Alternate Start - Main File

This is a refocused, rebalanced and streamlined version of Alternate Start - Roleplayers. All credit goes to the original author, (I can't find out who that is) and to Jerethi50 for uploading it to the nexus.



Description
This file starts you in a shack. You can create a character using the terminal in front of you, choose a background, then head straight into the game.

What this means:

• Skip that annoying, long-ass vault intro
• More freedom to be your own character, rather than the character Bethesda gives to you
• New gameplay opportunities e.g., early access to power armor, which changes the way you play the game and makes your character feel more unique
  

It's important to note that the medicine bobblehead has been moved next to the virgo lunar lander in the science museum.



There are 7 backgrounds:
All backgrounds start in different places in the wasteland (most are near-ish to Megaton except the Doctor who starts outside Rivet City to make that Intelligence bobblehead run less of a pain).

Scavenger
+5 Barter
+5 Lockpick
+5 Repair
Scrounger perk
> Chinese Pistol
> Tire Iron
> Roving Trader Outfit

Mercenary
+10 Small Guns
Commando perk
> Assault Rifle
> Combat Knife
> Merc Troublemaker Outfit

Outcast
+5 Big guns
+5 Energy Weapons
+5 Melee Weapons
Power Armor Training
> Laser Rifle
> Sledgehammer
> Leather Armor

Android
+10 Energy Weapons
Cyborg perk
> Laser Pistol
> Switchblade
> Wasteland Wanderer Outfit

Raider
+10 Explosives
Demolition Expert perk
> 32 Pistol
> Baseball Bat
> Frag Grenades
> Raider Badlands Armor

Doctor
+5 Medicine
+5 Science
+5 Speech
Chemist perk
> 10mm Pistol
> Knife
> Wasteland Doctor Fatigues
> Extra Stimpacks and chems

Escaped Slave
+5 Melee Weapons
+5 Sneak
+5 Unarmed
Strong Back perk
> Lead Pipe
> Wasteland Settler Outfit



The goal of this mod is to provide an immersive, polished, balanced, flavored class system.
The aim is help you get into character by providing a few archetypes or 'roles' without doing anything too crazy or immersion
breaking.

Inspired by the Dark Souls/Elden Ring class system, each background provides the "flavor" of who you are in this world. It's your starting gear and some appropriate bonuses - which make a big difference in the short-run, but not in the long-run. This means you still have the freedom to steer your character in whatever direction you want later.

Each background is roughly balanced and each unlocks a perk early. This should help make your character feel more unique and unlock new gameplay opportunities, e.g., choose Escaped Slave to get Strong Back early if carry weight is really your jam.



How is this different from the original mod?

The focus has been shifted away from "pretending" or roleplaying.
If you chose Ghoul in the original mod, other ghouls will still call you smoothskin. The game just doesn't support it. This would mean you would have to pretend you didn't hear that, or come up with some kind of headcanon of why you're still called smoothskin. This sucks. So this stuff has been removed. You can play as a wastelander, but nothing too crazy - no ghoul starts, no faction changes, no pretending or headcanon. This should help the mod stay immersive and keep a polished, vanilla+ feel. It's basically aimed at people who just want to play the game without coming from Vault 101.

There are less options
There were loads of options in the old mod. Some of them (politician, chinese soldier) are just like??? So, there's less options now and they should all actually make sense. This should also remove the choice paralysis of having 20 different backgrounds to read and choose from. But you do have less options, which is bad.

Medicine bobblehead has been moved
It's now next to the virgo lunar lander in the science museum - it felt cheap giving it to you for free in the starting shack.

Perks have icons now
Yay.

Scripts work better
Yay.

More compatible
Yay.

More balanced
IMO



Compatibility
Incompatible with anything that changes the medicine bobblehead script or location (due to the strange way medicine bobblehead is handled)
Incompatible with anything that changes the starting vault quests.



This mod requires a new game
While it won't break your existing save, it won't do anything on your existing save.



Installation
Install with mod manager
Uninstall the old mod (if you have it)



Disable Main Quest - Optional File

Lets face it. The Fallout 3 main quest sucks.
You don't make any interesting choices. It's got this childish sense of good vs evil, which clashes with the morally grey setting. And it shoehorns a dad into your character's life, taking away your freedom to be who you want to be. Let's be real, you only do the main quest for the loot.



So now it's gone. Poof.
No more forcing your character into a save the world role. No more "I'm looking for my father. Middle-aged guy. Maybe you've seen him?" No more Liam fucking Neeson - he is so overrated anyway.

So now with this mod you can play as just some guy. Just some dude. Just a bro. The world doesn't revolve around you anymore.



What does it actually do though?
No Ron Perlman mentioning how you come from vault 101 in the intro (the bus and power armor bit still plays).
No questions from Moira about life in the vault.
No going in to Vault 101 at all.
No return to Vault 101 quest.
No Galaxy News Radio quest.
No Galaxy News Radio static - since there's no quest to fix it now (includes this mod). Credit to Yukichigai.
No Three Dog stalking you and relaying every single thing you do to the rest of the wastes (includes this mod).
No talking to Three Dog in person at all.
No Tranquility Lane, no Vault 112.
No Raven Rock.
No Amata or Elder Lyons in the Point Lookout hallucination scene.
No Dr Li recognizing you or mentioning your dad.
No audio logs left by your parents in the Jefferson Memorial.
No mentioning you lost your dad to Dogmeat.
No Broken Steel (don't even get me started on this shit)



It's a bit of a dirty job ngl. But it works.
Like you can still visit Raven Rock and see that there's clearly some kind of dungeon here, but you'll never be able to get in. Now I'm not an experienced modder, I would have loved to restore it as a generic dungeon and some of the other stuff as side content. But the best I'm gonna do is just disable them. It's fine. It's FINE. Also the Intro video is a bit laggy and stuttery, sorry, I'm using the free version of bink.



But what about the main quest loot?
The energy weapons bobblehead has been moved to Lower Fort Independence, it's in the room with the terminals next to the armory.
The rest of the loot from the main quest? You don't need that shit. It's OP anyways.



Compatibility
Incompatible with anything that edits the main quest or point lookout hallucination quest.



This requires a new game
You can use it on your existing save, but your main quest will most likely break.



Installation
Install with mod manager
You actually don't need to install the main file, but shit will be weird if you don't (probably)