What If? Robert House (Fallout: New Vegas) and Andrew Ryan (Bioshock) end up in the other's body?

[Urabrask Revealed]

It is the year 2138 in Las Vegas of Fallout. In the early summer-morning, deep in the bowels of Lucky 38, Andrew Ryan wakes up to find himself in an unfamiliar body, with access to all the technology Robert House was hooked up with when he entered the cryonic chamber to extent his own life and defend his city. Overcoming the first abouts of panic, Ryan manages to preserve and analyze the extent of his abilities. He quickly learns he can control the building he is inside as well as a number of unusual robots far more advanced than anything he has seen in his life before. Data-entries reveal the sheer scope of plans that House prepared for the aftermath of the Great War, particulary the matter of the Platinum Chip and its significance. As he begins to make himself familiar with his surroundings, he vows to find a way back to his beloved Rapture.

It is the year 1946, and deep beneath the surface of the pacific ocean, Rapture receives its first of many residents on the 5th of November. In the morning of the 6th of November, 1946, Robert House wakes up to find himself in an decidely unfamiliar room with a body that most assuredly is not his. As he investigates the home, he finds notes, diary-entries, and texts that answer most of his questions. As Bill McDonalds, best friend and trusted advisor of Ryan enters his apartment to escort him to the Rapture Metro to welcome the freshly arrived residents, House vows to make his way back to his beloved Las Vegas.

Now the scenery is set for each of them, how would each Howard Hughes-expy deal with the up and downs of the respective other? What technologies could they possibly encourage or invent? What choices would they take that could possibly change the way the events of their respective game played out?

 

[Zachowon]

Hmmm.
I think House would still try to go with robots over all, and Ryan would make New Vegas more secluded if I remember both correctly

 

[Urabrask Revealed]

Hmmm.
I think House would still try to go with robots over all, and Ryan would make New Vegas more secluded if I remember both correctly

My impression was that Ryan, while a successful bussinessman, lacks the technological acumen that House has. Thus, while he will have the tech already present to use it to defend his area, he won't be able to expand much beyond the mojave. House on the other hand is from a time that is much more advantanced than the 1940s. His robots alone would be a great boon to Rapture. If ADAM is discovered, he might see an use in it, especially if the plasmid for life-extension is developed.

How House would deal with Fontaine, I'm not sure. He is not bound to an ideology like Ryan was, after all.

 

[Zachowon]

My impression was that Ryan, while a successful bussinessman, lacks the technological acumen that House has. Thus, while he will have the tech already present to use it to defend his area, he won't be able to expand much beyond the mojave. House on the other hand is from a time that is much more advantanced than the 1940s. His robots alone would be a great boon to Rapture. If ADAM is discovered, he might see an use in it, especially if the plasmid for life-extension is developed.

How House would deal with Fontaine, I'm not sure. He is not bound to an ideology like Ryan was, after all.

Thst is a very good point

 

[Husky_Khan]

They're both highly successful futurist minded autocrats (though Andrew Ryan seems like he'd be in denial about it) but honestly beyond that and their general appearance they don't actually have that much in common.

Andrew Ryan is definitely far more of an ideologue for capitalism and associated philosophies and showed it when he burned down a forest instead of having it nationalized as a park. His idealism is actually going to be a downfall for him I feel. He's probably just as brilliant as Robert House, as secretly building an underwater city filled with the best and brightest to adhere to his Utopian Objectivism Vision is truly impressive, plus all of the technology that grew out of it and it's probably not hard to say that Andrew Ryan is just as successful as Robert House was pre-game as well.

But his dogmatism was his downfall. BOTH of these characters have trouble when it comes to dealing with people ultimately. Andrew Ryan was hapless against Frank Fontaine's machinations and it obviously traumatized and stressed Andrew Ryan having to compromise on his ideals as he attempted to deal with Fontaine to the point he became an authoritarian and even many of his ideological supporters abandoned him to the point that he was surviving assassination attempts and executing traitors like McDonough and the like. Plus his nationalizations and kidnapping little girls to become... little girls. He had a Utopia and it fell apart.

Robert House, he's almost the inverse. Obviously he has some flaws in dealing with people in that both his protege Benny, and the Omertas were plotting against him, and some of the White Glove Society under Mortimer returned to cannibalism. But the reason I find Robert House to be more successful is that he awoke in a Wasteland (one he helped save thanks to the laser cannons above the Lucky 38) and turned that Wasteland into an urban functioning city state. He transformed literal spear wielding tribals into an urban population that had infrastructure, electricity, walls, and operating several massive casinos and a service based economy that somehow prospered in the middle of the Mojave. And he did all of this in seven years.

Sure he had some help with the Vault 21 dwellers presumably but overall... he woke up in a Wasteland and did he best to make a pre-war city. And he almost succeeded (or did succeed) as it were.

If you switch these two around, I think Robert House would be more capable of dealing with Frank Fontaine. He's not an ideologue and in a city of brilliant people who at least ideologically agree with his vision initially, Robert House won't have a dearth of proteges and seconds he can actually trust to implement his vision (which was his main weakness in Fallout: New Vegas). He will rule as an Autocrat but only as needed enough to fulfill his vision. Fontaine I think would get crushed by him and so would his Atlas shenanigans if he survives. Robert House has issues in dealing with people, but his main difficulties in New Vegas was that he was basically by himself. That won't be an issue in Rapture. Just like he gave the Courier wide latitude in dealing with problems (except the Brotherhood of Steel ) he would do the same here and that too would help him not alienate people like Andrew Ryan did.

As for Andrew Ryan... it'd already be traumatizing enough for him to wake up in 2038 but lets say it's not an issue or something he can overcome easily. Then the main issue is... the post-apocalyptic wasteland is not the best place to practice his version of laissez-faire, minarchist capitalist ideals. Robert House was an autocrat. The Three Families were 'overtly' independent but the Securitrons of House were the main power. Andrew Ryan would have to compromise ideologically as an almost certainty to be able to do anything of significance in the Post-Nuclear World and I just don't see him acting as effectively as Robert House did. He's brilliant but he's not cut out to be a leader in the Wasteland. He needs a more civilized starting point since he's literally surrounded by tribes and a semi-ruined city at this point.

And this is completely ignoring the potential lack of technical acumen Andrew House might have waking up in the Falloutverse.