If total war were to break out and the Courier were not a part of it, which faction would win?

Remember that without the Courier, there still is an independent vegas. Benny's plan should be considered. I personally consider this plan far-fetched for a guy that uses a revolver and wears a suit for armor. But whatever, he was the easiest NPC to kill in the game, but I suppose he could find the chip's use through House, somehow not get killed by House, and infiltrate the legion camp (since he managed to get captured by the legion on his own streets) and activate securitrons. Gotta give him points, though.

So we have the NCR, Legion, Mr. House, and *Smirk* Benny's Independent Vegas.

Who would win?

So another Courier 6 died in goodsprings scenario?

Legion wins, hands down.

It may be the same courier. The point is: They're dead for good this time. Why do you think the legion wins, though?

Without the courier's intervention, the legion bomb the monorail, take camp forlorn hope, use the omertas to attack the strip, have the khans backing them, and will successfully assassinate the president. Not to mention, house won't be able to hire someone like the courier to do his bidding and Benny has no way to get into the lucky 38. The misfits at camp Golf won't do anything to stop the legion attack, and Chief Hanlon will still be messing with reports. The fiends will stage an attack on McCarren during the battle too. There's no way the legion wouldn't win.

Simply put, everyone needs the Courier...except for the Legion.

NCR is getting overrun or sabotaged nearly everywhere.

House is useless without the Courier.

Benny gets caught.

The Legion is the only group with their act together. If you do minimal to help the NCR and still fight for them at Hoover dam, just listen to the Radio to get an idea of what happens without the Courier helping.

Forlorn Hope falls.

Golf falls.

The monorail gets destroyed.

The strip gets attacked from the inside.

Legion wins on every front.

I think you guys are forgetting something, though. You point out that the NCR doesn't have its [censored] together, but I don't think the legion could win in a direct assault. If camps fall and stuff gets ugly, you have to remember what the NCR has working for them: The Rangers and Heavy Troopers. The Legion doesn't have anything that can take these guys in a fight. If you kill the ranger in the arena, legionaries will remark, "I didn't think anyone could kill a ranger in single combat." And heavy troopers wear armor too tough for the light weapons of the legion. Furthermore, the heavy weaponry of the NCR (miniguns, anti-materiel rifles, light machine guns, etc.) can mow down squads of legionaries. The legion has mastered guerrilla tactics, but the only way it will really take NV is if the NCR quits. They can be a helluva nuisance, but they can't really take or, as Caesar notes, HOLD an objective. You also bring up the radio in the final battle. I want to point out that even though the NCR is in distress, the line holds. I feel that if the NCR got its [censored] together (organizes squads, cracks down on intelligence, and puts more guys on the front) it would crush the legion. That is a big IF, but I feel that troopers are superior to legionaries (at least the recruits) and if the NCR got their troops organized, they could hold back a legion attack. And seriously, how could the legion deal with Rangers and Heavy Troopers?

The same way the Legion can deal with the Brotherhood of steel and supermutants.

The Legion has plenty of ways to deal with the rangers and heavy troopers. They might be good, but they're certainly not that good.