Electricity in the Fallout world

H

Herr Mike

Look, Ma! Two Heads!
The energy required to power a laser that can melt a man is enormous. How long could a town like Shady Sands run on what it takes to fire one lousy round with a plasma rifle? A month? longer?

Yet no one can manage to build simple vehicles that use this power? Or factories?

Someone needs to figure out how to put those miraculous little power cells to work. If you have such a potent sourse of power, there is nothing you couldn't do.

Thus, ray guns in the post apocalypse = facepalm.
 
Thus, trying to rationalize Fallout's retrofuturistic nuclear wasteland setting = facepalm.
 
Thats funny because I always thought shady sands was ran on Aredesh's smug sense of his own power.

Plus I never put any real thought into it.
 
I don't remember many cities where energy weapons could be seen and batteries were sold, and in all of those, they probrably had all the eletricity they needed.

Yet no one can manage to build simple vehicles that use this power? Or factories?
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NCR, BOS, San Francisco and Vault City seems to have some manufracturing capacities. The BOS was the number-one weapon dealer in Fallout and probrably still during Fallout 2, and NCR looked too well-off to be simply a big agricultural state. San Francisco has a pletora of high-tech weaponry. I think their arsenal comes from a mix of trading with BOS, NCR, their own manufracturing and deals with suppliers from the Enclave. In the Fallout Bible, it is said that NCR has some vehicles. It is entirely possible that NCR or BOS has the ability to make and build vehicles. BOS can repair power armor, building a car would't be harder than that. The car in Fallout 2 was too cheap, IMHO.

Someone needs to figure out how to put those miraculous little power cells to work. If you have such a potent sourse of power, there is nothing you couldn't do.
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True. Now that you mention it, Fusion Cells could serve as a form of expensive currency used by rich people, settlements or factions.
 
You'd only need one microfusion cell to power your small town for months or years. Even NCR had one little generator room that powered the town and those darn lasers gates.
 
I suppose the wasteland wouldn't seem very wastie if everyone had electricity.

Personally, I think I would have preferred the games be more low-tech. Not only are there no laser guns, there are pretty much no guns, period.
 
Then the hell is the point? The reason theres all those weapons is thier what survived the world going to shit. Most of the BoS weapons are refurbished older ones, and the master army got thiers from raiding military bases. The reasons for the "Laser guns" is because it was a damn high tech society. They were in low supply, and the persons who had them in the wastes arent too keen to share.
 
Someones seeming to forget things.

Lasers, microfusion cells, and the like do exist. But actually putting them to work in an infrastructure would be different. Yes, it can be done and has to an extent most likely as some pointed out. But actually powering a whole city? Do you know the kind of resources, RAW resources it would take just to lay the electrical foundation? Copper wiring, or whatever the crap they gonna use, isn't in too abundance. In scrap everywhere, yeah, but then how good is good when you're using something thats been sittin in a desert for two centuries or what have you? Not including something like...

*Gasp.* Light-bulbs. Or the filaments in them. Such little feats of engineering might require substantial feats of a factory. Precise little doodads that maybe no one's up to spec on making yet.

So to put it bluntly, places that do have tech and some power and infrastructure are lucky to have what they got. Expecting more, (like a fully powered city with cells) is just wishful thinking.
 
Not only that, but they seem to act as capacitors; Rampin' up and sendin' out somethin' powerful enough to melt a man. Not the best thing for electronics that require a long-term fix, not a short-term burst.

** Filaments in light bulbs don't have to be ultra thin nor encased in a vacuum. Not that there aren't tonnes of downsides to them not being so . . .

"Even NCR had one little generator room that powered the town"

And the vaults have about 12 bedroom/suite things for 1000 inhabitants, hot-bunking it at full capacity. Not everything is mapped, nor mapped to actual size. Alas. We don't see the hydroponic farms or the construction equipment of these vaults either.

If I remember, this was mentioned in the Fallout Bible too, something along the lines of "What importance would the car have, if there were thousands of them" *Shrugs* Misquoting is caring.

Do wish there were not the gigantic turrets around Vault City or the lazer fences in NCR.
 
The laser fences and turrets (speaking from what you say. Because in all seriousness, I've never even been to NCR yet. Yes, I'm that far behind in playing my Fallout 2.) might have just been a scenic decision and not one of logic. *Shrugs.* creators make mistakes. I can't imagine how hard it'd be to try and power something like a laser fence. That might be the one instance where those microfusion cells would be useful for that, as they pump out tons of juice and a fence of that would be a total energy-sink. :clap: gotta love crap that makes no sense.
 
Argonnot said:
Then the hell is the point? The reason theres all those weapons is thier what survived the world going to shit. Most of the BoS weapons are refurbished older ones, and the master army got thiers from raiding military bases. The reasons for the "Laser guns" is because it was a damn high tech society. They were in low supply, and the persons who had them in the wastes arent too keen to share.
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Chillax dood, the point is discussion!

If anything, the presence of the BOS should ensure that Shady Sands et al get a decent supply of batteries. After all, they are dedicated to bringing tech back to the wastes. Maybe they chose to horde them though. Would have made a decent plot point I think.
 
Derajo said:
The laser fences and turrets (speaking from what you say. Because in all seriousness, I've never even been to NCR yet. Yes, I'm that far behind in playing my Fallout 2.) might have just been a scenic decision and not one of logic. *Shrugs.* creators make mistakes. I can't imagine how hard it'd be to try and power something like a laser fence. That might be the one instance where those microfusion cells would be useful for that, as they pump out tons of juice and a fence of that would be a total energy-sink. :clap: gotta love crap that makes no sense.
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Well, we don't know what knowledge was in the GECK, which Vault City used. But it does seem that even with all the knowledge in the world, a GECK isn't going to do the work of transforming raw material to circuitry or turrets or brick sidewalks.

In the end it is just a game of course, and lots of things that don't make sense do help make the game more fun. Vault City was a great idea I think, the game is better for it. Does it make the world a little more inconsistent? Yes but oh well.
 
And the yellow laser doors, the robots, the hightech computers, the mining equipment. That obviously runs on thin air...ah!



Oh and facepalm on saying it's facepalm to try and rationalize the fallout postnuclear setting. :clap:


doublefacepalm21-550x439.jpg
 
Well, if you want to take Fallout 3 as canon, the explanation for all the fusion tech is, well, aliens. I found an alien power cell in a research room in the Old Olney power plant, apparently they were reverse-engineering it. It could explain how the U.S was suddenly able to develop fusion tech so fast just before the war broke out.
 
But jokes are funny! Fallout 3 is just a testament to the wallow within lethargy that is human kind. Or something.
 
Well this never really bothered me, what bothered me is the lack of vegetation in the environment, it doesn't make any sense. It's the same in Fallout 3 only worse.
 
You have never played fallout 2 it seems.
There are trees/bushes in it.
Also, they were reusing assets of fallout in fallout 2, so it wouldnt suprise me if thats why there isnt that much vegetation, fallout 2 was made only in a year.
 
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