Who do you support in the post-apocalyptic world of "Fallout?"

[Atom]

Is it the original Brotherhood of Steel's drive to maintain old technologies to ensure that and mankind's progress is not lost, or is it perhaps the Enclave who dream of purging the wasteland of mutants and restoring the United States... and perhaps even the world to its former pre-war glory?

Is it the super mutants and their ambitious plan of dipping every human in a vat full of FEV? Or do you sympathize with the plight of the ghouls? Maybe the New Californian Republic and splinter Brotherhood factions in their plan to bring peace, order and justice to all corners of the United States? Or is it the raiders, and the anarchy, death and bloodshed it brings? Divulge which faction you support!

I, for one, support the Enclave. Despite their nefarious plans to wipe out the impure all around the world, and the despotic nation they will most likely create, I see them as the only real power that can actually return the world back to normal, just like it was before the war. Along with the fact that they are the pure humans, untouched by radiation and FEV, and with the most advanced technology to boot, plus the ideology that seeks to actually return the world back to normal, and finally that they are the pretty much the actual, pre-war government or at least the official descendants.
I postulate that they also have a few species from the pre-war world such as cows or seeds of plants that have not been contaminated by radiation in stasis, so the world could actually return to a pre-war state... just with fewer types of organisms I suppose.
 

[BlueCross]

Anyone but Bachman, Perry, and Romney...

[Hatchetman]

Capital Wasteland Brotherhood.

The western Brotherhood factions are too fanatical, they're as misguided and as isolationist as the Enclave. At times they've nearly been as bad as the Enclave itself, and they're dying out. The NCR rapidly grew too mired with expanding their own power and getting by in the present.. but in the east, the Brotherhood looks to the future and not just for themselves. They're the only group that's ever been in game that's really looked toward the future of the race as a whole and not just themselves or their own power.

[Solwyn]

The way I played it (esp with New Vegas) was to support the NCR, but also to promote peace between them and the Brotherhood, as well as the followers.

In my mind, the NCR will eventually over-expand (if it isn't already) and be forced to ally itself with more people, like it did with the Desert Rangers. So you convince the Brotherhood to learn new technology in order to protect the world against a non-nuclear future apocalypse, which is the goal of the followers, and convince the NCR that they can't grow without the help of a disciplined interior nation like the BoS.

[Solwyn]

Anyone but Bachman, Perry, and Romney...

What about Paul?

[BlueCross]

Anyone but Bachman, Perry, and Romney...

What about Paul?

And Paul...

[Hoopy Frood]

I support the Followers of the Apocalypse.

The BoS would be okay if they ever pulled their heads out of their asses.

The NCR would be okay but their politicians are a bunch of wankers.

The enclave are just assholes.

[TK]

I have most symapthy for the small settlements and only really work for the large factions if it's morally ok.

[Hatchetman]

The way I played it (esp with New Vegas) was to support the NCR, but also to promote peace between them and the Brotherhood, as well as the followers.

In my mind, the NCR will eventually over-expand (if it isn't already) and be forced to ally itself with more people, like it did with the Desert Rangers. So you convince the Brotherhood to learn new technology in order to protect the world against a non-nuclear future apocalypse, which is the goal of the followers, and convince the NCR that they can't grow without the help of a disciplined interior nation like the BoS.

That was always something I considered one of the few real story problems with NV, NCR was nearly as reluctant to actually work things out and move forward as any of the other factions. If you get them working with the FoA, but you also get the Khans to survive and move away.. the FoA goes with them, not NCR. It's a weird contradiction.

The Mojave Brotherhood, someone really must have just decided that they were too close to the Core to ever sway too far from the ideals written in the codex so just gave them four varying degrees of bad ending. Over decades the NCR has evolved to the point that the Brotherhood knows they can't fight them, they've become bigger and bigger, but still think they're going to "outlast" the NCR. They really are shoving their heads in the sand and going lalalala.

[inso]

The NCR would be okay but their politicians are a bunch of wankers.

so their politicians are just normal politicians, then?

i support anyone who agrees with the extermination of the Cazadores.

[BlueCross]

The NCR would be okay but their politicians are a bunch of wankers.

so their politicians are just normal politicians, then?

i support anyone who agrees with the extermination of the Cazadores.

Inso?  Are you sure you are Inso??

Can I see some ID, please?

[Solwyn]

I honestly always liked the ideals of the brotherhood, but I think I lacked perspective to fully understand the dilemmas at hand.
In order to make it more compelling for the story, they need to have a strongpoint (rigid ideals which provide their unity and common cause) and a weakpoint (pretty much the same ideals).

I feel weird about it. I think the writers who joined in later felt like the original version were too much the prototypical "good guys" from a fantasy universe, and felt like rigid idealism doesn't work in a world as nihilistic as the fallout universe. The wiki article put it best I think, when they said the following:

"Although the Brotherhood has always been portrayed as aloof, as time went on more negative aspects of their beliefs have been increasingly emphasized as their power has decreased. Originally they stood for relatively benign goals of preservation. Indeed, in one of the possible endings in Fallout; they voluntarily reintroduce technology, engage in novel research, and actively help the wasteland. Later, in Fallout Tactics, the Midwestern faction eventually would go on to become a near-fascist state, but only if a specific ending is chosen in which this faction assumes the new leadership of a prejudiced General Barnaky."

I know Tactics is usually not considered canon, but they make a good point.

The good guys in these types of universes often end up living up to the concept of "you die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become a villain."

[Dourak]

Mmh.
Brotherhood have the nicest suit, but they are too obsessed by hierarchy, and too isolationist to rule something as big as Wasteland.

Enclave is ... they are the bad guys, they will never win at the end.

NCR are too easily corrupted, as every new democracy are. Maybe hundred years after, but not yet.

Let's be honest, Deathclaws are the next step of evolution. They can be smart (as the vault 13 exemple showed it), they are naturaly armed to resist in wasteland (big claws, natural brown camouflage (wich is very useful in caves, trees, or cardboard boxes)), and they are tall.
Yes.
They.
Are.
Tall.
They are the best.

[MrWeasel]

Brotherhood path always the most fun (ie bloody)