How long SHOULD it have been after the bombs fell?

[gyashaa]

After you exit the vault, the lore is that the bombs fell 200 years ago. But the world, the people, the culture, etc, suggests that it wasn't THAT long ago. In 200 years the land would be lush and green and the people would have already rebuilt by then.

 

By seeing the land, the people, the buildings, the creatures, etc how long do you think it SHOULD have been?

 

I'm thinking I might even make a mod to fix these issues. Yes, I am pedantic that way.

Edited February 16, 2020 by gyashaa

[DoctorKaizeld]

after 200 years the world may not actually be green and colorful considering the number of bombs that fell literally causing the planetary weather to change. We don't know how long it would take especially since we don't know how many bombs were used, the impact all the nuclear-powered equipment going off from the explosions would cause, and that all knowledge we do have on the subject is speculative.

[McclaudEagle]

In reality, after 200 years the wasteland would have been overtaken by nature, and there wouldn't actually be all that much radiation left. Keep in mind, Chernobyl emitted so much radiation that the nearby forests died and turned red, but nature has already fully taken it all back to some extent and animals live there.

 

Chernobyl was a nuclear power station, and used significantly less enriched nuclear fuel than nuclear weapons do. Nuclear weapons are very highly enriched which allows them to do astronomical amounts of damage, but doesn't actually emit enough radiation to last particularly long. Hiroshima and Nagasaki are the only two instances of nuclear weapons being used in war, and both are now bustling, vibrant cities with no radiation other than normal background radiation.

 

So no, in reality it would not look like it does in Fallout 4. A single nuclear bomb, as seen in the intro to Fallout 4, would certainly not have been capable of creating anything remotely as bad as the Glowing Sea.

[jjb54]

Ya, 200 years is ' overkill ' - They thought it would be 100's of years after Mt. St. Helens blew ... but it was actually less than 5 years that life began to regrow and take back the land that was ashed.

 

As McclaudEagle, also state, Chernobyl was supposed to take MUCH MUCH longer ... and as he stated, well ... we do NOT know as much as we think we do.

[StormWolf01]

LOL JJ I love the way that you bring these topics up.

Always giving us something to think about, and debate over. :smile: [Edit] Oops! Sorry about that Gyashaa! I saw JJ's name on the thread when I saw it in the forums listing. My bad! [/edit]

 

The thing of it is, in My mind, is that we don't know how many bombs were dropped. Or how big they were. Or even if they were dirty bombs.

The vast amount of remaining radioactivity might make for a big question about the latter.

While, ok...I do believe that the glowing sea is...well...overstated. It brings up a matter that will side with Doctorkaizeld's argument for global weather change. A bomb THAT big, to inflict that much destruction with that much after-effect, would/could be theoretically capable of affecting the climate. Just due to the amount of rads and debris that is being thrown up into the atmosphere. There is also a possibility that a detonation of that scale, might possibly throw off the planetary orbit. Which, along with the amount of debris in the atmosphere, could account for how much it rains.

 

We do know that Boston was not the only target. But we don't know how big or how many. We also don't know the technological level of these bombs. We're basing them off events that have happened IRL. But we're talking about people who had the technology to add radioactive isotopes to soft drinks here.

And to create nuclear storage units that are smaller than a 2 liter soda bottle. It could stand to reason that they took atomic reaction to a level that surpasses that of our own technology IRL.

 

As for how well Nature would have recovered, I'm not going there. It's been discussed over and over and it's kind of a moot point.

The only thing I will say on that one, is that I'm glad the butthesda went the route they did.

Why? Because butthesda doesn't give two shakes about game performance. It's clear that even with the lowly amount of grass and fauna that they've already got in the game, those objects can affect FPS. Because Beth either doesn't care how to make that stuff better, so as not to take up as much of a FPS hit, or they just don't know how.

It's also easier on the cell loads too.

 

As for the atmosphere... I think (and this is just my opinion) that Fallout has always meant to be a dark, foreboding type story. And by going the route of the blasted, half-deserted world that it is, helps to put that kind of mindset into the player. It's part of the story-telling.

Edited February 17, 2020 by StormWolf01

[Deleted3507349User]

Applying real-world concepts to the Fallout universe is pointless. The wasteland itself is reflective what the pre-war people thought a nuclear apocalypse would result in.

 

Pre-war Fallout and the post-war wasteland derive directly from 1950s-era 'world of the future' imaginings.

 

I'm surprised there aren't giant carrot monsters a la "It Conquered the World".

[HeyYou]

Given the number of survivors, and how far the west coast had come after the war, in just the short time in fallout 2, The commonwealth looks like it should be somewhere within 20-50 years after the war. Much later, and there wouldn't be any pre-war buildings standing at all. Anything that wasn't concrete would essentially be gone. Wooden structures, like, all the houses in Sanctuary Hills..... would just be small hills. Nature would have re-conquered the area by then. After 200 and change years, it would be forest.

[jjb54]

@ Stormwolf - LOL, no problem. I enjoy topics like these! :) . o O ( As you seem to becoming aware of! )

 

Here is some fun " homework " ( if there is such a thing?? )

 

Look up the blast radius of FAT MAN and Little Boy and look at how long it took / did not take to rehab those areas.

 

The biggest " problem " of the Fallout World is that it is wrongly assumed there would be no human condition to rebuild. That is just contrary to the human condition. It might take a bit of time - Months to maybe a year to pull ourselves up again .... but we do rise from the ashes, it's ' who we are '.

 

Again, based on physics and such ... it would take 50 +/- years to rebuild.

[StormWolf01]

JJ- yup yup :smile: You're going to fit in nicely with the rest of us debaters in here :wink:

 

Another thing that I did want to mention tho. The whole Fallout series is based off a game that started development in the mid-80's. As in, 1980's. (yeah, I realize that for some reading this thread, that may have been back before their time.) But back then, pretty much anything and everything that was post-apocalyptic was all barren wasteland. Pretty much anything and everything. Take a look at the old Mad Max films...prime examples. The name of that game, was called "Wasteland". Not.... "Greenlushland".

Also factor in, that back in the 80's... we did not know even half of what we know now, as far as the results of the use of nukes, or the after-effects.

 

So the cannon for this game, started way, way back then... is desolate and barren. If anything, it's F76 that broke that cannon.

Most likely, because online games are supposed to have this fabulous, wonderful, awe-inspiring scenery. Or they get crap reviews. Which no gaming company wants. (About to bite my tongue off, with not adding to that about bethesda and F76).

Edited February 17, 2020 by StormWolf01

[SKKmods]

The cognitive dissonance caused by the 200 year narrative and state of the actual world can be challenging if over thought.

 

If one was to try and integrate the environment like amount of stuff still lying about, structures, flora, lack of social development, rads it feels like the 20 year Fallout 76 time-frame.

 

Of course that doesn't allow 60 years for Shaun to age, synth development, or mutations which have been force fit to the world. All of which Fallout 4-76 neatly fixes :)

 

But, hey It's just a game, a canvas for the imagination.