------
Fearless creatures, we all learn to fight the Reaper
Can't defeat Her, so instead I'll have to be Her

What, is a brahmin some kind of cat-cow hybrid?

"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."

The one we have in Sanctuary Hills appears to be.

(They're actually two-headed hairless mutant cattle. Because Fallout.)

Also, you just reminded me of a fond memory from yesteryear: when I worked at CO Space, after the office moved from Somerville to Burlington, MA, there was a cat who used to come hang out in the parking lot of the office building. A couple of us in the NOC used to notice her (we didn't know, but always spoke of the cat as female, for reasons which will be obvious shortly) from the office window, often enough that she became kind of a fixture in our day. There were two kind of remarkable things about this cat. One was that she was huge, large enough to be clearly identifiable from the windows of our office, which was on like the eighth floor of the building. And the other was that she had a coat pattern uncannily like that of a Holstein cow. We therefore referred to her familiarly as the cowcat.

--G.
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Which reminds me, I had a couple I wanted to share.

When I discovered that you could name your stuff, I didn't have a good idea at first, so I just went with this. That pistol (which is still, in a much-evolved form, Dan's sidearm of choice) is now called "Highway 111", but I preserved this screencap because I like the juxtaposition of the previous (unrenamed) item in the list and the "favorite item" heart. Knuckles & Mr. Shooty♡ should be the title of a controversially violent kids' cartoon on Tomodachi in the UF universe.

(Not shown in this picture: Dan also has an extensively tricked out pipe rifle named Put That In Your. Just... think about it for a moment.)

I don't know where Preston learned to shoot, but they did a shitty job teaching him the fundamentals. Look at that (total lack of) trigger discipline. It's disgraceful.

--G.
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The Never-Ending Double Barrelled Shotgun she found, according to Reddit tradition, has been named Get Off My Lawn.

>I don't know where Preston learned to shoot, but they did a shitty job
>teaching him the fundamentals. Look at that (total lack of) trigger
>discipline. It's disgraceful.

Well, they are still just a militia. Their training is often lacking... our Sole Survivor's will have to do something about that. They are professionals, after all.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

If they are actually using hydrogen as a lift gas, I suggest "USS We Have Learned Nothing".

--G.
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"Everything went great, right up until the explosion."

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

The Radium Water Worked Fine Until His Jaw Came Off

--G.
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Not the USS George Santayana?

Ebony the Black Dragon

Those who something something something history are doomed to something something.

"Life is like an anole. Sometimes it's green. Sometimes it's brown. But it's always a small Caribbean lizard."

It got ironic shortly after I got the appropriate 'Gun Nut' perk and fitted it with a silencer.

Now, nobody listens to Reason. ;-P

No, really Carla. I don't need you. I've got the Vault-tec rep running the town store now, anf he's got better stock than you.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

Ahh, thanks for the tip. I think I scrapped all the bathtubs in town during my initial cleanup (along with all the broken furniture, the beyond-repair houses, the dead trees... had me a nice little neat-freak fit, my way of coping with waking up to find everyone dead and the world destroyed), but presumably I can make another one somewhere in those menus. I recently stumbled across the ability to make the coolant price sign from Red Rocket, after all, and if I can make something that useless, surely I can make a bathtub. :)

--G.
114 bucks for a gallon of class C coolant? Damn, yo!
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------
Fearless creatures, we all learn to fight the Reaper
Can't defeat Her, so instead I'll have to be Her

I'm trying to be less directly confrontational in my first run-through, but I'm absolutely positive that I'm going to do a run where I use every response that is just labeled "Sarcastic".

(Also, it took them -far- too long to add that option in. Mass Effect really needed it as well)

-Droken

Shepard can be plenty sarcastic, you just have to get a feel for the dialogue options. I'm not a big fan of the way Fallout 4 shorthands the dialogue choices, really, because they're not very good at indicating (at least to me) what you're actually going to say. "Sarcastic" is a good example of this, because there is no indication of whether you're going to be wry sarcastic, or mean sarcastic, or bitchy sarcastic, or what. Not enough information.

And unlike in, for instance, The Old Republic, it doesn't appear you can bail out of the conversation and try again if you read the clues wrong and pick an option that turns out to be something you didn't want to say. I find this annoying, as I can't be arsed to quicksave before every dang conversation, plus reloading takes a long-ass time.

Speaking of conversational options, I've managed to acquire a drunken Irishwoman, which wouldn't automatically be a bad thing, but she seems to hate it when I'm... you know... decent to people, so I don't think it's going to work out. Besides, I feel naked without my pal Nick covering my back. I think Dan's run is destined to be mostly about man-robot bromance. :)

--G.
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Full dialogue mod. Pretty much the first thing I got when I swapped to PC.
http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/619/?

>Speaking of conversational options, I've managed to acquire a drunken
>Irishwoman, which wouldn't automatically be a bad thing, but she seems
>to hate it when I'm... you know... decent to people, so I don't
>think it's going to work out.

Cait's an interesting case. Her likes and dislikes actually change over the course of the game. She'll bitch about you helping people early on, but getting in fights with her (Or running around naked) cheers her up a lot. She's got a lot of good reasons for being a bitter bitch when you meet her, but the Sole Survivor being a good person confuses and fascinates her.

>Besides, I feel naked without my pal
>Nick covering my back. I think Dan's run is destined to be mostly
>about man-robot bromance. :)

Yeah, Nick's just plain awesome. Although I'll often run with Piper as well.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

Ebony the Black Dragon

I mean, I gave him the Triggerman Bowler because I thought it looked rakish on him. I didn't mean it to be a hint that he should go out with his droogie-bots for a bit of the old ultraviolence.

"Life is like an anole. Sometimes it's green. Sometimes it's brown. But it's always a small Caribbean lizard."

And yet, he hates pre-emptive strikes. Look, I know those Raiders are going to turn hostile as soon as they see us, they're Raiders. So me and my sniper rifle here are making sure they don't see us. How hard is this to grasp as a concept?

--G.
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Just saying, it wasn't called the "Department of Ungentlemanly Combat" for nothing. Cogs probably thinks sniping is uncivilized.

--
Geoff Depew - Darth Mephron
Haberdasher to Androids, Dark Lord of Sith Tech Support.
"And Remember! Google is your Friend!!"

While I've joined the Brotherhood in-game, for the purpose of seeing that part of the storyline, the less scripted version would likely have her offering a somewhat informal alliance, which the Brotherhood would probably assume was her joining up and trying to make her gang of mercenaries look more legitimate. And if they want to be smug and not pay too much attention to the artillery the Minutemen allied settlements are building, that's fine by her.

I just reached the Prydwen, and they're all calling Alice 'Initiate', even though she's wearing the Minutemen Generals uniform, and Piper is standing next to her in a blue Colonial Duster (Yay Minutemen Uniform mods!). I'd have brought Preston, but he's at the Castle with Ronnie Shaw, ready to start throwing artillery the airships way if they try anything. Better safe than sorry when dealing with these guys.

Mind you, while considering the barely filled out Pre-war backstory, the old fiction trope of Everyone knew Everyone occurred to me, leading to an amusing mental image for when Alice's patience with Elder Maxson officially runs out. It'd come somewhat late in the BoS story, right before the cutoff point that turns certain factions against you. Maxson, ranting and raving about a shocking discovery he's managed to reach all the wrong conclusions on, starts accusing the player of being in on the 'conspiracy' and not truly loyal to the ideals of the Brotherhood, etcetera and so on.

SOLE SURVIVOR
Roger would be ashamed of you boy.

ELDER MAXSON
... Who?

SOLE SURVIVOR
Roger Maxson. Your ancestor. Founder of the Brotherhood of Steel. Captain in the United States Army. And my friend. I knew him well, before the old world fell apart. And let me tell you, he'd have been ashamed of what you idiots had done with his legacy.

(Hey, information on just what sort of man Roger was before they discovered the FEV experiments is pretty non-existent. The thought of him being the sort to stand against the modern Brotherhood is kind of pleasing.)

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

"Elder, I served with Roger Maxson. I knew Roger Maxson. Roger Maxson was a friend of mine. Elder, you're no Roger Maxson."

Peter Eng
--
Insert humorous comment here.

"If I was half the man I used to be I'd take a flamethrower to this place! ... But since I am in fact all the man I used to be, I'll be using this finely optimized dedicated marksman's rifle instead."

--G.
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INT. DAY - Stately Survivor Manor. Through the living room windows, RAIDERS can be seen attacking Sanctuary Hills.

The SOLE SURVIVOR stands in what used to be the kitchen, ransacking the cabinets.

SOLE SURVIVOR
(voice raised)
Codswooooorth?

CODSWORTH
(shouting from off-camera)
Whaaat?

SOLE SURVIVOR
Where's my super suit?

CODSWORTH
What?

SOLE SURVIVOR
(enunciating carefully)
Where - is - my -super - suit?

CODSWORTH
I, uh, put it away!

SOLE SURVIVOR
Where?!

CODSWORTH
(mimicking the SURVIVOR'S earlier enunciation)
Why - do you need - to know?

Outside, things EXPLODE.

SOLE SURVIVOR
I need it!

>Any ideas on if I can get it back?

If you're on PC, you can use console codes (` to open) to spawn yourself a new copy:

Level 1-24 armor: player.additem 002f525 1
Level 25-34 armor: player.additem 000ded27 1
Level 35-44 armor: player.additem 000ded28 1
Level 45+ armor: player.additem 000ded29 1
Hat: player.additem 0014e58e 1

(Note that I have not confirmed these item IDs, but Nuka-Pedia rarely steers one wrong in these matters. Also, the leading zeroes may be omitted.)

If you're not on PC, uh... I dunno, I suspect you may be pretty much beached.

--G.
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Ebony the Black Dragon

"Life is like an anole. Sometimes it's green. Sometimes it's brown. But it's always a small Caribbean lizard."

I'll have to go back and replay that first contact mission again, to see how Danse reacts if you rock up to Cambridge PD and mow down some zombies with your minigun, already wearing a better suit of power armor than his. :)

--G.
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Well, Sturge's reacts if you're already in power armour, so it's possible he's got something scripted... Aw man, I should have gone up to the airship in my T-60/X-01 combo set.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

Darn, he doesn't react at all.

He's very good at blundering into my line of fire after I've cued up an attack sequence in VATS, though. Fucking amateurs, the lot of them.

--G.
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That's part of their training, I think. Storytime!

While touring the USS Christmas Firework Display, I came across a Knight in full armour and a rather nervous Initiate. In order to test her armours repairs before going on duty, the Knight instructed the Initiate to shoot her in the stomach with a laser rifle half a dozen times. When it's done, she tells him that see, there was nothing to worry about, you didn't blow up the airship.

Needing some fresh air (Or just a way to escape should they try that trick again with a gatling laser), I head out to the Vertibird bay. Looking down over Boston Airport, I catch sight of weapons fire. Lots of weapons fire, covering a pretty large area. Jumping over the edge, I do a classic armoured combat drop, only to discover that the airport isn't under attack. Instead, that light show was actually the Brotherhoods firing range. Which is some barrels, and then nothing behind it. The light show reached out across the sea, and came worryingly close to my Settlement at Nordhagen Beach. And the Knight running the circus was going on about 'no injuries' being tolerated on his range.

Alice is not impressed.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

I suppose I should be fair and note that both Nick and Piper have also managed to cut in front of me while I'm shooting and take one square in the back of the head. To their credit, neither seemed to blame me for it. In fact, after the stimpak changed hands, we seem to have tacitly agreed that we will never speak of it. :)

>Jumping over the edge, I do a classic armoured combat drop

I have to admit, that shit never gets old. I'm looking forward to getting high enough modding perks that I can fit the Your LZ a Splode mod.

>Instead, that light show was actually the
>Brotherhoods firing range. Which is some barrels, and then nothing
>behind it. The light show reached out across the sea, and came
>worryingly close to my Settlement at Nordhagen Beach.

Remember, the first R in Brotherhood stands for "Reckless disregard for everyone else".

--G.
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Don't jump from the top of the Bunker Hill Monument. The neighbors don't like it, and generally react with gunfire.

Speaking of NPC reactions, I climbed into my armor, wearing the Silver Shroud costume (pre-Cogsworth), and Piper said, "Promise me you'll only use your robot superpowers for good."

Ebony the Black Dragon

No promises, Piper, but I'll try to only shoot the Bad Guys. Or at lest, only the Annoying Guys.

"Life is like an anole. Sometimes it's green. Sometimes it's brown. But it's always a small Caribbean lizard."

To further put your mind at ease, that floating bomb is powered by a nuclear reactor that was ripped from the guts of a pre-War aircraft carrier. Given the Brotherhood's approach to armor maintenance, I don't imagine the reactor crew has to worry too much about needing a flashlight to take a piss at night.

--------------------------
CdrMike, Overwatch Reject

Aircraft carr- Oh god damn it. They looted Rivet City, didn't they?

>Given the Brotherhood's approach to armor maintenance, I
>don't imagine the reactor crew has to worry too much about needing a
>flashlight to take a piss at night.

There's a Glowing Sea joke here somewhere...

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

In fairness, neither does anyone who likes Nuka-Cola Quantum. Assuming there is actually more than one person who likes Nuka-Cola Quantum.

--G.
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Yeah, see, that's not really a Brotherhood thing.

--G.
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Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

Heh, that is literally the way it went down in the game. I totally forgot that the Gunners had overrun Quincy, and when Nick and I rocked up to the PD to hunt for the holotape, we had that moment Iron Man has in The Avengers. "Right..." (switch to combat mode) "... army." :)

There followed... quite a lot of running and shooting and stimpakking and shooting and grenading and shooting and scarfing Fancy Lads snack cakes and shooting and running and hmm, it's gone quiet. Nick, did you get that fuck with the missile launcher? Nice work, man. Tell you what, I think we should take the rest of today off. In fact, let's not come in tomorrow either.

--G.
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I haven't cleared out the town entirely. They know SOMETHING happened though. Alice and Piper were a little off track after helping little Billy get home, and passed close enough to the ruins to catch the attention of Tessa, the ex-raider with the custom power fist.

Then there came the shooting and the running and the stimpacks and more shooting and shit, one of them has a Fat Man, where is he where is he I'll take THAT thank you, okay boys, time for a lesson in how to throw mini-nukes around properly, critical strike to the head with a nuke, and now I'll loot your bodies because that's how I roll, oh hey, a Minutemen squad, you two, come with me!

By the time the smoke cleared, thanks to a few odd spawn locations, I was heading back towards the coast, and I didn't have the space to carry anything else anyway, so I set course for the Atom Cats garage and left Clint to wonder just what the hell all that noise on the east perimeter was. When he finds out the Minutemen General and her girlfriend were in the area, he's going to be a mixture of relieved he survived and insulted he was ignored.

I'll fix that later.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

Nick got to that guy before I did! I was so proud of him.

--G.
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And that was the moment we discovered that Nicks inspirations as a Private Detective included Harry Dresden.

"The building was on fire, and it wasn't my fault."

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

That being said, after the Incident in the Library, I did make a point of giving him Ashmaker when I got hold of it. He makes far better use of it than I could.

You say that, but it's always Piper who barbecues my ass with Molotov cocktails meant for the enemy. I don't think she really loves me.

--G.
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For me, it was Cait. But, that was when she was on the junk, so maybe that's an explanation. Piper just thought that six inches was the optimum range for a combat shotgun (i.e., charge into melee, shooting). Admittedly, for your typical double-barreled roomsweeper, that's pretty true, but for the Wasteland equivalent of a CAWS, you should be a little farther back. In case of charging mirelurks in any case.

Ebony the Black Dragon

"Life is like an anole. Sometimes it's green. Sometimes it's brown. But it's always a small Caribbean lizard."

I haven't spent a lot of time hanging with Cait, I have to admit. She dislikes everything I do. I find it offputting.

--G.
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I've unlocked the first conversation with her. It was quite entertaining.

"Alright you, what's going on?"
"Oh, this is gonna be fun... Cait, what're you talking about?"
"Ever since we started working, you've been... nice to me. What's your scheme?"
"... It's called not being an ass."

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

"Look, honey, if anybody in this relationship has a reason to be suspicious it's me. We're in a radioactive wasteland 210 years after human civilization destroyed itself and all higher technology became barely-functional scavenger bait, and I'm supposed to believe you're Irish? Like, from Ireland? You're not trying to convey some kind of retro Southie thing with your hokey Lucky the Leprechaun accent, which, by the way, Irish-Americans in greater Boston hadn't talked like for 200 years before the war? Is Ireland even still there? You know what, don't even answer that, chances are I wouldn't believe whatever you told me."

--G.
I kid, but also not. It is pretty far-fetched. But then so was Moriarty in Fallout 3. And why did they hire a Scotswoman to play her? American casting directors, am I right? ... Come to think of it, where the hell are the Bobrov brothers from?
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Old immigrant family apparently, which still makes no damn sense. And then there's that Indian doctor working for the Railroad... Fallout Radiation must do something to accents. Wouldn't be the weirdest thing it's done.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

Actually, upon reflection, I could totally see Vadim taking up the Loud Russky shtick on purpose as part of the bartending gig. You gotta have a signature, right? Yefim, not so much, admittedly.

--G.
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Unless Vadim annoyed him about it to the point he went along with it just to get some peace and quiet. And be disappointed when that didn't happen.

Doc Carrington is probably trying to remind everyone he's special and smart and you should all be listening to him because he's smarter than you.

Cait... probably has something to do with the assorted shit her parents pulled, now that I think about it.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

Maybe we're looking at this the wrong way. Maybe it's not radiation, it's different kinds of chems. Cait's accent is just what you end up talking like if you huff Jet, chainfire three shots of Fury, and then shotgun a bottle of Daytripper you mistook for Buffout because the Fury dropped your PER by 5. :)

--G.
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And now I'm imagining when you detox her at the end of her personal quest. She's thanking you for your help and support:

"Wait. What the bloody 'ell is up with my voice?"
"I've been saying that for weeks."

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

Rereading this thread, I came across this and realized that, now that I've become a Life of Boris subscriber, I'm never going to be able to not see Vadim as Boris's asshole neighbor.

--G.
Vadim blyat!
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All these accents in Diamond City are what worries me. Seriously, this is smack dab in the middle of Fenway, and the only guy who actually talks like he's from Boston is the weirdo with the violent fixation on baseball? Meanwhile, the doctor, the gun merchant, and the bartenders talk like they're from places that, as far as anyone knows, only exist as radioactive rubble. Is it any wonder that people are concerned about synths?

Ebony the Black Dragon

"Life is like an anole. Sometimes it's green. Sometimes it's brown. But it's always a small Caribbean lizard."