Bighorner

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	Fallout: New Vegas creature Bighorner
	Location Mojave Wasteland Matthews Animal Husbandry Farm Goodsprings Jacobstown Dead Horses Camp Honest Hearts Variants Bighorner Bighorner bull Bighorner calf Young bighorner Malnourished bighorner Malnourished bighorner calf Lost mountain bighorner calf Honest Hearts

 

“

[What do you use the Bighorners for?] Meat and hide, mostly. Can't put a pack on 'em - they just lay down until you take it off. Can find a bunch of wild ones high up in the hills, but gotta be careful around 'em. They can put up a decent fight if cornered.

”— Easy Pete

Bighorners are creatures found in the Mojave Wasteland and Zion Canyon in 2281.

Characteristics

Biology

Bighorners are mutated bighorn sheep from the areas' high mountains of the American Southwest. Humans have since domesticated them for their horns, meat, milk, and hides, but wild herds can be found in mountainous regions, usually in close proximity to banana yucca fruit, which bighorners love. This makes them rather instrumental in herb tracking. Several settlements, such as Goodsprings and Jacobstown, have domesticated them in order to survive.

Bighorners are herbivorous and are primarily found in wild herds of three to seven in the Mojave Wasteland, or in domesticated drifts of varying size in settlements such as Goodsprings, Jacobstown, Spring Mt. Ranch State Park, or around Cottonwood Cove. Some more wild bighorners can also be found northwest of Snyder Prospector Camp and as far as Zion Canyon. Bighorners are communal animals; if one member of the herd is distressed, the entire herd becomes aggressive.

They are generally "laid-back" beasts with surprisingly docile dispositions, in spite of being quite capable of being extremely dangerous when provoked. However, according to Easy Pete they cannot be used as pack animals, as "they just lie down until you take [the load] off". Strangely, ewes grow horns just like rams, but this is most likely due to generations of being exposed to radiation.

Gameplay attributes

In combat situations, bighorners are rarely outright hostile unlike several other creatures. Unprovoked bighorners, though marked as hostiles on the compass, will not actively pursue the player, and, if left alone, are content to graze and mind their own business. They will not attack unless something comes within 4–5 feet of them or their young. If this barrier is trespassed, they will rear their heads up and bellow, at which point they will charge and ram into their foe.

Bighorners cannot take a huge amount of abuse (they are squarely on par with a radscorpion in terms of health), but their head-butting attacks are devastating, capable of sending enemies flying backwards or knocking them down. Bighorners can also run very fast, this makes them a very intimidating foe for lower level players.

Variants

Bighorner

A regular bighorner with all the attributes mentioned above. Bighorners are not hostile unless provoked and are commonly found near Jacobstown and Charleston Cave.

Name (Base ID)	Statistics	Behavior	Abilities	Items
Bighorner 001445a7	Level 3 Experience points 30 Detection 2 Health points 100 Damage threshold 0 Damage resistance 0%	Fist Unaggressive: Will not initiate combat. Confidence Brave: Will avoid/flee from threats only if severely outmatched. Group Helps nobody: Will not help anyone.	Attack Melee (40 Damage)	Dead Bighorner meat
Bighorner 0014f431 001616ef 0015f183 0015978f	Level 9 Experience points 90 Detection 2 Health points 100 Damage threshold 0 Damage resistance 0%	Fist Aggressive: Will attack enemies on sight. Confidence Brave: Will avoid/flee from threats only if severely outmatched. Group Helps allies: Will help allies.	Attack Melee (35 Damage)	Dead Bighorner meat

Bighorner bull

Bighorner bulls are usually found in herds around the Mojave Wasteland. The bulls are normally not hostile unless the player gets close or attacks.

A killed the bighorner bull can drop up to five bighorner meat, which can be turned into bighorner steak at a campfire. It is very easy to gain small amounts of experience if you find bighorners in groups.

Bighorner bulls can cause a lot of damage when attacking in packs as their charges will continue to knock the player over until they escape their range. They are best left alone when at a lower level and will fight to the death if you approach them.

Name (Base ID)	Statistics	Behavior	Abilities	Items
Bighorner bull 00159790 001616ee 0015f182 00159792	Level 11 Experience points 110 Detection 4 Health points 120 Damage threshold 0 Damage resistance 0%	Fist Aggressive: Will attack enemies on sight. Confidence Foolhardy: Will never flee or avoid anyone. Group Helps allies: Will help allies.	Attack Melee (45 Damage)	Dead Bighorner meat

Bighorner calf

Bighorner calves, like brahmin, roam settlements, guarded or unguarded. They are less common than bull and adult bighorners in the wild, and are often more tame. This creature is most likely the first encountered by the player in the wasteland.

Despite their size, killing an unguarded calf is easy. Bare fists or weak melee weapons are often enough to kill them within seconds. Despite the size of their cranium, their heads will often easily explode when shot. Be wary of penned-up calves; unlike the free roaming ones, these are often guarded by ranchers that become hostile if any harm comes to their livestock. They are also an easy source of bighorner meat to help stave off starvation in hardcore mode.

Name (Base ID)	Statistics	Behavior	Abilities	Items
Bighorner calf 0014f47e 001616f0 0015f184 0015978e	Level 5 Experience points 50 Detection 2 Health points 50 Damage threshold 0 Damage resistance 0%	Fist Unaggressive: Will not initiate combat. Confidence Average: Will avoid/flee from threats stronger than itself. Group Helps allies: Will help allies.	Attack Melee (15 Damage)	Dead Bighorner meat

Young bighorner

Young bighorners are roughly a third of the size of their fully grown counterparts, with a lot less health. Attacking one of these will cause their nearby family members to turn hostile and attack the player. They are not hostile even if you go near them.

Name (Base ID)	Statistics	Behavior	Abilities	Items
Young bighorner 0010ab79	Level 1 Experience points 10 Detection 3 Health points 60 Damage threshold 0 Damage resistance 0%	Fist Unaggressive: Will not initiate combat. Confidence Cowardly: Will always avoid combat/flee. Group Helps allies: Will help allies.	Attack Melee (40 Damage)	Dead Bighorner meat

Malnourished bighorner

Malnourished bighorners have been deprived of food and are near death. You can find quite a few at the Matthews Animal Husbandry Farm. They are not hostile even if the player moves close to it, most likely due to the fact it has no energy to fend off attackers.

Name (Base ID)	Statistics	Behavior	Abilities	Items
Malnourished bighorner 001544b8	Level 9 Experience points 90 Detection 2 Health points 50 Damage threshold 0 Damage resistance 0%	Fist Unaggressive: Will not initiate combat. Confidence Cautious: Will avoid/flee from threats unless stronger than them. Group Helps allies: Will help allies.	Attack Melee (35 Damage)	Dead Bighorner meat

Malnourished bighorner calf

Malnourished bighorner calves are extremely rare, as are their brahmin counter-parts, the malnourished brahmin calf. A malnourished bighorner calf is guaranteed to be found at Matthews Animal Husbandry Farm. They can also can be found near Cottonwood Cove. They don't respawn if killed. They are not hostile even if you go near them.

Name (Base ID)	Statistics	Behavior	Abilities	Items
Malnourished bighorner calf 001544b7	Level 5 Experience points 50 Detection 2 Health points 40 Damage threshold 0 Damage resistance 0%	Fist Unaggressive: Will not initiate combat. Confidence Cautious: Will avoid/flee from threats unless stronger than them. Group Helps allies: Will help allies.	Attack Melee (15 Damage)	Dead Bighorner meat

Lost mountain bighorner calf (Honest Hearts)

The lost mountain bighorner calf is located north of the Dead Horses Camp in Zion Canyon up in the mountains. Just follow the paths up and around and eventually you'll get to a narrow canyon path and in the end is the lost bighorner calf. It is the object of the quest, Bighorners of the Eastern Virgin.

Name (Base ID)	Statistics	Behavior	Abilities	Items
Lost mountain bighorner calf xx00a3e5	Level 5 Experience points 50 Detection 2 Health points 50 Damage threshold 0 Damage resistance 0%	Fist Unaggressive: Will not initiate combat. Confidence Average: Will avoid/flee from threats stronger than itself. Group Helps allies: Will help allies.	Attack Melee ( Damage)	Dead Bighorner meat

Mountain bighorner (Honest Hearts)

Mountain bighorners are a regional variant found in Zion Canyon.

Name (Base ID)	Statistics	Behavior	Abilities	Items
Name? xx000000	Level ? Experience points ? Detection ? Health points ? Damage threshold ? Damage resistance ?	Fist Unaggressive: Will not initiate combat. Confidence Cowardly: Will always avoid combat/flee. Group Helps nobody: Will not help anyone.	Attack Melee ( Damage)	Dead Bighorner meat

Mountain bighorner mother (Honest Hearts)

The mountain bighorner mother is the mother of the lost mountain bighorner calf and has been upset since its disappearance.

Name (Base ID)	Statistics	Behavior	Abilities	Items
Name? xx000000	Level ? Experience points ? Detection ? Health points ? Damage threshold ? Damage resistance ?	Fist Unaggressive: Will not initiate combat. Confidence Cowardly: Will always avoid combat/flee. Group Helps nobody: Will not help anyone.	Attack Melee ( Damage)	Dead Bighorner meat

Mountain bighorner calf (Honest Hearts)

The young of the regional variant of bighorner in Zion Canyon.

Name (Base ID)	Statistics	Behavior	Abilities	Items
Name? xx000000	Level ? Experience points ? Detection ? Health points ? Damage threshold ? Damage resistance ?	Fist Unaggressive: Will not initiate combat. Confidence Cowardly: Will always avoid combat/flee. Group Helps nobody: Will not help anyone.	Attack Melee ( Damage)	Dead Bighorner meat

Notes

• Sometimes bighorners (usually calves) will be marked as non-hostile on the mini-map, of course until the player moves close enough to them.
• Hitting a bighorner's horns counts as a headshot.
• Bighorner heads will explode more often than not. However, it is possible to cut off a bighorner's head off with melee weapons that have the Bonus Limb Damage effect (e.g. a machete).

Bugs

• PC PlayStation 3 Xbox 360 Old World Blues changed the bighorner knockdown script to provide the effect of the sonic emitter - Gabriel's bark weapon, which subsequently broke the script for the bighorners themselves.
  • Lonesome Road includes a new bighorner script that fixes this problem.
• PC PlayStation 3 Xbox 360 Bighorners have a fairly glitchy mesh that often results in them stuttering in place and clipping into each other.

Appearances

Bighorners appear only in Fallout: New Vegas and the add-on, Honest Hearts.

Gallery

• 

  Bighorner concept art.

• 

  Three bighorners in Goodsprings

• 

  Two bighorners and one bighorner calf in Jacobstown

• 

  Bighorner bull

• 

  A pre-War Bighorn sheep on the sign of the Big Horn Saloon in Boulder City.

References

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