Things in fallout 4 that simply dont make sense......

[TheVampireDante]

 

And, what exactly does the mutated megafauna eat? You have a lot of predators, like Yao Guais, Deathclaws and Radscorpions, but predators must be greatly outnumbered by prey in order to survive. Even if you grant that they can derive some energy from radiation, and consider that Deathclaws and Radscorpions a probably coldblooded and need less food, the biomass still has to come from somewhere.

 

Considering their prey likely covers every other species in the wastes, I'd say it's just that.

 

Deathclaws and Radscorpions attack each other, I'd say it's both a territorial issue and a possible meal for either party - with the situation becoming triple threat if there are Mirelurks in the same area.

Add in Brahmin, wild dogs, molerats, roaches and of course - the local human (and possibly ghoul) population of the area, and they've got a wide selection.

 

Lurks also gather around the washed up sealife at some shore points and docks. So obviously they feed on that as well.

 

Yao Guai - they haven't really changed much from their pre-war state, so behaviour is likely the same. Hunt and forage for whatever they can get, and take a chance on attacking something substantial when it wanders past.

 

Ferals - well they chase anything that moves really, but seem to be content with packaged items if they can get into them, as seen in one particular BOS sidequest and that you tend to find mass gatherings of ferals near old world locations were food would have been abundant (Stores, schools, military reserves). As far as actually needing food - I don't think they need it beyond their instinctual want for it. Since you tend to find many of them lying dormant until they sense someone nearby to hunt down (primal sleep/eat cycle).

 

Wild Dogs/dog packs - scavenge whatever's left in places, attack molerats and people usually, or feed off any bodies they find.

 

Cats - Find a settlement, mooch off the locals.

 

The bugs (bloatfly/stingwing/bloodbug) are obvious, waste and carrion, occasional attacks on people, dogs and Brahmin.

[SKKmods]

Cats - Find a settlement, mooch off the locals.

 

Excepting RoofRabbitRanch where the locals mooch off (well on) the cats.

[pra]

Hm, but that only moves the problem. The prey has to eat something, too.

IRL it's like plants -> herbivores -> carnivores. Where plants gather solar energy and build their biomass mostly from literally thin air.

Here, we don't have much plants..

 

For mirelurks, it can work. We could assume that the marine ecosystem is mostly intact. At least intact enough that the beached dolphins/dead fish washing ashore are being replentished. Hm, you could actually say: after the war, a lot of dead sealife started washing up, and the mirelurks evolved as seashore carrion feeders. But by now life in the sea has adapted fairly good to the radiation, so the carrion is decreasing. With that, the mirelurks are forced to try to hunt on land. They might go extinct in the long run, but not in the near future.

 

This would be somewhat similar on land, but not much. Right after the war, you would have a lot of dead meat lying around. If you can eat it and survive, it's good times for you. I think in that time small, fast-breeding(=fast-evolving) animals like cockroaches or rats would thrive, and maybe even, yes, evolve to get bigger. But I don't think they could keep that up for 200 years...

 

You could postulate some sort of radiotrophic moss or something, which fulfills the role of the missing grass. And, glowing/brain fungi actually do grow in irradiated areas.

Also, now that I think about it, plants aren't doing that bad, actually. There are a lot of herbs which you can harvest and eat, so Radstag could do that, too. However, I think they would have eaten all the dead/dried grass by now. Lol, you could say: there is no dead grass! It just looks like that! :D

 

But still. There should either be more Radstag or less deathclaws. There should actually be whole herds of radstag or wild brahmin...

Lol you could explain it: there are, but outside of Boston! The few you get to see are just a few strays who got separated! Similar for the predators: they just tried to hunt in other areas, with moderate success

[TheGadget1945]

 

 

 

That's another thing - corpses that don't decompose. So you find old whatshisname under the Castle and he has been dead for like 10 to 20 years but no decomposition ?

 

Sterilisation through radiation!

However, even if radiation were to kill all the bacteria, the corpse would still have mummified. Also, you still can get infection from feral ghouls, so bacteria seem to be doing fine.

 

Which brings me to the next point: how exactly do ghouls survive in closed-off areas? I think it's kinda implied that they somehow hibernate, and that they can subsist on radiation. But even if they can keep their cells running for centuries just from radiation, just lying on the ground for decades/centuries would make it hard for them to just get up, not to mention chasing you.

 

And, what exactly does the mutated megafauna eat? You have a lot of predators, like Yao Guais, Deathclaws and Radscorpions, but predators must be greatly outnumbered by prey in order to survive. Even if you grant that they can derive some energy from radiation, and consider that Deathclaws and Radscorpions a probably coldblooded and need less food, the biomass still has to come from somewhere.

 

 

I did consider that but there is a major problem with it, namely that every living thing depends on bacteria in some way to survive like for instance digestion. Kill the bacteria and not only human beings but creatures which rely on putrefaction for their food will starve. Not only that but I suspect that the level of radiation required to eliminate bacteria would kill off everything else as well.

[Fkemman11]

 

Also so you're saying it's not realistic for someone to know how to be a carpenter AND a electrician and plumber at the same time??

 

Typically No. That's why those professions are specific and separate in the first place. You don't call a carpenter to fix your car or install a new electrical fuse box for instance. People that have worked in one of those professions their whole life still have to refresh their knowledge on a regular basis in fact just like many others. I would imagine that even a seasoned professional carpenter- lets say- would be hard pressed to produce anything worthwhile without the proper tools and materials. But, I guess I can understand why Beth would want to trivialize those details in the interest of keeping things simple for the casual gamer.....which was their target audience. Like I said- it's just "magic" that you know all this stuff without ever hardly hammering a nail or whatever in your whole life. They should never have discarded the skills system because it made things more believable and fun imo. :tongue:

[e1grey]

Is it not easier to make a list of things that do make sense in this game?

 

It's possible to justify certain (but not all) mechanics, or design elements with "It's a game, not real world." However, if you allow yourself to think critically about the script any longer than a split second, you'll see inconsistencies almost everywhere, in every quest, in every character, etc.

[Undeadbob666]

Nope, not when Bethesda scours these forums - maybe they'll actually learn something.

[Zzyxzz]

I don't know, if this was mentioned:

Trudy at the drumlin diner is not a real fan of drugs, because of her boy. And thats completely understandable, but still she does sell drugs. Jet, Psycho etc.

I think this is not right. A mother would have banned all drugs.

[SKKmods]

Trudy is demonstrating the twisty moral maze of survival in a nuclear wasteland full of hotplates, desk fans and drugs.

 

Hotplates and Desk Fans I can do without, but Grape Mentats and PsychoJet ... mmmmm order up !

[Undeadbob666]

Hotplates, yet no pancakes.