You pretty much nailed it, we can sit here and argue about which side would win, which side is better, which side uses better tactics and the rest of the whole 9 yards until the cows come home but at the time we see in NV the two sides are basically locked even with each other.

Ayup. You'd think nobody'd ever heard of basic military flanking tactics, which is what a Cottonwood to Novac thrust would be. I saw that plain as day, on the first playthrough. Cut off their main supply route, roll up the small outposts defending that corner, pincer the NCR roadblock between Novac and Nelson, and watch them all scramble in confusion. It would be any defending general's nightmare. With enough troops pushed into a Novac thrust, the NCR at Forlorn Hope and the Dam would be very close to being surrounded, and be forced to withdraw. It would be more than worth sacrificing whatever recruits it took to take out or blow past the sniper post at Echo, to break out of Cottonwood Cove- I don't see Caesar or Lanius having any qualms with that kind of operation. Once a force reached the top of the ridge near Searchlight, they would easily be able to hook around and outflank Echo, and make that camp untenable. The southern flank is the NCR's weakest and poorest-defended sector, and Caesar would be negligent not to exploit it.

I think it really boils down to each side being afraid to commit any real troops to something other than the Dan the legio kinda harasses the NCR but after his first loss Cesar really can't risk another without risking the Legion splintering apart, the NCR is streched thin alread and the without the dam the region is useless so neither side does anything. As stated above if the battle wasn't set up as even all your work wouldn't really mean much.

Too true. It's easy to point out logical and sensible tactics for either side to win, but then you would have had Caesar sitting in the Lucky 38, or Oliver burying all the dead legionaries in their own moat... and our Courier wouldn't have had much to do

That is a lie, as the game clearly displays the Legion with the upper hand.

However the player is presented with plenty of opportunities to correct those if you so desire.

House has the upper hand :biggrin:

It is pretty easy to notice that House knows what he is doing, so why then did he choose for you to seemingly be on the NCR's side if the legion was going to take the dam. I think he knew that the NCR was going to take the dam regardless of their situation. Then obvioulsy he just shoves his securitrons down their throat in the end. If he knew the Legion would have won he could have sent you to the Legate's camp. Then when the Legion has their troops rolling over the whole are his securitrons just come up to the visiotr senter and just wipe out the Legion.

And again for every upside you think for the game there would be a downside. Making a huge stalemate until the Legion takes action.