Fallout: New Vegas/Headscratchers

Read at your own discretion, as spoiler tags are about as common as a pretty-looking Ghoul.

This way to Headscratcher Vault 1. This way to Headscratcher Vault 2.

EDE and his "copy"

 * Am I the only one who finds it weird that the copy/clone of EDE has more of a personality than the real one?
 * The "real" ED-E is not functioning with all of its systems intact, and seems to indicate that whatever systems provide the "personality" are still damaged. The "original" ED-E you find in Primm is damaged, and the related Repair check is used to repair some of servos to get it working again. The Science check is used to bypass certain "primary" systems (which seems to include the higher intelligence functions) and let the secondary systems carry on just to get the robot functioning again. ED-E, like the Courier, has been shot in the head, and while ED-E still retains all of its data and memories, it shows signs of some kind of "damage" to its personality. The Courier can also be separated from his own body (essentially making two Couriers in slightly different forms), and thinks differently as a brain without the hormones. It's kind of like that with ED-E.
 * It bugs me that his nifty command line interface was replaced with generic dialogue.

The NCR and Legion Flags

 * The NCR flag has a Two-headed bear, right? I understand this is due to a artifact in the series, from before the introduction of Yao Guai, but why is the Legion flag a One-Headed Brahmin?
 * The Legion flag is a bull, not a brahmin. It makes sense for two societies seeking to return to a time before the war to use flags of extinct animals.
 * The Bull was the flag of a specific Legion under Julius Caesar's command. The Legio X Equestris or Legio X Gemina, or simply the "Tenth Legion" was said to be Julius Caesar's favorite Legion, so it's somewhat natural for Edward Sallow/Caesar to make "Caesar's Legion" based off of his historical namesake's favored soldiers.
 * Also, Bull and Bear Markets.

The Legion: Eastern Campaign?

 * Caesar's megalomania about the Hoover Dam being his Rubicon and his hardon for toppling the NCR aside, has the Legion ever tried to mass their forces east instead? As in, east past the Midwest all the way to the East Coast? From dialogue from Lanius and gathered throughout the game, the furthest the Legion ever really got east is Denver, but wouldn't they be in a better position to defeat the NCR if they literally controlled the entire continent (sans the West Coast) from the Atlantic to the Mojave first? That is the eventual goal of the Legion anyway, correct, to expand as far as they can into a monolithic empire? So let's take it back; even before the discovery of Vegas and the Hoover Dam and all this business that inspired Caesar to want to destroy the NCR, what made him decide to expand his newly founded slaving nation west instead of east? Did he flip a coin or what?
 * The implication is that he expanded in every direction except - possibly - south, until First Hoover Dam focused him on the NCR. Remember, their capital is in central Arizona, so Denver isn't really closer than Hoover Dam. Also, remember that Caesar was an NCR citizen once, so some of his "Legion as an antithesis to the NCR, the NCR must be destroyed" mania dates back to before the discovery of New Vegas.
 * There's also the fact that the Capital Wasteland Brotherhood of Steel is most probably a regional superpower by now and wouldn't really put up with their shit. Same goes for the Pitt, depending on how they're doing. But who knows, the Legion didn't get further than Colorado; even Denver was an extremely hard fought battle for them.
 * Washington DC's status wasn't confirmed one way or the other before Fallout 3, which is why they used that location in the first place; there was no explicit mention of it being destroyed, so it was prime real estate for a new game. Also, who says there is 1000 miles of nothingness? We haven't heard of any civilizations east of Denver and West of DC/The Pitt, but it's not fair to assume there are none; after all, every game surprises fans by revealing new areas of the Wasteland with civilization where we thought there wasn't any.
 * Chicago gets mentioned in ED-E's travels, and there's always whatever is Broad Strokes from Fallout Tactics.
 * There is about 1000 miles of nothingness between Legion territory and anything of value to the east. Mounting an expedition across it when all the government, military, and a large amount of civilian vaults and technology are concentrated when you have limited resources is an absurd waste of time and effort and resources. The only possible justification is if you wanted to create an additional game in the series, set it in a city that was canonly destroyed, and reuse old factions rather than coming up with new ones. Oh, wait...
 * Caesar has a more esoteric goal in mind than simple expansion. The whole point of his campaigns has been to put together a society with a solid foundation by picking and choosing tribes to assimilate and form a cohesive society with a united vision. It's not that he just wants to conquer others, he wants to reshape them in his image. If he continues to just expand by pushing over tribals, he knows his Empire will not last a generation after he dies if he does not have a foundation on which to build on, in the way that the Mongol Empire after Ghenghis Khan and the Greek Empire after Alexander the Great. For Caesar, his goal is to make a Nova Roma (New Rome) - a city where he can root the empire and allow the society to grow throughout. Rather than 87 tribes with their own distinct cultural identities vying for supremacy, Caesar wants 87+ tribes who are dedicated to the pursuit of a singular ideal - A unified ideal that centers on a single city as the anchor for the new dawn of civilization. That's really what's most important for Caesar - a symbol and structure for which the people will continue to follow. When the man is gone, the city he leaves behind carries on. To him, that's what Rome was in ancient history, and that's what Caesar is trying to accomplish by capturing New Vegas. Once he takes New Vegas, the implication is that Caesar will turn New Vegas into a New Rome. He will then transfer the cult of personality based around himself and then transplant it onto the city. Instead of everyone following Caesar himself, he intends to make everyone want to be a "New Roman" (or, perhaps a "New Vegan?") by building up New Vegas as the center of the world for the Empire.
 * The Legion was expanding west except three things happened. 1, The catastrophic Colorado Campaign, crippled there west ward advance; 2, Ulysses discovered Hoover Dam and a functioning Las Vegas; and, 3 the NCR beat the Legion the first time around. As mentioned by Lanius here were tribes to the west but they were uncivilized, they only thing they could do was replenish there slaves and their numbers. Furthermore as shown by the Colorado Campaign, there terrain was getting increasingly hazardous. New Vegas and the Dam was a far greater prize offering them far more. After their defeat their pride was on the line and Caesar halted all expansion, and called in everyone to attack the Dam. Once/If he beats the NCR and conquers California he will resume expanding east.

Daniel is a crappy missionary

 * I never understood why Daniel didn't Sure Why Not the Sorrow's confusion of the Christian God with the Father in the Cave. Plenty of current Christian traditions have come from incorporating the beliefs and practices of the convertees into the converter's religion. He'd be a lot more efficient if he wasn't wasting his time trying to convince them to give up their beliefs entirely.
 * Daniel blames the language barrier. While he'd been working with the Sorrows for at least six years, Daniel was primarily doing medical work and doing odd jobs (such as compiling maps of the areas around Zion Valley). He never stopped to get to know them or their language and had previously been dismissing the Father in the Caves as a localized superstition rather than the "primary" deity for the Sorrows. When you bring up the Father in the Caves and the Lord, his reaction is more "Oh... so that is why they picked it up so fast!" As of late, of course, he's also been distracted by the destruction of New Canaan itself and preparing the evacuation of the whole tribe.

No Martyrdom for Lee?

 * According to House, President Kimball would become a martyr to the NCR if he was killed at Hoover Dam, which is why you have to go save him (this ignores Caesar's reasons for having Kimball assassinated, but that's a whole different story). However, House merely shrugs off Lee's death if you kill the general at Hoover Dam. Would the NCR really not care if one of their generals, however terrible his reputation was, was killed by the same force that pushes their military out of the Mojave? Or would they really be too busy condemning Kimball for them to think of Oliver fondly?
 * Lee is widely thought to have gotten his position through Nepotism, while Kimball was chosen by the people. If he dies, he'll be remembered as an incompetent, jingoistic asshole who got what he deserved. Kimball, on the other hand, is the face of the NCR, not to mention a war hero.
 * Oliver is House's backup plan - that at least one of them lives to take the blame, so House can keep the NCR in his pocket. House would rather have both of them alive so that the NCR as a whole blames them for the failures in the Mojave. If Kimball lives, Kimball will take the brunt of the responsibility as the elected representative. If Kimball dies, the backup plan is that the blame falls on Oliver for his inability to both keep the President safe and for Kimball's decisions regarding the Mojave. The second option is not as optimal as the first. If they both die, there's no one for the NCR to blame but House and New Vegas, which puts a dent in House's greater plan, but House will also shrug that off and say the NCR will get over it after a few years.
 * Also, Oliver doesn't even nearly have the level of public support as Kimball does. Kimball, as the leader of the civilian government, is much more recognizable in the eyes of the public compared to the head of the military. For example, imagine the political implications and the publics reaction of what will happen if president Barack Obama is assassinated by during a visit to Afghanistan by Al-Qaeda, and compare that to the aftermath of what will happen if general John Allen is killed in battle. The impact that that they carry are on completely different levels.

No Marked Women?

 * Okay, I've been to The Divide and back again several times, I've conquered The Courier's Mile, and gotten all the achievements, but I have yet to come across a Marked Woman. Since half of the marked men are Legion it makes since that most of them would be male, but the NCR uses both female and male soldiers, so how come they are no Marked Women? Does the roaring sandstorms scar them so badly its impossible to tell? Did they all get eaten by the more numerous males? Did they all just go some where else? The Courier even finds an audio log by a female trooper, so there were definitely women NCR at The Divide... Its just been bugging me for a few days now that you never run across any.
 * From a design standpoint, it's probably just laziness so they could use the same model. In-universe, the Legion troops aren't tolerant of women. Working together or not, the women were probably killed in the initial disputes before hatred made them all crazy.
 * I'd lean towards that bit of Body Horror where the females have had their skin and flesh burned away so that you can't really tell anymore. Some of the Marked Men might just be female, but have lost some of the physical characteristics that identify them that way.
 * The Marked Men's flesh have peeled away leaving behind only muscle. In which case, men and women basically look the same. Look at a muscle diagram of the female body and compare it to the male body. If you make a man and woman the same basic size (which the game generally does in most situations), then they look nearly identical.

Why no Area 51?

 * Not that this is a deal breaker for the game as a whole but why didn't they at least try to make a reference to Area 51 or make a mission based around it? Area 51 is right there in Nevada, if any other place in America deserves a reference to a secret government conspiracy Nevada does.
 * Who's to say it wasn't nuked off the map by the commies?
 * Rather than deal with the idea that aliens may or may not be canon, Obsidian just left the whole thing alone and let Wild Wasteland be the only reference to aliens in New Vegas. In a roundabout way, Area 51 is responsible for Fallout 3's Mothership Zeta DLC, which is something of a Base Breaker. In Fallout 1, a special encounter involves a wrecked alien spacecraft that bears a sign that says "Property of Area-51: Return if Found." This encounter is regarded as non-canon (mostly because it's much more humorous in tone than serious), but Bethesda created Mothership Zeta entirely from that encounter.
 * Why the dislike for the aliens in Fallout 3? I thought this series thrived off of the science fiction cliches of the 1950s and that the people who are so obsessed with the lore from Fallout 1 and 2 would like the reference for what it is. It isn't like the aliens really detract from the plot, they are just there for fun. What were they expecting some sort of sci-fi epic like Star Trek or Mass Effect where aliens visiting us has meaning for the evolution of our species in the forseeable future? Personally I just thought it was a wasted opportunity to not at least give the place a reference, you don't even need a mission that would be enough for me.
 * It's mostly a disagreement about themes when aliens get involved. One argument against heavy alien reference is that any focus on extraterrestrial life causes a Genre Shift and distracts from the themes of Human nature causing their self-destruction and the continued cycle of violence. Depending on how you look at it, Mothership Zeta either a Non Sequitur Scene at worst or an Out-of-Genre Experience at best, with both viewpoints developing theories that aliens caused the Great War, rather than as the folly of humanity. Another argument against aliens comes from Chris Avellone, who rather dislikes the silly elements found within the Fallout series as a whole, which again, the earlier appearances of aliens in the games are considered "silly." "Wild Wasteland" was the concession among Obsidian members regarding the "silly" content.
 * I also vaguely recall reading something (can't remember where now, go figure) that stated that Area 51 wasn't included because it was too far north.
 * Nah, that can't be it. Zion Valley (setting for Honest Hearts) is further north and farther away than Area 51.
 * Now that I think about it you're right. As I recall now, it was too far north for them to include in the main Mojave Wasteland itself, I believe. No idea why it wasn't included in a DLC pack (perhaps because they couldn't make it work with the storyline they had set up), but maybe we'll see it at some point in a future game.
 * Why are we automatically assuming that Area 51 has to have aliens in it? Can't Area 51 just have top secret Military technology and have some powerful pre-war remnant organization like the brains from Old World Blues, the Institute in Massachusetts, or the Enclave? Is all the appeal of Area 51 found only in the idea that the U.S Government is hiding alien technology? Personally I think Area 51 is so secretive simply because the top secret Military Air Crafts being made there really are that advanced that the public can't know about them, I think the alien stuff is just a myth and would find a human organization running the post-war Area 51 far more interesting than aliens (though not that I would mind aliens, just talking about Area 51's potential).
 * See above regarding the Fallout 1 Special Encounter and Mothership Zeta. It's simply a continuity thing. In regards to development of secret military projects, it would be very similar to Big Mountain, which was also working on top secret military experiments. And since the engine Fallout runs on doesn't do flying or vehicles very well, it would be a lot of Fan Wank to have all those prototypes or secret vehicles there and not really be able to do anything with them.

About ED-E's ending after Lonesome Road...

 * If you decide not to sacrifice ED-E and instead throw the nukes at either NCR and/or Legion, the ending says he (ED-E's copy) gives one last farewell to the Courier through his Mojave counterpart and heads on his way to Navarro to fulfill his creator's wish and the ending states that "no matter what, he knew there would be a second home to return to, Navarro or not". Does this state that ED-E (his copy) reunites with the Courier afterwards after going to Navarro or it's meant to be metaphorical that his Mojave counterpart accompanies the Courier instead?
 * It just means that he could always come back if he wanted. I doubt ED-E proper would mind.

Why is the NCR economy so lousy?

 * The NCR is definitely not wealthy in Vegas, and it looks like things aren't much better in California. NCR soldiers more or less tell you the economy sucks and they chose to enlist because it was either that or 'shoveling brahmin shit.' But that doesn't seem right at all. I don't think the economy ought to be sluggish at all - in fact, it should be in an absolute boom. The NCR has stabilized to a point that citizens no longer have to worry about getting shot up by raiders or dying the next day from starvation or thirst. People are once again able to accumulate wealth, which is demonstrated by enough of them visiting Vegas to keep it running. There ought to be a plethora of niches in the market opening up as infrastructure and large scale trade are reestablished, and a colossal demand for scientists, engineers, artisans, technicians, craftsmen, and teachers. (And that demand would have been there for decades; plenty of time for people to realize that skills like literacy and basic math can make them money, so you can't just justify it with the citizenry just being too uneducated) There certainly seems to be enough labor, given the amount of people joining the army because they don't know what else to do. The economy should be red hot with people scrambling to make use of the new opportunities. So what's the deal?
 * The big thing is that the NCR dollar is devalued because they use water as a trading standard instead of gold (the Brotherhood had destroyed the gold reserve). This has a pronounced effect on their economy, as the NCR pays its people in NCR dollars (the miners in Sloan attest to this). Joining the military and getting three squares a day seems ironically a safer bet than breaking your back for incredibly bad and inflated wages. This is further complicated by Mr. House luring in the NCR elite and wealthy to spend in his casinos, as well as what little the NCR military spends on Leave in New Vegas. Rather than money and resources being sent home into the NCR economy, the money is being sucked out by the war with the Legion and the New Vegas occupation.
 * When New Vegas takes place, the NCR has barely recovered from two devastating wars against the Enclave and the Brotherhood of Steel, not only that, they are now currently in another war against the Legion and is engaged in an espionage cold war against Mr. House. All these conflicts undoubtedly weighted heavily on the Republic's economy. Also, the NCR's rapid expansionism both diplomatically and militarily means that resources and manpower from the core regions had to be redirected via taxation to rebuilding and developing the newly acquired territories.
 * Another important factor to consider is that we were told that the NCR's economy is bad by chatting with the current generation of NCR citizens, most of which were too young to have experienced things back before the NCR was in control. So in their perspective life is hard, but it is still no where as bad as living in the wasteland before the Republic came along.
 * You can see the exact same thing in the real world. Look at almost any first world country and you will constantly hear complaints about the economy. Just about every other country in the world is, even at their highest points, substantially worse off by every economic metric. It's a matter of perspective. The NCR is in a low point of its economy due to several wars and expansion, but it is still better off then almost everything else you encounter.

NCR: Now with Securitrons?

 * So, is there a particular reason I can't have Yes-Man march the Securitrons out to join the NCR? I've got an army of killer robots and all I want to do is use it to serve my country.
 * Yes-Man probably doesn't trust the jingoistic NCR with an army of Securitrons. After all, their leadership includes an incompetent egotist obsessed with his rank, a violent harpy eager to prove herself, and . Giving people like them control of an army of killer robots would be like giving Iran nuclear weapons
 * Because in order to get that army of Securitrons ready to march on Hoover Dam and wipe out the Legion, you have to undertake several actions that alienate you from the NCR.
 * More likely the same exact reason why Mr. House wouldn't ally with the NCR: The NCR is too corrupt by this point to accept someone not in their "system" in control of such a large force. The NCR would be suspicious of anyone with that kind of power and would fabricate a reason to declare them (either you or House) as an enemy of the state and have you removed from a position of leadership. This was House's reason to not work with the NCR, and Yes Man, by virtue of having access to House's knowledge centers, would know this too.
 * And I would be happy to hand over the control of the Securitrons to any NCR official. I couldn't be handing New Vegas to them any harder if I literally put it on a silver plate. Would they really refuse that kind of opportunity?
 * The short answer is yes, they (well, Oliver) would refuse, but only because there isn't time to discuss it in an NCR committee. Even if you told Yes-Man to follow the NCR's orders, you'd have to ask the NCR to divert power to jump-start the hidden army, and that would more or less only be possible with permission from Lee Oliver. It doesn't seem like such a big request, but it's been argued that Oliver is not exactly the sort of person who is willing to share in his glorious victory over the Legion. Reasonable NCR figures like Crocker, Hsu, and Hanlon would be for the robots, but Oliver is the one in charge. He's okay with Securitrons during the Independent/House ending, but that is because he thinks they're a small group supporting his army and is surprised by the big huge army intended to take over Vegas. An approach going through the NCR bureaucracy or going over Oliver's head would take too much time, given the urgency in getting everything ready for the battle.
 * That wasn't House's reason for not allying with the NCR. He allies with them to stab them in the back in order to get power for himself. He wasn't a benevolent person looking out for the good of New Vegas, a town that he created solely to give him leverage against the NCR.
 * You're confusing the reason why he set up the treaty with why he won't join the NCR. The whole reason for the treaty is to buy him time so that he can get his plan with the Platinum Chip rolling. The reason why he doesn't just join the NCR outright is because he actually tells you that he believes the NCR would fabricate a reason to take him out of the picture as an authority figure. Then Dummied Out content reveals that it would have otherwise been possible to persuade Mr. House into joining the NCR and accept this as House's fate.

Warheads that you detonate in Lonesome Road...

 * This is really minor one, but don't you think that the warheads that litters Divide, which you need to blow up with laser detonator to proceed, are way, way too "weak"? I mean, weak as mininuke? This is a goddamn megaton warhead for blowing up half of a city - it should be able to simply erase flimsy concrete highways and roads, including anything that was in its range (ex. buildings near it, roads near it, courier). It's not like developers somehow forgot about destructive power and lethality of nuclear bomb. There was instances of master's church, enclave rig, megaton and other places wiped clean with single atomic blow, not to mention the Courior's mile, in SAME DLC, which got hit by exactly same warhead with the ones we blow up, and that place is seriously messed-up radioactive hell. There's also The Great War, but we'll pass on that. There's also matter of rads. That warhead was leaking rads even before we blew it up, but when we actually detonate it, no rads are remaining. Even mininukes, which are obiously weaker than warhead and intended to be fired from man portable weapon system, leaves some rads for a while. Who would have known that the best way to remove radiation from atomic bombs are blowing them up!
 * Simply put, Nukes don't work like that. There's a specific set of circumstances and a specific order those circumstances must occur in order to achieve a supercritical reaction and cause a nuclear explosion. The warheads are equipped with a primary agent - usually explosives which are detonated in sequence in order to achieve the correct circumstances. The laser detonator seems to detonate the explosives out of sequence, so all you get is a moderate bang, rather than a really big bang. As for the radiation from using a mini-nuke, note that you are actually using the nuke and triggering a nuclear reaction. Radiation from the explosion is a result of the actual atomic process (be it fission or fusion - I assume fission because of Fallout's 1950s style), while it seems the laser detonator violently dismantles the warhead, rather than triggering it.

General Lee Oliver's Rank

 * I was curious about what rank the commanding officer of the NCR at Hoover Dam is. When determining rank it is normally displayed on the cufflets around the neck area, on the chest, or on the helmet/hat of the officer in question. In-game I looked at the stars around his neck and there were 4 on each side but on his hat there was a prominent 1 star over the NCR's bear symbol. Is he a Brigadier General or a 4 Star General? I guess the European rank system currently in place in the Western World still is an important part of American culture even after the Great War.
 * Four star. The single star is part of the Bear Flag (one or two headed).
 * Oh, well I certainly feel stupid, I didn't know the 1 star was part of the NCR's flag rather than his rank insignia. Shouldn't they teach their officers not to wear confusing symbols that might cause lower ranking officers or soldiers to confuse their rank? Anyway I find it rather impressive that for an officer that apparently got his rank through nepotism that Oliver would get the most prestigious Military rank available under normal circumstances (5 star Generals are available only during times of full scale war, Chiefs of Staff are elected by the President and the Congress). 4 star Generals are given command over entire regions and entire armies, a very powerful position that comes with a lot of responsibilities. Is Oliver really fit for that position?
 * Just like the real world, it can be confusing for a civilian. On the other hand, soldiers go through Basic Training (boot camp), in which one of the books they are given is a Basic Training Manual, which includes a chart of the ranks and the insignia for them. Probably publicly available if you search for them, if you want an example. Don't worry, the troops are not confused, unless they're about to be dishonorably discharged anyway.
 * He's commanding the NCR's most important front, they wouldn’t give that to anyone but the most senior general in their army. And he isn't completely incompetent, he’s not throwing his troops away on mad charges or totally misdeploying his army, he’s ‘simply’ guilty of underestimating Caesar, and hesitating in what is a very defensible position, rather than advance and risk getting bogged down in a long, arduous war. It's a dumb decision yes, but not horribly so.
 * General Lee doesn't really come off as an incompetent General Officer but as far as defeating the enemy goes his tactics could use some work. It is important that he distributes an appropriate amount of patrols and fortifications so that his troops can properly defend Hoover Dam and not stretch his forces so thin that he leaves his forces at a strategic disadvantage. However just sitting by and waiting for the enemy to come to you doesn't win wars. In order to win you must do things like destroy supply lines, use search and destroy tactics on enemy patrols, capture strategic positions the enemy wants, assassinate key enemy officers to throw the chain of command into disarray, use spies, and when the situation calls for it shock and awe. Tactics like that win wars, defending a strategic position simply gives the enemy a chance to recuperate and regain the necessary power they need to strike you again.

Joshua Graham's choice

 * Why is such a big deal made out of Graham's choice to kill the White Legs and their leader Salt Upon Wounds? As Graham himself says a human being only has two cheeks so you can't "turn the other cheek" over and over again and just let yourself be a punching bag. Some times you have to kill bad people to protect your loved ones. I mean hell by the time the Courier is in Zion he has probably killed countless people already, it is literally impossible to play this series without killing someone, so who is he to be talking about mercy? Is it about Graham falling back into his old ways if he kills the White Legs? If so I don't see why Graham can't defend his people as their War Chief and still preach the love and mercy of God, surely the Bible makes exceptions when it comes to self defense.
 * Daniel points out that it's one thing for the Sorrows from an aggressor and and another to wipe out the White Legs out of hatred. At the extremes, Daniel would like to keep the Sorrows from having to make that choice by getting them out of Zion Valley, but is willing to defend them should the White Legs attack directly. On the other side, Joshua is inclined to simply destroy the White Legs completely. He hates the White Legs. It's up to the Courier to be Graham's conscience at a pivotal moment, and the Courier's decision will color how the Dead Horses/Sorrows view Joshua Graham. What better way to teach than by example? If Joshua shows mercy, he can still be their war chief, but will show an even temperament, though he still may be swift and harsh in judgement. If Joshua executes Salt-Upon-Wounds, he returns to his Blood Knight ways and so do the tribals. There's also a third option in giving Salt-Upon-Wounds an honorable fight, which also alters Graham and the tribals.
 * I understand that killing Salt-Upon-Wounds out of revenge (by the time Graham has the opportunity to kill the White Legs leader he is already defeated and powerless by that point) has the horrifying implication of Graham forgetting that God's anger is not always the same as your selfish desires. I will even go so far as to agree with you that Graham should be leading by example, if he preaches mercy then he must some times practice it, Graham himself even says that his job as a follower of Christ is to follow in the Lord's footsteps and to teach others how to do the same. I do however find it naive that Daniel thinks in a post-war society that these people are going to remain "innocent", until some sort of regional power like the NCR or the Brotherhood of Steel or even Mr. House can establish a foothold over the entire continent, as the pre-war United States Government did, will there no longer be groups like the Legion or the White Legs. In the mean time they need someone like Graham to teach them how to stand up for themselves and kill anyone who means them harm. Mercy is a fine thing to teach them but it is even more important that Graham teaches them that mercy has limits.
 * To be fair to Daniel, Daniel just does not want the Sorrows to become warlike because of himself and the other New Canaanites. The entire reason the White Legs are attacking the Sorrows is because of the presence of Joshua Graham's tribe. Daniel had seen other tribes he worked with become warriors and he's really trying to keep the Sorrows' innocence as long as possible until they can develop and make those decisions on their own.

Earth is No Good Anymore?

 * I have done extensive reading on the Enclave and Mr. House's intentions and both of them have space colonization in mind for the survival and eventual thriving of the human race. This isn't really expressed extensively in the story (the Fallout 2 Enclave was trying to get rid of the mutations on Earth so pure strain humans could retake the Earth, and Mr. House expresses some interest in advancing Earth society) but the Fallout Wiki explicitly says that the space colony plan is working under the premise that the nuclear war has ruined the ecosystem of the Earth forever. Don't they realize that radiation would only last for a few hundred years? Realistically the United States should be one big forest of plants and trees similar to Harold's Oasis 200 years after a nuclear war. Also doesn't the presence of groups of like the NCR give them hope that the Earth can still be rebuilt? The space colony plan is nice as far as scientific advancements go but it isn't necessary for the survival of humanity.
 * The idea is that the Earth of Fallout has run out of resources. Oil is depleted, so is viable nuclear fuel, if Broken Hills is any indication. There is only what's being recycled from being recovered from old ruins, as Prospectors like Easy Pete can attest to. Many of the groups, like the NCR, are just absorbing what they have found, or looking to the past for their continued prosperity. And for whatever reason, nature has not done much to reclaim the world, so the Enclave, and other forward-thinkers like House, their only real alternative it to look elsewhere.
 * I remember reading that the Posiden Oil Rig was the last viable source of oil left on Earth which obviously means that the so-called "oil supply that will last us for a hundred years if we need it" ran out too as of the time of Fallout 2. It isn't exactly realistic for human beings to wait for millions of years for new fossil fuels to form. As far as nuclear power goes my understanding of that aspect of the resource problems was that during the Resource Wars/World War III America had managed to create nuclear powered fuel but that by that point it was too late to fix the damage that had been done. Nuclear power should realistically last for hundreds of years so if they can find what is left over and learn how to create more there shouldn't be anymore resource problems. Giving up on the Earth without fighting for the right to hold onto our home seems to contradict the very theme of Fallout as a series, that Mankind despite all of its flaws and the mistakes we made is still worth preserving and there is still hope for the future.

Is the NCR stuck in the Western Coast of the United States?

 * So far I have noticed that the New Californian Republic has only had a presence in California, Nevada, and perhaps a few other states but it doesn't appear that they have gone too far East. The Enclave and the Brotherhood of Steel have locations in the East Coast, and hell even Caesar's Legion a technologically unsophisticated society still has ties to the East despite their current presence in the West. Why is the NCR so isolated from the other side of the North American continent (the States aren't really all that "united" anymore come to think of it)?
 * Because the NCR is a nation, while the other three are really just militaries with a civilian population attached to them. All the eastern states really mean to the NCR is more people they have to spread themselves thin to protect, and more land they can't farm.
 * East Coast Brotherhood and the Enclave were both forces that deliberately migrated in that direction - the Enclave after Navarro, and the Brotherhood was a deliberate overland campaign to reach DC and recover technology. The NCR, on the other hand, can't afford to end troops that far out, especially with all the troubles at home. They have their own territory they need to guard, so sending expeditions further out east when hostile presences are close at hand would be foolish. And don't forget that North America is big, especially without much in the way of vehicle transport or infrastructure to work with.
 * To add to the above, Caesar's Legion blocks some routes eastward for the NCR, and the Legion itself doesn't necessarily have that many ties to the East (there are references to Brotherhood forces active on the east of the Legion, but we know that there have been another splinter Brotherhood active in Colorado, even if we don't know all the details).

New Californian Republic's Energy Interests

 * Obviously the NCR took control of Hoover Dam because they are nation building and need a revenue of energy and resources which is provided in Nevada. I was wondering if perhaps the NCR might have an interest in going into Alaska and collecting on the pre-war Alaskan Oil that the United States Army regained control of when they repelled the Chinese. The Great War happened shortly after the successful Anchorage Alaska campaign so I doubt the Americans were able to use up that much oil in about a year's time, surely the oil must still be there.
 * You're assuming that the Alaskan oil deposits were in good shape at the end of the Anchorage campaign. By the end of the campaign, it is quite possible that there were only a few barrels left, and kicking the Chinese out was more of the priority. If there's still oil there, then yes, the NCR would probably be interested, if they could get up to Alaska. And then, they'd need to figure out how to get the oil down to California.
 * OK Alaska is out of the picture. Any other places in the former United States of energy interest?
 * There's not really free to roam the country, with the Legion to the east and no reliable forms of transportation.
 * In the canceled Fallout: Van Buren, the NCR control the coal mining town of Burham Springs in Southern Utah, until they were forced to abandon it due to the Powder Gangers and had to blow up the mines.

How did Benny escape Vegas?

 * The only two ways in or out of Vegas are the security checkpoint and the monorail. The checkpoint is swarming with Securitrons and the monorail station has a few too. House knew Benny had betrayed him by the time Benny made his escape, so the Securitrons ought to have stopped him. I suppose Benny could have built a tunnel, but there's no way he could have brought in heavy machinery without House figuring out what he was doing. Digging a tunnel by hand is months of tremendous work, Benny wouldn't do it on the off chance he might need to leave Vegas. Besides, there's nothing surrounding Vegas but flat desert. Wouldn't someone notice the tunnel's exit?
 * In the game, there's a door in the hallways behind Yes Man's room, which could lead to a tunnel that does go out of Vegas. It's hardy difficult to hide it, as the tunnel could connect to one of the sewers which are all around Vegas, Freeside, or a random decrepit bulding that nobody checks.
 * If Benny took the normal route, he can probaly run faster than one or two Mk. I securitrons can shoot at him.
 * Or he didn't order his Securitrons to look specifically for him, because he thought sending you was enough.
 * House may know of Benny's betrayal, but as he said himself, "All he has to do is hold a pistol up to the chip, and he's won." House might have even just let Benny go, knowing he'll just dispatch the Courier to get the chip again later.
 * First of all, the idea of Benny running past a bunch of securitrons makes no sense. What's the point of having a heavily fortified checkpoint if the guards can't even put down one guy with no armor whose only tactic is to run fast? Secondly, yes there's a passage behind Benny's room but and it might lead to a tunnel, but that still doesn't explain how he managed to build one in the first place without House noticing. House is paranoid about security, how could he ignore the possibility of someone coming into Vegas from underground? Thirdly, House wouldn't just let Benny go on faith that the player might bring it back.
 * "All he has to do is hold a pistol up to the chip, and he's won." Benny has nothing to lose at this point, so no reason not to pull the trigger. If House loses the chip, all his plans go down the drain. He can do nothing without the Mk. IIs. House has a better chance of recovering the chip intact if he lets Benny go, because knows that as long as Benny has an escape, Benny also won't destroy it. And neither will anyone who has a clue what it could possibly mean to House. The Courier then is the best bet for making sure everything goes well.
 * Tell me, would the Courier be able to run past 2 or 3 Securitrons while wearing no armor? Probably yes. Benny could likely do the same, as by the time the Securitrons pull out their weapons, Benny would be outside of their weapon's effective ranges.
 * Just because House owns Vegas doesn't mean he knows every rock and crevice in it. Besides, there was 190 years where anyone could have built a tunnel and House would have been none the wiser. Really, you wouldn't be able to find a tunnel there until you actually stumble into it, provided it was planned out. And it's not like House ever failed to consider a possibility, right?
 * It was either let Benny go now and take the chance the Courier might not retrieve it later, or try to arrest Benny right there and lose the chip forever. He picked the former.
 * Also, Bennny had and was using Stealth Boys. He was only captured by the Legion because his current one died in the Fort (suurounded by legionaires) and his disguise failed the check. If he had one, it's logical to assume he had another that he used to sneak by the Securitrons.
 * Or he climbed over the wall and snaked his way through a portion with less barbed wire than usual.
 * Does that answer your questions?
 * Josh Sawyer answered this question on his formspring. While they were renovating the Tops, Benny and the chairmen found a part of Vault 21 that they missed when House was filling it with concrete. Benny found that a portion of that corridor ran under and out of the fence of the strip, beyond House's eyes and ears. We only see part of that corridor, but that was how Benny escaped, he blew a small hole in the ceiling of the corridor and got out that way. It's also how he left Vegas to shoot you in the head since the exit was near Camp McCarran.