What if you could... Make the game?
Welcome back to Fallout: The Apprentice. In this edition we're going to reveal the reveal the contestant's entries for the Semi Final.
Sorry about the delay folks... Changes in the judging lineup, and other factors outside of our control
- Challenge 4 - Semi Final - Moribund World
We’re now in the heavy end of the game… but it only gets heavier from here; I hope you’ve brought your A-Game – the company needs it.
Specifically, the Talon Company. You’re creating a DLC that tells their story.
The Company isn’t too developed in the main game, so you can take them almost any direction you like. You may want to keep them as the constant enemy presence they are in the main Fallout game, or may instead want to show a neutral or friendly side to the company.
You may wish to answer some questions not answered fully in the main game – Who are the Talon Company? Why are they in the Capital Wasteland? Where do they get their stuff? Its up to you though,
You should tell us how this fits into the core game. The DLC itself is to be designed “post” FO3 launch, so you cannot make significant changes to the main game (a few minor changes to locations to add an extra NPC or door, etc. are permissible).
Other than that, the door is open, impress us!
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| Dead Gunner Talk Page |
Paladin117 Talk page |
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| New Contestants | |||||||
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| GarouxBloodline Talk page |
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- GarouxBloodline expands the capital wasteland in Verisimilitude
- Paladin117 takes you to Ravensport, by the dawns early light....
- Dead Gunner is with us time and tide again.
Time and Tide is the sixth and final add-on for Fallout 3, developed and published by Bethesda Softworks.
Release and availability[]
Time and Tide was released simultaneously on all consoles as downloadable content on August 8th, 2013.
Overview[]
In Time and Tide, Talon Company has heard of the player character's accomplishments and wishes to bolster their ranks with him.
Aside from Talon Company's involvement, the quest-line is non-linear, allowing the player to choose from multiple paths that are open.
Any base(s) the player clears out (with or without help) can eventually be used as a home of sorts.
Story[]
After starting the quest Reilly's Rangers, you will hear a radio broadcast from Talon Company asking as many of them as possible to form up to finally put down Reilly's Rangers.
Once you show up, you can either choose to help the Talon Company soldiers, and pursue the Rangers with them. You can also tell the soldiers to stay behind while you get the Rangers. The final choice is that you can kill the Talon Company soldiers where they stand, making any other Talon soldier not near Fort Bannister hostile.
Regardless of what you choose, Commander Jabsco soon sends you an invite to Fort Bannister after you complete the quest. Regardless of the path you chose previously, he still asks for your help eliminating either the rest of the Rangers, or just Reilly who escapes alive. You can either kill, cooperate with, or scheme against Jabsco.
After this section, you either choose to help Reilly and the Rangers (if they are alive), Talon Company, or you can enlist the help of the Slavers to eliminate both groups. If you destroyed Paradise Falls, you can enlist the help of another independent contractor with a personal grudge against the other mercenaries.
After this DLC is complete, whichever groups you destroyed will no longer appear in-game, and whichever group you spare will have generic soldiers that can be companions. Any cleared forts can be used as player housing.
Characters[]
Enemies[]
Items[]
Armor and clothing[]
Weapons[]
Locations[]
Quests[]
Behind the scenes[]
- The name for this DLC was picked from a quote: "Looters become looted, while time and tide makes us mercenaries all." - attributed to Patrick Rothfuss in The Wise Man's Fear.
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For the location, see Ravens' Port (location). |
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Ravens' Port is the sixth and last Fallout 3 add-on, coming out many years after the previous ones.
Plot[]
Whether hearing the rumors or accidentally bumping into them, the Lone Wanderer will encounter a group of wastelanders from Ravens' Port trying to ask the Brotherhood of Steel for help. One of them, Samuel, will offer to take the player character to Ravens' Port. At Ravens' Port, the various ruins of pre-War Baltimore are filled with chaos as the Talon Company and Gamma mercenaries wage war in the streets. The Lone Wanderer can choose to either help the Talon Company or Gamma Defense Inc., or can even find a way to bring peace between the two factions. Along the way, the player can also choose to help the various townspeople and help a local mad scientist with his experiments.
Characters[]
- Grace Adams
- Risa Archer
- Dr. Fernsworth
- Hawkins
- Albert Landing
- Commander Myers
- Lieutenant Pascal
- Rachel
- Samuel
- Edward Talon
- Lieutenant Way
Creatures[]
A few creatures return from the vanilla game, including radroaches, feral ghouls, and even raiders, who are located in a single building at the edge of the map. Along with them, are a few new enemies:
- Venomroach- venomroaches are a variant of the radroach created by Dr. Fernsworth. They are about the same size as the radroach but have glowing stripes. Their bite ignores all armors' damage resistance and poisons the player. When they die, a cloud of poison gas appears around their body for a few seconds.
- Radserpents - Radserpents are large, mutated snakes found in the sewers underneath Ravens' Port. While not created by Dr. Fernsworth, surprisingly, he is studying him. They are fast, bite enemies rapidly, are highly poisonous and, possibly most important, are impossible to sneak up on, as they can see in infrared and can see the player character, even if they're invisible.
- Wolverines - Wolverines are yao guai modified by Dr. Fernsworth. Their fur has been turned silver and has higher Damage Resistance than yao guai of the same level. At the same time, their claws have been replaced with an unknown metal, greatly increasing the damage they inflict.
Items[]
- Canned mirelurk - same effects of mirelurk meat but with half the weight.
- FN FAL - assault rifles used by Talon Company mercenaries.
- Fusion battery - very powerful batteries, needed for two side quests. There are six found in game, five at the power plant and one held by a group of raiders, however, only four are needed for the quests.
- Gamma laser rifle - laser rifles modified after the War by Gamma mercenaries. They have greater damage and an added on scope making it more suitable for long ranged combat, but the rifle uses two microfusion cells per shot.
- Irradiated Bass - consumable item, gives 5 HP on use and is worth 8 caps.
- Laser carbine - modified energy weapons carried by Gamma mercenaries. They're smaller than regular laser rifles, weigh less, and have a faster rate of fire, but have much lower accuracy.
- Laser's edge - a variant of the Chinese officer's sword, it is a gray sword with red edges. It does 20 damage per swing and 50 damage per second. It is sometimes carried by both Talon company and Gamma mercenaries.
- Rail gun - a very powerful big gun. Inaccurate at long ranges, but does a large amount of damage and has the same knockdown effect as the Gauss rifle.
- 15mm EC - special ammunition just for the rail gun, can be purchased from Dr. Fernsworth.
- Power Armor for Dummies - a skill book of sorts, gives the player the Power Armor Training and Power Armor Expert perks. Given as a reward for the Power to the Company quest or can be found on Talon's dead body.
- Scrap electronics - similar to scrap metal, several can be found throughout Ravens' Port.
- Talon power armor - suits of T-45d power armor modified by the Talon Company. They have greater damage resistance but lower health. The only cosmetic change is various black ravens painted it on the armor.
- Wattz laser pistol - pre-War energy pistols carried by Gamma mercenaries. While doing less damage than other laser pistols, it has greater health and uses 1/2 the energy (every 2nd shot uses no ammo).
- XL70E3 - pre-War, rare assault rifle used by the Talon Company. It is a burst fire rifle, doing moderate damage but has high health and fire rate.
Locations[]
- Fort McHenry
- John Hopkins Hospital (JH Hospital)
- New John Hopkins University (New JHU)
- Power Plant
- The Armory
- West Tek Cryptics
Perks[]
- Human-morph! - Your blood has been transformed into a deadly, corrosive acid! Anytime an enemy attacks you with melee or unarmed weapons, they receive damage!
- Power Armor Expert - You know the makings of power armor like the back of your hand! When repairing a suit of power armor, the suit is repaired even more than usual. Gained through the Power Armor for Dummies book.
- Simulation Pains - When only a single limb is crippled, the player will receive no negative effects. However, if multiple limbs are crippled, the player will receive the negative effects of all of them.
Behind the scenes[]
- Wolverines are a reference to the character Wolverine from the X-Men. Like Wolverine, their claws have been replaced with a special form of metal.
- The Human-morph! perk seems to be a reference to the Xenomorphs from the Alien franchise.
Gallery[]
User_blog:GarouxBloodline/Verisimilitude
- http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:GarouxBloodline/Maddog
- http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:GarouxBloodline/Artax_the_Mad
- http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:GarouxBloodline/Commandant_Aix
- http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:GarouxBloodline/Gerrard_Valen
- http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:GarouxBloodline/Isolde_Valen
- http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:GarouxBloodline/Urchin
- http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:GarouxBloodline/Verisimilitude_creatures
- http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:GarouxBloodline/Verisimilitude_enemies
- http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:GarouxBloodline/Talon_Company_forward_base
- http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:GarouxBloodline/Dün_Mir
- http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:GarouxBloodline/New_Mardin
- http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:GarouxBloodline/Crow_Call
- http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:GarouxBloodline/Total_Warfare_Mambo
- http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:GarouxBloodline/Hell's_Descent
- http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:GarouxBloodline/The_Cocoon
- For this months results, and votes, just click on the tabs above.
Despite some positive comments from guest judge Chris Avellone, Nukaturtle wasn't able to get enough of the popular vote to continue.
This left us with GarouxBloodline, Dead Gunner, and Paladin117. Dead gunner won the popular vote, so he also gets the benefits of a round victory.
Agent C says:
As the MC, I'm the one responsbile for tabulating the votes. The way it works is each judge decides on what order they think the entries should go - we do allow for ties or people holding equal rank.
The contestant at the top of the list gets a number of votes equal to the number ofcontestants that played this round, the next contestant gets this less one,a nd so forth until the bottom placed entry who gets a point.
In the event of a joint rank, then we average the points for the ranks they cover (so if there's a 2 for a joint first, we would give them each 6.5 points as the average between second and first. We then add up all the points, and get a master ranking which you see here. We keep all of that secret to allow us to be weasely.
- Well, without further ado....
- Paladin117
- GarouxBloodline
- Dead Gunner
As the judges winner, Paladin win an addtional vote which will be automatically added to his tally in the final round, or this round if he needs it to continue.
As it was not unanimous, all 3 contestants will be headed to the vote
For those of you keeping score, thats +3.5 votes for Paladin and +2 votes for Dead Gunner, with Garoux Bloodline having half a vote should they need it in the poll.{{Template:Fallout_Apprentice_box|header=Miguel @ Wikia says
- Verisimilitude
The main thing that struck me from Garoux’s entry is that, despite the multitude of factions involved, you always have a choice to ally with them. Yes, sometimes the requirements for peaceful resolution are tough--like the 8 Strength and 80 Speech requirement to subdue Maddog--but I think that’s fine. I like it when games force you into tough circumstances. And given how it all plays out in the end, even having one of those factions on your side feels like it’d be an immense bonus.
Speaking of the ending, kudos for having the guts to kill off the Lone Wanderer at the end. This is the final DLC, right? Though you’re banking a great deal on the player’s relationship with Isolde being worth the sacrifice. It’s impossible to tell without actually playing it, but I have to question that image of her with the pointed ears. Is that a symptom of her post-war strain of hemophilia? She’s owns a corgi, though, so she can’t be all bad.
But seriously speaking, my biggest critique is that the Talon Company is portrayed as pretty uniformly bad. There’s a good opportunity here to depict the Company in a less one-sided light. Why not take advantage of that?
- Raven’s Port
It’s a cool bit of backstory about the Company’s origins, and their circumstances in Port Raven. Edward sounds like a decent guy, especially for a Talon Company commander. I also like the fact that the line of Talons still runs the Talon Company. I imagine it’s tough to find a new line a work with a name that like. Harsh, too, to send your son on a suicide mission. Maybe Pascal has the right of it. These Talons don’t mess around.
I really dig Raven’s Port’s structure. It makes you work hard to get the “good” ending, but even if you don’t get it, you get something cool at the end--a big firefight. I also appreciate how the side-quests worked to explore the uniqueness of the region, as is the case with Dr. Fernsworth’s quests, but also to affect the endgame.
In all, Raven’s Port feels very “Fallout” to me--lots of shades of grey. Neither faction is fighting for an especially noble cause; both are in fact being manipulated. I just wish more were made of the big surrounding mystery here--this business with Ronto and Littlehorn & Associates. It would have been cool if the player were given a chance to work with the truth before the very end.
- Time and Tide
Though the terminal entries are a cool touch, I don’t think Time and Tide does as good a job of delving into the Talon Company’s character and history as the other two. Rather, they feel like just another player in this spot of Wasteland drama. That said, I really appreciate the variability of the scenario. You can say “screw it” and off both warring factions during the endgame by enlisting the aid of slavers, and that seems very “Fallout.” I also like that the consequences for doing so are spelled out from the get-go. As you might have noticed by now, I like it when games make you live with the consequences of your actions, however drastic. And allowing these two factions to vanish from the main game is drastic indeed. Not sure how feasible it is, though, especially if, as the concept details, one of the factions has already been eradicated before you installed the DLC.
One more thing--I think the Talons welcoming you into their compound after you laid waste to them in the first quest is a bit of a stretch. Would have appreciated it if some more thought had gone into that.
Hello, folks!
First of all, I’d like to say I’m sorry for the short comments, but it’s been some rough two weeks these two, as I’ve been participating in two symposiums. But I could finally read the articles, and since I’m exhausted with my presentations and my workshop in these two events, I couldn’t think of better comments to make. The good thing is that I could analyse the three contestants and give them the score I thought was fair. Btw, congratulations to all three, these were all AMAZING entries!
- DEAD GUNNER
I love the way DG makes it clear right at the start that the questline won’t be linear, and that the player will have choices during the ongoing action. And you make it true along the way! The inclusion of the Reilly’s Rangers (I haven’t played FO3 in a long while, so I hadn’t even remembered them when thinking about the ways through which this could’ve been made) was nice.
The main image of the DLC is neat, very well made. And also, let’s not forget about the title, which is – in my opinion – the best choice in this challenge. Very clever addition from a Patrick Rothfuss’ quote. The kind of cunning work you’d expect for a reference, and you nailed it. I just think you should’ve added some new relevant locations, although I like the way you use the existing ones (especially the conflicts in Paradise Falls). Really nice job, Gunner! GAROUX BLOODLINE Excellent entries (a lot of them, gave me a lot of trouble reading! Hahaha)! Well-made story, mysterious air right at the start, and I like the way you transform the TC into this big, conflictuous faction that turns out really remarkable (in command of a high-tech research facility, really surprising how they became the iconic raiding group) and important to the game’s events rather than the crappy faction they are in the real story of FO3.
The images are just… cream of the crop, for lack of a better word. Amazing how you make it look like it’s a whole new game with those new textures and lighting! Other than that, well-constructed characters (I just loved Isolde, and Gerrard’s struggle and love for his daughter), and great questline! Congrats!
- PALADIN
Another great job! I quite like the setting, and the involvement you set up between different locations, it’s notable. The history you put behind the creation of the Talon Company is impressive, and I personally like the touch given to Albert Landing as a BoS reject and still got screwed when joining TC. But in my opinion, Gamma sounded like a more interesting faction than TC overall, and Hawkins is a nicely made character that serves as a bit of a Deus Ex Machina element in the story.
Additionally, I like the way you keep it close to the base game, not straying away from it and making your work seem like a spin-off instead of a DLC, which is what it’s supposed to feel like. I like the perks, the new items, and I just think you could’ve put a bit more effort into the creatures. The quests are just amazing, a truly impressive work! Great job!
- GarouxBloodline
You've made some bold choices that I think people are going to think are great or hate. Not introducing a new headline area makes it a hard sell, but you've added more depth in areas like Dun Mir, and completely rewritten quests like the original Reily's rangers, and give the players the option to kill off the regulators - both of these are very bold decisions (One requires a lot of remedial work in recasting, the other potentially ruins a perk.
The tip of the hat to Fallout Tactics (the Beastlords) is well appreciated. The Beastlords are a faction that could offer a great spin in their return.
I don't think the remnants of the past section works for me… Lyons previous to getting his robot working seemed to find it hard to take ground, and this tactical advantage didn't take long. You would need to make sure there are "signposts" to suggest against using dogmeat, cross, or wearing power armour.
Guardian Angel follower perk is a good "port back" from new vegas, as is the use of an extra animal companion. Maddog and the super mutant civil war adds a new level of depth to the super mutants in DC who have otherwise played the role of cartoon cutout baddies.
Theres a lot to like here Very good.
- Dead Gunner
Another Reilleys rangers quest. Having Jabsco summon someone who'd killed all the rangers didn't make a lot of sense to me.
Disappointed int he locations… though the main page teases 8 locations, these are just the stock pages on the wiki. This is very disappointing, and would limit the ability to sell your DLC - you've got limited visual appeal that would be different from the main game. Admittedly Leon's didn't have a headline location, but compensates with other new locations that slide into the main map.
I like how you've integrated the game into the other quests… However I can't get any other impression that you've answered the wrong question. If this was "add a quest/questline", I'd give you full marks, but there's more to a DLC than the quest line.
A big part of a DLC is the story, and you haven't really dived into the Talon company - why do they want the rangers gone? Why are they such a big thorn, and not just a mosquito? You've offered a little in the talons page, but I just don't see how that links back.
Your work is good, but this just doesn't seem quite at DLC level.
- Paladin117
I see you've gone the more conventional route by giving us a headline location. I'm not big on US geography, but giving it a home with landmarks makes your DLC immediately more marketable - and with Baltimore you've got a big one in the home of the Star Spangled Banner.
Using the gossipy wastelanders and Three Dog rather than a radio message popup I think is a good choice… makes it stand out against the other DLCs.
Your DLC is jammed packed with quests, from the major, to the seemingly minor. I like the whole 2 arms forced to fight each other for a rich man's amusement story, it might be a little cliched, but I think it works very well in Fallout - maybe the new world hasn't completely forgoten the ways of the old?
This is the one that excited me most to play, and I liked the choice of final quest name - maybe the main quest line could have taken different lines from the song to build stronger links.
- Since there was no unanimous first place we're throwing them all in the vote. The loser leaves the game
- Polls are now closed
- Verisimilitude - 29 votes
- Ravens Port - 29 votes
- Time and Tide - 15 votes
Both GarouxBloodline and Paladin117 will move to the final. As its tied, they both get half a vote extra each.
The Final Challenge[]
- This is it. The finale. Go hard, or go home.
- As is tradition, You are to design a concept for Fallout 4. Please read the following documentation as we do not want you to design the whole game.
- Your entry should comprise of 6 Focus articles. You may have an additional supplementary article as listed. Do not include additional articles.
- One detailed location.. Your detailed location can be the starting location, or the ending location, or any point in between you want to highlight. Please only give us this level of detail on ONE location. You may choose if it’s a town or dungeon
- A starting and Tutorial questline. Where the player learns how to play the game. If you have not selected this in your location, you should only give detail in line with normal quest articles.
- An outline to your main plot. I don’t expect every single detail, but make sure there is enough to understand what is going on. You don’t need to list every single click/jump/enemy, but have enough to follow it. The detail given in the film treatment is probably about right (or if anything more detailed than expected).
- The Final showdown. Tell us about the endgame, and the options to deal with it. If you have not selected this as your location, you should only give detail in line with normal quest articles.
- A Single choice of one page giving a lot of detail on: A unique enemy or character, a unique faction, a unique item, or side quest. That is ONE Page total, not one of each. Choose one idea that really shines.
- A pitch document selling us your idea. Anything that you think we should know that will convince us your idea is best, but can’t include in the other pages you can include here in minor detail. This should be your MAIN page.
- The single supplementarity page permitted is a summary of locations in minor detail. Use pages like this as a guide as to what we are looking for: Brotherhood of steel 2 locations.
- Now, you might have noticed this quest is called Second Chance… That’s because we’re asking you to do a little recycling… Recycling is a big part of fallout history.
- You should include (at least) one element from your previous entries. This could be anything at all – based off a quest, character, item, enemy, location, plot point, etc. You only need mention it in passing, but can make it one of your focus articles if you choose. Please tell us in the pitch document what element you chose, and where it is.
- You should include (at least) one element from one of your competitors entries. This could be anything at all – based off a quest, character, item, enemy, location, plot point, etc. You only need mention it in passing, but can make it one of your focus articles if you choose. Please tell us in the pitch document what element you chose, and where it is.
- You should include (at least) one element from a Cancelled Fallout game . Again, this could be anything at all – based off a quest, character, item, enemy, location, plot point, etc. Like before You only need mention it in passing, but can make it one of your focus articles if you choose. Please tell us in the pitch document what element you chose, and where it is.
- Oh, and one more thing. You may, at your discretion, give one of your fallen competitors a second chance, and allow them to help you on this challenge.
- You may ask a single former competitor to help you with your articles from either this game or the last one (with the exception of Crimson Frankie who is on judge duty, and as a winner needs no second chance). They may help you in any way you both agree… they can help you create ideas, and you can give them responsibility to fully create a page if you choose, ask them for art or technical assistance or just use them as a sounding board. There is no limit on the assistance they are allowed to provide, but you remain "in charge" of the entry.
- In the event no former competitors are available to help, we will allow you to use a non-competitor on a case by case basis.
- Because of the above rules, the rule allowing technical help for your entries is suspended. If you need help with an article, choose your teammate wisely.
You have until 18 October. Show us what you can do.
Our prize vault has been cracked open, here you can see what our contestants might just walk away with...
For our top five finishers[]
Our good friends Bethesda have offered us 5 wasteland simulation kits... This Viewmaster and lunchbox will certainly help even the most unprepared of vault dwellers surivive the coming apocolypse.
For our winner[]
Our good friend Mr Chris Avellone, and the gang at Obsidian Entertainment have offered our winner a signed copy of the Fallout: New Vegas ultimate edition, in a format of the winners choice. A prize that even the grand-ghouls will treasure.