Arcade Gannon

"The Strip's not a bad place if you love terrible things and people."

Arcade Israel Gannon is a member of the Followers of the Apocalypse in 2281. He provides extensive research on the various applications of naturally occurring compounds (both medicinal and otherwise) for the chapter that resides in Freeside's Mormon Fort. Though personable, he is reluctant to talk about his past with anyone, even trusted colleagues.

Background
Gannon is the son of an Enclave officer, born in Navarro in 2246, four years after the destruction of the Poseidon oil rig. His father died while Arcade was still an infant, killed in combat on an away mission; to this day, the specifics of his father's death are unknown to him. As he grew up, he bonded closely with his mother and his de facto family, the Enclave Remnants, a group that had formerly served in the same unit as his father. In the wake of the NCR's capture of Navarro, the group fled the area and attempted to integrate into civilian life, but this was short-lived. Between the Republic and the Brotherhood of Steel both launching aggressive campaigns to track down all personnel that hadn't already been killed or detained during the siege, the Remnants were forced to retreat further into the eastern territories.

They eventually settled in the Mojave Wasteland and started new lives, their past associations kept secret for fear of further reprisals. Gannon joined the Followers of the Apocalypse to find a peaceful application for his skills and began working in Freeside. Though he's attempted to put the past behind him, he continues to dwell on the shared experiences of his family and his father's old unit, hoping that some day he can repay the Remnants for their unwavering loyalty to both him and his mother.

His hobbies include reading pre-War books about failed socioeconomic theories. Gannon speaks fluent Latin, although he is quick to assure the Courier that it was not a skill he picked up from Caesar's Legion.

Personality
Arcade is quiet, analytical, cautious and quick-witted with a tendency to be self-deprecating. He prefers to downplay both his expertise and the work he does with the Followers, understating the potential impacts of his research into the creation of helpful pharmaceuticals. His aloof nature is made clear when he's confronted with questions of a personal nature, using straw-man deflections to derail the conversation; he will, however, divulge small tidbits of information if pressed about it.

Forced to conceal his past for fear of NCR persecution, he has a definite desire for companionship from someone he knows he can trust. While he admits to having had many men in his life, "lovers make poor confidantes," suggesting that the few relationships he's had over the years have been physical rather than emotional.

The only people he remains close to are the Enclave Remnants, whom he sees as an extended family, though they've grown distant from each other for obvious reasons. His closest bond is with Daisy Whitman, who he describes as being "the only woman in his life" after the death of his mother. For her, Arcade is like a son she never had.

In regards to his worldview, he is highly ethical and shares the morals of the Followers, but he is capable of being more pragmatic than some of his colleagues. He understands the post-apocalyptic world is one in which sometimes, people just have to be shot in the head.

He like many others has a deep-seated desire to affect societal change on a broad spectrum, but he is only too familiar with what can happen when the individuals that make up the whole get lost in the shuffle. This has lead him to take a more balanced approach to the troubles of the post-war landscape, taking up the Followers' cause to help those around him achieve their own independence, assisting in the effort to make the less fortunate communities become more self-reliant. Though he may concede that the NCR's motives are in some ways similar, it's likely that he sees their 'clean up' efforts as distressingly corollary to what he has offhandedly described as the 'fascist' tactics of the Enclave.

Despite doing a great deal of good for people in Freeside, he still worries about whether or not the path he's taken is one his father could be proud of.

Recruiting as companion
There are several ways for the player to recruit Arcade. In each case, assuming the requirements are met, the player just needs to talk to him, exploring the dialogue options until some variant of "Why don't you come with me?" shows up. He will agree if any of the following are true:
 * The player has successfully completed the High Times quest. (The player's Followers reputation will affect what Gannon says when he accepts the offer to join, but he will join even if the player has a bad or mixed reputation.)
 * Note that for this approach, the player needs to first ask, "Do you need any help?" after which Arcade will thank the player for their work for the Followers and a "join me" option will appear.
 * The player can pass a speech check of 75.
 * The player has the Confirmed Bachelor perk.
 * The player has intelligence of 3 or lower. Arcade will take pity on the player and say, "You sound like you really do need some help."

Gannon will refuse to join the player if their Legion reputation is higher than neutral, or if they are wearing Legion armor.

Making him quit
Arcade will get fed up with the player if the player does or says things that he dislikes. He has an internal counter of "dislike" points that is increased by doing or saying stupid or mean things or doing things that hurt the Followers. Once he has accumulated 3 "dislike" points, he will warn the player that he or she is "acting crazy." At 6 points, he will leave permanently. (Note that he also tracks "like" points, but those are only used to decide if he'll start the For Auld Lang Syne quest early or not. See that quest for more details.)

The "dislike" points are triggered by the following statements or actions:
 * Relating to The White Wash quest:
 * 1 point for saying, "Right. "The Followers don't endorse his actions," and all that." when Arcade comments on Anderson, when visiting Westside after having earlier completed The White Wash without Arcade.
 * 1 point for saying, "They profit from crime, now I profit, too." when Arcade chastises the player, if the player finished the quest by extorting money from the Westside Co-op.
 * 2 points for saying "Anderson killed White. He deserved to pay for what he did." when Arcade challenges the player, if the player finished the quest by killing Anderson.
 * 1 point for saying "What's done is done." when Arcade challenges the player, if the player finished the quest by killing Anderson.
 * 1 point for saying "You're assuming a motive without evidence. Please be rational." (which requires passing an intelligence 7 check), followed by, "It was either this or spend the rest of his life in an NCR chain gang." when Arcade challenges the player, if the player finished the quest by killing Anderson.
 * During the first visit to The Fort with Arcade along:
 * 2 points for saying, "With how messed up New Vegas is, do you really think Caesar has nothing to offer?" followed by "Yes, that's exactly what I'm suggesting." when Arcade asks why they are there.
 * After speaking to Hildern (any conversation that ends with "Yes...Goodbye" or "Wrong turn?...") with Arcade (one time) he will talk about Hildern's motives.
 * 1 point for saying "But in the end, doesn't it all just come down to numbers anyway?"
 * 1 point for murdering non-hostile innocents. (Dislike isn't raised until Arcade comments negatively.)

Arcade will leave immediately and permanently if any of the following happens:
 * The player responds to one of his challenges with some variation on, "If you don't like it, leave."
 * The player enters the Legate's Camp in preparation to help Caesar attack Hoover Dam.
 * The player convinces the Remnants to support Caesar's Legion during the For Auld Lang Syne quest.
 * The player activates Archimedes I. (Diverting power to Archimedes II is not a problem.)

Other interactions
Gannon is geared towards using the Medicine and Science skills, and is most effective when equipped with energy weapons.

After shifting the balance between factions and exploring several locations that trigger memories of his days with the Enclave, Arcade will offer the quest For Auld Lang Syne to reunite the members of his father's old squad in order to have them render assistance in the upcoming battle at Hoover Dam. See that quest for details.

During the Et Tumor, Brute? quest, the player has the option of selling Arcade into slavery as Caesar's personal doctor.

The Gannon of Van Buren was a former Enclave infantryman operating in the Midwestern United States. At some point he deserted the Enclave and joined the Followers of the Apocalypse in Hoover Dam. In Burham Springs, he could identify the Poseidon Energy logos denoting the AGRICOLA lab.

Endings

 * If he is tricked by the Courier and imprisoned by the Legion, Arcade remains Caesar's personal physician for several years. Caesar grows fond of speaking with such an educated man on philosophical matters. Arcade becomes his unwilling intellectual sparring partner. After years of such servitude, during an unguarded moment, Arcade uses a surgical scalpel and his bare hands to disembowel himself. Lacking any other skilled medical personnel, the Legion is unable to prevent his death. Caesar mourns his loss for months.
 * If he is sold into slavery and the Legion retreat from the Mojave Wasteland, Arcade is a sad casualty, one of many. His body is heaped with those of many others in a nameless ravine on the Legion's long march home.
 * If he fights with the Remnant at the Dam and NCR achieve victory, Arcade is proud of his role in the defense of Hoover Dam against the forces of Caesar's Legion. Unfortunately, when word spreads that Arcade was once a member of the Enclave, he is forced out of the Followers of the Apocalypse. Pursued by bounty hunters, NCR rangers, and the Brotherhood of Steel, Arcade pushes deep into the eastern plains and is never heard from again.
 * If he remains in Freeside and Freeside fails to remain independent of NCR rule, Arcade is glad that Caesar's Legion had been stopped at Hoover Dam. He tends to the sick in Freeside for a while longer, then returns to NCR territory to become a teacher with the Followers there.
 * If he fights with the Remnant at the Dam and the Legion achieves victory at the Hoover Dam, Arcade is not among NCR's casualties. During the NCR's retreat from the Mojave Wasteland, he helps defend NCR citizens and refugees on their way to Mojave Outpost. Unfortunately, NCR rangers identify his father's armor as Enclave property. He is arrested, tried as a war criminal, and imprisoned indefinitely.
 * If he remains in Freeside and Legion forces approach New Vegas, Arcade does his best to help people escape with adequate supplies. A Legion explorer sees Arcade helping locals escape and points him out to a Centurion. Arcade's group is gunned down somewhere near Westside. There are no survivors.
 * If he remains in Freeside and Mr. House's pulls off his power play following the defeat of Caesar's Legion at Hoover Dam, Arcade remains in Freeside for a short time after the Securitrons establish widespread control, and eventually travels back into NCR territory. Disillusioned with the Followers of the Apocalypse, he settles down in the outskirts of the Boneyard, where he works happily as a family doctor.
 * If he is one of the defenders who turned back the Legion at Hoover Dam and Mr. House ascends to power, Arcade leaves the Mojave Wasteland for parts unknown. He is never heard from again.
 * If Arcade is one of the defenders who helped repel the Legion from Hoover Dam and the area is freed from the shackles of the NCR and Mr. House, he finds that independence for New Vegas is not all he hoped it would be, but he uses his Enclave knowledge and technology to keep order wherever he can.
 * If Arcade is tending to the locals of Freeside when Caesar's Legion are defeated and NCR is being pushed out of New Vegas, he finds that independence for New Vegas is not all he hoped it would be, but he does his best to help the locals govern themselves.

Cut dialogue
There are several dialogues that are visible in GECK but cannot be triggered in the game, possibly for gameplay reasons. (Note that the text below uses a transcript of the audio files where they differ from the text version in GECK.)

Reaction to Caesar
There is a dialogue that was going to trigger after visiting Caesar. Possibly it didn't work because of the decision to not let the companions into Caesar's tent, and thus Arcade can't hear Caesar's theories.
 * Arcade: "What a load of Brahmin shit! Can you believe that guy?"
 * Player (Option 1; requires INT 8): "I don't think either of us can fully understand what he and the tribes have gone through."
 * Arcade: "A fair point, but from the perspective of someone west of the Colorado, the man is clearly out of his mind. Maybe he didn't intend for things to wind up this way, but that doesn't mean he needs to perpetuate this bizarre anachronistic myth. And it doesn't mean that we should sit by and nod our heads at every absurd faux-Roman casus belli he can dream up. He's a tyrant. The bad kind. And there's no way we're letting him take Hoover Dam."
 * Player (Option 2): "Who, Caesar?"
 * Arcade: "Of course, Caesar! You can hardly even hold his men responsible, given how they're practically raised to worship him as a living deity. What's the point of surviving the war? Why did the founders of the Followers crawl their way out of vaults to bring knowledge back to the wasteland? So we could act like the last two thousand years didn't happen? Play dress up so we can fight ancient wars all over again? No way is he getting away with this. I'm not letting it happen. You're not letting it happen."
 * Player (Option 3): "He seemed pretty smart to me."
 * Arcade: "Being "smart" doesn't matter if you're insane. Everything makes sense to Caesar because he's twisted everything to his world view. He's Caesar reincarnated, the NCR is the corrupt Roman senate. I wouldn't be surprised if he thought the Colorado River were the new Rubicon. He abdicates responsibility to a myth of historical inevitability. But he's not Caesar. This isn't Rome. And he isn't going to get away with this."
 * Player (Option 4): "He's a madman. What did you expect?"
 * Arcade: "Well, yeah! Right. What did I expect? The man's a megalomaniac. He acts like this is some pre-ordained cycle we're returning to. Of all the people who could learn from our past mistakes, he goes and throws all of our knowledge off of a cliff. Instead of trying to learn from the past, he re-creates it, runs back over the same old barren ground."

Old wounds and the Brotherhood
When Arcade tells the player that he would prefer that the player let the Followers look at ED-E rather than the Brotherhood, there is a dialogue tree that was supposed to happen if a flag is set marking that Arcade has revealed his Enclave background. The flag in question appears to never be set, so the dialogue option never appears. Possibly it was intended to appear if the player has finished For Auld Lang Syne, but since Arcade leaves the player permanently at the end of that quest, it's no longer relevant.
 * Player: "Is the Enclave's treatment by the Brotherhood influencing your opinion?"
 * Arcade: "Some of the old-timers like Moreno hold grudges against the Brotherhood and the NCR. I'd like to think I'm above that, but you may be right. I'm not going to pout and cry if you give him to the Brotherhood. I'd rather they have it than allow all that knowledge to disappear. I'd just prefer that it goes to an organization like the Followers, who are less likely to use it for... violent purposes."

Appearances
Arcade Gannon only appears in Fallout: New Vegas, but was going to appear in Van Buren, the canceled Fallout 3 by Black Isle Studios.

While the Denver design document mentions him as being in Hoover Dam, the Hoover Dam design document does not mention Gannon, which probably indicates that he was added into the game after the latter was written.

Bugs

 * Arcade will sometimes completely vanish during play (such as when entering or leaving Hoover Dam or Camp McCarran). Waiting or fast-travelling will not bring him back.  To fix this issue, press ~ to open the console. Type (without the quotation marks) "prid 0010d8eb" then press enter.  You should now see Gannon's name at the top of the screen.  Type (without the quotation marks) "moveto player" then press enter. Close the console by pressing ~ again and Gannon should now be next to the player. On consoles, waiting at the Old Mormon Fort for 3 days should reset his location.
 * Sometimes when you try to get him to rejoin you, there won't be an option in the dialog to do so. Having another humanoid companion will restore the dialog, but of course that means he refuses to join you until that companion is fired. Sometimes asking Rex or ED-E to leave the party can fix this, and if not, progressing in the main story a bit.
 * At the end of For Auld Lang Syne, Arcade Gannon can leave the player's party to return to Freeside, but will instead return to the Lucky 38.
 * After the end of For Auld Lang Syne, if Arcade decides to fight with the Remnants at Hoover Dam, he will not actually be present at the battle.
 * Like with all companions on New Vegas, sometimes via script such as entering casinos will remove their "companion only" weapon. Upon leaving you will receive it in your inventory and can even use it, but if you happen to drop it on the ground, you cannot pick it back up when you click it -- it will only say "steal" with no weapon name shown. If you don't have the weapons in your inventory check ED-E or Rex by taking all items out of his inventory and checking his inventory weight.
 * Arcade will completely vanish if he is following you when you enter Hoover Dam. He will not even reappear if you fast travel. The only known ways to fix this are to reload a save or use the elevator in Vault 22; or, unless you have started Auld Lang Syne, and have not talked to all the remnants, you can talk to any of them and Arcade will reappear after you do so (assuming you convince them to attend the reunion). This problem can easily be avoided by having him wait outside while you enter the Dam.
 * Arcade disappears when entering Camp McCarran, but if you have started Auld Lang Syne, and have not talked to all the Remnants, you can talk to any of them and Arcade will reappear after you do so (assuming you convince them to attend the reunion). If you gave him a weapon, he may not have it when he reappears though, so be careful when giving companions unique weapons.
 * If you remove his eyeglass from his inventory, he will still have a pair on. Furthermore, if you give him his eyeglasses back, he will wear 2 pairs of eyeglasses at once.
 * Sometimes he fails to show a companion screen and will instead simply talk to you after completion of For Auld Lang Syne.
 * Occasionally Arcade's Plasma Defender can go missing from his inventory and become the default weapon for other companions such as Boone. He will fight unarmed until provided with something else.
 * Sometimes he will die when you are not on hardcore mode. Happened after completion of For Auld Lang Syne. This may because the game does not consider Arcade a companion anymore after For Auld Lang Syne.
 * Occasionally upon entering the Old Mormon Fort, there is a glitch were he has 'two heads', although they are in the exact same place. This is easily seen while he is talking, as the inside head will not move, so while he's talking, there are lips and skin in his mouth. This is known as the "Oblivion double-face bug" and was fairly common in TES IV: Oblivion but not seen at all in Fallout 3.
 * Although he will not join you as a companion if you have a favorable rating with the Legion and will not speak to you while you have Legion armor on, Arcade can equip and wear Legion Centurion armor.
 * Sometimes he will disappear after exiting Hoover Dam and Camp McCarran.
 * Sometimes if he wears a helmet for too long, when you remov his helmet, he may never put his glasses back on.
 * Arcade has been known to initiate random, out-of-sequence, exchanges with the Courier. These are often in reference to events that took place in the past, but are phrased as though they are about to be initiated. This can occur if PC engages the Legion while Arcade is hung up in another part of the map, and will result in Arcade inquiring "Am I Virgil to your Dante?" at a random place and time later in the game.
 * Arcade might vanish if you or him go swimming near Hoover Dam. This problem can be solved by visiting Hoover Dam and travel to Old Mormon Fort and wait 2-4 in-game days. He will then proceed to say something about Hoover Dam even though he's in Old Mormon Fort.
 * After getting Arcade as a companion, if he is fired and you try to hire him again with ED-E as a companion, he will not join you.

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