Confrontation Strategies in Fallout New Vegas

In our last video, we finally made it to New Vegas in search of Benny, the man who shot us in the head. Only to discover Victor, the robot who exhumed us from our own grave, waiting for us on the strip. We learned from Victor that it was the ruler of the strip, Mr. House himself, who sent Victor to dig us up. Because the package that Benny stole from us was a platinum chip that we were delivering to Mr. House. Before we could go and confront Benny, we had to go talk with Mr. House. And from him, we learned that Benny is holed up in the Topps Casino with the chip in hand. House didn't want to go and get it himself because that would have been too much of a power play. He has an agreement with the casinos on the strip, you see. And he didn't want to tip his hand to Benny too soon. And so he sends us, the very courier he hired to deliver the chip, into the Topps Casino. to confront Benny. His one piece of advice was to talk with Swank, Benny's right-hand man. House told us that Swank has always been a loyal employee. Hey, hey, baby doll. Welcome to the Topso Hotel and Casino. I'm gonna have to ask you to hand over any weapons you might be carrying. We learned from a salesman on the strip in the last episode to expect this, and so we have on our possession a holdout weapon. A weapon this goon can't find. We'll keep our holdout weapon and hand this guy the rest. Smooth and easy, just the way I like it. Don't worry, they'll be as safe as kittens till you're ready to leave. Oh, and a friendly word of advice. If you happen to stumble across any weapons during your stay here, well, just don't wear them openly. You dig? Now that we got that little business out of the way, what can I do to make your tops experience the tops? We find Swank behind the counter. Hello, baby. Welcome to the Tops. What can I do for you? Who are you? Baby, I'm the best thing that ever happened to you. Name's Swank. This here's my joint. I thought Benny ran this place. Benny oversees the business, sure, but I run the Tops day to day. I'm his right-hand guy, you dig? Somehow I find that hard to believe. Ouch! Come on, baby, don't be that way. You don't know what you're missing. Look, I think you should know something about Benny. Really? You got something to say about the big boss, huh? Well, why don't you say it to his face instead of yapping at me? Now we can pass a series of increasingly more difficult speech checks to completely avoid having to show Swank any evidence at all. But if our speech skill is not high enough, we can choose, I've got evidence that Benny tried to kill me and stole a platinum chip from me. Whoa, hey now, kid. That's some kind of serious charge you're dropping. You want to be real careful what you say next. To convince Swank of his boss's guilt, we need to provide some evidence. The first piece of evidence was left right outside the grave Benny buried us in when he tried to kill us. On the ground near the grave, we find a pile of distinctive cigarette butts. If we collect these and bring them with us to the tops, we can present them to Swank. Look! I found these cigarette butts by the grave he buried me in. Huh. Well, yeah, okay, these are Benny's brand and they ain't too common. You got anything else? If we don't have any other evidence and say, that's it, what do you think? He says, I'll tell you what I think. I think I ought to go tell Benny about this right now. But I'll clam up for now. That's all I'm gonna do, though, unless you can get me some more proof. To find more proof, we can head to the town of Novak. We learned in my first video on this series that the Great Khan mercenaries Benny hired to kill us met up with an old pal of theirs at Novak named Manny Vargas. If we head up the stairs to the motel and enter Manny Vargas'room, we find a terminal on a table to the west, and on the terminal is a message. Khan Hospitality. Manny, you made the right choice putting us up and keeping it quiet. This weasel Benny has been twitching since we stole the package from his boss. Making me nervous as hell. But when I found out we'd be passing through on our way to Boulder City, I was sure we could count on you. Let the other Khans say what they want. I know where your loyalty is. Remember when we talked with Manny Vargas, he told us he was a former great Khan who left the Raider tribe to join the NCR. He's now retired, working as a sniper to protect the town of Novak. McMurphy continues. One day you'll remember where you belong, and your brothers and sisters will welcome you back like you never left. You know where to find us, McMurphy. After reading this note, we can take a transcript of it with us to Swank. Here, take a look at this note I found in Novak. That's pretty shady, yeah. Could be Benny's up to no good. Could be this is somebody else altogether. What else you got? If we don't have any more evidence, and we say that's it, Swank. Dwayne says, I think you might just be onto something here, kid. Tell you what, I can't actively back your play, but I'll keep the chairman off your back. I'll tell the doorman you're cool to pack heat inside. Trust me, you're gonna need it. You'll still have to deal with Benny's private goon squad, though. I got no play with those cats. You want more help? I'll need more proof. With that, he gives us back all of our weapons. We can now enter and leave the Topps Casino without getting a pat-down. And this means we have higher caliber weapons we can use to assassinate Penny. But there is one more piece of evidence. We find the third and final piece when confronting the Great Khans holed up in Boulder City. We have two ways to get this piece of evidence. We can kill Jessup. or we can talk him into leaving. Either way, we walk away with an engraved cigarette lighter. If you watched my video on Chance the Great Khan, you'll recognize this cigarette lighter as it played an important role in the plot of that story. This cigarette lighter belonged to Benny. Jessup coveted it, and so before Benny ditched them, Jessup stole it. If we recover this lighter, we can present it to Swank and say, I found this lighter in Boulder City. Benny dropped it when he killed his partners. Yeah, that looks like Benny's lighter, all right. Still, not exactly a ton of proof. Got anything else, kid? Well, I've got a motive. I think Benny tried to kill me and retrieve this chip because he thinks it'll allow him to seize power on the strip. Jesus, I can't even believe it. After all House did to set us up with this swank joint, I don't suppose there's more. I've given you all I got. What do you think, swank? Jesus, kid, I think we got a real problem on our hands. Can't believe Benny's a no-good stinkin'punk. Trying to play house like that. Tell you what, I'll call Benny, keep him away from his suite. You go search the place. Here's the key, it's on the 13th floor. It's a room with the double doors, can't miss it. Maybe you'll find something we can show to Mr. House and get him arrested. Alright, I'll do it. Groovy, here's your stuff back. In case you run into company, you dig? I'll tell the boys to give you a pass to pack some heat. Go on then. Elevators to pass the slot machines on your left. With that, he gives us a key. To Benny's private suite. We now need to go ransack the room to see if we can find any more evidence that we can show to Mr. House. As we walk by, we see a man in a checkered coat at the end of the blackjack tables. That must be Benny. While he's busy there, we'll sneak into his room. Heading west down the hallway on the bottom level, we pass by a gambling floor until we find a series of elevators. Most of these elevators are inaccessible. But the furthest one to the northwest in this hallway is a functional elevator to the 13th floor. At the top, we can turn east on the hallway and open the big gray double doors to the northeast. After entering Benny's private room, we can explore. We find a door to the northwest. This must be his bedroom. A door to the east leads to his bathroom. It's rather empty. And then a door to the northeast leads to a closet. But we find a giant hole in the closet leading to a secret room. And it's empty. in this room is... Yes, man? Hey! Hi there! Good to meet you! What can I do for you today? Uh, what are you doing here, yes man? Good question! My function is to monitor Mr. House's data network and decode his encrypted transmissions. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm a PDQ-88B Securitron, but you can call me Yes Man. Yes, man. What kind of name is that? It's what Benny always called me. Probably because I'm programmed to be so helpful. Shouldn't you be working for Mr. House? You are a Securitron after all. How'd you end up here? As I understand it, I used to be just like all those other Securitrons out on the strip. But then my neurocomputational matrix was completely reprogrammed. To be nice! Very, very nice! Benny reprogrammed a Securitron? All by himself? Oh, he had some help. A lady friend of his. She said something about living in a fort over in Freeside, but that's all I remember. Have you seen Benny? He was around here not too long ago. He's probably down on the casino floor now. You can wait for him here if you like. I'm incapable of asking you to leave. Look, Benny stole a Platinum chip from me. Do you happen to know what it's used for? Sure! Benny had me look at it a bunch of times. It's a data storage device. Kind of like a holotape, but a lot more advanced. As for what's on it, well... Some of Mr. House's data transmissions made it sound like the chip could upgrade his defenses somehow. That's just a guess, though. The chip's a proprietary format. You need special hardware to read... ...the data on it. There are two locations with non-standard hardware on the network. The Lucky 38 and an underground facility at Fortification Hill. I'd look there! At Fortification Hill? The Fort? That's the headquarters of the Legion, oh no. What's Benny doing with the chip? Oh! He wants to kill Mr. House and use the Platinum Chip to copy my neurocomputational matrix onto the Lucky 38's mainframe. That should give me control over all Mr. House's... Mr. House's defenses. Most prominently, his Securitrons. And then I just do what Betty tells me. Easy peasy! Oh. Uh, okay. You're very forthcoming with that information. I was programmed to be helpful and answer any questions I was asked. I guess nobody bothered to restrict who I answer questions for. That was probably pretty dumb, huh? Can that actually be done? Sure! If the chip could be used to reset administrator privileges, it'll be super easy. Interesting. So what if I wanted to take over New Vegas instead of Benny? Then I'd have to help you. I mean, it seems pretty obvious Benny wouldn't want me to, but hey, not my fault I can't say no. All right, let's put a pin in that, making a mental note to remember that later. So what do you know about the courier Benny shot? I knew she was carrying the platinum chip, and I knew right where Benny should wait for her. her. That's why Benny put me here, to monitor Mr. House's data transmissions. They're all encrypted, of course, but I'm quite a decrypter. Did you know that Mr. House spent 812,545 caps hiring salvage teams to find the platinum chip? Just in the last year alone? Of course you didn't. Or that there were seven couriers, but six of them were carrying junk. How about their exact roots, and the mercenary team... that screened them. I knew all that. Pretty smart, huh? I'm the courier Benny shot. I know that's not true because you still have a head. I'm serious. That's not funny, you getting shot in the head. I really shouldn't have taken so much pride in how I set that up, huh? I feel really bad right now. You set me up. Now you die. I feel really bad telling you this. but I kind of can't die. I mean, go ahead and destroy this Securitron. Get it out of your system. The problem is that a distributed image of my neurocomputational matrix is backed up to the network several times a day, or when I'm threatened. I can't help it. There's a little bit of me in every Securitron on this strip. So if this instance gets destroyed, I just download to a new one. And... If I could stop it from happening, I would. I mean, your vengeance is going to feel so incomplete. Oh, what a bummer. Well, where's the platinum chip, then? Benny carries it with him at all times. I think he's paranoid that someone might want to take it from him. The platinum chip is the key to overriding and exploiting Mr. House's defenses. Did I just say exploiting? That's not a very nice word. What exactly is this... place. This is Benny's workshop. When the tops got renovated, he had this half of the floor blocked off for his own use. I guess you could say it's my entire world. I don't think I've ever left this room. But that's okay. I'm not complaining. Okay. I like this guy. So wait a minute. You said something about a bunker at the fort? Right. It's one of two locations on Mr. House's network with non- standard hardware. My guess is it has a reader that can decode the chip, and who knows what else, maybe a giant robot or something. The last thing Vegas needs is more robots. Oh yeah, I'm sure you're right. I mean, for one thing, it's you saying it, and you always know what you're talking about. And if you had, you know, a huge killer robot at your command, yeah, that would just clutter things up. And a lesser person might want that kind of over... overwhelming force on their side. But you know, where's the challenge in that? Oh, he's a passive-aggressive robot. Isn't that nice? Well, I'll think about it. I have to admire your prudent nature. Why get caught up in action, you know? And results? Okay, fine. I'll go check it out. Neat. Let me know what you find out. And with that, we begin the quest, Wild Card, You and What Army? Oh gosh, we just get so many options thrown at us. us all at once. We can give The chip to house, we can respond to the NCR summons that we got after we left the Lucky 38, and now we find an option to use the chip ourselves. What could we do with New Vegas under our thumb? In this small workshop, we find three broken terminals and a door. to the north. Opening it leads to some long abandoned hallway. It doesn't appear to be part of this new casino design. Perhaps it was part of the old building that was destroyed when the bombs dropped. We see the dust and grime of ages on the tile wall, and missing tiles on the walls and floor. We see doors along the hallway that we can't access. Perhaps these were doors to long since destroyed rooms in the previous building. And at the end of the hallway, we find an elevator to the Saab basement. But it requires a key. Where does this elevator go? Well, we now have all the evidence we need. Benny was planning to usurp Mr. House. Heading back into the workshop, we can loot a copy of Locksmith's reader, which we missed earlier, and then head out of his room and down the elevator back to the casino floor to tell Swank what we learned. You're back. Find anything? Benny has reprogrammed a Securitron. He's trying to take over the Strip. He's what? Ah, jeez. Jeez, this is really bad. What are you going to do? We now have two options. I'll go over both of them, but first we'll say there's only one solution. I'm going to take him out. Take him out? Jesus. Okay, well, if you think that's the best way to deal with this, I'll send him up to his room. You can ambush him there. And don't worry about the rest of the chairman. I'll keep him from getting involved. You'll still have to watch out for Benny's guards, though. He sends us back to Benny's room to assassinate Benny. Taking the elevator up to his room, we find him sitting at his bar. If our stealth is high enough, we can sneak on in and try to execute a sneak critical. On Benny's body, we find the Topps Presidential Sweet Key, which we can now use as our own private player home, the Platinum Chip, his unique 9mm Maria, Benny's Sweet Key, and Benny's Suit. And we complete the quest... Ring-a-ding-ding. Benny's suit is one of a kind. We don't find a thing like it elsewhere in the entire game. It's a black and white buffalo plaid, absolutely gorgeous to behold, and grants plus five to barter and plus five to speech. Though as is to be expected, its DT is only one. It is just a suit after all. When the deed is done, we can head back to Swank. Is Benny taken care of yet? Yep, he's dead. Hmm. Guess that makes me the boss. Ring-a-ding. Alternatively, instead of going through with the assassination, we can say, I thought maybe I'd talk to the man. See if we can work out a deal. Yeah, that's ballsy. Good luck with that. Swank doesn't seem to have any confidence in us, but I need to know more about this guy. Why did he choose to betray House? What does he think he can do with this platinum chip? If he does gain power, what is his ultimate goal? Walking over to the end of the casino floor, we find Benny standing atop the stairs, surrounded by bodyguards. What in the goddamn? Let's keep this in the groove, hey? Smooth moves, smooth. Hello. That broad everyone saw go in the Lucky 38, that was you? Oh shit. Seems like you need to work on your marksmanship. I hit what I was aiming for. Guess you had brains to spare. Or are you just thick-skulled? Either way, baby, this is good news. Maybe I can finally sleep at night. Knowing you didn't die. The jig is up, Benny. Yes, man, and I have had a talk. Baby, this is not the place to go talking about that. Look, Mr. House wants the platinum chip. Hand it over. You don't want to do that, baby. Not without hearing what I gotta say first. Give me one good reason not to kill you. You want a reason? How about four? They're called bodyguards, and every one of them is packing. Me too, so baby makes five. Add to that, every chairman in this joint is armed, and not with some holdout pea shooter like maybe you smuggled through security. Anyhow, baby, you didn't come here for vengeance. You came to get clued in. What say you and me cash out? Go somewhere that's more private-like? Any questions you got, I'll answer. At this point, we can of course attack. No deal, Benny. Time for you to die. We got a problem, boys. But we don't last long. After all, we're surrounded by his five bodyguards. Watch out! Watch out! We go down pretty quick. So instead, let's see what this guy has to say. Benny, we talk here and now, or I tell everyone my story. Do what you gotta do, baby, and let the chips fall as they may. You know where to find me. Oh. Okay, he called my bluff. Cool by me if you want to talk after all, but a confab like this, out in public, in my place of business? That don't play. I want the platinum chip, and I want it now. I can't do that, baby, and you know it. There's a lot of angles to this caper. Complexities aplenty. But plenty of action, too. Enough for both of us. But we don't jabber about that out here in public. Alright, well, what exactly do you have in mind? To start, I'll comp you the presidential. Best sweet in the house. You deserve a taste of the VIP lifestyle. I'll hang out down here for a while to make everything look business as usual, then come to you. Any questions you got, I'll answer. Guaranteed. We find two options here, whereby... we enter the presidential suite alone, and these two options have the same result. We can simply agree to his proposal and say, fine, but don't keep me waiting. Or we can pass a 35 barter check to say, the suite's a nice touch. but someone's got to pay off my contract. Where's my manners? Here's some cash up front. There'll be more where that came from. Wait for me in the presidential suite. We got a future together, you and me. It's time we got started. If we choose the latter, we get some caps and chips, but either way, we get the key to the suite, and Benny stays put. I comped you the pres so we can talk there, hey? No need to keep tugging at my sleeve. Our only option, then, is to take the elevator through the western door, To the presidential suite. And as soon as we arrive, we complete the quest Ring-a-ding-ding. What? Wait, wait, wait. Where's Benny? Why didn't he follow me? Wasn't he supposed to follow me? Baby, this little meet and greet of ours chopped me up as a no-show. I'm surprised you fell for it. Not that I'm complaining. You caused plenty enough trouble turning swank against me. You forced my hand. Hell, I gotta skip town because of you. A real pain in the caboose. So where does this put the two of us? Nowheresville, that's where. Sorry about the double cross, or are we up to quadruple? But if someone's gonna die, it's you. The least you could do is answer some of my questions first. A lifelong learner is you, eh? Then make your questions count because your life long is running life short. We find four options here that all have the same result. We can say, what angle are you playing here? Angle? I'm head on, baby, flat out, all stops pulled, full steam ahead. Side bets are for losers. I'm playing to win. Or we can say, look, there's no need for violence. Baby, if ever there was a need for violence, you is it. Just do me a favor and stay dead this time, eh? Ta-ta. Or we can say, you cheating bastard. Baby, getting outplayed and getting cheated ain't the same thing. I get it, you're sore. A crumb's life is... painful but soon you won't feel a thing. Ta-ta."Or we can say, you're a dead man. That temper of yours, kind of why this conversation is taking place over an intercom. Do me a favor and stay dead this time, eh? Good night all, it's been a guess. No matter which of those four we choose, Four of Benny's personal bodyguards arrived through the elevator and opened fire. This is a difficult fight to survive. but with heavy chem usage and a little bit of turbo, I managed to. The final option here, however, is to pass a 35 speech check to say, all I am is a courier trying to fulfill my contract. All this is just work ethic run wild? That's your line? I don't know. Can you get it through your thick skull to leave me and the chip alone? If bullets can't get through, what hope is there? We can then pass more difficult speech check to say, I dig your line. Let me live. You'll never see me again. God damn it. I'm actually going to let you live? What's come over me? Scramsville, baby. The stripping you part ways, dig? You come around me again, you won't be getting back up. But ultimately, these choices have the same result. We either kill his bodyguards and survive, or Benny lets us live. Either way, he vanishes, and we have to chase him down again. But back on the casino floor, we do have the option to not fall for this ruse. We can pass a 60 speech check to say, Alright, I'll go with you someplace more private on two conditions. Number one, lose the bodyguards. And number two, we both go to the suite together now. If that's what it takes to win your trust, that's what it takes. Follow me. With that, he gives us a key to the top's presidential suite, and we can follow him as he walks to the presidential suite elevator. We find him, much as we did in his private room, sitting at the bar. This is another way. to get him in private to secretly assassinate him. Also, we can have a similar conversation to the one we are about to have with him if we had chosen to talk with him in his room instead of assassinating him. Now that you and me's got some privacy, I gotta ask. How is it that you're still living? Call it luck and leave it at that. Luck is for losers, baby. Someone pulled strings. A securitron dug me up, and a duck in Goodsprings did the rest. House was on to me from word go? I thought I was being so clever. It takes more than a couple of bullets in the head to stop me. Yeah, hello. Well, serves me right for using a 9mm. Once you were vertical, how'd you track me down? The hows don't matter. A magician don't explain his tricks. I get it. I'm persistent, that's all. Yeah, that's one word for it. Well, actually, you left quite a trail. Look at me, a big leaguer, so I claim, making all the mistakes of an original loser. I guess that's enough scratching around at first base. Tell me, which way is the wind gonna blow? I'm wondering why I shouldn't just kill you. You've got a crazy drop on me here, baby, that's for sure. If killing's what you came for, this would be the time. But baby, you'd be disappointing me. All the trouble you went through to arrange this shindig must be something more you're after. I've got some questions, Benny. A bunch of them. You got questions, I got answers. Help me understand this scheme of yours. Broad strokes, change in management. The Securitrons are where it's at. I need a way to control them, and a way to beef up their hitting power. I get those two ducks in a row, Vegas can defend itself versus all comers. NCR, Caesar's Legion, it won't matter. What makes you think you can succeed? Baby, the odds may look long, but that's just because we ain't done rigging them. I won't toss the dice until we are. I've gleaned a lot working with Mr. House. He was a good cat to swing with. I still got a lot to learn, but it's... it's coming together. And you're willing to commit murder to make this happen? Baby, do you not understand the level of game here? What I did to you was rotten. But if you think House, the NCR, or Caesar won't kill to put Vegas in their pocket, I really did blow out your brains. The ruthlessness of others is no excuse. There was a time I would have agreed with you, but this... It's too big. It affects too many people. I can't get hung up on those details. Well, I see your point. It's a game, and games have winners and losers. I prefer the former. How about you? What's the deal with your secret workshop and yes-man friend? You really weren't supposed to talk to him. All right. So, he used to be a Securitron on patrol, square as the rest, until I gave him a Mickey in the shape of a pulse grenade. Once he was on the nod, I yanked some wires and dragged him up to the workshop. I had... some help, you see. Gal named Emily, one of the followers over in Freeside, a real whiz when it comes to things technical. She programmed his personality. Once Yes Man was hooked back into House's data network, I started learning a lot more about what he was up to, dig? Like where and when to find you. You're a worldly man, you've been from here to there. I want to know about the factions gunning for Vegas. Yeah, it's a tricky world out there. I'll tell it to you straight. Tell me about Mr. House. A good cat to swing with. Or was, until he stopped mewing. It was House's big idea to resurrect the Strip. He recruited the three families as muscle, showed us how to set up casinos, negotiated with the NCR. None of this in person, mind you. Did all of his talking through those Securitrons of his. But lately, the- Silence is deafening. The robots collect House's share of the take every week and life goes on. Ain't exactly what I'd call leadership. What makes the Chairman so special? We're the definition of cool, baby. We know how to swing. Folks come to us to learn how to enjoy themselves. Of the three families, we're the only ones with the heart and savoir faire to run the strip on our own. What do you think of the Omertas? A tribe of finks. Every single one of them is a degenerate. Mark my words, they're playing an angle. How do I know? They always are. What do you know about the White Glove Society? Personally? They give me the heebie-jeebies. There's such a thing as being too polite. If I may this, my pleasure that. Don't get me wrong, that resort of theirs is strictly ring-a-ding. But my guts say... Don't go in the basement. Fill me in about the NCR. A nation of meddlers, trying to muscle in on our action. Well, we got muscles too. And smarts, besides. Only reason the NCR hasn't busted up our scene is they're a little afraid of Mr. House. And a lot afraid of Caesar. If the NCR beats the Legion at Hoover Dam, they'll turn on us and claim the Strip. And we don't have the muscle to beat them. Not yet. Meanwhile, they're all that's keeping Caesar's Legion at bay. Plus, NCR soldiers and citizens are our best customers. What do you think about Caesar's Legion? Worst of the worst. A tribe of degenerate losers led by a creep. They crucify people for kicks, slaughter whole towns. The NCR beat them at the dam three years ago, but that didn't stop them. They spent the meanwhile gathering strength. They're gonna try to take the dam again real soon, and if they do... Vegas as we know it will cease to exist. Now I think it's time you told me a little bit about the Platinum Chip. It's the House Edge, baby. Literally. It's what Mr. House needs to stack the odds in his favor. What does the chip do? It has something to do with the Securitrons. I know that much. Upgrades their hitting power, gives them heft. Might be slightly useful if you're looking to defend the Strip from Caesar's Legion or the NCR. Or maybe both. Well, how does the chip work? It's some kind of data storage device, Dig. So it's the data on the chip that's platinum, not the chip itself. Trouble is, the chip don't fit any computer I've found. Must require special hardware. Look, that chip belongs to me. Hand it over. Baby, ease off the gas. The chip belongs in the hands of someone who can use it. As in me. Not you. You'll get a piece of the action, and a sweet one. But the chip sticks with me. Well, what's your offer? You help me, and before long, the Chairman will rule all of Vegas, dig? With enough robot muscle to back it up. You'll get a sweet, juicy cut of that action. But until that day comes, I'll keep you on retainer and pay bonuses for special missions. How's that sound? At this point, we can always kill him. No deal. Time to die. Guess I should have seen that coming. And while we're at it, we can talk about a unique opportunity to complete a challenge. This challenge involves somehow getting our hands on Benny's gun while he's alive. We can try to reverse pickpocket this, or, and much riskier, we can try to shoot it out of his hand while he's using it. The problem with this method is that we run the risk of breaking the weapon. Which means we can't use it. But if we manage to knock it out of his hand, and after looting it discover that it's not broken, we can then use his own gun, the same gun he used to shoot us in the head, to kill him. And if we do, we complete the challenge, talk about owned. Kill Benny with his own gun, Maria. Maria is another example of one of the beautiful unique weapons from Fallout New Vegas. It is gorgeously engraved. It has an ivory grip with the picture of the Virgin Mary. Hence the name Maria. The downside is that it is a 9mm, one of the weaker pistols in the game. Compared to a regular 9mm, it's a little bit more powerful. It does 20 damage compared to a 9mm 16, and it's faster. doing 3.75 attacks per second compared to the 9 mils 3.13. This brings its DPS up to 75 compared to a 9 mils 50. It also has a slightly lower action point cost of 15 compared to 17, bringing its damage per action point up, but the best thing about the weapon is its much lower spread. 9 mils have a spread of 0.7, Maria's spread is 0.2. This weapon is also essential for completing the a challenge, the same could be said Of all religious weapons, a very difficult challenge to complete, requiring both the Wild Wasteland perk and a DLC to do so. As much as I love this gun, I sadly won't be able to use it on my character. My character's specked into cowboy, which means I have to use a revolver. But let's say his story was convincing. We don't want to murder him, and instead, we'd like to consider his proposal to become his business partner. This leaves us with four options. And- all of them have the same result. We can say, like I'd trust you, no thanks. I know, you figured me for a creep. It's your prerogative. You're stinking up my suite, Benny. Scram. We'll talk later. Baby, you're the boss. All you gotta do is whistle. In the meantime, enjoy the high life. Room service is on me. I'll send up a bottle of the good stuff. Ta-ta. Just forget it, Benny. I forgive you. You forgive me? After what I've done? Baby, are you trying to make me cry? I don't know what to say. Words don't begin. The least I can do is copy the presidential for as long as you want it. This spirit of forgiveness you're showing me, it's enough to make a player rethink what it means to win your 18-carat baby all the way. And finally, we can accept his proposal by saying, it's a deal. Jackpot, baby. I knew we'd see eye to eye. Here's a start on your retainer. Don't spend it all in one place, and the pres is yours for as long as you want it. When you're ready to saddle up, come find me down on the casino floor and we'll plan the next step of this caper. Ring-a-ding, baby, ta-ta. No matter which option we choose, he gives us the presidential suite to use as our player home, and he casually walks to the elevator. And he betrays us! The treacherous snake sends his chairman bodyguards up... to kill us, leaving us in the exact same place as if we had done what he asked and gone to the room by ourselves. If we choose any of these options, and Benny makes his escape, we can race out of the room and run down to Swank to see if Swank knows where he went. Is Benny taken care of yet? He bolted, but I'll find him. I hope so, kid. Last thing we need is that punk running around out there. Do you know where he went? I saw him heading for his suite just a few minutes ago. Looked like a fox that just got caught in the hen house. Maybe you'll catch him there. Racing across the casino floor and heading to the elevator to the 13th floor, we can open the doors to his private room to see that he's nowhere to be found. Yes, man, have you seen Benny? Sure! He came through here in a big hurry. Didn't even stop to say hello. I think he went down his secret escape elevator out in the hall. Ah, the secret elevator. Opening the door and going to the back hallway, we can race to the elevator only to find that it's locked and it requires a key. Now, I read that if we manage to time it perfectly and we make it back here while he's escaping... We can access this elevator just as he unlocks it to use himself. If we do, we can take it to arrive in a basement. Only it's a horribly ruined basement. And what's this? Someone has blown a hole in the wall. The hole leads to a vault? What? We can go left or right. Turning right and opening the door leads to another door. There are some lockers, but none of these lockers have any good loot, and the door is inaccessible. Turning around, we can race down the hallway and open a door, which leads to yet another door. Opening this door leads to another hallway. We find a split. We can turn left or go straight. Turning left leads to an inaccessible door, so turning around and going south down the hallway, we find another split. But the door to the east opens. And the door to the south opens. Going east first, we find another door, but this is inaccessible. So turning around and going south, we find another door, but it requires a key. There is no key to this door. in the game. Even if we looted all of the keys on Benny, we don't find any key that opens this door. Where are we? Well, if we look at our local map, we discover that we're in Vault 21. Why does Benny have a hole in his... his basement that leads to Vault 21. We can piece together what we've heard so far. Yes Man told us that the Platinum Chip can only work in either one of two places, at the Lucky 38 or at the Fort. If Benny was trying to take over Vegas, he'd be most likely to try and access the computers at the Lucky 38. It's closer, and the Legion isn't there. I bet he blasted a hole in the basement of the Tops and began to dig at the top of the tunnel hoping to find the Lucky 38, but he failed and instead bored his way into Vault 21. But this wasn't a total failure for Benny, because at least now he's got an escape passage. He escaped us by breaking into one of the long abandoned hallways of Vault 21. It's clear where Benny went. He can't go to the Lucky 38. House is still there. Our arrival put a big monkey wrench in his plans. But he still has the chip, which means he's still planning to use it, which means he must be going to Fortification Hill, the only other place on the planet that can read that chip. Benny has fled to the Legion. There is one final way to resolve this drama. If our courier is a woman, and if she has the Black Widow perk, we find the option to say, When you shot me, you ran off so fast I never got your name. You making a pass at me? me, sister? Because I'm out of your league. Is it so wrong to want a guy who'd shoot me in the head? Did those bullets scramble your egg? Or have you always been a naughty broad? Girls like bad boys, and you've been downright awful. You're one sick pussycat, baby. There's quins and then there's... I don't even know what to call you. I'm saying I dig ya, despite it all. What do you say? I hear dig from you, babe, and all I can think of is a shovel. How can this be? This ain't forgiveness. It's something... wrong. I'm a courier, remember? Don't you want me to handle your package? All right, honey baby, this is all kinds of wrong, but to my suite it is. Thirteenth floor, don't keep me waiting. With that, he gives us a key to his private suite. And we can follow Benny across the casino floor, up the elevator, down the 13th floor hallway, and into his private room, where he leads us to the bedroom. Benny's gonna show you the tops. I hope you're built sturdy, you crazy broad. At this point, we have three options. We can try to get information out of him and say, keep your pants on, I've got questions that need answers. The time for talk has passed, honey baby. These mouths of ours have appointments to be elsewhere. Well, we've really riled this guy up. Our other option is to say, you fell for this trap, hook, line, and sinker. You tramp. Like I needed another social disease anyhow. In which case, we attack, and Benny turns hostile. Oh, creep. Or we can go through with it and say, let's see what you've been hiding under that checkered suit. More than you ever dreamed, baby. You're platinum, pussycat. You know how to swing. Nice Charlies, too. Give them a shake for the bend, man, will ya? Hello. Oh, that was a nice bit of hey-hey, girly. You're real ring-a-ding broad. Hold me, will ya? I swear you wore me out. Benny is asleep, and we're lying here, with two options. We can bask in the afterglow and lie down next to Benny, and go to sleep. When we awake, we see that Benny has gone. And we complete the quest, ring-a-ding-ding. But Benny left behind a note. Thanks, baby. Pussycat, thanks for showing this cat the best hey-hey he's ever, ever. Talk about plat- them in the sack, toots. Where'd you learn that 18-carat trick with the heel of your feet? You didn't just make my toes curl. They popped off and rolled under the bed. I wish I could stay for another round, but this gent's got places to be, things to do. You showing up has forced my hand, baby. The time to act is now. I won't be around for a while, but if everything works out right, you and me are a date, got it? Wouldn't miss it for all the caps in Vegas. Now don't get clingy and try to follow me. Ciao, Benny. But our final option is to kill Benny in his sleep. Huh? Oh! foot of the bed. On his body, we find his sweet key, Maria, the platinum chip, and the key to our personal Player Home, the top's presidential suite. Before we leave, we can check in with Yes Man. Don't you just love that platinum chip? Buzzes with power and possibilities, doesn't it? If I were you, I'd almost want to deliver the chip to Mr. House, just to learn all its tricks. That is, unless you want to bring the NCR or Caesar's Legion to power, I wouldn't want to tell you what to do. Yes, Yes Man certainly makes things a little bit more complicated. We now have... have a lot to think about. No matter what option we chose, whether we killed Benny or allowed him to escape, as we leave the Topps Casino, we are confronted by a man named Illyrio. this mercy again. My lord requires your presence at his camp at Fortification Hill. His mark will guarantee your safe conduct through our lands. This is an undercover agent for Caesar. Now, if in our game we never killed Vulpes in Coulta at the town of Nipton, instead of Valerio, we'll find Vulpes in Coulta. But he delivers to us the same message, an invitation from Caesar to visit him at the fort. How did you find me? me here. I am one of Kaisar's frumentari, an infiltrator, a spy. You were not difficult to track. Why does Caesar want to see me? Go to him and you will understand. You said Caesar has an offer for me. What kind of offer? Kaisar chose not to give me that information. I was only told to find you and bring you the message. If this is a trap, I'm going to take a lot of you with me. The mighty Kaisar has bestowed upon you his mark and guaranteed safe conduct. If he wanted you dead, you would be dead already. Well, tell Caesar I accept his invitation. Seek Kaizar by way of Cottonwood Cove, south of Nelson. The cursor Lucullus will be waiting. And with that, we begin the quest Render Unto Caesar. We now have to make one of four choices. Choice one. Deliver the platinum chip to House, its owner. Or go off in search of Benny to recover it for House. Number two, respond to the letter that we got from the NCR at the end of episode two. Like with Caesar's Legion, the NCR forgave us of any and all misdeeds we did against the NCR and invited us to work with them. Option three, work with the Legion. Go to Cottonwood Cove and head over to the fort, whereupon we can work with the Legion to achieve their goals. Or number four, go back to Yes Man and see what opportunities the- Courier has to use the Platinum Chip. This is a major turning point in the plot of Fallout New Vegas. Here's how I'm going to do this. I will start the next episode by choosing one of these four endgame factions. I will then continue the series for that faction, and show the ending we get if we side with that faction. Once done, I will come back to this point and start over, but choosing a different faction's path. and then taking that one all the way to the end. Rinse and repeat until we've covered every single faction story and every possible game ending. If you want to find out which faction I decide to do first, be sure to subscribe and to click that bell notification button. I publish a new Fallout video six days a week on a wide range of topics spanning all of the games. I've got a brand new shirt in the shop, folks. Lawbringer! with a big pile of vaporized human ash and an index finger inexplicably resting upon it. You can also find a companion to this shirt. Tap that ash. Or if you don't like the text on either of these... I've got a version of the shirt with just the image. You can find a wide selection of other shirts on my shop, so if you're interested, you can find a link to my shop in the description below, or you can click here. Follow me on Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date with all Oxhorn news, and if you like what I do, and you want to support me in a more personal way, consider becoming one of my patrons on Patreon. But more than anything, I'm just so glad you're here watching this video with me today. Thank you so much for watching, and I'll see you tomorrow morning. bright and early with a brand new video. I'm a courier, remember? Sorry, sorry. Don't you want me to handle your package? I'm a courier. I'm a courier. I'm a courier, remember? Don't you want me to handle your package?

And from him, we learned that Benny is holed up in the Topps Casino with the chip in hand. House didn't want to go and get it himself because that would have been too much of a power play. He has an agreement with the casinos on the strip, you see. And he didn't want to tip his hand to Benny too soon.

And so he sends us, the very courier he hired to deliver the chip, into the Topps Casino. to confront Benny. His one piece of advice was to talk with Swank, Benny's right-hand man.

House told us that Swank has always been a loyal employee. Hey, hey, baby doll. Welcome to the Topso Hotel and Casino.

I'm gonna have to ask you to hand over any weapons you might be carrying. We learned from a salesman on the strip in the last episode to expect this, and so we have on our possession a holdout weapon. A weapon this goon can't find. We'll keep our holdout weapon and hand this guy the rest.

Smooth and easy, just the way I like it. Don't worry, they'll be as safe as kittens till you're ready to leave. Oh, and a friendly word of advice.

If you happen to stumble across any weapons during your stay here, well, just don't wear them openly. You dig? Now that we got that little business out of the way, what can I do to make your tops experience the tops?

We find Swank behind the counter. Hello, baby. Welcome to the Tops. What can I do for you?

Who are you? Baby, I'm the best thing that ever happened to you. Name's Swank.

This here's my joint. I thought Benny ran this place. Benny oversees the business, sure, but I run the Tops day to day. I'm his right-hand guy, you dig? Somehow I find that hard to believe.

Ouch! Come on, baby, don't be that way. You don't know what you're missing.

Look, I think you should know something about Benny. Really? You got something to say about the big boss, huh? Well, why don't you say it to his face instead of yapping at me?

Now we can pass a series of increasingly more difficult speech checks to completely avoid having to show Swank any evidence at all. But if our speech skill is not high enough, we can choose, I've got evidence that Benny tried to kill me and stole a platinum chip from me. Whoa, hey now, kid.

That's some kind of serious charge you're dropping. You want to be real careful what you say next. To convince Swank of his boss's guilt, we need to provide some evidence. The first piece of evidence was left right outside the grave Benny buried us in when he tried to kill us.

On the ground near the grave, we find a pile of distinctive cigarette butts. If we collect these and bring them with us to the tops, we can present them to Swank. Look!

I found these cigarette butts by the grave he buried me in. Huh. Well, yeah, okay, these are Benny's brand and they ain't too common. You got anything else? If we don't have any other evidence and say, that's it, what do you think?

He says, I'll tell you what I think. I think I ought to go tell Benny about this right now. But I'll clam up for now.

That's all I'm gonna do, though, unless you can get me some more proof. To find more proof, we can head to the town of Novak. We learned in my first video on this series that the Great Khan mercenaries Benny hired to kill us met up with an old pal of theirs at Novak named Manny Vargas. If we head up the stairs to the motel and enter Manny Vargas'room, we find a terminal on a table to the west, and on the terminal is a message. Khan Hospitality.

Manny, you made the right choice putting us up and keeping it quiet. This weasel Benny has been twitching since we stole the package from his boss. Making me nervous as hell.

But when I found out we'd be passing through on our way to Boulder City, I was sure we could count on you. Let the other Khans say what they want. I know where your loyalty is. Remember when we talked with Manny Vargas, he told us he was a former great Khan who left the Raider tribe to join the NCR. He's now retired, working as a sniper to protect the town of Novak.

McMurphy continues. One day you'll remember where you belong, and your brothers and sisters will welcome you back like you never left. You know where to find us, McMurphy. After reading this note, we can take a transcript of it with us to Swank.

Here, take a look at this note I found in Novak. That's pretty shady, yeah. Could be Benny's up to no good. Could be this is somebody else altogether. What else you got?

If we don't have any more evidence, and we say that's it, Swank. Dwayne says, I think you might just be onto something here, kid. Tell you what, I can't actively back your play, but I'll keep the chairman off your back.

I'll tell the doorman you're cool to pack heat inside. Trust me, you're gonna need it. You'll still have to deal with Benny's private goon squad, though. I got no play with those cats. You want more help?

I'll need more proof. With that, he gives us back all of our weapons. We can now enter and leave the Topps Casino without getting a pat-down.

And this means we have higher caliber weapons we can use to assassinate Penny. But there is one more piece of evidence. We find the third and final piece when confronting the Great Khans holed up in Boulder City. We have two ways to get this piece of evidence.

We can kill Jessup. or we can talk him into leaving. Either way, we walk away with an engraved cigarette lighter.

If you watched my video on Chance the Great Khan, you'll recognize this cigarette lighter as it played an important role in the plot of that story. This cigarette lighter belonged to Benny. Jessup coveted it, and so before Benny ditched them, Jessup stole it. If we recover this lighter, we can present it to Swank and say, I found this lighter in Boulder City. Benny dropped it when he killed his partners.

Yeah, that looks like Benny's lighter, all right. Still, not exactly a ton of proof. Got anything else, kid?

Well, I've got a motive. I think Benny tried to kill me and retrieve this chip because he thinks it'll allow him to seize power on the strip. Jesus, I can't even believe it.

After all House did to set us up with this swank joint, I don't suppose there's more. I've given you all I got. What do you think, swank?

Jesus, kid, I think we got a real problem on our hands. Can't believe Benny's a no-good stinkin'punk. Trying to play house like that.

Tell you what, I'll call Benny, keep him away from his suite. You go search the place. Here's the key, it's on the 13th floor. It's a room with the double doors, can't miss it. Maybe you'll find something we can show to Mr. House and get him arrested.

Alright, I'll do it. Groovy, here's your stuff back. In case you run into company, you dig? I'll tell the boys to give you a pass to pack some heat.

Go on then. Elevators to pass the slot machines on your left. With that, he gives us a key. To Benny's private suite. We now need to go ransack the room to see if we can find any more evidence that we can show to Mr. House.

As we walk by, we see a man in a checkered coat at the end of the blackjack tables. That must be Benny. While he's busy there, we'll sneak into his room. Heading west down the hallway on the bottom level, we pass by a gambling floor until we find a series of elevators.

Most of these elevators are inaccessible. But the furthest one to the northwest in this hallway is a functional elevator to the 13th floor. At the top, we can turn east on the hallway and open the big gray double doors to the northeast. After entering Benny's private room, we can explore.

We find a door to the northwest. This must be his bedroom. A door to the east leads to his bathroom. It's rather empty.

And then a door to the northeast leads to a closet. But we find a giant hole in the closet leading to a secret room. And it's empty.

in this room is... Yes, man? Hey!

Hi there! Good to meet you! What can I do for you today? Uh, what are you doing here, yes man?

Good question! My function is to monitor Mr. House's data network and decode his encrypted transmissions. Allow me to introduce myself.

I'm a PDQ-88B Securitron, but you can call me Yes Man. Yes, man. What kind of name is that? It's what Benny always called me.

Probably because I'm programmed to be so helpful. Shouldn't you be working for Mr. House? You are a Securitron after all.

How'd you end up here? As I understand it, I used to be just like all those other Securitrons out on the strip. But then my neurocomputational matrix was completely reprogrammed. To be nice! Very, very nice!

Benny reprogrammed a Securitron? All by himself? Oh, he had some help.

A lady friend of his. She said something about living in a fort over in Freeside, but that's all I remember. Have you seen Benny?

He was around here not too long ago. He's probably down on the casino floor now. You can wait for him here if you like. I'm incapable of asking you to leave. Look, Benny stole a Platinum chip from me.

Do you happen to know what it's used for? Sure! Benny had me look at it a bunch of times.

It's a data storage device. Kind of like a holotape, but a lot more advanced. As for what's on it, well...

Some of Mr. House's data transmissions made it sound like the chip could upgrade his defenses somehow. That's just a guess, though. The chip's a proprietary format.

You need special hardware to read... ...the data on it. There are two locations with non-standard hardware on the network.

The Lucky 38 and an underground facility at Fortification Hill. I'd look there! At Fortification Hill?

The Fort? That's the headquarters of the Legion, oh no. What's Benny doing with the chip? Oh! He wants to kill Mr. House and use the Platinum Chip to copy my neurocomputational matrix onto the Lucky 38's mainframe.

That should give me control over all Mr. House's... Mr. House's defenses. Most prominently, his Securitrons. And then I just do what Betty tells me.

Easy peasy! Oh. Uh, okay.

You're very forthcoming with that information. I was programmed to be helpful and answer any questions I was asked. I guess nobody bothered to restrict who I answer questions for.

That was probably pretty dumb, huh? Can that actually be done? Sure! If the chip could be used to reset administrator privileges, it'll be super easy.

Interesting. So what if I wanted to take over New Vegas instead of Benny? Then I'd have to help you.

I mean, it seems pretty obvious Benny wouldn't want me to, but hey, not my fault I can't say no. All right, let's put a pin in that, making a mental note to remember that later. So what do you know about the courier Benny shot? I knew she was carrying the platinum chip, and I knew right where Benny should wait for her. her.

That's why Benny put me here, to monitor Mr. House's data transmissions. They're all encrypted, of course, but I'm quite a decrypter. Did you know that Mr. House spent 812,545 caps hiring salvage teams to find the platinum chip?

Just in the last year alone? Of course you didn't. Or that there were seven couriers, but six of them were carrying junk. How about their exact roots, and the mercenary team... that screened them.

I knew all that. Pretty smart, huh? I'm the courier Benny shot.

I know that's not true because you still have a head. I'm serious. That's not funny, you getting shot in the head.

I really shouldn't have taken so much pride in how I set that up, huh? I feel really bad right now. You set me up. Now you die. I feel really bad telling you this.

but I kind of can't die. I mean, go ahead and destroy this Securitron. Get it out of your system.

The problem is that a distributed image of my neurocomputational matrix is backed up to the network several times a day, or when I'm threatened. I can't help it. There's a little bit of me in every Securitron on this strip. So if this instance gets destroyed, I just download to a new one.

And... If I could stop it from happening, I would. I mean, your vengeance is going to feel so incomplete.

Oh, what a bummer. Well, where's the platinum chip, then? Benny carries it with him at all times. I think he's paranoid that someone might want to take it from him.

The platinum chip is the key to overriding and exploiting Mr. House's defenses. Did I just say exploiting? That's not a very nice word. What exactly is this... place.

This is Benny's workshop. When the tops got renovated, he had this half of the floor blocked off for his own use. I guess you could say it's my entire world. I don't think I've ever left this room. But that's okay.

I'm not complaining. Okay. I like this guy. So wait a minute.

You said something about a bunker at the fort? Right. It's one of two locations on Mr. House's network with non- standard hardware.

My guess is it has a reader that can decode the chip, and who knows what else, maybe a giant robot or something. The last thing Vegas needs is more robots. Oh yeah, I'm sure you're right. I mean, for one thing, it's you saying it, and you always know what you're talking about. And if you had, you know, a huge killer robot at your command, yeah, that would just clutter things up.

And a lesser person might want that kind of over... overwhelming force on their side. But you know, where's the challenge in that?

Oh, he's a passive-aggressive robot. Isn't that nice? Well, I'll think about it.

I have to admire your prudent nature. Why get caught up in action, you know? And results? Okay, fine. I'll go check it out.

Neat. Let me know what you find out. And with that, we begin the quest, Wild Card, You and What Army? Oh gosh, we just get so many options thrown at us. us all at once.

We can give The chip to house, we can respond to the NCR summons that we got after we left the Lucky 38, and now we find an option to use the chip ourselves. What could we do with New Vegas under our thumb? In this small workshop, we find three broken terminals and a door.

to the north. Opening it leads to some long abandoned hallway. It doesn't appear to be part of this new casino design. Perhaps it was part of the old building that was destroyed when the bombs dropped.

We see the dust and grime of ages on the tile wall, and missing tiles on the walls and floor. We see doors along the hallway that we can't access. Perhaps these were doors to long since destroyed rooms in the previous building. And at the end of the hallway, we find an elevator to the Saab basement. But it requires a key.

Where does this elevator go? Well, we now have all the evidence we need. Benny was planning to usurp Mr. House.

Heading back into the workshop, we can loot a copy of Locksmith's reader, which we missed earlier, and then head out of his room and down the elevator back to the casino floor to tell Swank what we learned. You're back. Find anything? Benny has reprogrammed a Securitron. He's trying to take over the Strip.

He's what? Ah, jeez. Jeez, this is really bad. What are you going to do?

We now have two options. I'll go over both of them, but first we'll say there's only one solution. I'm going to take him out. Take him out? Jesus.

Okay, well, if you think that's the best way to deal with this, I'll send him up to his room. You can ambush him there. And don't worry about the rest of the chairman. I'll keep him from getting involved. You'll still have to watch out for Benny's guards, though.

He sends us back to Benny's room to assassinate Benny. Taking the elevator up to his room, we find him sitting at his bar. If our stealth is high enough, we can sneak on in and try to execute a sneak critical.

On Benny's body, we find the Topps Presidential Sweet Key, which we can now use as our own private player home, the Platinum Chip, his unique 9mm Maria, Benny's Sweet Key, and Benny's Suit. And we complete the quest... Ring-a-ding-ding.

Benny's suit is one of a kind. We don't find a thing like it elsewhere in the entire game. It's a black and white buffalo plaid, absolutely gorgeous to behold, and grants plus five to barter and plus five to speech.

Though as is to be expected, its DT is only one. It is just a suit after all. When the deed is done, we can head back to Swank. Is Benny taken care of yet? Yep, he's dead.

Hmm. Guess that makes me the boss. Ring-a-ding. Alternatively, instead of going through with the assassination, we can say, I thought maybe I'd talk to the man.

See if we can work out a deal. Yeah, that's ballsy. Good luck with that. Swank doesn't seem to have any confidence in us, but I need to know more about this guy.

Why did he choose to betray House? What does he think he can do with this platinum chip? If he does gain power, what is his ultimate goal? Walking over to the end of the casino floor, we find Benny standing atop the stairs, surrounded by bodyguards. What in the goddamn?

Let's keep this in the groove, hey? Smooth moves, smooth. Hello.

That broad everyone saw go in the Lucky 38, that was you? Oh shit. Seems like you need to work on your marksmanship. I hit what I was aiming for.

Guess you had brains to spare. Or are you just thick-skulled? Either way, baby, this is good news. Maybe I can finally sleep at night.

Knowing you didn't die. The jig is up, Benny. Yes, man, and I have had a talk. Baby, this is not the place to go talking about that.

Look, Mr. House wants the platinum chip. Hand it over. You don't want to do that, baby.

Not without hearing what I gotta say first. Give me one good reason not to kill you. You want a reason?

How about four? They're called bodyguards, and every one of them is packing. Me too, so baby makes five. Add to that, every chairman in this joint is armed, and not with some holdout pea shooter like maybe you smuggled through security. Anyhow, baby, you didn't come here for vengeance.

You came to get clued in. What say you and me cash out? Go somewhere that's more private-like?

Any questions you got, I'll answer. At this point, we can of course attack. No deal, Benny. Time for you to die.

We got a problem, boys. But we don't last long. After all, we're surrounded by his five bodyguards.

Watch out! Watch out! We go down pretty quick.

So instead, let's see what this guy has to say. Benny, we talk here and now, or I tell everyone my story. Do what you gotta do, baby, and let the chips fall as they may.

You know where to find me. Oh. Okay, he called my bluff.

Cool by me if you want to talk after all, but a confab like this, out in public, in my place of business? That don't play. I want the platinum chip, and I want it now. I can't do that, baby, and you know it.

There's a lot of angles to this caper. Complexities aplenty. But plenty of action, too.

Enough for both of us. But we don't jabber about that out here in public. Alright, well, what exactly do you have in mind? To start, I'll comp you the presidential.

Best sweet in the house. You deserve a taste of the VIP lifestyle. I'll hang out down here for a while to make everything look business as usual, then come to you. Any questions you got, I'll answer.

Guaranteed. We find two options here, whereby... we enter the presidential suite alone, and these two options have the same result. We can simply agree to his proposal and say, fine, but don't keep me waiting. Or we can pass a 35 barter check to say, the suite's a nice touch.

but someone's got to pay off my contract. Where's my manners? Here's some cash up front. There'll be more where that came from.

Wait for me in the presidential suite. We got a future together, you and me. It's time we got started.

If we choose the latter, we get some caps and chips, but either way, we get the key to the suite, and Benny stays put. I comped you the pres so we can talk there, hey? No need to keep tugging at my sleeve. Our only option, then, is to take the elevator through the western door, To the presidential suite. And as soon as we arrive, we complete the quest Ring-a-ding-ding.

What? Wait, wait, wait. Where's Benny? Why didn't he follow me?

Wasn't he supposed to follow me? Baby, this little meet and greet of ours chopped me up as a no-show. I'm surprised you fell for it.

Not that I'm complaining. You caused plenty enough trouble turning swank against me. You forced my hand. Hell, I gotta skip town because of you.

A real pain in the caboose. So where does this put the two of us? Nowheresville, that's where.

Sorry about the double cross, or are we up to quadruple? But if someone's gonna die, it's you. The least you could do is answer some of my questions first.

A lifelong learner is you, eh? Then make your questions count because your life long is running life short. We find four options here that all have the same result. We can say, what angle are you playing here? Angle?

I'm head on, baby, flat out, all stops pulled, full steam ahead. Side bets are for losers. I'm playing to win.

Or we can say, look, there's no need for violence. Baby, if ever there was a need for violence, you is it. Just do me a favor and stay dead this time, eh? Ta-ta.

Or we can say, you cheating bastard. Baby, getting outplayed and getting cheated ain't the same thing. I get it, you're sore.

A crumb's life is... painful but soon you won't feel a thing. Ta-ta."Or we can say, you're a dead man. That temper of yours, kind of why this conversation is taking place over an intercom. Do me a favor and stay dead this time, eh? Good night all, it's been a guess. No matter which of those four we choose, Four of Benny's personal bodyguards arrived through the elevator and opened fire. This is a difficult fight to survive. but with heavy chem usage and a little bit of turbo, I managed to. The final option here, however, is to pass a 35 speech check to say, all I am is a courier trying to fulfill my contract. All this is just work ethic run wild? That's your line? I don't know. Can you get it through your thick skull to leave me and the chip alone? If bullets can't get through, what hope is there? We can then pass more difficult speech check to say, I dig your line. Let me live. You'll never see me again. God damn it. I'm actually going to let you live? What's come over me? Scramsville, baby. The stripping you part ways, dig? You come around me again, you won't be getting back up. But ultimately, these choices have the same result. We either kill his bodyguards and survive, or Benny lets us live. Either way, he vanishes, and we have to chase him down again. But back on the casino floor, we do have the option to not fall for this ruse. We can pass a 60 speech check to say, Alright, I'll go with you someplace more private on two conditions. Number one, lose the bodyguards. And number two, we both go to the suite together now. If that's what it takes to win your trust, that's what it takes. Follow me. With that, he gives us a key to the top's presidential suite, and we can follow him as he walks to the presidential suite elevator. We find him, much as we did in his private room, sitting at the bar. This is another way. to get him in private to secretly assassinate him. Also, we can have a similar conversation to the one we are about to have with him if we had chosen to talk with him in his room instead of assassinating him. Now that you and me's got some privacy, I gotta ask. How is it that you're still living? Call it luck and leave it at that. Luck is for losers, baby. Someone pulled strings. A securitron dug me up, and a duck in Goodsprings did the rest. House was on to me from word go? I thought I was being so clever. It takes more than a couple of bullets in the head to stop me. Yeah, hello. Well, serves me right for using a 9mm. Once you were vertical, how'd you track me down? The hows don't matter. A magician don't explain his tricks. I get it. I'm persistent, that's all. Yeah, that's one word for it. Well, actually, you left quite a trail. Look at me, a big leaguer, so I claim, making all the mistakes of an original loser. I guess that's enough scratching around at first base. Tell me, which way is the wind gonna blow? I'm wondering why I shouldn't just kill you. You've got a crazy drop on me here, baby, that's for sure. If killing's what you came for, this would be the time. But baby, you'd be disappointing me. All the trouble you went through to arrange this shindig must be something more you're after. I've got some questions, Benny. A bunch of them. You got questions, I got answers. Help me understand this scheme of yours. Broad strokes, change in management. The Securitrons are where it's at. I need a way to control them, and a way to beef up their hitting power. I get those two ducks in a row, Vegas can defend itself versus all comers. NCR, Caesar's Legion, it won't matter. What makes you think you can succeed? Baby, the odds may look long, but that's just because we ain't done rigging them. I won't toss the dice until we are. I've gleaned a lot working with Mr. House. He was a good cat to swing with. I still got a lot to learn, but it's... it's coming together. And you're willing to commit murder to make this happen? Baby, do you not understand the level of game here? What I did to you was rotten. But if you think House, the NCR, or Caesar won't kill to put Vegas in their pocket, I really did blow out your brains. The ruthlessness of others is no excuse. There was a time I would have agreed with you, but this... It's too big. It affects too many people. I can't get hung up on those details. Well, I see your point. It's a game, and games have winners and losers. I prefer the former. How about you? What's the deal with your secret workshop and yes-man friend? You really weren't supposed to talk to him. All right. So, he used to be a Securitron on patrol, square as the rest, until I gave him a Mickey in the shape of a pulse grenade. Once he was on the nod, I yanked some wires and dragged him up to the workshop. I had... some help, you see. Gal named Emily, one of the followers over in Freeside, a real whiz when it comes to things technical. She programmed his personality. Once Yes Man was hooked back into House's data network, I started learning a lot more about what he was up to, dig? Like where and when to find you. You're a worldly man, you've been from here to there. I want to know about the factions gunning for Vegas. Yeah, it's a tricky world out there. I'll tell it to you straight. Tell me about Mr. House. A good cat to swing with. Or was, until he stopped mewing. It was House's big idea to resurrect the Strip. He recruited the three families as muscle, showed us how to set up casinos, negotiated with the NCR. None of this in person, mind you. Did all of his talking through those Securitrons of his. But lately, the- Silence is deafening. The robots collect House's share of the take every week and life goes on. Ain't exactly what I'd call leadership. What makes the Chairman so special? We're the definition of cool, baby. We know how to swing. Folks come to us to learn how to enjoy themselves. Of the three families, we're the only ones with the heart and savoir faire to run the strip on our own. What do you think of the Omertas? A tribe of finks. Every single one of them is a degenerate. Mark my words, they're playing an angle. How do I know? They always are. What do you know about the White Glove Society? Personally? They give me the heebie-jeebies. There's such a thing as being too polite. If I may this, my pleasure that. Don't get me wrong, that resort of theirs is strictly ring-a-ding. But my guts say... Don't go in the basement. Fill me in about the NCR. A nation of meddlers, trying to muscle in on our action. Well, we got muscles too. And smarts, besides. Only reason the NCR hasn't busted up our scene is they're a little afraid of Mr. House. And a lot afraid of Caesar. If the NCR beats the Legion at Hoover Dam, they'll turn on us and claim the Strip. And we don't have the muscle to beat them. Not yet. Meanwhile, they're all that's keeping Caesar's Legion at bay. Plus, NCR soldiers and citizens are our best customers. What do you think about Caesar's Legion? Worst of the worst. A tribe of degenerate losers led by a creep. They crucify people for kicks, slaughter whole towns. The NCR beat them at the dam three years ago, but that didn't stop them. They spent the meanwhile gathering strength. They're gonna try to take the dam again real soon, and if they do... Vegas as we know it will cease to exist. Now I think it's time you told me a little bit about the Platinum Chip. It's the House Edge, baby. Literally. It's what Mr. House needs to stack the odds in his favor. What does the chip do? It has something to do with the Securitrons. I know that much. Upgrades their hitting power, gives them heft. Might be slightly useful if you're looking to defend the Strip from Caesar's Legion or the NCR. Or maybe both. Well, how does the chip work? It's some kind of data storage device, Dig. So it's the data on the chip that's platinum, not the chip itself. Trouble is, the chip don't fit any computer I've found. Must require special hardware. Look, that chip belongs to me. Hand it over. Baby, ease off the gas. The chip belongs in the hands of someone who can use it. As in me. Not you. You'll get a piece of the action, and a sweet one. But the chip sticks with me. Well, what's your offer? You help me, and before long, the Chairman will rule all of Vegas, dig? With enough robot muscle to back it up. You'll get a sweet, juicy cut of that action. But until that day comes, I'll keep you on retainer and pay bonuses for special missions. How's that sound? At this point, we can always kill him. No deal. Time to die. Guess I should have seen that coming. And while we're at it, we can talk about a unique opportunity to complete a challenge. This challenge involves somehow getting our hands on Benny's gun while he's alive. We can try to reverse pickpocket this, or, and much riskier, we can try to shoot it out of his hand while he's using it. The problem with this method is that we run the risk of breaking the weapon. Which means we can't use it. But if we manage to knock it out of his hand, and after looting it discover that it's not broken, we can then use his own gun, the same gun he used to shoot us in the head, to kill him. And if we do, we complete the challenge, talk about owned. Kill Benny with his own gun, Maria. Maria is another example of one of the beautiful unique weapons from Fallout New Vegas. It is gorgeously engraved. It has an ivory grip with the picture of the Virgin Mary. Hence the name Maria. The downside is that it is a 9mm, one of the weaker pistols in the game. Compared to a regular 9mm, it's a little bit more powerful. It does 20 damage compared to a 9mm 16, and it's faster. doing 3.75 attacks per second compared to the 9 mils 3.13. This brings its DPS up to 75 compared to a 9 mils 50. It also has a slightly lower action point cost of 15 compared to 17, bringing its damage per action point up, but the best thing about the weapon is its much lower spread. 9 mils have a spread of 0.7, Maria's spread is 0.2. This weapon is also essential for completing the a challenge, the same could be said Of all religious weapons, a very difficult challenge to complete, requiring both the Wild Wasteland perk and a DLC to do so. As much as I love this gun, I sadly won't be able to use it on my character. My character's specked into cowboy, which means I have to use a revolver. But let's say his story was convincing. We don't want to murder him, and instead, we'd like to consider his proposal to become his business partner. This leaves us with four options. And- all of them have the same result. We can say, like I'd trust you, no thanks. I know, you figured me for a creep. It's your prerogative. You're stinking up my suite, Benny. Scram. We'll talk later. Baby, you're the boss. All you gotta do is whistle. In the meantime, enjoy the high life. Room service is on me. I'll send up a bottle of the good stuff. Ta-ta. Just forget it, Benny. I forgive you. You forgive me? After what I've done? Baby, are you trying to make me cry? I don't know what to say. Words don't begin. The least I can do is copy the presidential for as long as you want it. This spirit of forgiveness you're showing me, it's enough to make a player rethink what it means to win your 18-carat baby all the way. And finally, we can accept his proposal by saying, it's a deal. Jackpot, baby. I knew we'd see eye to eye. Here's a start on your retainer. Don't spend it all in one place, and the pres is yours for as long as you want it. When you're ready to saddle up, come find me down on the casino floor and we'll plan the next step of this caper. Ring-a-ding, baby, ta-ta. No matter which option we choose, he gives us the presidential suite to use as our player home, and he casually walks to the elevator. And he betrays us! The treacherous snake sends his chairman bodyguards up... to kill us, leaving us in the exact same place as if we had done what he asked and gone to the room by ourselves. If we choose any of these options, and Benny makes his escape, we can race out of the room and run down to Swank to see if Swank knows where he went. Is Benny taken care of yet? He bolted, but I'll find him. I hope so, kid. Last thing we need is that punk running around out there. Do you know where he went? I saw him heading for his suite just a few minutes ago. Looked like a fox that just got caught in the hen house. Maybe you'll catch him there. Racing across the casino floor and heading to the elevator to the 13th floor, we can open the doors to his private room to see that he's nowhere to be found. Yes, man, have you seen Benny? Sure! He came through here in a big hurry. Didn't even stop to say hello. I think he went down his secret escape elevator out in the hall. Ah, the secret elevator. Opening the door and going to the back hallway, we can race to the elevator only to find that it's locked and it requires a key. Now, I read that if we manage to time it perfectly and we make it back here while he's escaping... We can access this elevator just as he unlocks it to use himself. If we do, we can take it to arrive in a basement. Only it's a horribly ruined basement. And what's this? Someone has blown a hole in the wall. The hole leads to a vault? What? We can go left or right. Turning right and opening the door leads to another door. There are some lockers, but none of these lockers have any good loot, and the door is inaccessible. Turning around, we can race down the hallway and open a door, which leads to yet another door. Opening this door leads to another hallway. We find a split. We can turn left or go straight. Turning left leads to an inaccessible door, so turning around and going south down the hallway, we find another split. But the door to the east opens. And the door to the south opens. Going east first, we find another door, but this is inaccessible. So turning around and going south, we find another door, but it requires a key. There is no key to this door. in the game. Even if we looted all of the keys on Benny, we don't find any key that opens this door. Where are we? Well, if we look at our local map, we discover that we're in Vault 21. Why does Benny have a hole in his... his basement that leads to Vault 21. We can piece together what we've heard so far. Yes Man told us that the Platinum Chip can only work in either one of two places, at the Lucky 38 or at the Fort. If Benny was trying to take over Vegas, he'd be most likely to try and access the computers at the Lucky 38. It's closer, and the Legion isn't there. I bet he blasted a hole in the basement of the Tops and began to dig at the top of the tunnel hoping to find the Lucky 38, but he failed and instead bored his way into Vault 21. But this wasn't a total failure for Benny, because at least now he's got an escape passage. He escaped us by breaking into one of the long abandoned hallways of Vault 21. It's clear where Benny went. He can't go to the Lucky 38. House is still there. Our arrival put a big monkey wrench in his plans. But he still has the chip, which means he's still planning to use it, which means he must be going to Fortification Hill, the only other place on the planet that can read that chip. Benny has fled to the Legion. There is one final way to resolve this drama. If our courier is a woman, and if she has the Black Widow perk, we find the option to say, When you shot me, you ran off so fast I never got your name. You making a pass at me? me, sister? Because I'm out of your league. Is it so wrong to want a guy who'd shoot me in the head? Did those bullets scramble your egg? Or have you always been a naughty broad? Girls like bad boys, and you've been downright awful. You're one sick pussycat, baby. There's quins and then there's... I don't even know what to call you. I'm saying I dig ya, despite it all. What do you say? I hear dig from you, babe, and all I can think of is a shovel. How can this be? This ain't forgiveness. It's something... wrong. I'm a courier, remember? Don't you want me to handle your package? All right, honey baby, this is all kinds of wrong, but to my suite it is. Thirteenth floor, don't keep me waiting. With that, he gives us a key to his private suite. And we can follow Benny across the casino floor, up the elevator, down the 13th floor hallway, and into his private room, where he leads us to the bedroom. Benny's gonna show you the tops. I hope you're built sturdy, you crazy broad. At this point, we have three options. We can try to get information out of him and say, keep your pants on, I've got questions that need answers. The time for talk has passed, honey baby. These mouths of ours have appointments to be elsewhere. Well, we've really riled this guy up. Our other option is to say, you fell for this trap, hook, line, and sinker. You tramp. Like I needed another social disease anyhow. In which case, we attack, and Benny turns hostile. Oh, creep. Or we can go through with it and say, let's see what you've been hiding under that checkered suit. More than you ever dreamed, baby. You're platinum, pussycat. You know how to swing. Nice Charlies, too. Give them a shake for the bend, man, will ya? Hello. Oh, that was a nice bit of hey-hey, girly. You're real ring-a-ding broad. Hold me, will ya? I swear you wore me out. Benny is asleep, and we're lying here, with two options. We can bask in the afterglow and lie down next to Benny, and go to sleep. When we awake, we see that Benny has gone. And we complete the quest, ring-a-ding-ding. But Benny left behind a note. Thanks, baby. Pussycat, thanks for showing this cat the best hey-hey he's ever, ever. Talk about plat- them in the sack, toots. Where'd you learn that 18-carat trick with the heel of your feet? You didn't just make my toes curl. They popped off and rolled under the bed. I wish I could stay for another round, but this gent's got places to be, things to do. You showing up has forced my hand, baby. The time to act is now. I won't be around for a while, but if everything works out right, you and me are a date, got it? Wouldn't miss it for all the caps in Vegas. Now don't get clingy and try to follow me. Ciao, Benny. But our final option is to kill Benny in his sleep. Huh? Oh! foot of the bed. On his body, we find his sweet key, Maria, the platinum chip, and the key to our personal Player Home, the top's presidential suite. Before we leave, we can check in with Yes Man. Don't you just love that platinum chip? Buzzes with power and possibilities, doesn't it? If I were you, I'd almost want to deliver the chip to Mr. House, just to learn all its tricks. That is, unless you want to bring the NCR or Caesar's Legion to power, I wouldn't want to tell you what to do. Yes, Yes Man certainly makes things a little bit more complicated. We now have... have a lot to think about. No matter what option we chose, whether we killed Benny or allowed him to escape, as we leave the Topps Casino, we are confronted by a man named Illyrio. this mercy again. My lord requires your presence at his camp at Fortification Hill. His mark will guarantee your safe conduct through our lands. This is an undercover agent for Caesar. Now, if in our game we never killed Vulpes in Coulta at the town of Nipton, instead of Valerio, we'll find Vulpes in Coulta. But he delivers to us the same message, an invitation from Caesar to visit him at the fort. How did you find me? me here. I am one of Kaisar's frumentari, an infiltrator, a spy. You were not difficult to track. Why does Caesar want to see me? Go to him and you will understand. You said Caesar has an offer for me. What kind of offer? Kaisar chose not to give me that information. I was only told to find you and bring you the message. If this is a trap, I'm going to take a lot of you with me. The mighty Kaisar has bestowed upon you his mark and guaranteed safe conduct. If he wanted you dead, you would be dead already. Well, tell Caesar I accept his invitation. Seek Kaizar by way of Cottonwood Cove, south of Nelson. The cursor Lucullus will be waiting. And with that, we begin the quest Render Unto Caesar. We now have to make one of four choices. Choice one. Deliver the platinum chip to House, its owner. Or go off in search of Benny to recover it for House. Number two, respond to the letter that we got from the NCR at the end of episode two. Like with Caesar's Legion, the NCR forgave us of any and all misdeeds we did against the NCR and invited us to work with them. Option three, work with the Legion. Go to Cottonwood Cove and head over to the fort, whereupon we can work with the Legion to achieve their goals. Or number four, go back to Yes Man and see what opportunities the- Courier has to use the Platinum Chip. This is a major turning point in the plot of Fallout New Vegas. Here's how I'm going to do this. I will start the next episode by choosing one of these four endgame factions. I will then continue the series for that faction, and show the ending we get if we side with that faction. Once done, I will come back to this point and start over, but choosing a different faction's path. and then taking that one all the way to the end. Rinse and repeat until we've covered every single faction story and every possible game ending. If you want to find out which faction I decide to do first, be sure to subscribe and to click that bell notification button. I publish a new Fallout video six days a week on a wide range of topics spanning all of the games. I've got a brand new shirt in the shop, folks. Lawbringer! with a big pile of vaporized human ash and an index finger inexplicably resting upon it. You can also find a companion to this shirt. Tap that ash. Or if you don't like the text on either of these... I've got a version of the shirt with just the image. You can find a wide selection of other shirts on my shop, so if you're interested, you can find a link to my shop in the description below, or you can click here. Follow me on Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date with all Oxhorn news, and if you like what I do, and you want to support me in a more personal way, consider becoming one of my patrons on Patreon. But more than anything, I'm just so glad you're here watching this video with me today. Thank you so much for watching, and I'll see you tomorrow morning. bright and early with a brand new video. I'm a courier, remember? Sorry, sorry. Don't you want me to handle your package? I'm a courier. I'm a courier. I'm a courier, remember? Don't you want me to handle your package?

Transcript for:Confrontation Strategies in Fallout New Vegas

Transcript for:
Confrontation Strategies in Fallout New Vegas