Desert Ranger Armor and Mistaken Identity

Atomic Postman

Atomic Postman

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So, whilst playing New Vegas the thought occurred to me.


Wouldn't pretty much everyone mistake the Courier for an NCR Ranger whilst wearing the Desert Ranger Armor?

I mean, it looks pretty similar to the NCR uniform.

If I saw some guy emerge from the desert wearing this:

FNV_Desert_Ranger (1).png

I would pretty much instantly assume they were some NCR veteran.

I mean, what about a Legion Courier wearing this? You'd imagine he'd get shot at a lot by his own allies.

What do you guys think would run through the minds of Wastelanders seeing this, and how could it be instantly differentiated in people's minds from the NCR?
 
AlphaPromethean said:
So, whilst playing New Vegas the thought occurred to me.


Wouldn't pretty much everyone mistake the Courier for an NCR Ranger whilst wearing the Desert Ranger Armor?

I mean, it looks pretty similar to the NCR uniform.

If I saw some guy emerge from the desert wearing this:

View attachment 1344

I would pretty much instantly assume they were some NCR veteran.

I mean, what about a Legion Courier wearing this? You'd imagine he'd get shot at a lot by his own allies.

What do you guys think would run through the minds of Wastelanders seeing this, and how could it be instantly differentiated in people's minds from the NCR?
Click to expand...

Never thought about it, I guess from a distance, it could be possible.
 
They fucked up on this one. Twice.

First, they created the NCR veteran armor, taking inspiration from Tycho (Fo1) description. That guy was a desert Ranger.
Considering they mention the desert Ranger ingame, they should have dissociated those, taking inspiration from Tycho, but for the Desert Ranger armor. And creating something else for the NCR veterans armor.

Then, the NCR veteran armor was a faction armor. They had this great system, improved from Fo1-Fo2, and applied to all faction making the outfit meaningfull contrary to Fo3 mess, when everyone recognized you despite the armor.

But it probably pissed a lot of players who thought the armor was badass, but were frustrated that they couldn't interact with some faction while wearing it.

So they put an armor looking exactly the same, in Honest Hearts, but without the faction outfit penalties. So they look badass and interact with everyone.
which render meaningless the whole faction outfit system.
 
First, they created the NCR veteran armor, taking inspiration from Tycho (Fo1) description. That guy was a desert Ranger.
Considering they mention the desert Ranger ingame, they should have dissociated those, taking inspiration from Tycho, but for the Desert Ranger armor. And creating something else for the NCR veterans armor.
Click to expand...
But they did. The Black Armour is worn by NCR Veteran Rangers. It is given to NCR Rangers, who were badass enough to earn it. And the design was based on that of Desert Ranger armour and made after the Ranger Unification Treaty and the merge between NCR Rangers and Desert Rangers. The armour design is based on Tycho the Desert Ranger and rightly so, because it is a Desert Ranger armour.
 
The NCR Veteran Rangers that wear the armor were part of the Desert Rangers (some are NCR people that ascended in ranks), remember the huge Statue on the Outpost? They joined the NCR when their campaign in the Mojave started. I mean the statue is not even subtle, multiple characters comment on it. Gotta pay more attentio.
 
Not all the NCR veteran were desert rangers or sons of deserts rangers.
Those two entity are différents. Multiple characters comment on it. Gotta pay more attention.
And if they weren't, this would make the whole thing about desert ranger armor not counted as faction outfit even more stupid, nonsensical, gamebreaking.
 
But the NCR Veteran Rangers ARE Rangers. Remember Elise from FO2? They are the same group, except in 2271 they singed a Ranger Unification Treaty and absorbed the Desert Rangers. That armour is not worn by anyone apart from Rangers.
 
but NCR Rangers didn't use these Desert Rangers' trench coat armors before they stepped into Mojave.
 
Everything you need to know :

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Desert_Ranger_combat_armor

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/NCR_Veteran_Ranger


@ AlphaPromethean : There's something you need to keep in mind, and it's that the memory of the Desert Rangers is still fresh. The New California Republic and the Desert Rangers signed a treaty in 2271, and the intro of New Vegas is set on october 11, 2281. Brotherhood people, Legion people, Mr House, etc... they know the difference. Only young recruits wouldn't know.

Although I gotta say that I agree with you. In the real world, most people would shoot you before noticing the difference between the two armors. And a legion oriented player shouldn't have the possibility to wear the DRCA with Caesar's soldiers nearby. That doesn't make sense.
 
they can distinguish two armors, but why would it matter? desert rangers are not separate group.
 
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naossano said:
Not all the NCR veteran were desert rangers or sons of deserts rangers.
Those two entity are différents. Multiple characters comment on it. Gotta pay more attention.
And if they weren't, this would make the whole thing about desert ranger armor not counted as faction outfit even more stupid, nonsensical, gamebreaking.
Click to expand...
Walpknut said:
"The NCR Veteran Rangers that wear the armor were part of the Desert Rangers (some are NCR people that ascended in ranks)"
Click to expand...
Gotta pay more attention.

Also, that is the armor of the Survivalist, and he wasn't part of the later Faction, so it technically is not faction armor.

Altho I agree that it was made just so people could use the cool Trenchcoat armor without making the BOS or the Legion Hostile and it wouldn't make much sense for them to not think it is an NCR veteran same way using the Ranger armor would turn them hostile. But you are saying that they fucked up at the beginning, and that is just not true.


You could argue that the armor is different in color enough to make them double think, but that stretches logic a bit.
 
McRae said:
Everything you need to know :

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Desert_Ranger_combat_armor

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/NCR_Veteran_Ranger


@ AlphaPromethean : There's something you need to keep in mind, and it's that the memory of the Desert Rangers is still fresh. The New California Republic and the Desert Rangers signed a treaty in 2271, and the intro of New Vegas is set on october 11, 2281. Brotherhood people, Legion people, Mr House, etc... they know the difference. Only young recruits wouldn't know.

Although I gotta say that I agree with you. In the real world, most people would shoot you before noticing the difference between the two armors. And a legion oriented player shouldn't have the possibility to wear the DRCA with Caesar's soldiers nearby. That doesn't make sense.
Click to expand...

That's a good point really, I suppose most Mojave dwellers would be able to recognize the Desert Ranger outfit from the NCR one, since they were separate organizations not so long ago.

I suppose it's the only explanation I'm gonna get anyway.
 
if one is not wearing helmet, the armors themselves are not hard to distinguish. a lot of people in mojave wear trench coats, metal armor underneath and pants are different. and game doesn't treat helmets as faction associated.
 
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