Are the Mojave and New Vegas doomed?

Nightstalker

Nightstalker

The original Vault Dweller
So, as Ulysses said in Lonesome Road, and as we saw as well there, the Tunnelers were able to live beneath the surface. They are hard, quick and hunt in groups. Those creatures would suppose a huge threat to any place in the world. Ulysses said they would take the Mojave easier than they took the Divide. Don't know why. They're not like Deathclaws, who can be saw and avoid them. When we enter that tunnel we have a direct comparison between Deathclaws and Tunnelers, and Obsidian was very clear saying that a unique Tunneler was able to slay a fucking Deathclaw as well. So even an army like NCR would have problems with those monsters. It is known, too, that the Marked Men used flare guns to scare them, but we haven't seen any of those in the Mojave (which doesn't mean they are unable to find there).

As a quick information, a sole tunneler can survive 4 shots in the head with a full health Anti Materiel Rifle, approximately 112 points of damage for bullet.

Opinions, guys?
 
Nah I brought this up in a Lonesome Road discussion once.

Assuming you save Ulysses, he stays at the edge of the Divide and watches over it to prevent the tunnelers from reaching the Mojave. If you don't well there's still a chance that the tunnelers won't make it out of the Divide. Plus we don't know if there are any more Tunneler Queens, so you may have stopped them from breeding.
 
Let's not forget that Ulysses is not mentally sane, he is paranoid and obsessed with the idea of nations being prevented from growing because of external threats. Tunnelers could simply be fuel for his paranoia and obsession, and not actually be as dangerous as he thinks they are.
That's how I interpreted his sayings, at least. More like an element of character building for Ulysses rather than an actual threat for the Mojave. Nothing indicates that the Tunnelers could even thrive in a sunny, mostly radiation free environment such as the Mojave.
 
If you have seen thenthapple's video on the Tunnelers, then you would know that the Tunnelers are not a threat to the Mojave. Remember, the eyes are very sensitive to light, leaving the night time as the only option. However, with the Legion, Mr. House's Securitron army, & the sheer numbers of the NCR, the Tunnelers would simply become another inconvenience to the Mojave instead of a threat that required immediate response.
 
I think they would just end up like every other terrible evil animal/insect of the Mojave. They'd set up a place where they live and kill anyone and anything that dares venture into the area. Just like the Deathclaws with Quarry Junction/Dead Wind Cavern. The evil bastard Cazadores of the Mountains/Cazador nests/Bonnie Springs. Maybe they would just take over the Sewers under North Vegas, or maybe a cave or something in the area.
 
Don't forget about the ending where BMT finds out about the Mojave and the fact the cloud will eventually reach the Mojave.
 
R.Graves said:
Don't forget about the ending where BMT finds out about the Mojave and the fact the cloud will eventually reach the Mojave.
Click to expand...

Except it doesn't if you don't follow Elijah. The cloud has been there for 200 years and hasn't moved on it's spot, meaning it dissipates after some distance. My guess in how Elijah does this is taking the very equipment that emits the cloud and bringing it with him in the invasion of the Mojave, killing everyone, including the BoS. Not only that, but you also activate the ventilation system in the Sierra Madre that cleans out most of the cloud spots, so there's that.

As for BMT, that's only if you let them get out, to which all hells breaks loose on the Mojave (and possibly the world). Otherwise, They'll possibly stay for another century or two within the facility (or possibly forever since you're the only one capable of exiting the system, those things out there that teleport you back in is the work of Dr.Mobius to keep things inside, including the Think Tank).
 
SarcasticGoodGuy said:
Nah I brought this up in a Lonesome Road discussion once.

Assuming you save Ulysses, he stays at the edge of the Divide and watches over it to prevent the tunnelers from reaching the Mojave. If you don't well there's still a chance that the tunnelers won't make it out of the Divide. Plus we don't know if there are any more Tunneler Queens, so you may have stopped them from breeding.
Click to expand...

Ulysses is the only one canonically as badass as the Courier. Killing all the Tunnelers will take awhile but it's a decent enough atonement for the rape and murder and brainwashing he did as a member of Caesar's Legion.
 
Ulysses would be more than enough to handle the stray Tunnelers and as many have pointed out, the Tunnelers do need to remain away from the light so if they do reach the Mojave, there are countermeasures against them.

CT Phipps said:
Killing all the Tunnelers will take awhile but it's a decent enough atonement for the rape and murder and brainwashing he did as a member of Caesar's Legion.
Click to expand...
I don't think he ever did do rape in his time with the Legion. Murder and brainwashing certainly (he was a Frumentarius rather than a typical Legion soldier), but rape? Not sure where you got that one from (and I doubt he'd emulate the Legion to that extent from what character you see of him in the games plus he's a Frumentarius so it would be unsubtle for a spy to constantly rape and pillage with Legion soldiers).

Though to be fair, the brainwashing (or more accurately, the manipulation) of the White Legs is where he finally came to hate the Legion since he realized he had become the same as Vulpes.
 
CerberusGate said:
I don't think he ever did do rape in his time with the Legion. Murder and brainwashing certainly (he was a Frumentarius rather than a typical Legion soldier), but rape? Not sure where you got that one from (and I doubt he'd emulate the Legion to that extent from what character you see of him in the games plus he's a Frumentarius so it would be unsubtle for a spy to constantly rape and pillage with Legion soldiers).

Though to be fair, the brainwashing (or more accurately, the manipulation) of the White Legs is where he finally came to hate the Legion since he realized he had become the same as Vulpes.
Click to expand...

Well, he facilitated the enslavement of women as a member of Caesar's tribe and it's one of their things that they do, so it's just me stating, "He was doing awful awful things as a Frumentarius" versus the idea he participated in sexual slavery or not.
 
CT Phipps said:
Well, he facilitated the enslavement of women as a member of Caesar's tribe and it's one of their things that they do, so it's just me stating, "He was doing awful awful things as a Frumentarius" versus the idea he participated in sexual slavery or not.
Click to expand...
I see. Still, it's not right to regard the two as the same thing.

After all, in law, facilitating (or inducing a crime) and actual commission of a crime are distinct. It's best to classify them properly.
 
For the cloud to reach the Mojave Elijah actually needs to weaponize it in the form of missiles and rockets in the bad ending of Dead Money. The cloud won't get there on it's own and you can take several actions to even clean a good chunk of the Sierra Madre of the stuff. All applicable endings for Old World blues has the Tink tank still trapped either willingly or out of fear, or dead. The tunnelers are ferocious but the trek from the divide to the mojave is long and they are mostly subterranean creatures that don't like either the sun or the heat so they would probably just hole up on caves.
 
I hate that story about the tunnelers. I try to forget it when playing the base game, as if was non cannon. Anyone else ?
 
Tragos114 said:
I hate that story about the tunnelers. I try to forget it when playing the base game, as if was non cannon. Anyone else ?
Click to expand...
As said earlier, I picture them as ramblings from Ulysses, a paranoid crazy and solitary man, obsessed with the ideas of threats to nations. Something that fuels his paranoia, but not an actual threat.
 
Tragos114 said:
I hate that story about the tunnelers. I try to forget it when playing the base game, as if was non cannon. Anyone else ?
Click to expand...

I don't like them much. They're too humanoid and I don't like the whole "They'll invade the Mojave one day", to me it comes off as Chris trying to set the slate back to zero like he does with Lonesome Road's nuke 'em all ending.

EDIT:
mithrap said:
As said earlier, I picture them as ramblings from Ulysses, a paranoid crazy and solitary man, obsessed with the ideas of threats to nations. Something that fuels his paranoia, but not an actual threat.
Click to expand...

I hadn't thought of it that way before. That's an interesting take on it.
 
The world of New Vegas has kind of gotten beyond the point where wildlife is an existential threat. Sure, tunnelers are dangerous and numerous, but they're not intelligent or organised. Fifty tunnelers are still no match for a few hundred NCR troops who plan their operation well. And if they live underground they are easily dealt with in the same way that foxholes were dealt with in WW2 and Vietnam. Block off the exits and fire a flamethrower down the tunnel. Any tunnelers not burned to death will be suffocated when the fire consumes all their oxygen.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top