I don't mean smartest as in only science, i meant smartest overall like tactical thinking, strategy, knows the best and most effective way to deal with a problem and come up with solutions, charisma, large scale thinking, small scale thinking etc.

Smartest Fallout 4 Leader
Elder Maxson, Desdemona or Father?

Smartest Fallout 3 Leader
Colonel Autumn or Elder Lyon?

Smarter New Vegas Leader
General Oliver, Mr. House, or Caesar?

For the poll, pick the overall smartest one out of the three games.

Mr. House, easily. He was prepared for the nuclear war, and stayed in control of New Vegas, a valuable settlement, for 200+ years.

Shaun, Neither and Mr. House.

Maxson is a racist straight out of English fairy tales that has unexplainably managed to grow the Brotherhood to a greater power, from a very young age. The other is your arrogant scientist son, who couldn't even foresee a breach being made, and an abolitionist that gets tactical advice from a medical doctor, and an Assaultron.

In my opinion, both Autumn and Lyon are idiots. Lyon couldn't even control about half of the Brotherhood when he finally made it to DC and changed his plans. Then, after Three, he distributed water out for free, to anyone who wanted some. Autumn believes that America can be revived by poisoning the fresh water supply with a chemical that kills mutants, and that they the Enclave aren't mutants...

Mr. House is the oldest non-cryogenically frozen human. He was an orphan that worked his way up to CIT and founded the most profitable businesses in the world. He's also a genius in robotics and sciences. Having calculated the end of the world, and creating a defense system to protect Las Vegas from Chinese missiles. He preserved his body for 200 years, and had planned very far ahead. Oliver will send armies of soldiers to die and Caesar believes copying Augustus Caesar won't end badly...

Fallout 4: Not far enough to have met some of these NPCs, or see them in action extensively to determine anything.

Fallout 3: lol no

Fallout New Vegas: Mr. House. The man is basically made of achievements both before and after the Great War. I'd definitely say he is the overall most intelligent leader throughout the Fallout universe.

Just to point it out, the poisoning water thing was Eden not Autumn.

Yeah, a big thing a lot of people miss is Elder Lyons is actually [censored] at his job. He's not the Vault Dweller so he can't get all of the Good Karma endings he keeps going for. The EBoS was on its way to oblivion by the time he got his ass pulled out of the fire by the Lone Wanderer. Very Good Karma does not translate to being a great leader.

"HELPING PEOPLE" isn't very practical to be honest as he's frequently called out on.

On my end?

1. Caesar: Caesar is a evil misogynist [censored] but he certainly has done himself some amazing things through sheer force of will. Most missionaries would just get themselves killed in Fallout's tribals but he built himself an empire through sheer force of will and the fact he's very much a clinical psychopath (superficial charm, lack of remorse, inability to form anything other than superficial relationships, narcissicism). Yes, he's got an aversion to technology but somehow works around that and throws those rules out the window whenever he's needed.

2. Ashur: I've got to also give props to the Pre-Elder Maxson Elder Maxson. Yes, he's so deep in denial that he might as well be Pharoah but the man managed to build an empire out of nothingness the same way which Caesar did. The Pitt is a worthwhile project to pursue, it's just it's a shame it had to come from such a horrific place of origin.

3. The Master: I'll tell you what, the Master really should be NO. 1# on this list because he's got everything the above 2 do and actually manages to make a legacy which lasts centuries later. He even is willing to come clean when his mistakes are pointed out to him. The only reason he's not higher on the list is because, really, if you're going to commit global genocide of the human race to make way for your replacement then FORGETTING TO CHECK IF THEY CAN HAVE CHILDREN is a pretty glaring oversight.

Honorable Mentions

Joshua Graham: Get's a lion's chunk of Caesar's Legion's success credit. Also, he's got the same self-awareness which is important.

Doctor Mobius: Dude built a Giant Robo-Scorpion and successfully defeated the other super-geniuses of the Big Empty for centuries despite encroaching senility.

Why not Fallout 1 and 2?

Tandi would beat them all

Pfft, as if she could ever beat the genius and beauty of the FIRST CITIZEN OF VAULT CITY.

House, no contest.

The F3 choices are a little lackluster. Autumn was brutal but unimaginative. Lyons was compassionate but largely ineffective given the scale of the resources at his disposal.

Possibly better choices:

Protector Henry Casdin: Head of the Outcasts. Kept regular patrols running with far more limited resources and generally did the job that Lyons claimed he was doing.

Eulogy Jones: Successfully ran a slaver operation that effectively scoured half the map of settlements. Maintaining an operation like that on such limited resources suggests considerable tactical and strategic acumen. Not lacking in charisma, either.

[edit]

"results" -> "resources"

good calls on both of those guys...Mr house is in a class of his own tho...and in regards to Arthur Maxson...IF bethesda has a cannon ending I feel like they're either taking brotherhood to a new height of power behind Arthur...Or just building him up to watch him crash...again this is all dependant on bethesda having a cannon ending

Can't argue with that. The only intellect in F3 that could challenge him would be John Henry Eden, and Eden pretty much disqualifies himself with his massive miscalculation regarding the Lone Wanderer.

(Admittedly, House can fall to Courier Six, but he at least takes reasonable precautions, and doesn't let the player talk him to death).

[edit]

Of course, you could argue that Eden does a fine job of running the Enclave and things only start to fall apart after Autumn starts undermining his authority.

House is a terrible leader though

>He failed to correctly predict when the war would happen.

>He failed to be prepared for the war, and was sent into a coma for a century when his systems crashed for it.

>Even after waking up, he just sat around on his ass for years until the NCR showed up, where he then quickly gathered a bunch of tribal group together to build some walls when he could have already had an established city for years that would have been harder to take.

>He failed to pick a reasonable successor, which caused Benny to betray him.

>He failed to pick loyal tribals for his city, which is why all of the three families go behind his back in some way or another

>He failed to set up a reliable system between his tower and the vault were he stored his robot army

House has literally failed at every single thing hes done since slightly before the war.

Not sure who I'd pick at the moment, but it's http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=27091

On the other hand, he was together enough to keep the nukes from landing on his home city.


But he designed an infrastructure that would survive a nuclear war and robot servants that would still be operational and under his control after a century.


On the other hand, he did turn a bunch of tribals into a force capable of at least playing the Legion and the NCR off against each other, and did it in record time.


He is perhaps not so good a judge of character as he believes, admittedly


Well, there was a nuclear war in the meantime

He's flawed, certainly, but I still think his accomplishments are impressive. The only other figure that really has his stature in the Fallout cannon is the Master.

Speaking of the leaders, I don't really know who's the "smartest", but here's an interesting little tidbit from Sawyer about New Vegas (and it's pretty cool that he still wishes to discuss about the game at this length after all these years...):

http://jesawyer.tumblr.com/post/133867000061/3-disclaimers-i-love-new-vegas-love-the-legion

House and Caesar take this by a county mile. Only large-scale faction leader from these three games that I'd put on even close to the same level as these two is Ashur.

I won't argue with Ashur. He was very capable.

Not sure I'd rate Caesar that highly though.

While Mister House is certainly the most INTELLIGENT of the various characters, I tend to think he and John Henry Eden both suffer from a low wisdom score if that makes sense. John Henry Eden being, of course, a super-computer is objectively more intelligent than any human being even with House's cybernetic tools. The problem is that John Henry Eden is blinded by all of the various presidents prejudices and flaws being merged into his brain. In House's case, he's attempting to rebuild Las Vegas exactly as it was and that myopia of vision is something to be looked down upon rather than lauded.

Basically, House has no desire to engage with the Wasteland as is but wants to make it into his snowglobe.

Smartest leader? I think House is the clear choice here. He's not the best leader by any stretch of the imagination, but he is a leader, and is easily one of the most intelligent characters in the Fallout universe.

I don't think House lacks for wisdom. Remember that everything he has, he took or built himself, both before the war and after. He became a wasteland superpower completely on his own devices, and that's ignoring his extreme intelligence in the fields of science, technology, and prediction.

A lot of people fault his plans because they rely on a specific agent, i.e. The Courier (or Benny), but I do not believe this is an indicator of his lack of wisdoms. After all, House is a high stakes gambler. It's part of his character and he knows this. He got where he is now on his own, but honestly, he's reached a point where he needs help (it's not like he can walk and interact himself, after all), and damnit, his bet on the Courier wasn't a bad one. It CAN end in his death, sure, but all other options would as well, and the payoff is astronomically in House's favor.

I don't see how him being distant and wanting to shape the wasteland as his own snowglobe in any way detracts from his intelligence. He survived all these years without becoming a ghoul, he pacified three powerful tribes and drove out the others, he created an economic powerhouse halted the NCR hit like a brick wall, and used their conflict with the Legion to his advantage. And then he came up with a gamble that, if it paid off (and let's be honest, his offer to the Courier is the most personally beneficial) it would give him an army as well as drive out the two most powerful factions in the wasteland in the span of one day.

Dude deserves some credit.

Maxson. He managed to take the ragtag EC BoS and turn them into a military powerhouse - He even had an airship constructed.

Now, I personally feel that their role in Fallout 4 is far too grand. I still do not understand how the EC BoS managed to turn into the power force that they are in Fallout 4. Let alone construct an airship.

Because they have all of the Capital Wasteland under their control and all of the Enclave's military resources?

True, but that still does not explain how they thought up the blueprints to an airship and actually constructed a viable one. Unless it is explained and I just missed it

didn't house himself say he didn't really care about leading per say he just cared about vegas and that's it....I think it was something along those lines...he seems like he's there just to further HIS goals and to make sure vegas dosnt cave in on itself