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Post by Cal on Jul 14, 2015 16:08:53 GMT -8
Project Overview -
At the very core, this is simply a companion mod for Fallout 4. I am simply trying to create a few dynamic characters to go inside of Fallout 4 and make the players journey feel a bit more interesting and less lonely. The primary goal is to make characters that the player will feel connected to and that will react to the things the player does, in effect making everything you do in Fallout 4 feel more impactful.
Through playing this mod, the player will feel like he/she has really made an impact in the lives of these characters.
Everything is going to be built around making these characters...
1. Feel Unique : New outfits, armors, weapons, hair, and so on
2. Build Over Time : Dialogue that expands over time revealing deeper into the story and changing the way they act to the player and other npcs
3. React to Things : When you do something significant, you can bet they have a reaction to it
4. Impact the Game : Each character has different skills that will help you survive in the game and build successful settlements
5. Give More Stuff to Do : There will be 3 major quest story lines and several smaller mini quests to complete
So even though this is a companion mod at heart, it will be full of all sorts of new assets, quests, settlement upgrades, and hopefully at least one brand new game dynamic.
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Post by Cal on Jul 14, 2015 16:45:58 GMT -8
Backstory Summary -
All of these events happen approximately 20 years before Fallout 4
The story begins when Dagger Squad, one of the last remaining companies of the once powerful Rebel Faction of the Brotherhood of Steel stationed in the Midwest, receives orders to travel to rural Kansas and rescue a little known vault from the clutches of the Reaver Movement.
Isn't rural Kansas an odd place for a vault you ask?
Vault 54, like most other vaults, is an experiment and was never expected to actually succeed. For Vault 54 Vault-Tec wanted to see what would happen if you filled a high-tech vault with rural farmers who knew little to nothing about how computers worked. Much to the surprise of Vault-Tec, the citizens of the vault were more resourceful than expected. Through generations of knowledge of farming and living simply, the citizens created a thriving low tech community that totally ignored most of the high-tech features of the vault.
Another surprise about Vault 54 is that the overseer's daughter could not bear to part with her pets, so she secretly hid her 5 small piglets in her jacket as she entered the vault. Over time, the vault turned into an entire underground farming ecosystem with radiation free fruits, vegetables, and genetically pure pre-war pigs.
Years later the vault dwellers return to the surface and create a small farming village around the entrance to the vault.
The Reaver Movement however has located the vault and taken over. They are not interested in the farmers, but the untapped technology lying inside the vault. As long time enemies of the Rebel Faction, the Brotherhood is determined to rid the vault of the larger Reaver army.
Star Paladin Sierra, Paladin General Cal, and the rest of Dagger Squad were outnumbered but managed to mount a successful offensive and defeat the Reavers with very few casualties.
Dagger Squad, however, never again hears from their headquarters, and as a result chooses to stay at Vault 54 where there is plenty of fresh food, untapped vault technology to study, and plenty of friendly people. For the next 8 years Vault 54 becomes their home.
After the events of the battle, the fanatical Reaver Movement start to view Sierra, or more specifically her power armor as a god. They no longer pose a threat to Vault 54.
Head Scribe Maria Barnakey and an ambition farmer named Teller decide to take on a project to spread fresh food to the entire wasteland and hopefully eventually restore some sort of sustainable civilization. Years of research and one child later, they make a breakthrough on how to breed radiation/mutation free animals and vegetables. However, in order to distribute this breakthrough to the wasteland as a whole, they needed technology that wasn't available at Vault 54.
Star Paladin Sierra decides that they must take a journey to the Institute located in the far away land called the Commonwealth. It was rumored that they had technology that could make their dream of restoring the wasteland a reality. Cal had also gotten transmissions years ago about an Elder Lyons of the Brotherhood of Steel traveling to the area, so with no headquarters left in the Midwest it made since to meet up with any other Brothers they could.
Star Paladin Sierra, her daughter Apprentice Scribe Karen, Paladin General Cal, Teller, Head Scribe Maria, as well as 15 other remaining Paladins, Knights, and Scribes began the long journey to the east. With them came Sierra's young child Kaylee and Maria and Teller's young child Emma.
The long journey initially went very well, because most people would be crazy to mess with 20 power armored and heavily armed Brothers of Steel. However, when approaching Boston the squad was ambushed by an old formidable foe. Gammorin, the leader of the Super Mutants in the Midwest was determined to destroy the Brotherhood for breaking their promise to cure the sterility cause by the FEV.
Gammorin planned to destroy Dagger squad and take the breeding technology and use it to create a civilization of Super Mutants that could breed.
Through use of sleeping gas, all of Dagger Squad besides Cal were captured. Teller, as a non Brother was seen an unnecessary and left for dead after having his leg blown off by a grenade. Cal ends up joining with his old enemies, the Reaver Movement to attack Gammorin's base.
Cal has the opportunity to save Star Paladin Sierra, but instead her and her men sacrifice themselves to destroy the Super Mutant headquarters from the inside. Cal is given the simple mission of rescuing the children and to get the hell away from the battle. The Reaver army eventually defeats Gammorin's army, but Dagger Squad was totally destroyed.
Cal takes Apprentice Scribe, Karen and the two young children, Kaylee and Emma to a safe house where they reunite with Teller. This is where they stay until they run into the player character in Fallout 4. They create a small self sustainable farm and live relatively peaceful under the protection of Cal and his less intelligent robot cousin, Pace the Pacification Robot.
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Post by Cal on Jul 15, 2015 0:14:17 GMT -8
Characters -There are 4 main characters that this mod is centered around, as well as a 5th companion you get during the first quest. There is also one other friendly NPC and then the 2 major villains of the quests.Main Characters -Karen : Karen is a marvelous cook and was a trained medic during her time as Apprentice Scribe in the Brotherhood of Steel. She is the friendly character of the group but is always looking for more fun to have, though making sure to keep an image of being responsible.
As a companion she can heal the player during his/her journeys, and she is a decent shot with a pistol.
I want allow the player to help her start a restaurant in your Fallout 4 settlement to share the marvelous gift of bacon with the settlers.
- View More -
 Kaylee : Kaylee is brave and adventurous, she helps with security and travels to different parts of the Wasteland to trade. She is kindof a bitch and doesn't really get along with people well, but if you get to know her you will realize there is a lot more to her than her abrasive exterior.
As a companion she is a great close to mid range gunner, specializing with a pistol. She has the best endurance out of all the humans and can wear armors that the others can't, eventually learning the ability to use power armor.
Kaylee is looking for her mother's power armor, which if found makes her one of the most powerful companions in the game. She also has personal problems with the other girls that you can help solve and bring the characters closer together, making a lasting impact on the group.- View More - Emma : Emma is very smart and good at fixing things. She is the shy one of the group and it takes a while to get to know her, but once you find some common ground to talk about she won't shut up.
As a companion she can repair weapons and armor, set traps such as proximity mines, and she can pick locks or hack computers. I wouldn't recommend giving her any big guns, especially rocket launchers, she might blow you up as well...
I want to allow the player to help Emma start a radio station broadcasting from your Fallout 4 settlement, where you can bring back records you find in your travels to share with the entire wasteland.
- View More -
Cal : Cal is a clever robot with incredible sniper skills and is just in general good at blowing things up. He is kind of a sarcastic jerk, but beneath his smartass personality he is one of the most helpful, loyal, and non-judgmental people... I mean robots... you will ever meet.
As a companion he is a force of destruction with a sniper rifle or heavy weapons or pretty much anything. He is basically a robot killing machine that will always have your back.
I want to create a mission where Cal joins the Brotherhood of Steel in Boston and the player can help him pass the initiation tests. Cal is also around to give the player advice on characters he/she is trying to pursue a romantic relationship with. For a robot, he knows an awful lot about human social patterns, I guess looking at everything from a safe distance gives him a clear view of the big picture.- View More - Other Characters -Teller : Teller takes care of the farm that keeps the main characters safe and fed. He is a hard worker and puts the needs of others before himself and would do anything for his daughter, Karen, and Kaylee.
He is not available as a companion, but he provides information during the quests as well as being able to grow special foods that help the character on the farm in your Fallout 4 settlement.
If I can get the horse animations to work so the player can ride horses, I want Teller to help the player raise horses.
Dos : Dos is the most reasonable and sane member of a group of radical extremists who worship technology as their god and are willing to kill anyone to please that god. He seems a bit naive at first, but he is one of the few clever enough to question his leader's immoral intentions and stand up for his own beleifs.
As a companion he is quick and has great stealth capabilities. His cyborg enhancements make him great with silenced weapons and other strategic stealth weapons.
If the player allows it, Dos will join your settlement and start a new, more moderate and sane, Reaver Movement church. He has a strong crush on Karen, and if the player does not pursue her, Dos will start a relationship with Karen.
- View More -
DeDe Ar Ram : DeDe is a Bishop of the Reaver Movement Church and the leader of their forces stationed in the Commonwealth. She is crazy ambitious and has few morals when it comes to experimenting with technology. She can work with the player as long as it is in her best interests, but is not to be trusted and will stab you in the back in a heartbeat if it could gain her favor with her computer gods.
She will be suffering from complications with her cyborg implants, and if the player brings Emma along, she can cure her and gain access to the basement level to access the reactor and fight the first boss to finish the first quest.
During the third quest she is the primary enemy and you must kill her to gain access to the boss stage and rescue Emma.
Gammorin : Gammorin is the Super Mutant overlord of the Midwest. He was born as an experiment of the Super Mutant scientist Erkel, and was the first successful Super Mutant to father a child, though it was only one success over a 20 year time frame. After not being able to control his Super Mutants and them massacring a village under Brotherhood of Steel control, the Brotherhood halted all future development of an FEV sterilization cure.
Gammorin became angry and waged war on the Brotherhood and has been fighting them for over 50 years now. He is an extremely strong and dangerous Muttie. He ambushed the Brotherhood on their way into Boston and ended up killing almost everyone, though he lost his base and all his footing in this part of the country to the Reavers during the process.
During the second quest he is the primary enemy and you must tack him down and end his rebellion once and for all. If you bring Cal, he will finally lose his cool and go all robot berserker on Gammorin and beat him to death with his bare robot hands out of revenge for killing Star Paladin Sierra and the rest of Cal's squad.
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Post by Cal on Jul 16, 2015 1:39:15 GMT -8
Quest Overview -
- View Quest 1 Page -
Quest 1 : The first quest begins when you learn from the main characters about Star Paladin Sierra and her specialized power armor that was lost after the battle with Gammorin. Through talking to Cal, he theorizes that the Reaver Movement probably took the armor after defeating the Super Mutant army. This triggers the search for the Reaver base.
There will be a few different clues given to the character that will eventually lead you to Dos who will be hanging out in one of the towns in Fallout 4. When you meet him you must convince him to take you to the Reaver base/church. You can do this by convincing him Cal is a god or outsmarting him or having Karen flirt with him.
Alternatively you can just shoot your way into the Reaver base, but then the people inside will not be very happy with you.
Once inside you will learn about their sanctuary losing its power source and members starting to lose their faith. You will find the leader, Bishop DeDe Ar Ram, who will initially not let outsiders go down to the basement level. However, she is sick from complications with her cybernetic enhancements. Karen, Cal, or Kaylee will point the character toward bringing Emma to have a look at DeDe to try to cure her. If the player brings Emma, she can fix the cybernetic enhancements and return DeDe to health.
DeDe will now allow the player to enter the basement and try to return power to the generator. Well, more like DeDe will allow Emma to enter and the player can follow to protect her. You can't complete this mission without Emma, as she is needed to repair the machine.
When you inquire about Sierra's power armor, you find out that it is kept in a shrine deep inside the basement level, if you are able to pass the tests and return power to the Reaver Church, DeDe agrees to return it.
Once in the basement level you learn that the Reaver Movement had been conducting experiments on molerats, so now there is an army of cyborg lab rats running around the basement. The player must complete a series of small puzzles to work his/her way to the reactor room.
Boss 1 : Once you reach the reactor you find out that the power is being drained by the biggest cybord molerat you have ever seen, it is at least 12 feet tall with electricity flowing through all of its cyborg parts. This molerat was fitted with a brain implant that overrode the signal in the brain that told the rat to stop growing, so it just kept growing and growing and growing.
In order to defeat the cyborg lab rat king you must use Emma to activate all 4 generator nodes at once once and jolt him with more electricity than he can take. He will then run away into the wasteland.
With power now restored to the Reaver Church, the Reaver Movement becomes friendly to you and you can go get the power armor out of the basement. Kaylee can now wear her mother's power armor making her a very powerful companion. Emma will be able to replicate new power armor pieces for the player based off of the design.
Quest 2 : Dos will come to the player and tell him/her that the Reaver Movement has found new information about an old enemy they had thought to have defeated long ago, the Super Mutant overlord, Gammorin. Cal in particular will be very adamant about wiping the Gammorin forces off the face of the planet for good.
The player and his companions will join up with a Reaver attack squad and infiltrate the Super Mutant headquarters , but once inside you realize that it was a trap and are captured.
You are taken to the prison level and discover that the Super Mutants have an entire facility of scientists, some of which are mutants, most of which are slaves.
With Cal's help you escape from your captivity and make your way through the research lab to Gammorin. You can choose to rescue the scientists on your way, though some are actually loyal to the cause.
Boss 2 : Gammorin is huge even by Super Mutant standards and very, very powerful. Cal will lose his normal cool, calm, and collected personality and snap into a rage, determined to beat Gammorin to an unrecognizable bloody pulp.
When you defeat Gammorin you are given the chance to either totally destroy the research or to allow the scientists to continue their research under new, less violent leadership.
Quest 3 :
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Post by Cal on Aug 6, 2015 2:40:59 GMT -8
Asset List -
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Post by Cal on Aug 6, 2015 2:41:55 GMT -8
Timeframe -
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Post by wowboy on Aug 7, 2015 7:57:51 GMT -8
I am absolutely loving all of this so far and am looking forward to getting going with this.
A quick question - You state above in the backstory that all the survivors are in a safe house when the player meets them. Then you jump to a farm. Is the idea that the player will help establish the farm possibly via the build system that's going to be in FO4? Or will the farm already be established?
You've stated several times that you want all of this to be as professional as possible. How professional are we talking about here? Do we want to follow a strict development process in which the product moves from distinct phases conforming to set standards?
Also, how big do you want this thing to get? I know at its heart this is a companion mod, but the untapped lore you are harnessing here has tremendous potential. Do we want to eventually send the player back to Vault 54? Chicago? This could all get HUGE when we start really brainstorming ideas... which is all the more reason we may want to try to strictly adhere to a set process that would enable us to set short term goals that add up to something much larger.
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Post by Cal on Aug 7, 2015 8:58:14 GMT -8
The Farm -
I've pretty much been using the term 'safe house' and 'farm' interchangeably because they kind of refer to the same place. I haven't gone into as much detail as I should in this area, because I am still a bit fuzzy on what specifically I am really wanting.
Basically, what I really want for these characters is to have them come back with the player and join his/her settlement. The 'safe house' / 'farm' is the place where the player will find the characters. This is not meant to be very complex because I want the characters to leave and go join and become a dynamic member of the player's settlement, using their unique skills and personality to make returning to your settlement that much more fun.
I see this group as a sort of 'add on module' that becomes a part of whatever you as the player are designing. You make homes for them in your little city and they will move their stuff in and make it their own and begin to start offering services. I am hoping to open up a restaurant or something, but that is one of the elements that must wait until Fallout 4 is actually released since my knowledge of the settlements is limited.
The 'safe house' / 'farm' that you find them on is basically a safe location that Cal found and Teller turned into a little self sustaining community that really only supports the 5 people and not much more. They stay safe from raiders and such because of Cal and the Pacification Robot (Fallout Tactics) shoot anything that bothers them. I guess if you wanted to make a real small settlement for less than 10 people I could make this part of the Fallout 4 feature, though ideally the characters are going to move.
Long story short, it is basically a very small settlement to hold these characters until the player comes along and can choose to move them to a larger settlement.
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Post by wowboy on Aug 7, 2015 9:18:53 GMT -8
So we are talking something on the order of Girdershade in FO3? Maybe a shack or two and a small field for crops? I know the events take place 20 years prior to FO4, so how long have Cal and the kids been in the safehouse/farm?
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Post by Cal on Aug 7, 2015 9:30:27 GMT -8
You've stated several times that you want all of this to be as professional as possible. How professional are we talking about here? Do we want to follow a strict development process in which the product moves from distinct phases conforming to set standards? Also, how big do you want this thing to get? I know at its heart this is a companion mod, but the untapped lore you are harnessing here has tremendous potential. Do we want to eventually send the player back to Vault 54? Chicago? This could all get HUGE when we start really brainstorming ideas... which is all the more reason we may want to try to strictly adhere to a set process that would enable us to set short term goals that add up to something much larger. As far as following a strict process with strict guides and deadlines... We are working with modders, all of which are not being paid, so I have to have a certain amount of fluidity to the process. Basically the way I am going to handle it is by setting a list of what needs to be done before moving forward and putting all my attention toward getting that done before I start moving people on to the next set.
When it comes to how big this thing can get, I am not going to shut any doors at this point in time, but I am also not speculating too much about stuff past a version 1 release with all essential elements and 2 quests, and a version 2 release with added relationship elements and a 3rd quest. I will open up a topic for speculation if people want to talk about how far they want to take things. I for one am all about quality over quantity, I would rather go in the direction of making higher quality assets and more deep characters and more cinematic elements that really draw you into the story and the lives of these characters. I personally don't have much interest in building a large world space, but I am definitely not opposed to handing off part of the project to someone else who has the initiative to do such, and would be more than willing to help them in any way I can. Chicago in particular is kind of out of the question though because a) Contrary to public belief, Chicago has very, very little to do with Fallout Tactics, and b) I am pretty sure the Enclave is setting up there after the events of Fallout 3, and I don't want to clash with Bethesda's plans. Vault 54 or Vault 0 are possibilities, or even 'Tinker - Oklahoma', which is basically the ruins of Oklahoma City centered around Tinker Airforce Base. I haven't typed the backstory on that yet, but Cal was in charge of the Brotherhood of Steel stationed there where the one and only mission was to restore Vertibirds. Cal left to go save Star Paladin Sierra and crashed his Vertibird into the Super Mutant base and saved Dagger Squad a few years before the events of Vault 54. Anyways, I have a lot of different things on my checklist right now, but I will get something typed out about my production plans and possibility speculation. It is a lot of information floating around in my head that needs to be organized in a format that humans can understand... |
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Post by Cal on Aug 7, 2015 9:41:50 GMT -8
So we are talking something on the order of Girdershade in FO3? Maybe a shack or two and a small field for crops? I know the events take place 20 years prior to FO4, so how long have Cal and the kids been in the safehouse/farm? Yes, something similar. One main house where Teller and Emma live, as well as Cal I guess since he charges his batteries in Emma's lab, then a second house where Karen and Kaylee live. Then a small area for pigs and horses to live, and enough crops for 4 people to eat and feed the animals. The events at Vault 54 happen before Kaylee and Emma are born. They stay at Vault 54 for approximately 10 years or so, then they spend another year or so traveling east. So Kaylee is about 10 or 11 when they reach the Commonwealth and Dagger Squad is destroyed. Kaylee is 19 years old at the start of Fallout 4. So in conclusion, they have been in the Commonwealth for about 8 or 9 years. |
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Post by wowboy on Aug 7, 2015 10:07:53 GMT -8
Whoa... this is crazy. I was stationed at Tinker for 5.5 years, then worked as a contractor for 6 more. You might say that I have a bit to offer about what all is at that base.
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Post by soulsurviva on Aug 12, 2015 12:01:23 GMT -8
Hey guys! Looking forward to this project!
Should be very interesting working on / implementing this in the early days of the game XD
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SMB92
New Member
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Post by SMB92 on Oct 25, 2015 10:36:17 GMT -8
My thirst thoughts are - too many women. So far kaylee and Cal are my favorites. Cal makes an excellent ranged companion and he is good for a laugh. This suits my ranger character down to the ground, i tend to always role play as a vigilant "prospector" or ranger. I say prospector as i tend to make my money that way. Kaylee provides me with a challenge. This i look forward to. Not sure how i feel about the red dress thing in her concept art, but i quite like the look overall. Other 2, Emma and Karen, well so far are meh. Would have to read their dialogues to understand how i could like them apart from their skill designs. I sincerely feel there needs to be a male character here. For example, what about some young lad that is humble yet fiercely protective of the girls having been the only "bull among the cows", yet severely outspoken by that very fact, and perhaps secretly crushing on kaylee for her beauty but his humility and her temperament leaves him despairing, often taken his anger out with melee attacks on enemies. Anyhow, something like that just from the top of my head, although with that example, you could have a very interesting love triangle type thing going on with some very interesting outcomes. Also something about me, i disagree with adult mods and utter skimpiness in general, so anything like that i definitely do not imply when im talking about love or relationships or anything like that  |
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Post by Cal on Oct 25, 2015 17:26:50 GMT -8
I actually have been working on Dos for just that reason, but I wanted someone that was outside of the family and that I could build in a little bit different way. Just like Cal, his dialogue branches develop in a slightly different way. Kaylee, Karen, and Emma are basically all based of of my standard model of dialogue and just tweaked a bit, they play by the same rules. Cal and Dos play by different rules, because Cal is the distant observer, you learn about him by asking him about others if that makes any sense. Dos' main mechanic is that you get to introduce him to everyone and watch things develop as a new cog is thrown into the machine. There are no preconceived ideas about him because he is new to the other characters. teambacon.boards.net/thread/7/dosYou meet him early in quest 1 as the ambassador for the Reaver Movement. This overview is a bit out of date but I just have so many other things I am doing for this mod that I haven't got my new design document typed up, but trust me, it is written in my notebook. Anyways, actually is a brother, very recent development I haven't got all typed up yet, but he went off the get supplies and never came back for years, so they think he is dead. He might not be though, I haven't decided. His disappearance is part of why Kaylee is so anti-social and pissed off. I'll go into more detail later, or you can come up with your own ideas for him, I am totally cool with that. My characters are designed to be strong independent young women, they aren't going to be eye candy for any player. Everything I design for them is made to be appropriate for the setting, there will be no nudity in my mod. |
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SMB92
New Member
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Post by SMB92 on Oct 26, 2015 6:50:19 GMT -8
Cool cool. Regarding the potentiallu missing brother, i think maybe there is too much family here as in blood related, i havent any ideas at that top of my head for this at present but this is my initial impression in summary.
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Post by Cal on Oct 26, 2015 8:34:20 GMT -8
Maybe just the son of another dead Rebel Faction Paladin. I just figured I need more characters to flesh out a bit more backstory and not just have an 11 year gap of nothing happening and everything being sunshine and rainbows.
In case you haven't noticed, I never use the term 'Midwest Brotherhood of Steel' because it was never actually used in the Fallout world, just by fans.
Basically, every Paladin besides Cal died fighting Gammorin. Cal reluctantly left the battle to save the children, but other non-power armor touting people could have survived like Teller, because they were irrelevant to Gammorin's army.
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Post by Winnie on Jan 22, 2021 17:19:45 GMT -8
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