Brotherhood Overhaul

Mod Updated: 12/29/2015

Design Document Updated: 1/3/2016

Design Document (anyone can comment):

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XD36S5yhUpp9p1o4UyYLp1JSd1OyMUpS3eqdZZTPA5s/edit?usp=sharing

Production/Team Document (anyone can view):

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ubQEa5hGgtGedksc5AtWIoG4zGjw_W659v_RIN8GrSE/edit?usp=sharing

Foreword:

So after playing the game, I came to the conclusion that the Brotherhood (and frankly all factions) can have a lot more defined for them both during and after the main quest. Considering I have gone the Brotherhood route twice, I wanted to focus on overhauling their faction first, while providing benefits for anyone playing as the other factions. The results are the Brotherhood Overhaul.

Brotherhood Overhaul will revamp the Brotherhood Of Steel to provide more functionality for their faction both during and after their main quest is complete. These adjustments will also provide additional gameplay when making them your enemy. Obviously this will contain spoilers if you have not completed the Brotherhood storyline (and if you haven't, shame on you because the Institute, Railroad, and Minutemen have nothing on the BOS). Most likely there will be spoilers in the thread as well, so you've been warned!

I've already made progress below but I don't feel its made enough progress before uploading to Nexus as I really want to create most of the functionality in an alpha state before its ready. It will need GECK before that is possible unless scripting can be cracked early. However, if everyone feels the following is enough to try out, I will consider it. Still chipping away at what can be done with FO4Edit and Nifskope.

Currently Implemented:

1. Since vertibirds were gained from the Enclave in Adams Air Force base, they should be firing gatling lasers on the front, have missile launchers, and the bomb rack for mini nukes. The side minigun would be the same, but even with a redesign, why would they lose weaponry? Gatling lasers added to front in place of the two miniguns. Have also properly updated the vertibirds so they play the gatling laser sounds. However they seem to only fire off the gatling laser shots every second, so a WIP. Still figuring out the missile launchers and bomb racks.
2. Vertibirds die way too much. These are large vehicles that should not be taken down by pistols. You'd need a missile launcher, mini nuke, or heavy machine gun to damage these svckers in any capacity. Fixed that for you by increasing the strength of any vertibird found, and giving better health to pilots (who seemed to easily die).
3. Pilots were not wearing their proper bomber jackets due to having two suits. Fixed that.
4. They took over Adams Air Force base, arguably finding the T60 armor suits they wear, but they should have fully working Enclave armor suits available. It was confusing that in Fallout 3, nobody is wearing a few of the higher quality Advanced Power Armor (X01) suits from Fallout 2, and the new mark 2 suits are inferior to T51 (with Hellfire matching T51 in usefulness). Add the ability for high ranking BOS members (Elder, Sentinel, Star Paladin, Paladin Commander) to be wearing BOS-based X01 suits instead of T60 with proper look and rank paint jobs (and give the player the ability to use said paint jobs). Shoutout to Hocter for his fantastic paintjob textures for X01 (if you don't like Brotherhood Overhaul, definitely try out these textures for your X01 suit at http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/796/?).
5. Why can the player only use Knight, Paladin, and Sentinel paint jobs? Unlocked Initiate, Standard, Knight Sergeant, Knight Captain, and Officer paint jobs for T60.
6. BOS combat helmets have the light on the top but it does not function. Partially fixed that, though it needs a lot more work to fully resolve. At least the light is sort of at the right area, but its a hack until I can rip apart the Combat Helmet and set it up similarly to the Mining Helmet. Looks like it still needs some more work to get the headlamp modding portion working properly.
7. Adjusted various BOS location encounter zones to max level of 99. Made them all non-reset. Created a nice situation where the ghouls attacked Boston Airport. Will pair nicely when all the main BOS areas are beefed up.

Patch Included:

1. Armorsmith Extended - All I'm using currently. Ensures the combat helmets still work properly with the changes in Armorsmith Extended while still allowing the mounted light to function and be modded.

Planned Features:

• Proper initiation into the Brotherhood upon arriving on the Prydwen.
• Multiple new vertibird features including: vertibirds aren't made of paper and utilize the weaponry seen in Fallout 3, you can pilot a vertibird, you can call in vertibirds for an attack run or to drop off a squad of BoS troops, and vertibird support at various portions of the main quest where applicable.
• X-01 suits with proper paint jobs worn by high ranking members (and you can use the paintjobs).
• All T-60 BoS paintjobs unlocked for use by player.
• Companions disguised while wearing full power armor suit to alleviate Danse hostility.
• New voiced Paladin companion that does not come with the Danse baggage and coordinates nearly all new functionality (unless we somehow can get the voice actors for the BoS key players to do this, or find folks that can match their voices).
• Headlamps on combat helmet work properly.
• New combat system that dynamically defines a threat level for hostile locations, and uses these threat levels to attack nearby settlements intelligently.
• Various BoS holdings can be attacked and lost such as the Prydwen, Boston Airport, Cambridge Police Station, and Fort Strong (which actually has BoS members there now as mentioned by Maxson).
• These locations are also workshop-compatible to tweak their defenses and attach them to trade routes which provides various benefits. Boston Airport encompasses entire area now.
• Various locations can be taken over by the BoS including defining a new HQ in military bases or vaults.
• More BoS missions including assaults, salvage operations, and defending attacks from combat system. Coordinated via the new Paladin NPC, with the player either being assigned these, or directly coordinating the moves as Sentinel.
• The Yangtze can be taken over providing a new avenue for assaulting someone with tactical nukes (with the signals behind sold by Teagan), and the beginnings of the BoS Navy.
• Settlements fully support the BoS operations and have various tweaks like a proper UI, sponsorship for new settlers into the BoS, resources being utilized by the entire BoS, and active/passive benefits to nearby BoS operations based on how well each settlement/forward base is functioning.
• New actions in settlements allowing settlers/BoS members to actively create objects for you.
• New Liberty Prime patrol going through the super mutant infested areas of Boston. Every red-blooded American should support this patrol to wipe out the red menace!
• New post-MQ scenario with the Minutemen that can involve either turning them into a BoS militia, wiping out The Castle, or a total war between both sides that could result in the destruction of the Prydwen.
• Potential for both Railroad and Institute endings of the BoS playing out throughout the MQ, with the ability for the player to counter them.
• Central mission framework to allow additional missions to be added to any faction (with the Brotherhood being the guinea for now). Mod authors can hook into the module (which will be a separate master), design out their quest mod however they like (if you want to setup a new worldspace, and work with the Brotherhood, you could have them be able to fly you out to/from it and incorporate vertibird features into your mod), and then determine what sort of effects the mod should accomplish for that and other factions when completed (increased rewards, hostile relations, new HQ/base/salvage opportunities, new NPCs, new weapons/armor added to troops, etc). If possible, our voice actors will also add the appropriate voice acting to the NPCs directly in the overhaul handling the missions based on your direction.

Credits:

1. Fallout 4 by Bethesda Game Studios (naturally)
2. FO4Edit by ElminsterAU and updates by Hlp, Zilav, and Sharlikran.
3. Nifskope by Corwin
4. Deba2 by DigitialUtopia1
5. http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/796/? by Hocter.

Pairs Nicely With:

1. http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/4253/? by Varx
2. http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/6443/? by TheFirstEnD
3. http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/2228/? by Gambit77

If anyone wants to join the team building this, or has any input on accomplishing many of these goals now or in the future (or simply wants to critique the goals on here), feel free to reach out to me or respond on here. Chances are some of these features can be knocked out via FO4Edit pre-CK, and I'm just overlooking where I can accomplish them.

Ad Victoriam!

Interesting idea but the war with the minutemen idea seems not fully thought out. We're talking about a militia that is loyal to your character, the settlements owe you for building them up and offering protection, the Minutemen are your army not Preston's or anyone elses. Instead there should be a option to bring the minutemen into the BoS as either an entire division dedicated to protecting settlements under the BoS's banner or complete and total absorption into the BoS. Maybe it could lead to some minutemen going rogue which you can do something like convincing them to come back or wiping them out completely.

Also while the Gunner attack on the airship may seem cool it also seems like it could get really annoying and having key members who also act as quest givers dying off would be the biggest pain in the ass.

Yea we've been going back and forth on the Nexus forums. The initial thought process with the Minutemen war is Preston's insistence with the Minutemen ending (after the Institute is gone) to wipe out the Brotherhood, and his responses when you join them and go around their areas. Its left as a cliffhanger when the BoS wins as the general Minutemen mentality is that the Commonwealth is being invaded, and its their job to fight back to defend everyone. Considering it doesn't take much even after the BoS ending if you become enemies to immediately start "With Our Powers Combined" its not a huge stretch to see Preston revoke the whole "you're the general" rank (which was dropped on the player pretty nonchalantly to begin with) and get the ball rolling on his own as his ego grows through the Minutemen's success (provided by you).

During the discussions, we've identified the possibilities of having total peace between the BoS and Minutemen where the Minutemen generally turn into a BoS militia (as you've mentioned), allowing the BoS to continue their primary job of wiping out the dangers of the area (which benefits the Commonwealth) and scavenge for tech (which could benefit the Commonwealth if some controlled tech is passed down to the Minutemen). We also discussed a possibility where all the settlements still recognize you as general, have no problem becoming a part of the BoS, and only Preston needs to be wiped out along with his loyalists in The Castle.

It would generally provide 3 possible paths depending upon how the player approached it during the main quest, and a similar possibility at the end (like With Our Powers Combined) where at least the war situation could just be instigated if that's the route you feel needs to be taken for the Brotherhood (and you want to try the whole feature out of taking over the settlements).

Right now the focus would also be to make Feeding The Troops make sense. Being able to just go to a settlement, get the food, and convert it to BoS dominance with no ramifications from the Minutemen makes no sense. I can see those missions having some factor in whether or not there could be peace (the mission is never done, BoS ending happens, probably no Minutemen missions so they really have no leg to stand on, all goes more or less well) versus war (the BoS annexed a bunch of settlements from the Minutemen, Minutemen strength is high enough to oust the BoS, The Castle is fully armed, and war is inevitable).

Uh huh, I see. Have you thought about trying for an alternate route for the Institute in the BoS take it over instead of destroying it completely? Like you mentioned in the post the idea of bringing back the alternate route for Danse/Maxson. Is that the one where you can take over the BoS? Well, why not once you take over the BoS you can choose to take over the Institute instead of blowing it up, then making the area around CIT on the surface into a settlement.

Honestly that does make the most sense. I never understood why the BoS wants to blow up the Institute after wiping everyone out inside. The amount of technology inside there would be a gold mine, and if that was converted into their long term base, they would never have to concern themselves about an attack ever (only entrance is teleportation).

It goes hand in hand with the other idea where the "endings" of each faction are played out on the BoS, with the player being able to counter them. I.E. when the BoS is preparing to wipe out the Railroad, the attack goes well but Tinker Tom/Deacon are not there. A heavy attack on Cambridge Police Station plays out, and they both sneak onto a vertibird during the chaos. The player would need to counter them on the Prydwen by removing the bombs placed by Deacon and then taking them out (with various options presented to the player based on how quickly they get to the Prydwen), or the Prydwen would be destroyed. Same process for Institute (the idea brought up by Athanasa involves a synth infiltrator early in the storyline which could possibly by Brandis or a courser causing general chaos behind the scenes and ultimately attempting to put the virus inside Liberty Prime to take down the Prydwen). Minutemen "ending" would attempt to play out if the war begins post-MQ, where they would still fire off the artillery on the Prydwen if certain criteria is met.

Courser could make sense, Brandis wouldn't as the information from the network scanner would show him out immediately.

Well the network scanner only shows missing synths. The concept brought up with Brandis is that, being as he's been isolated for a long while, he could've easily been switched out with an identical synth. I suppose the issue with that is the Institute caring one bit about doing so, and whether the Brotherhood would actually show up here to justify it. Courser seems the better course.

Seems impressive what you've implemented already! Wish I had finished the BoS questline so I could give it a whirl. Great stuff!

Thanks, though really a lot of this has been done by folks in standalone mods so far. Referenced Durable Vertibirds and Combat Helmet Tweaks to get a base for both of them (both are highly recommended). No real magic so far until CK comes out, and since almost all the functionality in Brotherhood Overhaul exists in these other mods, we're holding off until the real meat and potatoes can be built. Ideally the Brotherhood Overhaul would be a benefit for anyone playing the other questlines as it will make the BoS a real force to fight against while seeing some of the features function for other factions (i.e. the combat system causing hostile locations to attack your Minutemen/Railroad settlements).

In other news, first pass on design document linked at the top is in. Would love any critiques, as anyone can comment right in the doc. Its definitely ambitious, but I know we can do it and really give everyone something to do post-MQ. If all goes well, we can see similar overhauls made for all factions.

Some of those ideas are neat.. others I am not so keen on. I like the mini-gun on virtibirds for example. It just feels more, real.

Honestly what I *really* want from an BoS overhaul is the ability to trade in high tech goodies, and see the brotherhood copy it. By that I mean they later on spawn on various experimental units in the wasteland. Imagine an experimental BoS patrol with an alien blaster..

Or various really high tech places being garrisoned by the bos once you clear it.

And lastly, something that puts back in the cut BoS content, and perhaps tweaks it so you don't have to destroy the institute. Instead you put BoS knights with heavy weapons at all the doors and shock collars on the more troublesome scientists. (Yes its a have your cake and eat it too ending, but it allows for more fun quests to do opposed to killing off everyone.)

The minigun on the side stays the same. This would be replicating the vertibirds from Fallout 3, which is basically what these are: the vertibirds taken from the Enclave at Adams Air Force Base and rebranded as BoS. They had gatling lasers in the front (controlled by the pilot), minigun for gunner on side, missile launchers, and a bomb rack with mini nukes for bomb runs. More for lore than anything else.

That is a very interesting concept about trading high tech gear in. We want to really emphasize where settlements fit in, so perhaps you drop an alien blaster at one location, and trade routes hook into the weapons production and R&D location you've designed. Funnel enough scrap to it, and they start being able to build them as new. You could then possibly have a connection (especially as the Sentinel) in determining the makeup of patrols.

Definitely a go for garrisoning high tech areas. Can read more in the linked design document, but more or less you'd be given the opportunity to recommend a new HQ location for long term operations from the larger military bases (Fort Hagan, The Switchboard, National Guard Training Yard, and Institute if we can make it work) and vaults. Other bases can also be established at the smaller bases and high tech sites, while others like the hospitals can be earmarked as salvage runs that completely gut the areas and use the tech for their holdings.

As for Institute, that was requested as well a few times. At the very least, we'll see if we can at least stop having to blow up the place while still ending the MQ appropriately. It would be nice if the BoS could round up the top scientists that survive, as well as bring back Virgil if you decide not to kill him, and turn the Institute into their Commonwealth HQ. Best possible location as you would simply be unable to stop them (unless you somehow could build an Iron Giant to blow a 10 meter hole into the ground to access them) and it'd allow them to project their power easily. There was also concepts of the Brotherhood rounding up the Gen 3s and having them as their work force, but I just don't see that fitting the mindset for them. It would be like rounding up feral ghouls to them.

A couple of ideas for perfect outposts or garrisons for BoS

1. Gunner Plaza, could even lead to making a BoS radio station (I know, I know it's a TV station but it can be re-purposed!)
2. Castle if you haven't done the Minutemen mission to take it over or haven't done a thing with the minutemen.
3. Putting in a Makeshift Gunner airfield, I mean, where DO they keep those vertibirds, could also be used to stop attacks on the airship
4. Certain areas around the glowing sea, could be seen as camps set up to do investigations or research into the radiation filled area with haz-mat suit wearing scribes and knights combing through certain areas.

Also I'm not sure how possible it would be but finding some way to make the airship doing patrols over Boston with searchlights constantly combing through the ruins would be cool.

You linked the thread, there's no escape now from the idea-flood!

I went and googled Shock Collars in Fallout, and came up with a very interesting result. Apparently, in Fallout New Vegas, "A slave collar is put on the Courier by the Brotherhood during the quest Still in the Dark to ensure that they do not give away their presence at Hidden Valley to the NCR Ranger they are sent to remove." Reading the page on the quest, we find... "The Elder will explain the secretive nature of the location. The Courier is fitted with an explosive collar, which will detonate after passing beyond a certain range of the area."

The Brotherhood...

1) Is not above forcing cooperation from others

2) Has access to slave collars

3) Has used them in the past

4) Is able to programme them

One slave collar isn't really having access, the BoS do not enslave people so let's not try to make that bad point off of flimsy evidence.

One that can get slapped onto you *by* the brotherhood itself in new vegas. Several being used by the crazy elder in the Sierra madre dlc... And the itty bitty fact that it was a standard bit of military gear pre-war. A way of dealing with prisoners. (And the brotherhood formed from elements of the military)

I'm... just going to wait for the Institute overhaul and Minutemen overhaul threads. Those factions appeal to me a lot more than the Brotherhood. BOS is (for me, anyway) like Caesar's Legion: one of those factions that I'll play once and then avoid like the plague in the future.


... that being said, I'd probably still use this mod since if nothing else it turns them into a much more worthy foe.

That being said, I have to ask: Once (very very far in the future) when you've made your BOS overhaul, Institute Overhaul, Minutemen overhaul and (I assume) railroad overhaul (or do you plan on just leaving the basemant dwellers alone?), will you merge them into one giant "Legendary Faction Overhaul" mod?

1) We have at least added Gunner's Plaza as an assault location. The big thing is trying to juggle purely taking locations over permanently versus letting some of the bigger areas respawn over time to provide ongoing content for the player post-MQ. Most of the assault locations would generally be wiped out (dropped to a threat level of 0) and then require like an ingame week (made up time) before they're back to threat level 10 and assaulting nearby locations. They would be the largest groupings of enemies in the game to provide very interesting assaults. In regards to radio, technically they already have those capabilities with Cambridge Police Station after upgrading the transmitter enough to even reach the Capital Wasteland. You can hear the radio signal in Fort Hagan, so I think we definitely need to capitalize on that signal and possibly turn it into an ongoing radio station that sends out alerts, troop movements, etc. Doubtful it'd have music (just not the BoS way).

2) The Castle is interesting. It reminded me of a mini Citadel, and would prove an easy location to defend against while containing plenty of troops. If the radio tower was removed or relocated, the center could very easily support a vertibird landing pad. The question would be if you started doing Minutemen missions, would they assault the BoS troops holding it instead of the Mirelurks? Would definitely make the whole "Minutemen versus BoS" situation pretty cut and dry, but since you'd coordinate the attack, I'd assume that'd put you at odds with the BoS.

3) I believe they must land them on top of Gunner's Lobby. It looks like there's space when heading to the basemant elevator. Could spruce that up a lot. Hell, the assault could lead to the BoS taking any parked vertibirds. Would also be nice if the vertibirds they're using are different (those prototype models seen pre-War) than the ones the BoS are using (further refined models by the Enclave with better capabilities).

4) Most definitely. I recall Senior Scribe Neriah being thrilled that you nuked the Institute. They already setup the Waypoint base when you're finding the Sentinel Site. Why not turn that into a long term science base doing research into the area? Would help her research a lot for the X-111 serum.

5) Love the idea of moving the Prydwen around, especially once any major threats are taken care of. Been considering doing the same with the Yangtze if/when you take that over. The difficulty I would think is making sure everyone is inside. I.E. if you've ever done the USS Constitution mission, you can jump onto the ship as it takes off but obviously the physics were not meant for this. Would need to see what happens if you move the Prydwen while the player/NPCs are standing on it.

Taking Prydwen a step further, I never understood why there isn't some sort of weaponry on it. While its focus is a carrier, even our aircraft carriers have some weaponry for defensive purposes.

I don't see why not, or at least having it as one modular overhaul where you can install what you like. The goal at least for the BoS Overhaul is to still provide content if you play other factions (i.e. the threat system will apply to all other settlements if you go Minutemen/Railroad, similar mechanics will exist with the Institute for assault/salvage missions, the BoS will be a much more worthy foe that won't allow you to assault them alone, and any benefits to settlements we build will work for everyone such as a proper UI).

A few ideas of my own... some carryover from my http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1579258-settlement-defense-workaround/

1. Landing Pad for settlements: Generates a landed vertibird a day after it is built. If settlement is attacked it will take off and defend the settlement. You can board the vertibird instead of having throw a grenade to summon it. Can only be built in BOS-controlled settlements. Only 1 per settlement. actually comes with two pads: One is where the verti is kept. The other is an incoming pad where any incoming vertis land on. Outgoing and Incoming.
   • Vertibirds created this way can be customized like power armor. Given mods, changed loadouts, given custom paint jobs, etc.
   • In the case of custom vertibird, using a verti grenade will summon the last used custom vertibird instead of a random one.
   • Having a landing pad like this will also auto-traderoute with any other BOS controlled settlements (including Prydwen and Boston Airport) with landing pads on them, making it an alternative to Local Leader and those annoying provisioners.
2. BOS flag: Before it was just a decoration. Now it actually declares this settlement a BOS settlement without having to go through Teagan. You will take a hit with some happiness and piss off the mintutemen doing this though. (I have similar ideas with the institute flag btw. But that's for that thread.)
   
3. Recruitment office: Can only be built in BOS controlled settlements. Basically, generates BOS initiates and knights that will patrol the settlement (adding 4 defense each) that you can also take with you on missions. One per settlement.

I love the vertibird building pad concept. We were looking into various new ways to incorporate settlers actually building things using the scrap available, and why not assign a few scribes to the pad to build the vertibird. Would also make piloting one easier since it wouldn't already come with a pilot. And I really dislike that vertibirds try their best to park at the fast travel point. It'd be nice if they actively searched for one of these vertibird pads to land at.

Having a flag define ownership would be interesting. Perhaps have the recruitment radio signal come with a flag on top to define who owns the settlement, and what message is being sent out from it?

We have discussed a recruitment office-like concept as the defined way to handle sponsorship. More or less, the general concept is you'd gain BoS members moving in like settlers now without anything special (Lancers, Scribes, Knights, and Paladins). Normal settlers and initiates would also still come in but wander around (which is annoying as hell with current settlements when trying to get everyone doing something constructive). If you have a recruitment building, they'd head to the recruitment area to congregate until either A) You sponsor a settler which brings them into the Brotherhood as an initiate and officially assigns them to the town for commands, B ) You give orders to initiates as they function the same as settlers, or C) You dislike the settler, do not sponsor them, and they are kicked out of the area. The remaining members would function in defined jobs (i.e. a Lancer must be assigned to a vertibird for it to fly, a Scribe on scavenging/production/engineering, and Knights/Paladins on guard posts, patrols, or assigned to gunner on vertibirds).

On the same token, I could see a "barracks" building accomplishing the same means for the other BoS members so you're not hunting them down. Any way to have some semblance of organization if they do not take on a job autonomously.

Except Old World Blues explains where Elijah got those collars and he got them AFTER he broke off from the BoS. Again, really flimsy evidence.

Yes.. but the brotherhood itself, if you visited the compound without Veronica to vouch for you, they put a collar on you. Nothing at all to do with Elijah.

Yes because they have one slave collar that TOTALLY means they'd have slaves /sarcasm

Again, flimsy as hell evidence. The BoS don't enslave and this has never been shown off in any game except one ending of tactics but even then tactics BoS were only BoS in name.

Will the vertiberds be flying to Liberty Prime and blow it up?

Like I said I can't wait to hear what you guys have in mind for the Minutemen and institute. Especially the later since it happens to be my favorite faction of the bunch.

That's the thread I'd really get into, even if it was all just a planned features thread(s) and nothing else.