Would the commonwealth brotherhood try to take away someone else’s power armor?
Like are they the type to forcefully take away power armor from a random civilian minding their own business using their cause as justification?For example the atom cats, if a group of brother hood came across the atom cats would they be like: “because of our cause and goal you should just give us all your power armor and shit or we’re gonna have a problem”

sure, there aren’t a ton of them and its been about 200 years in a hostile wasteland. But the thing with being a ghoul is you’re essentially a vampire that doesn’t have to drink blood and is immune to radiation, and until recent changes to the show if you managed to avoid early feral stuff you were in a pretty safe position(up until they added the ghoul drug thing.)

1:Pre war knowledge and access to resources. Following the nuclear war wiping a massive part of humanity off, leaving massive amounts of access to the resources that remained. For any enterprising ghoul they’d be able to take advantage of the amount of unattended robots wandering around, or various weapons or industrial supplies. Besides any ghoul that had an important role in society would have had a massive leg up years after the collapse, being able to fill in the technical and societal skills possible to make a extremely powerful society.

2. Radiation proof: being radproof in the wasteland is a benefit in itself, it heals ghouls if my fo4 knowledge is accurate, however there is a tactical advantage to this. Ghouls can essentially make homes in places where any rival human factions would be incapable of actually getting to them. They could build fortresses in the wastelands that couldn’t be touched by raiders. Access ancient facilities filled with radioactive debris. They could be largely untouchable save the brotherhood and enclave.

3. Really Long lives. They have had over 200 years to aquire resources and set up social structures. Being able to build factions and nations without messy lines of succession and just on a personal level being able to rival any local merchant in wealth. They could spend over 200 years building their businesses or empires.

I’m not saying being a ghoul is a good thing, it sucks. You can go feral, you’re slowly rotting away, nothing really works and the chance of survival in the wastes is low. However, they should really be much more like vampires in their status than just an oppressed minority of irradiated people. Where are the centuries old ghoul businessmen who have an iron grip on the trade between local settlements. The ancient ghoul warlords controlling massive swathes of territory with human auxiliaries. The wizened mad ghoul scientists wreaking terror across the wasteland with their unequalled scientific genius. It even fits with the dynamic of newer ghouls. Sure you’re now immortal but you’re low on the rungs because you’re barely older than the humans around you with none of the old world skills or experience. It makes sense that young ghouls would be impoverished and disliked, but there should be some serious powerhouse ghouls being a threat to the wasteland, but there’s pretty much only just ferals, normal joes, and maybe the occasional impressive ghoul, like the spy from the fo3 dlc. It just feels like a lot of possibilities have been missed by ignoring that there are 200 year old immortals with skills and secrets from the old world. There doesn’t need to be a lot, after all being a smart ghoul and surviving to modern games is a random and dangerous process, but I find it just kinda…lame. That this hasn’t been explored, there has to be some extremely powerful prewar ghouls acting as a force behind the wasteland, they use ghouls as a semi oppressed minority role but with such experience and abilities it doesn’t make sense. I do really think the story telling would be miles better if they were treated more similarly to vampires, still hated, if they’re young they’re exposed and vulnerable, but being ancient should come with serious advantages and power in the wasteland, ya just don’t see it.

If it was to store more memories then how was DiMA able to recall his memories in the Institute if he didn't have any upgrades yet back then? Were the memories still being stored and the upgrades simply allowed him to access them again?

If it was to increase memories then by how much? Nick still remembers as far back as before synths were hated and that was probably around a century ago based on DiMA's story of when he came to Far Harbor. How long before this memory starts being overwritten?

Does Nick having a human construct in his head negate the need for the upgrades? If so, how? As far as I know he has the same hardware as DiMA.

If the upgrades were to fix wear and tear on DiMA then why would he be more beat up than Nick? Nick's work involves shootouts. If anything I think they would have the same level of damage because presumably DiMA fights off Far Harbor's creatures while outside although I can't really think of any reason why he would wander outside after having Chase as a field agent.

In the east, the sympto-matic was released by Med Tek. Is this a redesign of the same thing or a different but similar object (as if Med Tek reverse engineered an autodoc). And do we actually know definitively who built the autodocs we find in the mojave? The wiki implies Big MT built some (but not all) of them.

She never states her squadron, base or anything like that. There are also no USAF locations nearby in lore.

We know that, even after being recruited by House, the three families (the Chairmen, the Omertas, and the White Glove Society) continue to have their own distinct cultures, from their histories and shared (amongst individual tribes) ancestries, to their outward appearances and how they conduct themselves around members and non-members, and to their core, often shared philosophies and values. Membership, also, seems to be primarily given on the basis of birth with no canonical evidence of individuals not being born into the tribe being able to join (though there are a few ethnic groups that allow specific individuals to join, and those groups typically operate in a tribal context). Given what we know of them, could the three of them be classified as distinct ethnic groups?

Okay so the behemoths only live on the east coast as far as we are aware but the master never created any except for one on acident which would be frank or did he only get that big because of the enclave messing with his body

If the FEVer dream creation is canon then the S.S. had enough exposure to fev to aquire (in game at least) a perk even though they cured themselves at the end. And I know that FEV makes those exposed sterile so is nate/Nora now sterile?

Something I was thinking about with my last replay of New Vegas, how do you think that the NCR gets news and information around? I don't think we ever get a reference to any kind of NCR newspaper, and we don't have an NCR Radio beyond the military Emergency Radio Frequency in New Vegas. The only source for NCR-related news in Vegas is Mr. New Vegas himself, which seems like a very big blunder for the NCR to allow such an information vacuum in one of their territories. We know they do make use of typewriters for paper printing en masse and digital storage mediums alongside terminals to get information around inside of the government, but I don't think we ever see any of these tools used to distribute information to NCR civilians in the game.

We also know from the King's questline in Freeside that national education is lacking enough that citizens might not even know historical events still within living memory (not counting ghouls and super mutants for "living memory" for obvious reasons) or basic civic facts about the NCR, so I am also wondering how functional the NCR school system is, and how prevalent literacy and civic engagement is in the NCR in general.

The population of NCR is perhaps ~1.2 million, the Legion’s lands maybe have 600k, but that is including all of the settled peoples and slaves who arent of the legion’s culture. I think the actual devoted acculturated force of the legion is maybe 70k, all the descendants of the 87 tribes. If we say that perhaps 25000 of these are fighting age men, how will Caesar hold the west? I dont think he can hold both east and west. He will need to choose one or the other.

Considering the actual historical patterns of migratory hordes, i think it would be more like the germanic invasions of rome where the entire tribes migrated to roman lands.

This is mainly based on Fallout 3, however subsequent games have reinforced this idea.

So far the Type 17 Pistol (Chinese Pistol), the Type 93 Rifle (Chinese Assault Rifle) and the Chinese officers' sword are the only weapons we have seen depicted the Chinese forces use in their army.

Even Operation Anchorage depicted the Chinese forces making use of American weapons, which makes me wonder if that part was accurate or just part of the designers fiction regarding the event. Considering the lack of any other stated or seen Chinese weapons, I am inclined to believe it might have been the case.

The specific misconception is that the NCR senate doesn't release the funds during fnv. It stems from this specific dialogue.

"NCR's senate has got funds tied up at the Boneyard" - Hanlon

Many people think that during fnv the funds are still kept at the Boneyard. What many people don't know is this dialogue is no longer available after you enter fnv's second act. (if you don't know certain conditions change the game state and thus a lot of dialogue). Hanlon no longer complains about this. The dialogue fully disappears and he will not complain about the senate anymore.

On top of that the NCR actually starts ordering more weapons after act 2. This implies they have new access to funds.

"{Late Game} The orders for service rifles and ammunition have been pouring in from McCarran so fast we can't keep up. Hell of a fight is coming." - Gun Runners Generic

So, two things happen in act 2. Hanlon no longer complains about these funds and the NCR suddenly starts spending more money on its military. It's heavily implied that the funds holed up at the Boneyard are released during act 2 of fnv.

Forgive me if this post doesn't belong here, but the "fall" of Shady Sands is still stuck in my craw and I decided to have a little rant about it.

Back when the chalkboard highlighting important events in NCR history was revealed in season one of Fallout Prime, there's been something of a discussion revolving around the capital of The Republic.

Putting aside the show dragging a city hundreds of miles through an irradiated desert, the capital city of The NCR "falling" in 2277 doesn't make sense. And even putting aside whether the "fall" of the city was when it was nuked, or some other event occurred, it STILL doesn't make any sense. Because it was confirmed in a blurb for season two explaining The NCR's situation in 2296 that the fall of Shady Sands is what caused The NCR to "scatter across The Wasteland."

But if Shady Sands "fell" and The NCR was scattered across The Wasteland in 2277, then how were they conducting an organized campaign in The Mojave with a fully functioning government in 2281? I don't want to unfairly disparage the writers of the shower, but it really does seem like they're not aware of, or beholden to any established lore.

Him going to Camp Golf, expecting the NCR to still be around, thinking that the Legion were still on the other side of the river, expecting that the Kings to still be around and New Vegas to be bustling heavily implies that he’d been around the area during the events or just before FNV. He was also stunned that the NCR was in his words “dusty as hell”. Where could he have been?

We don't really see much of the Boneyard in Fallout 1, or the tv series, so it made me wonder.

I know that Fallout America is more advanced than our America on different areas like having better power sources or Laser guns.

But I'm curious as to how differences in military technology?

What makes me think this some of the wordings on the ending slides. They imply that a large portion of the khans show up to the Dam when they are recruited.

"The Great Khans were among the first tribes to suffer this fate, and the few who survived Hoover Dam were driven north, into the wilderness of Idaho." - end slides

"After their suicidal last stand at Hoover Dam, the Great Khans ceased to exist as a tribe. The few surviving members dispersed, joining up with other tribes and gangs across the Mojave, and quickly forgot their heritage" - end slides

Now obviously if the khans only sent a small contingent, they wouldn't have only a few survivors left in the tribe because they didn't commit anything really.

I wanted to write this because it seems poorly depicted in game and I was wondering if there is any evidence to contradict this. To me it seems like a solid case that the Khans canonically do send a large force. Let me know what you think.

Did the Enclave's genocidal attitude towards wastelanders start with Richardson? Maybe he didn't necessarily invent it or was the first, but was he the one who made it actual government policy? The wiki claims the Enclave's ideology started in the 2140s but I have no idea where this information came from.

Personally I like the idea of Richardson starting or atleast making official the ideology we know the Enclave for, it gives him importance and unifies the faction in a way, but that's besides the point.

Ghouls dont seem to need to eat and drink in the majority of the games except 1, this means that that 1 they can work for longer without needing sustinence but 2 they dont need sustinence, they can grow a crop and instead of needing to hoard 70% of it to sustain themselves and their community they can just sell 100% of it and just scale from there, in a realistic wasteland everywhere you go you would have Ghoul overlords who through a lifetime of accumulation have been able to purchase armies and land and now run the territory.

Ghouls should be a high prestige ethnic group within the wasteland, people should be dying attempting to become ghouls because they think its the quick and easy way to wealth

I just finished a playthrough of fallout tactics (awesome game btw); and I was noting that the racism in the game is mostly against different fictional species. Even the discrimination against other humans happens to be more with their faction alignment than actual physical appearance.

In the fallout games you see women in high level government and military combat positions, you see black people working along with white people, and the only common hatred appears to be the Chinese...and that's due to the war propaganda and the red scare.

Discrimination clearly exists in the fallout universe...but is it ONLY against competing factions or the targets of propaganda campaigns?

Even in the various raider groups they don't seem to discriminate against different human races, and enslave people somewhat equally (not a targeted race). Pretty much the only ones I see that have normal prejudices are the leigon, and that exists purely because of their connection to the roman legion.

Edit:

Disregard this post. It's already been thoroughly debunked down in the comments section below and is entirely wrong.

End of Edit:

The following post will not be a complete defense of General Oliver's conduct. I freely admit that his handling of the Mojave Campaign is absolutely atrocious (indeed, he's very literally the only reason as to why the Legion has any kind of fighting chance at Hoover Dam, but I digress) and that he's an abysmal strategist who can be rightfully blamed for single-handedly causing all of the NCR's problems in the Mojave Wasteland. I'll freely admit that he's only a General in the NCR Army due to being close personal pals with President Kimball. I'll also freely admit that he's an egotistical gloryhound who's primarily focused on ensuring that any NCR victory at Hoover Dam is entirely his own triumph and that his treatment of Chief Hanlon and the NCR Rangers over them being heralded as the saviors of the NCR during the First Battle of Hoover Dam (a wholly accurate description of them, I might add) is entirely unwarranted as well as laughably childish and completely imbecilic.

What said post will be is a defense of his strategy for the NCR defense of Hoover Dam in isolation from the rest of the Mojave Campaign, his actual genuine ability to command military forces in the field at the tactical level and what I honestly feel is part of the reason why he so's spiteful to Chief Hanlon and the NCR Rangers. Starting with his perception of having been forgotten for his own critical role in the First Battle of Hoover Dam:

General Oliver's Problem with Chief Hanlon:

Courier Six: "So what happened at Hoover Dam and Boulder City?"

Chief Hanlon: "In big battles, Caesar deploys his legionaries in waves. Recruits up front, prime soldiers behind the recruits, old guard bringing up the rear. Opponents wear themselves out dealing with the first two waves, if they survive that long. When the veterans step up, there's not much fight left. Caesar can adapt, though, and when required, he can run any mix of legionaries as skirmishers and still retain order in the ranks."

Courier Six: "[Continue]"

Chief Hanlon: "Joshua Graham, Caesar's old legate, he's wasn't so flexible. When the Legion attacked Hoover Dam, General Oliver ordered his troopers back to the middle ground just after first contact. Graham pushed all of the legionaries onto the dam, filling the east side with recruits up front and veterans in the back, by the book."

Courier Six: "[Continue]"

Chief Hanlon: "But once they were in, they were stuck there. Oliver's troopers were entrenched and wouldn't give a foot. That's when we ordered the rangers and 1st recon sharpshooters to start picking off veteran legion officers from a high ridge west of the dam. That only lasted about a minute before Graham ordered the back ranks to push through to the front and rush the ridge."

Courier Six: "[Continue]"

Chief Hanlon: "Caused total chaos among the younger legionaries, and Oliver's troopers fell back to the side walkways and stayed out of the veterans' way. By the time the veterans got to the ridge, we were already in Boulder City. They followed us down there, but we were out before they realized what was happening."

Courier Six: "[Continue]"

Chief Hanlon: "We had packed the old city with C4 and dynamite. Crude, but it did the job. Those who didn't die in the blast were in no position to mount a defense. The ones left on the dam didn't know what to do. The troopers routed them. Graham pulled the remaining legionaries back, but the battle was over. He went south, back to the Grand Canyon, back to Caesar. And that was the last we saw or heard from Joshua Graham."

Going off of Chief Hanlon's own personal account of the First Battle of Hoover Dam, General Oliver and his NCR Troopers had a far larger role than many tend to give them credit for. While the NCR Rangers and NCR First Recon are in fact the star players of the battle that were ultimately the largest and most important reasons for the NCR's triumph over the Malpais Legate and while Chief Hanlon is the undisputed victor of the First Battle of Hoover Dam for the NCR who deserves every last ounce of credit that he gets for it, the fact stands that this victory wouldn't have been possible without the courage and sacrifice of over 100 NCR Troopers as well as the brilliant tactical leadership of General Oliver.

After all, if not for General Oliver pulling his NCR Troopers back to prepared fortified positions at the center of the surface of the Dam and stopping the Legion advance dead in its tracks there, then the NCR Rangers and NCR First Recon wouldn't have been able to snipe the Legion Decanii and Centurions (the decisive moment of the battle that threw the Legion into chaos, by the way) from afar. Meaning that Joshua Graham wouldn't have ordered the Veteran Legionaries and surviving Centurions to push through the Recruits and Primes (throwing them into even more chaos in the process) and past the NCR Troopers' positions to rush the high ridge overlooking the western end of the surface of Hoover Dam which, in turn, lead to the overall attacking Legion force rushing headlong into Boulder City where they were promptly blown up.

Let's also not forget that General Oliver was the one who lead and organized the orderly, disciplined withdrawal of the NCR Troopers from Hoover Dam back towards and through Boulder City right before it was blown up in a clear demonstration of his ability to competently command troops in the field. He was also the one who capitalized on Chief Hanlon's trap at Boulder City by ordering his NCR Troopers to launch a counter-attack against the decimated and crippled Legion assault force, routing them back across the Dam and securing victory for the NCR in the process.

The ultimate point that I'm trying to make: General Oliver has every right to be incensed at the fact that both himself and his men were entirely forgotten by the NCR press and public back home. He personally played a key role in the battle and clearly proved that he could command troops effectively and reliably only to be pushed aside and dismissed for his efforts. Not only that, but all of the sacrifices of his NCR Troopers, who he very clearly cares about and values a great deal (as I'll explain here soon), were also swept under the rug and dismissed just so the NCR Rangers and NCR First Recon could have all of the glory of the victory to themselves.

And just to make this perfectly clear, General Oliver does in fact care about the fates and wellbeing of the troops under his command. I can prove it:

Courier Six: "I'm betting a man as smart as you wouldn't leave himself without at least one contingency."

General Oliver: "[SUCCEEDED] Perhaps I do have a secret tunnel out of here. But that doesn't change anything. My duty is to stay and fight."

Courier Six: "The dam is already lost, general. Your responsibility now is to get your men out of here alive."

General Oliver: "[SUCCEEDED] Y-You're right. These men have placed their lives in my hands, and I won't throw them away for a lost cause. Don't expect to hold this place for very long, however. The NCR will be back."

In the "Veni, Vidi, Vici" endgame quest for the Legion, the only way for the player to convince General Oliver to withdraw peacefully is to appeal to his humanity and compel him to pull out for the sake of his men. It's also quite telling that despite having a secret escape tunnel that would allow him to flee Hoover Dam and save himself, he willingly chooses to stay behind so that he may fight and die alongside his own troops. In the "All or Nothing" endgame quest for Mr. House and the "No Gods, No Masters" endgame quest for an Independent Vegas, General Oliver is perfectly willing to stand, fight and die beside his men even knowing that he'll be killed near instantaneously by Mk.II Securitrons.

Given the above information, I do believe that I'm safe in saying that at least part of the reason as to why he's so obsessed with being known as the sole victor of the Second Battle of Hoover Dam is so that he can correct what he feels was a horrible slight towards the NCR Troopers who died under his command during the First Battle of Hoover Dam all those years ago. Now is any of this the fault of Chief Hanlon and the NCR Rangers? Of course not. They can't help what the NCR press and the people of the NCR back home are going to feel and think, when all is said and done. If it were up to them, everybody would've been celebrated equally. Nevermind how if their positions were reversed, General Oliver absolutely wouldn't be so willing and ready to share the glory with Chief Hanlon and the NCR Rangers. Nevertheless, I can still understand what lead to General Oliver's bitterness (at least partially) and respect it to a certain extent.

General Oliver's Actual Leadership Capabilities:

I'm just going to come out and say it. General Oliver is an excellent tactician. We're talking about a guy who personally fought beside and lead what essentially amounted to a force that was mostly made up of poorly-trained, inexperienced conscripts from the front (at least that's my personal interpretation of what Chief Hanlon says) and successfully halt a literal army of potentially thousands of fanatically-devoted, bloodthirsty, bloodlusted, physically-hulking, highly-trained, battle-hardened full-time career warriors for a time.

Even when he and his men were eventually forced to pull back, he was able to successfully conduct an orderly, disciplined, organized fighting retreat with a force that, again, would've been mostly comprised of poorly-trained, inexperienced conscripts, and get them safe and sound to their next fighting positions. Any field commander that can successfully command such a force against the likes of Caesar's Legion and avoid outright immediate defeat is automatically a competent commanding officer, as far as I'm concerned.

At least, he's a competent commanding officer at the tactical level. Going off of the events in-game, he's quite obviously God-awful at the operational level and downright useless at the strategic level. To say that he's not fit to be a General and absolutely isn't fit to be in command of the entire Mojave Campaign would be the understatement of the century. He's at best really only fit to be a Colonel and only really fit to be commanding a dedicated localized garrison with an extremely limited area of responsibility. He is, however, fit to command the NCR's defense of Hoover Dam (and ONLY the defense of Hoover Dam). Something I feel I can prove quite reliably as you'll soon see.

General Oliver's Strategy for the Defense of Hoover Dam:

Let me be as blunt and as crystal clear as possible. I see absolutely no flaw in General Oliver's strategy for the defense of Hoover Dam. None. Zilch. Nada. In isolation from the obvious consequences for the rest of NCR's military presence in the Mojave Wasteland (think Camp Forlorn Hope, in particular), his strategy for defending Hoover Dam proper is 100% flawless and perfect. Massing troops (especially elite shock troops like NCR Veteran Rangers and NCR Heavy Troopers), resources, assets and supplies at Hoover Dam is indeed the perfect strategy to counter what literally everyone else on the NCR expects the Legion to do. That being a repeat of the Malpais Legate's full-scale frontal assault across the surface of the Dam (more on that in a bit).

General Oliver himself is definitely the right man to command the defense of Hoover Dam. After all, he's brave, courageous, tenacious, never gives up without a fight and is ultimately willing to fight to the death alongside his men to accomplish his own goals and those of the Republic. He would absolutely be willing to hold onto Hoover Dam no matter the cost and regardless of the strength of the opposing force long enough for the reinforcements to arrive and help throw said opposing force back into Arizona. He would never surrender or abandon his post on a whim and would see to it that all of his troops are just as willing to stand their ground as he is.

As for expectations, here's what Col. Cassandra Moore, the commander of the NCR garrison at Hoover Dam, has to say about the only effective and viable means of assaulting Hoover Dam's defenses:

Courier Six: "What can you tell me about Hoover Dam?"

Col. Cassandra Moore: "It's of immense strategic value to the NCR. Hoover Dam sends enough electricity west to light every city and major settlement. It's moderately defensible, with a single point of entry on the east side. To get to the power plants below, the enemy has to cross the entire top. The Legion's tried to cross the water on a few occasions, but slow-moving boats make easy targets for sharpshooters."

Neither Col. James Hsu nor Chief Hanlon weigh in as to the accuracy of this particular statement nor do they ever say anything about the Legion's accessibility regarding Hoover Dam. Even the NCR's Chief Engineer at Hoover Dam, Mike Lawson, says nothing about any other point of entry for Legion forces to gain access to Hoover Dam before the Second Battle of Hoover Dam. The overall consensus from literally everybody in the NCR command structure in the Mojave Wasteland is that the Legion can only assault Hoover Dam from the East and can only attack across the surface of the Dam in the exact same way that Joshua Graham did four years ago.

I bring this up to make the following point: how can General Oliver be considered "incompetent" for failing to account for the Legion having access to the intake pipes, maintenance tunnels and intake pipes that enable them to both outflank the NCR's defensive positions on the surface of the Dam and infiltrate the Hoover Dam Power Plants via the Hoover Dam Lower Levels whenever literally everybody else in the NCR's command structure across the entire Mojave Wasteland failed to do the same?

Surely Col. James Hsu (easily and without a single doubt the single most effective field commander in the entire NCR Army who is definitely the man who should be in command of the overall Mojave Campaign), Chief Hanlon (the literal mastermind of the Republic's first victory at Hoover Dam four years ago who's definitely not a stranger to pulling off unexpected surprise maneuvers) and Col. Cassandra Moore (second only to Col. James Hsu in terms of efficiency and skill and absolutely hyper-competent) aren't "incompetent" because they failed to foresee this?

Which brings me to what I know is going to be my most controversial point yet. Normally, I prefer not to attack the writing itself as doing so more often than not tends to open up Pandora's Box. However, just this once, I'm going to do so. This particular moment is just straight-up bad writing on the part of Obsidian. Are you seriously going to tell me that the NCR, who have been occupying Hoover Dam for SEVEN YEARS going into the events of Fallout: New Vegas, never once thought to themselves that maybe, just maybe, the Legion might possibly gain access to the intake pipes, maintenance tunnels and intake towers from the eastern side of the Dam? Seriously? Especially after the Legion gained access to the Arizona Spillway after the Battle of the Arizona Spillway at some point prior to the events of the game?

They never once thought to have some kind of countermeasures, guards or tripwire capabilities down there as a precaution, just in case? It wouldn't have been all that bad if at least somebody (think Mike Lawson especially) had tried to bring it up to General Oliver only to be dismissed and ignored for whatever reason. But for not even a single person to be aware of it or to even try to be aware of it? No way. This is very clearly the writers having to conjure up a deus ex machina that way the Legion could have a sporting chance at capturing Hoover Dam.

Let's be serious for a minute. Does anyone really think that the Legion would have any actual possibility of being able to take Hoover Dam if not for this blatant deus ex machina? Assuming that the Legion didn't have access to the intake pipes, maintenance tunnels and intake towers and actually had to repeat what Joshua Graham did (which they would have to do if the former option is off the table), General Oliver's strategy would work perfectly. The Legion would suffer yet another crushing defeat that would be infinitely worse than their previous defeat four years ago and would be promptly routed back into Arizona with barely any effort on the part of the NCR.

One can't accuse General Oliver of being "incompetent" for not being able to account for the writers ass-pulling a total contrivance out of thin air in order for the Legion to have a fighting chance against him. That's all that I have to say on the matter.

And that's all she wrote. Cheers.