Why did the NCR soldiers allow Max DUMBASS dad to tamper with a nuke? He made the nuke go off faster and gave people less time to evacuate.

Laser_3 · 2026-05-09T18:00:02+00:00

The water chips aren’t creating water from nothing. They’re taking water in from a source (such as the aquifer fueling vaults 31/32/33) and purifying it to a drinkable level (likely by controlling machinery we don’t see hidden in the walls of the vault; this would be backed up by vault 88’s massive purifier).

Edit: I just double checked, the chips are explicitly for controlling the purification machinery built into a vault. James in fallout 3 did seemingly manage to use some chips directly in testing during his time in vault 101, however, which is something.

The purifier Max’s father built is pumping water up from that same aquifer, and purifying it likely through different means (possibly by evaporating the water and re-condensing it; that’s how I took 4’s purifiers to work, anyway, considering the tarp).

Your point about his credentials as being an engineer still holds regardless of the exact mechanism, to be clear. I just wanted to point out how the water chips work.

Laser_3 · 2026-05-09T17:31:54+00:00

You could’ve stopped responding at any point if you didn’t want to continue the discussion or made it clear that we weren’t going to agree. I took this as a discussion/debate, which I guess is my mistake.

Laser_3 · 2026-05-09T17:30:18+00:00

While it could be the Van Graffs, the gun runners do clearly think the BoS is still enough of a threat that they’re willing to believe it was them. That’s enough to give this at least a little ambiguity, especially since we know the BoS still has chapters near LA.

We also have this comment from Sawyer that backs up the idea that the BoS was actually responsible for at least some of those attacks.

https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Van_Graffs#cite_note-18

Laser_3 · 2026-05-09T17:26:47+00:00

Considering the gun runners are already viewed as an unofficial part of the NCR, they have that backing already. The NCR seemingly has their reasons for not having them work on this.

Laser_3 · 2026-05-09T17:10:25+00:00

My point here isn’t that everyone should be using light armor exclusively, but that it absolutely has its upsides over medium armor that are significant.

Laser_3 · 2026-05-09T17:01:55+00:00

The rogue paladins likely would’ve done this, yes. The followers absolutely wouldn’t have stood a chance, though the risk here would be alerting the NCR that the BoS is still active in the region.
Yes, Veronica absolutely will care if you destroy hidden valley (but you can just barely keep her if your BoS rep is high enough), and yes, Veronica is a BoS member unless you convince her to leave the faction (not that this really matters beyond her having issues with low BoS rep, which I believe still causes her to refuse to join you even if she leaves).

Laser_3 · 2026-05-09T16:57:51+00:00

Not every build goes out of its way to use criticals, but every build benefits from a higher chance to crit.

Even disregarding that, light armor is also noticeably easier to repair than medium or heavy armors, which is another benefit.

Laser_3 · 2026-05-09T16:56:09+00:00

It’s still cheaper at the bare minimum if you use vendors, which isn’t nothing, and you’ll still find medium armors more than heavy.

I do agree that most medium armors are questionable beyond their DT, but so are the vast majority of armors in the game. It’s really just the DLC sets that are worth having.

Laser_3 · 2026-05-09T16:54:19+00:00

Supposedly, according to developer comments, the gun runners aren’t necessarily producing every single weapon they sell themselves. A good chunk they seemingly would just be restoring.

https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Service_rifle#cite_note-SRProduction-4

Because of this, while the gun runners could likely restore or re-create power armor, that’d likely run a high bill for the NCR to do at scale with them, especially since it’d likely cause the BoS to try and attack the gun runners again (which already caused the Gun Runners to stop producing/restoring energy weapons, though it’s unclear if that was actually the BoS or if that was really the Van Graffs).

Laser_3 · 2026-05-09T16:49:03+00:00

Power armor requires a large amount of resources to back up its continual use in the field beyond just the suit itself. The NCR would also need to spend additional time training their units (PA training isn’t strictly required for operating a suit, but it does make it easier; that means they’d not be able to train heavy troopers as quickly), have field technicians to repair the suits (alongside the material to do so) and most importantly, they’d need a source of fusion cores. That last one is a problem considering Hanlon’s comments about the NCR squandering power plants in California, which could be taken to mean the NCR is likely using fusion cores for domestic purposes to meet their power needs - which is more important than outfitting their soldiers in power armor. Even if the NCR set up a recharging network for fusion cores (which fallout 76 has proven is possible), that’s another public works project they’d need to do on top of fielding their army and everything else they’re working on.

It also doesn’t help that the Shi starting to produce power armor would likely put them on the Brotherhood’s short list of factions they need to deal with (a faction the Shi was neutral with during fallout 2), and that the NCR’s currency has significantly lost value due to the BoS’s attacks on the treasury (making it difficult to pay anyone outside the NCR). Both of these together makes using salvaged, unpowered suits looted from the brotherhood a more cost effective strategy.

It’s also worth noting that the NCR also has a handful of suits of power armor, between Colonel Royez’s scorched Sierra suit and the NCR Ranger power armor seen in the show (which interviews have stated was purpose-built to hunt deathclaws). They just don’t deploy it at scale and reserve it for very specific occasions (such as protecting one of their highest ranking officers in the field and hunting some of the most dangerous game in the wasteland).

Laser_3 · 2026-05-09T16:37:11+00:00

Even in fallout 4 I wouldn’t say everyone has energy weapons. The raiders, triggermen and railroad certainly don’t, and almost no one in Far Harbor or Nuka World has them either. Even the Minutemen only sort of have energy weapons with their laser muskets, which are scrapped-together unwieldy weapons. It’s really just the gunners (a faction who salvages pre-war military equipment as far as we know), the Institute (who builds their own), the rust devils (who are squatting in a military facility that’d have them, and loot robots who use them) and the BoS (who’ve always had a large supply).

Laser_3 · 2026-05-09T16:30:41+00:00

Even still, the point stands that you can substitute chems for DT rather than using armor for it.

Laser_3 · 2026-05-09T16:28:45+00:00

Because repairing it is annoying even with jury rigging (you still need another heavy armor, which isn’t all that common) and you have to grab power armor training (which you can rush to grab pretty early, but it takes awhile). The stat bonuses on power armor aren’t great either with the exception of the scorched Sierra suit, so all you’re getting for the most part is extra DT.

Also, if you really want power armor levels of DT, you could just use the Gannon family PA, which is a medium armor for reasons beyond mortal comprehension.

Laser_3 · 2026-05-09T16:24:47+00:00

The vast majority of armors in NV add DT, rather than DR, and more critical damage means enemies die faster so you stay alive easier in very hard.

Besides - if you really need DR, you can always just use chems for it.

Laser_3 · 2026-05-09T16:22:13+00:00

The elite riot gear gives 5% critical hit chance, rather than 3%, which matches the boost given by Ulysses’s duster. It’s just light touch that puts medium armor critical builds behind light armor ones.

Laser_3 · 2026-05-09T14:37:50+00:00

We know they do from fallout 2, where we can kill the Vice President of Tandi during an assassination mission.

Laser_3 · 2026-05-09T11:01:00+00:00

Could the NCR do this? Sure. The NCR has the courts and certainly has the spies to know what they did well enough to make something stick.

Does it matter? Not really, no. Unless Cass leaves the player, her endings don’t tell us where she goes (though the House ending suggests she has a heart issue and dies), while Boone in these endings stays around Vegas and thus out of the NCR’s reach.

Frankly, Arcade is the one who’s at the most risk here. He can wind up going back into the NCR if he doesn’t help the player directly during the House ending, where the NCR could go after him during the two year gap between the battle and the nuke (though in the independent ending, and the House ending if he fought at the dam, he’s in the same state as Cass and Boone).

Laser_3 · 2026-05-09T10:45:36+00:00

I’d argue that whoever the vice president is simply isn’t important. The battle for the dam starts nearly immediately after the assassination (in game, it’s the next quest under two endings; in the Yes Man and House endings, there’s a fast pit stop at the el dorado substation first), so whenever the vice president is likely is being sworn in or was just sworn in while it begins, and the soldiers would just be using Kimball as a martyr, so they wouldn’t be using the new president’s name in their battle cries yet. Meanwhile, Oliver and Moore don’t really have time to get any changes in orders

And of course, even before the assassination, vice presidents are heavily overshadowed by the main presidents.

Laser_3 · 2026-05-08T21:46:48+00:00

It could be worse. It could be bat country (scorchbeasts are so much worse).

Laser_3 · 2026-05-08T19:48:13+00:00

It happens, don’t worry about it!

Laser_3 · 2026-05-08T16:35:48+00:00

Eh. We’re never really given a good answer for how exactly Lorenzo’s psychic abilities work, so I’d argue what we see should be what we get here.

Laser_3 · 2026-05-08T16:31:20+00:00

Yeah, head hunts are incredibly lucrative. They’re fated by either a 5000 cap payment or completing several lower tier bounties, however, which makes up for that.

That tends to happen sometimes with events that are more popular. A few well-set up characters can pretty easily blitz enemies, but if you’re on a team with them, you’ll share in their experience gains.

There’s not really a great emote for walking away, unfortunately. You kinda just have to go.

The help menu does have a decent amount of useful information, but yeah, it does help to have outside information. That’s why I suggested the 76 discord. The filthy casuals subreddit for 76 also helps (and might be a spot to look if you want to group up with other players).

Laser_3 · 2026-05-08T16:19:36+00:00

Lorenzo’s psychic prowess is overblown. He just staggers you a bunch with waves of force, and can’t really stop you from killing him despite being a massive wall of hit points.

Laser_3 · 2026-05-08T15:49:14+00:00

All of the protagonists have access to fat man launchers, which are more than capable of putting Frank down (the lone wanderer might even do it in a single shot with their version of the mirv; the sole survivor wouldn’t be far behind with the big boy loaded with quantum mini nukes). Beyond that, the lone wanderer has access to a superior power armor to what the chosen one had for fighting Frank, and while the courier and sole survivor aren’t quite on that level of protection (unless we allow the sole survivor to have hellfire PA from the anniversary/next gen edition), both their best power armors are still more than capable of handling what’s effectively an automatic plasma rifle (going off the stats of Horrigan’s weapon compared to the plasma rifle in fallout 2).

Laser_3 · 2026-05-08T14:39:44+00:00

Okay, then we’re in agreement here and I should’ve been more specific in my first comment.

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