Who I picked Edit

After much thinking, much retrospection, and many many files...

I have ultimately decided that NCR should be in control of the land.

I will start by telling you why.

NCR Edit

The NCR, where to begin...

Everyone likes to paint them as a bunch of tax hungry, imperialistic, and inept fighting force of bullies. But the thing is, the citizens realise that.

Everywhere you go it's "probably a son of a politician this" and "you owe me a favor" that. Ranger Jackson said that greed would kill NCR if the infighting (or was it Legion?) didn't. Private Halford's crew died as a result of and inept commander of which he trekked the wasteland to let the brass know. Cass says plenty of colorful things about NCR's incompetance. Nathan (the warden of NCRCF) if he was still alive would testify that troops aren't being allocated well if at all. Every soldier in Folorn Hope and any soldier who knew about it would say that whole place was a mess thanks to fractured supply lines, which were so because the Mojave Outpost was clogged due to standing orders for no other reason then to protect mainland California from the Legion. The commanders at Camp Searchlight attested to how poorly patrols functioned due to constant changes and brass would have nothing to do about it. Ranger Station Charlie recieved too much medicine for no reason, Alpha too much ammo. I'm pretty sure I could find other examples but I really don't want to, and I'm sure you get the point.

But if you don't, the point is is that the soldiers think their politicians are incapable of leading the NCR and only put up with it due to a chain of command and payment. All the NCR needs is someone to reform it, someone to make it better, someone like Tandi... someone like... the Courier.

Now, I know any faction would be better off with you at the helm, but here's why the NCR is the best in this regard.

• First off, the NCR, hopefully, has an open ballot to any participants who wish to be president so it's easier than the other factions to become the leader of it.
• Secondly, the Courier knows almost every soldier in the NCR's army to get good support (if you side with them of course) both in the election and possible reformations.
• The Courier has been places and seen things, made relations with factions deemed hazardous and can persuade them to be peaceful to the NCR, factions that ordinarily wouldn't help the Legion, FotA, BoS, and Primm (I suppose) so the bitterness of NCR's imperialism could at the ver least, be sweetened by your open mindedness (assuming you are).
• Now, I know the Courier has no governing experience outside his forgotten experiences of the Divide, but I'm sure that with all of his/her money, his/her contacts in the army, and experience in the wastes with other factions he/she would be more than capable to be the president then perhaps the current president.

But what makes the NCR any different than the other factions in this regard?

I'll tell you!

Caesar's Legion Edit

Caesar's Legion, easily admittable to be the most disciplined, the most devoted, and the most successful out of all the combat options available to you.

The Legion has one fatal weakspot however, and I'm sure you know what it is, but for those who don't it's the old argument that the Legion's problem is the fact that it is Caesar's Legion.

Let me explain, Caesar is a guy who is educated and knows what he's doing, that much is true. Can other people do what he did, education-wise yes, determination-wise probably not becaue it would've been done already right?

But the point is is that Edward Sallow took advantage of his knowledge and made himself seem as some kind of god in front of the tribes that he forcibly unified.

Does this create a more zealous army? Oh yes. But is that a good thing? I'm going to contest, no. It creates a nation with a strong belief perserverance and the belief bias that accompanies it. That means, that people will continue to believe something that is false in light of contradicting evidence which could lead to confirmation bias in which people will only look for things that proove their preconceptions.

What does this all mean? This means that when the aging and unhealthy (I know right?) Caesar dies, his people will be taken aback and faulter as they believe that he's some kind of god, those out of his inner circle anyways.

So even if someone as impressive as the Courier took the helm, the people would either have to believe that he has some divine importance or they'll have to go against their former Caesar.

Could you just kill everyone who oppossed you? Oh yes, and you could also overturn laws very easily when everyone fears you. Unfortunately, their'd be less people to rule. Powerful individuals who are the most likely to oppose you would also oppose your rule and would have to die, preventing the utilization of their talents.

Would you have to overturn their laws? Well no, but couldn't you teach them how to maintain and manufacture firearms as well as medicine and actually teach them to think for themselves instead of doing all the thinking? I'd much rather do that, even if it does make them materialistic, they'll still be disciplined and this discipline is key.

When the Legion grows too large, when the Legion conquers all there is to conquer, when the Legion eliminates all opposition, the Legion must then consume itself. Their governing style doesn't encourage the masses to make educated decisions based on scarcity and limitations. As far as they're concerned, there's always the next fight for the glory of Caesar and they don't event consider what happens after.

If that doesn't cut it, Caesar would run out of material to copy off of the old Caesar. He wouldn't know what to do in a time of peace because quite frankly, the old Caesar died before he could do that and Edward doesn't express exactly what it is he would do in the long run. As far as he's concerned, he just wishes to enact what the old Caesar did, keep gaining power, not knowing what to do in peace.

That's why the Courier would have to come in (eventually) and the Legion just isn't the best for that. But it's still quite a formidable option.

House Edit

I got to be very careful about what I say about House, I pissed off a few people before...

House, a genius, a systematic algorithmic thinker, un-hindered by emotion, and focused only on results.

His way of thinking gauruntees results, but what results?

If I were to compare House to something it would be a vending machine. He doesn't care what's really going on, all he cares about is providing the consumer with whatever it is they want for the appropriate price based on simple supply and demand.

In that regard, House is the perfect man for the job. But what if the supply runs out?

Well that's easy, just go out and space and get some more. But what if there isn't any? What if it costs too much to retrieve resources from space? What if it takes too long and people begin to die?

Judging from House, he would say that it is either impossible or irrelevant. He would either find what he's looking for or eliminate the problem. He doesn't care who dies, he doesn't care who lives. He doesn't wish to govern people's lives, become their friends, act for any other purpose other than materialism.

The profit is all the matters, because to supply the demand the next day requires that profit and the cycle continues. To House, that cycle is un-breakable, nevermind that the world ended because stuff ran out, and forget about outside factors such as patriotism and nationalism that nuked what was left of any market economy.

House doesn't seem to realize that the House doesn't win when an mob breaks through a casino's doors and takes everything of value. In his mind, everyone plays by his rules, and he always wins when they do. That is how the Courier is capable of killing him. He had no security in his stasis chamber, no password on the terminal, no hyper-advanced encryption algorithms. To him, anyone breaking his rules seemed... impossible.

And the sad thing is, he needed you. He thinks he can get by with his robots who are under his complete control and is reluctant to talk to anyone else, hell he'll only talk to you. Without you House is nothing, his robots are imperfect, therfore his power, is non-existant. If House had a robot as versatile as a human, he'd never speak to anyone ever again, I'm 100% certain about that.

That is why he covets snow globes so much, they're enclosed environments that are in a contained and controlled stasis that are perfect and organized. An environment that he likes, and environment that he wishes to create.

The world isn't a snowglobe, and it never will be, and House doesn't/can't realize that.

I understand House is an extroardinarily smart man, I understand that he has many resources, and I understand that he has a lot of knowledge. But in his world, there is him and there are the consumers. Nothing and no one else.

Please comment regarding House, there's numerous things I could've missed addressing and I wish to do that (who knows, you might convince me otherwise).

Yes Man Edit

But Ever, if you think the Courier knows best, then why didn't you pick this option?

I'll tell you.

It's because the courier could lead more than just vegas and perhaps vegas and something else if he/she really wanted to. Vegas is pretty alright, the securitrons are quite formidable (as formidable as the other armies anyway), and the area would be very easy to maintain.

But you'd be making enemies in the process for not as much reward overall.

If the NCR doesn't fracture after such a costly loss in Vegas, than they're going to dry up your economy, if their legislature can do something about it, and cause you trouble in the immediate ensuing anarchy because of all their troop concentrations.

The Legion's, well, the Legion. They'd just want to destroy you for what you are, and if Caesar and Lanius are dead, then you'd get the same from them as you would the NCR but at the same time.

So basically, you've reduced post-apocalyptic america from two rather successful nations into fractured ones just to create an economic entity that's frozen there due to being beleagured by other factions.

Is it something? Yes, but could it be more? Yes, and that's why I didn't choose the Independance option. Too much negative aspects, too much opportunity cost.

Elijah Edit

I have to admit, his idea wasn't that bad.

But unfortunately, it wasn't sealed tight.

His plan relied on technologies that may or may not have suffered from limitations and complications.

What if the vending machines only accepted sierra madre chips? What if you couldn't reprogram them? What if they emitted particles that they didn't use to feed the cloud (which I'm almost certain is the same thing as gaseous red tiberium!)? What if the cloud grows out of control? What if you can't come up with a cure? What good is it if the people are in a police state? What's the point then?

As you can see, there's a lot more questions here and not enough answers.

Elijah is running out of time and relies on technologies to solve all of his problems. He's just like House but without the robots, he shares his mentality and his priorities.

Therfore he is just like him and I don't need to go into detail again regarding why that is bad.

Once Again Edit

That is why I picked NCR, you could easily control it compared to other factions, and control more in comparison to Independence.

You could easily reform it to become better and share your gathered technologies.

You could for alliances and such that were agreed upon to prevent revolutionary uprisings as a result of NCR's imperialism.

You could coordinate everything accordingly as you've seen things and done things that you are now in control of (instead of being a hero in a war and suddenly controlling decision making).

You could make the NCR the way Tandi made it, a good decision making democracy with realistic perceptions of the post-post-apocalyptic world, embracing it instead of wishing to remake the world that ended itself.

I know that was alot, and I know some of you might be fuming at me right now, but please, feel free to reply below, and go easy on chewing me out... please?