better Unity Station integration

[grumpy old man]

First off, let me say that I love TTW and really appreciate the work that has gone / is going into it. I've been searching the forums, and I didn't see anything that directly addressed this, so I thought I would create a thread to post a few ideas (really just one big one) I had about integrating Unity Station a bit more into the FO3 world. If any of these ideas are already planned or in the works, great! Feel free to disregard this. Otherwise, I hope to see them get implemented down the line. I'd do it myself, but I have no modding knowledge and think it would probably be too big of a task for me to manage by myself. With that out of the way, here are my ideas:

 

* A quest that leads the player to Unity Station. As it is now (in my experience), the player just sort of stumbles onto it. It's not until after you actually get into Union Station that quest markers show you where to go. Which is good, because otherwise I think I'd still be stuck in DC.

* The quest could either be given by Reilly's Rangers or the BoS. The Rangers probably make a little less sense, but I could see it work. They give you a quest to scout out a few specific locations for them, and Union Station could be one of them. Kind of weak, but it works.

* The better, more complicated version would be the BoS. The downside to this route (as I see it) would be that it would require you to complete Broken Steel. After Liberty Prime is wrecked, perhaps you could be given another quest to find parts for him. The BoS could have heard rumors about a still working train somewhere in the DC wasteland, and want you to find it so they could scrap it for parts to rebuild Prime. I couldn't see them wanting to use the train because they would have very little reason to head west, seeing as Elder Lyons still wants to clean up the DC wasteland. The Outcasts might want it as a means of reconnecting with the West Coast BoS (or, more simply, wanting to preserve/idolize pre-war tech), which could make for an interesting conflict.

 

I haven't fully thought out the idea, I really just wanted to put it out there and get some feedback. What do you all think? DC BoS vs Outcasts for control of the station? A Ranger mapping quest? Something else entirely?

[JaxFirehart]

The team and I agree that the station needs an integrated questline. We have spitballed a few ideas but haven't settled on anything, although we DO want a changing situation as you progress through the game. One idea that we threw around was to have the station populated by monsters early in the game (as it is currently). Later, it has an enclave presence (after your first enocunter with the Enclave). Then it progresses to Brotherhood vs. Enclave after Raven Rock. Brotherhood has won after Take It Back. Brotherhood is firmly established after Broken Steel.

[Chaophim]

I like it 'super mutant' occupied (until you clear it), myself, because it makes logical sense.  The SMs are functionally stupid.  They see it as just a wrecked-out building, good for a fortress.  They have no clue how to work the trains and, thankfully, do not suddenly show up in droves in NV.  BoS, Enclave, and Outcasts would see the train as a commodity/way to gather reinforcements/a supply route/whatnot.  Also, I doubt that the higher-cognitives would allow the "Lone Courior" to zip back and forth in it like a private limo, especially considering how they handle things like OA, Project Purity, etc.,  "Faster than walking" travel would be a commodity, I think.



I say 'secure it at both ends'.  Keep the DC end the way it is (maybe changing out the initial opponents re your desire for changing situation), only add in the ability to turn on automated defenses that keep the station from repopulating.



In the Mojave, nine years have passed - have a 'new' station that, just like the CW, has to be cleared out and defences enabled for transport back.



Just some of my 'up all night with no sleep' thoughts on the matter.

[TrickyVein]

[quote=grumpy old man]

A quest that leads the player to Unity Station. 

[/quote]

It's a good idea.

[quote=grumpy old man]

The quest could either be given by Reilly's Rangers or the BoS. The Rangers probably make a little less sense, but I could see it work. They give you a quest to scout out a few specific locations for them, and Union Station could be one of them. Kind of weak, but it works.

[/quote]

The issue with adding content for TTW on to the vanilla quests is that we don't have the original voice actors for any of these characters at our disposal, and creating a new, voiced NPC just for TTW is probably beyond the scope of what we can do right now. Furthermore, it would leave a very big footprint where TTW seeks to walk as lightly as possible. Does that make sense? We want to bring the original Fallout 3 experience to New Vegas's engine with as little modification as needed or only where it's necessary to integrate content from the first game into the second; creating a new NPC or adding lines of dialog to existing NPCs goes beyond that mission in a very big way. 

As I see it, we are much better off creating a radio broadcast which draws the player to the station when he or she is within a certain range of it (probably around the Mall). Fallout 3's other DLCs are meant to be discovered in this way. It also seems very lightweight.

[quote=grumpy old man]

The better, more complicated version would be the BoS. The downside to this route (as I see it) would be that it would require you to complete Broken Steel.

[/quote]

Though it would be a restriction, if we do ultimately decide to create a larger footprint with TTW I am in favor of requiring that the player finish BS before heading to the Mojave if only for the sake of continuity. It's absurd that the player (as it is now) can abandon his or her quest to find dad/defeat the Enclave and at any point decide to disappear for 9 years. At the same time, I think that the story should be flexible enough to allow people to do just that if they want to, for gameplay reasons. I imagine lots of players would be quite frustrated, not being able to travel to the Mojave almost instantly (and indeed, some people are frustrated with having to take a train at all). 

One of the other ideas that we've floated is that the train could fill in a gap in Fallout 3's timeline to explain how the Enclave arrived on the East Coast, if we assume that they fled from the destruction of the oil rig in 2242. This would require that the train be under the Enclave's control in some way, either overtly with troops there having a continual armed presence guarding the train, or secretly which would allow super mutants and raiders (and indeed the BoS) to walk throughout the upper levels unaware of the amazing pre-war technology locked away inside. 

[paragonskeep]

[quote=TrickyVein]

 

 

 

One of the other ideas that we've floated is that the train could fill in a gap in Fallout 3's timeline to explain how the Enclave arrived on the East Coast, if we assume that they fled from the destruction of the oil rig in 2242. This would require that the train be under the Enclave's control in some way, either overtly with troops there having a continual armed presence guarding the train, or secretly which would allow super mutants and raiders (and indeed the BoS) to walk throughout the upper levels unaware of the amazing pre-war technology locked away inside. 

[/quote]

This sounds like the ideal idea. And fits nicely with the covert attitude of the Enclave. 

Also this "could" at some point be used to fully interconnect Adams AF Base and Raven Rock for an aspect of how the Enclave were able to stay covert until they wanted to be seen. We already use a metro to go to Adams so why not another access (even if currently unusable due to say a cave in) between here and Raven Rock too. 

[Risewild]

Mmm but wasn't the East Coast Enclave a different "cell" from the West Coast one? IIRC the East Coast Enclave never had anything to do with the West coast one, they operated independently from each other and are not connected in any way except for being part of the pre-war enclave legacy.

[JaxFirehart]

I don't remember if there is any lore to support either possibility. If so I would be glad to hear it. I always assumed they were different cells.

[TrickyVein]

[quote=Risewild]

 

Mmm but wasn't the East Coast Enclave a different "cell" from the West Coast one? IIRC the East Coast Enclave never had anything to do with the West coast one, they operated independently from each other and are not connected in any way except for being part of the pre-war enclave legacy.

[/quote]

When president Eden succeeded Richardson, the AI ordered the relocation of the Enclave to Raven Rock. The Enclave may have had a presence on the East Coast before the destruction of the Oil Rig, but Enclave forces did travel from the West coast to the East under Colonel Autumn's dad.

[Risewild]

Thanks for the post Tricky I would have never thought about reading the Eden page I only read the Enclave one.