Tycho

Tycho is a Desert Ranger and a possible companion in Fallout.

Background
Tycho is originally from Nevada. He is described as "a man in dusty leather armor with a trenchcoat and gas mask." He comes from a small group of survivalists that avoided nuclear annihilation. This community taught him a lot about desert survival, weapons training and other related topics. Inspired by the Texas Rangers, he explains that his goal was to "learn survival and combat skills in order to go out into the world and have a chance of surviving and making things better." Deciding to take it easy, Tycho trusts Killian Darkwater to clean up the town in due time, but warns the Vault Dweller to watch out for Gizmo.

Effects of player's actions

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

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

 * Jesse Heinig mentions that Tycho's character is "a nod to the desert rangers of Wasteland."
 * According to Joshua Sawyer, Tycho's description in Fallout was the inspiration for the Desert Ranger combat armor
 * When asked, Chris Avellone stated that for Fallout: New Vegas, there were no plans to include Wasteland references, such as the "fat freak mobster" mentioned by Tycho.