Fallout Lore, Semi-Canon Games, and Where to Draw the Line

[Tony the Wookie]

Ok, so I haven't been modding in a really long time. Last time I worked on a mod was early in the Fallout 3 days when I was young, naïve, and had only a fraction of the 3d modeling skills I have today.

 

So, with the announcement of Fallout 4, I figured this would be a good time to jump back into the modding world. I want to keep things simple this time and simply start by doing what I do best, making high quality assets.

 

 

 

 

That whole reason I am here is to get some opinions on where to draw my Fallout lore from. I am really looking for some relatively untapped source of Fallout canon ideas that I can bring into the new era of Fallout.

 

There are however certain contradictions between Interplay and Bethesda, as well as certain grey areas in the canon that I am debating on how to proceed with it.

 

 

 

 

Fallout and Fallout 2 are canon

 

Fallout Tactics is considered semi-canon by Bethesda, with the "high-level events of the Fallout Tactics plot" being considered canon, but there are a lot of inconsistencies when it comes to armor and weapons and vehicles

 

Fallout Brotherhood of Steel has to the best of my research been totally abandoned as canon

 

 

 

Fallout begins in 2161

Fallout Tactics begins in 2197

Fallout 2 begins in 2241

Fallout 3 begins in 2277

Fallout New Vegas begins in 2281

 

 

 

So obviously Fallout 2 would be the best source to draw from since it is closest to the modern games, and the lore is 100% accepted by Bethesda. However, Fallout 2 is the only game of the series I have not played. Also, the whole Enclave thing has already been done firsthand by Bethesda.

 

I keep coming back to Fallout Tactics, as it is pretty much untouched by Bethesda with the exception of a single line of dialogue from Senior Scribe Rothchild, "There's also a small detachment in Chicago, but they're off the radar. Gone rogue, long story."

 

Chicago is also much closer to the Capital Wasteland and the Commonwealth for story purposes.

 

 

 

Now the problem I come across when trying to incorporate Fallout Tactics designs into the modern style of Fallout is that

 

a) The art style of Fallout Tactics somewhat abandoned the retro-futurism that makes Fallout well... Fallout...

 

and

 

b) The Enclave manufactured the first post-nuke power armor in 2215, almost 2 decades after Fallout Tactics. The Brotherhood simply did not have the technology to manufacture new power armor like was shown in the game.

 

 

 

 

So when it comes to Fallout lore and incorporating it into the art style of the modern Fallout games, how would you feel about a modified look for the power armor worn by the Chicago sect of the Brotherhood of Steel?

 

(I have yet to find any point in Fallout where anyone ever refers to Midwest Brotherhood of Steel, it seems to the best of my research to be a term made and only used by fans.)

 

 

 

 

Fallout 1 and 2 don't distinguish a difference between T-51b and T-45d models of power armor, so the closest reference would be the Brotherhood in New Vegas, which would make it probable that the Brotherhood in the West is wearing mostly T-51b power armors.

 

So the so called "Minority" faction of the Brotherhood that was sent east and crash landed in Chicago must have been wearing some kind of pre-war power armor, not a new post war model.

 

 

 

 

I also, however don't find it appropriate as a modder to totally ignore the new designs that made Fallout Tactics, Fallout Tactics... So I still want to use what is known to fans as 'Midwest Brotherhood of Steel Power Armor' as the base for my design. I just want to make it more retro while also bringing it up to date with 2015 art style as opposed to 2001 when programs like Zbrush didn't exist to make high poly models.

 

 

I would redo the sprite of the Power Armor to make it more retro. Not that there is anything technically wrong with the sprite, it's a great piece of art. It's just that it is a bit out of place in the Fallout Universe.

- Tony Oakden, Producer of Fallout Tactics -

 

 

 

So basically, my idea is to create a Chicago faction power armor in the spirit of the Fallout Tactics design, but at the very heart it is still a T-51b. The Brotherhood can't make new power armors, that is clearly stated throughout the Fallout universe, but making surface level modifications to the metal pieces and leaving the microfusion reactors and motors and joints intact seems very possible.

 

 

 

 

 

So basically, what I am thinking about doing is making a few different versions of patchwork T-51b power armors that were held together as best they could by the Chicago faction who had limited supplies to deal with and also eventually made cosmetic changes to differentiate them from the original Brotherhood.

 

The other option is simply that there were some pre-war variations of power armor found in Chicago, maybe the Navy was testing some different designs that would work in the water. The models may have never been finished, but parts from them could have been salvaged to repair the deterioration from battle that the T-51b armor had sustained.

 

 

 

 

I also want to make 2 of the Calculator's robots and some outfits that incorporate a bit of the Vault 0 Jumpsuit. From everything I have read in my research, I see no reason the believe that Vault 0 is not canon in the Bethesda Fallout Universe.

 

If anyone has any other opinions on this, I would be very interested to hear.

Edited June 5, 2015 by Tony the Wookie

[Deleted1205226User]

I have neither opinion nor knowledge about Lore, but I suggest to have a look at DarthFANtOM image section.

http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/users/7618882/?tb=images&pUp=1

You might find some common interest.

[animepimp66]

From what i can tell due to popular youtube channels like shodycast or theantapple, along with a plenitude of lets play channels showing the lore of the fallout series in video form. You can safely draw from fallout 1-3 and new vegas with minimal butthurt from the community.

Edited August 21, 2015 by animepimp66