- Location
- USA
While I agree those are core skills, not all core skills are created equal. And we still have plenty of time to get those skills to really good level
Making Headway Through the Multiverse (New Vegas/Gamer-lite/Multicross/Normal Person Insert)
- Thread starter jcw3
- Start date
- Location
- Brazil
[X]Plan Milk it
- Location
- It's a whole new world we live in
Ammo redundancy. The courier already called them, so doubling up on ammo types makes loot distribution less contentious.
Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
Well, energy cell vs microfusion cell, so there's potentially room there. But beyond that, having a small amount of basic competence is fine, just in case something strange happens. We don't need to spend much more time than that on it at this juncture.
Break time. Blair wanted to take a look at some of Earth-1's native sci-fi/fantasy, and I forgot to put that down. My bad.
Khepri14
Thus kindly I scatter...
- Location
- Following the wind
[X] Plan Khepri
Day 1
Powers
[X] Shape Changing: Giant Mantis. Train to assume the form of a giant mantis (Earth-1). 30% of Shape Changing: Giant Mantis 3.
General Skills
[X] Fitness. You're not out-of-shape oranything, but if giant bugs and worse arethe norm in the wasteland, then you'd better get better. 5% of Fitness 9. 40% of Exercise 5.
[X] Survival. Talk to Sunny about survival.30% of Survival 6. 30% of Survival (Wasteland) 4.
[X] Perception. Knowing where you are, what that thing is, and what its weak spots could be are good survival guides, according to Maryanne. 60% of Perception 4.
[X] Blunt Weapons. You've found a baseball bat in the schoolhouse backroom. Might be useful to practicewith. 60% of Blunt Weapons 5. 10% of Blunt Weapons 6.
[X] Repair. You want to learn how to repair and maintain objects, and after Maryanne told you about how she fixed Trudy's radio, well, she seems like the obvious place to start. 50% of Repair 3. 0% of Repair 4. Repair 3 required to fixPipe Pistol.
Day 2
Powers
[X] Shape Changing: Giant Mantis. Train to assume the form of a giant mantis (Earth-1). 30% of Shape Changing: Giant Mantis 3.
General Skills
[X] Fitness. You're not out-of-shape oranything, but if giant bugs and worse arethe norm in the wasteland, then you'd better get better. 5% of Fitness 9. 40% of Exercise 5.
[X] Survival. Talk to Sunny about survival.30% of Survival 6. 30% of Survival (Wasteland) 4.
[X] Perception. Knowing where you are, what that thing is, and what its weak spots could be are good survival guides, according to Maryanne. 60% of Perception 4.
[X] Repair. You want to learn how to repair and maintain objects, and after Maryanne told you about how she fixed Trudy's radio, well, she seems like the obvious place to start. 50% of Repair 3. 0% of Repair 4. Repair 3 required to fixPipe Pistol.
[X] First Aid/Medicine. Visit DoctorMitchell. He's the town doctor, and he might have some good advice regarding the medical field, and the dangers of the wasteland in that regard. 30% of First Aid 4. 70% of Medicine 2. 25% of Medicine 3.
[X] Hunter/Tracker. Continue rereading that book about hunting, and compare notes with Goodspringer hunters. 80% of Hunter 2. 30% of Hunter 3. 100% of Tracker 0. 75% of Tracker 1. 50% of Tracker 2. 25% of Tracker 3.
Day 1
Powers
[X] Shape Changing: Giant Mantis. Train to assume the form of a giant mantis (Earth-1). 30% of Shape Changing: Giant Mantis 3.
General Skills
[X] Fitness. You're not out-of-shape oranything, but if giant bugs and worse arethe norm in the wasteland, then you'd better get better. 5% of Fitness 9. 40% of Exercise 5.
[X] Survival. Talk to Sunny about survival.30% of Survival 6. 30% of Survival (Wasteland) 4.
[X] Perception. Knowing where you are, what that thing is, and what its weak spots could be are good survival guides, according to Maryanne. 60% of Perception 4.
[X] Blunt Weapons. You've found a baseball bat in the schoolhouse backroom. Might be useful to practicewith. 60% of Blunt Weapons 5. 10% of Blunt Weapons 6.
[X] Repair. You want to learn how to repair and maintain objects, and after Maryanne told you about how she fixed Trudy's radio, well, she seems like the obvious place to start. 50% of Repair 3. 0% of Repair 4. Repair 3 required to fixPipe Pistol.
Day 2
Powers
[X] Shape Changing: Giant Mantis. Train to assume the form of a giant mantis (Earth-1). 30% of Shape Changing: Giant Mantis 3.
General Skills
[X] Fitness. You're not out-of-shape oranything, but if giant bugs and worse arethe norm in the wasteland, then you'd better get better. 5% of Fitness 9. 40% of Exercise 5.
[X] Survival. Talk to Sunny about survival.30% of Survival 6. 30% of Survival (Wasteland) 4.
[X] Perception. Knowing where you are, what that thing is, and what its weak spots could be are good survival guides, according to Maryanne. 60% of Perception 4.
[X] Repair. You want to learn how to repair and maintain objects, and after Maryanne told you about how she fixed Trudy's radio, well, she seems like the obvious place to start. 50% of Repair 3. 0% of Repair 4. Repair 3 required to fixPipe Pistol.
[X] First Aid/Medicine. Visit DoctorMitchell. He's the town doctor, and he might have some good advice regarding the medical field, and the dangers of the wasteland in that regard. 30% of First Aid 4. 70% of Medicine 2. 25% of Medicine 3.
[X] Hunter/Tracker. Continue rereading that book about hunting, and compare notes with Goodspringer hunters. 80% of Hunter 2. 30% of Hunter 3. 100% of Tracker 0. 75% of Tracker 1. 50% of Tracker 2. 25% of Tracker 3.
- Location
- USA
doesn't mean we can't play around with it like a nerd.
also, it is actually far more practical for both of us to carry a laser AND a slug shooter, and use whichever ammo is appropriate for the enemy in question. (taking into account price, quantity of ammo available to us, and effectiveness against enemy in question)
Plan awesome 1
Plan ChildishChimera 1
Plan High Success 1
Plan Khepri 1
Plan Milk it (@Larekko12) 7
The plan with perhaps the most inadvertently sexual name we've had yet wins.
Rolls below in spoilers, in case anyone wants to write an omake.
Leveled traits are just traits that level like normal skills. They can't be taught, but I'm reluctant to call them powers, so they'll go in the traits section. Keep in mind that Animal Friend will never completely stop animal hostility. If you have Animal Friend 10 (MAX!) and you punch a deathclaw in its reproductive stalk, then you will be attacked. But at 10 (MAX!) then a deathclaw will usually leave you well enough alone. Animal Friend maxed out only works if you leave the animal alone as well. And it only works on subsapient beings. No human-level intelligences will be tricked by Animal Friend. Dolphin and chimpanzees are about the highest it can go. Species that can communicate with humans and such, but only a few words, and they don't really understand what they're saying like humans do. Sentient, but not sapient.
Now that that ramble is concluded, does anyone want me to give them a briefing of what the Fallout setting is like, from my perspective of canon? I realize some of you might not have played it, so I'd like to give you all a chance to be more involved.
Plan ChildishChimera 1
Plan High Success 1
Plan Khepri 1
Plan Milk it (@Larekko12) 7
The plan with perhaps the most inadvertently sexual name we've had yet wins.
Rolls below in spoilers, in case anyone wants to write an omake.
75:75. Animal Friend 0 unlocked.
15:00. Shape Changing: Gecko 1 unlocked. 72:50. Skinning 3 unlocked. 94:80. Marksmanship (Modern Rifles) 6 unlocked. -2 5.56 Rounds.
02:50. Explosives 0 not unlocked.
17:50. Locksmith 4 not unlocked.
14:60. Scavenger 4 not unlocked.
25:00. Marksmanship (Modern Handguns) 0 unlocked. 53:25. Marksmanship (Modern Handguns) 1 unlocked. 94:60. Marksmanship (Modern Handguns) 2 unlocked. 24:90. Marksmanship (Modern Handguns) 3 not unlocked. -9 .357 magnum rounds.
61:70. Survival 6 not unlocked. 37:70. Survival (Wasteland) 3 not unlocked.
78:40. Perception 4 unlocked.
92:50. Repair 3 unlocked. 12:100. Repair 4 not unlocked.
66:10. Caravan 2 unlocked. 17:30. Caravan 3 not unlocked.
90:90. Animal Friend 1 unlocked.
+1 Caravan (2)
+1 Marksmanship (Modern Rifles) (6)
+1 Perception (4)
+1 Repair (3)
+1 Shape Changing: Gecko (1)
+1 Skinning (3)
General: Marksmanship (Modern Handguns) (2)
Leveled Trait: Animal Friend unlocked (1)
+120 Caps
+10 .357 rounds
-9 .357 rounds
+Fixed Pipe Pistol
-Broken Pipe Pistol
+Option to buy .357 rounds and other stuff from Chet.
15:00. Shape Changing: Gecko 1 unlocked. 72:50. Skinning 3 unlocked. 94:80. Marksmanship (Modern Rifles) 6 unlocked. -2 5.56 Rounds.
02:50. Explosives 0 not unlocked.
17:50. Locksmith 4 not unlocked.
14:60. Scavenger 4 not unlocked.
25:00. Marksmanship (Modern Handguns) 0 unlocked. 53:25. Marksmanship (Modern Handguns) 1 unlocked. 94:60. Marksmanship (Modern Handguns) 2 unlocked. 24:90. Marksmanship (Modern Handguns) 3 not unlocked. -9 .357 magnum rounds.
61:70. Survival 6 not unlocked. 37:70. Survival (Wasteland) 3 not unlocked.
78:40. Perception 4 unlocked.
92:50. Repair 3 unlocked. 12:100. Repair 4 not unlocked.
66:10. Caravan 2 unlocked. 17:30. Caravan 3 not unlocked.
90:90. Animal Friend 1 unlocked.
+1 Caravan (2)
+1 Marksmanship (Modern Rifles) (6)
+1 Perception (4)
+1 Repair (3)
+1 Shape Changing: Gecko (1)
+1 Skinning (3)
General: Marksmanship (Modern Handguns) (2)
Leveled Trait: Animal Friend unlocked (1)
+120 Caps
+10 .357 rounds
-9 .357 rounds
+Fixed Pipe Pistol
-Broken Pipe Pistol
+Option to buy .357 rounds and other stuff from Chet.
Leveled traits are just traits that level like normal skills. They can't be taught, but I'm reluctant to call them powers, so they'll go in the traits section. Keep in mind that Animal Friend will never completely stop animal hostility. If you have Animal Friend 10 (MAX!) and you punch a deathclaw in its reproductive stalk, then you will be attacked. But at 10 (MAX!) then a deathclaw will usually leave you well enough alone. Animal Friend maxed out only works if you leave the animal alone as well. And it only works on subsapient beings. No human-level intelligences will be tricked by Animal Friend. Dolphin and chimpanzees are about the highest it can go. Species that can communicate with humans and such, but only a few words, and they don't really understand what they're saying like humans do. Sentient, but not sapient.
Now that that ramble is concluded, does anyone want me to give them a briefing of what the Fallout setting is like, from my perspective of canon? I realize some of you might not have played it, so I'd like to give you all a chance to be more involved.
- Location
- USA
are you sure it is inadvertent?
yes!
wow. both rolls just at the edge like that?
I have played it but I am interested in your take on the setting. In particular after hearing that you believe that the nukes are not using radioactivity but rather some alien energy source not known on our world
Last edited:
Khepri14
Thus kindly I scatter...
- Location
- Following the wind
Please. I've done a few Fallout based quests, but that's about as far as my knowledge goes.
- Location
- Somewhere on the flat earth
I have only watched a let's play of fallout 4. And only to the level 12 or so.
How killable will deathclaws be? Because unless you have heavy weapon emplacements your pretty much fucked from my experience in the games.
- Location
- It's a whole new world we live in
Are you sure he wasn't just saying that they used "Radiation", to differentiate it from real radiation, just like everything is built in "Science"?
Very threatening. Goodsprings could probably take one, if they had foreknowledge, and an N.C.R. platoon could take out a pack of them rather easily. But you're a long ways away from being able to do that on your own.
With regards to the Fallout post, I'll start work on that. It will probably be up tonight, and will probably be a bit of rambly mess.
Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
Trivial, if you can get your hands on a radscorpion venom dart gun.
- Location
- USA
any threat is "trivial" if you happen to have the rare hard counter to it.Trivial, if you can get your hands on a radscorpion venom dart gun.
most people don't have those lying around
Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
ChildishChimera
A umbran summon
- Location
- New York
2 questions how hard is it build a dart gun and how hard is it to milk Radscorpion venom/kill them.
Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
Radscorpions are pretty easy to kill and not that hard to find. Building the dart gun takes some slightly uncommon components but isn't that hard, all things considered.
sainen
Elder Lich
once we kill one we'll have Shapeshift:Radscorpion making it trivial to milk the requisite venom for the dart gun.
Never heard of the radscorpian dart gun... got a good link explaining it?
Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
jcw3 rambles about Fallout. Not necessary for understanding the thread.
For people binge reading this threadmark in the future, as well as those of you reading in the 'modern day', this is my collected opinions on the Fallout universe, how I view it, and probably how I'll be writing it. Henceforth, the Falloutverse will be referred to as Earth-1, and standard Earths like our own or Blair's homeworld as Earth-0.
This is going to be pretty long, and I'm not making a T.L.;D.R.
The Fallout series is a series of video games designed by quite a few companies. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, in a which alternate history versions of the U.S.A. and the P.R.C. nuked each other (and presumably, the rest of the world) to smithereens. It operates off of 1950s B-Movie science, which means mutants, radiation with odd effects, rayguns, wacky robots, aliens, and a variety of references for nerds. It's generally based around cities. Las Vegas, Washington D.C., and Boston, for example, and the wasteland that emerged around their ruins. It takes place in the 2270s and 2280s, two hundred years after the 2077 nuclear war.
That's the cliff's notes of the series. Before I start, I should mention the context through which I've thought about Fallout lore the most. People criticize the Fallout series for a plethora of reasons, but I'll list a few below.
*It's still working after 200 years?
*There's still loot after 200 years?
*Radiation doesn't work like that!
And so on. So something about me. I don't like having my toys insulted. If there's a flaw in a series I like, I try to rationalize it. And when I'm desperate to validate my interests, I'm a pretty out-of-the-box thinker. So most of this is me trying to rationalize criticisms about one of my favorite universes, and I think, succeeding.
So. With that said, let's start in the mid twentieth century (trust me). The Mothership Zeta D.L.C. for Fallout 3 heavily implies, if not outright states, that a sapient, 'higher' race known as the zetans (or at least called that by humans) have been influencing human development for a long, long time.
The United States government, and possibly others, had zetan technology, through crashed ships and the like, Roswell being one of the most infamous, but not the first incident. I believe their assumption was that their ships were 'crash-prone'. Which is a bit stupid to believe about an advanced alien race.
So, my personal belief is that the zetans were influencing human technological development. I don't think it was the entire zetan government, if that even exists, because humans aren't important enough to be the targets of a race that advanced. I know, I know, I like H.F.Y. as much as the next guy, but let's be honest.
I think the people who were influencing humanity, they're the zetan equivalent of those assholes who shove kittens in ovens for shits and giggles. And I'll explain why. The zetans purposely released their ships and technology into human ownership. They purposely allowed humans to master their Zetan Energy Fuckery (henceforth referred to as Z.E.F.) and guided human civilization to what it is today. A charred figure barely crawling out of a smoldering ruin.
I ascribe to a rather controversial theory about Fallout, which is controversial for two reasons. One, it denies that humans had any relevance in the war that destroyed their civilization, and two, it's a bit silly, really. But I think there's solid proof behind it. The zetans were responsible for the Great War, the nuclear exchange that destroyed civilization.
I'll explain. The Great War evolved out of the Sino-American War, a war between the U.S.A. and the P.R.C. over the last bits of oil. By now, oil was a depleted resource on Earth-1, which is why you'll see objects made of glass or metal or nuclear material almost entirely rather than any plastics.
Anyway, the war continued. The Americans were pushing into China and winning, but the P.R.C. was still conducting operations on American soil, holding enemy territory. And then one of them nuked the other. The American media (beginning of Fallout 4, I believe?) posits that China launched first, which makes more sense than the alternative.
(Please note that this theory relies on the leadership of the U.S.A. and the P.R.C. being defaulted as reasonably competent (not S.V. competent, but normal, flawed competent) as well as relatively pragmatic. I will bring up the Enclave later, for Fallout lore junkies.)
But it still doesn't make very much sense. Sure, the Chinese were losing, but they had no reason to suspect that loss was inevitable. The entire country wasn't under American occupation, and everyone knows how land wars in Asia go. The Chinese government had some reason to launch, but by launching, they ultimately destroy their own nation, and any chance of reuniting their country from American rule. Not to mention that they still have a dagger in the back of the Americans, i.e. Alaska.
And the Americans are winning. They can have China wrapped up by Christmas, guys! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! There are still the reds in Alaska, but they're going to push them back any day now…
So neither side, as it naturally is, would have a legitimate reason to press the button. But then the Enclave comes up. For non-Fallout fans, the Enclave are a fascist group that held deep influence over the American government pre-war, and is still around in the contemporary Earth-1.
And you might be thinking, well, jcw3, the Enclave wanted a nuclear war. They wanted the opportunity to abandon the trappings of democracy. To take full and open power. Well, yeah. I'm not saying that the Enclave didn't want to do it. I'm just saying they had a little help in that regard. Or maybe the zetans did it, and the Enclave agreed with them. All that matters is that zetan influence eventually led to the Great War.
Either way, I posit that it's the zetan influence that led to the modern Earth-1. Now that I've said that, I'd like to talk about Z.E.F. The humans on Earth-1 call it radiation. It's not. By no definition of the word radiation, does it count as real radiation. Radiation doesn't stick to water, it wouldn't still be around after two hundred years, it doesn't mutate animals and make them into monsters, it doesn't turn people into glowing green zombies. Yes, that's a real thing. Look up Glowing Ones if you're curious.
Z.E.F. is superior to most Earthly materials. Not really in terms of being nonrenewable, when they run out of uranium or plutonium or whatever other elements catalyze Z.E.F., then we'd have another resource crisis. (Those were common in the pre-war days.)
But in versatility. Z.E.F. can be manipulated to create laser guns, 'nuclear' cars, fusion cores, all sorts of wacky gizmos. Other zetan tech can be used. Their ship's computers were interpreted by humans into robots and artificial intelligences. Their metallurgy combined with Z.E.F. applications allowed violation of the square-cube law (See the American giant robot known as Liberty Prime. Non-Fallout fans, he's one of the best parts of the mythos, and the best part of Fallout 3.).
It was still explosive and highly reactive, and that's why a simple bullet into a nuclear car or truck can create a miniature nuclear explosion. It also caused harm to humans. Ghoulification was common from exposure to Z.E.F. devices and energy bleeds. Humans would see their skin flake off, as they turned into ghouls, creatures created by the 'radiation' emitted by Z.E.F. Eventually, upon further radiation exposure, they would turn into mindless zombies. There are still plenty of sapient, well-adjusted ghouls, however, so don't judge, okay?
Calling Earth-1's 'radiation' radiation does it a disservice, and allows people to make the understandable, but lazy, mistake of calling Earth-1's tech 'magic' or 'a wizard did it'. By eliminating the idea that it might not be what we think it is, they allow themselves to fall into the trap of dismissing and criticizing unnecessarily.
'Radiation', combined with a few nasty elements we'll cover later, is the reason why Earth-1 is still so fucked up. But now we'll move on to another point people often raise about the Fallout games. Why is everything still working? After 200 years, why?
First, we have to understand that the Fallout games are based off of 1950s values and science. You could make the argument that the pre-war United States was so based off of the idea of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' that when their country actually broke in the prelude to the Great War, they essentially collapsed as a nation, and given the massive food riots that were happening before the nuclear exchange, it's very possible.
But that's a side comment. People in the '50s built things to last. The Hoover Dam was built in the 1930s, and it will take ten thousand years to collapse. Fallout operates off of similar logic. Z.E.F. allowed pre-war America, and presumably other prosperous nations like the U.S.S.R. or the P.R.C. to attain similarly long lasting structures. That's why, unless they were hit by a nuke, many pre-war buildings are still around, if a bit rotten.
And this applies to food as well. Superpreservatives are the explanation I came up with for why food lasts so long. If you apply superpreservatives (derived from zetan preservatives, of course) to normal food, and seal it properly, it will last a very long time. Two hundred years long, even. Might taste a bit squicky, but it will still be edible and nutritious. That's why Nuka-Cola and Dandy Boy Apples are still a popular treat in the wasteland.
So the next question people ask about Fallout, well, why hasn't this stuff all been looted? It sorta has. Keep in mind, the 'real world' of Fallout, i.e. Earth-1 is a lot more populated than the 'game world'. Goodsprings had twenty or so people in Fallout: New Vegas, in Earth-1, it has several hundred.
And the world is a lot bigger. The Mojave will take a lot more than an hour and nine minutes to walk across, hell, it will take longer than that to get to Primm. So, 'in-game', your player character is skipping over buildings that have already been looted, because there's no point in adding them. The game only includes the buildings and spots that are interesting and necessary, rather than the hundreds or thousands of sacked pre-war buildings.
Alright. That's me having gone off-course to rantily respond to criticism of one of my favorite things.
The present-day world of Earth-1 can be described thusly…
*China's paste, outside of some surviving states founded by Chinese remnants and American-Chinese states, formed by surviving P.R.C. civilians and Uncle Sam's stranded boys gone native.
*The U.S.S.R. got off sort of lightly, because I'm fairly certain they were neutral. There's a surviving government in Central Asia and Siberia.
*Europe was already fucky thanks to the Resource Wars that predate the Great War by several decades, and the Great War saw it destroyed in nuclear fire. The Swiss are probably the largest surviving culture group. The Middle East is in the same boat.
*India wasn't nuked as much as you think, but it collapsed into sectarian/ethnic bloodletting a few months after the war.
*South America and Africa are probably pretty decent to live, actually. I doubt they saw that much in the way of nukes outside of major, major cities like Rio or Lagos, so there are probably plenty of decent places to live. Won't be covering them at this stage of the game.
*Japan and Korea are both dead. There were probably ghouls at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, now that I think about it. And the Pacific Islanders who were just irradiated in our world probably got to enjoy ghoulification on Earth-1. Sad, really.
Now, on to the country people actually care about, the United States of America.
*Before the war, it was a collapsing nation already, the gradual loss of resources and the lack of food making its citizens riot.
*Grinding guerilla campaigns in North America (the U.S. thought it was a brilliant idea to conquer Mexico and Canada).
*A seemingly endless war in China, with hundreds of thousands of Uncle Sam's boys returning home in flags, usually in empty coffins thanks to the nature of Z.E.F. weaponry.
*So when the Great War happened, there weren't really many remnants of the American civilian government that survived. There are probably a few in places in Montana or South Dakota that weren't hit too bad, and still have claims to being an American successor state.
*I really don't feel like going into detail about the other parts of America, but my mental vision of Detroit is pretty cool. The only place in post-war America that still has functional cars for the everyday citizens.
Generic, basic setting details on the Mojave follow.
*So, you guys are in the Mojave Desert. For non-Americans or those of you who are bad at geography, the Mojave Desert is primarily in Nevada, Arizona, and California, states in the American Southwest.
*It weathered the Great War fairly well, thanks to the antimissile tech used by Mr. House, an enigmatic billionaire who invented some fairly neat stuff, and is still a prominent actor in the Mojave.
*Las Vegas is still standing, for instance. It's under the influence of tribal gangs under the leadership of the publicly strong yet secretly decrepit form of a pre-war billionaire, but it's still got the flash, bling, and gambling.
*The Mojave is infested with a variety of creatures, created by Z.E.F. and the F.E.V. (Forced Evolutionary Virus) mixing.
*Quick jaunt to explain the F.E.V. It was a pre-war attempt to beat the Chinese, that's been used by a variety of factions, mostly Enclave and Enclave defectors, from what I can tell, to mutate animals and create new super soldiers. Super mutants, giant green barely-sapient beings, are the most noticeable creation of it, but F.E.V. is very important in the biology of most wasteland animals.
*Anyhoo, most of the Mojave is still uninhabited by humans. Deathclaws, super mutants, and ordinary animals control most of the territory in the wastes, and they'll be your enemies as you press on outside of human territory.
*Human territory is divided between six 'factions'. I'll go over them in a later post, but basically, there are two nation-states, the N.C.R. and Caesar's Legion, a variety of town states, a variety of raider-hunter groups, a variety of tribals, and the Vegas city-state, under House's control, that rule the human parts of the Mojave. I will go into detail on this later.
*The Mojave is being fought over by the N.C.R., a California-based expansionistic flawed democratic state dominated by wealthy ranchers and water barons, and they're opposed by Caesar's Legion, an alliance of tribals from out east who practice slavery, crucify those they deem evil, and don't allow women into positions of power. House is content to maintain his control over Vegas, or at least he claims so. That's a key part of New Vegas' plot.
*The Let's Player known as Gopher summed it up best. 'N.C.R. aren't my favorites, but taxes or crucifixion isn't a really hard choice.'
*The Mojave is one of the last remnants of wasteland in a world that's being increasingly civilized. Both the Legion and N.C.R. are, whether you like them or not, civilized. And have fully functioning economies, without using frelling bottlecaps as currency.
Okay, I was going to do a post on the groups of interest in the Mojave (borrowing that term from the S.C.P. Foundation, but it's one I like, so meh), but I decided that I've written more than enough for one night. So. Questions? Thoughts? Comments?
This is going to be pretty long, and I'm not making a T.L.;D.R.
The Fallout series is a series of video games designed by quite a few companies. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, in a which alternate history versions of the U.S.A. and the P.R.C. nuked each other (and presumably, the rest of the world) to smithereens. It operates off of 1950s B-Movie science, which means mutants, radiation with odd effects, rayguns, wacky robots, aliens, and a variety of references for nerds. It's generally based around cities. Las Vegas, Washington D.C., and Boston, for example, and the wasteland that emerged around their ruins. It takes place in the 2270s and 2280s, two hundred years after the 2077 nuclear war.
That's the cliff's notes of the series. Before I start, I should mention the context through which I've thought about Fallout lore the most. People criticize the Fallout series for a plethora of reasons, but I'll list a few below.
*It's still working after 200 years?
*There's still loot after 200 years?
*Radiation doesn't work like that!
And so on. So something about me. I don't like having my toys insulted. If there's a flaw in a series I like, I try to rationalize it. And when I'm desperate to validate my interests, I'm a pretty out-of-the-box thinker. So most of this is me trying to rationalize criticisms about one of my favorite universes, and I think, succeeding.
So. With that said, let's start in the mid twentieth century (trust me). The Mothership Zeta D.L.C. for Fallout 3 heavily implies, if not outright states, that a sapient, 'higher' race known as the zetans (or at least called that by humans) have been influencing human development for a long, long time.
The United States government, and possibly others, had zetan technology, through crashed ships and the like, Roswell being one of the most infamous, but not the first incident. I believe their assumption was that their ships were 'crash-prone'. Which is a bit stupid to believe about an advanced alien race.
So, my personal belief is that the zetans were influencing human technological development. I don't think it was the entire zetan government, if that even exists, because humans aren't important enough to be the targets of a race that advanced. I know, I know, I like H.F.Y. as much as the next guy, but let's be honest.
I think the people who were influencing humanity, they're the zetan equivalent of those assholes who shove kittens in ovens for shits and giggles. And I'll explain why. The zetans purposely released their ships and technology into human ownership. They purposely allowed humans to master their Zetan Energy Fuckery (henceforth referred to as Z.E.F.) and guided human civilization to what it is today. A charred figure barely crawling out of a smoldering ruin.
I ascribe to a rather controversial theory about Fallout, which is controversial for two reasons. One, it denies that humans had any relevance in the war that destroyed their civilization, and two, it's a bit silly, really. But I think there's solid proof behind it. The zetans were responsible for the Great War, the nuclear exchange that destroyed civilization.
I'll explain. The Great War evolved out of the Sino-American War, a war between the U.S.A. and the P.R.C. over the last bits of oil. By now, oil was a depleted resource on Earth-1, which is why you'll see objects made of glass or metal or nuclear material almost entirely rather than any plastics.
Anyway, the war continued. The Americans were pushing into China and winning, but the P.R.C. was still conducting operations on American soil, holding enemy territory. And then one of them nuked the other. The American media (beginning of Fallout 4, I believe?) posits that China launched first, which makes more sense than the alternative.
(Please note that this theory relies on the leadership of the U.S.A. and the P.R.C. being defaulted as reasonably competent (not S.V. competent, but normal, flawed competent) as well as relatively pragmatic. I will bring up the Enclave later, for Fallout lore junkies.)
But it still doesn't make very much sense. Sure, the Chinese were losing, but they had no reason to suspect that loss was inevitable. The entire country wasn't under American occupation, and everyone knows how land wars in Asia go. The Chinese government had some reason to launch, but by launching, they ultimately destroy their own nation, and any chance of reuniting their country from American rule. Not to mention that they still have a dagger in the back of the Americans, i.e. Alaska.
And the Americans are winning. They can have China wrapped up by Christmas, guys! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! There are still the reds in Alaska, but they're going to push them back any day now…
So neither side, as it naturally is, would have a legitimate reason to press the button. But then the Enclave comes up. For non-Fallout fans, the Enclave are a fascist group that held deep influence over the American government pre-war, and is still around in the contemporary Earth-1.
And you might be thinking, well, jcw3, the Enclave wanted a nuclear war. They wanted the opportunity to abandon the trappings of democracy. To take full and open power. Well, yeah. I'm not saying that the Enclave didn't want to do it. I'm just saying they had a little help in that regard. Or maybe the zetans did it, and the Enclave agreed with them. All that matters is that zetan influence eventually led to the Great War.
Either way, I posit that it's the zetan influence that led to the modern Earth-1. Now that I've said that, I'd like to talk about Z.E.F. The humans on Earth-1 call it radiation. It's not. By no definition of the word radiation, does it count as real radiation. Radiation doesn't stick to water, it wouldn't still be around after two hundred years, it doesn't mutate animals and make them into monsters, it doesn't turn people into glowing green zombies. Yes, that's a real thing. Look up Glowing Ones if you're curious.
Z.E.F. is superior to most Earthly materials. Not really in terms of being nonrenewable, when they run out of uranium or plutonium or whatever other elements catalyze Z.E.F., then we'd have another resource crisis. (Those were common in the pre-war days.)
But in versatility. Z.E.F. can be manipulated to create laser guns, 'nuclear' cars, fusion cores, all sorts of wacky gizmos. Other zetan tech can be used. Their ship's computers were interpreted by humans into robots and artificial intelligences. Their metallurgy combined with Z.E.F. applications allowed violation of the square-cube law (See the American giant robot known as Liberty Prime. Non-Fallout fans, he's one of the best parts of the mythos, and the best part of Fallout 3.).
It was still explosive and highly reactive, and that's why a simple bullet into a nuclear car or truck can create a miniature nuclear explosion. It also caused harm to humans. Ghoulification was common from exposure to Z.E.F. devices and energy bleeds. Humans would see their skin flake off, as they turned into ghouls, creatures created by the 'radiation' emitted by Z.E.F. Eventually, upon further radiation exposure, they would turn into mindless zombies. There are still plenty of sapient, well-adjusted ghouls, however, so don't judge, okay?
Calling Earth-1's 'radiation' radiation does it a disservice, and allows people to make the understandable, but lazy, mistake of calling Earth-1's tech 'magic' or 'a wizard did it'. By eliminating the idea that it might not be what we think it is, they allow themselves to fall into the trap of dismissing and criticizing unnecessarily.
'Radiation', combined with a few nasty elements we'll cover later, is the reason why Earth-1 is still so fucked up. But now we'll move on to another point people often raise about the Fallout games. Why is everything still working? After 200 years, why?
First, we have to understand that the Fallout games are based off of 1950s values and science. You could make the argument that the pre-war United States was so based off of the idea of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' that when their country actually broke in the prelude to the Great War, they essentially collapsed as a nation, and given the massive food riots that were happening before the nuclear exchange, it's very possible.
But that's a side comment. People in the '50s built things to last. The Hoover Dam was built in the 1930s, and it will take ten thousand years to collapse. Fallout operates off of similar logic. Z.E.F. allowed pre-war America, and presumably other prosperous nations like the U.S.S.R. or the P.R.C. to attain similarly long lasting structures. That's why, unless they were hit by a nuke, many pre-war buildings are still around, if a bit rotten.
And this applies to food as well. Superpreservatives are the explanation I came up with for why food lasts so long. If you apply superpreservatives (derived from zetan preservatives, of course) to normal food, and seal it properly, it will last a very long time. Two hundred years long, even. Might taste a bit squicky, but it will still be edible and nutritious. That's why Nuka-Cola and Dandy Boy Apples are still a popular treat in the wasteland.
So the next question people ask about Fallout, well, why hasn't this stuff all been looted? It sorta has. Keep in mind, the 'real world' of Fallout, i.e. Earth-1 is a lot more populated than the 'game world'. Goodsprings had twenty or so people in Fallout: New Vegas, in Earth-1, it has several hundred.
And the world is a lot bigger. The Mojave will take a lot more than an hour and nine minutes to walk across, hell, it will take longer than that to get to Primm. So, 'in-game', your player character is skipping over buildings that have already been looted, because there's no point in adding them. The game only includes the buildings and spots that are interesting and necessary, rather than the hundreds or thousands of sacked pre-war buildings.
Alright. That's me having gone off-course to rantily respond to criticism of one of my favorite things.
The present-day world of Earth-1 can be described thusly…
*China's paste, outside of some surviving states founded by Chinese remnants and American-Chinese states, formed by surviving P.R.C. civilians and Uncle Sam's stranded boys gone native.
*The U.S.S.R. got off sort of lightly, because I'm fairly certain they were neutral. There's a surviving government in Central Asia and Siberia.
*Europe was already fucky thanks to the Resource Wars that predate the Great War by several decades, and the Great War saw it destroyed in nuclear fire. The Swiss are probably the largest surviving culture group. The Middle East is in the same boat.
*India wasn't nuked as much as you think, but it collapsed into sectarian/ethnic bloodletting a few months after the war.
*South America and Africa are probably pretty decent to live, actually. I doubt they saw that much in the way of nukes outside of major, major cities like Rio or Lagos, so there are probably plenty of decent places to live. Won't be covering them at this stage of the game.
*Japan and Korea are both dead. There were probably ghouls at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, now that I think about it. And the Pacific Islanders who were just irradiated in our world probably got to enjoy ghoulification on Earth-1. Sad, really.
Now, on to the country people actually care about, the United States of America.
*Before the war, it was a collapsing nation already, the gradual loss of resources and the lack of food making its citizens riot.
*Grinding guerilla campaigns in North America (the U.S. thought it was a brilliant idea to conquer Mexico and Canada).
*A seemingly endless war in China, with hundreds of thousands of Uncle Sam's boys returning home in flags, usually in empty coffins thanks to the nature of Z.E.F. weaponry.
*So when the Great War happened, there weren't really many remnants of the American civilian government that survived. There are probably a few in places in Montana or South Dakota that weren't hit too bad, and still have claims to being an American successor state.
*I really don't feel like going into detail about the other parts of America, but my mental vision of Detroit is pretty cool. The only place in post-war America that still has functional cars for the everyday citizens.
Generic, basic setting details on the Mojave follow.
*So, you guys are in the Mojave Desert. For non-Americans or those of you who are bad at geography, the Mojave Desert is primarily in Nevada, Arizona, and California, states in the American Southwest.
*It weathered the Great War fairly well, thanks to the antimissile tech used by Mr. House, an enigmatic billionaire who invented some fairly neat stuff, and is still a prominent actor in the Mojave.
*Las Vegas is still standing, for instance. It's under the influence of tribal gangs under the leadership of the publicly strong yet secretly decrepit form of a pre-war billionaire, but it's still got the flash, bling, and gambling.
*The Mojave is infested with a variety of creatures, created by Z.E.F. and the F.E.V. (Forced Evolutionary Virus) mixing.
*Quick jaunt to explain the F.E.V. It was a pre-war attempt to beat the Chinese, that's been used by a variety of factions, mostly Enclave and Enclave defectors, from what I can tell, to mutate animals and create new super soldiers. Super mutants, giant green barely-sapient beings, are the most noticeable creation of it, but F.E.V. is very important in the biology of most wasteland animals.
*Anyhoo, most of the Mojave is still uninhabited by humans. Deathclaws, super mutants, and ordinary animals control most of the territory in the wastes, and they'll be your enemies as you press on outside of human territory.
*Human territory is divided between six 'factions'. I'll go over them in a later post, but basically, there are two nation-states, the N.C.R. and Caesar's Legion, a variety of town states, a variety of raider-hunter groups, a variety of tribals, and the Vegas city-state, under House's control, that rule the human parts of the Mojave. I will go into detail on this later.
*The Mojave is being fought over by the N.C.R., a California-based expansionistic flawed democratic state dominated by wealthy ranchers and water barons, and they're opposed by Caesar's Legion, an alliance of tribals from out east who practice slavery, crucify those they deem evil, and don't allow women into positions of power. House is content to maintain his control over Vegas, or at least he claims so. That's a key part of New Vegas' plot.
*The Let's Player known as Gopher summed it up best. 'N.C.R. aren't my favorites, but taxes or crucifixion isn't a really hard choice.'
*The Mojave is one of the last remnants of wasteland in a world that's being increasingly civilized. Both the Legion and N.C.R. are, whether you like them or not, civilized. And have fully functioning economies, without using frelling bottlecaps as currency.
Okay, I was going to do a post on the groups of interest in the Mojave (borrowing that term from the S.C.P. Foundation, but it's one I like, so meh), but I decided that I've written more than enough for one night. So. Questions? Thoughts? Comments?
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