Backed into a corner...

NCR's no-nonsense Col. Cassandra Moore

I'm beginning to think Team Bethesda didn't really think through all the possible endings for Fallout New Vegas.

I hated the Yes, Man endings. And  I really dislike the Colonel Moore endings.  What a bloodthirsty wench she is!  She ordered me to assassinate the Great Khans, but I'm on good terms with the Khans.  I've exterminated all the Fiends who were their drug buyers, including Vault 3's Motor Runner, and by applying slow pressure on myself to get my Speech stats high enough, managed to convince Jack and Diane to get into the Bathtub Stimpaks business instead.  That was good.

Moore insists on Papa Khan's demise.  So I quietly blew his head off, sadly, with regret, because Papa Khan has a really good point.  If you forget history, you'll repeat it.  Especially, e.g., the NCR massacre of the innocents at Bitter Springs.  Ask around, not even NCR troops who were there agreed with that slaughter.

Apparently Moore now wants the rest of Red Canyon wiped out, or the game will not advance to conclusion.  What if I blow her away instead?

I'm beginning to wonder if this is a game or a real-life CIA experiment in civilian mind control slash wartime ethics.

Not to change the subject, but after 250 hours of petty harassment by Legion flunkies, I decided to wipe out the Legion Fort and assassinate Caesar.  This is apparently not easy, to read the crybaby posts at IGN and elsewhere.  I did it after cleaning out Dead Wind Cavern.  Piece of cake.  Thanks, Brotherhood of Steel, for small mercies.

Now, my XP is maxed out at level 40.  There's nowhere to go but back to mundane existence.   The Fallout franchise always disappoints with their endings.  Or lack thereof.

OMG!

One of my daughter's friends is a kid who beat Fallout New Vegas in three days! It took her all of 20 hours. She liked the Legion costumes, so she won playing as one of the bad guys.

Cherry Bombs or Dynamite?

Fallout 3 had lots of cherry bombs, which meant you could assemble one of the best weapons-in-a-lunchbox ever devised, the Bottlecap Mine. The joke was how awesomely effective it was for such little sister ingredients; you could take out a Deathclaw, providin' only you got the wee beastie steppin' on it.

By contrast, Fallout New Vegas majorly skimps on every kid's favorite toilet joke, and goes straight for the dynamite. Which is dirt cheap. Need some dynamite? No problem! Just go murder a few Powder Gangers, and right away you've got yourself a dozen or so sticks of Doctor Nobel's Patent Equalizer. The other ingredients listed in the Patriot's Cookbook (over here in unreality that's known as the Anarchist's Cookbook) are commonplace.

Lunchboxes were a bit rare in F3, but they're ubiquitous and virtually useless in FNV without five very rare cherry bombs. I'm sure the Bethesda Gods and Goddesses are laughing their collective backsides off over that one. So unfair, 'ey?

Time Bombs are a joke. Go to the trouble of building one of these babies, and you'll wonder why you bothered. It detonates in 15 seconds exactly. You can harvest better proximity hazards off the Legion assassination squads.

Dumb. Has anyone actually played Caravan?

Meanwhile, Back At The Wrong Branch

I got fed up with Fallout New Vegas and decided to end it all with the Yes, Man variation.  Right away, that cheerful visage should have told me something about the quality of my choices.

I've seen enough.

How to pester a deathclaw

Apparently, the powers that be have decided the deathclaws that infested Fallout 3 are too easy-going for Fallout New Vegas.  There's only one sort in F3, but numerous varieties in FNV, each more aggravating than the last.

The new deathclaws form family groups.  There are huge Mother deathclaws, quite large Alpha Male deathclaws, basic deathclaws, and baby deathclaws.  These canny marauders infest rocky locations, and all types share a propensity to leap, maul and mangle before you're aware they're near by with excellent stealth skills.  (There are also Blind and Legendary variations.)

There are only two survival strategies.  First, stay far away.  And second, take high ground and snipe them with the best long range weapon you've got.  These are two:  The YCS/186 unique variant of the Gauss rifle, and the .50 caliber Anti Material Rifle.  Both are scoped, and both are deadly enough against deathclaws, if you're patient.

Beware.  Fully-grown deathclaws can disappear from view.  Think raptor pack tactics in Jurassic Park.

Occasionally, you may encounter solitary deathclaws, or a pair of them.  In this case a light machine gun can be effective, provided the beasties are distracted by your companions, such as Veronica, who prefers Pushy to any other melee weapon, and ED-E with ranged laser.

By the way, don't overload Veronica with extra inventory.  She has a tendency to hang back if her agility is impaired by superfluous weight.

Fallout New Vegas' missing goals

After two weeks of manic, obsessive play, I've burned out on Fallout New Vegas.  All the humor and grace notes that marked Fallout 3 are missing, so dang if I can figure out what FNV is all about.  I'm on level 23 28, and maybe the only burning issue left for me is how to survive an attack by three or four (or more) deathclaws and put Quarry Junction on the map.  I've got the anti-material rifle, so maybe that's the clue.

Can't say I care enough to find out.  In Fallout 3, the more familar you got with super mutants, the more whimsical they became.  Super mutant conversations heard in passing eventually became hilarious, but they were still murderously inconvenient.  Except Fawkes.  And Uncle Leo, the super mutant with a Socratic turn of mind.

In FNV, the only similar turn of events is the blind deathclaw wandering in a cave, and Jas' hint about shooting them in the eye.  Red herring?  An inferior game, anyway, compared to Fallout 3.

[Update] Since  posting this, I found the gauss rifle.  May keep playing a bit more.

Absurd quest...

I stumbled on this book (which gives a permanent +3 boost to Survival) whilst staggering about the hills looking for a way around the gate on the south end of Mojave Outpost.  I like the CliffsNotes™ styling and b&w vanity press production values. So like Moira......!

There's a "Prepare to Stop" arch on your way NE, back up I-15 to Mojave Outpost. The surreal rolling hills and unnatural mirage-like textures on the southwest side of the gecko hills are worth finding, but they contribute nothing to the game except to fill in a corner of the map.

The book is in the Lone Wolf Radio trailer.

A Rose Among The Thorns

Fallout New Vegas is still too raw to be fun (level 12 is too low), but it has its ridiculous moments.  Like making it to Jacobstown, or finding the unmarked entrance to The Thorn just outside Miguel's Pawn Shop.