7thsealord

Something to consider is multiple options for the origins of one's character, with altered quests and dialogue based on what you are. I recall once seeing a You-Tube video of a Mod that added something like this to FO3. I think the idea there was that you had escaped the Vault and already spent a little time in the Wastes, long enough to join one of the factions - so you began as a BOS, Outcast, Regulator, Talon, Raider or Slaver (possibly others as well), with varying wardrobe and starting equipment based on what you were. In FO4's case, possibly add Android (or even a couple of differing Android sub-types) to the choice list. A big advantage is that something like this, if adequately done, would add a lot to the game's replayability.

Oh, puh-leez. Leaving aside the 'greenhouse effect' claim (which I personally consider to be a giant steaming heap of bull-cookies), no one said that the ecology of the FO3 world would be untouched. Given two hundred years of being more or less left alone, it would adapt. Just as with the various extremely inhospitable places mentioned earlier in this thread (with pictures), all of which 'bounced back' to some extent in much less time.

Considering the limitations of development time / expense versus releasing the product and actually making money with it, people should perhaps wonder what would have been left out to make room for vehicles. Yes, I know. FO3 as sold is FULL of bugs, dead ends, unused content, missed oppurtunities and so forth - one major reason why the modder community has been so active (and so amazing) here. But it should be something to consider.

Not only a lack of the facilties that support ground vehicles, but also of roads to drive them on. All overpasses and most bridges have been thoroughly chewed up. Not only are there lots of gaps but there are also portions that may LOOK usable but I would definitely think twice before trusting to support a motor vehicle. Been a long long time between safety inspections for most of those places. The roads themselves have numerous stretches that are more or less drivable, but these tend to be littered with debis (including things that explode) and not connected with anything else. One big consideration is how much of the wrong attention a motor vehicle will get. In other words, "bullet magnet". A human on foot can sneak, hide, go down manholes and so on. NOTE: I do like the idea of sections of the monorail being usable.

Maybe we should blame the old indian burial ground that the place was built on. ;)

I think someone's hyperbole was showing on that one.

Is that the gun that is used to shoot molerats, or the one that shoots mole rats as projectiles? ;)

Seem to be an awful lot of sweeping assumptions here. Why the heck should the Player's Small Gun and Repair skills be maxed out? If s/he had spent every waking moment of their teenage years doing absolutely nothing but practice their shooting, then this may be doable, but this is not what happened. Instead, the LW kept busy in V101 all that time learning stuff in school and working, just like all the other kids. If the LW 'specializes' in specific skillsets, that is what Tag skills are for. Regarding firearms training in the Wastes, I clearly recall Simms's son talking about how his father is teaching him how to shoot. So much for your assertion that "NO ONE" does this. There is also that bit in the Big Town quests where the LW can give the inhabitants there some quick-n-dirty firearms training. Finally, there is unliikely to be much in the way of organized gun ranges or qualified shooting instructors around in the Wastes - you scrounge a weapon and ammo somewhere, figure out how to use it without getting yourself killed and, if you are EXTREMELY fortunate, there will be an ally who can help you out with all this. Having so much ammo that one can afford to use it for practice shooting, instead of self defence or hunting, is probably a rare thing for Wastelanders. As for Raider behaviour. Sure they are selfish, but they are also part of a group. if one or more of their number is attacked, the obvious first priority is to locate and deal with the danger. Once that is done, then they can set about looting former associates. Basic common sense, really. As for attacking obviously superior opponents ....... well, one can always get lucky, surrender is widely acknowledged to be a very bad idea, and running away just gives the other guy clear shots at your back. Limited choices. No reason James couldn't be multi-skilled (and it doesn't mean he is also a good judge of people on top of all that). As for him being an MD ..... well, um, gee, funny you should mention it but I fail to recall ever hearing what Medical School he graduated from, or even that he WAS an MD. Come to think of it, I don't recall any of the other "Doctors" in FO3 ever mentioning what their formal qualifications were either. As for how James ended up being the Doctor for Vault 101, think about it. Plainly, he had "some" medical skill (refer the Birth scene), but his top priority afterwards was finding a safe haven for his child. Vault 101 was available (somehow) and needed a Doctor, so he put his hand up. If the Vault had instead wanted a priest or a left-handed candlestick-maker or a piano-tuner, James probably would have claimed qualifications in those fields instead, and then found ways to muddle through. Someone with literacy, basic skill / experience and access to Stimpacks (available in 101) could very easily convince worried people that he was a "real" Doctor ("If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck..."). Certainly been abundant instances in the real world where people successfully posed as Doctors for quite some time. This kind of meshes with that Overseer comment mentioned - maybe he was getting suspicious, or James's "real" qualfications WERE in dentistry. :wink: How many people are supposed to be in Vault 101? #### if I know. Far fewer than there used to be, though. Vault Security's competence / skill level (or lack thereof) is plausible. For at least a couple of generations (maybe longer), their primary threats have been unruly teenagers and radroach infestations. In other words, V101's Security are now Mall Cops, only with guns and body armour. If they WERE truly competent, then the LW's escape would have been a heckuva lot more difficult, if it was even possible. 'Torture Doesn't Work'. IMO, this is only an 'applause line' - ie. something that sounds great in speeches (like 'Violence Is Never The Answer' or 'Honest People Don't Get Cheated'), but is otherwise meaningless. Unsure what you are on about here - the Overseer's grilling of Amata, perhaps? Inflicting mental stress via intimidation is a valid tactic in properly-run interrogations (harder for the target to lie convincingly). Noting too that the Overseer was definitely out of control and over-reacting to pretty much everything at that time. Never been made clear where James and Catherine originally came from. It simply wasn't important in-game - maybe something that could have been the starting point of a DLC under the right circumstances (or one heck of a mod). If either or both were taught by Pinkerton (interesting hypothesis), he sure doesn't talk about it (uncharacteristic in itself, since that old guy has PLENTY to say about everything else). How big should V101 be? There are several doors marked 'INACCESSIBLE', including a couple on major throughfares, of which we know nothing. So it isn't like we ever get to tour the entire vault anyhow. Yep, Vault 101's Atrium is too small for "real" baseball or soccer. My thought is the 101ers use it to play "cut-down" versions of those games - fewer players for soccer, for instance. After a generation or three, odds are V101ers would think of their versions of those games as the "real" ones, and the stuff in Pre-War records as being the 'Old Fashioned' version. As for Vaults supposedly being built to last "forever", I put this down entirely to Vault-Tec advertising hype. Furthermore, a reusable door is a very sensible option - what if people were originally mustered into the Vault via a false alarm, or The War wasn't as bad as it was? (My biggest problem with the Vault design has always been them only having one means of access. What if there were problems - door stuck, tunnel collapse, traffic jam outside, etc.?) How are the Radroaches getting in? Teleportation, maybe? Vault 101 is big, has no lack of nooks and crannies, sustained near-misses from multiple nuclear strikes, has had very little (if any) exterior inspections / maintenance (by qualified personnel) in the 200-odd years since aforementioned strikes, and was presumably built by the lowest bidder in the first place. Yep, nothing to bother oneself about there. Why are the Radroaches so aggressive? Hello-o-o, Mutant? :dry: As regards the Wasteland being picked clean after 200 years, we don't know (a) how much stuff was there to be found in the first place (probably buttloads, at minimum); and (b) how many scavengers (people) were around for most of that time (probably very few, thinking about it). Obvious places like the Super-Duper Mart have been 99.9% picked clean, as one would expect. Other places, like the National Guard Armoury, retain caches that (via concealment or defenses) are untouched. Certain factories are at least semi-functional (the Robco and Red Racer plants are put to some use by various people) and/or retain a heckuva lot of stock (the Nuka-Cola plant stands supreme here - stockpiles aside, how many kilolitres of Nuka Cola is still sloshing around in its basement?). There are the Vaults in or near DC, which all arguably have in-built manufacturing capability (making their own vaultsuits, producing food, and air / water recycling, to name just a few). There are the settlements of DC, all of which must be productive on some level in order to survive. Also, there is contact / trade going on with places beyond the DC Wastes by the time of FO3 - eg. The Pitt, The Commonwealth and Point Lookout (plus various mods :wink: ). So the DC area is not a model of conspicuous consumption, but there is plenty of scope for goods to be imported from elsewhere or otherwise renewed, and then distributed by various means. This even explains the large incidence of Raiders - most are probably "blow-ins" from elsewhere, all coming to 'The Big City' to score weapons, drugs and good times. Odds are those incoming Raider groups also bring some goods with them - not necessarily for trade (though that cannot be completely ruled out). A room can be locked at any time. Automatically assuming that all locked rooms have remained untouched since The War is exactly that - an assumption. Given 200-odd years of chaos; pretty much any room anywhere in the DC area could be found, opened, looted, occupied, abandoned, forgotten, found again, repurposed, stocked, locked and abandoned again any number of times by any number of people. Or none at all. Or any combination in between. Maybe 'Holo' was originally a brand name in the FO3 world? :wink: Sorry, don't get your point on the Enclave. Take out the President, mess them up good. Whatever happens, there remain (semi-)organized elements which still control high-tech gear like Eyebots or radio transmitters. Some of them may even be sufficiently deluded, desperate or fanatical to believe (or to keep trying to convince others) that 'President Eden Will Rise Again', so to speak. The BOS was supposedly all about salvaging tech from the beginning. The Outcasts are the same, feeling that the rest of the DC chapter of the BOS have gone soft and/or native. Not doing anything with their salvage? Kind of an in-game irony thing going on there, methinks. Your suspension of disbelief, your problem. I think most if not all of your objections have already been discussed to varying degrees on this forum. Frankly, no problem here - there is nothing that cannot be explained via imagination, a little thought and/or accepting that certain things were done thus to simply make the game playable. FO3 was never perfect. If it was, most of the mods here and elsewhere would have never been created.

Preaching to the choir on that one, matey. Even if the entire DC area had been cratered by a 100 MT warhead ('Tsar Bomba'), two centuries would be more than enough time for at least some kind of ecosystem to reeestablish. Of course, a strike that large would probably also make survival of most structures in or close to DC (including subways and most of the local Vaults) kind of a moot point.

Agreed, Montana would probably not attract as much attention as some other places. But note that the DC area was, by the strict definition of that term, NOT 'carpet bombed' at all ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpet_bombing ). Wasn't even hit by any particularly large nukes, otherwise there would be pretty much nothing left standing at all - just a few VERY large craters ( http://www.nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/ ). According to the lore (as I understand it :wink: ), pre-War treaties had severely limited the nuclear warhead sizes / yields of both sides. So the DC area was hit by what amounted to (by our standards) multiple "tactical" strikes - which is why so many structures remain (more or less) standing, even in areas that should have been primary targets (the Pentagon and The Mall, for example). All things considered, whilst I accept that most destruction happened during The War, I also wonder just how much extra was done in the general mess that followed (talking to Underworld's 'Carol' is quite revealing on this, IMO).

Most of your points are well-taken. but ..... W-e-l-l, at least during the Cold War, a fair few missile silos and other Air Force bases of note were sited in Montana. So, given the First Strike apparently tried on the US at the start of The War, Montana might have copped more than its fair share of nukes. I also think the oceans would have stood up to radiation fairly well, actually, if only because of sheer volume (ie. lots and lots of space to "dilute" fallout). Noting too that some deep-ocean vents and trenches are particularly radioactive (via natural processes) anyhow

Well. it would make for a distinctive and very roomy backpack. :smile: Which is how I'd mod something like this if I was able - as a variant of one of the backpack mods. Just over two years in this forum, and I have ceased to be surprised by what people do with or in the game. As far as I'm concerned, this one isn't even in the Top 100 of Weird. :biggrin:

I like my game to have an "alien" look, which is why I use mods like 'Saturnworld'. This backdropping still-recognizable DC landmarks really makes for dramatic impact, IMO - kind of like the buried Statue of Liberty in the original 'Planet Of The Apes' movie. Lore be danged, I just like the look. There are mods that provide variant forms of sky, stars, sunglare, the Sun and the Moon. These got me to thinking about mod ideas that someone here may find interesting enough to consider.tackling: 1) Further Sun Variants - More variety in the size and colour of the Sun. IF possible, even have a Binary (twin) sun look - like the scene in 'Star Wars' original, when Luke watches the sunset and we see there are TWO suns. Tthinking the two Suns (preferably in different colours) as seen from Earth, tend to remain VERY close together rather than having them track across the sky differently. Those really obsessed with detail may also want to think what this will mean for sunglare and shadows. 2) Wrecked Moon - Thinking of scenes from the recent remake of 'The Time Machine'. Turn the Moon into a partial sphere closer to Earth with large cracks in it and a trail of debris. 3) Alternate Worldform - Extra-freaky territory here, with a side-order of bizarre. Suppose the DC wastes are no longer on a planet surface (if they ever were :wink: ) but someplace weird like a Ringworld or Discworld or whatever. Inspiration from Charles Stross's story 'Missile Gap', Larry Niven's 'Ringworld' and others. Those who liked 'Missile Gap' and are running with something based on that idea may even consider dropping a few "clues" in the Wastes - notes from people talking about how the sky changed, etc..

I'd say that it is definitely one of your mods. I've gone full stealth before cleaning house at the Lincoln Memorial (and elsewhere) any number of times, and never had a problem. Anything that affects NPC abilities / reactions (especially in combat) would be the first thing to look at.

My guess is that he raised cash somehow, then bought the chems from someone. Does he have a receipt? ;)

Using any mods that might change that area?

Could try going to console mode, clicking on the dog and seeing what ID number it is. That might help you find the mod. At the very least, with that number you could then use console commands to remove the thing completely.

There are already a number of green mods. I was thinking that a mod that adds foliage (vines, creepers, etc.) to the outside of some buildings may be worth consideration. Got to figure that, after a hundred years or so, some of the resurgent plantlife will be doing this.

Making money by scavving and hauling stuff in for sale is always an option. It can be amazing just how much $$$$$ one can accumulate this way. Also depends how modded up you are or want to be. There are mods that reduce or even eliminate the rate at which hardware (weaponry) wears out. There are others that will improve the Repair skills of vendors such as Moira and some of the Caravan crew to 100%. There are also mods that alter weapon repair requirements in various ways - such as being able to use Scrap Metal, buy various kinds of Repair Kit or have Workbenches provide bonuses to Repair attempts.. I suggest checking out some of these out - certain of the WMK series might be especially handy.

Depends. I use 'Greenworld' and 'Palm Trees' together and usually don't have any problems - still plenty of open space, and (unless your game has something exotic) most of the things you fight tend to charge rather than play sniper anyhow.

CRACKED.com turned me onto this video which, as the writer put it, is probably as close as we can get to a Fallout movie. Considering the look of it, seems to fit in here extremely well.

Some swear by BOSS, but it gave me nothing but trouble. Whether through my own incompetence or what, I couldn't say for sure but haven't used it since. This may also prove helpful - the Description text on its own is definitely worth reading: http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/mods/18721

Pretty sure there is at least one GECK tutorial on Youtube. You might want to check there.

If this mod (or a semblance thereof) is ever done, something I would really like to see covered is Talon Company's ARTILLERY. In the vanilla game, there are places in the DC Wastes (the Capitol Building and Takoma Park) where you find remotes that call in barrages from Talon C's artillery. But we never ever get to see where this stuff actually comes from. I kind of imagine this as a remnant of DC's ABM system (like the big guns in Anchorage?), tucked away in a forgotten corner of the Wastes, that the Talons have taken over.

Mods?