Y-17 Trauma Override Harness

Y-17 trauma override harness is a pre-War autonomous suit created to evacuate wounded soldiers from the battlefield by taking over their motor functions. However, certain design mishaps coupled with the harness recording feature resulted in these harnesses becoming literal walking dead, technological horrors stalking the Big MT.

Background
The harness was designed at Big MT's Y-17 medical facility with autonomous casualty recovery in mind. The suit tracks the vital functions of the user and, once a certain injury threshold is reached, it takes over the motor functions of the user and walks them to the designated home base. It is a miracle of research, employing intelligent fibers and artificial muscle, rather than the crude hydraulics that dominated military technology back in 2077.

However, due to the prototypical status of these suits, they suffer from several major issues. First, if a home base is not defined, the suits enter an unpredictable wander state. Second, while it is possible to calibrate the upper injury threshold for the override to kick in, the sensors cannot detect if the user is still alive. Third, the suits record all user movements and can effectively "learn" to replicate their shooting and fighting reflexes, but lack any IFF software. All of these issues combined have led to them breaking out of the Big MT's research facilities and wreaking havoc around the crater.

With no defined home base and no ability to detect the death of the users, the suits acted as mobile coffins: soldiers and researchers trapped inside had no ability to shut them down and were forced to suffer a slow, agonizing death. Even after two centuries, the suits, still carrying the bones of their original users, continue to function, scourging the Big MT of undesirables.

Y-17 trauma override harness
The basic harness comes in several different flavors that are calculated to match the player's level. Their armaments vary quite a bit depending on the player's level also. Although they have exactly the same medium-to-high amount of hit points as lobotomites, on balance Trauma Harnesses are much more dangerous opponents, since they have much better armor as well as a wider variety of weapons available. Their armor is equivalent to a suit of Combat armor, reinforced mark 2 or Ranger combat armor, and at high levels they can be seen wielding heavy incinerators, Gatling lasers, Tesla cannons, Gauss rifles and even Plasma casters.

Y-17 master trauma harness
The master trauma harness worn by a Mr. Harris, a researcher of the X-12 Research Center, malfunctioned before the war as he choked on a buffalo gourd seed. The harness began attacking other employees, who were forced to seek assistance from X-8 researchers. However, while the researchers tried to subdue the berserk harness, the person carrying the K9000 slipped and dropped it. Unarmed, the team had to flee, but not before sealing the facility with a forcefield. For two centuries, the harness was kept beneath the forcefield, armed with the K9000.

The player can take the opportunity and disable it, to procure a K9000 cyberdog gun. This is the only available option if the player had failed the Guns skill check during the initial meeting with the Think Tank.

Appearances
The Y-17 trauma override harness appears only in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on Old World Blues.

Bugs

 * may not respawn after completion of Make up Your Mind or after completion of Old World Blues (add-on)