What do you think the odds are that one or both of our protagonist choices knew Roger Maxon at some point during their hitch in the service?
While I am not sure it is the case, my mind is drawn to the possibility of the BoS in this game becoming an allied faction through proof that they served under Maxson at some point.

Maybe nothing there, but I like the idea of the protagonist knowing Roger Maxson in some capacity.
What would/could it mean to you if you speculate along these lines?

It would be cool, especially if we encounter Arthur Maxson in post-apocalyptia. But I don't think we will; the pre-war sequence as far as we know starts on the day the bombs fell, and Roger IIRC was definitely on the West Coast on that day.

Eh, I see nothing there. I highly doubt that just immediately makes you BFF's with anyone with that knowledge.

Roger was stationed on the West Coast only about a year before the Great War.
You don't stay stationed in one place for too long in the Military. You have duty station rotations.
I am not really suggesting that they were both at Mariposa, rather that they had served somewhere together at some point.


The way I think it could be brought up is through talking with a BoS member.
Asking them about their factions beginning, the name Roger Maxson being mentioned could enable the PC to have a dialogue discussing it.


I don't necessarily think the BoS being friendly with you as a result is a necessary part. More of an after thought- I just like the idea of a "wink" to it.

And by all means, I am asking, if it were true that the protagonist did know Roger Maxson, what would your story about it be? (since we're all just speculating )

What, my character? My character would probably be a snide technician that's bitter about being drafted in the Anchorage campaign or whatever. Probably call Maxson an ass.

If you're a vet, it's always possible that you Maxson during Anchorage or some time earlier.

Meh. I don't really see the point. The PC's past shouldn't really play into the story too much; it should be about how he/she deals with the new reality of the wasteland.

Not even if its a single line like,
"Maxon? haha that son of a [censored]. It's a small world."
And when they inquire, you simply say, "a story for another time"

I'd get a laugh out of it.
That would be cool too! "Oh, that [censored]? Really? *unintelligible muttering*"
Lightweight Nate, what would be great is if depending on our build, we had different things to say about him.

"Maxson? More like 'Max-Ass, son!'"

Just because your character lived before the bombs fell, and possibly... was a veteran, doesn't mean they'd meet Roger Maxson. The armed services is quite a large thing.... Especially with Roger Maxson being assigned to a top secret military base. Nah, our protagonist is Joe/Jane smoe. Ordinary, and boring... until the bombs drop and their world becomes the past, while they hurdle towards a damaged future.

I dont think so. While I understand the idea of rotation for units, I dont think the character you play would know Maxson. Might have heard of him, but not directly.

It would be interesting though for the universe to finally clear up the point if the US Government did indeed receive the notice from Maxson that he and his men were deserting the US Armed forces. Because as we know they never got a reply. Id like to find perhaps a reply on a terminal or something which would finally fill in that blank.

Perhaps it was never sent or just got lost along the way.

Real life logic, is not Fallout logic. I belive its possible, maybe as an easter egg.

Of course the military is large, i don't argue that, i am merely saying prior military service does lend itself to a nod at least.

Realistically given size of the Fallout US Military (occupying Canada, Invading China & garrisoning the US) probably not, but really its up to Bethesda writers, so yeah there could be a link....maybe through the Veteran thing, which at the moment seems an unimportant thing in the game.

On another thread someone put forward the theory that the protagonist could be the brother or sister of Roger Maxson, while highly unlikely it would be quite interesting to see the Brotherhood's reaction to a Maxson returning from the dead.

One possibility that would suggest a connection: During the tutorial, our male protagonist is not actively serving, in spite of there being an ongoing conflict. Let's assume that he was stationed in Alaska as part of the US Marine Corps, but was injured during some particularly heroic deed. He is given honorable discharge due to his injuries, and near the end of his recovery period, he and his wife (formerly serving in the US Navy as a logistics officer) relocate to Massachusetts. This is partly due to the recent addition of their newborn son, and their desire to make a fresh start. The Sanctuary Hills site has been recently developed, and is made available exclusively to qualifying army and Navy veterans (this would tie in with Vault-Tec, as well as the pre-war tutorial).

Going back to Maxson, due to his senior position and clearance level, he learns of our protagonist and his heroic actions during service (Maxson may well have had close ties to the senior commanding officer in charge of operations during the Alaska conflict). He decides to keep a close eye on our protagonist, and even pushes through a 'recommendation' for him to be assigned to a top secret project in Massachusetts, hence the reason our protagonist and family are given the opportunity to relocate to Sanctuary Hills, which is part of the site for vault 111. This could later be incorporated into gameplay when we meet Arthur Maxson during the main quest, and we learn of his ancestor's connection to the Alaska conflict.

Note that this would also explain the flag display case (which can be awarded to living veterans), as well as the forthcoming speech at the Veteran's Hall.

EDIT: tl;dr Maxson could have known of our protagonist in connection with the Alaska conflict.

If anything, Maxson had already announced desertion at that point after finding out the monstrosity of the research that the scientists at Mariposa base were carrying out, and the US government didn't reply because they were too busy contemplating the imminent end of the world that they had sown.

Well perhaps there was some earlier connection.

This is all assuming that the protagonist is in fact in the military. Just because he has a folded up flag doesn't mean it's for him. My family has my grandfathers flag who served in WW2. The flag could be a relatives. Only time will tell.

If the flag WAS in fact the protagonists, then it probably represents his service in the past, not in the current war efforts at the time the bombs fell

Of course it would've been past service as Maxson is on the WC, but didn't get there until 2076.

I believe (checks wiki) Captain Roger Maxson's history in fallout starts in January 3, 2076 where he was second in command of the security team at West Tek research facility before the team and research personnel were moved to Mariposa Military Base in January 7, 2077 and his well known taking control of the base, executing the scientists, declaring his mutiny October 10, 2077 and then the exodus to Lost Hills and the establishent of BOS.

So there is lots of scope for what happened earlier in his career pre West Tek, we do not actually know what he was in second in command of beyond their use of power armor.....Mechanised Cavalry Squadron, Special Forces or Military Police would seem the best bets.

I was working on a story that involved a secret Poseidon vault that was a cryogenic research lab and vault which involved a similar circumstance where a war veteran ended up in cryo and had met Maxson at a military function. My protagonist, however, was recruited by Enclave, hence the Poseidon connection and the Poseidon vault he was assigned to. So, I hope the protagonist in FO4 has not met Maxson, as if that was the case I may as well throw my story in the garbage.

Well we have at the time of the Great War an ongoing 12 year war with China, the annexation of Canada and the armed suppression of dissent in the US itself so we have plenty of scope for the protagonist having served his/her time and then retired.........we know they are going to the Veteran hall and the 99% correct leak also says the Protagonist is a veteran.

I must have missed the leaked info about him being a vet. Where did you find it? Also great name. I love ODST

It isn't leaked, it was in the E3 presentation video. Gotta pay attention to the dialogue between husband and wife during character creation.

http://kotaku.com/leaked-documents-reveal-that-fallout-4-is-real-set-in-1481322956

Page 1

http://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki/apis.ign.com/fallout-4/a/ac/Fallout-4-casting-call.png

'my time in the army' is at the bottom of the page.

Page 2

http://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki/apis.ign.com/fallout-4/4/45/Fallout-4-Casting-Doc-Leak_002.png

Add that to the E3 footage of the Protagonist and spouse talking about going to the veteran hall and the veteran stasis seems to be confirmed.