http://fallout.gamepedia.com/Recruit_legionary
Look at the inventory sections on that page.
As you can see, every Legionary carries at least one Ranged Weapon on them as well as the Machetes.
Granted some only have Throwing Spears(Which could still be used at a distance), but the majority of the weapons they seem to carry are some kind of gun.
Incorrect!
Fallout Wiki: Caesar's Legion
The Legion excels at melee combat, as evidenced by their choice of weaponry - primarily, the machete, which cripples limbs. They are not averse, tactically speaking, to using firearms,
but will not provide them to the lower ranked troops. They usually have to scavenge firearms, and the ones used by the Recruits are rather low quality and include
.357 Magnum revolvers,
varmint rifles, and
single shotguns.
This is easily verifiable in the game or G.E.C.K.
Even the Legion grunts carry machetes, a rifle (typically a Cowboy Repeater, Hunting Rifles, or 10mm submachine guns sometimes), Antivenom, purified
water, and throwing spears.
I've seen firefights between NCR troops and Legion recruits. When the NCR dude loses his Service Rifle, he's fucked. He's gonna be throwing left hooks and
jabs with his puny fists while Antonius the Legionnaire is shooting at him with a .357 Magnum rifle, worst case a machete. You're saying it like the Legionnaire charge in kamikaze style with their machetes.
This is erroneous information! See the answer above.
Fallout Wiki: NCR trooper
Fallout Wiki: New California Republic
The NCR's military is composed of several Divisions, including marksmen, scouts, mechanized units and a small number of
Vertibirds. In addition, many of their major cities are protected and patrolled by heavily armed police officers. One of their Special Forces units consists of the
New California Rangers. . . . NCR was also in the habit of establishing marshals in the major population centers in their territories, responsible for enforcing the laws of NCR throughout the Republic. Ghouls,
super mutants, and
humans were all known to serve in the NCR armed forces. The NCR gained access to a limited number of Vertibirds from their battle with the
Enclave over Navarro, along with the
Brotherhood of Steel.
As for charging in "kamikaze style with machetes", see
this video, starting at 13 min 07 sec; and a
confirmation at 18 min 48 sec that most of them were armed only with a machete.
Moreover, the poster was speaking from the lore perspective.
The NCR readiness varies between units and locations. Also the NCR has to deal with the Fiends, Powder Gangers and potentially the Khans and the random BOS patrol provided the lockdown is over.
The NCR readiness may vary but, unlike the Legion, it always involves firearms. Likewise, dealing with other groups does not diminish the NCR's ability to supply its troops with firearms to the point of having to rely on melee weapons instead.
Fallout Wiki: NCR trooper
As you can see, even with supply shortages, NCR troops are still armed with firearms.
And now onto other peoples' posts on the same subject.
Caesar's Legion looking too backwards and evil:
Anyone else bothered by their gear? NCR has, from what I've seen, a mostly modern army- uniformed and equipped with standardized firearms. Some even have armor. The Legion, at least from what I've seen, equips the bulk of their troops with machetes and football padding. If they were a simple band of raiders , this might be okay, but according to lore, the Legion is supposed to be a large, well-organized, up and coming army, strong enough to oust the NCR from fortified positions.
Anyone else bothered by this? I'm fine with them trying to mimic the [Roman] legionary look, but couldn't they be equipped with carbines and specially colored combat armor instead?
[. . .]
The slave-trade is their bread and butter(implied to be pretty lucrative in past FO games), and raiding and tributes should have allowed them to put together a respectable armory.
How [could] the Legion be less...terrible?
The idea is just plain bad. I think [the] Khans is stretching it as it is. . . . Elite troopers in gas masks and black cloaks would . . . be more [believable] than some scrawny kneed football players in torn skirts.
How laughable is Legion armor?
Old sports equipment and if they're lucky some dinner plates and a motocross helmet, until you become a Centurion. Then you can have an unbalancing mishmash of used armor you probably just broke, and then took off a dead person. . . .
Ridiculous things in [Fallout: New Vegas]
Caesar's Legion . . . go and fashion American football gear to look [Romanesque] and mold an Imperial society complete with accurate [salutatory] greetings, rank and unit names, general [terminology] and academically correct classical pronunciation. C'mon. . . .
Anyone else think the Legion is ridiculous?
There are several obvious examples in History upon which Caesar's Legion is based, the Roman Empire being the obvious one. There are also the Aztecs, The Persians, the Mongols, the Zulus, the Napoleonic French Empire, etc. All of them were militarily aggressive empires that would conquer neighbors, and then draft the conquered nation's military forces into its own army. However, in FNV
all legionaries are shown to be suicidally committed to the Legion. This is contrary to actual History, where it has been demonstrated time and time again that draftees for the most part do NOT willingly throw their lives away just because their new masters command it. Most conscripted nations usually just "go through the motions" and when confronted by pointedly capable opponents, surrender at that first opportunity.
Soldiers of the core nationality -- Romans, Mongols, Persians, etc. -- often fought as fanatics, to the death. Not so the draftees from conquered nations/empires/tribes.
Additionally, the Legion is portrayed as VERY hostile towards the use of higher tech weapons (which makes them futuristic Luddites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddite). In terms of domestic production, that might be acceptable, but certainly NOT when facing opponents armed with Space Age weapons. The Aztecs disintegrated when facing off with the Spaniards armed with a few score matchlocks, a couple cannon, and a handful of horses. Legionaries armed with machetes, some slug-throwers, and a few laser rifles would literally melt under the attention of a squad of Brothers armed with Gatling lasers. Furthermore, the Legion soldiers would KNOW that outcome was inevitable. There's nothing soldiers hate more than the thought that their lives are being literally thrown away with no hope of success. The leaders' staunch refusal to use readily available superior weapons would definitely de-motivate the rank-and-file Legion grunts.
Lastly, Caesar MUST realize that his mighty empire is doomed to disintegrate as soon as he dies. He's obviously enough of a historian to recognize the similarity to the Macedonian Empire, and what became of it when Alexander died. Knowing that without him, there is NO unifying force to hold all those defeated tribes together, one wonders what made him think that the cost of all that death and destruction was a worthwhile investment. If he did believe it to be so, just _what_ was it that made it worthwhile?
[. . .]
I dislike the Legion too. They are probably the most absurd [faction] in the Fallout universe IMO and what's [worse] is they are the MAIN enemy [faction] in NV. [. . .] I wish the enemy [faction] was a stronger opponent and [used] higher tech weapons. . . .
[. . .]
The Legion are absolutely ridiculous.
Wish they'd just had some originality instead of basing them so heavily on the whole Roman empire thing they got going.
[. . .]
Granted, the
military is the focus for Caesar's Legion. And since it seems that ALL the fighting takes place _only_ in the vicinity of Caesar, that's fine. But there MUST be a government back home, holding things together, balancing the Economy, providing Security empire-wide such that "caravans don't even need to hire mercenary escorts". That requires a level of organization that Can NOT be administered from an army on the move. . . .
[. . .]
I find the [Legion's] avoidance of modern technology ridiculous. The things that made the Roman armies successful was their discipline, tactics and advanced military technology. If they conquered someone with better technology they adopted it (e.g. Chain Mail from the Gauls). Caesar even states they eschew medical technology (apart from his auto-doc for favoured people). Roman armies had highly skilled battlefield surgeons. Relying on hoards of suicidal fanatics won't win any battles against an organised opposition with better firepower. The Legion just wouldn't be a credible threat to anyone, particularly the NCR.
[. . .]
I thought it was dumb as a concept; I thought it contradicted itself... I would've preferred someone like a General Kuntz as the "bad" guy. . . .
[. . .]
[What I] don't get [is] why [doesn't] the NCR just send 1st [Recon] and ground forces to take care of the [Legion]. [T]he majority of the [Legion] use melee weapons.
[. . .]
I think that one of the biggest disconnects for the game is the heavy Latin language emphasis of the Legion. Taking place in the American Southwest and West, the heaviest influence on the 87 "tribal languages" that were molded into the Legion would have been American-version English. Followed by Spanish, the several reservations of Native American tribal languages, and a smattering of Chinese dialects (remnants descended from the Chinese railroad workers for the most part). . . .
[. . .]
[Personally] I found [the Legion] [to be] completely ridiculous. One thing was that [the] NCR were scared of them. [. . .] Any rifle would simply kill a person from [a] few shots in [half]-plastic football equipment. . . .
[. . .]
Strangely Caeser [doesn't] use Roman [strategies] which were one of key successes of Roman Republic/Empire. NCR [on] the other hand could have destroyed half of Fortification Hill with one blow. Why wouldn't they do so?
Legion could have followed their "code" and still have high-tech weapons and better armor which would have closed their legs. I also found 86 tribes being a bit far fetched. I wouldn't think that most of Arizona became tribes after the war.
[. . .]
Fiends use one of [the] most powerful energy weapons in the game. . . .
There are more discussions like these.
