Should I let the monorail at McCarran be destroyed? (House playthrough)

[Dillon]

I'm really torn on how to end the I Put a Spell on You quest. I've been weighing the options and why I think the Courier would have done either to benefit Vegas/House, and I can't seem to choose. Here's my rationale for both:

Letting the Monorail Be Destroyed
-Cuts off a major access point for the NCR to both Bitter Springs and the Strip, minimizing their presence and making the withdrawal of NCR troops from the region less of a hassle.
-My Courier already is skewed against the NCR in many ways, from both their past and their incompetence on display in the present.
-Fits with the motif, covered mainly in Lonesome Road, of the Courier being there to cut the throat of great powers by exploiting one 'weak link in the fence' over needing whole armies to crush civilizations.
-House, and Vegas, will be blamed for the NCR's loss at the dam regardless, and House always wanted to renovate the monorail to make it run on time.
-The Courier may do this independent of Mr. House's desire for economic prosperity from the NCR's customers, as they may not always follow his orders exactly

Saving the Monorail Instantly
-Lessens the economic impact on Vegas in the immediate wake of the NCR's retreat from the region.
-The monorail is needed in the short term for economic prosperity, and House likely wouldn't be too pleased at the news, especially if he found out that the Courier was there and supposedly could not prevent it.
-The monorail is mainly used by the NCR, though it may serve as a port of entry for regular visitors to the strip
-The monorail itself belongs to history, another motif brought up throughout the DLC story, meaning letting it be destroyed means trying to erase it, even if unintentionally.

What do you think I should do?

[MurderMoose]

House would want the Monorail intact. An intact Monorail means more customers for the Strip, means more profits, means more at the table went discussing national boarders and nonaggression treaties.

Destroying the Monorail may seem like it's a step towards a more independent Vegas, but bear in mind that House already controls the access to the Strip; if the NCR were to try to commit a hostile force through there, it could easily be destroyed via Securitron when necessary, assuming they don't just exterminate the load and send the car back for more victims.

Even if we take direct hostility out of the equation, a primary plot point regarding the Monorail is the ease of access for troopers to throw away money, get piss drunk, and in general drain the resources and hinder the general fighting fitness of recruits on leave. To remove that would be to strengthen the NCR by proxy.

I don't recall ever hearing NCR Soldiers using the Monorail to shorten the pathway to Bitter Springs.

However, none of that really matters: if you want to blow up the Monorail (and it sounds to me like you do), then do so. What's House gonna do, get a little flustered that his hired help isn't performing as expected? Be moody about projected losses in the future? Why should you care what that pre-War zombie thinks of your actions? You may be his hands, but you're not controlled by him.

[Dillon]

Originally posted by MurderMoose:

House would want the Monorail intact. An intact Monorail means more customers for the Strip, means more profits, means more at the table went discussing national boarders and nonaggression treaties.

Destroying the Monorail may seem like it's a step towards a more independent Vegas, but bear in mind that House already controls the access to the Strip; if the NCR were to try to commit a hostile force through there, it could easily be destroyed via Securitron when necessary, assuming they don't just exterminate the load and send the car back for more victims.

Even if we take direct hostility out of the equation, a primary plot point regarding the Monorail is the ease of access for troopers to throw away money, get piss drunk, and in general drain the resources and hinder the general fighting fitness of recruits on leave. To remove that would be to strengthen the NCR by proxy.

I don't recall ever hearing NCR Soldiers using the Monorail to shorten the pathway to Bitter Springs.

However, none of that really matters: if you want to blow up the Monorail (and it sounds to me like you do), then do so. What's House gonna do, get a little flustered that his hired help isn't performing as expected? Be moody about projected losses in the future? Why should you care what that pre-War zombie thinks of your actions? You may be his hands, but you're not controlled by him.

I like the way you think, I'm mainly coming at this from the perspective of what my envisioning of Courier Six would do. The Bitter Springs thing I remember being a key factor in one of the quests there, as they need aid from McCarran and the surrounding NCR troops in Outer Vegas. My Courier also has an Intelligence of 7, so they likely wouldn't fail to save the monorail just because they got tunnel vision to go tell Colonel Hsu.

[Jissc300]

Remember the house always wins

[Malala]

In FPGE House will rebuild it but I am unsure if that is based on any cut content/developer commentary or just something they decided on because it sounds logical.

[Mofuji]

Saving the monorail is a pro-House move, and if you're content to work with House, in at least a role playing sense, it directly benefits your character, both because it builds further trust and nets you future profits.

Letting it get blown up only ever hurts a House ending and also an NCR ending. If you're going for independence, then it doesn't really matter, and if you're going for Legion, then, well, it's what you want to let happen.

[Fumo Bnnuy n Frends]

wait the monorail goes through bitter springs? wtf

[Fumo Bnnuy n Frends]

always save it

monorail honestly helps me every playthrough to go through the strip without needing too many caps and just needing an NCR outfit to go through the guards at the airport.

i only destroy it on legion playthrough
every other playthrough it helps even a little bit

also in TTW mod the trains / monorails i always keep em around for more immersion with the mod back and forth through the capital wastelands

[Malala]

it doesn't go to bitter springs; whatever the name of the dumb asian american colonel is will refuse to send reinforcements to bitter springs if the monorail is destroyed