Fallout Fallout: Nerd Fury Road. Choosing Companions for an Escort Quest.

[Husky_Khan]

The Shi Emperor has hired you, one of the finest Couriers in the land, for a choice of one of many fine missions. His motivations are inscrutable but the pay is good. Really good and includes ten thousand caps up front... much wow. And if you successfully complete this Escort contract, you'll be set for life with your own home and plot of land!

Though if you fail in your contract, chances are you'll have Assassins and Bounty Hunters chasing after you for the rest of your unnatural life. And that's only if the threat that the Shi Emperor somehow infected you with a specialized strain of FEV that can kill you on command isn't true. Not that you want to call that bluff.

The rules are pretty simple though.

You are to escort a high level VIP across the Wasteland. You can try and convince these clients otherwise but you are to follow their directions and orders as practical. Like with any Courier work, or something like Uber/Lyft, you'll get a bonus for a high review at the completion of said quest.

The potential VIPs!

Preston Garvey: Whilst Escorting Him Across the Wastelands, He'll Constantly Be Notified of Nearby Settlement Problems. You Will Help Him Solve Said Settlement Problems.

Moira Brown: The First Wasteland Survival Was Such A Success She Decided To Personally Invest in Cross Country Tour To Release a Second Revised Edition. She has LOTS of Ideas for Research.

Fantastic: After his success at Helios One He's Now Become a New California Republic Goodwill Ambassador. Your Job Is To Escort Him To Various Settlements and Tribal Groups for Public Relations on behalf of the NCR.

Joanne Lynette: She's Now an Independent Auditor and Ombudsman. Your Job Is To Escort Her To Various Settlements and Tribal Groups So She Can Tell Them How Bad They Are (Probably). You Get the High Review Bonus Automatically Though.

Three Dog: He's taking his show on the road, Isn't that awesome? Be sure to help him in fighting the good fight or some such. He'll broadcast it to the Wasteland.

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Thankfully your mysterious employer has offered someone to accompany you across the Wasteland to aid you in your Quest. Unfortunately, it's these people. You don't need to keep them alive, but you'll only get half the money obviously.

The Potential Partners!

Violet (Fiends): Arf! Arf! Arf! Ha! Ha! Ha!

Gary: Gary? Gary is not omnicidal however.

Knight Rhys: Don't worry he still has nothing but contempt for you.

Dr. Thomas Hildern: He too has nothing but contempt for you but it's better hidden.

Sierra Petrovita: Oh sweet Quantum, Come to Mama!

While these "partners" will generally follow your directions within reason, they'll never shut up. It's not all doom and gloom though, the Shi Distrct of San Francisco is highly advanced so you'll get your choice of high quality equipment, weapons and gear with which to outfit your little convoy with. Also... the caravan has room for one more persona!

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Which is convenient because you read the contract and apparent the amount of Caps you are rewarded is doubled if your married and your uhhh spouse is still alive. Better check your companion rolodex for Waifus and see whose available.

Husbando/Waifu Choices. Marriage is required but... Consummation is optional. Also has to be a choice to make your parents happy or something. You also completed their companion quests so they're good to go! Possible companions listed below.

The potential Romance Options!

Boone or Rose of Sharon Cassidy
- Their groundedness, no nonsense mentality might help anchor your sanity and keep your other companions in check. Also experienced caravaners.

Nick Valentine or Curie
- Positive and supportive individuals with valuable skills and the patience and steadfast optimism only automation can provide.

Ian or Katja
- OG Fallout representation with the young hip Wastelander demographic.

Elliot Tercorien or Sydney
- Veteran soldier out of time or the veteran scavenger. Companionship of normals might refill out your sanity meter.

Goris or Ada
- Combat phenoms and good deep conversation. Hard to anger as well. Might even be intimidating.

So TLDR... choose one client, one partner and one romance to accompany you on this glorious trek for profit and adventure!

 

[JasonSanjo]

Potential VIPs

Preston Garvey: While I do expect the whole settlement helping thing to be less annoying in this scenario as it wouldn't be constantly interrupting everything else I'd be doing, I still think it would get old fast.

Moira Brown: As much as I like Moira as a character and quest giver, I fear I would be in far greater danger from being near her for extended periods of time than from anything we might actually run into out in the wasteland. Just imagine if she gets bored while I'm sleeping and decides to try a topic like "What to do if you're suddenly awakened by a Death Claw"...

Fantastic: I would almost certainly kill him myself within a week, so no.

Joanne Lynette: I suspect I would "accidentally" leave her stranded somewhere, so also no.

Three Dog: Probably the least likely to either get me killed or drive me into a homicidal rage. Also it might be nice to hear our adventures being retold on the radio.

My choice: Three Dog (with Preston Garvey as runner-up)



Potential Partners

Violet: No. Just no.

Gary: Maybe? If he simply replaced all his words or sentences with "Gary" but otherwise spoke and functioned normally I might consider it, but if he's more like the Gary clones in the vault, then ehhhhh...

Knight Rhys: No. Not because he wouldn't be useful but because I would end up beating the crap out of him sooner or later and then end up either having to fight him to the death or part ways.

Dr. Thomas Hildern: Not... quite as intolerable as Rhys, but still not someone I would get along with at all. Like with Joanne, I would probably end up "accidentally" leaving him somewhere.

Sierra Petrovita: Okay, the Nuka-Cola addiction would be annoying to deal with, and she's probably not much practical use outside of basic scavenging and making Nuka Grenades and maybe cooking, but other than that...

My choice: Sierra Petrovita (with Gary as a potential runner-up)



Potential Romance Options (Right, so ignoring all the males...)

Rose of Sharon Cassidy: Honestly? I kinda like her. She's tough, no-nonsense, and she knows her way around the wasteland. The drinking loses her a lot of points, though.

Curie: Well, consummation is optional, she's tough, and she does have medical training/programming... Actually, wait. Is this the synth version? Not a bad choice either way, but for somewhat different reasons.

Katja: Too cynical and punk rock-y for my tastes, though I have to admit her skills would make her a useful companion to have on the journey. A solid "maybe".

Sydney: Good with both scavenging and guns, good-looking but standoffish, possibly lesbian or at least bisexual... Huh. Actually, would picking Sydney mean Emaline tags along, too? Even if they both turn out to be lesbian as opposed to bisexual (and polyamorous, I suppose), having two extra set of hands who know their way around the wasteland isn't bad at all.

Ada: Huh. Very useful as a companion/bodyguard, and again, consummation is optional...

My choice: Okay, this one's way tougher than the first two. If I were to go the pure romance route while ignoring the downsides, I'd probably pick Rose of Sharon Cassidy. If I were to be more pragmatic, however, it's a toss-up between Sydney (+Emaline) and Ada, since consummation is optional.

 

[Husky_Khan]

I'll be perfectly honest, I completely forgot about Emaline in regards to Sydney. She did just seem like the most affable Companion (temporary or otherwse) to potentially romance and actually be useful but still not have too much utility. I'm not sure if Emaline will accompany for most of the journey (she wasn't around when artifact hunting after all) but I suppose she could show up hither and thither during the adventure. I guess its an option for the potentially polyamorous. They might actually take a greater share of the caps since it might be divided equally after the previous splits, I dunno. Seems like a possible downside.

Oh and this Gary clone is relatively tame outside of combat so it should be fine to some degree. He's probably still pretty off and awkward though so it's not just him saying "Gary" instead of normal speech and otherwise behaving normally.