I have always felt the NCR ending is only earned if you've done the work. If the Courier succeeds, local culture flourishes. Old warriors feel comfortable hanging up their spurs. Local settlements capable of securing themselves remain stoutly independent, or thrive from increased trade. The Brotherhood provides security services. The Fiends scatter. Local medical services expand. Trade routes from the NCR eastward stabilize. The Khans help resettle the Northwest. Local super mutants find peace (imagine that in Bethesdaworld!) Slavery is suppressed. Peaceful technology progresses. The downside is taxes go up. What a tragedy!
If you don't do all that, there's no correct ending. But if you do all that, the NCR provides the glue of legitimacy & ideology to stabilize it. It's the ending where I feel comfortable walking off into the sunset.
I went with yes man because I alone posses the will and vision to rule humanity and bring civilization to the wastes. Maybe you should have considered that I’m built different.
I think this article is a bit incomplete without the platinum chip variable. With the platinum chip providing new and upgraded securitrons, Vegas is an incipient regional power.
It is yeah. But you’re also given a lot of additional information that the actual core NCR is having extensive issues and has become strained and sclerotic. So I’m not super convinced it’s looking great for them.
The state-building for Caesar is weird. I take it for granted since it’s off screen, but at least based on what you’re given he’s consciously attempting to act as a ruthless modernizer. Even if the end state is vague at best.
I think we’re meant to understand the “ruthless modernizer” thing to be a lie Caesar tells himself which is why he’s pinning his hopes of taking Vegas. He’s ironically more like Attila than any Roman—he hasn’t established any of the fundamentals for civilization, which is clear by what happens when he dies.
Yet another James banger! New Vegas was the first time I really dug into what I believe and why I believe it, and you put words to something I've always kinda just had to gesture at. Despite its glaring flaws - bureaucratic incompetence, endemic corruption, and weak internal security - the NCR is the only faction that *might* survive it's leader dying. Mr. House and Caesar can promise some level of safety and comfort sure - more than the NCR can! - but once they're gone their regimes will likely only last a few generations of leadership before the whole thing collapses back into factional infighting. You can already see it in the Legion's leadership nipping at each other, and I can't imagine the oligarchs of the strip not immediately trying to tear each other's throats out as soon as House is gone.
The NCR, on the other hand, can't promise safety or comfort, or even an honestly representative democracy. The military are glorified private security for the Brahmin farmers, the politicians are mostly either part of the Tandi clique or people who bought their way into power, and the bureaucratic gauntlet you have to run to get anything done as a regular citizen would make a German blush. But the voting means there's a chance it sticks around long enough, and that enough people care enough, that the thing can be reformed in a legitimate way. It's Russian Roulette with 3 shots, which is at least better than the delayed 6 shots the Legion or House can offer.
Not to start an argument over Best Faction Waifu in your comments section, just wanted to use those shiny new words to put my thoughts into a new order. Great, great analysis
I mean for what it’s worth, it’s what I think makes the game interesting from a security perspective.
You’re not actually really given any good options and all of them have both near term and long terms flaws that make them systematically weak.
Which I think speaks to a larger problem trying to do anything with national security—which is that oftentimes you only have a bunch of bad options to choose from
Couldn't agree more, there are no good guys and every choice hurts different people in different ways, and that realness is what keeps NV stuck so deep in my head. Very glad to see I'm not the only one!
Great piece. Something have always struggled with in FNV is the vagueness of alternative political systems offered. There’s a theme running through a lot of the Westside/Gannon/Freeside commentary that the Mojave needs something *new*, rather than reheated ancien regimes.
But the game never really explores that option so far as I can tell. Maybe there’s something to an anarcho syndicalism Mojave, but so much of the game revolves around delivering major electrical infrastructure to different states (the dam, Helios, el dorado substation) I have trouble seeing anarchist communities making it work
If they actually had the chance to flesh out the legion I think they’d have a much better argument for themselves and their ideology. Otherwise you basically have to take their word for it and choose a side that has like 1/3rd the quests and rewards plus at a certain point locks you out of the Strip unless disguised IIRC. If you could see legion territory perhaps the consciously brutal slave state would have a better case for it than any practically NCR ending.
Haven't played it in a very long time but could never invest the time in much of the legion stuff because they just seemed so cartoonishly violent and miserable to be around. Maybe if they had been able to get Ulysses in the base game per the original plan that would have helped. Or not having the 1st encounter with the faction showing them crucifying townsfolk for being degenerate gambling addicts
Like any good future leader I settled all my political decisions by drip check, and I'm afraid the NCR elite riot gear remains uncontested in that regard. Sorry, football gladiators, you will be granting women rights and the crucifixions will stop.
Obviously I will stan anything New Vegas-related, because as ane ful kno (tish tish) it is the best in the series since Fallout 1.
Regarding New California Republic, worth emphasising that they are essentially a colonial force of occupation in the Mojave, obviously reminiscent of US activities in the early 20th century and more recent long-running counter-insurgency operations.
The inability to provide security should be seen in that light - the NCR Army is operating as an army of occupation in unfamiliar territory, with a hostile force to the East and essentially a major counter-insurgency campaign throughout the region (Raiders, Mutants, etc).
What makes Fallout: New Vegas so morally interesting is that it does not simply ask which faction should win. It asks what kind of soul each political order produces. The phrase “rigged from the start” works because it describes more than one betrayal. The Mojave is full of systems that promise order, freedom, security, or restoration — but each demands a price from the human person. The wasteland is not only a ruined world; it is a moral laboratory. That is why the game endures. It refuses the comfort of clean ideology. Every choice carries residue. Every faction has a vision of civilization, but also a hidden anthropology. In the end, New Vegas is not asking whether war changes. It is asking whether human beings do.
I have always felt the NCR ending is only earned if you've done the work. If the Courier succeeds, local culture flourishes. Old warriors feel comfortable hanging up their spurs. Local settlements capable of securing themselves remain stoutly independent, or thrive from increased trade. The Brotherhood provides security services. The Fiends scatter. Local medical services expand. Trade routes from the NCR eastward stabilize. The Khans help resettle the Northwest. Local super mutants find peace (imagine that in Bethesdaworld!) Slavery is suppressed. Peaceful technology progresses. The downside is taxes go up. What a tragedy!
If you don't do all that, there's no correct ending. But if you do all that, the NCR provides the glue of legitimacy & ideology to stabilize it. It's the ending where I feel comfortable walking off into the sunset.
Yeah there’s definitely a path where you fix practically all of their problems and they come out of the conflict as being capable.
But that’s all assuming player intervention with tons of stuff rather than the NCR in the Mojave as it’s presented in a more neutral state.
Realists always pick Legion, which is another reason why Realism is baby’s first IR theory.
It’s called doing a bit of Theory okay
great now I have to start up the game again
Hell yeah bröther. It’s real autocratic modernizer hours.
Godspeed and may you avoid random crashes
I went with yes man because I alone posses the will and vision to rule humanity and bring civilization to the wastes. Maybe you should have considered that I’m built different.
I bet you use AI too
Loved New Vegas the game and I thought the Amazon series captured it pretty well. No notes. Great analysis.
Someone had to be brave enough to finally do it.
I think this article is a bit incomplete without the platinum chip variable. With the platinum chip providing new and upgraded securitrons, Vegas is an incipient regional power.
Yeah. I thought about introducing the security competition between states to this, but honestly it was getting long as it was.
I'd be interested in reading those thoughts too, someday
Aren’t we just seeing the imperial edge of the NCR? The core should have a more conventional state.
Meanwhile the legion is just a warband reliant on a single leader—not really even moving towards building a state.
It is yeah. But you’re also given a lot of additional information that the actual core NCR is having extensive issues and has become strained and sclerotic. So I’m not super convinced it’s looking great for them.
The state-building for Caesar is weird. I take it for granted since it’s off screen, but at least based on what you’re given he’s consciously attempting to act as a ruthless modernizer. Even if the end state is vague at best.
I think we’re meant to understand the “ruthless modernizer” thing to be a lie Caesar tells himself which is why he’s pinning his hopes of taking Vegas. He’s ironically more like Attila than any Roman—he hasn’t established any of the fundamentals for civilization, which is clear by what happens when he dies.
SAFE FUCKING ROADS
Yet another James banger! New Vegas was the first time I really dug into what I believe and why I believe it, and you put words to something I've always kinda just had to gesture at. Despite its glaring flaws - bureaucratic incompetence, endemic corruption, and weak internal security - the NCR is the only faction that *might* survive it's leader dying. Mr. House and Caesar can promise some level of safety and comfort sure - more than the NCR can! - but once they're gone their regimes will likely only last a few generations of leadership before the whole thing collapses back into factional infighting. You can already see it in the Legion's leadership nipping at each other, and I can't imagine the oligarchs of the strip not immediately trying to tear each other's throats out as soon as House is gone.
The NCR, on the other hand, can't promise safety or comfort, or even an honestly representative democracy. The military are glorified private security for the Brahmin farmers, the politicians are mostly either part of the Tandi clique or people who bought their way into power, and the bureaucratic gauntlet you have to run to get anything done as a regular citizen would make a German blush. But the voting means there's a chance it sticks around long enough, and that enough people care enough, that the thing can be reformed in a legitimate way. It's Russian Roulette with 3 shots, which is at least better than the delayed 6 shots the Legion or House can offer.
Not to start an argument over Best Faction Waifu in your comments section, just wanted to use those shiny new words to put my thoughts into a new order. Great, great analysis
I mean for what it’s worth, it’s what I think makes the game interesting from a security perspective.
You’re not actually really given any good options and all of them have both near term and long terms flaws that make them systematically weak.
Which I think speaks to a larger problem trying to do anything with national security—which is that oftentimes you only have a bunch of bad options to choose from
Couldn't agree more, there are no good guys and every choice hurts different people in different ways, and that realness is what keeps NV stuck so deep in my head. Very glad to see I'm not the only one!
I was hoping for a footnote at the "inaccurate hand-waving at Hegel" part that was just a link to that one Luke Correia vid
Great piece. Something have always struggled with in FNV is the vagueness of alternative political systems offered. There’s a theme running through a lot of the Westside/Gannon/Freeside commentary that the Mojave needs something *new*, rather than reheated ancien regimes.
But the game never really explores that option so far as I can tell. Maybe there’s something to an anarcho syndicalism Mojave, but so much of the game revolves around delivering major electrical infrastructure to different states (the dam, Helios, el dorado substation) I have trouble seeing anarchist communities making it work
If they actually had the chance to flesh out the legion I think they’d have a much better argument for themselves and their ideology. Otherwise you basically have to take their word for it and choose a side that has like 1/3rd the quests and rewards plus at a certain point locks you out of the Strip unless disguised IIRC. If you could see legion territory perhaps the consciously brutal slave state would have a better case for it than any practically NCR ending.
Haven't played it in a very long time but could never invest the time in much of the legion stuff because they just seemed so cartoonishly violent and miserable to be around. Maybe if they had been able to get Ulysses in the base game per the original plan that would have helped. Or not having the 1st encounter with the faction showing them crucifying townsfolk for being degenerate gambling addicts
Like any good future leader I settled all my political decisions by drip check, and I'm afraid the NCR elite riot gear remains uncontested in that regard. Sorry, football gladiators, you will be granting women rights and the crucifixions will stop.
Obviously I will stan anything New Vegas-related, because as ane ful kno (tish tish) it is the best in the series since Fallout 1.
Regarding New California Republic, worth emphasising that they are essentially a colonial force of occupation in the Mojave, obviously reminiscent of US activities in the early 20th century and more recent long-running counter-insurgency operations.
The inability to provide security should be seen in that light - the NCR Army is operating as an army of occupation in unfamiliar territory, with a hostile force to the East and essentially a major counter-insurgency campaign throughout the region (Raiders, Mutants, etc).
What makes Fallout: New Vegas so morally interesting is that it does not simply ask which faction should win. It asks what kind of soul each political order produces. The phrase “rigged from the start” works because it describes more than one betrayal. The Mojave is full of systems that promise order, freedom, security, or restoration — but each demands a price from the human person. The wasteland is not only a ruined world; it is a moral laboratory. That is why the game endures. It refuses the comfort of clean ideology. Every choice carries residue. Every faction has a vision of civilization, but also a hidden anthropology. In the end, New Vegas is not asking whether war changes. It is asking whether human beings do.