Again with the Bottlecaps (discussion)

[SirDanest]

It's been discussed before, but as far as we can tell, almost every post-war civilization uses bottlecaps. The capital wasteland, California and the Mojave, and the Commonwealth. It's been a while, but I think they were used in some places in Point Lookout and the Pitt as well.

I think they were used in some of the semi-canon mid-western locals too.

1. It could just be one hell of an incredible coincidence that all these different locals just somehow ended up using the same unlikely money source. I'm not a huge fan of that theory, because it's just too big of a coincidence to happen randomly.

2. "Because Bethesda said so." I bet this is the official reason, that Bethesda just didn't really think very hard about why caps were used in DC. We could at the time try to blame the brotherhood for introducing caps, but it seems unlikely that they'd have the clout to introduce a new currency that would totally overwhelm megaton or rivet city's influence. And that wouldn't explain the caps in Fallout 4 that apparently have been in use all along without diamond city or goodneighbor starting their own currency.

 

3.
Somehow, behind the scenes, the Hub has access to both coasts.
I'm guessing this, and haven't found it in the lore. But it makes more sense than the other explanations.

We haven't actually seen the NCR cities / the Hub since fallout 2, we don't know precisely how they're doing or what it looks like "today." Just snippets here and there about corruption and taxes. Does shady sands still have green, tree-lined parks and perfect roads ? We're guessing.
Sp maybe the hub water merchants have Shi flying-vehicle-blueprints. Maybe they even have a transpalonder somehow, that they just aren't telling anyone about. It's odd, but not completely impossible.

And in the food and water-starved DC, they would easily be able to make a water-backed currency that they control, and keep the people alive until the lone wanderer fixed the water situation. I wouldn't be surprised if they're supplying Diamond city too, because I'm not convinced they have access to a large enough of a food supply; they don't seem to be wanting.

In my personal "head canon," they control both the eastern regulators AND black talon behind the scenes. Illuminati conspiracies ain't got nothin' on that.

So yeah, maybe they're influencing the east incognito, sort of shadowy, which is why we don't see a giant "HUB HEADQUARTERS HERE!" in these eastern places. And they're not going to tell the NCR too much, because they don't want their cross-country capability being confiscated by the military... which I do believe it would be if it's unique. If it weren't unique, if the military had it, you'd see at least a tiny NCR ambassador presence in the east, probably seeking potential help from the easterners.

Edit: And the existence of Jet in the east is either a mistake on Bethesda's part (which I don't like, but it's probably true that they just didn't think that hard about the lore) or more evidence of east-west travel. If random travelers had made the trip, they probably wouldn't have had the clout to back a pile of garbage as a brand new currency (and might not even have had the motivation to do so,) especially since simple barter works pretty well too in the first place.

Edited March 16, 2018 by SirDanest

[JimboUK]

Caps have been the currency since the first game, Bethesda can be blamed for a lot of things but not that.

[YanL]

Better not thing to hard about that. It would take too much efort to think in a diferent currency for all locations (DLCs incluse), so they just unified for gamelay purposes. it's just that.

 

but I confess that for NV I would particularly prefer casino chips.

 

Caps have been the currency since the first game, Bethesda can be blamed for a lot of things but not that.

They are not used in Fallout 2 and Tactics.

[KiCHo666]

I'd like that multiple currencies were used. For example, you need to use paper money to buy things in NCR controlled areas, Denarius in Legion controlled areas and caps in neutral areas.

[SirDanest]

Caps have been the currency in the west since the beginning, that was the Hub's influence. Caps were definitely used in Fallout one, and were being made worthless in 2 by the ncr coinage if I recall -- which fell out of favor and was again replaced eventually by the Hub's choice of caps.

The question is how they are also, conveniently and somehow also the currency in the east, in Bethesda's part of Fallout. The Hub doesn't appear to have a canon presence in the east. So either they actually have influenced the east, or by some incredible coincidences, two coasts thousands of miles apart chose the same garbage item separately of one-another, to back as money.

The commonwealth and DC don't appear to have a common denominator either, something existing in both places that could back the same strange currency.

So I am assuming that the Hub does indeed have an as of yet un-shown influence on the east. It seems strange, but I think it's the most logical explanation for both coasts using the same weird currency.

edit: Anyway, I'm not trying to tell other people how to interpret their game. It's just all in my own mind filling in the blanks with my own "head canon". :)

Edited March 17, 2018 by SirDanest

[YanL]

 

So I am assuming that the Hub does indeed have an as of yet un-shown influence on the east.

 

no way.

 

One bottlecap = one bottle of clean water.

 

The currency in Fallout 1 is not the bottlecaps. Not really. Is water. Without the waters merchants, there´s no real value for the bottlecaps. It is quite different from the NCR gold as seen in Fallout 2. Gold is valuable in its very nature.

 

The cap is only a means of representing the water (think of a kind of promissory note), so the merchants of the Hub do not need to be loaded with tons of galons of water, when they go to exchange with other localities.

 

This would not make sense in Fallout 3 because you can purify the water and the caps are still used and especially would not make sense in Fallout 4, where with a piece of metal you can build a water purifier.

[JimboUK]

 

The question is how they are also, conveniently and somehow also the currency in the east, in Bethesda's part of Fallout.

 

Bethesda didn't really understand Fallout, that much is obvious, I'm betting they played it for a weekend, saw caps as the currency and went with it. As for caps as a currency in general, yeah if you think about it the idea is silly but then much of Fallout defies logic, it's a fantastic world but it does require an above average suspension of disbelief.

[Ethreon]

Not sure why the need to make theories for this when the reasoning is pretty much that bethesda is keeping most of the appearances of fallout continuous - ghouls, mutants, bottlecaps etc.

[SirDanest]

Yeah but there's explanations for ghouls; radiation and fev experiments exists in both coasts. The brotherhood and enclave had technology to cross the distance. All of that seems plausible enough.
They don't have an explanation, other than a gigantic coincidence, as to why both coasts chose the same specific pieces of junk to use as money, without any awareness of each other.
I also can't think of any organization in both Diamond City and D.C. that could back this currency in both places.
Since bottlecaps were really only used in fallout 1, it wouldn't have been wrong to come up with a new east coast currency for fallout 3, but they went to caps without an explanation.
It's a gigantic and very strange coincidence as it stands.
Admittedly, fallout is capable of great silliness and doesn't always need a rational explanation, but I don't mind an explanation, and I think I've got one, that makes more sense than pure coincidental obsession with the same junk across the country.

[SirDanest]

 

 

So I am assuming that the Hub does indeed have an as of yet un-shown influence on the east.

 

no way.

 

One bottlecap = one bottle of clean water.

 

The currency in Fallout 1 is not the bottlecaps. Not really. Is water. Without the waters merchants, there´s no real value for the bottlecaps. It is quite different from the NCR gold as seen in Fallout 2. Gold is valuable in its very nature.

 

The cap is only a means of representing the water (think of a kind of promissory note), so the merchants of the Hub do not need to be loaded with tons of galons of water, when they go to exchange with other localities.

 

This would not make sense in Fallout 3 because you can purify the water and the caps are still used and especially would not make sense in Fallout 4, where with a piece of metal you can build a water purifier.

 

I agree that it's water -- water merchants chose to back the caps and set an equivalent value for water. That's a good explanation, I guess.

Anywhere the caravans from the hub might reach, they might also introduce the caps and water economy.

 

The east coast doesn't have a canon story like that. They don't have water merchants setting up a bottlecap for water currency. I think Bethesda just said "oh, caps, yeah, let's use those." Not my favorite explanation.