Fallout 4: Angel's Pip-Boy Diary #21 · 5:15pm Jan 27th, 2016
art by LittleHybridShila
Below the break is the next installment of Angel’s Pip-Boy Diary. And with this one, my posting has caught up to my writing. As a result, these may start coming out a little less frequently. However, I will strive to keep up a good pace.
(As a side note, I have updated the index for this blog, so finding links to all of the previous Diary entries is now easy.)
But first, check out the incredible new track by OfficialFirestreak♥ for his "Fallout: Equestria Sountrack"!
Angel's Pip-Boy Diary
Day 40
Day 40 – Midnight
December 2, 2287
I conversed with the Brotherhood of Steel squad that was securing the airliner crash site. Theses soldiers are serving under Lancer-Captain Kells. He and the entirety of the Brotherhood forces in the Commonwealth are under the command of Elder Maxson. All three of the soldiers spoke with high regard for their commanding officers. This was a cleansing patrol, their mission identical to the jobs that Rhys has been assigning me. They didn’t divulge any information about the Brotherhood’s broader mission in the Commonwealth. I suspect that’s on a need-to-know.
I couldn’t help but recall Paladin Danse telling me that only and Elder could promote members of the Brotherhood above the rank of Initiate. It appears I may have the opportunity to advance as well as the opportunity to be completely screwed. Given a choice, I would prefer advancement, just so long as I am allowed enough freedom to continue my work with the Minutemen. We are doing meaningful work rebuilding the commonwealth. I have several settlements growing under my guidance as the General, and I don’t intend to abandon them.
I’m going to rant now.
Being the parent of an infant means sacrifice. In particular, you sacrifice anything resembling normal sleeping patterns, and you sacrifice getting to go places and do things for fun. If you want fun, you do it at home, or you wait until your infant is a toddler and you feel comfortable leaving him with a babysitter.
These are complaints as old as motherhood. Mark my words: there was a cavewoman painting on her cave wall how caring for her infant was keeping her from getting to join in the brontosaurus carving.
Since college, poor sleeping patterns have been a way of life for me more often than not. I adjusted to that more easily than most new mothers. Likewise, I was never the sort who would yearn to go to the opera or an art gallery exhibition; I was always more of a drive-in movie girl. So I really didn’t feel I was missing too much in that arena.
Nate and I had been keeping one eye peeled for good babysitter candidates since before Shaun was born. Unfortunately, Sanctuary Hills didn’t have many to offer. Rosa’s boy was going to be in college, or more likely drafted, before Shaun was old enough to be left in another’s care.
The last time Nate and I went out to the drive-in was a month before Shaun was born. That was shortly after I’d talked him into getting Codsworth; and knowing my interest in robotics, Nate took me out to see The Assassinatrix – a science fiction movie about a Chinese robot sent back in time to prevent America from winning the war. The robot was disguised as a big-breasted beauty who could turn invisible – because apparently if your star is a hot blond bombshell, you want her to not be visible on the screen.
(This, by the way, is how I know Connie was completely wrong to play the Mistress of Mystery. She was absolutely perfect as the Assassinatrix. She has the natural acting acumen of a Protectron. Nate also panned the movie, mostly because the “Chinese” robot was clearly based on an American model… although he did praise the stealth technology as being accurate for Hollywood.)
Anyway, there wasn’t much in the way of good movies coming out for at least a year. (No number of Chinese could have forced me to go see the new Jangles the Moon Monkey flick. What malfunction caused someone to think it was a good idea to take a monkey, already one of the creepiest animals on Earth, make it even creepier and market it to children is beyond me.) If something good did come to theatres that we had to miss, Nate promised we would get it on holotape.
But there were a few things I yearned to see that being a new mother meant losing out on. One was the grand opening of the General Atomics Galleria.
Well, there it is. The place is probably in a state of utter ruin. But it still has power. So maybe there is still something to see.
Rant over. Only two hundred and ten years late, I’m going to get my visit.
Day 40 – Early Morning
December 2, 2287I can roleplay being the new supervisor if that’s what it takes to check out the “Shopping Center of Tomorrow Today.” The place is a wreck, but I can see a lot of still-functioning robots. Everything here is operating under the control of the Director Management System – robots supervising robots. Apparently, there is supposed to be a human supervisor on site. I suspect the last one was delayed by a bad case of end-of-the-world.
I wonder if I can get Mr. Handy guards for my settlements here. Or, barring that, get the parts to build my own. Rebuilding advanced robots is quite a leap from fixing up armor and modifying weapons, a smaller but still significant jump from modifying power armor. However, with the right technical documents, a bit of study, and a lot of work, I bet that I could start putting Handys or even Gutsy guardians. I wonder if Codsworth or Valentine could offer help with the technical aspects. My law education didn’t really cover anything in that field.
The place looks like it would have been amazing. I really wish I could have seen it when it was in its prime. There is a restaurant, a diner, a bowling alley, and several stores. All run by robots. Sure, it is tiny compared to any proper mall, but it is just a showpiece. A taste of what malls could have become.
Instead, I get to see the version with rust, rubbish and a lot of skeletons. Robots weathered the apocalypse much better than we did. Despite supposedly being closed down, it looks like this place had a lot of customers when the world ended.
First stop will be that restaurant. I want to get a glimpse of where Nate and I would have eaten. I’ll ask the server robot about all the bodies while I’m at it.
“We do have a lot of satisfied customers, don’t we? They almost never leave.”
Ooookay. I’m getting flashbacks to Codsworth talking about trying to polish rust. I’m modifying my previous statement: robots physically weathered the apocalypse better.
I’m beginning to think Shaun may have saved my life. The menu at the General Atomics Galleria restaurant looks deadly. I’m going to choose not to be hungry and slip out.
Day 40 – Noon
December 2, 2287The General Atomics Galleria is a deathtrap, albeit not a particularly aggressive one. I’ve been able to thoroughly explore the shopping center, remaining intact and unharmed through extreme caution and avoidance.
“My” office is in the Bowling Alley. It says a lot about the previous supervisor that his password was “SAFETY”. The remaining messages on his terminal paint a very dark picture. Things went very badly here: behavioral cascade failures leading to fatalities, and Robco prioritizing protecting itself from lawsuits over general safety (in distinct conflict with the more humane priorities of the on-site supervisor). It appears that the DMS is compromised, and may have killed the former supervisor. Good bloody God!
I am alarmed by what I am seeing. One of the robots, Reg, is showing all the signs of severe obsessive-compulsive disorder. It’s official – robots do go insane.
Note: I decided to take a risk, testing how pervasive the DMS’s control is. I lured Reg, the Insane Department Store Clerk into a secluded part of the building and destroyed it with a silenced weapon. I was ready to jump and bolt from the Galleria if my Pip-Boy started detecting a lot of enemies. But the rest of the robots did not turn hostile, and no alarms sounded. It appears the DMS is not omniscient here. The robots aren’t networked, and the “Director’s” connection to them is limited… probably to issuing commands.
I then requisitioned the dress that I absolutely would have bought if the Galleria was 210 years ago and not insane. And most everything else I could carry.
Another note: I am not sure I want to know what happens at the diner when my number comes up.
I’m leaving. But I will be coming back, and I will be bringing Codsworth with me to assist in dealing with this place.
For the time being, I am running back to Tenpines to unload. It is noon already. This little detour cost me the morning.
Day 40 – Afternoon
December 2, 2287Today I was treated to lunch and a show.
During lunch, I bartered with Lucus. After forty days, I have found .38 ammo to be more plentiful than caps and worth exactly as much. Unlike other ammunition, they have no marketplace mark-up, making them equally valuable when buying or selling. As such, they have become my currency.
As we were finishing, we heard sounds of gunfire from the canyon below. A scout from the Brotherhood of Steel was engaging a deathclaw. I fired a few shots at the beast with Righteous Authority, but it killed the poor man before I could do enough damage to make it even notice me.
Then the Brotherhood came in force and put the monster down. Three Knights armed with gatling lasers had responded to the scout’s call. The display of firepower was awe-inspiring. The deathclaw never stood a chance.
The Knights were not in a position to deviate from their assignment to carry the scout’s body all the way back to the Prydwen (which, I learned, is the name of that huge airship), so we buried the body and I took his holotags, promising to give them to Paladin Danse along with a tale of the man’s bravery.
These Knights was able to tell me more than the squad that I ran into last night. The message for the common citizenry is that the Brotherhood of Steel is “here to save the Commonwealth.” A claim that I suspect will raise more eyebrows than hopes. The word within the ranks, however, is that they are here to take down the Institute. And that is a cause I can fully support. In fact, that is a cause I believe most of the Commonwealth would support. However, I can see the wisdom in not spreading that around. If there is any truth to the rampant paranoid of synth infiltrators, it is best not to give the Institute reason to strike first.
Well, any more reason. If the scientists of the Institute are smart enough to build human-like robots, they have to be smart enough to realize they top the list of most likely reasons why the military just flew in.
Meanwhile, it is time to travel east.
New Perk: Scrapper Rank 2
Day 40 – Late Evening
December 2, 2287I am staring at the bodies of a dead raider, settler and glowing one. All gathered around a small camp like they were having a secret meeting of unlikely allies. All of them were apparently killed by the same “legendary” festering bloatfly. It almost killed me too, and I’m much better armed and armored than any of them were.
I really hate those things.
Less than an hour’s walk past a really big hole in the ground, I came to Greentop Nursery, the settlement that had requested help from the Minutemen in regards to a “ghoul problem”.
The place is a rather impressive mutfruit farm, run out of an intact greenhouse near a prefabricated home of the same model as those in Sanctuary Hills. As far as settlements go, that one looks to be in good shape. It wouldn’t take much to help it thrive. The most immediate problem (barring ghouls) is a lack of population. I could immediately tell that there aren’t enough farmers there to tend properly to a garden of that size. I could probably convince some of the settlers in the other Minutemen locations to make the trip, along with a Minutemen escort, and resettle at Greentop.
The ferals giving Greentop Nursery worries are infesting the National Guard Training Yard. The farmers there are worried that the ghouls will start preying on nearby areas. I pointed out that the place is quite a distance from Greentop and it is extremely unlikely that they will migrate this far. But I had to admit that they would make it a lot harder for new settlers to travel safely to Greentop Nursery. The National Guard Training Yard directly between the nursery and the city. That may account for why GN is so understaffed when the location offers food, water and shelter.
Interestingly, based on my Pip-Boy map, the National Guard Training Yard is virtually a stone’s throw from County Crossing, the other settlement that has requested Minutemen aid. What are the chances that they are being plagued by the very same pack of ghouls?
Malden Center is closer, however, and my mission for the Brotherhood of Steel has to take priority. So I am scouting that area first. My experience in the post-apocalyptic Commonwealth has taught me this will go one of two ways: either I will have to go in, kill an inordinate amount of some sort of monster, and retrieve The Thing that I will take back to Danse – meaning a tough fight, but I will have the mission effectively completed by morning – or what I will find will point me somewhere else in what will be a long trail that will take days to follow and could lead me anywhere except the National Guard Training Yard.
Mark my words. That is how it works in 2287.
”Megaspell Baby”
art by Sketchywolf-13
I love these. Every time you mention a place I haven't found, it makes me seek it out. :D
Great post as always. Brings back lots of memories.
Yeah, the randomly generated settlement assistance quests can be a little weird at times. :P
Settlement missions can be strange. Once a settlement asked me to take care of some ghouls miles away, and I couldn't help but wonder why they didn't ask for help with the supermutants literally a stone's throw away.
Another settlement is right next to both a Raider base and a Gunner base. I had to rescue the same settler from each in the same week. Though after freeing him and watching him run at the nearest raider to preform a badass unarmed takedown, I have to wonder how they managed to kidnap this guy in the first place with that much skill.
3716014 At least the kidnapping quests make sense most of the time. Someone kidnapped him and dragged him far away. Check. "Oh no, those ghouls over on the coast are going to swim up the Charles and come to Oberland Station! I just know it!" ...not so much.
I did have a couple of kidnap quests where the enemies hadn't respawned from the last quest to the same area, so the guy was sitting around being kidnapped with no guards.
It seems I'm the only one who did the boring thing and fixed the bugged robots, before exploring the galleria (though, admittedly, I didn't know that's what I was doing by initiating the 'Grand Reopening' protocol). I never got to see all the amusing malfunctions until I watched Gopher's Let's Play.
I've been doing the same thing.
Technically .38 bullets (and all other objects with a base value of 1 cap) are affected by the usual mark-up/mark-down, but since the prices are always rounded to the nearest cap, you need a pretty bad Charisma stat and no sales-related perks ("Cap Collector", "Junktown Vendor") for that to become visible; if you do, .38 bullets sell for 0 caps and cost 2 or even 3 caps to buy. I just tested it by setting my Charisma to 1 and removing all the relevant perks, and as a result a Pulse Grenade (base value 100) started costing 318 caps and sold for only 31; that seems to be about as bad as it can get, bartering-wise.
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I have yet to have a kidnapping quest. Either that, or I have never discovered a kidnapping in time to do anything about it. I suspect that I'm either missing a lot of them, or my settlement defenses are so over-engineered that nobody even tries to kidnap my people.
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Ha! I wish the settlement defenses had an influence on the kidnapping quests; I still get those, even though my settlements are ridiculously fortified and my settlers armed and armoured to the teeth. During live raider/mutant/deathclaw attacks, they completely annihilate the attackers (as long as I'm standing there, watching them, of course), but somehow they still manage to get kidnapped regularly by low-level raiders and shiver in fear of some ghouls at the other end of the map.
An A.I. themed Death trap location, eh? It's actually rather funny to me. Despite how defunct some of these robots are, it seems like there's quite a few more A.I.'s with interesting and diverse personalities in the Commonwealth then when one goes through the Capital Wasteland.
It's actually rather interesting what Plans Angel is making for General Atomics Galleria. It actually makes me wonder how she will handle the U.S.S Constitution situation?
3716208 I think it's randomized, when you get a quest to help a settlement it's usually either a kidnapping, raider problems, ghoul problems, or super mutant problems. It's one of the places where I wish the game had more diversity but after you have all the settlements they're mainly about grinding levels anyways
This isn't even a problem for me, just want to point it out for consistency.
At this rate, Angel's going to become aware that she's in a video game by New Year's.
3717983 Thanks. Fixed.