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NCR sacks Navarro in the West, recovers a bunch of tech they don't understand, as history has proven.
They do, however, recognize the symbols (American flag, silo stencils, etc.) and recognize it might be tied to the same symbols and markings the NCR found at the Divide.
NCR hires a Courier to take the item there. They don't for a second think that anything bad will happen as a result, and neither does the player.
Player delivers package, leaves.
The package is a detonator that contains missile launch codes that just needs to get within range and start chatting with launch computers.
So it does.
Thanks NMA.
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Industrial accidents happen all the time. Let the stuff sit around for a few hundred years, get handled by non-professionals, mix non-compatible items up and the possibility becomes even greater.
I've run through Lonesome Road twice and on both occasions I seriously contemplated launching the strike at Legion however decided to stop Armageddon Mk.II on the principle that the worlds been nuked enough and that even though Legion are a bunch of savages who deserve wiping out, nuking them is not the way.
In regards to the original post though: I agree that the backstory for LR was thin at best. The McGuffin/hook that a mysterious device somehow triggers a bunch of inactive ballistic missiles into detonating is a huge stretch, especially considering the levels of safety protocols that surround those things. Hell, in the old days you needs 2 guys to input ever changing launch codes and then simultaneously turn keys to engage the missiles in their silo. Having a device that remotely activates them is utterly insane and it made me roll my eyes.
The courier didn't actively found Hopetown, it was that he passed by on a regular basis and brought items etc to the nascent community that was slowly growing there. It was through those actions that enabled the community to grow.
I also thought Ulysses motives were really strange and to be honest, a little stupid. He acknowledges through the dialogue that the courier didn't mean to destroy the Divide but like an irrational child, blames the courier anyway. Ridiculous. It'd would have had far greater meaning and impact if Ulysses had lost family/friends when the Divide was destroyed and when he learnt of the unwitting actions of the courier led to that awful outcome, sure THEN he's got a real motive to want the courier dead.
Also I think the writers/developers should have used the notion that the courier had suffered amnesia from the gunshot wound to the head. It'd be Tabula Rasa or blank slate which to my mind at least lets the player fill in the details of the back story and allows a more plausible delivery of information regarding the past of the courier. Sure the courier could recall fragments and chunks of his/her past but not the whole sorry story. I know its a convention [TR] that gets done to death and therefore lurches falls into cliché territory however brain trauma does often result in significant memory loss and that could have been explained right at the very beginning during Doc Mitchels medical exam of the courier. It'd have grounded the story as far as I'm concerned.
Overall I enjoyed LR but thought it could have been so much more than what it was.
In regards to the NCR/BoS conflict, its pretty clear from the game itself what the situation is. They've been at each others throats since 2242 and neither side shows signs of giving up. The BoS is losing and its strongly implied throughout NV through dialogue with Veronica, the Hidden Valley BoS elder [who's name escapes me for now] Father Elijah & Ulysses that their days are numbered because they are no longer capable of change and adapting to the fluid situations that are evolving around them. The NCR want all the tech and resources that the BoS have and of course the BoS mission statement is to keep that sort of thing out of the hands of people like the NCR. They were briefly united against a common foe, the Enclave, but after that threat was removed they quickly turned against each other and thus war was the result. We learn from Mr.House that the NCR had assaulted 6 BoS bunkers previously, four of which self destructed when you get to The House Always Wins part V. We know without any doubt about the Battle and aftermath of Helios One so although the FO2 Bible mentions that Maxon as a tax paying state within the NCR [which may have been the case in 2237], by 2281 there a state of suspended hostility between the 2 factions. The only reason the NCR haven't wiped out the BoS is the fact that Legion is the real and present danger to the NCR, not the cowering remnants of the BoS.
As a side note, I'm personally I'm glad the west coast BoS will die out as they offered nothing to humanity's recovery but stuck obstinately and selfishly to their inflexible codex. In stark contrast the Capital WasteLand chapter is thriving since Elder Lyons changed their mission from preserving tech to preserving people and recruiting from local populations.
That said, I enjoyed Broken Road, but found the landscape and the ghouls with guns aspect more enjoyable than the so called story, which I thought was weak. I only cared as a player to kick ass just to keep the bombs from launching again. IRL, I wouldn't have pulled that first switch either, but that wasn't really an option.
The whole idea that my home which I helped to found was ignored all this time (not even mentioned, as far as I can tell) was simply ridiculous. But hey, look at my cool sleeveless coat I got!
Next time, leave the weak amnesia and weaksauce contrived drama for the daily soaps, and give me a real reason for Ulysses and I to dislike each other.
And stop letting the Dark Elves mate with Iguanas.........
I gathered much the same thing just from the IG talk alone.
I thought that the NCR found the package (detonator) at Navarro and recognized symbols (American flag/drawings) which they say at the Divide from there outpost. They got the courier to take the package to the scientists.
Since it was old it started a launch sequence with the ICBMs and caused them to launch, but because the silos where damaged they wouldn't open, and they detonated under the ground. And Ulysses is angry because he thought he has found a perfect place and it was (unintentionally) destroyed by the player.
This is my own opinion as such and taken from things i've read of the Fallout wiki.
Much like in the Mojave, however (or anywhere and anything for that matter) Ulysses makes it out to seem that the courier had a large impact on it's growth, thus, the exaggeration.
It's easy to forget that Ulysses always speaks in a prophetic manner, so taking much of what he says, literally, instead of figuratively, will leave you confused, which is also probably why so many people don't understand LR for what it is.
And what it is, in my opinion, is a reiteration of the final piece of every fallout game, that war never changes, or rather, that history repeats itself; A.K.A. the Couriers, a dichotomy, and symbolic of mankind's learning from the past (Ulysses) to adapt to the future (The Courier). Not only that, but they both represent the two current warring sides, depending on how you ended it (this is all assuming The Courier is allied with NCR) and the oldest story imaginable, I.E. the struggle between Chaos (The Legion) and Order (NCR). Both have benefits (Strength by Darwin's theory/Strength in numbers), both have faults (Must be conflicted to stay strong/Far too bureaucratic.).
But that, I think is why the story is so appealing to me, or us, because it's so human, sure the plot has a few missing pieces, but when in life do you have a mournful backdrop when something terrible happens, or know exactly why things are affecting you? Never, ever.
But hey, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.
Also I didn't say that Shakespeare wasn't funny just that Fallout is not the same standard as Shakespeare.
I've following this talk for like 3 pages now and it looks like Seviche is living in a world where the BOS and NCR are buddies, BOS owns Navarro, Contextual Clues don't exist and the Fallout Bible is kept updated.
dude the bible was released like 9 years ago, alot of new and events and changes that happened during FO3 and FNV are not in there, the bible isn't the only source we got, we've got in-game notes, holotapes, NPC dialogues and dev interviews to use as source
just coz the guy doesn't have exact links doesn't make it wrong
hell, even some of your own "evidence" backs up ghost's conclusion