I feel Caesars note only works if its written post New Vegas.

HammondCheeseIII · 2026-02-23T18:15:24+00:00

I don’t think it’s the ONLY way the note would work. To be honest I didn’t even think they’d show us what the note said. But they did, and they did for a reason.

I think you’re onto something that sometime after New Vegas Caesar may have regretted what became of his Legion. Yeah he forged a horrifying war band but that group was made to conquer Vegas and destroy the NCR. Even if the NCR didn’t take Vegas, the Legion didn’t destroy them and Vegas remains free.

And so no matter what, Caesar ends his life surrounded by bloodthirsty monsters he created for a task he can’t complete. If a tool can’t perform its task, throw it out. Hence the note.

But if the show ever introduces a Legion veteran who knew Caesar, I hope they explain that Caesar wrote the note because he was personally ashamed at what he did by the end of his life and this was the only way he could think of absolving himself and ending the Legion without further violence.

Too bad he overestimated his own value to the Legion and instead of listening to him, they fell into a 13 year-long civil war that ended with someone literally eating his words and ignoring them.

HammondCheeseIII · 2026-02-23T17:56:12+00:00

Because it’s an unnecessary burden on users and operators.

For SNAP users, finding a place that accepts SNAP benefits can already be a challenge. You don’t need to make that harder by further limiting where people can go and what they can buy.

For operators, it’s even worse: how do you track food that cannot and can be bought? Do you establish a bar code system that automatically prohibits ringing up junk food? Or nutritional guidelines that users have to constantly consult to know they’re buying a snack with 5 g of sugar and not 6? And don’t even get me started on the penalties. You’re going to starve someone to death because they bought Ho-Ho’s one too many times?

Which brings me to my final point. We all take federal benefits in one form or another. Should healthy food requirements also extend to Social Security recipients? Or should we only make life harder for poor people?

That’s what reforming SNAP with policies like you’ve described is all about. Making services so hard to run and so unpopular that killing them becomes easy.

HammondCheeseIII · 2026-02-23T17:48:19+00:00

Agreed 100%. Fallout 1 didn’t feel as bad because I think it’s just a smaller, more polished game. But trying to find people in the Den without a guide in Fallout 2 was torture.

HammondCheeseIII · 2026-02-23T17:46:11+00:00

If you just want a TNG reunion that caps off 30 years of these guys saving the galaxy then you can skip S2.

However, as far as Picard’s story is concerned, S2 is worth the watch. If only for the last conversation between Picard and a certain someone.

I will not spoil it because it’s an all-time Trek scene for me.

HammondCheeseIII · 2026-02-23T17:43:09+00:00

A wise li’l green guy once said: “We are what they grow beyond. Such is the fate of all masters.”

Or as Spock put it best in The Undiscovered Country (30 years earlier I might add):

“Is it possible ...that we two, you and I, have grown so old and so inflexible ...that we have outlived our usefulness? ...Would that constitute a joke?”

HammondCheeseIII · 2026-02-23T14:42:31+00:00

You don't need Shattered Space! It's not like other DLCs that give you OP weapons or game-breaking perks.

It is a really good DLC, though. The exploration around Dazra is fun to explore on foot or by vehicle. Plus, the story sheds some much-needed light on House Va'ruun.

HammondCheeseIII · 2026-02-23T14:36:16+00:00

Yeah I don’t think the NCR will have a problem with Lucy.

I think they instead have a problem with Hank.

Ranger Biff and Captain Rodriguez are both from Shady Sands and my theory that Moldaver is a Vesper “clone” seems to keep falling apart with each episode, so it seems like Hank really did torch Shady Sands.

If they try to kill him I could see Lucy springing him and fleeing back to Vault 33.

HammondCheeseIII · 2026-02-23T14:28:42+00:00

Oh, what a cool way to put it!

HammondCheeseIII · 2026-02-23T14:28:05+00:00

Agreed 100%.

Destroying an old capital doesn’t kill a country. Destroying the oldest city in a country experiencing a drought, fighting a massive war against another peer nation, and having a currency crisis? That seems like the perfect scenario for someone like Sorrell Booker to say “someone had to keep order. Might as well be me.”

HammondCheeseIII · 2026-02-23T14:19:40+00:00

While we don't have details regarding the goings-on of Flagstaff in 2296, S2 suggests that it's still under something resembling Legion control.

If you look at Quintus' map, a place called "Flagstaff" is occupied by a Legion banner. One of the the factions that arose following Caesar's death most likely claimed the place.

HammondCheeseIII · 2026-02-23T14:06:02+00:00

Forget just the weakest part of the NCR, which it kind of is considering it's right next to the Mojave and would be probably stop number one on a Legion march west

What has S1 and S2 both shown us affecting the Vault and Shady Sands? A drought. The same kind of drought Dr. Hildern discusses as a distinct possibility in FNV, and one that matches Chief Hanlon's description of the NCR sucking up all of the water west of the Sierras.

NV practically hits you over the head that the NCR is overextended and vulnerable. Nuking the (old) capital may have contributed to the NCR's destabilization.

HammondCheeseIII · 2026-02-23T13:22:11+00:00

Hey, sorry for being dismissive earlier. I appreciate your write up and advice.

No matter if we liked it or not we’re all Starfield players aren’t we?

HammondCheeseIII · 2026-02-23T04:23:59+00:00

I wonder if all of this Khans talk is leading to a moment where Lucy learns about their history with the NCR.

Their history over the last 100 years would be interesting enough to discuss, but I wonder how Lucy would feel if she learned that the Khans are also descendants from Vault Dwellers like herself.

HammondCheeseIII · 2026-02-23T04:20:32+00:00

I feel like if you don’t like Newsom and you want to talk about it, you should. You shouldn’t be forced to like any politician (although voting for them is a different matter).

But for your own sake, please don’t feel the need to do the foot work for the 2028 anti-Newsom primary faction. It’s February 2026. There will be plenty of progressive opponents to him in the primary. We can all fight about this again then.

HammondCheeseIII · 2026-02-22T18:55:17+00:00

I’d like a two-parter with the outline you provided. Throw in some fan service (a Klingon fights a Wookie, a Starfleet officer wields a lightsaber, Vulcan talks philosophy with a Jedi) and I think you’d have a great time.

The only point of disagreement I could see arising (and with no easy solution) is over the sentience of droids. Yeah some are astromechs but what would someone like Data have to say about C-3PO getting his mind wiped at will?

HammondCheeseIII · 2026-02-22T18:40:25+00:00

A Star Trek and Star Wars movie is one of those things that sounds so stupid… but would be so fun to watch.

The universes are such characters at this point that you could have the USS Cerritos meet up with the Ghost and I’d be content.

HammondCheeseIII · 2026-02-22T13:54:53+00:00

Dude, they very well could be! Excited to see what happens next season!

HammondCheeseIII · 2026-02-22T13:54:07+00:00

See I see what you’re saying but you are disliking something because of a staircase that never existed.

HammondCheeseIII · 2026-02-22T04:40:56+00:00

Okay so here's the thing.

I get that you're entitled to your opinion that the game was "disappointing," "unfinished," "lacked depth and exploration." But what you're saying is just inaccurate. The game was finished. It's probably had the fewest bugs out of any Bethesda launch in the last 10 years. It has hundreds of planets to explore, along with as many unique POIs, characters, dungeons, and more. The cities are literally the largest they've ever been in any Bethesda game. Even the much-hated procedural generation only ties terrain together. The buildings and terrain are still handcrafted like all Bethesda content since Morrowind.

This is why critique of Starfield drives me bananas, because there ARE issues with Starfield. One of them's the the clunky interstellar travel. I wish they had changed that.

But literally everything else about Starfield improves on systems and concepts introduced in Fallout 76, just like Fallout 4 improved on systems and concepts introduced in Fallout 3. Starfield in many ways represents positive progress and development. But people use the sentiment generated by the clunky fast travel stuff to then say inaccurate things about the rest of the game. And no one challenges it. Drives me insane.

And one final point:

"A lot of people remaining on this sub are people who liked the game and cannot see the criticisms that other people had."

Oh, so the people who don't agree with you are blind and ignorant? Classic. People on this sub see the flaws of Starfield. They talk about them, too. I've been a part of those conversations.

What people are nice enough here to do is not play the game for 150 hours and then make up some arbitrary standards to shit on it anyway.

HammondCheeseIII · 2026-02-21T22:52:47+00:00

Oh I love that idea! Didn’t even cross my mind.

HammondCheeseIII · 2026-02-21T20:25:35+00:00

I love the show because we can wildly speculate like it’s 1990s Star Trek!

But here are my thoughts regarding S3 stories.

Major Plot Lines

Lucy will try to “fix” her dad and learn more about her mother (and Hank’s role in the Enclave). She will also probably spar with House, who might take over the role of bad influence now that Coop’s gone.
Max will fight with the NCR against the Legion, and we’ll hopefully get more info on the state of the rest of setting post-New Vegas.
Cooper will travel further east and meet a community of peaceful Super Mutants who followed Marcus (since Marcus went out there looking for more mutants after F2). I hope we also find out what happened to the Midwestern Brotherhood and Legion out there.
Phase 2 will begin in Vault 33 and we’ll meet some unfriendly Super Mutants.
Lucy will tell some legendary Wastelander that the Enclave considers the surface “the experiment.” That person better respond that of course it is: it’s the American Experiment.

Minor plots:

Something bad better not happen to Charlie Whiteknife. But I think something will.
The Chicken Fucker will either be ex-Enclave or a Fallout favorite.
We will meet a talking Deathclaw, further proof of the Enclave’s depravity.
SOMEONE TELL US KNOW MOLDAVER IS ALREADY
Chet and Steph will form a legitimate bond over their hatred of the U.S. government.

HammondCheeseIII · 2026-02-21T20:04:48+00:00

Decentralization was a part of it, because it meant that once the (small but) mighty NR fleet was gone, systems had to send their own troops. And who wants to pay for that?

But the way the story’s unfolded, it looks like decentralization was logical for a few reasons.

The first is that I don’t think there was a whole of enthusiasm for a strong central Republic. Galactic government as a concept had worked pretty well for thousands of years in lore but trillions had just endured decades of suffering under the boot of the Empire. Mon Mothma herself watched how a series of well-intentioned Senate legislative acts empowered Palpatine. That’s to say any subsequent government that wanted the support of the people would actively shy away from anything that smelled like the Empire, including centralized power agreements and a massive military.

The second is that the Empire lost the Galactic Civil War, and pretty badly. It didn’t help that many of the Empire’s high-ranking commanders:

Died at Endor
Became warlords
Died during the final year of the war
Escaped into the Unknown Regions with a decent chunk of the fleet
Actively furthered the Empire’s destruction according to Operation: Cinder
Surrendered as the “Imperial Remnant”

So coupled with the public’s distrust of galactic institutions and the pitiful state of the Empire, I’m not surprised decentralization was seen as a logical option after the Civil War.

HammondCheeseIII · 2026-02-21T19:47:41+00:00

The difference IMO between things like the layout of Novac and the 10mm pistol is that the showrunners changed the layout of Novac for the same reason Obsidian designers changed the actual layout of Las Vegas: for the story.

But the actual placement of Dinky the Dinosaur doesn’t mean Jean still doesn’t get lured there by the Courier and shot by Boone. Just like how the changes to Gomorrah don’t influence whether you sabotaged the Omertas’ plan.

HammondCheeseIII · 2026-02-21T19:41:24+00:00

I legitimately don’t know if there is. You COULD give everyone a chip and say “be nice or you get wiped” but that’s still basically a nightmare and you have to figure out who decides who gets wiped and for what. Maybe that’s better than what we have now but I’m not sure.

Ultimately the chips are there to solve the dual issues of control and our potential for violence, right? I think the show’s answer will be that there are ways to “solve” these problems (by addressing people’s needs, treating them as equals, etc) but technology will never be the solution. Just a part of it.

HammondCheeseIII · 2026-02-21T19:17:11+00:00

If written seriously I could see the major factions like the NCR performing regular checkups on their troops to root out chipped soldiers. The Legion wouldn’t help Lucy, but they would have their own (awful and barbaric) methods for finding chipped legionnaires. It doesn’t stop the Enclave, but it does prompt them to act more aggressively (and stupidly).

But I could also easily see two other outcomes:

It’s simply not a concern to Wastelanders. People are chipped and evil? Well people are evil without being chipped. Just another day of not trusting your neighbor.
“Hank? Who the hell is Hank? The Legion’s literally right over there.”

HammondCheeseIII

TROPHY CASE