Hi everyone, first topic here. Been lurking around for a few months now but finally figured I should start chattin'.

I thought I'd try to start with a bang and ask people what faction interests them the most? I don't mean which faction is the coolest, or which one would you want to join. I mean, which Fallout faction has you constantly reading up on them, trying to always find more info on them either in-game or online? Which group interests you most?

I'll give an example. I find the Legion from Fallout New Vegas fascinating. I know a lot of people find the Legion unrealistic or underwritten, but I would actually argue against that. The only problem the Legion had was engine limitations, both in designing how they played combatively and their overall world-space in game. But the actual writing behind them is incredibly fleshed out, both in explaining how their society developed and how it functions, even if we sadly don't see any of it in-game.

Like, take combat. The Legion's strength is in its guerilla tactics, its quick mobility on foot and close-quarter assaults. But in-game this amounts to them just running up towards you in a line in light-armour just waiting to get annihilated. The Legion Assassins for example. If they functioned the way they should, they wouldn't even give you a warning and just pop up around you, using whatever terrain there to their advantage. My point is, the conceptual stuff is there, it's just that the engine doesn't meet expectations. Anyway...

The Heart of Darkness story of Edward Sallow (and to a lesser degree Joshua Graham) is brilliant. I love listening to everyone, from Caesar, to Graham, to Ulysses, to Lanius, just talk about the Legion's history and how, much like Genghis Khan or Alexander the Great, they were able to conquer a vast empire within forty years. When you consider the disparate nature of other towns and tribes throughout Fallout, you can see how a united force would be able to conquer large swathes of badly defended territory. I also really like Caesar's reasoning. He knows exactly what the Legion is, "a wandering nomadic tribe" but hopes, through his Hegelian Dialectic reasoning, to transform the Legion into a civilisation worthy of the Roman Empire's name.

Anyway, I'll stop there. I always have too much to say about the Legion (and other factions to be fair ) so I'll open the floor. What factions interest you and why?

Ima have to go with Legion aswell, theres alot of factions with cool lore but i do love me the Legion lore, destroying tribes and assimilating them such as the twisted hairs tribe (e.g Ulysses), burning the hounds of the Hangdogs tribe to break them,  caesar's history with the followers of the apocalypse and how he came to be, even though there wasnt hugeeeee amounts of lore in NV for legion (was abit to be fair) just hearing short sentances about the Legion, and to its rise always got to me, why im a huge Legion fan ^_^

I have an unpopular opinion (or at least I think so XD), but I'm actually fascinated by the Minutemen. They're the first faction I sided with in FO4. They're whole idea of being a militia of settlers all over the wasteland is just interesting. They're like a proto-NCR of the East. I do wished Bethesda fleshed them out much more, they just seem to have so many potential. I do hope we see more of them in future Fallout content.

the Enclave i mean they did at one time have a walking nuke by the name ov frank horrigan and had some ov the most epic tech {other then alien} in the wasteland but a 2nd runner up for me has to be the Calculator robots from tactics i mean it's pretty much Skynet for fallout haha

FoVet20 wrote:

i find the legion interesting too they kinda fit the term "controlled madness" pretty well

for me my favorite faction is the brotherhood of steel and has been since i was a kid playing the first fallout games even though only for a short while id read up the lore online while at school and such,

the reason i like the brotherhood is they have a code that only benefits them so far keeping all advanced technology for themselves and killing those who try and take it from them or try to horde it i liked the brotherhood in fallout 3 but found them a bit too soft in new vegas they where much better but incredibly small and i was hoping they'd play a bigger part in the game,  then in fallout 4 i loved them as they reminded me of the original brotherhood killing for there own goals and pushing aside any none hostile wastelanders,

i like the brotherhood mainly because they are logical for the most part and even though they have smaller numbers than most other factions they can put up a good fight due to they're emphases on training along with big guns and tank like suits of armor which also helps

my favorite brotherhood based on appearance was fallout tactics due to the horned power armor suits they wore

example picture:

i think that in a wasteland like the fallout universe brute force and logical thinking is the best way to be and for me the brotherhood largely seem this way

sorry if i make no sense or made a few mistakes im not great at explaining stuff but tend to ramble on until i make little to no sense

Nah, it's cool man, I enjoyed the rambling The Tactics suits are very cool. It's a shame they didn't have them in Fallout 3 as I've always felt the t-45 armour looks a bit generic. It's all about the t-51, Advanced Enclave and Midwestern Brotherhood Power Armour for me.

But yeah, I think there's a damn good reason for the Brotherhood being the staple of the Fallout series. Their appearance is awesome, but the questionable way they act is what defines them. Sending you into the Glow to get you killed, sending you get holotapes in places where armoured paladins were killed. Yup, that's what makes the Brotherhood great. Their brutality, mixed with genuinely good intentions, wanting to protect the world from the technology that destroyed it. It's a code that makes sense. Plus having no time for pesky wastelanders will always have its charm.

@Y0ungRe13el The Minutemen remind me of the Talon Company Mercenaries from Fallout 3. They're frustrating because their premise and concept are solid, but then there's nothing further development or history-wise. It's just what you see is what you get. Which is a shame, as, as you said, so much more could've been done with them.

@shocktrooper666 "We just did. Time for talking's over." Badass Vertibirds, Power Armour, the Oil Rig...the Enclave just scream awesome bad guys.

Glad to see there's love for Tactics here. The Calculator's awesome. It'd be nice to see more stuff from the game expanded upon, but I guess at this stage it's semi-canon. Which is probably good in some ways but a shame in others.

I am actually fascinated in The Institute for some reason even though I hate scientist in all forms but the real question would be how the fuck did they drill a hole in the ground and expand with out anyone noticing? The funny thing is I haven't found a way in it outside of the teleporter. And why is everyone so scared about everything topside when they're the ones making almost identical clones of Agent Smith? Along making massive armies of clones are practically printing off weapons like some type of overzealous arms dealer's with a meth problem trying to sell weapons to get cash... Seems strange.

I'm on Mr.House's side

He got the wisdom of a wise man, minus some of his mental problem (extreme case of loneliness most of all). Even after the world's end he continued to pursue life and planned for a rebuild. He fought for what he loved and protected it. Most reliable man on (virtual) Earth.

Caesar's Legion is a very interesting faction as a history junkie. The fact that this faction copied the entire structure of the Romans into a post apocalyptic society is, in no exception, a remarkable feat. However they're so underdeveloped and mysterious at the same time. We know all about the NCR and learn more about the Legion's rise in DLCs and through dialogue. It's a faction that well deserves to be expanded on.

I'm going to have to go with the Minutemen on this one, I just enjoy the atmosphere that the're whole faction presents. For example there is some deep dark evil that lurks in the shadows and abducts people from their homes in the night and the Minutemen have even less information about their enemy than the Railroad. In addition to this they have some massive ship that just appears in the sky one day and deposits power armored soldiers with energy weapons and virtibirds that demand everyone bends to their ideals, not to mention all the raiders and mutants that are running around. Throughout all this these people who are just volunteers that want to simple protect themselves and their neighbour from these warmongering groups. They are untrained, under equipped and outnumbered but by god they will fight to the last to protect what is theirs. That's what I like about them the most, their just regular people fighting for each other, not some ideal taught to them by someone else or because they think they are superior, their just people helpin' people man.

Honestly id either say the Great Khans or Caesars Legion. The Khans always interested me because they've got this whole barbarian vibe going, and their past with the NCR is sketchy to say the least. The legion is always interesting to read up on and get other NPC's take on them because it usually revolves around one question, are the Legion following the legions belief's or are they following Caesar?

The difference being, if Caesar dies or decided to change the course of the Legion, would they follow him or in the case of his death, would they disband eventually? It just interested me because for such a large faction, it doesn't even seem to know where its own strength and beliefs truly lay.

For me the most interesting faction would be the Enclave since I first played Fallout 2.

I adore liked their style and how powerful they were before they eventually got destroyed. Enclave is serious threat in Fallout 2 and 3, so it's fun to fight with them too, lore wise. That kind of military power, which is advanced and cruel what people of the wastes are afraid of.

I like Caesars legion too! But if I have to draw a line between these two, I like Enclave more as a whole since they are the original bad guys of fallout after the unity. Though Legion has more interesting characters.

I always love messing with over-the-top, bossy Navarro sergeant Arch Dornan. He's such a goof.

Enclave:

rogerrabbit130 wrote:

Honestly id either say the Great Khans or Caesars Legion. The Khans always interested me because they've got this whole barbarian vibe going, and their past with the NCR is sketchy to say the least.

I really love the Khans. The fact that they have a borderline mythological status in being a Phoenix-like tribe that, no matter how many times it gets massacred, it gets back and moves forward. Got give a shout out to their determination

I really love how Fallout New Vegas takes a really dark turn with the Khans. Before Vegas, they were always just the "generic raider bad guys" but with the whole Bitter Springs incident the game suddenly forces you to realise that they are actually their own people with families, a tribe with a history and culture, and now suddenly the NCR are the "bad guys".

I really like how you can run across people who say, "the NCR are a bunch of murderers" while others will say, "the Khans got what they deserved". It makes you realise that things aren't always as clear cut as "good vs evil".

Anyway, again, sorry. Love to ramble

I would say Khans and Legion ;

I really love the Khans theme the Bikers,the logo also they are like a modern gang smuggling drugs etc. for the Khans the one thing I love most they wear armors like roman legionnaire and they use melee weapons in a post apocalyptic world where huge amount of badass guns exist its crazy and somewhat cool for me.

I'd say the NCR. I like to imagine how they may return Post-America to civilization. They are not perfect, but in my opinion they presented the best future for the wasteland besides House or the Institute. I liked how they managed to revive the patriotic spirit of the USA and rode that spirit into forming a nation creating safety and a set of ideals to believe in for thousands of settlers. It would be great to see them uniting America, rebuilding the Wasteland, purging raiders, ferals and overall just rising above the harsh nature of the apocalypse. If only people would stop bitching about corruption and greed. Humanity is corrupt and greedy, get off my boat you commie.

Betterdeadthanred wrote:

I'd say the NCR. I like to imagine how they may return Post-America to civilization. They are not perfect, but in my opinion they presented the best future for the wasteland besides House or the Institute. I liked how they managed to revive the patriotic spirit of the USA and rode that spirit into forming a nation creating safety and a set of ideals to believe in for thousands of settlers. It would be great to see them uniting America, rebuilding the Wasteland, purging raiders, ferals and overall just rising above the harsh nature of the apocalypse. If only people would stop bitching about corruption and greed. Humanity is corrupt and greedy, get off my boat you commie.

I appreciate the ambiguity of the NCR. There's never a point in the series when they're the nicest guys in the world, but they're certainly on the softer side of territorial expansion than the Legion is, so it creates a nice contrast on how societies in the "Tabula Rasa" stage of humanity can develop. While the NCR is democratic and advocates personal freedoms and liberties it does resort to violence on several occasions, the most notable incident being the Bitter Springs massacre of the Khans. As I mentioned above, you could argue that the Khans had it coming for their years of raiding, but that argument will always ring hollow when your sniper squadron has just killed children and the elderly. Same goes for their expansion. For a republic built on "personal freedom" they don't give the people of Vegas much "freedom of choice" in terms of whether they want to be part of the NCR are not. The NCR is very much an occupation force, albeit a fairly peaceful one.

While of course corruption and greed can't compare to the hegemonic and brutal dictatorship of the Legion, it can't really be handwaved away either. I mean, look at today's modern politics. We're now seeing a huge increase in people "rebelling" against the "corrupt, elitist, political establishment" (in whatever form in which that may be) and we see in-game how brahmin-barons have corrupted the system to make it work for them, and not for the majority, essentially making themselves the ones in control of government, and leading to unscrupulous business tactics by characters like Heck Gunderson disenfranchising other smaller businesses.

Anyway, again, all wonderfully engaging

@"Betterdeadthanred" well said, that's pretty much how I feel they are the closest thing the wasteland has to old world America. The NCR's presence almost makes the Mojave a place where people can go about ordinary lives and can even complain about politics which is a pretty big difference compared to the Capital Wasteland or the Commonwealth. Sure the NCR isn't perfect and shows lots of signs of corruption but that honestly makes it more complex and interesting. The greedy and overextended bear is still offering the best morals, security, and freedom in the wasteland.

I also get the parallels between Bitter Springs and the countless real life Wounded Knee removals and massacres but I have a hard time justifying the Khans fight when I see them as Mad Max type raiders that have no right getting all tribal and think they should just embrace their return to civilization.

To be fair to the Khans, they didn't want to continue a fight with the NCR. They moved east, away from Shady Sands with good reason, and essentially ruled Vegas as the strongest tribe. So their frustration that the NCR eventually followed them east is understandable, especially after they were forced out of the city by Mr House.

They have a one hundred and fifty year long history. I think it's fair for them to consider themselves a tribe rather than just raiders at this point. Raiders are usually just small groups of people working together to attack other groups of people for loot. The Khans have families and tribal customs, a distinct way of life. And to be fair, they were wanting to "return to civilisation", except through the Legion, rather than the NCR.

Acekiler wrote:

I am actually fascinated in The Institute for some reason even though I hate scientist in all forms but the real question would be how the fuck did they drill a hole in the ground and expand with out anyone noticing? The funny thing is I haven't found a way in it outside of the teleporter. And why is everyone so scared about everything topside when they're the ones making almost identical clones of Agent Smith? Along making massive armies of clones are practically printing off weapons like some type of overzealous arms dealer's with a meth problem trying to sell weapons to get cash... Seems strange.

The Institue is interesting. I don't have a favorite they are all interesting and sorry... needed to be looked up on. I find myself researching most of the factions and more particularrly characters.

To address the entrance to the inside. I believe spoiler alert

Spoiler:

Now about the dirt

Spoiler:

I'm still in favor of the unity, fuck humanity. Plus the one "flaw" in the masters plan is bullshit, you can just have a few humans in a contained environment and then have them breed, educate the offspring's and finally when they come of age, have them breed, then turn them into mutants.