-Actually, Arefu is mentioned by other people, specifically Lucy West in Megaton, who is the one who gives you the quest to go there in the first place.
Whoa, you mean that the quest giver of a quest that takes place in Arefu actually mentions the place the quest is taking place in when she is giving you the quest? Well, I never.
-And the Republic of Dave is also an abstraction, just like everything else in the game. Shady was said to be over a hundred people in Fallout 1, yet had a grand total of 5 Brahmin in the game.
-By what measure? if 5 abstracted brahmin can sustain a population of hundreds in Fallout 1, then why cant 2 do the same for a population of far less in Fallout 3? Those double standards rise again.
If you really find the abstractions of 2D top down games the same as 3D ones I don't know what to tell you.
But it's not even that. The whole point of the Republic of Dave is that is ridicously small. If they wanted to make it seem bigger they would have made the Brahmin pen at least as big as the one at the Regulators HQ.
Also, in FO1 settlements also grew stuff, while in FO3 they don't.
And regarding Shady Sands you do realize that maybe, just maybe, their primary diet was composed of vegetables?
-Yeah, it does. It has a water purifier, and clean water in its various toilets and sinks.
Where is it located? And does that mean that there are "small" purifiers that can produce enough water to sustain all the people in Tenpenny Towers with enough to spare to use it to flush the toilet? Do you realize the implications of that?
-No, you don't need to produce "twice" as much, you need to produce for yourself, and a little bit more to trade.
If they trade "only a little bit" how does the whole town (which provides only services) survive? Economy of scale doesn't apply because the Capital wasteland is supposed to be a sparsely populated place that doesn't have a lot of communication with the rest of the country.
-When all the soil and water are irradiated to the point were basically nothing but grass grows... yeah, you kinda do need a large/complex water purification system, which can purify semi-large amounts of water daily, in order to sustain crops. That is THE core point of the game.
The core point of the game is stupid. What you need are several smaller purifiers, one for each settlement. Pray tell, what will happen when the GECK will break? Because it WILL break sooner or later. They can't replace it and given how advanced it was it's doubtufl it can be fixed. Wouldn't be better to build purifiers like those installed in the Vaults, which can purify daily enough water for 1000 people?
-Depends on the animal
--Deathclaws, being the alpha predator, would eat anything.
--Yao Guai eat anything, except deathclaws.
There isn't enough grass around to
--Roaches eat basically anything they can IRL, that wouldn't change in Fallout.
--Brahmin eat grass.
--Mirelurks would eat algae, and some dead animals, like real crabs do.
--Mole rats eat plant roots, like real mole rats do.
--Squirrels are known to eat everything from fungus, to tree bark, to soil, if they have too.
Yeah, the C.W. is just SO devoid of grass right?
http://i.imgur.com/1xcsJQd.jpg
The whole nature cycle is broken and unbelievable. Vegetation is sparse and radiated, and while it's certainly enough to sustain a few animals (a single cow eats ~20Kg of grass per day) isn't nearly enough for a so many predators (Deathclaws, Yao Guay, Super Mutants, human beings, dogs, Feral Ghouls, radscorpions) not to mention the crazed wandering robots that would kill animals leaving them behind to rot.
I never implied hydroponic gardens aren't a thing, what a ridiculous straw man. I implied only that they weren't possible in D.C. because of environmental factors, outside of Rivet City and its pre-war science lab.
Nobody is saying that people in the wasteland should start hydroponics cultures in a day, but you can build them over time, you know? It's been 200 years and people DO have means to purify water, as little as it can be. What is in Rivet City that makes it possible there and not in a shack?
