I think part of the problem is that they only really have the one major city, being Shady Sands. The rest are pretty much vassal states that haven't really changed much since Fallout 1. Take The Hub, for example. Seems like it's still basically just "the place where the Crimson Caravan is".

Plus, they've got no real ability to manufacture things. Everything is scavenged from pre-war junk. What they need, is to take The Pitt. But unfortunately, it's more than likely they'd collapse before expanding that far.

NCR has more then just Shady sands. They have total control of all the Fallout 1 locations including LA. They may have control of San Francisco (Shi Empire), Fallout 2 locations are their "territories." They do have the ability to manufacture things. New Vegas mentions concrete. The Quarry is for production of concrete to send back West. They are building rail lines. The Gun Runners can make guns, if they can manufacture that I am sure NCR is making things of their own.

It's just an impression but I get the idea that NCR is pretty much about 19th century levels of technology. At least in terms of manufacturing.

Which is not really all that bad.

:facepalm:

Vault city, the boneyard, arroyo, maybe new reno and im sure many more. And they do have factories and prodution capabilites, as styles said

I suppose the question is how much of these have been annexed.

Fallout 2 has the option for an independent Vault City.

Likewise, other places like San Fransisco and so on are never established as being NCR.

Only Broken Hills, Modoc, Redding, the Hub, New Reno, and Shady Sands.

I'd LIKE for them to be part of NCR but we don't know for sure.

(Honestly, I'm 99% sure Vault City would be part of NCR)

For what its worth wiki makes it sound like NCR has bos in cali down to hiding in holes. I don t really trust wiki on the out of game story.

It makes sense NCR would eventually beat down the bos, and with Moore serving 4 tours against bos it s safe to say heavy fighting has been going down. She doesn t look real old either.

In an odd way, I think NCR's desperate position makes a great deal more sense if you look at it from the perspective of just coming off the Brotherhood War.

The Brotherhood of Steel inflicting heavy casualties on NCR plus doing god knows how much damage to infrastructure could be responsible for their obsessive need to gain Hoover Dam. There might be severe power shortages due to the destruction of Pre-War tech facilities and Kimball may attempting to be add all of the Mojave to NCR to give a place for the populous to immigrate to and distract from the damage done to NCR.

Certainly, the poor performance of NCR troopers on the field mixed with the highly competent rangers might be well due to a drastic amount of casualties. I.e. the elimination of those who aren't the very best, leaving only hardened veterans and raw recruits.

Ranger Hanlon seems to indicate that the biggest issue he has is effectively the Mojave becoming Vietnam. I.e. a pointless slugging match with the Legion which they can't possibly win outright in their current position. Hanlon is mistaken in this regard (the Legion, of course, never will stop unless the Independents are in power or Mister House) but he has a point.

NCR may well have taken the Mojave War as way to distract the populace from its current woes and put a band-aid on the devastation inflicted by the Brotherhood.

I don t know those are dumb bos who are against recruiting. Lyons bos lost contact. Outcasts apparently couldn t get ahold of them. mw bos doesn t say a word about them really I think NCR got hurt, but western bos may be about done.

None of which are ever established as being part of the NCR, with the exception of the Boneyard (and that place is a real gem).

What they do have, are the following:
1. Shady Sands. Their capital.
2. Boneyard. See above.
3. Maxson. In all likelihood destroyed by the war with the Brotherhood. The BOS have those handy-dandy self-destruct buttons in their bunkers, and it seems to me that they'd blow up their bunker before letting the NCR take it.
4. The Hub. Has the Crimson Caravan, the only good thing going for it.
5. Dayglow. A radioactive deathtrap with only ghouls able to live there (and I expect quite a few of which have gone feral by now).

The only (confirmed) states they have that are even worth it are The Hub (for fresh water and little else) and areas of The Boneyard (which is only useful for weapons, doctors, deathclaws and raiders).

Yeaaah. I stand by my previous post.

2. The Boneyard, the home of the Gun Runners which are the NCR military's largest supplier, that's how big they are.
4. Only the Hub, the hub of all trading where the actual bottle cap was created as a currency and backed by the water traders.
5. A massive research facility which made power armour prewar and was established to scavenge the site and trade its contents with the Ncr. I suggest you play fallout one aagain because the hub is more than Crimson Caravan.

Ncr controls all of califonia. ALL of california :facepalm:

Maxson was confirmed (albeit in the Bibles) as NOT being the lost hills bunkber, but given the name is a town likely named for and close to the lost hills bunker.

Yes, the BOS used to trade with people on a regular basis.

They still do in the Mojave.

It's just, you know, they're trying to keep a low profile.

Edit:

Honestly, I think NCR probably is unable to advance beyond California without massively re-working its infrastructure and industrializing. Without railroads through the Mojave and other stuff to make things safe (which they don't have the troops to guard), they're going to collapse. The Courier's actions might prevent this either way (a buffer state between NCR and the Legion actually might be better for them in the long run).

Admittedly, I'm most familiar with the NCR as it existed in Fallout 2, as I played the Yes Man questline in New Vegas, but, why yes, they do control all of California.

Which, boils down to the above territories. And these territories have few, if any, redeeming qualities outside of The Hub and certain parts of The Boneyard. Yes, Dayglow is a massive research facility, but it's also a massive radioactive deathtrap.

So, I stand by my above post. Again.

You can act like a barren dustbowl the size of California is somehow a good thing, but the fact remains that the NCR isn't nearly the powerhouse you people are making it out to be. It's one decent city (Shady Sands), followed by a bunch of shanty towns and radioactive craters.

Let's give credit where credit is due, compare the United States of America circa 1770 to 1870. The Vault Dweller's defeat of the Master's Army plus the Chosen One's defeat of the Enclave more or less allowed NCR the chance to start rebuilding. From the description given by the barmaid in Sloan, NCR is actually just a giant collection of farmland and ranches rather than post-Apocalyptic ruins.

Now FUTURE Nebraska is probably not a GIANT compared to Pre-War world but it's pretty massive compared to the majority of the rest of the world.

Indeed, the only reason it seems to be doing so badly against Caesar is the Brotherhood War seems to have devastated their economy and Caesar is a tricky [censored].

From my understanding. The locations of Fallout have long ago become states within NCR. Locations of Fallout 2 have become territories. NCR people in Fallout New Vegas often say "The mojave will be added to our territories." Or something along that line.

*COUGH* http://images.wikia.com/fallout/images/4/4f/Nar.jpg *COUGH*

This ^

NCR is not just Shady Sands surrounded by shanty towns. They are building rail roads! Large powerful trading companies. Brahmin barrens and farms so large they are svcking up all the water in lakes.

They ahve a population of 700,000 thats a little more than shanty towns and one small city.

I gonna have to go with Styles and the others on this.

EDIT: And the two above posts.

Bear in mind (no pun intended) that the last time we saw Junktown, Hub or Adytum was what, 100 years ago or so on the fallout timeline - who knows how much they've developed since then?

Add in Redding's wealth and Vault City's knowhow... Who knows what state Cali's in?

I say they are doing pretty great :tops:

If San Francisco has become part of NCR, that would really improve things. If they can turn Shady Sands from what it was in Fallout into what it is in Fallout 2 in 80 years I am sure they would have done wonders for places like the Hub and the Boneyard. Trading companies seem to be wealthy as hell. Wealth from Tax and their own private donations over 80 years would do alot of good. I can't see what must be a million plus people by the time of Fallout New Vegas all living in shacks. They have trains, factories, Gecko, mines, farms and wealthy bramin farms and caravans.

Okay, I'll admit you guys have made good points, but I still think you're giving the NCR far too much credit.

They're not these infallible pioneers bringing democracy to the savages of the wasteland, that you appear to be making them out to be, they're an empire that can't support its size (which isn't all that big!) and has been on the decline ever since the death of Tandi.

If they have all these great cities under their control, why are they stretched so thin? Take Amercia of the 19th century. It was in a roughly similar state as the NCR is, and had no problem supporting a nation many times larger than just California. Why can't the NCR do it?

EDIT: (and I have a feeling you guys will say "because they're fighting a war on two fronts"- being the Legion and the Brotherhood- but America did the same thing in World War 2, and that did wonders for the advancement of the 20th century. You'd think all that Brotherhood tech they'd get from the spoils of war would've ushered in a new golden age for the Republic. Instead it's pretty much killed them.)

NCR is not in decline. NCR has its problems, one they are two big to fast. Marcus tells us they are just roling over people. They have expanded into Mexico since Fallout 2. They had already expanded into Northern Nevada. They are stretched thin becames they are expanding north, south and east. Its also mentioned that Brahmin Barrens are demanding that army units act as glorified shepherds.

This is a real annoyance of mine, "The Brotherhood/Enclave have better tech". The Brotherhood does not have a miricle grow fertiliser or an Auto-Doc that can cure people in seconds, they have guns and armour, little else; according to New Vegas they have a self-destruct in face of capture policy.

And you're really comparing the NCR to 1940's America? Here's thought, let's see how well America would have done without planes, hell the whole war where nobody had a single plane.

NCR is more akin to 1800s technology with elements of Pre-War technology.

They have trains, which is A LOT better than anything else in the Post-Apocalyptic war.

Personally, once those get going, civilization will REALLY boom.