Well, you already know what I think about that. Adding a spatial would work too, and more efficiently than modifying obj_dude.
In general, I think that anything that requires you to
add (not modify) new dialogues or totally new conditional checks should be part of an add-on. There will be exceptions, but I think these exceptions would be few.
Anyway, more bugs/comments:
Torr -- Klamath
You only get one chance to go with Torr to Guard the Brahmin. (Yes, I know you can do this via Rustle the Brahmin quest too). If you reject Torr's quest, you don't get a second chance with him. Instead, he only gives out float text, or a rather amusing dialogue if you're playing a stupid character.
I think that's a bug.
Why? Well, the reason why we only get one chance is because there is a conditional check to see if it's the first time the player has been in that map. If yes, it gives the player a chance with Torr. Otherwise, no. Note that this means two things:
1) If you accept Torr's quest, but tell him that you can't help him "now", you won't be able to get the quest.
2) If you are playing a stupid character, you don't get the very interesting dialogue with Torr, unless you initially reject Torr's attempt to recruit you. Why? Because successfully guarding the Brahmin forces Torr to stay at the Grazing fields, and you don't get the chance to talk to him again. (Yes, theoretically, you can access that part of the dialogue after you rescue Torr from the Canyon. But since stupid characters can't get Rustle the Brahmin quest normally, and you need to do that before rescuing Torr from the Canyon...well, you get the idea.)
Both of the above look like bugs to me! I think the original intention of the developers was to not let Torr bring up the quest again if the player picked line 165 (163 if the player is stupid), but still allow the player some time to prepare if he says he cannot help right "now" -- implying that the player can help later (see line 405). The easiest solution would be to take out the check for first time in town, and use GVAR_TORR_GUARD_STATUS with different states to keep track if the player accepted the quest, but needed to prep first, or otherwise.
Fuel Cell Regulator -- Klamath
Even though this object has a "Use On" command, you can't do anything with it. The player should be able to install this part in a running car himself, much like how he can (with a high REPAIR skill) insert the Fuel Cell Controller in the car. See zsDrvCar.txt for details. Fixing this will require adding new dialogue, so it can technically be considered an add-on, I suppose. But it falls under same category as the Duntons above, so it's up to you.
Frank Horrigan -- Enclave
Ok, I haven't gotten to the Enclave yet, but I know for a fact that this is a bug that persisted to the official v1.02D patch. And since I see no mention of it in your patch, I figure I'll mention it here.
Basically, aimed shots at Horrigan are bugged. If you critically hit Horrigan in anywhere but the head, it will give the message that his chest plate had been compacted -- the torso critical message. And if you hit him critically in the head, it will say his bionic eye was shattered -- the eye critical message. A quick look through the ai files indicates that there is supposed to be text for different parts of Horrigan hit, but for some reason they are not being displayed. I couldn't find anything wrong in the game text files and ai definition files at the first glance, so I suspect it's a proto definition issue. If it's not that, then it's an engine bug (ugh).
That's all for now!
Cheers,
The Haen.
Edit -- Corrected factual errors (oops)
) I'm amazed to see that Fallout2 is still going strong, especially with a well made patch like yours. So I've decided to dust off the old game and try it again with your latest patch. So far, I've been up to Klamath, and the difference is already noticeable. Congratulations on the fine work. 
