The Enclave in Chicago

Remember Dick Richardson's big map with all of the red dots on it? The Enclave had hotspots alright. The thing is, however, that without leadership of the president stationed on Control Station ENCLAVE, many of these outpost soldiers abandoned their posts and deserted. They're probably the only ones who remember Richardson's name, really.

I'd think that a lot of the Enclave staff stationed in Chicago were hunted to near-extinction by the midwestern Brotherhood of Steel. Probably a few remnants hiding in the ranks of the Brotherhood or living in small villages, but the Enclave is effectively dead. Knowing Bethesda, though, they've already colonized Venus and have 60 foot deathclaws waiting to be deployed on Far Harbor (or whatever they call it) right now.
 
Remember Dick Richardson's big map with all of the red dots on it? The Enclave had hotspots alright. The thing is, however, that without leadership of the president stationed on Control Station ENCLAVE, many of these outpost soldiers abandoned their posts and deserted. They're probably the only ones who remember Richardson's name, really.
It doesn't matter. All Enclave personel left all outposts and went for Oil Rig... don't make fanfiction there.
 
It doesn't matter. All Enclave personel left all outposts and went for Oil Rig... don't make fanfiction there.

Are we entirely sure about that though? Every single one of them? New Vegas takes place DECADES after Fallout 2 after all, and we know that, at the very least, the ED-E from Lonesome Road was fixed up in Chicago, thus how we know about the base in the first place.

I mean, if EVERY single Enclave member went to the Oil Rig, how are there so many in the DC area? I have a feeling some of them came from the Chicago base. (I know Fallout 4 rapes the canon but Fallout 3 didn't)

Like I said, I don't want the Enclave to return in the flesh, but knowing they're still out there is interesting to me.
 
It doesn't matter. All Enclave personel left all outposts and went for Oil Rig... don't make fanfiction there.
Okay, so New Vegas is non-canon then, right? No. There had to have been at least a second outpost somewhere. That's not saying there was another 1,000 person station, but rather a few five man camps scattered around here and there.

Note that New Vegas's remnants inhabit a former Vertibird refueling station. Vertibirds didn't exist before the war. The only group that could have used these were the Enclave. Why would the Enclave need refueling stations if there was nowhere to go? Would it really make sense for such a group to put all of their eggs in one basket? There were minor installations, that's a given.
 
It's explicitly stated that ED-E's trip to Navarro goes through Chicago and in the tapes Whitley asks the Chicago Enclave personnel to make sure he gets the repairs necessary to complete the trip. Obviously he made it way past Chicago and has an Illinois plate so he must have been repaired by someone in Chicago.
 
Okay, so New Vegas is non-canon then, right? No. There had to have been at least a second outpost somewhere. That's not saying there was another 1,000 person station, but rather a few five man camps scattered around here and there.
Erm? It is stated everywhere that Enclave has a lot of outposts in California and west Coast of America. But ALL people just left those outposts to get inoculation. And all those "5 man there and there" had to leave... to survive damn FEV... only Navarro was exception, for logistic stuff, and it was damn close to get it (med) straight from Oil Rig.

More quotes:
Permanetly number of people in Oil Rig:
http://web.archive.org/web/20011114212204/http://vault13.net/articles.php?id=29

Temporary in 2241/2241:
  1. Casino patron: "{329}{}{I felt a great disturbance…as if a hundred evil bastards on an oil derrick suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. Strange.}"
    (NcCasPat.msg)
  2. Jump up↑ Charles Curling: "{241}{}{It's not pretty. You should leave as soon as possible. But I'd rather have the weight of a thousand on my conscience than several hundred-thousand. Our time is through here. We had our chance.}"
    (QCCURLNG.MSG)
I mean, if EVERY single Enclave member went to the Oil Rig, how are there so many in the DC area? I have a feeling some of them came from the Chicago base. (I know Fallout 4 rapes the canon but Fallout 3 didn't)
Its doesnt make senses.... but because Beth did it.
All Enclave guys in Capital Wasteland are from Oil Rig... and specifically, from Autumn group.

Quote about Raven Rock from guide:
It has served as the base of operations for the Enclave since the government's remaining forces retreated there.
Remaining forces = forces from Oil Rig

Dialogue with ZAX (Eden)
In the decades following the war, I watched as the remnants of the government retreated to the West Coast.

And still, you cant deny that damn Richardson words:
{273}{prs54}{You could try, I suppose, but soon the staff of the Enclave and Navarro will be inoculated.}
Why Navaro stuff did not went to Oil Rig? To handle Arroyo, to handle New Reno, to handle Vault 13 and more. It was to damn important in last moments of the grand scheme.
{250}{prs45}{Simple. Navarro is an isolated base. Our Vertibirds have a limited range. They refuel there.}
 
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If the Enclave did have outposts scattered throughout the country, and if what Eden said was correct about personnel going to the west coast, then there's a good chance that Chicago was left gone.
 
Considering that the Enclave seem to have been a fairly big organisation throughout the USA before the war, it's feasible that it would have various outposts throughout the country. Bethesda fucked up in making the DC Enclave a retreating force from the oil rig, when really they should have been a specific DC branch, hence the differently-developed armour and weaponry.

The Enclave's military force was centred around the West Coast and Navarro, but I think it's safe to assume there are splinter groups all around America.
 
They could exist as something akin to an underground society or as a spy network; it would make sense for Enclave remnants to integrate into society while keeping ties with one another, they could even form a secret political cabal within the midwestern BoS or whatever the leading faction in Chicago is. That would be a realistic, tasteful way to portray them in a hypothetical game.
 
Ha, "tasteful".

I'm looking forward to Bethesda's Enclave Moon Base.

Drevil_million_dollars.jpg
 
I never thought E-DE actually made contact with any Enclave in IL, but instead encountered a boy / family who repaired him and slapped that licence plate on him and sent him on his way.
 
As someone else said, Whitley's information was kind of out of date so we can't know for sure. It's possible they could have encountered conflict with the semi-canon Midwestern BoS. It's all up in the air.

Personally, I'd prefer the Enclave to remain as references and some obscurely hidden remains in future. The Enclave are done. They were beyond done when Fallout 3 had them. They were handled perfectly in New Vegas: Scattered, old, retired remnants on the verge of being forgotten. The natural evolution of that is them fading from existence entirely. If we ever have a game dealing with the Chicago area, which I doubt since the Midwest is the canonically unclear "no-man's-land" seperating Bethesda and Black Isle/Obsidian, then I'd prefer for it to be abandoned or destroyed, with perhaps some old data logs on a few dusty terminals and a skeleton wrapped in the Old World flag at most.
 
I've been thinking about it, and I honestly think that maybe a Fallout game that really does explore the "the Enclave were just ordinary people thinking they were carrying on the legacy of America, they just happened to have leaders that were world class asshats" idea could be interesting.

Like as "evil" and dangerous the leaders and military arm of the Enclave were, it still consisted of a lot of people who were none of those things, but were nonetheless considered to be criminals and threats and thus persecuted by both the NCR and the Brotherhood (and probably the PC in Fallout 3.)

A game that presents the BoS as the aggressors and what's left of the Enclave as victims could be interesting, particularly as a commentary on some western attitudes about "guild by association" in various Middle East states.
 
I'd like for the Midwestern BoS to be made canon to some degree, since on territory alone they're possibly the biggest nation on Earth and, based on testimonies in Fallout 3, they have splintered off from the BoS and are most likely resentful. The Western BoS is weakened and fading, doomed to either disappear or be assimilated into the NCR, whilst the Eastern BoS, for all their bravado and zealous loyalty, aren't really a match for such a powerful force. A fascist-militaristic nation like that with a (potential) access to a vault that manufactures mechanical troops would be a dangerous and immediate threat to every faction in the Wasteland; if it were explored in terms of what it provides to its people as well, it could become a rather balanced and interesting faction to star in a possible Fallout game.

As for the actual topic of the thread, the Chicago Enclave are most likely either gone or lack any real presence. The city itself has a strong Brotherhood presence nearby and, assuming they didn't colonize it already, is completely deserted and blanketed in storms year-round. Though the isolationism would weaken it, I'm not sure to what degree it would do so, as Wheatley mentions several outposts in Chicago, not just one.

A few would probably be abandoned for a variety of reasons, and the remaining would either grow more isolated and weaker or strengthen their bonds, depending on how they take the news of their defeats at both Navarro and DC. If the Midwestern BoS is to be considered canon, they'd probably be raided or assimilated, as this particular branch of the BoS hasn't come in contact with the Enclave in any way, shape or form before; the former seems more likely though, as the Enclave would respond with hostility.

If the Midwestern BoS is not to be considered canon, then the Enclave would have little to fear from the surrounding tribes (assuming any would dare venture into the ruins of the city anyway) and would probably establish some sort of underground presence, like a secretive version of the Institute, but far less well-equipped.
Honestly, I don't know what they would do with themselves at that stage; perhaps their military branch would take over and, in their struggle for survival, they'd become like a new BoS in terms of hierarchy, but bent on the purging of Wastelanders rather than protecting them from themselves and they would capture technology for their own benefit, without a pretence of greater good.

Or perhaps their military will dwindle away, as less capable soldiers are born and more are killed by the hostilities of their environment, and they would become a primarily scientific group, paranoid and suspicious of outsiders, forever fearful that they will one day be massacred like Navarro and Raven Rock. They might even rename themselves to hide their origins.
 
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