On the Same Wavelength is a side quest in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on Old World Blues.
Quick walkthrough[]
| Side Quest: On the Same Wavelength | |||||||||||||
| Complete Welcome to the Big Empty and speak with Doctor 8 during Picking Your Brains. | |||||||||||||
| Pass a Science 75 skill check or a Perception check of 7, then a second Science 75 check. | |||||||||||||
| Hack 8. | Tell 8 you will not hack him. | ||||||||||||
| Reward: bad Karma | Reward: good Karma | ||||||||||||
| Reward: Variable XP Doctor 8 will serve as 1 of 3 required "votes" for the peaceful ending of Old World Blues Depending on dialogue choices: 2 Cram + duct tape (male Courier) / varied amount of microfusion cells (female Courier) every 24 in-game hours 10 microfusion cells + 1 copy of Tæles of Chivalrie (female Courier) / ¡La Fantoma! (male Courier) or 1 egg timer every 24 in-game hours Copies of Programmer's Digest and Fixin' Things + 1 sensor module every 24 in-game hours. Karma gain or Karma loss | |||||||||||||
Detailed walkthrough[]
After completing Welcome to the Big Empty, speak with Doctor 8 in the Think Tank's Dome chamber as part of the guiding quest Picking Your Brains; 8 resides to the slight right of the staircase in the center, left from Doctor Borous, and is identified by the light-green coloration of his think tank shell. Right away upon speaking with him, he demonstrates the trouble he is in as his speech consists entirely of radio static in an incomprehensible stream of symbols and punctuation marks, due to his voice module being damaged by a previous visitor to Big MT. The Courier will initially have difficulty understanding him, but through exhausting all dialogue options available, one will reach a required choice of passing either a Perception 8 attribute check or Science 75 skill check to determine that 8's seemingly unintelligible speech is deliberate because he is actually "speaking" via broadcasting RobCo termlink characters in specific patterns, thus triggering the quest.
One can then ask Doctor 8 deeper questions now that they "understand him," including about the sonic emitter, one of his creations. This leads to rather humorous dialogue about Doctor 8's apparent "intimate" love for the device, as well as the process of "sonjaculating" (his preferred method of activating the emitter). One also has the option ("Now that we know each other better...") to ask about the mechanics of the emitter, to which 8 goes on a detailed, still-incomprehensible explanation of its workings before suggesting that the Courier can obtain an audio sample and the personality chip for the Sink's Jukebox to use on the emitter from his house in Higgs Village (this marks the structure on the map if not known before).
- If Higgs Village was visited already and both items recovered, a unique dialogue option will be available to tell Doctor 8 they already visited his home and ransacked it.
An alternative dialogue option ("Tell me you didn't sonjaculate...") goes more into depth on 8's "sonjaculating," to which the Courier can either end the conversation quickly or instead imply some of their own unorthodox, libertine tendencies, resulting in one of two reward sets depending on the player character's gender:
A male Courier states a preference for a can of Cram wrapped in duct tape when the need arises. This option will garner two units of each, plus a copy of ¡La Fantoma! every 24 in-game hours.
A female Courier indicates the utility of a MFC oscillated to "vibrate." This option will garner 10 microfusion cells, and a copy of Tæles of Chivalrie every 24 in-game hours.
Both options unlock the ability to ask 8 about "new discoveries" in his "personal activities" every 24 in-game hours, garnering 1 sensor module and copies of Programmer's Digest and Fixin' Things.
To advance the quest, one must pass a second Science 75 check to indicate that Doctor 8's use of termlink protocols means that his chassis can be hacked in return, to which he expresses clear terror. This will present two options with different outcomes and rewards:
- Threaten 8. If one implies to 8 they could easily disrupt his chassis' systems further, he will react in fear and agree to all their terms, gifting a randomised quantity of energy weapon ammo and unlocking the Easy-locked door to his office in the Think Tank for free, along with a sworn promise to side with the Courier against the other Think Tank members if it comes to that. This will result in Karma loss.
- Befriend 8. If one promises not to exploit his vulnerability, 8 will be grateful and improve his opinion of the Courier even more, garnering Karma gain.
Quest stages[]
Notes[]
- Completing this quest before the main quest Old World Blues will cause Doctor 8 to speak up in the Courier's defense against Doctor Klein during that quest's peaceful path (choosing the non-skill dialogue option), serving as 1 of the 3 required "votes" to get the Think Tank leader to back down.
- If the option to talk about 8's "sonjaculating" is met with the response of the Courier's own intimate techniques, when returning to Doctor 8, instead of the option to ask him for something to "pass the time," choosing the option to literally ask him for something to pass the time will result in him giving them an egg timer.
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