I'd rather think of it as a prerequisite: you have to already be quite lucky to survive an event like that and actually become something (in terms of survival afterwards) way better.
Yes, it makes no sense if LK is gained by becoming a ghoul. I just thought of it as a „joke“ as I can't find any other reason why a ghoul is naturally more lucky than a human being (i.e. as established by Fallout Tactics). Anything else [of FoTactics SPECIAL] makes sense. This LK boost for Ghouls is a weird one. I thought that explanation was funny. And perhaps it shouldn't be seen as anything more than that. It's also a bit tongue in cheek that ghouls are the lucky ones. (“yeah, right”.)
Anyway, this characteristic may not carry over to a mutant like Harold/Talius (although according to their proto both are lucky so...?). Plus design wise a mutant needs some boost to something and I guess LK makes the most sense. At least anything else seems even weirder.
My memory is likely failing, but didn't they come from fairly non-radiated backgrounds? Maybe those are some of the more "desirable" outcomes, instead of the "brutes", as the Master calls them. They are shown as *at least* human-like smart, possibly more. Also, by Bethesda's canon (YUCK!), Harold is quite... gifted? In the sense that he turns into a sort of super organism as the Master did, only in a much more innocuous way, so I wouldn't call that a bad outcome.
In FO1 Talius is considered a failure (see Talius.msg) he says he “turned out wrong and they [the mutants] let him go as a cruel joke” [roughly]. And FO1 (lore and designers) have no explanation for Harold/Talius, the bible offers various options and Taylor's was the only concrete one. (The rest boiled down to Harold is “special”, i.e. they have no idea.)
Anyway, I think it says, “Harold was not radiated, but may have picked up some rads in the waste” and Talius had visit the Glow for the brotherhood (I think).
To me this [Taylor said this, Cain said that] is more a strong hint that the background is inconsistent and has holes. (i.e. some fundamental points have never been established and there were different “versions” circling around). So it needs some creativity to explain “Harold/Talius” and the best I have found so far is ZAX's “DNA” comment.
Regarding the outcome being bad. I think it should rather be looked at as: “normally” a human being turns into a super-mutant, but in some cases (DNA) something like the Master, Harold or Talius are created. So it is abnormal (cause of something having gone wrong), but good or bad is a different matter.
Actually, I also start to think that pre-war experiments would have had the same results as the Master's experiments. When the vault-dweller gets dipped (death scene) he turns into a super-mutant. So that may be the fate of pure-strains. A different outcome is Frank Horrigan, though, then again the method may have been different (“injected, not dipped”). Perhaps “Horrigan” was the normal outcome of the pre-war experiments. (Aren't the Psykers also an outcome of injection? And Harold never got dipped. Talius did though. Still, method may also play into it.)
We can speculate that this prejudice is the usual "mock the enemy" way of thinking? Plus, they probably look a lot dumber than they are, all hunched over and with their teeth constantly showing, and a lot of humans are quite bigoted against any kind of mutant in the Fallout universe (shown a lot more in later games).
On the "gullible" end, it may be explained by the memory loss you talked about earlier: this kind of thing is abandoned thanks to experience, of which they lost a lot.
Yes, and of course everyone is gullible when confronted with speech 100%
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. I just think that there is a discrepancy and that the joke became a reality
Btw, Flip is a super-mutant, and he is not mocking his own kind he is more level-headed about the whole situation (i.e. he is more aware that they are not as “superior” as the Lt and the Master think, (I think). Actually some cut content suggests that there were even more mutants who are not happy with their fate, one even may have become a companion, and a group of "thinker nightkin" who wanted peace similar to the followers). I think the story really drives the idea that mutants are stupid, but that's actually not the problem they face, but it stuck because “dumb mutants” are funny. I think this is a bit a case of “design running wild” and “not enough fundamental background work”. (i.e. development problems).
Did he? Didn't he still use them for their potential as an army, possibly to later get rid of them when his conquest is finished?
That's possible actually. I based this comment on the only in-game material which is the master's diary (and perhaps it shouldn't be treated as 100% accurate, just as ZAX may be out of touch, too). Anyway, there he wrote something to the effect of “those dumb creatures were nothing to me and I consumed them” then “he creates the first intelligent one and the army/new race idea goes from there”. It basically implies that once he had that “breakthrough” he would not have created more “stupid” ones. Besides, if stupid/radiated they also should be dead (according to ZAX). But it's quite possible that they lowered their standards when confronted with the need to build an army. Plus this drop in quality may be the Lt's doing and the Master (sitting in LA) isn't aware of it.
Anyway,
To me this is whole subject is more a struggle of trying to make sense of it. I think it's possible, but I haven't entirely wrapped my head around it yet. I think it needs some leniency in regard to radiation (various effects), and to put more emphasize on the struggle on building an army, than stupidity. The question that interests me most atm is would super-mutants be more intelligent if not radiated, and would pre-war experiments have become more intelligent in general, or is what we see (super-mutants of FO1) the standard effect of FEV.
When I played the game for the first time, I only read the master's diary and was under the impression that “radiation & stupidity” is the problem. But delving deeper into the game that may not be true. Plus the additional material (Lt, conversation with VanHagan, ZAX, Talius) always confused me back then.