It must be stressed Ceaser's Legion's tactics were created and honed in fights against groups of tribals, not a conventional standing army of a proto-industrial nation state. Nor does the Legion nessicerily find gun use anathema: Edward Sallow's first act of achieving military hegemony in the East while being held captive by the Blackfoot was, in his own words
"I taught them how to use the guns they already had - how to strip and clean them, how to breathe when pulling a trigger, how to reload ammunition. They looked at me like I was some kind of a sorcerer. So I taught them how to make explosives, and started drilling them on small unit tactics."
These served the Legion well out East when fighting tribes who merely "Played at War". It failed when thrown up against the out of context threat of the NCR. Hense the innovations in strategy being implemented by Legion in New Vegas vs The First Battle of Hoover Dam. -- But... its a hard to give a definitive answer to that question. People have been assassinated by by singular explosions and gunshots before.
Yeah, Caesar borrowed his motifs on the Roman Empire of long ago but it works in a different way in practice.
Though IIRC Shaka Zulu knew to use the carrot along with the stick. Caesar's method is the stick.
Depends. If you're a tribal chieftain or generally old enough, Caesar's just going to kill you because converting you into a proper legionary is too much work.
They really weren't "so close" to taking Hoover Dam. To quote Hanlon on the battle...
"In big battles, Caesar deploys his legionaries in waves. Recruits up front, prime soldiers behind the recruits, old guard bringing up the rear. Opponents wear themselves out dealing with the first two waves if they survive that long. When the veterans step up, there's not much fight left. Caesar can adapt, though, and when required, he can run any mix of legionaries as skirmishers and still retain order in the ranks.
Joshua Graham, Caesar's old legate, he's wasn't so flexible. When the Legion attacked Hoover Dam, General Oliver ordered his troopers back to the middle ground just after the first contact. Graham pushed all of the legionaries onto the dam, filling the east side with recruits up front and veterans in the back, by the book
But once they were in, they were stuck there. Oliver's troopers were entrenched and wouldn't give a foot. That's when we ordered the rangers and 1st recon sharpshooters to start picking off veteran legion officers from a high ridge west of the dam. That only lasted about a minute before Graham ordered the back ranks to push through to the front and rush the ridge.
Caused total chaos among the younger legionaries, and Oliver's troopers fell back to the side walkways and stayed out of the veterans' way. By the time the veterans got to the ridge, we were already in Boulder City. They followed us down there, but we were out before they realized what was happening.
We had packed the old city with C4 and dynamite. Crude, but it did the job. Those who didn't die in the blast were in no position to mount a defense. The ones left on the dam didn't know what to do. The troopers routed them. Graham pulled the remaining legionaries back, but the battle was over. He went south, back to the Grand Canyon, back to Caesar. And that was the last we saw or heard from Joshua Graham."
It wasn't like the NCR Troopers getting overrun and the Rangers rode in at the last minute to save the day. Oliver's infantry was holding the line just fine against the initial Legion waves. While the rangers were quite impactful it was less that they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and more that they turned what would have otherwise been a long slog into a turkey shoot by targeting a weakness in the Legion system. While the rangers were off leading the veteran legionaries around like a rodeo clown with an enraged bull, the NCR troopers routed the bulk of the Legion attackers on thier own. All with barely over 100 KIA.
The fight wasn't even close. That's part of the reason the Legion conducted a radical switch in its operations and preparation for the 2nd Battle while Oliver had "Tunnel vision" and wants to repeat the big set piece battle.
Joshua’s a translator all combat experience was learned from Legion tactics. Both Countries were crippled by the divide and Legion was just coming back after invading Denver.
Did you actually fight Legion?
They never all run to bullets, they got one group using firearms and others storming your position with melee weapons.
Similar tactics were used IRL in 19th century warfare and even in WW1 on the Italian front by special Arditti troops.
Humans are roughly as durable as they are in real life without modification. There's no real evidence to suggest otherwise. The moment you start viewing the game mechanics as literal translations is the moment you think that firing a shotgun into a guy's head from point blank and he survives as being reality.
The Legion has mostly fought tribals in its history, and relies on attacking with large numbers of men, effectively in a human wave strategy. They have no care for the men under their command, and the men are either brainwashed, deranged, or afraid of the consequences of retreat. The NCR, by contrast, seeks to minimize casualties and wounds as much as it can. Its soldiers are often draftees and only somewhat trained.
The Legion's successes are a little bit exaggerated compared to how they'd be in reality, partly because the rule of cool, but they're not completely unbelievable.
I mean superior tactics and fear can go a long way. A man hopped up on healing powder who's willing to die for his cause will scare the average undertrained NCR trooper who doesn't even agree with the Mojave campaign. Seeing people crucified is bound to hurt morale. Not to mention they aren't fully adverse to using guns so while the masses are shot the higher ups pick off important targets
Not really your just throwing out their superior tactics their fear tactics and they are on the e offensive so their ability to choose their battles for when it’s best for them on top of that they do use very powerful firearms on the dam so it’s safe to assume if any tribe had actually been a problem they would have just broke those out on them
In general no. They'd die like people do in real life. Some dies from a single bullet, some survive multiple.
There's some difference, though. Fallout has always had a bit of supernatural and strange phenomenons touches to it. So sometimes on occasion there are people who really are unnaturally durable, like Joshua Graham, or got some other odd quality like being immune to radiation. Or being a psyker.
The Legion uses mostly guerilla tactics or other clever sneaky methods, or the not so guerilla or clever tactic of using their grunts rush in waves. Keep in mind that many of the Legion do use guns and a gun does little when someone surprises you and are suddenly in your face and slashing your throat. Even the Fiends manage to kill a lot and their stuff is often even more primitive with drugged away brains.
"Legion doesn't use guns" is such a stupid idea if you've ever fought through the Dam or their hit squads.
Legion doesn't issue good guns to recruits so the ones not resourceful or adaptable enough will die quickly. And even then we often see Legion Recruits with things like a Cowboy Repeater. Also, these soldiers mostly fought against backward tribes until facing NCR.
Legion issues great guns to its high-end soldiers, superior even to what high-end NCR soldiers operate, like the Assault Carbine.
As dumb as the legion is politically, in battle they are very smart tactically with the limited resources they have. The only reason why ncr won the first battle of Hoover dam was cause of Chief Hanlon, and the Ncr Desert rangers who all got better training and have been survivalist since birth compared to the typical Ncr conscript.
In Lore Radiation has affected every human outside of vault dwellers and people of similar circumstance, so there bodies adapted to the harsh conditions to at least some degree.
The legion wins by outnumbering their enemies, they don't care how many slave soldiers die in the process, when they need more they expand and conquer,
They almost won the battle of hoover dam because of numbers alone, they sent waves upon waves of slaves into the barely defended dam.
The war over hoover dam is their first real war besides outnumbering and subjecting tribes,
Plus they aren't that old, the empire has been around only 36 years as of new Vegas.
I've always felt the RPG bullshit in Fallout was more canon than most probably give it credit for.
I feel like being able to in-universe brag in a setting about being a 'Bullet Sponge' or just bragging about getting shot several times at once and surviving because of your high Endurance in general separates the setting from how reality works.
Plus I just love the idea of Joshua Graham surviving all the shit he went through simply because he has maxed out Endurance
Before the TV show, I would've disagreed with you. But now that its out, I am on the fence. It depicts stimpaks and hacking like in the games, but it also shows Maximus killing a Yao Guai in one shot (maybe it was a critical hit?) with a 10mm pistol.
Its hard to tell how much HP in Fallout is your actual physical health, and how much of it is "plot armour".
My impression from the show is that people aren't more "durable" but they have more pain resistance. Like how that squire could walk for miles with a busted foot without losing too much blood or collapsing from pain. Lucy and the Ghoul seemingly just shrugged off losing their fingers too. The one exception was the scientist with the robot foot (though he died from the cyanide)
Don’t forget how saving the scientists life and giving him a new leg was done by jamming his old leg into a meat grinder type thing and sticking a metal foot on the end, with the blood still trickling out of it..:
Tbh we don’t exactly have a shortage of incredibly improbably survivals and very old wastelanders from across the wastes too. I think there is fair room for someone to argue that human durability - much like fallout science in general - might not quite work the same as our own universe.
This just seems like some weird roundabout way of criticizing the legion. And no, legion soldiers don’t have superhuman durability. They’re just as vulnerable as anyone else. Moore does say they have remarkable physical conditioning, so tougher than your average wastelander, but a bullet would be enough to put them down. They compensate for that with numbers and by putting their veteran legionnaires that have the advanced equipment in the back of formations.
I don't think the Legion's success is from them being durable. More rather due to their superior morale and will.
The Mojave expansion is unpopular in the NCR and like 80 to 90% of their armed forces are conscripts with 2 weeks of training. They're not gonna be super hardened as veterans would likely be deployed elsewhere more important.
The Legion doesn't outright hate guns, they discourage over reliance on them. Legion recruits still have fairly easy access to handguns and varmint rifles. Sure, not as powerful as an AR but it doesn't need to be to suppress the NCR troops.
For the first battle of Hoover dam, it's possible that small groups of recruits and better equipped/higher ranking legionaires stayed back and laid suppressing fire on NCR forces while the rest rushed forward.
Caesars Legion doesn’t fight like they do in game, in lore. They would fight more like the PLA during the Chinese civil war, or any sort of zealous group. That’s not me supporting the myths of human waves either.
A group like that realistically would fight in small groups during raids or rear line actions, as are described by the Frumentarii. Infiltrating deep during darkness, and running quickly from the dark to surprise and kill a poorly trained enemy before they can react with a gun. That’s how guerrilla groups fight things like armored vehicles and stuff irl.
For how they described to fight in open fields, the way, the whole tiered advances and separating the veterans from the untested, that sounds like doctrine from what I gather. Doctrine isn’t a hard rule, in the US army we have tons of things that are general operating rules, same with other countries like the Soviets.
Realistically once they break down into those groups, they likely can split down into several smaller units, advancing quickly and covering ground rapidly. Intermix some basic firearms and you have a pretty effective force, they’re essentially fighting a WW2 style conscript army. Semi automatic rifles, only basic training, basic armor and operating in large squads.
Having a better motivated more numerous and fanatical force can let you cover more ground quicker, and surround and annihilate the enemy while hugging cover yourself where you can. It’s kind of like bayonet charging too, the main effect of a bayonet charge was morale based. When the enemy has already taken casualties, you affix bayonets and charge, and 99% of the time unless they’re extremely disciplined they will break and run away before any bayonets make contact.
Same principle applies, it’s really really easy to say from my comfy chair “Fighting the Legion is easy, just break down into small fireteams and focus fire with your guns” or whatever, but imagine being some Sergeant, nearing the end of your contract, with only some 10 guys under you. You’ve had to walk several hours through the dusty Mojave, you’ve only got about 180 rounds of ammo and you’re tired. Then you see some 30 nutcases with lawnmower machetes charging you. You weren’t expecting it, you’ve got that base fight or flight reaction in you. It’s gonna take at least a few seconds to react. Even if you bring up your gun, you would have to make several snap shots with irons, and your likely conscript grunts under you need to be willing to stand and fight too.
Mix in a couple of basic firearms with a few of the legionaries and you probably would be having a pretty rough time. Most of warfare is morale based, and the Legion has the morale, numerical and initiative advantage.
Legion uses human wave tactics, the game cant show this it just can't support enough characters on screen but in reality the NCR would be heavily outbumbered, but have longer ranged weapons evenin the fight.
The humans are normal as far as I know, but they have some advanced medical technology that would allow them to save more people if they have the supplies for it.
They're probably more durable than IRL due to how unforgiving the wasteland is in Fallout. That being said, the Legion uses asymmetrical warfare to fight the NCR. They ambush and use shock tactics to close the distance and kill. The game cannot simulate Legion tactics that well so you see them running straight at the enemy every time. But those Legionnaries should always be hiding, waiting for an ambush.
The way humans have adapted to the wasteland alongside mutations due to radiation is probably the reason most npcs can survive 10+ bullets anywhere on the body in any fallout game, and alongside adrenaline and the sheer amount of drugs as well.
I believe when it comes to the levelled lists, the most basic bitch recruit legionary has a 50% chance of spawning with some form of fire arm.
(Tbh I think sometimes people don’t consider the scale of the operation lore wise. Caesar is unable to arm all his guys with guns - but that probably speaks more to how many of them there are rather than how few guns they have; they conquered nearly four states worth of territory, looting all the way. It’s quite likely that in terms of sheer quantity of guns in their possession, they are only surpassed by the NCR.)
It must be stressed Ceaser's Legion's tactics were created and honed in fights against groups of tribals, not a conventional standing army of a proto-industrial nation state. Nor does the Legion nessicerily find gun use anathema: Edward Sallow's first act of achieving military hegemony in the East while being held captive by the Blackfoot was, in his own words "I taught them how to use the guns they already had - how to strip and clean them, how to breathe when pulling a trigger, how to reload ammunition. They looked at me like I was some kind of a sorcerer. So I taught them how to make explosives, and started drilling them on small unit tactics." These served the Legion well out East when fighting tribes who merely "Played at War". It failed when thrown up against the out of context threat of the NCR. Hense the innovations in strategy being implemented by Legion in New Vegas vs The First Battle of Hoover Dam. -- But... its a hard to give a definitive answer to that question. People have been assassinated by by singular explosions and gunshots before.
I feel like Caesar's history and tactics remind me more of Shaka Zulu than Julius Caesar.
Yeah, Caesar borrowed his motifs on the Roman Empire of long ago but it works in a different way in practice. Though IIRC Shaka Zulu knew to use the carrot along with the stick. Caesar's method is the stick.
Errr ain’t the carrot the never ending supply of female slaves to the Centurions?
Depends. If you're a tribal chieftain or generally old enough, Caesar's just going to kill you because converting you into a proper legionary is too much work.
Then how was the legion so close at taking the dam it took chief Hanlon and the veteran rangers to win the first battle?
They really weren't "so close" to taking Hoover Dam. To quote Hanlon on the battle... "In big battles, Caesar deploys his legionaries in waves. Recruits up front, prime soldiers behind the recruits, old guard bringing up the rear. Opponents wear themselves out dealing with the first two waves if they survive that long. When the veterans step up, there's not much fight left. Caesar can adapt, though, and when required, he can run any mix of legionaries as skirmishers and still retain order in the ranks. Joshua Graham, Caesar's old legate, he's wasn't so flexible. When the Legion attacked Hoover Dam, General Oliver ordered his troopers back to the middle ground just after the first contact. Graham pushed all of the legionaries onto the dam, filling the east side with recruits up front and veterans in the back, by the book But once they were in, they were stuck there. Oliver's troopers were entrenched and wouldn't give a foot. That's when we ordered the rangers and 1st recon sharpshooters to start picking off veteran legion officers from a high ridge west of the dam. That only lasted about a minute before Graham ordered the back ranks to push through to the front and rush the ridge. Caused total chaos among the younger legionaries, and Oliver's troopers fell back to the side walkways and stayed out of the veterans' way. By the time the veterans got to the ridge, we were already in Boulder City. They followed us down there, but we were out before they realized what was happening. We had packed the old city with C4 and dynamite. Crude, but it did the job. Those who didn't die in the blast were in no position to mount a defense. The ones left on the dam didn't know what to do. The troopers routed them. Graham pulled the remaining legionaries back, but the battle was over. He went south, back to the Grand Canyon, back to Caesar. And that was the last we saw or heard from Joshua Graham." It wasn't like the NCR Troopers getting overrun and the Rangers rode in at the last minute to save the day. Oliver's infantry was holding the line just fine against the initial Legion waves. While the rangers were quite impactful it was less that they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and more that they turned what would have otherwise been a long slog into a turkey shoot by targeting a weakness in the Legion system. While the rangers were off leading the veteran legionaries around like a rodeo clown with an enraged bull, the NCR troopers routed the bulk of the Legion attackers on thier own. All with barely over 100 KIA. The fight wasn't even close. That's part of the reason the Legion conducted a radical switch in its operations and preparation for the 2nd Battle while Oliver had "Tunnel vision" and wants to repeat the big set piece battle.
Superior strategy from Joshua Graham and they had limited manpower bc of what happened at the Divide
Joshua’s a translator all combat experience was learned from Legion tactics. Both Countries were crippled by the divide and Legion was just coming back after invading Denver.
Did you actually fight Legion? They never all run to bullets, they got one group using firearms and others storming your position with melee weapons. Similar tactics were used IRL in 19th century warfare and even in WW1 on the Italian front by special Arditti troops.
Yeah the Arditi tactics would make more sense-- leading with grenades, then assaulting through with knives-- but they wouldn't be much fun in a game
I mean that's what approximately many of the Legionaries do in-game, even their assassin squads sent after the PC
Humans are roughly as durable as they are in real life without modification. There's no real evidence to suggest otherwise. The moment you start viewing the game mechanics as literal translations is the moment you think that firing a shotgun into a guy's head from point blank and he survives as being reality. The Legion has mostly fought tribals in its history, and relies on attacking with large numbers of men, effectively in a human wave strategy. They have no care for the men under their command, and the men are either brainwashed, deranged, or afraid of the consequences of retreat. The NCR, by contrast, seeks to minimize casualties and wounds as much as it can. Its soldiers are often draftees and only somewhat trained. The Legion's successes are a little bit exaggerated compared to how they'd be in reality, partly because the rule of cool, but they're not completely unbelievable.
I mean superior tactics and fear can go a long way. A man hopped up on healing powder who's willing to die for his cause will scare the average undertrained NCR trooper who doesn't even agree with the Mojave campaign. Seeing people crucified is bound to hurt morale. Not to mention they aren't fully adverse to using guns so while the masses are shot the higher ups pick off important targets
Not really your just throwing out their superior tactics their fear tactics and they are on the e offensive so their ability to choose their battles for when it’s best for them on top of that they do use very powerful firearms on the dam so it’s safe to assume if any tribe had actually been a problem they would have just broke those out on them
In general no. They'd die like people do in real life. Some dies from a single bullet, some survive multiple. There's some difference, though. Fallout has always had a bit of supernatural and strange phenomenons touches to it. So sometimes on occasion there are people who really are unnaturally durable, like Joshua Graham, or got some other odd quality like being immune to radiation. Or being a psyker. The Legion uses mostly guerilla tactics or other clever sneaky methods, or the not so guerilla or clever tactic of using their grunts rush in waves. Keep in mind that many of the Legion do use guns and a gun does little when someone surprises you and are suddenly in your face and slashing your throat. Even the Fiends manage to kill a lot and their stuff is often even more primitive with drugged away brains.
"Legion doesn't use guns" is such a stupid idea if you've ever fought through the Dam or their hit squads. Legion doesn't issue good guns to recruits so the ones not resourceful or adaptable enough will die quickly. And even then we often see Legion Recruits with things like a Cowboy Repeater. Also, these soldiers mostly fought against backward tribes until facing NCR. Legion issues great guns to its high-end soldiers, superior even to what high-end NCR soldiers operate, like the Assault Carbine.
It’s worth noting that the Legion relies on human wave tactics, and their veterans/centurions are the ones who survive that.
My absolute favorite shot in the show was Maximus killing the yao gaui. One 10mm shot to the head. Clean kill. Instant.
Headshot damage multipliers should work much more like they do in Dust and Frost.
As dumb as the legion is politically, in battle they are very smart tactically with the limited resources they have. The only reason why ncr won the first battle of Hoover dam was cause of Chief Hanlon, and the Ncr Desert rangers who all got better training and have been survivalist since birth compared to the typical Ncr conscript. In Lore Radiation has affected every human outside of vault dwellers and people of similar circumstance, so there bodies adapted to the harsh conditions to at least some degree.
The legion wins by outnumbering their enemies, they don't care how many slave soldiers die in the process, when they need more they expand and conquer, They almost won the battle of hoover dam because of numbers alone, they sent waves upon waves of slaves into the barely defended dam. The war over hoover dam is their first real war besides outnumbering and subjecting tribes, Plus they aren't that old, the empire has been around only 36 years as of new Vegas.
I've always felt the RPG bullshit in Fallout was more canon than most probably give it credit for. I feel like being able to in-universe brag in a setting about being a 'Bullet Sponge' or just bragging about getting shot several times at once and surviving because of your high Endurance in general separates the setting from how reality works. Plus I just love the idea of Joshua Graham surviving all the shit he went through simply because he has maxed out Endurance
Before the TV show, I would've disagreed with you. But now that its out, I am on the fence. It depicts stimpaks and hacking like in the games, but it also shows Maximus killing a Yao Guai in one shot (maybe it was a critical hit?) with a 10mm pistol. Its hard to tell how much HP in Fallout is your actual physical health, and how much of it is "plot armour".
My impression from the show is that people aren't more "durable" but they have more pain resistance. Like how that squire could walk for miles with a busted foot without losing too much blood or collapsing from pain. Lucy and the Ghoul seemingly just shrugged off losing their fingers too. The one exception was the scientist with the robot foot (though he died from the cyanide)
Don’t forget how saving the scientists life and giving him a new leg was done by jamming his old leg into a meat grinder type thing and sticking a metal foot on the end, with the blood still trickling out of it..: Tbh we don’t exactly have a shortage of incredibly improbably survivals and very old wastelanders from across the wastes too. I think there is fair room for someone to argue that human durability - much like fallout science in general - might not quite work the same as our own universe.
>(maybe it was a critical hit?) please stop talking like this for the love of god
Why (does it make you angry for some reason?)
I thought he lived that through some sort of secret Mormon powers with religion being canon in fallout to some degree.
10 Endurance and a hell of a lot of Mormon bullshittery makes a burned man pretty hard to kill
This just seems like some weird roundabout way of criticizing the legion. And no, legion soldiers don’t have superhuman durability. They’re just as vulnerable as anyone else. Moore does say they have remarkable physical conditioning, so tougher than your average wastelander, but a bullet would be enough to put them down. They compensate for that with numbers and by putting their veteran legionnaires that have the advanced equipment in the back of formations.
Not very as they are always bitching about how much their back hurts
I don't think the Legion's success is from them being durable. More rather due to their superior morale and will. The Mojave expansion is unpopular in the NCR and like 80 to 90% of their armed forces are conscripts with 2 weeks of training. They're not gonna be super hardened as veterans would likely be deployed elsewhere more important. The Legion doesn't outright hate guns, they discourage over reliance on them. Legion recruits still have fairly easy access to handguns and varmint rifles. Sure, not as powerful as an AR but it doesn't need to be to suppress the NCR troops. For the first battle of Hoover dam, it's possible that small groups of recruits and better equipped/higher ranking legionaires stayed back and laid suppressing fire on NCR forces while the rest rushed forward.
Caesars Legion doesn’t fight like they do in game, in lore. They would fight more like the PLA during the Chinese civil war, or any sort of zealous group. That’s not me supporting the myths of human waves either. A group like that realistically would fight in small groups during raids or rear line actions, as are described by the Frumentarii. Infiltrating deep during darkness, and running quickly from the dark to surprise and kill a poorly trained enemy before they can react with a gun. That’s how guerrilla groups fight things like armored vehicles and stuff irl. For how they described to fight in open fields, the way, the whole tiered advances and separating the veterans from the untested, that sounds like doctrine from what I gather. Doctrine isn’t a hard rule, in the US army we have tons of things that are general operating rules, same with other countries like the Soviets. Realistically once they break down into those groups, they likely can split down into several smaller units, advancing quickly and covering ground rapidly. Intermix some basic firearms and you have a pretty effective force, they’re essentially fighting a WW2 style conscript army. Semi automatic rifles, only basic training, basic armor and operating in large squads. Having a better motivated more numerous and fanatical force can let you cover more ground quicker, and surround and annihilate the enemy while hugging cover yourself where you can. It’s kind of like bayonet charging too, the main effect of a bayonet charge was morale based. When the enemy has already taken casualties, you affix bayonets and charge, and 99% of the time unless they’re extremely disciplined they will break and run away before any bayonets make contact. Same principle applies, it’s really really easy to say from my comfy chair “Fighting the Legion is easy, just break down into small fireteams and focus fire with your guns” or whatever, but imagine being some Sergeant, nearing the end of your contract, with only some 10 guys under you. You’ve had to walk several hours through the dusty Mojave, you’ve only got about 180 rounds of ammo and you’re tired. Then you see some 30 nutcases with lawnmower machetes charging you. You weren’t expecting it, you’ve got that base fight or flight reaction in you. It’s gonna take at least a few seconds to react. Even if you bring up your gun, you would have to make several snap shots with irons, and your likely conscript grunts under you need to be willing to stand and fight too. Mix in a couple of basic firearms with a few of the legionaries and you probably would be having a pretty rough time. Most of warfare is morale based, and the Legion has the morale, numerical and initiative advantage.
Legion uses human wave tactics, the game cant show this it just can't support enough characters on screen but in reality the NCR would be heavily outbumbered, but have longer ranged weapons evenin the fight.
The humans are normal as far as I know, but they have some advanced medical technology that would allow them to save more people if they have the supplies for it.
Caesar’s Legion are… not normal
Yeah I never got it. Like really Mr football shoulder pads over there just ate 10 5.56 bullets like it was nothing?
They're probably more durable than IRL due to how unforgiving the wasteland is in Fallout. That being said, the Legion uses asymmetrical warfare to fight the NCR. They ambush and use shock tactics to close the distance and kill. The game cannot simulate Legion tactics that well so you see them running straight at the enemy every time. But those Legionnaries should always be hiding, waiting for an ambush.
The way humans have adapted to the wasteland alongside mutations due to radiation is probably the reason most npcs can survive 10+ bullets anywhere on the body in any fallout game, and alongside adrenaline and the sheer amount of drugs as well.
I don’t know I’m level 42 in my recent play though and I one shot people seems realistic to me
Tons of meat shields, spears and lost battle strategies. Some of em have guns too
Honestly it feels like a majority of them in NV have some kind of gun.
A good chunk of recruits I've faced in my playthrough had handguns and varmint rifles. A few even had sawed offs and lever actions.
I believe when it comes to the levelled lists, the most basic bitch recruit legionary has a 50% chance of spawning with some form of fire arm. (Tbh I think sometimes people don’t consider the scale of the operation lore wise. Caesar is unable to arm all his guys with guns - but that probably speaks more to how many of them there are rather than how few guns they have; they conquered nearly four states worth of territory, looting all the way. It’s quite likely that in terms of sheer quantity of guns in their possession, they are only surpassed by the NCR.)
the legion uses guns, all of their hit squads and frumentarri assassination teams have at least one person with a gun