Andy (Fallout: New Vegas)

“
It's funny, you get stuck in your room for a few weeks, you start to worry the world's gonna fall apart without you.

”
Ranger **Andy** is a retired New California Ranger living in Novac in *Fallout: New Vegas*.

## Background

A veteran of the NCR Rangers, Andy is the closest Novac has to a proper lawman, watching the town while Vargas and Boone watch the highway. He's currently out of the loop, allowing frauds like Ada Straus to prowl the streets of Novac, as he fell down the motel stairs, injuring his leg. Although it was not the worst injury in the world, Andy was knocked flat on his back and forced to stay in his bungalow for several weeks, counting cracks in the ceiling, courtesy of the town's mayor, Jeannie May. This recent injury has been a serious blow to Andy's self-worth and is currently feeling useless and more of a burden than anything else.

If he was still in his prime, he wouldn't bat an eye and keep limping about. However, Andy has problems with his arm and leg, leftover from his service and the incident that forced him into retirement. A few years back, he led a team of Rangers to act upon intel that there were Legion slavers holed up in a burned-out house a few kilometers from their station. The place was deserted, save for a scrawny child hiding in the closet. Andy tried to pick him up, to take him to the station and into proper care, but the child hid back in the closet, leaving him with a live grenade at his feet. Although he survived the explosion, half his body was mangled and he couldn't continue to serve.

He settled at Novac, becoming the closest the town has to a sheriff. He had an eye for people and was one of the few who didn't dislike Carla Boone based on her behavior. He considered her a sweet girl, even if she had a tendency to be pretty direct about the quality of life in Novac. He believed it was just a coping mechanism with living on the frontier, reminding herself that there was a better life out there. To keep his spirits up, he stays in touch with the Rangers over at Ranger station Charlie through his ham radio, with patrols checking up on him regularly. They joke it's paying respects, something Andy takes in stride with a smile on his face - one of the few his retirement affords him. But as of when the Courier arrives in Novac, Ranger Station Charlie hasn't responded in a couple of days and has had him worried enough to ask a stranger to check up on them for him.

## Interactions with the player character

### Quests

* *Andy and Charlie*: The old Ranger will suggest something might be amiss at Ranger station Charlie, as they haven't responded to his messages for a couple of days.
* One for My Baby: Andy can be fingered as the one responsible for Carla's disappearance.
* *Old School Ghoul*: He's one of the several elders the player can interact with for the purposes of Raul's companion quest.

### Other interactions

* The player can learn *Ranger Takedown*, a special move knocking enemies off their feed, from Ranger Andy. Doing so requires a Speech 30 check or completing *Andy and Charlie*, both of which help Andy cope with his status as a retiree.
* Andy is scripted as an NCR character and will react negatively to players with a negative reputation.

## Bugs

* PC If the conversation with Andy bugs out after using the Speech 30 check to bypass the quest and learn Ranger Takedown, making it impossible to talk to him (the screen zooms in, then out), the player can fix it by using the following console commands: set "00084233".bRangerStationCharlieStage to 0 or player.additem 000ccfc9 1 that should force the scripts to allow speaking to the elder Ranger.
* PC If Raul's quest bugs out, the player can correct it by entering the following command in an indoor area: set "000e61a5".MetRangerAndy to 1 then leave to an outdoor area. Raul should talk to the player then. An alternative includes using set "000e61a5".MetRangerAndy to 2 and talking to Raul directly, picking the option to discuss Ranger Andy.

## Appearances

Ranger Andy appears only in *Fallout: New Vegas*.

## References

1. ↑ The Courier: *"What do you do here, Andy?"*
Andy: *"Right now? A whole lot of sitting on my keister and counting cracks in the ceiling. I wouldn't wish it on anybody."*
(Andy's dialogue (Fallout: New Vegas))
2. ↑ The Courier: *"Did you do something to your leg?"*
Andy: *"Yeah. Twice. Actually the first time it was more like half my body. Knocked me out of the Rangers. This time it's mostly just reminded me how useless I've gotten."*
(Andy's dialogue (Fallout: New Vegas))
3. ↑ The Courier: *"Your body is injured, not your mind. You're kidding yourself if you think you're useless."*
Andy: *"Heh. People don't exactly line up to find out what's in my head. Can't remember the last time someone suggested I knew something worth knowing. You know, maybe there's something I can do for you. Since you've gone to all the trouble of flattering a crippled old soldier.
(Andy's dialogue (Fallout: New Vegas))*
4. ↑ The Courier: *"What happened?"*
Andy: "*A few years back, we get a tip that some Legion slavers were holed up in this burnt out house a few klicks from where we were stationed. We get there and it's deserted. No sign anyone's been there. I mean nothing. As we're leaving, I hear something behind me. I turn around and there's this kid, just skin and bone, and he's looking up at us and he's scared half to death. Been hiding in a closet. I go to grab him out of there and I notice he's holding something in his hand. Something metal. He shuts himself back inside the closet and that's when I see the grenade he's left by my feet. They do it a lot, the Legion. Using kids. They know we'll hesitate. Anyway, that was the first time. Second time I fell down those stairs in front of the motel. Just in case I got to thinking I'd put it all behind me.*"
(Andy's dialogue (Fallout: New Vegas)
5. ↑ The Courier: *"You're with the NCR, right?"*
Andy: *"Was. Was with them. That was back when my arm and leg used to work better. I still like to pretend I'm a Ranger, though. I'll check in with the guys up at the station pretty regular on the ham radio. Sometimes they stop by, tell me they're paying their respects, the smug bastards. They haven't been responding to me, last couple of days. I guess they got tired of hearing me talk, but it's still got me a little worried. Hell, listen to me talk. Like some damn mother hen."*
(Andy's dialogue (Fallout: New Vegas))