Fallout 4 Global Travel System

[TexasRedhawk]

Apologies if this has already been requested elsewhere.

Those of us who remember the Fallout 3 days may remember an excellent mod by Yossarian called the Global Travel System, or GTS. This mod added the ability to travel across the world by using a variety of vehicles using nested worldspaces, with support available for DLC locations like the Pitt and Point Lookout as well as other mods like Reykjavik Iceland. The GTS eventually disappeared off the Nexus, a rumored New Vegas version never materialized, and assuming the Yossarian currently active in New Vegas modding is indeed the same person and not a Synth imposter he never seems to have moved on to Fallout 4.

Recently I've seen a lot of talk about upcoming Fallout 4 mods for the Capital Wasteland, the Mojave, New York City and so on coming out, plus official DLC added Nuka-World and Far Harbour. I believe a Fallout 4 incarnation of the Global Travel System would be a perfect fit for these, allowing players to leave the Boston area and travel to other locations seamlessly rather than relying on more complicated teleportation doors or so on, as well as allowing alternative means of reaching the DLC areas.

Since I don't want to just throw this idea at people without actually doing theorycrafting of my own on how it might actually be done, allow me to outline a plan. Being completely inexperienced with the Creation Kit I have no idea how feasible any of this is but here goes:

GLOBAL TRAVEL SYSTEM BASICS
The Fallout 3 GTS worked using what amounted to a series of nested worldspaces, accessible by dummy locations reachable through activated static vehicles. For a theoretical Fallout 4 GTS this would be similar: the Commonwealth map of Sanctuary, Boston and so on would be the base-level map, with interiors like Diamond City and such being located within the Commonwealth map. Above that would be, for example, a New England map, then above that a North America Map, then above that a Western Hemisphere Map, then above that an Earth map (and so on if anyone ever develops a Mothership Zeta-type space mod). These maps would be reachable with vehicles like the ingame Vertibirds and new static motorcycles, cars, trucks, boats etc. via dummy worldspaces from which the player could travel to other areas.

So let's go over how this would work ingame. The player is at the Red Rocket outside Sanctuary and wants to reach, say, a mod added New York City. Assuming the player doesn't have access to Vertibird signal grenades they would need access to a vehicle - let's say in this case a Lone Wanderer motorcycle. (This means the player can't be in power armor and can only bring one humanoid companion, but we'll get into vehicle specifics later.) Rather than (or possibly in addition to) working like the "driveable vehicles" mods the motorcycle, once activated, would give the option of leaving the Boston area, bringing the player to a "New England" worldspace consisting of a small section of roadside with perhaps a run-down gas station, small settlement, cave full of Deathclaws etc. nearby. (The GTS, if I remember correctly, offered a random selection of available worldspaces with different potential encounters, loot, etc.) From here the player could then travel to any location on the New England map such as the vanilla Commonwealth map, Nuka-World, etc. or leave New England for the North America map.

Let's say in this example that New York City, despite being close to New England in real life, is not on the New England map but in the "Eastern US" map. So the player drives out of the Commonwealth to the New England map (representing a road outside of Boston), then from there to the North America map, then from the North America map (which would have New England, Eastern US, Central US, Western US, Canada etc. as maps). From the North America map the player would then travel to the Eastern US map (representing a road outside of Washington D.C./NYC/etc.) and from there to New York City, arriving in the mod-added worldspace at a preset location on the edge of the map.

Using this system of nested worldspaces would thus make it pretty easy to travel the entire world without all the fuss of actually trying to model the entire world in the Fallout 4 engine which is, I can only assume, completely impossible.

IN THE AIR, ON LAND, AND SEA
Now like the Fallout 3 GTS a Fallout 4 GTS would have multiple different vehicles (more on those later) which would, obviously, have different properties and be able to travel to different locations. For example it would be impossible to drive your motorcycle to the Europe or Australia maps, and it would be impractical to sail a boat to the Mojave (unless it was small enough to sail up the Colorado River to the Hoover Dam of course, but we'll ignore that for now). For simplification, we'll divide GTS vehicles into three categories: land vehicles, sea vessels and aircraft.

Land vehicles, of course, are Lone Wanderer motorcycles, Highwayman cars, military APCs and so on. These would be able to travel to various land maps but would be unable to reach overseas areas without assistance (more on that in a bit). So for example a player starting out with a motorcycle in Boston could travel to anywhere in North and South America, but not beyond to Europe, Asia, Africa etc.

Sea vessels are boats and the like, obviously. These can travel by water depending on type - a small boat can navigate coastal waters and major rivers, for example, so a player setting out from Kingsport Lighthouse in a small motorboat could go anywhere on the eastern seaboard, up the Mississippi river, and so on, but would be unable to cross the Atlantic or Pacific. (We'll get into why it would be impractical to take a motorboat from Boston to Japan by way of the Straight of Magellan later.) Bigger boats can't navigate smaller rivers (we'll say, for example, that the Mississippi is no longer navigable by barge due to a river blockage or something) but can cross the oceans and, if large enough, transport a land vehicle or even an aircraft, permitting the player to, for example, take their motorcycle from Boston to Europe and then travel Eurasia by land.

Aircraft would be vertibirds, airships like the Prydwen, and let's say a salvaged and partially repaired alien recon craft. These would be the most versatile, offering the ability to travel anywhere in the world, often with multiple companions, power armor and other things not available to small vehicles like the motorcycle. The downsides would be fuel cost (more on that later), rarity and needing a trained pilot, though the player could learn to pilot some aircraft for themselves. An airship similar to the Prydwen would still require a large crew though.

YOU HAVE AN ENCOUNTER IN THE WASTES
Traveling vast distances by any means other than an aircraft should of course not be an easy and boring process where one simply clicks through a few menus and maps and teleports from the Red Rocket to New Vegas. In addition to consuming time and fuel and wearing down your vehicle (more on that later) most travel options would have the possibility of resulting in Random Encounters.

Let's go back to the example I gave earlier regarding traveling from Boston to New York City. The player starts at Red Rocket with a Lone Wanderer motorcycle and is bringing Cait as a companion. The player and Cait ride out of Boston easily enough and reach the New England map, arriving in the dummy worldspace which, in this example, is an abandoned roadside diner. The diner is already long-looted of anything valuable save for some scrap, so the player and Cait continue on towards the North America map representing the midpoint between Boston and New York City.

Before arriving at the North America map however the player has a random encounter, pulling them out of their travel sequence into a small worldspace that, in this case, has a non-hostile wastelander begging for some food or water. The player could optionally give the wastelander something, rob/kill them, barter with them for it or just leave, and since Cait is present she would get affinity boosts depending on what you do. Let's say in this example that the player gives the wastelander some purified water and grilled radstag free of charge. Cait disapproves, but the relieved wastelander gives the player a reward that could consist of some caps, scrap, a legendary weapon or even the wastelander offering to head to the Commonwealth and become a settler.

The player and Cait then continue on to the North America map, arriving at a vacant crossroads, and from there continue to the Eastern US map, coming across a Brotherhood patrol that may or may not be friendly to the player depending on the player's actions in the Commonwealth (the patrol might not be aware that you're hostile to the Brotherhood after doing an Institute quest and killing a few aspirants somewhere in Boston, for example, but they'll DEFINITELY be looking out for you if you killed Elder Maxson or blew up the Prydwen). In this example the player is Sentinel, so the patrol is friendly and asks the player to assist in dealing with a small threat nearby if they have time. Agreeing leads to a new random encounter location where the player and the Brotherhood patrol clear out a small raider camp, for which the player is rewarded with experience, caps and whatever loot from the camp they want as well as the thanks of their fellow Brotherhood soldiers. The player and Cait then continue back to the Eastern US map and from there travel to New York City without incident.

On the way back to the Commonwealth the player and Cait pass the Eastern US and North America maps without incident. Upon traveling to the New England map though the player finds the previously abandoned diner has now been inhabited by a trader caravan that the player can buy or sell goods from, and some assorted items have been scattered around that the player may be able to steal (or loot if they're considered worthless - some scrap might have been thrown in the dumpster for example) if they're stealthy enough. Or they can just kill everyone and loot the bodies. Porter Gage woul definitely approve of that if he was with the player instead of Cait. Finally the player travels back to Boston and from there rides the Red Rocket, their journey complete.

While that example walkthrough may have been overly long, it does demonstrate how the system could be tweaked to be more immersive and fun than just "Fast Travel to New England, loading screen, Fast Travel to North America, loading screen, Fast Travel to Eastern US, loading screen, Fast Travel to New York City, loading screen, arrive, repeat in reverse". Land travel wouldn't be the only thing to get random encounters either. Sea travel carries the risk of pirates, mirelurks, friendly boats or uncharted islands (upon which the player can, if unlucky, get permanently stranded with no hope of escape should their boat be damaged or destroyed without having the supplies for repairs handy), and even air travel could get a few options such as the NCR shooting you down if you try to fly the Prydwen right up to Shady Sands you absolute madman.

Is Fallout 4 starting to sound a bit more like the classic Fallout games to you yet? I hope it is.

WHY WALK TO ANCHORAGE WHEN YOU COULD TAKE THE PRYDWEN?
I promised repeatedly to explain the differences between different vehicles earlier in this post, so let me do that now.

Each vehicle in a hypothetical Fallout 4 Global Travel System mod would have its own statistics and abilities ranging from how fast it can travel to what and how much fuel you need to complete a journey to how many companions you can bring to whether or not you can travel in power armor. For example a player with a motorcycle can travel reasonably fast and with decent fuel expenditure but can't ride in power armor and can only bring one humanoid companion since Dogmeat and robots like Ada and Codsworth (unless modified at the Robot Workbench to be as fast as a car or something) can't ride on the back or keep up with your motorcycle on foot. Bringing a car on the other hand lets the player bring three companions including robots (unless they're sentry bots obviously) and far more supplies with increased speed but higher fuel consumption, and bringing, say, a fixed-up military APC would let you bring multiple companions and power armor and would negate most hostile random encounters (raiders aren't going to pick a fight with a tank) except for the most dangerous ones (a super mutant behemoth will) in exchange for slow speed and terrible fuel consumption.

Traveling would also result in wear and tear on your vehicles, which would require maintenance and repairs to avoid breaking down in the middle of nowhere and getting stranded far from home. Your car might also get shot up by raiders, forcing you to walk home or call in a Vertibird or something. The more complex the vehicle the more maintenance would be required and the more expensive repairs would be in scrap or caps. Further, each vehicle would have a storage container (motorcycle bags, car trunk, etc.) that can carry varying weights, so no bringing twenty looted sets of T-60 power armor home on your Lone Wanderer.

So as an example of what travel options could be available...
Motorcycle: Land vehicle. Can navigate roads and offroads. Microfusion Cell fuel. Good speed. Good fuel consumption. Average maintenance. Poor cargo capacity. Power armor prohibited. Limit one humanoid companion. Increased chance of random encounters. Can be loaded on mid-size and large boats and airships.
Car: Land vehicle. Can navigate roads. Microfusion Cell fuel. Great speed. Average fuel consumption. Average maintenance. Average cargo capacity. Power armor prohibited. Limit three companions. Average chance of random encounters. Can be loaded on large boats.
Mid-size boat: Sea vessel. Can navigate oceans and large rivers. Liquid fuel. Average speed. Average fuel consumption. Difficult maintenance. Good cargo capacity. Power armor permitted. No companion limit. Average chance of random encounters. Requires captain. Can load motorcycle cargo. Small customizable interior.
Vertibird: Aircraft. Can navigate worldwide. Fusion core fuel. Excellent speed. Good fuel consumption. Complex maintenance. Good cargo capacity. Power armor permitted. Limit three companions plus Dogmeat. Limited chance of random encounters. Requires pilot.
Airship: Aircraft. Can navigate worldwide. Fusion core fuel. Poor speed. Poor fuel consumption. Extremely complex maintenance. Infinite cargo capacity. Power armor permitted. No companion limit. Airship-specific random encounters only. Requires pilot and crew. Can load motorcycle cargo. Large customizable interior.

Other vehicles could be made available too, of course, but let's not go into encyclopedic detail.

THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR WALKIN'
The player would have course also be able to simply walk to certain areas, let's say by simply walking to the boundary of the map and choosing to continue into the wasteland from a pop-up or by using a mod-added "walking boots" item to fast travel from any other exterior location in the Commonwealth to the New England map. Walking allows the player to travel to any area reachable by land, allowing the player to recreate wandering the wasteland on foot as in the first two Fallout games. Potentially the player could also be allowed to swim vast distances if they have the Aquaboy/Aquagirl perk (albeit not with a companion), and would be afforded other bonuses depending on their SPECIAL stats and perks.

Walking from Boston to the Hub would have course be inconvenient, difficult and time-consuming compared to traveling by vehicle - the player's speed overland even with maxed out SPECIAL stats would never be equal to a car resulting in longer travel times (more on those later) and more random encounters and no vehicle inventory space would be available, limiting the player's inventory to that of their own carry weight plus their companions. On the other hand, walking on foot does have advantages. The player can bring as many companions as they want and there's no fuel cost, and being on foot means you can't get stranded due to your vehicle eating a mini nuke.

Plus everyone knows a Vault Dweller should be walking the wasteland as much as possible, right?

YOUR VERY OWN TRAVEL CENTER
The Fallout 3 GTS had a player home located outside of the Capital Wasteland where the player could find and dock their boat, store supplies, rest and otherwise plan their world travels. Fallout 4 added the Settlement Workshop system and a potential Fallout 4 GTS could make good use of this system by adding new Settlements worldwide as well as the ability to construct various structures to store, maintain, repair or even build new vehicles. Turn the Red Rocket into an actual car and motorcycle maintenance facility, construct an airstrip in Texas or build a harbor town in Newfoundland, then expand those settlements into towns in the same way that you do in the Commonwealth. Sim Settlements compatibility could even be added.

To start the player off, a small base of operations located outside Boston in, say, the Plymouth area could be added where the player can make use of pre-built land vehicle and sea vessel storage and maintenance facilities. This facility can be expanded as a player home and settlement or even scrapped and the resources used to build a similar one back in the Commonwealth.

ON SURVIVING A WORLD TOUR
The GTS system would also be integrated with Fallout 4's survival mode. Traveling from one location to the next would take time - for example, driving from Boston to New York City should take at least several hours, if not a full day considering post-apocalyptic road conditions, random encounters, stopping to find shelter during a radstorm etc. If the player has survival mode activated this would also result in the player growing hungry, thirsty or tired on the way. Food and water can be carried in the vehicle cargo or in the player's inventory, and for sleeping the player can either sleep in the vehicle if there's enough room or set up sleeping bags and tents added by camping mods.

Since the player can't hike, drive, sail or fly twenty four hours a day without rest long distance trips would require stopping somewhere at regular intervals. While theoretically one could meticulously code a complicated distances in miles system into the game, it's easier not to bother and just go wing it based on vehicle speed. Returning to my earlier example, the player and Cait are traveling from Boston to New York City by motorcycle. Fast traveling from the Red Rocket to the New England map takes an hour by motorcycle. On the New England map traveling to nearby Nuka-World or Plymouth would only take another hour, while traveling up to Maine would take several more. The player heads to the North America map, which takes, say, three hours. From here trying to travel to the Western US would take several days, but we're only going to the Eastern US, which takes an additional three hours.

We've now been traveling seven hours and haven't even reached New York City yet, which is obviously problematic to anyone who has ever made the trip in person. I know it should normally be about a four hour trip. But that's in perfect, non-post-apocalyptic conditions, so we'll go with the delays being due to roads being impassable due to terrain shifts, high radiation zones, swarms of feral ghouls or other hazards plus the player just plain getting lost on the road.

Since the player left Red Rocket in the afternoon night falls before the player reaches the Eastern US map, and since road travel at night is likely even more hazardous in Fallout than in real life this means the player and Cait have to stop for the night. The motorcycle stops in a small worldspace where the player can either set up camp if they have the equipment or find a place to sleep nearby. In one example the randomly selected stopping location is a small roadside town similar to Novac where the player can rent a hotel room for the night, set up camp outside of town if they don't want to spare the caps, or just massacre everyone and sleep as much as they please in the ruins. Another example might find the player stopping near a cave and being able to sleep inside... if they clear out the yao guai first. After sleeping or waiting until daylight the player can then continue on their way to New York City, which takes four more hours for an eleven hour total trip.

Long trips, even in daytime, would require stops as well. Say the player, Dogmeat, Hancock and MacReady are going on a road trip in a Highwayman to New Vegas. Skipping all the complex step-by-step explanations the journey takes about eighty hours, meaning that at least three overnight stops will be necessary. But in addition to that the player also has to deal with driver fatigue and refueling, so every ten hours of travel the player will be forced into a random encounter that may simply consist of a vacant worldspace with nothing in it but where the player can get out, eat and drink, look for scrap if there happens to be anything nearby, refuel the car ("One of us DID bring some microfusion cells for fuel right? ...Well, it looks like Dogmeat's the only one of us smart enough to remember.") or even switch drivers with Hancock or MacReady assuming either of them knows how to drive (they presumably don't initially but could be taught how to by the player), allowing the player to sleep while still making progress towards the destination.

Walking ups travel times significantly, turning the eleven-hour trip to New York City into a five day hike and the four day trip to New Vegas into a month long adventure across dozens of camping stops and random encounters. But who hasn't wanted an excuse to go camping in the woods with their companions? Flying by Vertibird on the other hand drops travel times significantly, letting the player reach New York City in less than two hours and cross the country in just over a day, though even then the player may need to land for refueling or letting the pilot rest, assuming you only brought one.

Sea travel has its own set of rules as well. Small boats have to be manually operated (one of several reasons why you can't cross an ocean with one) and thus require stopping as much as a land vehicle would, while mid-size and large boats have autopilot systems or crewmembers to handle things while the player sleeps, though turning on the autopilot and going to bed when you're the only person on your mid-size boat who knows how to operate it is a sure recipe for getting a negative random encounter like pirates, the kraken or running aground and getting stranded on an island somewhere.

I'M A WANDERER, I ROAM AROUND...
Like the original Fallout 3 GTS and Fallout 4's Sim Settlements mod, a Fallout 4 GTS would be designed to be as much a modder's framework as it would be its own mod. Whether big projects like the Capital Wasteland or Mojave projects or a lone modder adding a representation of his hometown somewhere the system would be made for easy expansion and compatibility - design your worldspace as you normally would, then just add a map marker for it in the appropriate regional map and a place for the player to park their vehicle and you're done. Furthermore a large number of worldspaces would be needed for the random encounter and overnight stop systems that could be made by the modding community as a whole.

A mod of this size and scope is obviously a huge undertaking and one that I am in no way suitable for performing. I can only hope that there are enough interested modders out there to give the idea some thought, tinker with my suggestions above if they prove impractical or overly complicated, and perhaps one day give us the ability to travel the whole world in Fallout 4 to an extent not seen since Yossarian's original work in Fallout 3.

I thank you all for your time, and great work to everyone who survived reading all of the above! It only took me five hours to write it...