area is too hostile for continued camping. It would be a good encounter area though, setting up random encounters were people are attacked or are hunting.

 

6.) This would tie in with 2 and 3.

 

7.) This goes great with Ladez' idea of the druggy looking for drugs. Makes Freeside more dangerous than before.

 

8.) This would be similar with 4, having people actually trading or heading toward a trading outpost or stop like the Grub and Gulp.

 

9.) I thought there was only one in the game but I haven't been all over the map yet. People trekking across the Mojave to see the memorial in Boulder City or to a gave plot in Goodsprings.

 

10.) I'm not sure how this one would work. I see the point of needing dialogue'd gamblers, but don't see the point of a forced greet unless it was some drunk gambler or something similar. Could add altercations between bouncers and a gambler or gambler on gambler. Or, a casino robbery as a random encounter.

 

11.) That is an awesome idea. Not many kids in the game to begin with, and never any real relation between kids and their parents.

 

12.) That would need a new location, as adding it to an existing one would be hard. Could link it together with a random encounter with someone telling the player about a crazy ghoul.

Edited August 26, 2012 by Kuroitsune

[iyumichan]

Take a look at these:

 

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_special_encounters

 

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_2_special_encounters

 

Planes would be making worldspaces for them and then adding a chance to get there when fastraveling.

[Kodiak412]

Check out this mod for ideas.

 

http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/42793

 

This mod was IMHO one of the finest encounter mods ever made for FONV. I say this not to be a chump or discourage you from your endeavor, but if you can create something even remotely as good as this mod, yours will rank as one of the finest too.

 

Good luck, and I look forward to seeing what you can create.