What do you think is the canon sequence of DLC events for the Courier's journey?

PaxVenire

PaxVenire

Wasteland Peacemaker
In Fallout: New Vegas, the four DLC expansions take the Courier on pretty hefty detours from the base story. The first half of Fallout: New Vegas as I see it, the Courier is after Benny for answers and revenge with the latter half after the confrontation being sucked into the political sphere when it comes to the factions vying for the Mojave. When would the Courier genuinely have time to willingly leave the Mojave for Utah or the Divide? And as for the Sierra Madre and Big MT, while you do effectively get kidnapped, when do you suppose this takes place? I do believe the DLCs are sequential by release order with only Honest Hearts being more loose with it's chronology, so when exactly do you think the Courier stops his journey to investigate the Sierra Madre signal, take a job with the Happy Trails Caravan, investigate the Drive-In Theater showing, and walk the Long 15? It almost feels like these were supposed to be post-end game content but obviously as that was cut, has to be within the story itself.
 
Goes to Dead Money for the lulz after getting Boone killed for the lulz.
When she reaches Vegas she has a panic attack and dips to kill cavemen in a national park to calm down.
Once calmed down she finishes New Vegas' story as the other DLC's aren't canon in my eyes. :)

Seriously though, the DLC's do not fit into the timeline of the main game. It's a big part of the problem I usually have with DLC's. Let's put all urgency to the side so we can fuck around in a side adventure that is in an isolated bubble world where nothing in it carries any weight to the rest of the game.
 
Mr Fish said:
Seriously though, the DLC's do not fit into the timeline of the main game. It's a big part of the problem I usually have with DLC's. Let's put all urgency to the side so we can fuck around in a side adventure that is in an isolated bubble world where nothing in it carries any weight to the rest of the game.
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Yeah it is a very weird problem. The way I personally justify it via roleplay is that the Courier is focused on answers from Benny and only that at first. Kills him or let's him go, but isn't interested in the politics. After which he just explores and does side content, getting more involved with the world around him and forming an ideal of his own whatever that may be. Makes his way near Forlorn Hope where the Sierra Madre broadcasts ensnares him. Deals with Dead Money, then returns to side content. Decides to escape the disparity of the Mojave hoping to go to New Canaan, but deals with Honest Hearts. After Honest Hearts, he's heard enough about some other Courier that he heads back to Primm for more answers but stops to investigate the Drive-In Theater, dealing with Old World Blues. After Old World Blues, he's finally intrigued enough to walk the Lonesome Road to the Divide. After that whole DLC arc is over, he's ready to start influencing the Mojave in whatever way he likes.
 
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Old world blues could happen anytime since you get kidnapped. Same with dead money. Honest hearts and lonesome road are the odds ones out narratively
 
Yossarrion said:
Old world blues could happen anytime since you get kidnapped. Same with dead money. Honest hearts and lonesome road are the odds ones out narratively
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Getting kidnapped doesn’t mean the chronology is ambiguous, Dead Money logically precedes Old World Blues and Lonesome Road. Honest Hearts seems to be the only one that could be anytime.
 
PaxVenire said:
Getting kidnapped doesn’t mean the chronology is ambiguous, Dead Money logically precedes Old World Blues and Lonesome Road. Honest Hearts seems to be the only one that could be anytime.
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I just mean I can see the two kidnapping ones as plausibly happening during the new Vegas canon. Honest hearts would have to happen before the events of New Vegas, idk how the courier getting involved with everything would just randomly take a job that will take several months to complete. Lonesome road is dog water and also makes no sense. Ulysses let's you take the chip, and then sets up shop in hopeville hoping you show up because you see graffiti about courier six.
 
The DLCs are all initiated by radio broadcasts, but I assume that in-universe they're more limited in range and/or not broadcasting from the start of the game. For Dead Money, I assume that the Courier discovers the broadcast and goes to investigate the bunker while doing stuff around Forelorn Hope/Nelson, not expecting such a major detour. This could theoretically happen at any time, but the time that would make the most sense to me is on the return journey to Vegas after meeting Caesar.

Honest Hearts is one of the more difficult ones to find character motivation for, but personally, I like to do it immediately after Dead Money. The Courier gets back to Vegas after Fortification Hill and reports to House, and now with the Securitron army ready, but with Hoover Dam still a ways off, there's enough of a lull for the Courier to justify a vacation to recover after the Sierra Madre. Player dialogue implies that the Courier has been north before and has some prior familiarity with the area, so they probably already know that Zion is a pretty nice place where they can get away from the war for a while. And if they hear the Happy Trails broadcast while in Vegas, I could see the Courier at this point deciding to leave with them on a whim (only for events in Zion to reinforce the importance of solving the Mojave conflict). Placing this here, after meeting Caesar, is also important for the Courier understanding the full context of Joshua's story.

After that, I think the Courier would probably focus on main game stuff for a while, either factions or general side content. They should by now have already decided who they're supporting, and started getting closer to their companions. Eventually, some quest or another has got to take the Courier back down to the south end of the Mojave again for them to get ensnared by the satellite and taken to Big MT. Dealing with Cass for the Crimson Caravan/Van Graffs, or going with Boone to wipe out Cottonwood Cove, would be the most likely reasons for being in that area, I would think.

As for Lonesome Road, I'm not too sure. I think it would have to take place near the endgame, after the other DLCs, and after the Courier has already made enough of a visible mark on the Mojave for Ulysses to call them out. But the Battle for Hoover Dam also can't be too imminent. I think what would make the most sense is if, somewhere near the endgame, when the Courier has mostly finished getting all their factions lined up, they go with Boone to make a pre-emptive strike on the Fort. They kill everyone there, including Caesar, and this throws the Legion into enough chaos to delay Hoover Dam for a while, giving the Courier time to tie up loose ends like Ulysses (who they probably want to deal with before Hoover Dam, after having heard about him so many times through the other DLCs).

At least, that's the sequence that makes the most sense to me.
 
DannyJ said:
As for Lonesome Road, I'm not too sure.
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Well if you follow all DLCs in release order, then after Old World Blues you get a notification from Ulysses presumably hacking into your Pip-Boy with coordinates for the Canyon Wreckage, so I think it’s safe to say after hearing so much about this other Courier, Lonesome Road can be started immediately after OWB.
 
PaxVenire said:
Well if you follow all DLCs in release order, then after Old World Blues you get a notification from Ulysses presumably hacking into your Pip-Boy with coordinates for the Canyon Wreckage, so I think it’s safe to say after hearing so much about this other Courier, Lonesome Road can be started immediately after OWB.
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That would also make sense, yes.
 
PaxVenire said:
What do you think is the canon sequence of DLC events for the Courier's journey?
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Hmm. When looking at them as one giant side story to the NCR/Caesar's Legion/Mr. House/Yes Man plot, I think it's Honest Hearts, Old World Blues, Dead Money, and then Lonesome Road.

The real question is when Courier 6 would embark on these DLC plotlines. Me personally, since I always blow Benny's head off inside the Tops instead of letting him run away, I think it would happen once he has the Platinum Chip back in his hands, and after he meets Yes Man for the first time. With Benny gone, the conflict between the NCR and Caesar's Legion going nowhere fast, and now with a lot of potential power in his hands, Courier 6 could go off and do other things for a while to think over his options.

- For Honest Hearts, it's courier work to a degree, and right up his alley. Getting stranded in Zion and having to deal with Joshua and the White Legs to get back to the Mojave is a fair diversion. Waking Cloud also asks Courier 6 if he would consider staying in Zion instead of going back, and I'd imagine that's something he might have considered a few times.

- Old World Blues could be related to what Courier 6 learns about Caesar's Legion while in Zion and around Joshua. Since he went through Nipton before, and heard something weird in the area that time, he goes back to investigate and ends up in Big MT with the Think Tank and Dr. Mobius. This is where he finds information related to Ulysses and someone he doesn't know, yet, Christine. And since something related to the three of them mentions the Sierra Madre, and Courier 6 has been hearing radio broadcasts related to it for weeks, he tracks the source of the broadcasts, and gets caught.

- Dead Money would follow the 'You brought me here against my will. Just wait; I'll kill you' mindset. Which leaves Lonesome Road, which gets triggered by a hacking of the Pip-Boy with coordinates to follow.
 
Mr Fish said:
Goes to Dead Money for the lulz after getting Boone killed for the lulz.
When she reaches Vegas she has a panic attack and dips to kill cavemen in a national park to calm down.
Once calmed down she finishes New Vegas' story as the other DLC's aren't canon in my eyes. :)

Seriously though, the DLC's do not fit into the timeline of the main game. It's a big part of the problem I usually have with DLC's. Let's put all urgency to the side so we can fuck around in a side adventure that is in an isolated bubble world where nothing in it carries any weight to the rest of the game.
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"Fuck around" is the definition of how I played New Vegas; 200+ hour save file each and every playthrough. They were all eventually lost to the monster known only as The Unstable Bloater.
 
Mr Fish said:
PS3`?
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No I just meant the game in general, though I did play it on PS3 years back. It wasn't until around 2018 that I actually started playing NV on PC. Needless to say, through countless playthroughs, regardless of stability and bug fix mods, you just can't fix my desire for world exploration. At most, I can get close to finishing the main story, alongside 3-4 DLC's before the game starts crashing every 15 or so minutes.
 
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Traeger91 said:
No I just meant the game in general, though I did play it on PS3 years back. It wasn't until around 2018 that I actually started playing NV on PC. Needless to say, through countless playthroughs, regardless of stability and bug fix mods, you just can't fix my desire for world exploration. At most, I can get close to finishing the main story, alongside 3-4 DLC's before the game starts crashing every 15 or so minutes.
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:rip:
 
I usually do the Honest Hearts somewhere between meeting with Caesar and failing Don't Tread on the Bear/ Wrath of Caesar/ House Has Gone Bust.
Courier still has all his options open and isn't really tied with any faction, so he can afford to join up a caravan for a few months.

Dead Money comes next after dealing with the Brotherhood. Courier either is intrigued by the mysterious BoS bunker or is on the track of Veronica's mentor.

Old World Blues is next, just after Kimball (job's done, but do not turn the quest in).

Lonesome Road is last, just before the Dam.

Lonesome Road is always last, but I sometimes mix up the rest- for example on my last playthrough I did OWB right after Caesar, then the Dead Money after the Boomers and resolving the Nelson/ Forlorn Hope quests and Honest Hearts just before the Lonesome Road.
 
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