On that point, I was a bit weirded out at how inept they made NCR seem on the tech side (in NV that is). Supposedly they got pissed off by the Followers, kicked them out, and made their own sciencey OSI with blackjack and hookers. So all’s well and good. But now they can’t figure out power armor anymore? They just rip out the complicated bits and make it into super heavy plate armor. Additionally, Lonesome Road basically made the NCR look at pre-war tech and say “DURRRRR funny symbols maybe make big boom??”
I would love to see the Enclave expanded in future releases. They were much more than just the Rig and Raven Rock. In fact, I argue that they really shouldn’t be called Enclave at all. They were just the remnants of America. They didn’t refer to themselves as “the Enclave”, just as America — US army, US chemical corps, President of the US, etc. The term Enclave arguably is used internally in only one place: it’s the codename of the Oil Rig, “control station ENCLAVE”. I know this is weird especially after 3 came out, but okay through 2 and look for any “Enclave” NPCs using that word.
Did the NCR ever have power armor? I thought in the FO1/FO2 days the only people to have working suits in any quantity were the BoS and later the
Enclave USA. They're extremely maintenance-intensive, after all. Keep in mind the NCR salvaged PA is the T-45d suit, which cooks the wearer unless they wear an asbestos-lined undersuit, and requires a great deal of specialized training as a result.
Intended to serve as the under-armor of the T-45d power armor, the recon armor is a vacuum-sealed asbestos jumpsuit covering the entire body. Attached to it is the interface and mounts for the T-45d power armor. Its purpose is twofold - it allows the user to actually operate the armor and protect soft tissue from heat and moving parts inside the suit. Unlike the under-armor for the T-51b power armor models, this one is also designed to offer limited protection from small-arm weapons.
Ditching the servos allows any ordinary trooper to wear it and removes the need for the specialized recon suit, and replacing the rad scrubber with an air conditioner means its probably more comfortable to stand around in on guard duty than say, the solid black ranger combat armor.
As to the T-51b, coming from the ZAX AI at WestTek in FO1:
The T-51b powered infantry armor is designed with the latest passive defense features for both civilian and military disturbances. The back-mounted TX-28 MicroFusion Pack generates 60,000 Watts to power the HiFlo hydraulic systems built into the frame of the suit. Made of the latest poly-laminate composite, the T-51b shell is lightweight and capable of absorbing over 2,500 Joules of kinetic impact. The 10 micron silver ablative coating can reflect laser and radiation emissions without damage to the composite subsurface.
Not exactly the sort of thing you can build or maintain without a dedicated industrial base like the NCR is attempting to rebuild in the Boneyard or say, an entire caste of maintenance personnel like the BoS has.
You kind of bring a good point I never really had the words to put it. The NCR in FNV doesnt feel much like F2's NCR.
Now sure, you can say thats the natural decay of democracy (Lord knows we are experiencing that enough IRL) but I think there just wasnt enough time to justify that the time span between both games.
F2 kind of treated them as the definitive factor for the future of the wasteland and yet we see them already "decaying" if you can really call it that.
I always felt that letting President Kimball die aws the better option for the faction long term. Its clear he isnt fit for the job and maybe someone else will be able to do a slightly better job. The problem of the NCR is that they have good people led by bad people.
Not really? They've successfully grown well beyond what anyone thought they could. Just look at Cannibal Johnson's dialogue. Too far and too fast, maybe, without the infrastructure or backbone to support their far-flung forces, but even so it would just be minor shrinkage or a halt to expansion as they refocus on internal development to connect and support those places. You're not wrong about Kimball leaving office being better for them long-term (being forced out in disgrace is much better than dying during his speech for obvious reasons), mostly because its clear that expanding as far as Vegas has already seriously taxed them. That said, they're winning their war with the BoS in California with 2 bunkers successfully taken and 4 more abandoned by the BoS to prevent their capture, with the losses Helios One crippling the Brotherhood in Nevada for years until the NCR is weakened dealing with all of its problems. Keep in mind that according to House entire platoons of NCR troops have died
trying to take out BoS bunkers, not necessarily succeeding, so they have manpower to spare, Dialogue with Gloria Van Graff about how the NCR can field a really, really big army and how they paid
five times what Caesar offered during Birds of a Feather also makes it pretty damn clear they're far from faltering. Its just that New Vegas is at the absolute ass-end of their logistics chains and infrastructure.
