The House Edge

[ProfessorZ]

My favorite character in fiction to date is Mr. House. I could go on about how well thought out he is, but I always felt his quest was somewhat lacking in scale. The overall impression you get of Mr. House is a cold, analytical, genius with a master plan for humanity. However, his quest really doesn't differ too much from the tasks given by Yes Man, a lobotomized AI created by the Followers of the Apocalypse, who share a radically different point of view from Mr. House. This has long been something I considered adjusting.

With TTW adding all of Fallout 3's content, I feel like I could now create a quest line that truly feels like tasks given by one of humanities brightest minds. I am a writer, so this with be a very plot driven mod. That is not to say there will not be mindless violence, but it certainly is not the focus. The goal is for the player to set out on many seemingly disjointed quests, such as collecting old world artifacts, or reviving long dormant machinery, and all the while obtaining critical bits of information, allowing the player to build an idea of what is going on themselves, rather than being spoon-fed a story.

Since story is so integral to this mod, I'm afraid I can't divulge to much information. However, I have prepared a list of features that I feel are not spoilers. Should you wish for me to elaborate on any, please feel free to ask. In fact, should you have any feedback at all, I would love to hear it. The list is as follows:

• 
  Lore Friendly - Any all and statements, implications, weapons, locations, or further content is meticulously researched to ensure that it fits well with the universe.


• 
  Utilizes all TTW Content - To be clear, there are quests that transpire in the Capitol Wasteland, the Mojave Wasteland, Point Lookout, The Pitt, Mothership Zeta, Zion, and The Big Empty. There are quests that directly relate to the Anchorage Simulation and The Sierra Madre. Mr. House is a resourceful man. Why would he ignore an alien spaceship his employee has free access to?


• 
  Explore the Lucky 38 - For the amount of build up the Lucky 38 receives, it's rather boring. However, it would appear activating the Securitron army had some... unanticipated side effects. 

Questions? Comments? 

[paragonskeep]

Sounds very plausible, possibly have House "hacked" into the Eyebots so he knew what was going on in DC for sometime and was keeping tabs on the Enclave there. 

[rylasasin]

Regarding zeta...are we going to get a sort of "Housified" zeta crew?

Regarding OWB... what will happen if Doctor O (and for that matter the rest of the Think Tank) is still around? They had a huge grudge against House and Robco... especially O.

What in the world would house want with Zion? There's literally nothing there. Point lookout I can see (the reason for house's interest in it is explained in the final quest of the PL main quest), as well as the pitt. And he'd be outright stupid to ignore zeta (and as we all know, "Mr. House" and "Stupid" don't belong in the same sentence.) But I just don't see what he'd want with a national park full of nothing but critters and tribals?

Unless he plans on opening a safari zone/wildlife refuge/zoo or something.

Also an idea: An alternate way to solve the megaton bomb issue with burke (I know, unlikely that you haven't solved it at this point, unless you're doing a Mojave start. but oh well...): Convince Burke to jump ship and work for a real visionary instead of some old fart hiding away in a tower.

[tom_57]

House certainly fits the bill as another powerful pre war player in the "great game" as described by Desmond.

Perhaps if you side with him in PL, Desmond could make an appearance later in NV offering you another quest, perhaps even yet another ending pathway.

[ProfessorZ]

So, to answer a few question, there will be a sort of Mothership Zeta Crew situation with Zeta. (MZC is an excellent mod, and everyone should play it.) In fact, completing MZ is a requirement to start the new quests, for reasons that will become apparent as you play. The reason for House's interest in Zion is simple. Limestone. There is no lack of rubble to sift through for recyclable steel, but limestone is pivotal to removing impurities from molten steel. Spoilers - A big quest involves constructing a limestone quarry in Zion. How is the limestone transported back to Vegas, to be used in the newly constructed steel mill, I hear you cry? Zeta's teleportation technology, clearly. Besides, constructing a quarry in a national park seems like something House would do. All that wasted space. Regarding OWB, that decision will fall to the player. A common thread I've noticed in House's quests are that they are generally just a directive. The exact details through which they are accomplished are left to the player. I am attempting to keep this in mind when designing new quests, so most major game decisions affect this storyline. Which has resulted in an absurd number of possibilities, but that is for another time.

A big inspiration for the quests are the "Captains of Industry," men like John Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, or J.P. Morgan. If you watch a series like "The Men Who Built America," I think you'll find House fits this category almost perfectly. Brilliant, Cynical, Idealistic, and possessing a complete disregard for the individual in a pursuit for something "greater." I don't endorse that, but it was the attitude that fueled the industrial revolution.

One other detail I find worth mentioning. Once you start this quest series, It becomes impossible to complete either Legion or NCR endings. Yes-Man is still an option, though a certain quests involves disabling him and archiving his AI, you can still retrieve it at any time.

 

[rylasasin]

[quote=ProfessorZ]

One other detail I find worth mentioning. Once you start this quest series, It becomes impossible to complete either Legion or NCR endings. Yes-Man is still an option, though a certain quests involves disabling him and archiving his AI, you can still retrieve it at any time.

[/quote]

That does beg another question...

Will this enable some sort of "play after the end" deal for house (as in play after the battle for hoover dam?) A sort of "Broken Steel" for the house ending?

Also will it be compatible with House's Securitron, or even better, have its own version of it?

[KeltecRFB]

Looks good but instead of tampering with the Lucky 38, how about his Country Club at Camp Golf since no one has really tampered with it?   If anyone wants to use Run the Lucky 38 and Suite Reloaded mods, it may conflict with your mod.

[ProfessorZ]

I had no intention of editing the suite, there are too many mods that fiddle with it, I personally use TTW Interiors, which adds a great suite. This mod will provide the option of reopening the Lucky 38 for business, should you be interested. I like the idea Run the Lucky 38 presented, but I felt its execution left a bit to be desired. Though should demand be high enough, I imagine I could create some sort of patch.

[ProfessorZ]

Firstly, playing after the game ending in New Vegas is possible, from a technical standpoint. There is a mod on nexus, CAGE I believe, that allows just that. The problem is, all of the NPCs still act like the Second Battle of Hover Dam is imminent, and none of the things described in the ending slideshow are actually implemented in the world. So, I would effectively have to edit every NPC and every major location in the game. Seeing as the scope of this mod is quite substantial already, that is not a task I would be willing to undertake at this time.

Regarding House's Securitron, I see no reason it wouldn't be compatible, however I was intending to add a follower, though it would not be House himself. I imagine he would be a little to busy to follow the Courier around. Though, should you wish to use it, it should remain compatible.

[rylasasin]

Here's an idea that I am going to pitch somewhere else here sooner or later, but an alternative would be after hoover dam the game simply boots the player back to the CW and prevents them from going back to the Mojave, though you would still allow them to go back to the DLC places. And the Lucky 38.

That way, the game technically does continue, just not in the Mojave.

Of course, that would mean having to adjust DLC doors and the train and other things to prevent the player from going back to the Mojave once things are done there. But I would imagine it would still take far less effort than trying to create a Housified ending.

Also it would still require you to do all the Mojave stuff before doing Hoover Dam.

 

Also, Cage has gone private, though it's pretty much been supplanted by this mod: http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/54604/

 

PS: Speaking of Zeta Crew... You notice in both the Fallout 3 version and in Fallout NV's forever-private version that house has pretty much pitched in with TSC.