Threepwood said:
On health: Thousands of men sleeping in a very compact space, with rotting crucified bodies punctuating thier living space, as well as a complete lack of effective medical care, and a small ammount of women, who are, presumably raped leading to mass transmission of diseases. Well, the Legion would destroy itself in about a year when everyone dies from the cold in crappy tents, while the BOS are chillin' in the bunker.
The legionaries aren't average men nor are they woman raping savages. Humanity has survived worse evironments and managed to thrive.
Besides, cots and blankets aren't exactly impossible to make. Actually, they're quite simple to make and are used by the Legion.
Faceless_Stranger said:
Lest I remind everyone:
"Made of a poly-laminate composite, the outer shell of the T-51b is lightweight and capable of absorbing over 25,000 Joules of kinetic impact. The 10-micron-thick silver ablative coating can reflect laser and other radiation emissions without damage to the composite subsurface."
I don't think the Legion's pussy frag-mines will pose much of a threat realistically. And the Brotherhood doesn't really rely on supply lines like the NCR does, being more isolationist, so guerrilla warfare wouldn't be that effective. They have radar capabilities, so they'll have superior tactics at hand as well. There are also many paladins in the Hidden Valley bunker...
"...it has the power to destroy entire towns without endangering the wearer from attacks by conventional firearms or even missile launchers..."
And that's on the T-45d, the less-advanced precursor to the T-51b...
This entire argument hinges on the assumption that having a technological advantage equals victory. History has proved time and time again that this is not the case.
The Brotherhood is a high tech organization armed with powered infantry armour, rotary cannons both conventional and laser, high powered gauss rifles and other high tech weaponry. They also have reinforced bunkers and advanced medical services at their disposal.
However, their numbers are limited. They don't have radar devices (you can only allow them to tap into what remains of the Black Mountain array), have to rely on lone scouts to gain intelligence, have very few agents in the area and have no spies whatsoever in the Legion.
Furthermore, the T-51b and T-45d can be countered. They are great weapons of war, sure, and deadly in a head-on engagement, but they too have their limits that can be easily exploited by a properly trained enemy. Most importantly, the operator is a soft, squishy human, so to disable a suit, you need simply to get the meat inside the can and there are plenty of ways, from simply torching the armour with home-made napalm or knocking it into a crevice with a cleverly laid mine and a rockslide to more subtle methods, such as dumping paint on the helmet (to obscure vision, the eyepiece can't be easily cleaned in the field) and when the owner removes it to clean it, use poisoned weapons to kill him (that's how Rhombus II died).
On to guerilla warfare. Guerilla warfare isn't just attacking supply lines. It's harassing weapon stockpiles, drawing enemies into traps and killing zones, destroying their bases. With the Brotherhood, the solution is simple and elegant - collapse the entrance to their bunker. The Legion has many scouts and many eyes west of the Colorado and it is not far fetched to assume that if open conflict would take place, the Brotherhood's base would be found very fast. After all, it's not hard to figure out where your opponent's hiding if he's sending giant tin men after you that stand out like a sore thumb in the desert. The Brotherhood is putting all it's eggs in one basket and all it takes to ruin that basket is a little skill in sneaking and a backpack of semtex.
Not to mention traps. The Legion's defeat at Boulder City was a costly lesson and surely an inspiring one. A power armour isn't going to do you much good if explosives suddenly tear your legs off or you're crushed under several tons of rock in a canyon you entered in pursuit of a Legion war party. Or landing in a deep pit you can't climb out of. Or (as mentioned above) being thrown off a cliff and falling couple of tens of meters down and breaking your neck.
The possibilities are limitless. The Remnants were able to survive in the Legion ending thanks to the fact that they were constantly mobile and defending themselves, rather than attacking. The Brotherhood, on the other hand, in their war against the Legion would have to rely on stationary bases and camps and aggressive tactics which, as I illustrated above, would not work in their favour.
The Legion is built to win. If the Republic, whose army that DEFEATED the Brotherhood of Steel, is facing defeat against the Legion in 2281 without the Courier's intervention, that alone speaks volume of their ability to defeat the Brotherhood.
