In the Independent ending, the courier will join the midwestern brothe

[laclongquan]

You will need an army to transport them back from the Divide. one word leak, and leak itwill, and you will have Brotherhood baying at your heel, and NCR Ranger ambushes. Even if you finish off Mojave chapter, other branches will track your ass down.

[Jojash]

If the Courier chose to nuke the NCR and the Legion in Lonesome Road, would that not serve as a large enough deterrent regardless of whether or not they can do it again? How would the NCR or the Legion know that the Courier no longer has nuclear capabilities? Or did the marked men suddenly come to their senses and immediately begin reporting back to their former factions about the Divide?

Edited April 1, 2013 by Jojash

[TailAbNormal]

Ulysses said that the nukes would cut off the NCR in the area, forcing them to pull out even if they won the dam. The legion had a ton of forces at the camp you could've nuked, so they would have suffered in a similar way.

 

Also, the remaining nukes in the Divide are being repaired by the eyebots you reactivated. And even if you did get them, the NCR wouldn't be too deterred. And as said above, the Brotherhood would definitely want those nukes, and what ever other tech is still in the Divide.

[laclongquan]

Mhmm yeah~ The only reason Brotherhood doesnt explore there because event happen quite recent and the closest chapter is in serious trouble. Shoot the nukes and MidWest/east Coast chapters certainly will hear about it and send groups there in some month. You dont want BOS knights after your ass along with NCR hit squad and Legionaire death squad. I mean, you prolly must protect The Divide, that mean you being a stationary target.

[peadar1987]

The Divide is a problem. I'd be tempted to hack the eyebots and rig all the nukes to explode on a timer. Better that nobody has them than, say, the Legion get their hands on them. Although it's hinted that there are only a few warheads in working order, Ulysses can't destroy either the NCR or the Legion just by nuking them, he has to use the few serviceable nukes he has to cut their supply lines.

 

I think once the NCR cool down about losing absolute control of the Mojave, they'll come round to the idea of allowing Vegas to exist as an independent country. They have the choice of either trying to hold the territory in the face of a guerrilla insurgency, Mojave freedom fighters under the courier's control striking at their supply lines, harassing their troops, and raiding their territory, or else a peaceful trade agreement, where New Vegas provides the NCR with water and power from Hoover Dam at a fair price, so everybody wins.

 

The Legion are a broken force after Hoover Dam, they've suffered another crushing defeat, and both Caesar and Lanius are dead. They will either descend into infighting, or, my personal choice, someone cunning and canny, not just bloodthirsty, like Vulpes Inculta, will rise to the top, and realise they can gain more by an uneasy peace with the West.

[Graeystone]

The Courier should send a letter to the NCR, the Legion, and BOS whoever else was a giant thorn the Courier's/Wasteland's side,-

To NCR/BoS/Legion/Whoever:

Hi, its me the Courier. The same Courier that sent you packing out of the Wastelands one way or another. Right now you are creating a bunch of revenge scenarios against me, trying to raise an army to once again invade the Wastelands, or both. Now I'm going to tell you why that's the stupidest mistake you'll ever make in your life if you ever try to follow through on any of it.

All it took was one Courier to put you down hard. What kind of damage do you think two Couriers would do to you? Or three? Or maybe a few hundred? A thousand? I'm going to let that sink in for a moment and if you have any intelligence at all you will stop whatever plans you are making right here and now.

For anyone that thinks I'm bluffing or exaggerating, I'll explain further. I will use all the influence I have to unite the Mojave Express into a temporary fighting force to fight against you. You will not be warring against just me. . .you will be warring against a countless number of people who are EXACTLY. . .LIKE. . .ME! You will not survive that war and we will literally deliver a #@$#storm to your front step! We will kill every one of you if you try to get revenge against me or try to invade the Wastelands again!

You want to be stupid, go somewhere else and do it! You want to war, find somewhere to wage it! Leave me and the Wastelands the hell alone or you will die! This is your first, last, and only warning on the matter!
Signed,
Courier 6

*********
The point would be make the survivors of any factions scared witless to the point they will be too busy being afraid to actually try anything.

Edited May 23, 2013 by Graeystone

[laclongquan]

Do you want to poke a bear in the testicle? Or a bull in the eye?

 

Are we even talking about a nation full of cowboys, armed merchants, and soldiers? Or are we talking about a wilderness full of macho tribals who will smash you just to say they smashed you?

 

That letter is about the farthest from a deterrent anyone can think of. More like irressitable bait

[peadar1987]

Yeah, you'd be better off trying to make them see reason. The NCR at least. They're going to be angry, but not irrational. A treaty with guaranteed amounts of water and power heading west, a friendly buffer state between them and the legion, and the fact that they won't be fighting an underground insurgency will probably be enough to win them over. I mean, there's some amount of dynamite knocking around the Mojave, and miles and miles of power lines and water pipes that will be impossible to guard all of. NCR are there for water and electricity. It would be incredibly easy for a handful of determined freedom fighters to perform enough sabotage to ensure no water or power ever reached Shady Sands.

 

The Brotherhood would probably play ball if an understanding about energy weapons and power armour was established. i.e. The New Vegas army wouldn't use them.

 

I doubt the legion would ever change their minds, they are aggressive and expansionist, and would need to be pushed back and broken to stop them being a threat to the Mojave. Although with Caesar dead, all it would need would be a few well-placed assassinations to plunge them back to squabbling tribes.

[TailAbNormal]

Seeing how weak the brotherhood is in the west. (there almost non-existent in the core region, and the Mojave faction you see can be easily finished off by you alone.) I don't think it would be too hard to persuade/bully them into backing down, and letting you use advanced tech. (they didn't try to stop the van Graphs.)

[laclongquan]

Yeah, their hostility with NCR cost them their presence in the West Coast for sure. Unless they change their policies radically, they will never be able to get in the West again without force.

 

As for Legion, no need to fight them. Hold the Dam. Let NCR troopers patrol the river bank. Keep a holding pattern. Assassinate Caesar and let the tribals fight it out to be his successor. They will definitely fragment, because it's impossible to stamp out tribal identity in half a lifetime. The original tribes will assert their existence by carving out their territories and further weaken themselves in the process. legion is strong because they are a single organization under Caesar. When they fragment into many, they no longer a match for NCR. They last maybe a decade after caesar's demise.

 

Another aspect you need to consider is the advance farming level of NCR. After the Enclave war, within a few decades their population boom with just the water sources of dry west coast, to the point they can squash Brotherhood. With a holding action like that, and the whole river, the Dam, to water the farms, in a decade they will be much stronger and will outnumber Legion, Caesar's alive or not.