Forum:The "Greed is Good" approach

I have decided to take the "Greed is Good" approach to the Tenpenny Tower quest. Ultimately, this is a slight variation of Plan C, that involves killing off all the subjects that need to be convinced AFTER they have been convinced, instead the boring ol' approach of killing everyone. I won't bother taking out other people than the merchants (Lydia Montenegro, Anthony Ling, Margaret Primrose ( M.P is not on the "convince-list", but I'll take her down for the loot)) and Susan Lancaster, since she's at the Strictly Business quest (I'll mezz her). I do this mostly because there are tons of loot to get from the shopkeeps, but also because only some of them are bigots, and I don't want to waste bullets on their sorry hides, just the bad guys.

However, when I started to use the approach, I got a problem: I had troubles with killing a target without making the tower hostile! This is what I did:

I went straight for the Botique Le Chic, and successfully "out-talked" Lydia Montenegro. After this, she went up and started to walk out of Tenpenny Tower, in the general direction of the Robco Factory. When she was half-way, I gave her a Sneak-attack critical with my trusty Lincoln's Repeater (daddy loves you, honey!). This was about 10-20 meters from the tower wall. My status was [Hidden] while doing the deed.

When I came back to the Tower, all guards were hostile to me for some reason. I reloaded and tried the same thing with the Shishkebab, but it didn't suffice this time either, still guards would shoot at me when I got to the gate.

What have I done wrong? Is there a structured approach to kill an NPC without making the town hostile? Anyone have a slight idea of what I SHOULD do?

AngryNorwegianDude 17:05, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

Gonna update this one, since no one apparently has a good answer:

After getting tired of the ol' "making subject run out of tower and then killing without success", I started to wonder if it would be better to do it INSIDE the tower instead. I waited until the night fell, then I snuck in to Mister "Too-clean-and-lanky-to-give-me-a-straight-face" Anthony Ling's quarters. I talked to him, "outspoke" him and ended the conversation. He began walking towards the door to his apartment, which I had already closed, and I believe he would do the same as a certain Lydia Montenegro (that is, walk out the door, walk out of Tenpenny Tower, possibly towards Megaton, while having nothing except generic speech in the style of "Where will I live now?"). I then drew my Silenced 10mm Pistol and shot him in the head. He died, brains splattered all over the floor. I was in sneak mode, status [Hidden] and I killed him in one shot. I then began looting his apartment, still hidden. However, when I opened the door, two hostile Tenpenny guards were waiting to kill me. Fuck, they should have been grateful, I bet mister Ling made fun of their clothes, too.

I reloaded for the 50th fucking time, and realized this was getting boring. I then decided to mezz miss Lancaster after I had spoken to her about the Ghouls. This actually went well, not even the guard outside the door were hostile to me!

I wonder, is the Mesmetron the answer to all my pleas?

Please answer, AngryNorwegianDude 14:57, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

OK, now I have it figured out. Although I am a bit grumpy (not even ONE of you wanted to share any thoughts on this matter, thanks a lot), I'll tell you all about it.

It seems that Sneak Attack Criticals with all weapons (meelee and ranged) was discovered by the guards before you could say "Shishkebab". However, a sneak attack critical with the Mesmetron makes all subjects go berserk and attack the guards (in most cases, that is, sometimes their heads just pop). You won't get caught, and the body is free for you to loot. I looted Anthony Lings and Lydia Montenegro's inventory by using this approach. After that, I finished the quest as I should have (convince others, talk to Tenpenny, shoot him in the head, see Roy Phillips, finish quest, get Ghoul Mask). No repercussions should be gotten from this line of actions, either.

Note that this isn't an entirely new way to solve the quest, just a way to make some more caps and items while you follow the "convince-the-bigots" line.

Hope it helps, AngryNorwegianDude 16:08, 18 March 2009 (UTC)