Fallout: New Vegas Dry Wells - Legion Expansion Mod v1.0

Dry Wells - Legion Expansion rebuilds the Dry Wells (Lonesome Road) location from the ground up, allowing players to visit it before the nukes and influence its role in the Wasteland. Visit the Legion at the height of their power, and either strengthen their rule or wreak havoc on their lands!

Includes 20+ marked and unmarked quests, ranging from minor deliveries to large-scale battles and medium-sized dungeons. Contains four questlines with multiple parts, including two main Legion questlines, a short slave-freeing questline, and a short questline with player choice for a new faction called The Hunters' Guild. 

High Level Overview:

• New explorable, fully navmeshed, voice acted worldspace
• New town (Dry Wells Villa) with unique merchants and a barber, a hotel, a dry bar (no alcohol allowed), with unique characters and backstories
• 20+ new quests
• 35+ voiced characters
• 36 explorable interior cells, interconnected with multiple exits/entrances
• 5 new dungeons, varying from small caves and a lodge to medium/large mines and sewers
• 2 new minor factions (Hunters' Guild, and Dry Wells Villa)
• High Replayability with multiple main quests and decisions
• Companion friendly - Bring your companion to Dry Wells! I would not recommend more than one, as the dungeons will become extremely easy
• Expansion of Legion lore and lands, with a vanilla New Vegas feeling
• Learn about the Twisted Hairs tribe through hidden notes scattered throughout the map and see where they were betrayed
• Fixes Gaius Magnus in the Nuked Dry Wells location so he properly uses his guns
• Choices, actions, and reactions to the decisions you make
• New player home obtainable by completing the main questline(s)
• New chefs and merchants that bring previously craftable-only and DLC-only items to easily accessible shops
• Face off against Gaius Magnus or a new Centurion based on your actions in Dry Wells
• Non-Legion players can undermine the Legion, support minor groups and local people in the region, and help free slaves in exciting new quests.
• Legion players can crush resistance, strengthen the Legion's foothold along the river, and work as a frumentarii for a highly decorated Centurion.

FAQ:

How do I enter Dry Wells / Where do I find it? 

• Travel to Blue Paradise Vacation Rentals just south of Cottonwood Cove and enter the orange boat on the end of the beach near the Lakelurks.
• Alternatively, pick up the note from the dead traveler next to the Cottonwood Cove sign. This will add a quest with directions to the boat.
• The boat will only be available BEFORE nuking Dry Wells. If you nuke Dry Wells, the boat at Cottonwood Cove will activate and this one will disappear.

What is the recommended level for Dry Wells - Legion Expansion?

• Level 10-20 is recommended for the most balanced and challenging experience, but any level courier will be able to enter and enjoy the area. You may find it overly easy at level 30+, or very difficult if you are under level 10.

Recommended tips for stability?

• SAVE OFTEN. New Vegas, while a great game, is nearly 15 years old and on an extremely janky engine. Sometimes packages misfire, scripts run incorrectly, or NPCs don't want to go where they are supposed to - and that isn't even beginning to mention bugs from things I might have missed.
• PLEASE do not try to break the quests on purpose. If you don't let an NPC complete their travel package, rush through something where the mod clearly wanted you to wait for an NPC to speak to you, etc. you WILL be able to lock yourself out of quests. I can guarantee it (as I've done it many times during testing). There are  guardrails in place but please be patient with this mod and understand that this was a labor of love, with all GECK development (outside of custom armors and textures) completed by a single person. Not everything will be perfect, but I strive for it all to be "good".

 
Any tips for a first playthrough?

• I would recommend siding with Constantine for a first playthrough as I believe it will be the most rewarding for first-time players and result in what most would consider a "good" ending compared to the alternatives. It also has a fun conclusion, which I think people will enjoy.
• I also recommend starting with the Hunters' Guild Questline alongside the Legion questline (as both initial quests are quite easy and provide basically free xp), then the slave freeing questline last. This will result in the most streamlined experience, and provide a very different style of gameplay during each period. It will also allow the player to earn the player home before completing all the quests in Dry Wells.

Is this mod compatible with X?

• This mod was designed with maximum compatibility in mind. I have had multiple playtesters with heavily modded saves run through the main questline, and none have run into any issues. However, with thousands of mods on the Nexus, it is impossible to plan for everything. 
• The following safeguards were put in place to avoid compatibility issues:

1.               

Almost all containers, weapon and armor leveled lists, etc. are created from scratch. Legionaries are all new, with new custom leveled lists, etc.

2.               

The exception is the Legion faction (and dialogue faction) itself, for obvious reasons. 

3.               

Minimal edits were made to the Mojave worldspace and existing areas. Rather than edit scripts on the existing Lonesome Road quests and boat, I simply added a second one and attached new scripts to it. The only exception is Gaius Magnus, which was broken in the Vanilla game and I felt needed to be fixed. He originally would only shoot one bullet from his minigun, before switching to his machete.

4.               

I opted to not add another "ferryman" as it didn't seem to add much value, and wouldn't make sense in its current location. I also didn't want to edit the existing Cottonwood Cove Cursor and conflict with other large mods. This way the mod starts when you enter Dry Wells, and (with a few exceptions) ends when you leave it. It is mostly a self-contained world and story, with only a few leaks into the Mojave.

Known Issues:

• Villa buildings clip and look a bit funky - I will not be using Dead Money building assets again. They are a total pain in the ass and have no LOD. If anyone would like to take a crack at improving the look of the Villa, please be my guest.
• I am aware that there are only a handful of new weapons/armors in this mod. Despite reaching out to many creators, I was unable to get much assistance with unique items. If anyone would like to help add more in the future, it would be greatly appreciated!
• This list will be updated as issues are identified. PLEASE post bug reports in the bug reports section, not in the comments. It is impossible to track completion of fixes in the comments.

INSTALLATION:
I would highly recommend using a mod manager for the installation of Dry Wells - Legion Expansion. 
Installation is as easy as downloading with your mod manager, or extracting the zip into your /newvegas/data/ folder!
All voice lines, textures, LOD, etc. should load normally and will not require any additional steps on your part.

REQUIREMENTS:

• Non-pirated version of Fallout: New Vegas
• Dead Money DLC
• Honest Hearts DLC
• Old World Blues DLC
• Lonesome Road DLC
• Performance will be vastly improved if you use the Viva New Vegas modding guide (MO2)

Deep Dive / Detailed Overview
Dry Wells - Legion Expansion adds a new, unique story to New Vegas that I've been wanting to tell for many years - but never had the modding ability to create it. Below are some additional details you may be interested in!

Main Characters:

• Centurion Gaius Magnus (Voiced by Noah B) - A ruthless, cunning Centurion with ambitions to become a Legate. The de-facto ruler of Dry Wells, who recently returned from campaign after conquering Caesar's 87th tribe - the Burning Suns (hence, his armor). 
• Centurion Constantine (Voiced by TheNeoCypher) - A strict, but fair Centurion who has been watching over Dry Wells in Gaius Magnus's absence. Essentially his second in command, and right hand.
• Veteran Decanus Proximus (Voiced by Pyro) - Head of the Office of Slavery, and lead slaver in Dry Wells. Serves as one of the main antagonists in the slave-freeing questline, or an ally in Gaius Magnus's main questline.
• Diego Ortiz (Voiced by orpheusmercer) - A traveler born in Arizona, who believes deeply in karma and the saying "What goes around, comes around". Has many insights for the player and will serve as an ally (or enemy) in one of the main questlines.
• Rick Sawyer (Voiced by Irakli Chkhikvadze) - Leader of the Hunters' Guild, a new faction the player can choose to ally with or undermine. Rugged, determined, and steadfast.
• Trudy Lawson (Voiced by Tera) - Second in command of the Hunters' Guild. Strong, confident, and defiant against tyrants. 
• Veteran Decanus Remus (Voiced by Crithality) - Constantine's right hand Decanus. Leads the Dry Wells garrison, and provides contracts and bounties to outsiders.
• Prime Decanus Octavius (Voiced by WasteLord) - Young and determined Decanus with ambitions to lead. Oversees the Dry Wells Capture Center, where slave transfers, prisoners from battle, and interrogation sessions are held.
• Thomas Price & Kaitlyn Sanders (Voiced by Phil Lonidier and Reign Reeves Pearson) - Dry Wells Villa elders. Have seen Arizona before and during Legion rule, and help keep the Villa organized (and out of trouble).