I just installed the patch on my 360 and immediately this very bad thing happened. I was running along the road when I was jumped by a gang of Legion assassins (I'm assuming it will happen with whoever you are an enemy of). "Caesar has marked you for death and the Legion obeys!" There's a brief hail of gunfire and I die. Every time the same thing. Every direction I go the same thing. I cannot defeat them even on Very Easy (I'd been playing on Hard up to now). The game is now unplayable for me.

I'll resist the urge to vent about what an unbelievably stupid thing this is, and just ask if there is any way around it. How many times will this happen? I mean, if by some miracle I manage to defeat them will it just keep happening from time to time? If that's the case then it's game over. Back to Fallout 3 because the game is now unplayable.

Thanks. I'd appreciate any help.

I had them after me in my first game aswell and they are indeeed tough.
But in my case the assassins didn't use ranged weapons, they all chased me with machetes so blowing their legs away and crippling them worked wonders.

I ran into a squad of them before the patch and yes, they are really tough, especially for a low level character like I was. I had to wind up using console commands to get rid of them or I'd be in the same situation as you. But obviously you don't have that benefit. Is there no way you can somehow:

1. Use VATS as much as possible
2. When you run out of AP, use Aid items to regain health. As the assassins shoot you, take enough aid items so that you don't die, but slowly enough that you can regain AP a sufficient amount.
3. Use VATS some more, and repeat.

Because if that doesn't work, and escaping doesn't work, then there's nothing you can do to survive, I'm afraid. I'm assuming you don't have any recent saves to go back to either?

If it's any consolation, after I defeated the first group of assassin's, I never, ever saw another group again, and I'm currently 20+ levels higher than I was back then. I'm not saying YOU wont see them again, but it's possibly they only appear once, or very rarely. So if you defeat these guys, you should be okay.

Bring a follower with you. Boone can destroy them all with a few quick snipes.

There's a decent size thread talking about these guys, I think the majority of the people who posted mentioned that they ran or fast traveled back to other npc's to get help. When I first ran into them, I literally ran away, back towards an overpass that had two traders and their mercs walking over it. They helped me blast the assassins and that was the only way I made it.

I think, considering he can't escape them, recruiting a follower for help isn't really an option.

I ran into these guys once too as I was exiting the building at the Gibson junkyard. After a few massive fails trying to fight them, I reloaded the quick save from where I exited the building. Then I turned right around and went back in, waited 8 hours, came back out and they were gone. I guess they only obey Caesar if they don't have to wait too long to do it. Anyway, after that I was able to fast travel to a different location, so my suggestion if you have the option is to get indoors quick and wait them out. Cowardly, I know, but I just couldn't win that fight.

BTW, I think there is a trigger for this. It happened to me shortly after the first time I got into a fight with the legion and developed a negative rep with them. I stopped playing for the night shortly after that, so I'm not sure if I will see them periodically like the Talon Company goons from FO3 - I assume so...

I've killed every single Legion trooper I could. Including Ceaser and the entire Fort. They still won't send people after me. What gives? I did have a single assassin attack me once inside a hotel, though... and the Fiends send a person after me frequently.

Use vats and aim for their projectile weapons to prevent them from shooting at you. Then runaway if you don't feel like you can defeat them.

Yeah I would agree till a few hours ago, where they knocked him unconsious in 5 seconds...
Re load and dont piss of the legion. Atleast thats what I did until now, I am like lvl 16 and can now kill them. So yeah at low levels avoid pissing anyone off, the assassins are like lvl 20 iirc.

Fast Travel to Camp Searchlight or some other NCR camp, you drop in at an NCR guardpost so when the assassins spawn there are NCR troopers to help you.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm surprised that it's a pre patch thing, because it happens right after installing the patch, and never before. But it's good it's not the patch I guess because it's more stable now... somewhat.

I managed to kill them by luring them to Helios One where there are the three or four NCR soldiers plus a couple of mercs and a trader who happened to be passing. The assassins slaughtered everyone in an instant (this is on Very Easy) and I finished them off (I was pumped up with Med-X, Psycho and Jet). But getting all these guys killed is unacceptable to me. But then I had the idea of leading them to a powerder ganger camp, who cares if they get killed. I was going to lead them into the NCRCF but if they don't follow you inside I guess that won't work.

Another thing that's stupid about this, is after I killed them with the help of the NCR I looked at the loot they had and it was way better than anything I'd seen previously. So not only is the fight ridiculously, game-ruiningly difficult, it throws the balance in terms of loot and items out, that had been very carefully balanced up until that point.

As a last resort if all else fails I'll put it on Very Easy and in addition turn off hardcoe mode, then I can just spam stimpaks. I'll lose my achievement for that but if it's the only way so be it.

I'll certainly try hiding inside and waiting them out too.

This is my very first complaint about this game. I'd been loving it up until now, hangs and all. Boy what a stupid idea.

Thanks again guys.

Worked like a charm, thanks for that man (Gibson junkyard for me too, coincidentally). Hopefully that's the end of it.

They should sticky that somewhere.

Boone and ED-E wiped them out for me just near helios 1, got some lovely goods from them too...glad to hear it doesn't keep happening though

Protip: Just don't mess with the Legion! So grateful that they start off neutral to you.

I suspect you are paying the price for a poor choice made by a low level character, to wit, making a mortal enemy of the Legion that early in game!! I recommend a reload from before you p^ssed off the Legion

What?? Assassins? From the Fiends, too?? I did side with the legion, but shouldn't the NCR hunt me down instead? Or is it supposed to even out because the legion has so few men west of the Colorado?

I did the exact same thing. At Nipton I destroyed the Legion soliders for their slaughter of the town...made them enemies of couse and I was only a level 6 or 7 at the time. Nothing I did allowed me to defeat the assassines except for once where I got them to chase me to the NCR base with the statues. It was the mercs that actually helped me though...all those stupied NCR soldiers were in the barracks or in the HQ and Ghost for some reason was spawned behind the base in that game. So much for keeping the area secure NCR! You let legion into your own base and did nothing! Long story short, I ended up makeing a new game and made sure not to piss of the Legion in my early levels.

So I completly agree pissing off the legion early on gan be an uber bad choice.

I registered an account to post in this thread because I have been scouring the internet for a solution to the assassins and there really isn't one. So allow me to rant briefly:

I don't think it is an unacceptable answer to just "not piss off the legion." No one should be forced to restart a game, or make one particular choice out of a set of choices in a game about choices. Moreover, I refuse to restart because I don't have the time for it. And I shouldn't have to. Each path a player chooses should be playable.

The Legionarie Assassins are a poor design choice that has not been properly thought out and should not be in the game. How could playtesters not identify this as disruptive to the gameplay? How could anyone consider this an acceptable level of difficulty?

No player should be hunted by a randomly appearing death squad that is, quite literally, unbeatable to them until level 14+. This isn't fun and this isn't a game (because a game needs to be winnable)---this is sadistic design. What makes the assassins even more maddening is that the Legion's reputation often gets ruined, as it did for me, by a moral choice I would imagine a majority of players make in Nipton. It's also likely that this will be made in the first seven levels of play. Seven levels is far enough in that you wouldn't want to restart and early enough that it will make the purchase of the game an utter waste.

I, like the original poster and many others ranting about this elsewhere, find this to have ruined a game that I was enjoying. Fallout is partially about exploration, and certainly danger in that exploration, but this inhibits all exploration. Much like the original poster, I am prevented from making progress in the game. It took me two nights full of many frustrating deaths to get from the Mojave camp to Novac. And now that I am in Novac the notion of venturing out into the wilderness to quest sounds more like tedium than something I want to spend my valuable gaming time doing.

Please, for the love of good game design, patch this and nerf or remove these assassins. It will make your game better, period.

(And let me note that I am a veteran player of Bethesda's games since Morrowind and have enjoyed every single one. I have also finished all of them on normal difficulty. Never have I run into a problem like this nor have I ever felt the need to write a rant to a company about a design choice. Take that as you will.)

i had no problem with the buggers...just took their arms off and then blasted away...and no, im not on easy

What level?

I do believe the level doesnt matter as things scale to your level. So if your level 4 or level 24 they are still going to be a pain. Although higher levels = more control over guns through skills and perks.

think i was lvl six, it was right after i killed the legion that took over nipton...greasy work, ive been hated by them ever since. but i went to the fort and killed them all so they should be gone yes?