Boxcars, why no Stimpaks?

Valdetiosi

Valdetiosi

Valde
This has been bugging me a little bit here about Boxcars, as he asks for Med-X to OD himself, which also gives good karma while at it. However, wouldn't it be more rational/logical to have an option to offer him Stimpaks, so that he could heal his crippled legs? Or Doctor's Bag even, for that matter? Hell, and why give good karma and not instead Powder Ganger reputation, as you are clearly helping a convict here that wouldn't be goody-two-shoes.

Hell, this raises a point even at the Bitter Springs quest, where you'll have to clean some irradiated medical supplies. You use Rad-X, instead Radaway, but wouldn't it be much more convenient to use one that is liquid, instead of smashed pills?
 
Valdetiosi said:
This has been bugging me a little bit here about Boxcars, as he asks for Med-X to OD himself, which also gives good karma while at it. However, wouldn't it be more rational/logical to have an option to offer him Stimpaks, so that he could heal his crippled legs? Or Doctor's Bag even, for that matter? Hell, and why give good karma and not instead Powder Ganger reputation, as you are clearly helping a convict here that wouldn't be goody-two-shoes.

Hell, this raises a point even at the Bitter Springs quest, where you'll have to clean some irradiated medical supplies. You use Rad-X, instead Radaway, but wouldn't it be much more convenient to use one that is liquid, instead of smashed pills?
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It could be that canon-wise, injuries such as broken legs and such cannot be healed by Stimpaks, but instead require extensive medical treatment. Or perhaps he's just traumatized by seeing his fellow Powder Gangers crucified, who knows really.

I guess the reason you don't get a reputation increase is because Boxcars would be the only one who knows you helped him and thus the others wouldn't know.

It's a lot of guesswork but that's what I think.
 
Valdetiosi said:
Hell, this raises a point even at the Bitter Springs quest, where you'll have to clean some irradiated medical supplies. You use Rad-X, instead Radaway, but wouldn't it be much more convenient to use one that is liquid, instead of smashed pills?
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It doesn't even make sense logically. What the hell does using Rad-X do, give the fucking bandages radiation resistance? Clearly Radaway is the chemical that eliminates radiation.

Prone Squanderer said:
I guess the reason you don't get a reputation increase is because Boxcars would be the only one who knows you helped him and thus the others wouldn't know.
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Yeah, I'm pretty sure this is the rule the developers used when deciding if things should affect karma or reputation.

As to why you can't heal Boxcars, maybe it's because he wants to die anyway? If anything, there should be a speech check to talk him out of being suicidal. After that, a medicine check or a doctor's bag could heal his legs.
 
From my perspective, I thought that Stimpacks could heal almost anything, but Boxcars' legs were not only broken, but broken so many times there's nothing to fix anymore. Even if he makes it out alive, he will never be able to walk again. In a world like Fallout, and for an outlaw like him, that means certain death.
 
Stimpaks weren't originally supposed to be magical healing potions, as they couldn't heal broken limbs, poisoning or radiation poisoning. I always thought of them as some sort of emergency preparation that contains adrenaline, plasma, pain-killers, blood clotting agents, something to speed up natural healing and antibiotics to prevent future infection. It would keep you going in battle and heal minor to moderately severe wounds, but isn't going to help much if you have complicated fractures in both legs.
 
Just to add to my previous post- I disliked the ability to craft stims from broc flowers and xander root in Fallout 2 and NV as it clashed with the impression I got about them from the first game, pushing them a bit closer to a magic healing potion. I understand that broc and xander are some souped-up GMO plants (its suggested in OWB they were made at Big MT) that are very useful for traditional medicine, but its a bit implausible that Myron or the Courier could make a stimpak by bunging some herbs in a syringe. JSawyer's mod fixes this somewhat by making homemade stimpaks that are essentially better version of healing powder.
 
President_Peaches said:
Just to add to my previous post- I disliked the ability to craft stims from broc flowers and xander root in Fallout 2 and NV as it clashed with the impression I got about them from the first game, pushing them a bit closer to a magic healing potion. I understand that broc and xander are some souped-up GMO plants (its suggested in OWB they were made at Big MT) that are very useful for traditional medicine, but its a bit implausible that Myron or the Courier could make a stimpak by bunging some herbs in a syringe. JSawyer's mod fixes this somewhat by making homemade stimpaks that are essentially better version of healing powder.
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I agree really with that notion, and essentially I would also agree with his changes upon the whole loot and karma changes. But not wanting to derail the subject, I do find it a bit ridicilous though that despite you can't help Boxcars in anyway other than giving some Med-X for him to, possibly, OD, he still plays a role in quest to rescue some Powder Gangers from Legion and telling you where to get Radioactive supplies for Searchlight looters.
 
He doesn't say his bones are still broken, he says they were smashed and he's crippled. Maybe he's been there so long that his bones healed together all mangled up and stuff. I mean, no matter how long you take he's always just there.
 
NMLevesque said:
He doesn't say his bones are still broken, he says they were smashed and he's crippled. Maybe he's been there so long that his bones healed together all mangled up and stuff. I mean, no matter how long you take he's always just there.
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Gameplay wise, you are correct. Only problem is, the way Oliver Swanick is scripted to come running at you screaming about the 'motherfucking lottery' along with Vulpes Inculta's hasty departure reveals that the developers intended the Nipton event to seem like it had just occured hours or even minutes before the courier arrives.
 
Like others said, despite Gamebryo retardation, he didn't just spray an ankle but rather got his legs smashed with sledgehammers, he isn't gonna be able to walk without urgent medical care, which he is getting anytime soon and Doctor's bags use for healing crippled limbs is more a gameplay element than an indication that they magically heal any broken bone.
 
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