Mothership Zeta Crew

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Mothership Zeta Crew is an acclaimed Game Mod for Fallout 3, available here.

So, you've finished playing Mothership Zeta and have conquered your own starship. You are the commander, but your crew consists on a know-it-all brat and an agoraphobic field medic. Not exactly the mightiest army ever, is it? Well, this mod is going to change that.

Mothership Zeta Crew adds a new faction under your command. It develops a whole story arc involving the recruitment and command of a force comparable with the Enclave or the Brotherhood of Steel itself. Once the mod is active and you've finished the Zeta addon, a button will appear in the command bridge, on the console at the right of your command chair. Press it and let the story begin!

Tropes used in Mothership Zeta Crew include:
  • Action Girl: Lieutenant Kurosawa of Artemis Team.
    • Naturally, the PC if playing a female character.
  • Actual Pacifist: Civilian Affairs Coordinator Tanaka and Dr. Nadia.
  • The Atoner: Commodore Harkin for his actions while in the Enclave. Lots of the founding members of the TSC, really.
  • The Cavalry: The rescue by Karpov and troops of the TSC Marines at the end of "In At the Deep End." Also counts as Big Damn Heroes.
  • Cool Starship: The Olympus and the Valkyries, alien recon craft repurposed as gunships and troop transports.
  • Defector From Decadence: The Enclave troopers who deserted to found the TSC.
  • Fake Nationality: Private McManus, who insists on being called Scottish despite being from Arizona because he's from a place like the Republic of Dave. He even speaks in a thick Scottish accent. He was very happy when the TSC managed to get people from Britain to live in Poseidonis.
    • The pilot for the diplomatic Valkyrie, who speaks in a thick French accent. He insists he is not French.
  • The Federation: The TSC itself. While it's hardly democratic, the settlements under their control maintain a great deal of autonomy.
  • Five-Man Band: Artemis team.
  • For Science!: Requirements for the L.A.B.R.A.T.S.? "Just basic mobility and enough stamina to resist complete molecular rearrangement."
  • Foreshadowing: The radio distress signal from the underwater base to the Olympus. Archangel's strange emblem that turns out to be a personal deflector shield, handy for the Brotherhood's assassination attempt.
  • Fun with Acronyms: The L.A.B.R.A.T.S., or the League of Awesomely Brave Recruits After Technological Sapience.
  • Game Mod: Yes, there are mods for this mod. Here, here, here, here, and here.
  • I Call It "Vera": Private McManus and his minigun, Angus.
    • Final Argument, Seraph Eligor's Desert Eagle. Discrepancy, too, the copy that the PC can pick up.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: If you heal McManus yourself with a high medicine skill, he'll remark, "My god! What is this stuff, magic powder? The pain is washing away like a convenient script mechanism."
  • Noodle Incident: McManus, ventriloquism, and Mr. Haggis.
  • The Mothership: The Olympus.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: General Artyom Orlov, Marshal of the Reborn Coalition of Soviet Nations, or RCSN.
  • Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Mythology plays a big part in naming things in the TSC. Poseidonis and the Olympus are named for things in Greek mythology. The Valkyries are named after beings from Norse mythology. The Seraphim and the title of Archangel are named after beings in Abrahamic religions. The code names of the Seraphim are chosen from names of demons, such as Seraph Eligor.
  • Scenery Porn: The underwater alien base that eventually becomes Poseidonis.
  • Shout-Out: Reading the Olympus Circular newsletter on your terminal reveals that Dr. Plishkin attempted to test the theory of Portal conservation of momentum with a bowling ball.
    • Nam, in the April Fools release, sings Still Alive from Portal.
      • Really, most of the April Fools release. The entire thing is a parody of Mass Effect 3's ending, with shout outs to Skyrim ("I used to be an adventurer like you, but then I took an ending to the face."), Zero Wing, the Legend of Zelda,
    • Dr. Nylus saying to Karpov, paraphrased, "Do I think I have a pocket full of inventions I can just pull out? Do I look like a blue cat to you?" is a reference to Doraemon.
    • During "Beam Me Up," the PC gets teleported to a cave in Cyrodiil just outside the Imperial City from Oblivion.
    • The tyranids from Warhammer 40,000 make an appearance.
  • The Speechless / The Voiceless: Nam, Dr. Nylus' assistant. He mentions she's like that because of the Enclave, which is one reason he left. He doesn't elaborate further.
  • The Spymaster: Archangel, head of the Seraphim.
  • Underwater Base / Underwater City: Poseidonis started off as an underwater base for the aliens but the TSC take over and turn it into their underwater capital city.
  • Wave Motion Gun: The Ion Cannon, the main gun of the Olympus, currently under repair.