I Could Make You Care

 is a quest in Fallout: New Vegas.

Initiating the Quest
This quest is triggered by Veronica's dialogue. There are ten triggered conversations throughout the Mojave Wasteland that Veronica will initiate in response ten different situations she and the Courier may encounter together. Completing three of the conversations will activate this quest.


 * Camp McCarran - Inside the terminal building. You must bring her to the center set of doors or the set of doors closest to Colonel Hsu. The third set of the doors will not trigger the conversation (bug?).
 * Camp McCarran - Discussing the OSI's current objectives with Dr. Hildern and starting the Side Quest: There Stands the Grass
 * Vault 3 - Enter Vault 3 with her
 * Casa Madrid Apartments - After talking with Anderson and starting the Side Quest: The White Wash
 * Old Mormon Fort - Talk to Julie Farkas with Veronica in town.
 * Silver Rush Gambling Hall - Get close to the energy crates near Gloria Van Graff inside the Silver Rush
 * Nellis Air Force Base - After listening to Pete's lecture in front of the mural (don't interrupt him until he is done)
 * Nipton - Just walk around, eventually she'll make a comment
 * REPCONN Test Site - When you ask Jason Bright about what the Great Journey is, she'll talk to you afterward.
 * Nelson or Cottonwood Cove - Again, just walk around a bit.

Detailed Walkthrough
Upon returning to the bunker, Veronica will speak to the Elder in charge of the bunker, claiming that the Brotherhood must change before it dies out. The Elder rebuffs her, and Veronica vows to bring a piece of technology that will make him. The player will then have to head to Father Elijah's comm terminal with Veronica, in the vicinity of Gibson's Scrapyard.

If the player has activated HELIOS One without using the Archimedes II weapon system in That Lucky Old Sun, you can tell Veronica that HELIOS One is not a weapon, reducing your choices to the Pulse Gun or the Farm Tech. However, if you have not activated it, you can choose the Range Finder. For the Range Finder you'll need to go to Sarah at Vault 21 on The Strip. (Miguel's Pawn Shop is mentioned but possibly not necessary, he won't have it). Turns out Sarah from Vault 21 sold it to a man who has gone to Freeside who will be dead in the abandoned buildings found outside Mick and Ralph's. There is a corpse of a man who has died. Quest says to ask the locals, find a Vagrant outside the building who tells you kids took the Range Finder. The kids run around Freeside, catch up to the boy Max. You can pass barter check (45) for it or pay him 1000 caps. (He mentions going to bed at night, if you wait until 9pm and will head to bed, you can steal it from him since he has unequipped the gun). Next step is to enable the Range Finder at HELIOS One. You must go to Fantastic at HELIOS One. The pointer is telling you to to go the Reflector Control Panel at the top of the tower, so you need to do That Lucky Old Sun first, up until right after you restore power to the mainframe, select ARCHIMEDES II for the power configuration, this will power the Range Finder (defense system is still optional). After that you will be instructed to return to the elder at Hidden Valley.

If the player chooses Farming Tech, the player can follow the There Stands the Grass at the same time.

Should the player choose the Pulse Gun, Veronica and the player will go and look for it at Nellis Air Force Base, where the player must evade the Boomers' artillery barrage if they have not already done so. Once inside, the player will have to sort through a filing cabinet owned by the Boomer leader. Inside the filing cabinet is a note indicating that the Pulse Gun has been moved to Vault 34, which must then be searched. The gun is located in the highly irradiated vault armory, among a host of other loot. Alternatively, the player can purchase the Pulse Gun at Silver Rush, avoiding the need to search the other locations. Once the gun has been obtained, Veronica and the player will return to the Hidden Valley bunker to meet once more with the Elder. He will still refuse to change, citing the codex. Veronica will ask the player what to do, at which point the player can suggest remaining with the Brotherhood, leaving the Brotherhood, or express apathy at Veronica's situation.

Should the player recommend staying with the Brotherhood or have her choose on her own, Veronica will agree. Upon leaving the bunker, a group of Paladins will approach you. If you have 95+ Speech, you may convince them to give Veronica another chance. Also, if you have the perk Terrifying Presence, you can make them cower in fear by threatening them and the Codex, making the possible fight far easier. Since they will not move, you can even return later with a higher Speech skill and re-initiate conversation (note that it takes some time and perhaps an area transition for them to stop "fleeing"). If you can survive the onslaught you can get some nice Brotherhood loot. Using the Pulse Gun looted from Vault 34 against the paladins makes the encounter extremely easy. Either way, this will end the quest and she will obtain the perk, Bonds of Steel which increases the defense of her armor. Your Reputation with the Brotherhood doesn't change.

If the player suggests leaving, Veronica will express a desire to join the Followers of the Apocalypse. The player and Veronica will then leave the bunker, where they will be accosted and warned by a group of Brotherhood Paladins. Once Veronica and the player travel to the Followers outpost, they will be informed that they cannot be allowed into the organization until the leader of the outpost returns the next day. After waiting a day, the player and Veronica can return to the outpost to find all of the Followers dead and a group of Brotherhood Paladins waiting in ambush. After a battle with the Paladins, Veronica expresses regret for the deaths she has caused and vows to travel only with the Courier for the remainder of the game. She also gets "Causeless Rebel" perk, which boosts her unarmed attack rate. This doesn't change your standing with the Brotherhood but Veronica won't follow you into the Bunker any more.

Bugs
Choosing to find the farming technology after successfully destroying it in the quest There Stands the Grass prevents you from completing the quest. Talking to Veronica allows you to change your technology choice, as a workaround.

It seems that choosing not to destroy the technology from There Stands the Grass (if you completed it before starting I Could Make You Care) still prevents you from completing the quest with the farming tech. The quest directs you to the terminal in Vault 22, which no longer has the data. It can't be found despite having been downloaded to your Pip-Boy during the quest.

Activating the Archimedes II weapon system and gaining the Rangefinder before you initiate this quest will automatically flag the journal to tell you to return to the Elder after activating the terminal in Gibson's shack. But in the conversation with Veronica, it doesn't give you an option to leave the conversation and return, but to choose another technology instead. This allows you to find both the Rangefinder as well as another technology. After you find the second technology, the quest is seemingly broken. Neither Veronica or the Elder will have conversation options to continue further, and neither will initiate their dialogue scripts between the two, despite there being periods where you cannot talk to either one after coming close to the Elder.

Veronica will not comment no matter how long she's been with you or how many places you've gone together. Her only response to anything is What's up?. Because she won't comment on the locations you bring her to, it's impossible to start the quest. Sometimes she will comment on one item if you dismiss her and then have her join again, but after that it's glitched again and she will never make comments again.


 * WORKAROUND A possible workaround to Veronica being stuck only commenting with What's up is to steal the Euclid's C-Finder from Max who is in Freeside.  As long as you do not activate the terminal in Gibson's shack or retrieve another piece of technology this workaround should work (Unconfirmed if retrieving any of the requested technologies will also cause this workaround).  This will start the quest and advance it to the point where you return to the Brotherhood with the technology.  After you return to the bunker you can advance the quest normally till it is finished.  The following conditions were met when it worked: 1) Did not visit hidden valley and talk to the BoS (with or without Veronica).  2) Had not retrieved any other piece(s) of I Could Make You Care technology.  3) Had not visited Gibson's shack.  4) Directed the power at HELIOS to the ARCHENEMIES II.  It appears that taking Veronica to the BoS before starting the I Could Make You Care quest will cause this workaround to not work.  However, using the other methods to opening BoS's bunker is uncertain that it will glitch the quest.  If the this quest is not glitched it will appear after taking her to three of the locations and then direct you to Hidden Valley.  If you have already taken her to hidden valley and talked to the BoS then you may have to revert to an earlier save.  NOTE: I have lost misplaced the save which pre getting the Euclid's C-Finder.  Any additional information on the conditions (such as other technologies which trigger, gaining access without Victoria, etc) that still allow this workaround to work would be quite beneficial to the community as I know I am know I am not the only who was quite frustrated trying to get this quest to work.  Additionally, it might be a good idea to create a table on the talk page listing the different conditions (listed above) and various solutions and if it worked or not.

The encounter with the Paladins outside the bunker may not spawn, stopping the quest from progressing. This can be fixed by re-entering and exiting the bunker until they turn up. It may take four or five attempts before they appear.

While talking to the Elder, both Veronica and the Elder will freeze in place and will not respond to attempts at communication. Upon reloading, the Elder spouts three phrases, and Veronica is unresponsive.

After taking the Rangefinder option, if you use HELIOS One to power the grid instead, you should be able to discuss the other two options with Veronica (so says the Journal). However, when talking to her only her normal dialogue appears, rendering the mission unsolvable. Choosing to go to Vault 22 after destroying the data also renders the mission unsolvable because the terminal will be blank.


 * WORKAROUND - confirmed on the If you, after having this issue, take Veronica to Nellis and steal the note from the Filing Cabinet, you receive an update for the Pulse Gun portion of the quest.  Complete this portion of the quest as normal and the Elder/Veronica conversation will go off without a hitch.

(This seems to be fixed in the patch, but it's still possible that she gets stuck after thanking you.)
 * Even after choosing the "She was just testing you (requires speech 95)" dialog option and getting positive response from paladins, she is unable to enter the bunker.
 * After fighting the 4 Brotherhood Paladins (doesn't matter which dialogue options are chosen) located at the entrance of the bunker, she gets blocked and will not follow you anymore.

After the Brotherhood Paladins confront you outside the bunker Veronica may become immobile. Sending her to the Lucky 38 Presidential Suite or back to 188 Trading Post will result in her disappearing. She can still trade gear though as well as back up, making her a kind of 'container' that defends itself. Traveling to Gibson's Shack and reactivating the terminal inside will fix this bug. Also, after she appears in the shack you may have to speak with her before she will be able to move again.

After the Brotherhood Paladins ambush at the Follower's Outpost Veronica may become immobile. Just like above, traveling to the Gibson's Shack, reactivating the terminal, and speaking to Veronica to select a destination will make her mobile again.

If you use the Terrifying Presence speech option during the confrontation at Follower's Outpost, you need to be sure to kill all Brotherhood Paladins at the Outpost or the quest will not be completed. If a Paladin gets away, you can fast travel to another location and back and you should find them wandering around or inside the outpost.

After completing the quest she stops following you. Fast travel and dismissing and rehiring her had no effect. Reloading to a previous save after entering Vault 34 causes a "DLC not installed" error message and forces a restart.

Randomly stops following the player which can be fixed by dismissing her and recruiting her anew.

When the Paladins initially deliver their ultimatum, sometimes only one will become hostile and three will run away, still friendly. The quest completes normally after killing the one hostile, but upon returning to the bunker the three have come back, deliver their ultimatum again, and attack. After this fight, Veronica refuses to follow you, and will sometimes start an unprovoked dialogue with you but only give the standard "what's up?". This appears to be caused by her attempting to deliver the quest-ending dialogue but, already having delivered it, getting stuck and refusing to budge until it's delivered. The only way I found to fix this was to clear the speech flags from the console, causing everybody in the game to re-introduce themselves to me. If done after helping Paladin Hardin in the Still in the Dark quest, but before Elder McNamara is ousted, Hardin and McNamara will not talk to the player, and the Brotherhood quests will be locked. However, this does not have any affect on Veronica's quest itself. This can also cause Veronica to stop following you.
 * (HOPEFUL) WORKAROUND! To fix this through the console, enter resetquest 00145f85 which erases the completed ICMYC mission from your quest log. After separating from and rehiring Veronica, she seems to work perfectly fine, following the player again. Please, someone else confirm this too!

Completing HELIOS1 and choosing the ARCHIMEDESII option without activating the defense system I met with Veronica at 188 and accepted her help, she turned me down because I already had Boone, I chose to stick with Boone and left her there. After entering Freeside and obtaining the rangefinder it activated I Could Make You Care and told me to take the rangefinder to the Elder but there I have no dialogue options with McNamara. Possibly unrelated, when attempting to fire the weapon the game will CTD. There are no dialogue options because only Veronica speaks with the Elder, the Courier is just there to listen in.

Quest can be received by buying the Range Finder from Max in Freeside, however after finding Veronica and completing the quest by using the 95 speech option on the paladins that confront you outside of the bunker, the quest does not complete.