Trog (Fallout 3)

Trogs is a common name for mutants that used to be human, but after the Great War slowly devolved into scampering troglodytes who fear the light. Similarly to ghouls, some of them retained more of their humanity, like the ones in Hoover Dam, while others became more animalistic, like the ones in The Pitt.

Biology
A Trog's skin is a dull yellow/white as is their hair (in the case of those Trogs who do have it) due to a deficiency of melanin. The trade-off is that their skin became thicker, making them more resilient to their hazardous environment. They are, however, very sensitive to light.

Altogether, their appearance is very similar to a frog, as the eyes turn red, and they scamper rather than walk and all Trogs appear to have four fingers and toes. Some have retained a small amount of speech, saying things like "...kill it..." and "...licious." For that matter, some seem to have held on to a faint glimmer of their former lives as a regular human, as some Trogs are known to rasp "...thank you..." when they die. They are fairly easy to kill, but they are quick and sneaky. According to Werhner, everyone is affected differently in The Pitt by the exposure to radiation. He divulges that Trogs used to be people, but due to a lack of sunlight and extreme radiation, they've become sub-human.

Types of Trogs
There are four variants of Trogs who share the same attack patterns. Some may sneak up behind the player, until detected, then they charge. Most just charge towards the player. Their speed is almost on par with the Capital Wasteland's Yao Guai running at full speed. To add to this, their first attack is usually an even faster leaping attack out of a sprint, which is very hard to evade. If the player has a weapon capable of blocking, it should be used. Ranged weapon users will end up backpedaling. Using V.A.T.S. to target their heads is very effective. Sneak Attacks will usually put down any Trog with the exception of Savages in one hit, depending on difficulty and the player's skill with the associated weapon. Combat Shotguns (and the Terrible Shotgun) are very effective at dealing with them, in or out of V.A.T.S..

Although Trogs are extremely photosensitive, the in-game Trogs in Fallout 3 will actively pursue the player through light and dark. They do spawn only in darkened areas such as the Steelyard, Power Plant, and Abandoned Apartments, not in lit places for such as Uptown, even though they are one door away from its streets.

Fledgling Trog
These Trogs are the smallest and weakest of the Trog family. They are still quite fast and may overwhelm an unaware player. Headshots from decent weapons are usually fatal.

Trog
Regular trogs are most common on Normal difficulty. These are larger than Fledgling Trogs but are still vulnerable to headshots from high-powered weapons.

Trog Brute
Trog Brutes are the most common Trogs on Very Hard difficulty. They do not look much different from Trogs, but have more health. They will take more punishment than usual to put down. The same rule applies: target the head. The legs can be crippled to slow their attacks to a crawl, if a fight begins to get overwhelming.

Trog Savage
These Trogs are the strongest Trogs in The Pitt. They are encountered rarely, but are essentially Trog Brutes with slightly more health. It helps considerably to bring a high-powered gun such as Lincoln's Repeater or the Blackhawk pistol.

The Pitt
There is a population of trogs in The Pitt - the ruins of what used to be known as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Due to the town's high contamination they have devolved even more than other trogs, crawling on all fours and attacking all surface-dwellers on sight; however, some of their idle chatter suggests that they still have some shred of humanity, such as thanking the player when they are killed. They are known to hunt in packs.

Hoover Dam


The trogs of Hoover Dam, while not pleasant to look at, are much more human than their Pitt counterparts. They were nomadic at one time thanks to a cave-in at their previous dwellings. Before Dodge and his troops came to Hoover, Billy-Bob and his trogs took up residence in Baseline, figuring it was pretty secure from caving in. No one argued with the trogs, and when Dodge came to Hoover, he asked if they would help out Otto with the maintenance in exchange for food goods and water. The trogs accepted and have been content ever since to mosey around Baseline making sure every light was flashing correctly.

History
Before the Great War, there were hillbillies. These people lived far away from civilized folk and fended for themselves in the wooded mountains. During the war, a lot of hillbillies decided it might be a good idea to head for the nearest caves and wait out the fiery mushrooms. Since the hillbillies were far removed from a lot of the nuclear blasts and subsequent fallout, especially being holed up in caves, the hillbillies fared pretty well. In fact, the hillbillies took to cave dwelling so well, they made caves their permanent home. Over the course of a couple of centuries, the isolation from the light, combined with ever so slight radiation that drifted over the world and managed to seep into caves, caused the hillbillies to change a bit. So, when some of the hillbillies first ventured out from their cave dwellings after two-hundred years, it came as no surprise that they could not tolerate direct sunlight very well. Smarter folks who saw the hillbillies started referring to them as troglodytes, but since most people of the wasteland were more ignorant, the term "trog" became more accepted. Even the hillbillies referred to themselves as trogs.

Since then, the name has also been used to refer to other originally human mutants that are sensitive to light, even if they've devolved into mindless beasts, such as The Pitt trogs, and have little in common with the barely civilized, but still mostly human descendants of mutated hillbillies.

Appearances
The trogs were to appear in Van Buren, the canceled Fallout 3 by Black Isle Studios, and appear in The Pitt DLC pack for Fallout 3. In The Pitt, Trogs come in several varieties, much like super mutants. While the smallest fledgling Trogs can be killed with a single sneak attack to the head, the largest Trogs can take considerable punishment.

Notes (Fallout 3: The Pitt)

 * Trogs often hunt in packs, therefore a player should be prepared to confront up to four Trogs at a time.
 * Frag Mines and Bottlecap Mines are excellent for killing Trogs, since all Trogs are melee.
 * It seems most Trogs carry exactly one item a human usually would. Bobby Pins are very common, as well as single doses of chems and various clutter. This is very much like what a Feral Ghoul would carry, since they were once human.
 * The player can often find large groups of Trogs snacking on a pile of human remains. These packs can often be avoided because the Trog's attention is diverted toward their meal and not to hunting.  These groups can also be more permanently dealt with by tossing a grenade into the centre of the pack.  Even on Very Hard, a player with a decent Explosives skill can deal substantial damage to the pack.
 * Shotguns are very effective against Trogs, as they often kill any variant of Trog in one hit. The Terrible Shotgun in the hands of a skilled player can quickly and easily dispatch a room full of Trogs.
 * Players with high Energy Weapons skill and the Metal Blaster (from collecting Steel Ingots) can often get multiple kills with one shot when facing groups of Trogs, since they fight in packs and on several occasions are in narrow hallways. If a player has a low energy skill they can wear the Metal Master Armor (which is also recieved from collecting Ingots) which will improve their energy weapon skill by 10.
 * Trogs are little threat to an observant player, as they lack the ability to use firearms. They will sometimes try to sneak up behind the player, but most prefer to recklessly charge their target head-on, making them easy pickings for fast-firing weapons.
 * Trogs often travel above the player like on top of trains. This can be unnerving for the player because of their tendency to attack, but the Trogs are usually deterred by the long fall. This was probably made part of the Trog AI for dramatic effect.
 * Trog packs usually circle their prey slowly closing in, the player is often surrounded. Sometimes only their silhouettes are visible.
 * While most of their grunts are incomprehensible, turning on subtitles allows the player to read what they say when they die. Quotes include "blood", " ", "peace", and "thank you."
 * Interestingly, trogs respond to melee damage much better than they do to bullets. This editor personally threw away all my guns and beat them to death using unarmed. Further testing showed that any melee weapon will kill any trog faster than guns. TESTED: Using V.A.T.S. to punch a trog fledgling results in hilarity.
 * Even though Werhner gives you a Stealth Boy to avoid Trogs, it will not work too well to avoid Trogs unless you have a high Sneak skill.

Trivia

 * Their aversion to light is similar to the Dark Seekers in I Am Legend and the creatures in The Descent.
 * The Troggs was the name of a '60s band who is considered a one-hit wonder. Their hit was a song by the name of Wild Thing.
 * A Computer Terminal in the Haven also links their name to the word "Troglodyte."
 * They cannot be decapitated. When sufficient damage is done to their heads, only the top of the skull comes off, much like a Behemoth.
 * Their faces have a stark resemblance to The Creeper from the movie Jeepers Creepers, and their movements to the cannibal sub-humans from The Descent.