Tycho

Tycho is a Desert Ranger and a recruitable NPC in Fallout.

Background
Hailing from Nevada, Tycho is an expert on the wasteland and surviving within it. He comes from a small group of survivalists that avoided nuclear annihilation in the badlands of Nevada. This community taught him a lot about desert survival, weapons training and other related topics. Tycho's wanderlust soon drove him to wander the desert with traders and explorers for several years. He always returned to his home, with news and goods. Eventually, the range of his travels grew as far as the Gulf of Mexico in Texas. He later signed on with the Desert Rangers and headed west towards the coast, as a member of a loose grouping of long-range Rangers explorers.

In appearance, he seems like any other wasteland explorer, with leather armor, a gas mask hanging around his neck, goggles to keep out sand and glare, a sand-colored cloak usable for camouflage and sun protection, completed by a double-barreled shotgun. However, as a Ranger, his priority is to make things better, just like the Texas Rangers did. That's why he studied the art of surviving and combat extensively. Around 2162, he decided to stay at Junktown for a rest from his travels. He believes that the settlement shows promise should someone clean up the less than savory business of the town (Gizmo, whom reminds him of a different "fat freak" that his father told him about from Las Vegas). He doesn't believe that to be him, instead believing it to be Killian Darkwater when he is able.

Effects of player's actions
If caught stealing Neal's urn from the Skum Pitt (before recruiting), Tycho will turn hostile.

Other interactions

 * To recruit Tycho, the Vault Dweller must head to Junktown and be at the Skum Pitt located in the far northeastern part of the city at 5 o'clock. He will join indefinitely if having taken on Killian's quest to deal with Gizmo. If Killian is dead, Tycho becomes unrecruitable.
 * Due to sprite limitations, he can only use rifles, shotguns, small handguns and spears. He has 60 Hit Points. It is unwise to give him anything with a burst function; he wastes ammo and can accidentally cause friendly fire (to civilians, including companions) if they are near his target when he uses the burst function.
 * Tycho can also teach some survival skills, raising the Outdoorsman skill.

Fallout: New California
Tycho can be found randomly when taking a card from the loot deck. When exploring with him as the active companion, the player character can exhaust him in to gain two experience points.

When the player character performs the camp action, he will become unexhausted. However, if the player character does not have Endurance, he must be discarded.

Appearances
Tycho appears in Fallout and the Fallout: The Board Game expansion Fallout: New California. He is also mentioned in Fallout 2.

Behind the scenes

 * Tycho's grandfather was a Desert Ranger (the Desert Rangers are a reference to Wasteland, a game from 1988 which is considered to be Fallout's predecessor). Tycho also mentions the "fat freak" from Las Vegas, which is a reference to Fat Freddy from Wasteland.
 * Tycho is not mentioned anywhere in the Fallout 2 manual, but the younger Tandi in the Café of Broken Dreams mentions him.
 * According to Joshua Sawyer, Tycho's description in Fallout was the inspiration for the NCR Ranger combat armor and the Desert Ranger combat armor in Fallout: New Vegas as Tycho himself is described as "a man in dusty leather armor with a trench coat and gas mask".