So, you've finished playing Mothership Zeta and have conquered your own starship. You are the commander, but your crew consists of a know-it-all brat and an agoraphobic field medic. Not exactly the mightiest army ever, is it? Well, this mod is going to change that.
Mothership Zeta Crew adds a new faction under your command. It develops a whole story arc involving the recruitment and command of a force comparable with the Enclave or the Brotherhood of Steel itself. Once the mod is active and you've finished the Zeta addon, a button will appear in the command bridge, on the console at the right of your command chair. Press it and let the story begin!
A sequel for Fallout: New Vegas (previously in Development Hell for a few years) has now been (re-)released. Get it here.
This Game Mod contains the following tropes:
- Action Girl: Lieutenant Kurosawa of Artemis Team. Naturally, the PC as well if playing a female character.
- Actual Pacifist: Civilian Affairs Coordinator Tanaka and Dr. Nadia.
- The Atoner: Commodore Harkin for his actions while in the Enclave. Lots of the founding members of the TSC, really.
- Awesome, yet Impractical: The Hammerhead armor, according to Artyom Orlov: "Has the strength of a hundred men, and can transform a man into a juggernaught. And more importantly: It is completely, totally, and utterly useless."
- The Cavalry: The rescue by Karpov and troops of the TSC Marines at the end of "In At the Deep End." Also counts as Big Damn Heroes.
- Compressed Hair: What has to be happening for the haircuts of some of the members of Irons' Brotherhood and the TSC to fit under their helmets.
- Cool Starship: The Olympus and the Valkyries, alien recon craft repurposed as gunships and troop transports.
- Deadpan Snarker: Seraph Eligor.PC: When Orlov mentioned the Bolsheviks, I somehow knew I'd have to face them.
Eligor: How convenient he mentioned them, then. This way you'll know the political motivations of the people trying to kill you. A whole world of difference. - Defector from Decadence: The Enclave troopers who deserted to found the TSC.
- Democracy Is Bad: The TSC's major criticism of the NCR in the Vegas version. Their argument is that this leads to corruption and incompetence based on short term power-based planning and quick profitability rather than the long term solutions that society needs to get back on its feet. For this reason, TSC goes out of its way to make sure its own systems are as anti-capitalist and meritocratic as possible.
- Subverted in that this only applies to the TSC organization itself, and to the very very few "home grown" cities (namely: Poseidonis, the Olympus, and its military bases). Other towns and villages under their protection (such as Megaton and Rivet City) are free to practice whatever they like. This also does not prevent them from being on friendly terms with the NCR.
- Fake Nationality: Private McManus, who insists on being called Scottish despite being from Arizona because he's from a place like the Republic of Dave. He even speaks in a thick Scottish accent. He was very happy when the TSC managed to get people from Britain to live in Poseidonis.
- The pilot for the diplomatic Valkyrie, who speaks in a thick French accent. He insists he is not French.
- The Federation: The TSC itself. While it's hardly democratic, the settlements under their control maintain a great deal of autonomy.
- For Science!: Requirements for the L.A.B.R.A.T.S.? "Just basic mobility and enough stamina to resist complete molecular rearrangement."
- Foreshadowing: The radio distress signal from the underwater base to the Olympus. Archangel's strange emblem that turns out to be a personal deflector shield, handy for the Brotherhood's assassination attempt.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Artemis Team as follows.
- Sanguine: Private McManus
- Choleric: Lieutenant Naoko Kurosawa
- Melancholic: Sergent Hawk
- Phlegmatic: Private Ruiz
- Fun with Acronyms: The L.A.B.R.A.T.S., or the League of Awesomely Brave Recruits After Technological Sapience.
- Game Mod: Yes, there are mods for this mod.
Here, here, here, here, and here.- Ascended Game Mod: The Assault Rifle replacement in the Weapons Addon Pack was apparently so well liked that Nyon used it in the Fallout New Vegas TSC Mod reboot.
- Gender Bender: Plishkin accidentally turns the PC into the opposite gender for which you can punch him for. Twice.
- I Call Her "Vera": Private McManus and his minigun, Angus.
- Final Argument, Seraph Eligor's Desert Eagle. Discrepancy, too, the copy that the PC can pick up.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: If you heal McManus yourself with a high medicine skill, he'll remark, "My god! What is this stuff, magic powder? The pain is washing away like a convenient script mechanism."
- Malaproper: Dr. Novikov keeps confusing English words, like "warehouse" and "whorehouse."
- Men Use Violence, Women Use Communication: After the attack at Rivet City, the members of the TSC High Council decide to have a vote to choose between attacking the Brotherhood of Steel, or going for a diplomatic approach. The two women of the Council, Dr. Nadia and Tanaka, are for the peaceful solution, while the men are either for the aggressive solution (Karpov and Mallore) or neutral (Schmidt, Harkin and Dr. Nylus).
- This trope can be fully played straight if you vote for diplomacy with a female PC.
- Noodle Incident: McManus, ventriloquism, and Mr. Haggis.
- The Mothership: The Olympus.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: General Artyom Orlov, Marshal of the Reborn Coalition of Soviet Nations, or RCSN.
- Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Mythology plays a big part in naming things in the TSC. Poseidonis and the Olympus are named for things in Greek mythology. The Valkyries are named after beings from Norse mythology. The Seraphim and the title of Archangel are named after beings in Abrahamic religions. The code names of the Seraphim are chosen from names of demons, such as Seraph Eligor.
- Scenery Porn: The underwater alien base that eventually becomes Poseidonis.
- Shout-Out: Reading the Olympus Circular newsletter on your terminal reveals that Dr. Plishkin attempted to test the theory of Portal conservation of momentum with a bowling ball.
- Nam, in the April Fools release, sings Still Alive from Portal.
- Really, most of the April Fools release. The entire thing is a parody of Mass Effect 3's ending, with shout outs to Skyrim ("I used to be an adventurer like you, but then I took an ending to the face."), Zero Wing, The Legend of Zelda, and others.
- Dr. Nylus saying to Karpov, paraphrased, "Do I think I have a pocket full of inventions I can just pull out? Do I look like a blue cat to you?" is a reference to Doraemon.
- During "Beam Me Up," the PC gets teleported to a cave in Cyrodiil just outside the Imperial City from Oblivion.
- The Tyranids from Warhammer 40,000 make an appearance.
- Multiple shoutouts to Metro 2033 appear in "In Soviet Russia". Including Artyom Orlev, fundamentalist communists, mention of the Fourth Reich, the general setting of Moscow, and last but certainly not least the Grey Line/Metro. Even the Dark Ones are alluded to regarding the latter (but are never directly mentioned or seen).
- Nam, in the April Fools release, sings Still Alive from Portal.
- Sinister Subway: The Gray Line in Moscow. Something bad happened down there to the Bolsheviks. Best to think it's just a gas leak.
- Sword of Damocles: The TSC's symbol (a winged sword pointing down) represents the Sword Of Damocles, symbolizing the TSC's power over all the other factions on Earth, but also symbolizes the fear of losing this very power.
- The Speechless / The Voiceless: Nam, Dr. Nylus' assistant. He mentions she's like that because of the Enclave, which is one reason he left. He doesn't elaborate further.
- The Spymaster: Archangel, head of the Seraphim.
- Underwater Base / Underwater City: Poseidonis started off as an underwater base for the aliens but the TSC took over and turned it into their underwater capital city.
- Wave-Motion Gun: The Ion Cannon, the main gun of the Olympus, currently under repair.
