The Courier stood, armored as was common in his little excursions, in a reinforced suit of ancient Sierra Madre security armor, patched and repaired here and there where time and injury had ripped at it's tough fabric and ceramic plates, sunglasses shielding his eyes, even in the gloom of the dome, where the only light came from stained panels and the glowing monitors of the gesticulating brain, examining the little gift he'd brought. "As I was saying Dr-" He began, before he was interrupted once more. "A naked mole rat isn't it! Why I remember using these leathery little fellows as trial animals, back during the great norwegian rat plague of '71! Nasty bite. Interesting social structure, though that wasn't really my department. I don't remember them being quite this voluninous though..." "...That would probably be the war's doing." The courier said, patiently. "Really? Well! Quite impressive what a little hard radiation can do to such a humble critter." The ancient scientist said, his two monitors, one blank, one aglow, roving around the little cage holding the naked, wrinkly subject of his curiosity, which hissed in response, sharp teeth digging at the metal with nail-on-chalkboard grinds. "...Indeed. As I was saying, I brought this to you rather than the Think Tank, since you've displayed considerable expertise working with the radscorpions. I thought this might inspire you with a little... project I need done." "Oho! A project you say? Why, I haven't participated in a directed research assignment in... goodness, a tortoise's age! What do you have for me, my lugubrious young brain?" He asked, eyes focusing in uncomforotably close to the Courier's face, though he didn't move in response as he once might have. "I'm anticipating a bit of a problem with some... introduced wildlife." He said, reaching down for a leather-wrapped package containing a scrap of scaled skin and meat. "I've already given a sample to the Think Tank for them to run some tests on. This is for you to calibrate the machines I hope you'll be building." Mobius eyed the odd bit of half-rancid flesh curiously. "Introduced, you say? Coupled with the animal inspiration in question, I'd say your problem-species is a burrower, no?" The courier blinked. Even if academically he recognized Mobius' intellect, instinct still whiplashed in the face of his apparent senility when he made that kind of intuitive leap. "...Call them Tunnelers. Vicious things; spreading out from their former home, and coming uncomfortably close to my home." "Hm! Well, can't have lizards digging up one's yard, no? And you did provide me with such an interesting subject for my investications! I think I should be able to bang something together that will work well enough. Now, clear out, I need space to begin my work! Now, where did I put those mentat refills..." the brain spoke, floating up to begin rummaging around, while the courier entirely failed to show any guilt for his surreptitious weaning of the pre-war genius off his dependencies, exiting the room with nary a backward glance. -------- "Would sir care for a refreshment? I believe we still have a bottle of the '64 claret in the pantry." An ambiguously english voice asked, as the courier entered the sink, placing a lightened pack down on the floor beside the work bench, and seating himself in a chair he'd scavenged from a lounge in one of the labs, feet braced against the central intelligence's chassis. "I think not today. I need my head clear for the moment." "Indubitably sir." The intelligence agreed mechanically. The courier closed his eyes, Blind Diode Jefferson's nearby snores making him yearn for his own rest; the Big Empty was tiring as always to cross. There seemed to be no end to the wild robots, lobotomites, and nightstalkers roaming the place. Often he'd yearned to set out on an expedition with some of his friends and allies to give the place a thorough cleansing. But, for the moment, it served the important purpose of being an impenetrable fortress and stock of unique resources which only he could access. Big Mountain might be dangerous, but it was a measured risk; predictable for all it's chaos, in a way that other people weren't. Sometimes he was tempted to stay here; the sink would provide for him, and gladly. Food, water, even company. But he couldn't. Not while the Wastes were out there, calling their siren call. Still, he could handle temptation. And here, he could think. If Mobius could solve one problem for him, it would be a bandage for one of Nevada's thousand cuts from which it was busily bleeding. On one side, the bear waited, content in their victory, but a bear was never satiated long. On the other, the bull. Beaten, bleeding from a pair of grievous wounds in it's flank, but vast, and angry. Caught between them, if Nevada was to survive, he needed to manage things, and carefully. "...Where next?" He wondered to himself, and the Sink was silent.
I always felt....sad really when I first met Dr. Mobius. Glad to see that the Courier is helping to ween him of the Psycho, Mentats and every thing else he's been addicted to. How are you going to have the Think Tank interact with the other characters. Or are they only going to deal with the courier? Out of all the Think Tank, Mobius and 0 are the least damaging to New Vegas. 0 because he's basically Rusty Venture in a brain pod. So lonesome Road as well as Dead Money and Old World blues are in this. I assume Honest Hearts would be as well. If the Burned Man is still alive, will the Courier-King be using him as a sounding board for dealing with the legion?
...Honestly my problem with Honest Hearts is that it's basically irrelevant to the narrative. It's not bad, it just doesn't accomplish anything like the other three do. It's neat to see what happened to Joshua... but he's not part of the New Vegas narrative either. Bizarrely, while it's the most down to earth of the DLC's, it still ends up being the Mothership Zeta of the pack. It will figure in, however it will end up a fairly minor note. The Courier is, for reasons which will become clearer later, very interested in expanding north, toward New Canaan.
Huh yeah now that you mention, It does feel like Mothership Zeta. Played 2 runthrews of the game first time regular and the other with Wild Wastland activated. In my personal Head Canon during the WW version of facing the Think Tank at the end of OWB involved the Courier dropping from the ceiling onto Dr. Kliens brain pod and riding it around until he cried uncle. whats the Stats of this character? not that stats or perks really mean much other than a vauge idea on what a character can do. also did this character scour every square inch of the Desert and every where else he went to? since you said that there were still lobotomites running around the Big MT I'm guessing no
He's level fifty. Everything maxed except unarmed and barter. Also lobotomites randomly spawn. That was a joke.
Well...depending on how you play it...it does mean your northern flank is secure...or you just left it wide open to a bunch of tribals. I highly dislike the fact that it empties itself out, after you do your schiding up there.
Not to my knowledge they weren't. The Courier speculates that they were mutants created in the war, exposed to the surface when the cataclysm at the Divide occurred.
If I was the Courier and trying to outfit a group of elite long range scouts you cant do wrong with the recharger pistol and rifle. Give them a harder hitting secondary and you could conceivably be autonomous for weeks maybe months if they use it for hunting. Don't know if you'll want to equip an entire army with it though. Savings on ammunition aside, there almost prohibitavely expensive, and rare. Unless your made of caps or you find or kludge together a working factory they arnt going to be the Las-gun solution. however the heavily modified laser pistol found in the sunset sass factory could with a bit of retooling be of some use
Recharger rifles with pistol power packs and optics (Seriously, WHY is the pistol stronger than the rifle?) are given to certain scouts, rangers, and couriers. The standard issue weapon is, funnily enough, an NCR service rifle.
obviously most of the energy is used getting threw the barrel of the rifle. what with having to fight the magic and mysterious Besthesda radiation.the laser beam or bullet in the weapon obviously pushes it into the barrel of the gun hence why they break down so easily. why the pistol is stronger is that the laser can get out of the barrel much more quickly
Yeah, but the thing is, a lot of the stuff from Fallout that we assume to be a mutation is actually the result of genetic engineering. In Old World Blues, we learnt that Night Stalkers and Cazadors were actually Think Tank experiments gotten loose, and they made the Spore Carries (Plant Men) too. Deathclaws were US army experiments, So it wouldn't be even a little suprising for the Tunnelers to have been created by the Think Tank, and the Divide's explosion just made them more active, bringing them to the surface.
Yes, but they aren't explicitly mentioned along with the others, and an explanation is given by the courier in Lonesome Road. I'm not going to assume he's wrong if there's no indication he is.
Though I certainly wouldn't put it past them, (after all, these are the people that made fucking CAZADORES and fucking NIGHTSTALKERS), I'm certain that canon says that the nukes woke these creatures up, there are no implications that the Tunnelers were "created" at all.
what would you be amouring the average foot soilder with? would you be pushing for combat armour as standed or go with somthing like reinforced leather?
We do get info on some protestors who was taken by Big Mt, there is no info on what happen to them and there also the fact Tunnelers carry human items.
