History Headscratchers / FalloutNewVegas

*** What i had meant was that people would believe that if there is one then they could all be former Enclave members and thus paranoia would set in and they would be mistrusted.

*** I understand what you're saying. No need to worry about GodwinsLaw, the parallel is deliberate. :) My point was Arcade's situation is more analogous to the millions of German children who were members of the Hitler Youth, not someone who worked in a death camp. One of these ex-Hitler Youth is current Pope. However, you make a good point that the Followers would fall under intense NCR scrutiny. I'm not sure it's exactly justice that the Followers didn't keep it stumm, but, well, one can hardly fault transparency and honesty ... [[GreyAndGrayMorality so many shades of grey]], I guess!

** This is mostly politics if the word got out that the followers allowed Ex-Enclave members to work for them the NCR would probably look very harshly on it. Think about it this way if you went to a hospital and you found out your doctor worked in a death camp would you not complain. Im not trying to invoke GodwinsLaw im just saying its the same principal and the Enclave was inspired by the Nazis.

* In one ending, the Followers find out Arcade was once affiliated with the Enclave. So the Followers kick him out. Yeah, I'm sure they're just overrun with highly skilled doctors willing to hike it to the arse end of nowhere to live up to his knees in the dregs of society. [[UngratefulBastard Ungrateful bastards]]. I mean, dude makes it clear he never agreed with the Enclave. Navarro fell when he was quite young. It's like branding someone a Nazi and persecuting them for having been a (mandatory) member of the Hitler Youth in 1945. When they were like six. Now, I can see the NCR getting pissy about the Enclave armor, and the way their system works his incarceration was probably at least partially politically-motivated ... but the Followers? Jeez. They're apparently a bit KnightTemplar, at least when it comes to self-policing.

* I am disappointed that there wasn't more possible options for the Yes Man path. I feel that there should be an extra pro-NCR option in which you use your Mk. II securitron army to help the NCR defend Hoover Dam and defeat the Legion. Afterwards, by using your new position as the ruler of New Vegas and the dominating military power in the area, you negotiate favorable terms of annexation for the Mojave and get yourself a sit in the NCR Congress. If you are a good karma character, you will introduce legislation that fights corruption in the Republic and eventually become the new president, bring a era of peace and prosperity to everyone. If you are a neutral character, you will keep things as they were and finally retiring from politics with lots of money and political connections. Finally, if you play as an evil SOB, then after a few years in the Congress you will start a coup d'etat and ruthlessly take control of the NCR, abolishing democracy and transforming it into a military dictatorship.It just feels much more satisfying if you can make a large difference for not just the Mojave, but the entire West Coast in the end. Plus it just feels silly for a pro-NCR character to just leave the Mk. II securitrons in a basement instead of putting them to good use.

** This bugged me too, you seem to have companions of all flavors but Legion. I was hoping for a Clover expy you could buy from Caesar's camp.

** If this was a deliberate choice by the designers, I'd say it's for realism. In reality, it's pretty rare for a pistol to outclass a rifle in anything but portability. Old Military Proverb say, "My pistol is how I fight my way back to my rifle if I drop it."

* However, my point is that although democracy equals capitalism (or at lease the private ownership of property), capitalism does not equal democracy. For example, look at Singapore in real life. The Singaporean friends that this troper have once admitted that Singapore is more like a dictatorship then a real democratic republic. However, their economic system is in every way capitalist. My understanding of Mr. House's plans for New Vegas is like an extreme version of modern day Singapore. He and his inner circle (the Courier) will maintain absolute control over all military and and political matter, but the citizens will be allowed to have economic freedom, protection from the wasteland and social benefits as long as they pay their taxes and not become a political opponent to Mr. House. On a final note, assuming that the entire world got stuck in the 1950's way of thinking in the Fallout universe, then China never gone though the market reforms under Deng Xiaoping during the 1980's in Fallout's timeline. Therefore China was still operating under Maoism politically and have a centrally planed economy by the time the Resource War and the Great War took place. It seems like planed economy was just as responsible for the Great War as capitalism is.

*** However, my point is that although democracy equals capitalism (or at lease the private ownership of property), capitalism does not equal democracy. For example, look at Singapore in real life. The Singaporean friends that this troper have once admitted that Singapore is more like a dictatorship then a real democratic republic. However, their economic system is in every way capitalist. My understanding of Mr. House's plans for New Vegas is like an extreme version of modern day Singapore. He and his inner circle (the Courier) will maintain absolute control over all military and and political matter, but the citizens will be allowed to have economic freedom, protection from the wasteland and social benefits as long as they pay their taxes and not become a political opponent to Mr. House.
*** On a final note, assuming that the entire world got stuck in the 1950's way of thinking in the Fallout universe, then China never gone though the market reforms under Deng Xiaoping during the 1980's in Fallout's timeline. Therefore China was still operating under Maoism politically and have a centrally planed economy by the time the Resource War and the Great War took place. It seems like planed economy was just as responsible for the Great War as capitalism is.

***** I posted that in my first playthrough where i went NCR.

*** The problem is that he tells you to your face that he intends to rebuild civilization as an autocracy (this is actually the word he uses) that he can rule. We know he predicted the bombs falling with a 24 hour margin for error years before it happened; he planned to rebuild the world as such before it even ended in the first place. If he was ever a believer in capitalism, he simply changed his mind when he started seeing where the world was going and realized current methods of economics were to blame and methods of government did nothing but ''encourage'' it. If anything, capitalism was just a tool for him to get into a position (getting the needed resources, etc) to set his plan in motion. An autocracy under House wouldn't be a free-market, because he intends to specifically manipulate the economy so that he'll get the money and resources he needs to achieve his ends.

*** The problem is that he tells you to your face that he intends to rebuild civilization as an autocracy (this is actually the word he uses) that he can rule. We know he predicted the bombs falling with a 24 hour margin for error years before it happened; he planned to rebuild the world as such before it even ended in the first place. If he was ever a believer in capitalism, he simply changed his mind when he started seeing where the world was going and realized current methods of economics were to blame and methods of government did nothing but ''encourage'' it. If anything, capitalism was just a tool for him to get into a position (getting the needed resources, etc) to set his plan in motion.

** I think it is highly unlikely that Mr. House was talking about free-market economy, he himself is a self-made capitalist and the free-market economy is the only reason why he managed to to achieve the wealth and influence that he has. Also, if he is against the free-market economy, then why did he govern New Vegas in a mostly Laissez-faire manner? He is actually talking about the pre-war US government. Which he sees as a system that can easily be taken over by extremist (the Enclave), extremely in effective, and cannot even control its own population (the riots and civil-disorder right before the Great War).

** House is actually talking about free-market economy, which pretty much goes hand-in-hand with democracy. The weakness of the free market is that while it allows for unfettered growth based on human ingenuity in both business practices and invention, you have to pretend that the non-renewable resources used to accomplish these things are unlimited (or you would have to deny growth in the name of conserving them) and hope technology will make it as such before they run out. If technology doesn't solve that problem, the inevitable result is conflict over those resources as they run out, and the Great War in Fallout is explicitly the final stage of a long and bloody resource war, as the intro to the very first game spells out. The timeline on the Fallout wiki also has quite a few bullet points about various dates where the world got worse in various places specifically because of resource shortages. We could have a long and bloody debate on whether or not this interpretation of how things work and will work in reality is actually valid or not (it's probably obvious at this point what my view is) but it doesn't really matter, it's what ''House'' believes; your choice is whether or not you agree with him on the subject.

* House's line, as mentioned above, "If you want to see where democracy takes you, you need only look out the window." Fittingly cynical sentiment, but devoid of much actual substance. I thought it was, you know, the ''Great War'' that got ''Fallout'' 's world where it was. (A war fought because of a clash of both political and economic ideology, and the natural propensity of humans to engage in dick-waving competitions.) A more accurate summation would be something like "If you want to see where ''human nature'' takes you, you need only look out the window." Am I misinterpreting House? Perhaps he's talking about ... the fact that the Mojave is nominally under NCR control but still a mess?

* House's line, as mentioned above, "If you want to see where democracy takes you, you need only look out the window." Fittingly cynical sentiment, but devoid of much actual substance. I thought it was, you know, the ''Great War'' that got ''Fallout'' 's world where it was. A more accurate summation would be something like "If you want to see where ''human nature'' takes you, you need only look out the window." Am I misinterpreting House? Perhaps he's talking about ... the fact that the Mojave is nominally under NCR control but still a mess?

* I understand stats are more important this time around, but why does it feel like pistols are so weak no matter what? I preferred them in Fallout 3, but this time it seems to force you to use nothing but rifles.

*** Well, if the normal Caesar is still alive, the Legion's rule is brutal, but it creates order. NCR becomes somewhat of an occupying force, and it's implied throughout the game that they're already overextended and thus need to tax the living hell out of their new territory. The Wild Card ending is the best ''provided'' you upgrade the Securitrons and make nice with most people. Otherwise, anarchy descends without the NCR MPs to help the Securitrons keep order.

** Worse when you sleep with sarah because the second you go past a certain spot it immediately stops you from being to influence the game.
** You can just ask them to wait somewhere else, then go back and get them when you're finished, you know.

** Worse when you sleep with sarah because the second you go past a certain spot it immediately stops you from being to influence the game.

** Aren't they just drunk or injured?

** It is particularly bothersome if one happens to stumble across the "Canyon Wreckage" location southwest of Primm. Whole place is covered in graffiti directed at Courier Six (i.e. you). Set-up for some DLC? Holdover from a dropped plot line? In-universe example of NothingIsScarier, leaving the Courier wondering about some unknown element in the Wasteland that ''knew'' what was going to happen? [[MathematiciansAnswer Yes?]] Arggghh...

** It seems that when Bethseda makes WRPGs they have a habit of just disabling (PC Console Command)NPCs when you free them i.e The Survivors of Mothership Zeta.