I kinda of thought this this quest was poorly executed myself, though it could be the whole Flash Feral ghoul deal that this and the other quest like it in this game (collecting irradated dog tags sigh uh huh) that i do not care for. As in my mind at least it should take some time to well ghoul out and even longer for them to go all zombie.. Given the info you get a family (as in 1 family) was traqed when a bomb went off which pretty much raded out the place.. to bad you have no idea of when this was..and i was thinking well I sure do not want to release some point lookout inbreeds upon the world (insert banjo noise here) if they were still in fact alive after what i assumed would be at least a few decades if not longer.. To bad instant zombies seem to be possible, but i think an actually Voice instead of scraps of a computer would have made this quest a bit better..

I'm on my second playthrough right now. On my first (which I completed at first being somewhat toward the NCR, but then deciding to help Yes Man) I went ahead and freed the trapped people. I actually never found them afterwards, but I did assume they must be ghouls. His thoughts were basically that although difficult, one can find farmland somewhere else, that since Rad-X and Radaway does exist, perhaps it could be modified somehow to treat the crops before consumption if they did just have to keep growing on irradiated land. As an addendum, this character isn't a ghoul racist either. He finished with Cass in tow, but he did run around with Raul for a bit too. I basically make all of my "good" characters not racist toward Super Mutants and ghouls.

I just did this quest on my now second playthrough. She is much more of a NCR loyalist, and I plan on doing the NCR ending with her most likely. She decided to help the sharecroppers. My logic on that with my RP for her was that the Mojave is a desert, thus perhaps that IS the only plot of land left that isn't already in use by someone else that can be farmed well, desert in general doesn't make good farmland (As far as she knows at least). Yes, there were people trapped in the vault, but how long ago? Given how anyone else down there is now a feral ghoul, the trapped could very well be feral, and are most likely ghouls anyway. Mind you, she isn't ghoulphobic or racist vrs them, she is right now wandering with Raul and in fact has done his quest to get his old gunslinger outfit. But she did rationalize that the people, probably ghouls trapped are either feral ghouls, or just plain nuts due to being trapped so long and thus probably beyond help. The sharecroppers need their farm to be unradiated. (Apparently they aren't actual feral, I'm posting what she assumed/rationalized, not what might actually be the case)

Both characters consider themselves to be "mostly good" sorts. And in general, they do pick the "good" path. But I do also when I can try to pick "the other choice" when it's two shades of gray, and then decide how they can make it fit within a "good path" concept in their head. Having said that, IMO my first playthrough I see as more of a "good" person, but the second isn't evil at all. And the first playthough, that character is also wondering if helping Yes Man was all that wise, he's wondering if he just gave control to the equivelent of Skynet from the Terminator films now.

ME, if I was wandering out there, with my personality? If I knew for sure that the sharecroppers could farm somewhere else, and that it wouldn't be too difficult for them to do so, and they wouldn't be kicking someone else out of their farm, would free the ghouls. I might then go to the sharecroppers and donate a good chunk of my radaway and rad-x, along with give my suggestion to see if it could be used somehow to treat the crops. If the sharecroppers basically couldn't farm somewhere else? That would be much harder for me, I suspect I'd help the sharecroppers, but agonize over it as well since even though I am helping the sharecroppers be able to farm on good land and thus feed many people, I would be leaving some people to slowly go insane, and/or then die.

No brainer for me. I freed the trapped Vault Dwellers. What do I care about crops not growing as well as they should? That sounds like something fixable down the road. People trapped and dying, now that's a problem that can't be fixed without immediate action. Nice to see scenarios like that.

According to theory, you could free the people, and later shut down the reactor. However, the choice is not presented that way, nor is there any hint that you are able to. (which, in itself, seems odd.) So, given those circumstances, You have a reactor that is polluting the water. The reactor has been running for 200 plus years, how much longer is it going to run, and continue to pollute? Do you think the sharecroppers are going to be the only victims of that radiation? Sure, they can move, but, the radiation isn't going to limit itself to one small spot. It will spread. (water can be like that.....) So, taking the long view here, leaving the reactor running, is a crime against humanity. How many people are going to be affected by poor harvests, irradiated food, etc? What is going to happen to new vegas, and mr. house, when the radiation continues to spread? Are the lives of what? Four people? Worth more than the future of Vegas? It isn't just about the food.

I just read the SOS for like two seconds, and hit a random option.

I have no idea what happened.

But an explosion ensued.. (not really lol.) Seriously, You'd have to be a NCR suppremisist or a bastard to not save the Vault Dwellers.

I chose the latter. Wonder of wonders, I entered the Vault without having taken the quest from the Share Croppers, so I hadn't any idea about their plight until I screwed them over by saving the vault dwellers (who I never even met afterwards - big reward, that, really makes you feel like a hero).

On my first game I figured that message was decades old so I sealed the vents. I later read about it in the wiki. I felt a little guilty but based on the condition of the vault it was not reasonable to assume otherwise. I made the right decision based on the available information. In my second game I saved them but that was based on info that my toon would not have access to. Any way you look at it, if you are aware of the problem with the water supply, there is only one logical choice. Those peoples fate was sealed when the vault fell. It's just one of those tough decisions one has to make when taking the future of the wasteland into your hands.

I played my character as a field doctor/scientist from NCR territory who is heavily inspired by the Followers of the Apocalypse. Prior to this quest I discovered that some of the water funneled through Vault 34 was used in Westside to help with co-op farms. I also talked with the farmers beforehand and learned about how important their farms are to the NCR military and subsequently, everyone else in the region. (If you're counting on the NCR to provide stability and in some way further the Follower's goal, why deprive them of a stable source of food?)

I seriously doubt it would be easy to relocate the farms to some other location in the Mojave. People who suggest that this is an easy decision seem to forget how many problems the NCR is currently dealing with----what with the Fiends, Legion patrols, and unpleasant creatures harassing wastelanders. It is no small feat to establish a constant supply of clean water, and to have that jeopardized by radiation contamination is too big a deal to push aside for a few unfortunate Vault dwellers who may or may not be alive.

My decision is obvious at this point. <_< Not that it was an easy one.

I would feed the nastiest human long before I saved the best Ghoul.

To the peopl saying "Why can't we just go back and shut down the reactor?" The reason is when you rescue them, you siphon all control of that terminal to the unknown location of those Vault Dwellers, losing all control of that terminal you find in the Reactor.

Eh, not really good enough. I guess we can imagine that the Vault Dwellers, after unlocking their door, then smash up their terminal so no one can ever find it and use it, but it's kind of a stretch to just assume.

Personally, I looked at it from the perspective that Vault 34 was a threat to the native ecology. "They can just relocate the farm" isn't really good enough, when you've got a reactor bleeding Rads into the surrounding countryside and contaminating water supplies. I'd rather not have an entire section of the Mojave "hot" if I can prevent that.

It's a cold blooded decision that always makes me pause, but in two play thrus I've chosen the same path both times. The Reactor - and the damage it's causing - are of far greater concern then a handful of people who, if released, would likely be dead within a year anyway.

This. It's unfortunate, but if a few people need to die to ensure that many can continue to live, then so be it. It took me about 5 seconds to decide, and that time was spent considering ways in which both groups could survive.