Hello all,
Technically this is fan fiction so I do hope the moderators of this forum don't mind me posting this in the Fallout New Vegas forum.
Otherwise just transfer it to the Fan Fiction forum.
I was playing through FNV again when I started to think of some ideas I had for alternative endings to the game I would have loved to have implemented.
One set of ideas have to do with ARCHIMEDES II while the others would involve Lonesome Road and the massive nuclear launch silo at the end of that road.
My idea with ARCHIMEDES II would have been that other than serving as a orbital laser cannon like the Hammer of Dawn from Gears of War that the weapon would actually be capable of wiping out locations from the game's map, thereby changing the ending.
Targeting options would depend on the player having discovered these locations, and in game lore that they are tied to a powerful energy source, explaining why ARCHIMEDES II can target them from orbit.
The locations would be as follows;
1. Camp McCarran
If the player wipes out this location with ARCHIMEDES II the NCR would be severly weakened to the point that there are barely any NCR soldiers left during the second battle of Hoover Dam.
Basically the Legion would storm the place with ease.
By destroying Camp McCarran would indicate that the player supports the Legion, Mr House, or Yes Man.
2. The Strip
Wiping out the Strip with ARCHIMEDES II would eliminate the Families and Mr House (and Yes Man for that matter, eliminating both of their endings from the game.
New Vegas would be severly weakened with the destruction of the Strip.
Destroying the Strip would indicate the player either supports NCR or the Legion, both of course with some reputation loss.
3. Hoover Dam
If the player chooses to destroy Hoover Dam it would basically mean the end of the game as now none of the factions/organizations can benefit from it or Lake Mead anymore.
The Mojave is gradually abandoned by NCR and the Legion and falls into economic decline.
This would be an all Anarchistic Ending.
4. The Fort/Fortification Hill
Destroying the Fort (and Caesar and his Praetorian Guard) would severally weaken the Legion (and Mr House as the bunker underneath the hill would also be destroyed).
Even with the threat of Legate Lanius behind them the Legion's second attempt at taking Hoover Dam fails and the Legion is forced to retreat, its slow disintegration starting that day.
This decision would indicate that the player is on the NCR's side (Mr House and Yes Man endings would probably be impossible because of the destruction of the Securitron Army)
My idea regarding Lonesome Road has to do with a suggestion I made a while ago that I felt that it would perhaps have been better if Lonesome Road was an alternative ending to Fallout New Vegas' main campaign, it actually taking place after the Second Battle for Hoover Dam.
Those who read my posts on it might recall that I suggested that it would have involved Ulysses either being a companion during the main game, or the player meeting him at various points, Ulysses following the player to see what his or her actions lead to.
After having defeated the Legion or NCR during the Second Battle, ED-E (how the robot would survive in hardcore mode would have to be explained properly, perhaps it is a copy if the original is destroyed) would receive a transmission from the Divide, sent by Ulysses.
Ulysses informs the player why he was along during the journey, or why the player met him at various points, and now he wants a final confrontation between himself and the player to decide the future of the Mojave, the West and the East.
The player is only to come with ED-E.
Ulysses, still tormented by the destruction of the Divide (the settlement) and the inspiration the Courier gave him, now wants to undo what the player has made (his/her new home).
But for that he needs the detonator codes that are within ED-E in order to arm and launch the still working ICBMs in the Divide.
Depending on which faction the player has decided to help during the game Ulysses would target the following locations;
1. The West/California. Wiping out the Bear and taking away the Legion's main opponent, depriving them of any goal they could possibly have after taking over the Mojave.
If the player helped the NCR during the game and the Second Battle of Hoover Dam Ulysses would target the missile at the cities of NCR.
2. The East/Arizona-New Mexico. Wiping out the Bull. What civilization and order Caesar had brought to the East collapses after Arizona and New Mexico are hit, the remains into an even more anarchistic wasteland than before.
The already weakened NCR is forced to retreat from the Mojave, and will most likely never try to colonize it again or go even further East. (it would eventually collapse on its own)
If the player helped the Legion during the game and the Second Battle for Hoover Dam Ulysses would target the missiles at the Legion's settlements.
3. The Mojave. Wiping out New Vegas and the surrounding settlements, destroying the preserved remains of the old world here.
The result would be a no man's land neither the NCR or the Legion can cross, separating the two civilizations for the coming centuries and forcing them to turn inwards.
Either one or perhaps both would weaken over time and collapse.
Perhaps this would happen if the player would help Mr House with taking over Hoover Dam and ensuring neither the NCR or the Legion could claim New Vegas.
4. The West and the East. Starting all over again. Ulysses decides that neither civilization that takes its origins from history; the NCR from the United States, and the Legion from the Roman Empire has the right answer for building a new nation.
Perhaps the inhabitants of the Mojave and New Vegas can one day establish a new civilization that is not as corrupt or imperialistic as the superpower from the West and the East were.
Perhaps this would happen if the player decides to take over the Mojave with Yes Man, creating the possibility for something new to arise.
5. West, East and the Mojave. Wiping the entire slate clean. This would be a rather downer ending and I am not sure how it would work, but basically Ulysses decides that no one in the South-West has any vision for a new future and that it would be better to wipe everything out in a second nuclear apocalypse than having the eventually collapse take decades to take place.
(no idea yet on why Ulysses would decide this)
6. Basically the 'good' ending in which ED-E sacrifices itself to disarm the missiles.
Once the player would have finished Lonesome Road the regular FNV ending slides would run but taking in account if the player used ARCHIMEDES II and the missiles from the Divide.
Technically this is fan fiction so I do hope the moderators of this forum don't mind me posting this in the Fallout New Vegas forum.
Otherwise just transfer it to the Fan Fiction forum.
I was playing through FNV again when I started to think of some ideas I had for alternative endings to the game I would have loved to have implemented.
One set of ideas have to do with ARCHIMEDES II while the others would involve Lonesome Road and the massive nuclear launch silo at the end of that road.
My idea with ARCHIMEDES II would have been that other than serving as a orbital laser cannon like the Hammer of Dawn from Gears of War that the weapon would actually be capable of wiping out locations from the game's map, thereby changing the ending.
Targeting options would depend on the player having discovered these locations, and in game lore that they are tied to a powerful energy source, explaining why ARCHIMEDES II can target them from orbit.
The locations would be as follows;
1. Camp McCarran
If the player wipes out this location with ARCHIMEDES II the NCR would be severly weakened to the point that there are barely any NCR soldiers left during the second battle of Hoover Dam.
Basically the Legion would storm the place with ease.
By destroying Camp McCarran would indicate that the player supports the Legion, Mr House, or Yes Man.
2. The Strip
Wiping out the Strip with ARCHIMEDES II would eliminate the Families and Mr House (and Yes Man for that matter, eliminating both of their endings from the game.
New Vegas would be severly weakened with the destruction of the Strip.
Destroying the Strip would indicate the player either supports NCR or the Legion, both of course with some reputation loss.
3. Hoover Dam
If the player chooses to destroy Hoover Dam it would basically mean the end of the game as now none of the factions/organizations can benefit from it or Lake Mead anymore.
The Mojave is gradually abandoned by NCR and the Legion and falls into economic decline.
This would be an all Anarchistic Ending.
4. The Fort/Fortification Hill
Destroying the Fort (and Caesar and his Praetorian Guard) would severally weaken the Legion (and Mr House as the bunker underneath the hill would also be destroyed).
Even with the threat of Legate Lanius behind them the Legion's second attempt at taking Hoover Dam fails and the Legion is forced to retreat, its slow disintegration starting that day.
This decision would indicate that the player is on the NCR's side (Mr House and Yes Man endings would probably be impossible because of the destruction of the Securitron Army)
My idea regarding Lonesome Road has to do with a suggestion I made a while ago that I felt that it would perhaps have been better if Lonesome Road was an alternative ending to Fallout New Vegas' main campaign, it actually taking place after the Second Battle for Hoover Dam.
Those who read my posts on it might recall that I suggested that it would have involved Ulysses either being a companion during the main game, or the player meeting him at various points, Ulysses following the player to see what his or her actions lead to.
After having defeated the Legion or NCR during the Second Battle, ED-E (how the robot would survive in hardcore mode would have to be explained properly, perhaps it is a copy if the original is destroyed) would receive a transmission from the Divide, sent by Ulysses.
Ulysses informs the player why he was along during the journey, or why the player met him at various points, and now he wants a final confrontation between himself and the player to decide the future of the Mojave, the West and the East.
The player is only to come with ED-E.
Ulysses, still tormented by the destruction of the Divide (the settlement) and the inspiration the Courier gave him, now wants to undo what the player has made (his/her new home).
But for that he needs the detonator codes that are within ED-E in order to arm and launch the still working ICBMs in the Divide.
Depending on which faction the player has decided to help during the game Ulysses would target the following locations;
1. The West/California. Wiping out the Bear and taking away the Legion's main opponent, depriving them of any goal they could possibly have after taking over the Mojave.
If the player helped the NCR during the game and the Second Battle of Hoover Dam Ulysses would target the missile at the cities of NCR.
2. The East/Arizona-New Mexico. Wiping out the Bull. What civilization and order Caesar had brought to the East collapses after Arizona and New Mexico are hit, the remains into an even more anarchistic wasteland than before.
The already weakened NCR is forced to retreat from the Mojave, and will most likely never try to colonize it again or go even further East. (it would eventually collapse on its own)
If the player helped the Legion during the game and the Second Battle for Hoover Dam Ulysses would target the missiles at the Legion's settlements.
3. The Mojave. Wiping out New Vegas and the surrounding settlements, destroying the preserved remains of the old world here.
The result would be a no man's land neither the NCR or the Legion can cross, separating the two civilizations for the coming centuries and forcing them to turn inwards.
Either one or perhaps both would weaken over time and collapse.
Perhaps this would happen if the player would help Mr House with taking over Hoover Dam and ensuring neither the NCR or the Legion could claim New Vegas.
4. The West and the East. Starting all over again. Ulysses decides that neither civilization that takes its origins from history; the NCR from the United States, and the Legion from the Roman Empire has the right answer for building a new nation.
Perhaps the inhabitants of the Mojave and New Vegas can one day establish a new civilization that is not as corrupt or imperialistic as the superpower from the West and the East were.
Perhaps this would happen if the player decides to take over the Mojave with Yes Man, creating the possibility for something new to arise.
5. West, East and the Mojave. Wiping the entire slate clean. This would be a rather downer ending and I am not sure how it would work, but basically Ulysses decides that no one in the South-West has any vision for a new future and that it would be better to wipe everything out in a second nuclear apocalypse than having the eventually collapse take decades to take place.
(no idea yet on why Ulysses would decide this)
6. Basically the 'good' ending in which ED-E sacrifices itself to disarm the missiles.
Once the player would have finished Lonesome Road the regular FNV ending slides would run but taking in account if the player used ARCHIMEDES II and the missiles from the Divide.
