Yeah quest reward sound just right to me especially the perk, as does 8-10 number of places to raid. But if you felt like adding more, the more the merrier. And the places themselves, as they number among the ones I rarely visit. I pass them, but only to get the Geomapper data for the rangers.

A linear order wouldn't bother me, and if it's easier then go for it I say. But I'm easy, if other people wanted a free roam and it's doable I wouldn't have any problem with that either. Wouldn't linear get it finished quicker? A free roam would take longer I think, guess it depends on how you want it to be played out. If I had to choose I'd prefer to play it linear.

However it pans out it I'm liking the sound of this more and more.

Here are some early shots of the bunker.

http://ypdesign.com/fo3/crumbs/bunker-prelim.htm

OK, the quest is finished and I'm my second, non-cheating-while-playtesting, run through. I started with a level 5 guy with 85% repair & small guns and no overhaul or MMM type mods - fairly vanilla setup. Depending on the routes you take getting to these quest destinations you could run into light to medium resistance early on, and considerably more as you level. Here is the final quest progression:

START - go to Chryslus where you'll find an honery Talon named "Bubba", who is waiting for his partner "Redd" so they can do a job for someone. He is immediately hostile to you so you kill him and get this note:

"What do you mean you need more f'ng time? You've had ENOUGH time already, DAMNIT. I want those keys NOW. Just get it done, no excuses this time, DO YOU HEAR ME? Go wait for Redd at the back of the Chryslus Building. He is on the way and should be there shortly. You two are starting to piss me off and you KNOW you don't want to piss me off, so FINISH IT, NOW..."

Bubba also has the first key and triggers the quest. The quest loads and directs you to Corvega first. Here is the progression and some of my thoughts/observations:

Corvega - all ants inside, but has an ant queen who can be a bullet sponge, but a convienent car to blow up near her . Just a little resistance from Raiders and one randomly spawning Talon on the trip from Chryslus to Corvega. Not too shabby amount of loot inside as well.

L.O.B. Enterprises - I thought since you were used to the ants I would do this one next since a good way to get there is through Greyditch, which of course has a more, much tougher, fire-breathing ants! (Of course, optional Those! quest along the way to Falls Church/LOB) Also, LOB is full of custom weapon parts and loot in general, not to mention a unique weapon for your collection. Good for the early player, IMO.

Red Racer Factory - Mostly Ferals & Roamers and a Glowing One inside. A little tougher, but not too bad. Also depending on how you go there the trip could be hairy in spots.

Cliffside Caverns - Full of Raiders, and lot's of Raiders along the way. Combat is definitely escalating!

Wheaton Armory - Normal critters along the way and random enemies depending on how you get there. Medium battle outside the Armory, but very irradiated inside. Will need radx/radaway or rad suit for sure. You can take 500 to 600 rads if you don't find the safe and key quickly. (I was attempting to add some variety to the challenges with this.)

Mama Dolce's - Light resistance along the way, but some tough commie ghouls with Chinese Assault Rifles when you get there. Pretty good fight in my opinion. Lots of excellent weapons to loot and decent amount of general clutter to scavenge.

Roosevelt Academy - Full of Muties of all flavors. Definitely getting a bit harder!

Chryslus Building - More Mutie central - a good tough fight to the bowels where the key is! Requires 50 lockoick skill to complete.

Fort Bannister - In my opinion, the fight to the CO Quarters is one of the toughest in the game. Swarms of Talon's, and the boss Jabsco is a bullet sponge.

Capitol Building - I think that if you start at The Washington Monument, and you march all the way down the Mall to The Capitol Building, then fight your way inside to complete this stage, it has to be one my favorite moments in the game. It can be almost epic in my opinion, especialy with the grand finale against the Behemoth inside! Lots and lots of Talons and Muties of all flavors!

The last stage is to enter the hidden bunker. I placed it at Fort Constantine as sort of a "spider hole" for the CO. I feel I have done as well as I could with the overall progression. I think it will level nicely with the player unless they are using some extreme leveling gimp. I have built and tested it with a mostly vanilla setup.

I still need help with adding the perk at the end, and I need to setup the removal stuff and it's done I think.

Anything in the northern half of the map, it just feels a little barren compared to the southern half.

Well, I have Roosevelt Academy in there. The problem is that there's not that many places to pick up there in the map. I guess I could have used that satellite array full of raiders, but I didn't really think about that place until now.

Sounds great to me Balok, can't wait to try it out. Did you go with a linear quest or can you go about it anyway you like as you wanted to have it? I'm okay either way mind you, but I'm not sure, it sounds like you went with non-linear?

Nope, I went with the linear. You still have to do a lot of traveling around as you go so it's actually pretty cool!

OK, I have decided NOT to add a perk for completing the quest, but to add some armor that when equipped it will give the same effects as the perk instead. I mostly didn't want to add more headaches and potential crashes/bugs for users (and myself) if they played the quest and decided to uninstall it after getting the perk. Plus, having the bonus reward attached to a suit of armor instead of an added perk will give the minimalist types a choice, as opposed to having a possibly unwanted perk forced on them. Adding the bonus through the armor just solves a good amount of problems, and I'm happy with the compromise.

So, I'm asking for your help and suggestions once more! What would YOU like to see in terms of effects from the armor? This is what I have now, but I'm open to suggestions: The note with the armor says:

"You have journeyed long and far during this quest and have proven your bravery, tenacity and skill in exploration and combat. As a result, your body is in much better physical condition. This armor will help you maximize your new physique!"

END +1
Crit Chance +5
Carry Weight + 50 lbs (the armor weighs 20 lbs, so you only net + 30 lbs)
It will have about the same damage resistance as the Ranger battle armor and slightly less than Power armors. I'm thinking 40 might be a good number.

My thoughts are that the more you work out/exercise the better shape you're in. And this quest is pretty long, so lets reward some physical type stats, but I would really like to hear your suggestions.

Also, I made a helmet out of the Talon Combat helmet that will have PER +1 and Explosives +5, but right now it's being worn on the side of my head so I got to figure out why that is buggering up.


More thoughts on the quest in general below, lol:


I finished the playthrough I mentioned above last night. Boy, this turned out even better than I imagined it would, lol. There are some really cool encounters along the way from the ant queen at Corvega, to "The Surgeon" in Red Racer, to the Behemoth in the Capitol Building. Really, really cool!

The last battles are definitely fierce. I actually came very close to dying a couple of times and actually had to use some stimpaks (cough, cough!) I ran into a horde of Brutes & Masters (no Overlords yet!) in both Roosevelt & Chryslus, and of course the Talons at Ft. Bannister are always tough. Jabsco's Mr. Gutsy nearly got me with his Plasma gun and I had to run like heck to get out of there, lol. So, I'm happy with the progression.

Depending on how much you explore the places the quest takes you and how much you do along the way getting to them, this entire quest could take anywhere from 2 hours for someone who is fast traveling and really rushing through things, to 4 or more hours for someone who is taking their time, and really exploring the buildings you go to and places along the way. I think I have found a very nice balance here.

nm

This sounds better every second. Can't wait, to be honest. :goodjob:

Also, may I ask how does the armor look?

IIRC, under the character tab, if you select "Update FaceGen model availability" that should fix that problem.

Yeah, here: http://geck.gamesas.com/index.php/Update_Facegen_Model_Availability

Hope that helps.

Oh, it's nothing really special, just Rivet City Security armor with better stats.

Thanks Borjoyzee, I will check on that tonight when I get home. It was late last night and I was too tired to research how to fix it, lol.