So, it’s been awhile since I’ve made a proper Fallout thread, and nothing seems to bring you miserable fucking degenerates together more than hating on my favorite faction.
In honor of that, I present you with my latest and arguably most mediocre thread on the Legion, in which I’ll likely be hating on them with you: Legion Chain of Command, AKA Theoretically Fucking the Future of Caesar’s Legion. I’m gonna name each of the candidates for taking over, then explain why or why they wouldn’t make a good Diadochi for Caesar (a little historical joke for @TheOtherManInTheRoom). So without further ado:
Edward Sallow: First off, let’s talk about the man himself. The myth, the legend, the pragmatic warlord, Caesar. This is the man who gives you the “good” Legion ending if he survives, and is the one who turned a bunch of primitives into a fighting force that keeps a technologically superior faction on their toes.
Through dividing and conquering, shock and awe tactics, Edward Sallow has turned his Legion into an ultimate force for Blitzkrieg tactics. The problems? First off, attrition, and prolonged warfare are clear weaknesses (but I’ll get to that with Lanius). Secondly? He’s old, and has a fucking brain tumor. Caesar, much like his historical counterpart, has issues with his brain that ultimately undermine his rule. And should the Courier not intervene, it sets the stage for his death, and the ultimate destruction or reshaping of the Legion.
1) Legatus Lanius: When Caesar dies, the Legatus assumes control of his operation for the duration of the Mojave campaign. Imho, the worst thing for the Legion is having this pituitary retard take permanent control. Why? Well, bluntly, Lanius is a brilliant warrior, and a military tactician second only to Hanlon and perhaps Caesar himself. Lanius’ style of warfare, like his master’s, is Blitzkrieg. A quick, snapping punch to the jaw that either drops the opponent or leaves them reeling. Problems arise when the reeling opponent uses the momentum for an uppercut. Like the NCR. Here is the promised mention of wars of attrition.
Let’s go back to Graham as the Malpais Legate. Lanius wants to avoid the mistakes of Graham, who hit the NCR, and was led into a trap; ironically, he finds himself making the same mistakes. Instead of practical warfare, designed to wear the NCR out, Lanius decides to engage the Republic in small skirmishes, on multiple fronts, diminishing them piecemeal and spreading them thin. The problem with this is the time it takes.
As much as they are spread thin, the NCR has the supply lines to keep themselves going for quite awhile; the Legion, meanwhile, is pushing deeper into hostile territory, boxed in against an enemy with effectively all the resources in the world. As a result, despite successful guérilla campaigns and terrorist attacks here and there, the Legion never makes the step to attack outposts directly (like cutting off the Long 15 by assaulting Mojave Outpost). Despite not wanting to be like Graham, Lanius would lead the Legion to defeat in the same way, through an inability to adapt (something that the NCR, specifically Hanlon’s Rangers, are trained to do).
And that’s not even mentioning his lack of Charisma (I capitalized it like the SPECIAL stat haha funny joke). In his ending slides, and reports from Legion characters, Lanius is as brutal at home as he is at work. Whereas Caesar knows when to use a gentle touch, pragmatically assigning roles based on gender and teaching his citizens to farm, Lanius would very likely turn the Legion into a raider state. What we don’t see in NV is how the Legion reportedly acts in non-frontier, with a thriving civilization encompassing much of the US. Under the Legatus, this civilization would fucking rapidly collapse, as the Legion turns to sacking to support themselves, and eventually spreads thin just like the NCR. Lanius, as I’ve stated, is a warrior. He’s not a statesman or leader like Caesar, he’s a weapon. Put in charge of a government, Lanius would turn to war for profit, because it’s all he knows. Too bad that would dismantle the Legion. It might not happen immediately, perhaps over the course of years, but it would happen.
2) Lucius: As head of the Praetorians, Lucius is likely privy to many things the rest of the Legion isn’t. As a result, from what we know of him, the man would likely be a halfway-point between Lanius and my last example, as man who isn’t cunning enough to be Vulpes, but isn’t retarded enough to be Lanius. He’s just... mediocre. He’s the #2 pick, square in the middle, not much to say.
3) Vulpes Inculta: Behold, ye nonbelievers, the new Golden Age of the Legion. The single best choice for inheritance of Caesar’s position, in my most honest opinion, is Vulpes Inculta, head of his Frumentarii.
Let’s look at what Vulpes has done, in the Mojave campaign alone.
1) Burned Nipton, spreading a message of fear that causes despair to quite literally ripple through the Mojave Outpost (Cold, Cold Heart)
2) Infiltrated the NCR at Camp McCarran by turning one of their ranking officers, and blowing up the monorail without the Courier’s intervention, or without their responding quickly enough (in fact, telling Hsu about the bomb results in the monorail being destroyed) (I Put a Spell On You).
3) Assassination of Kimball, should the Courier not intervene, or not do so quickly enough (Arizona Killer and You’ll Know It When It Happens).
4) Tricking NCR informants, then using their information to assist the Legion (The Finger of Suspicion).
5) Convincing Lucius to fix the howitzer and telling him where to get the parts (dialogue during I Hear You Knocking).
6) Creation of a vast spy network spreading throughout the Mojave, one so well-planted and efficient that Vulpes himself can waltz right into the Strip (various quests).
Hell, there’s probably more I missed, but you get the picture. Vulpes would make an ideal statesman, and successor to Caesar, using terror and covert ops to get a leg up on enemies, while simultaneously running the Legion possibly better than even Caesar.
All in all, the choice is clear for me, but I’m interested in hearing what you have to say about each of the 3 candidates. Who would be the worst successor? What’s the best scenario? Etc.
In honor of that, I present you with my latest and arguably most mediocre thread on the Legion, in which I’ll likely be hating on them with you: Legion Chain of Command, AKA Theoretically Fucking the Future of Caesar’s Legion. I’m gonna name each of the candidates for taking over, then explain why or why they wouldn’t make a good Diadochi for Caesar (a little historical joke for @TheOtherManInTheRoom). So without further ado:
Edward Sallow: First off, let’s talk about the man himself. The myth, the legend, the pragmatic warlord, Caesar. This is the man who gives you the “good” Legion ending if he survives, and is the one who turned a bunch of primitives into a fighting force that keeps a technologically superior faction on their toes.
Through dividing and conquering, shock and awe tactics, Edward Sallow has turned his Legion into an ultimate force for Blitzkrieg tactics. The problems? First off, attrition, and prolonged warfare are clear weaknesses (but I’ll get to that with Lanius). Secondly? He’s old, and has a fucking brain tumor. Caesar, much like his historical counterpart, has issues with his brain that ultimately undermine his rule. And should the Courier not intervene, it sets the stage for his death, and the ultimate destruction or reshaping of the Legion.
1) Legatus Lanius: When Caesar dies, the Legatus assumes control of his operation for the duration of the Mojave campaign. Imho, the worst thing for the Legion is having this pituitary retard take permanent control. Why? Well, bluntly, Lanius is a brilliant warrior, and a military tactician second only to Hanlon and perhaps Caesar himself. Lanius’ style of warfare, like his master’s, is Blitzkrieg. A quick, snapping punch to the jaw that either drops the opponent or leaves them reeling. Problems arise when the reeling opponent uses the momentum for an uppercut. Like the NCR. Here is the promised mention of wars of attrition.
Let’s go back to Graham as the Malpais Legate. Lanius wants to avoid the mistakes of Graham, who hit the NCR, and was led into a trap; ironically, he finds himself making the same mistakes. Instead of practical warfare, designed to wear the NCR out, Lanius decides to engage the Republic in small skirmishes, on multiple fronts, diminishing them piecemeal and spreading them thin. The problem with this is the time it takes.
As much as they are spread thin, the NCR has the supply lines to keep themselves going for quite awhile; the Legion, meanwhile, is pushing deeper into hostile territory, boxed in against an enemy with effectively all the resources in the world. As a result, despite successful guérilla campaigns and terrorist attacks here and there, the Legion never makes the step to attack outposts directly (like cutting off the Long 15 by assaulting Mojave Outpost). Despite not wanting to be like Graham, Lanius would lead the Legion to defeat in the same way, through an inability to adapt (something that the NCR, specifically Hanlon’s Rangers, are trained to do).
And that’s not even mentioning his lack of Charisma (I capitalized it like the SPECIAL stat haha funny joke). In his ending slides, and reports from Legion characters, Lanius is as brutal at home as he is at work. Whereas Caesar knows when to use a gentle touch, pragmatically assigning roles based on gender and teaching his citizens to farm, Lanius would very likely turn the Legion into a raider state. What we don’t see in NV is how the Legion reportedly acts in non-frontier, with a thriving civilization encompassing much of the US. Under the Legatus, this civilization would fucking rapidly collapse, as the Legion turns to sacking to support themselves, and eventually spreads thin just like the NCR. Lanius, as I’ve stated, is a warrior. He’s not a statesman or leader like Caesar, he’s a weapon. Put in charge of a government, Lanius would turn to war for profit, because it’s all he knows. Too bad that would dismantle the Legion. It might not happen immediately, perhaps over the course of years, but it would happen.
2) Lucius: As head of the Praetorians, Lucius is likely privy to many things the rest of the Legion isn’t. As a result, from what we know of him, the man would likely be a halfway-point between Lanius and my last example, as man who isn’t cunning enough to be Vulpes, but isn’t retarded enough to be Lanius. He’s just... mediocre. He’s the #2 pick, square in the middle, not much to say.
3) Vulpes Inculta: Behold, ye nonbelievers, the new Golden Age of the Legion. The single best choice for inheritance of Caesar’s position, in my most honest opinion, is Vulpes Inculta, head of his Frumentarii.
Let’s look at what Vulpes has done, in the Mojave campaign alone.
1) Burned Nipton, spreading a message of fear that causes despair to quite literally ripple through the Mojave Outpost (Cold, Cold Heart)
2) Infiltrated the NCR at Camp McCarran by turning one of their ranking officers, and blowing up the monorail without the Courier’s intervention, or without their responding quickly enough (in fact, telling Hsu about the bomb results in the monorail being destroyed) (I Put a Spell On You).
3) Assassination of Kimball, should the Courier not intervene, or not do so quickly enough (Arizona Killer and You’ll Know It When It Happens).
4) Tricking NCR informants, then using their information to assist the Legion (The Finger of Suspicion).
5) Convincing Lucius to fix the howitzer and telling him where to get the parts (dialogue during I Hear You Knocking).
6) Creation of a vast spy network spreading throughout the Mojave, one so well-planted and efficient that Vulpes himself can waltz right into the Strip (various quests).
Hell, there’s probably more I missed, but you get the picture. Vulpes would make an ideal statesman, and successor to Caesar, using terror and covert ops to get a leg up on enemies, while simultaneously running the Legion possibly better than even Caesar.
All in all, the choice is clear for me, but I’m interested in hearing what you have to say about each of the 3 candidates. Who would be the worst successor? What’s the best scenario? Etc.
