Help Me Justify the Enclave in Washington D.C.

[PaxVenire]

Not sure if this is the right forum for this, but I've been developing a TTRPG rewrite of Fallout 3 for my friends and I for a long while now. I've talked about it with some of you before, but it's since gone under heavy changes. It's set in 2102 rather than 2277 to justify the post-apocalyptia and non-progression more so than 200 years later. I swapped setting dates with Fallout 76 intentionally. Now what my point is, I'm having a hard time justifying the Enclave. Their reason for being in D.C. rather than Control Station Enclave or Navarro and how to connect these two sects reasonably. Whenever discussion surrounding Fallout 3 comes up, I often see the most disagreement stem from the inclusion of the Enclave. Some say they were only supposed to be on the Oil Rig and Navarro, and once those fell they should've been done for forever. Some say their inclusion makes complete sense as Washington D.C. is the nation's capital and the Enclave having dealings there is just sound logic. And of course even the cancelled Van Buren and released New Vegas shows us the Enclave were more spread out than we thought, having territory all the way in Arizona with the Bloomfield Space Center and even as far as Chicago. I understand that in Fallout 3 the Enclave are all remnants of Navarro, but due to the time setting, I'm making them a separate existing base similar to Appalachia's Enclave as Navarro hasn't even been claimed yet, let alone taken out. I was originally not gonna use the Enclave all together, but my friends really want them in and think America's capital oughta have them. I can see the logic there, it does make sense that Enclave would be close to the nation's capital, but the reason perplexes me.

Aside from the easy answer of "they want to take over", what do you think the Enclave might want in D.C. specifically? Liberty Prime? ATHENA Power Armor? Vertibirds? The Mobile Base Crawler?

 

[Hardboiled Android]

And of course even the cancelled Van Buren and released New Vegas shows us the Enclave were more spread out than we thought, having territory all the way in Arizona with the Bloomfield Space Center and even as far as Chicago.

While the Enclave did have intentions to use Bloomfield as the launching ground for outer space colonization, the Enclave was never supposed to be actually at Bloomfield as far as I know, and it was never an Enclave base per se. The only location from Van Buren where we can infer present Enclave presence is "MacArthur Army Base," but I have the impression this is post-Navarro remnants trying to re-group rather than a pre-existing post-War base.

Aside from the easy answer of "they want to take over", what do you think the Enclave might want in D.C. specifically? Liberty Prime? ATHENA Power Armor? Vertibirds? The Mobile Base Crawler?

Mobile Base Crawler seems like the most sensible. It could tie in to space colonization dreams - after all, a mere two decades after the War, that's probably what the Enclave would still be interested in, I don't think the world-extermination plan had been devised yet. The mobile base crawler was supposed to have been a pre-War rocket launching platform, so it makes sense.

Here's a silly idea: Going off of the recent thread discussing the concept of Liberty Prime as THE MacGuffin of Capital Wasteland settings, maybe it could be that they want Liberty Prime in addition to the Mobile Base Crawler. But they don't want Liberty Prime to blast guys and conquer the world or wahtever: Rather, they want to use Liberty Prime as a pack brahmin, to drag the Mobile Crawler Base along, and also to serve as it's heavily armed escort. The Mobile Base Crawler was so damaged in the War (maybe Adam's Airforce Base got nuked extremely heavily) that it would be easier to complete Liberty Prime than it would be to fully fix the Mobile Crawler Base.

Maybe they want to drag it out because they realize the radiation problem in Washington is so bad that they can't stick around, they got to get out of Dodge, maybe cracking open some vaults and raiding some settlements for raw materials/tech before they depart. As to where they're going? My first thought is closer to the Oil Rig so they can unite the two branches in preparation for their flight from the planet. All the way to California is probably too silly - Maybe Chicago could work as a "middle point" for rendez vous? Alternatively maybe they want to drag it down to Cape Canaveral.

Also I'd suggest, even if the Enclave refers to it simply as Raven Rock informally, to give it a "Control Station [CODENAME]" name as well to hammer home that this is the Enclave's other (if lesser) head. Ideally another geographic-type name like Enclave? "ORIENT" or "CARDINAL" or "NADIR"

 

[PaxVenire]

Mobile Base Crawler seems like the most sensible. It could tie in to space colonization dreams - after all, a mere two decades after the War, that's probably what the Enclave would still be interested in, I don't think the world-extermination plan had been devised yet.

Yes this is correct, there’s no genocidal plans yet. Space exploration or taking control over the wastes is what I’m aiming for.

The mobile base crawler was supposed to have been a pre-War rocket launching platform, so it makes sense.

Funny enough, I only recently found out the Mobile Base Crawler is based on a real vehicle we have in my home state of Florida, sitting at the Kennedy Space Center. So the space angle is definitely at the forefront of what might be best for the Enclave in D.C. I don’t know if they say in Fallout 3 why one is at Adams AFB, perhaps there’s a lunch site near D.C. in Fallout lore?

Here's a silly idea: Going off of the recent thread discussing the concept of Liberty Prime as THE MacGuffin of Capital Wasteland settings, maybe it could be that they want Liberty Prime in addition to the Mobile Base Crawler. But they don't want Liberty Prime to blast guys and conquer the world or wahtever: Rather, they want to use Liberty Prime as a pack brahmin, to drag the Mobile Crawler Base along, and also to serve as it's heavily armed escort.

That’s an interesting idea. It’s a funny image in the head, seeing Liberty Prime carry the MBC like a man lugging a sled through the snow. @FlukeboxHero had the idea of Liberty Prime essentially being the end-all be-all for the Capital Wasteland similar to Hoover Dam being the end-all be-all for the Mojave. What if the Enclave were split between what to do now that the world was over? Fallout 3 presented an inner conflict within the Enclave with John Henry Eden and Colonel Autumn. What if one side of the Enclave wants to see the space colonization plan through, while another part wants to take over the remains of America and rebuild? I’d imagine not every Enclave member would be fine with abandoning their planet, and seeing how ingrained American culture is with the Enclave, some definitely wouldn’t want to abandoned their heartland. Perhaps the MacGuffin is some power source powerful enough for either the MBC (Space colonization ending) OR Liberty Prime (Wasteland takeover ending).

As to where they're going? My first thought is closer to the Oil Rig so they can unite the two branches in preparation for their flight from the planet. All the way to California is probably too silly - Maybe Chicago could work as a "middle point" for rendez vous? Alternatively maybe they want to drag it down to Cape Canaveral.

Chicago as a rendezvous would definitely be a “two birds, one stone” solution for the Capital Wasteland and Chicago having an Enclave presence, definitely a reverse of what actually occurs in lore. I like this idea. Moreover it reminds me of the idea you had for Control Station Revere in Chicago, which I did like a lot. As for Cape Canaveral/Kennedy Space Center being a destination option, I am certainly bias as a Floridian to want to have Florida as a focal point and have even written a story involving the KSC area, however with how close Cape Canaveral is to the ocean, I don’t see it surviving. Realistically Florida would probably be half sunken, with the coastlines especially being gone. There’s also the question that comes up as to if the destination was Cape Canaveral, why is the MBC in D.C. rather than already near Canaveral as it is today? Either they knew Canaveral wouldn’t make it and so relocated the Crawler to D.C. or there’s a closer launch site.

Also I'd suggest, even if the Enclave refers to it simply as Raven Rock informally, to give it a "Control Station [CODENAME]" name as well to hammer home that this is the Enclave's other (if lesser) head. Ideally another geographic-type name like Enclave? "ORIENT" or "CARDINAL" or "NADIR"

Control Station Cardinal does have a good ring, I'll definitely adapt that, thank you.

 

[Alphons]

For the power source I'd probably go with Stanislaus Braun and Vault 112.

In 3 he's supposed to be a genius inventor working for Vault Tec, but when James asks him how to power the Purifier, he just tells him to use a GECK.

Maybe Vault 112 could have the full-scale prototype of cold fusion generator that was used as a basis for miniature ones in GECKs?

112 could be an executive Vault or Braun's personal project, which would justify why they didn't find it yet as it was kept off the records.

Don't know whether you'd go with Vault Tec still functioning in their Vault or them being all trapped in Tranquility Lane.

 

[PaxVenire]

For the power source I'd probably go with Stanislaus Braun and Vault 112.

In 3 he's supposed to be a genius inventor working for Vault Tec, but when James asks him how to power the Purifier, he just tells him to use a GECK.

Maybe Vault 112 could have the full-scale prototype of cold fusion generator that was used as a basis for miniature ones in GECKs?

112 could be an executive Vault or Braun's personal project, which would justify why they didn't find it yet as it was kept off the records.

Don't know whether you'd go with Vault Tec still functioning in their Vault or them being all trapped in Tranquility Lane.

This is really neat, I definitely could see Stanislaus having an entire Vault dedicated to all his projects. Perhaps Tranquility Lane could simply be one of these projects. Always did find Vault 112 a waste. A whole Vault just for simulators for Tranquility Lane? As for the power source, I think it oughta be portable so the player isn't lugging around a giant generator. Perhaps the power source COULD be a GECK, but a prototype one made by Stanislaus post-war.

 

[Alphons]

As for the power source, I think it oughta be portable so the player isn't lugging around a giant generator.

You could have the player just need to secure the Vault and then have the Enclave or any other faction interested in the tech send over a team of engineers to disassemble it and move to another location.

Always did find Vault 112 a waste. A whole Vault just for simulators for Tranquility Lane?

VR pods could be used originally as virtual drawing desks, allowing the users to more easily design and test various machines/ experiments in a fully simulated 3D environment, before they commit to using the limited resources and space they have.

But as years went by, the staff grew bored and made Tranquility Lane (or some other scenarios like the ski resort or tropical island).

 

[laclongquan]

I understand that in Fallout 3 the Enclave are all remnants of Navarro,

What do you mean F3 Enclave being remnant of Navarro?

I dont remember anywhere in FNV and F3 said anything about the origin of F3 enclave army.

The only link, IIRC, is that Colonel Autumn stopped Eyebot program, so one scientist send this Eyebot to Navarro... But it doesnt say anything about the actual original location of said Eyebot, or F3 Enclave.

 

[Golbolco]

I'm confused by the question posed in the title.

The Enclave is at Washington D.C. because Washington D.C. is the capital of the Enclave. On paper, anyway.

Raven Rock, the Greenbrier in West Virginia, Naval Station Norfolk, the tunnels under the Capitol and the White House--these all exist in real life.

Let's not forget that it was Fallout 3 that made the ridiculous claim that the entirety of the Enclave fled to the West Coast after 2077. It doesn't hold up to scrutiny considering real life continuity of government protocols the US Government has.

The US Government and its shadowy alphabet soup departments have facilities both known and unknown all over the nation. There ought to be an Enclave outpost in every state, a dozen off the shore, and maybe a few in space.

The Enclave doesn't have territory. In the strictest sense the entire North American continent might be what they consider "rightfully theirs" but they have evolved past the traditional definition of a state. They ought to be lurking in deep underground military bases and mountainous lairs, stirred awake only when necessary. They aren't "looking" for anything in Washington, D.C. They're listening. They're listening for people who would challenge their authority or pose a threat to the survival of the Human race--like when they detected the explosion in Los Angeles and learned about the mutant conspiracy against pure Humanity.

 

[Iprovidelittlepianos]

Let's not forget that it was Fallout 3 that made the ridiculous claim that the entirety of the Enclave fled to the West Coast after 2077.

I didn’t know about this, but, and correct me if I’m wrong, every significant member of the American government (and possibly major corporations, though this isn’t explicitly stated) fled to the Oil Rig before the Great War. The Oil Rig is where they survived the war while the mainland got nuked. The Enclave wasn’t even “The Enclave” at that point, just the only surviving remnants of the U.S. government (as far as they were concerned). It certainly would make sense that the government had a plan to go underground around the country and ride out the Armageddon, then rise from the ashes and reclaim America, but from what we see, this didn’t seem to be the case. Especially if you factor in the “going to space” plan introduced by Van Buren. I don’t remember if any of this is stated in Fallout 2 or the Fallout Bible, but this has always been my understanding of it. I suppose we can just retcon and say that the Enclave has been everywhere all along, but that kind of cheapens the Chosen One’s actions.

 

[Golbolco]

I didn’t know about this, but, and correct me if I’m wrong, every significant member of the American government (and possibly major corporations, though this isn’t explicitly stated) fled to the Oil Rig before the Great War. The Oil Rig is where they survived the war while the mainland got nuked. The Enclave wasn’t even “The Enclave” at that point, just the only surviving remnants of the U.S. government (as far as they were concerned). It certainly would make sense that the government had a plan to go underground around the country and ride out the Armageddon, then rise from the ashes and reclaim America, but from what we see, this didn’t seem to be the case. Especially if you factor in the “going to space” plan introduced by Van Buren. I don’t remember if any of this is stated in Fallout 2 or the Fallout Bible, but this has always been my understanding of it. I suppose we can just retcon and say that the Enclave has been everywhere all along, but that kind of cheapens the Chosen One’s actions.

So, as far as I know based on Fallout 2, Richardson indicates that the US govt barely made it out of DC shortly before the war. The Fallout Bible indicates that the President had already made it out by March of that year, so Richardson is probably referring to Congress etc.

Fallout 2 also informs us that Control Station ENCLAVE (the Oil Rig's real name, people forget that the Enclave don't really call themselves that until time goes on) was part of a network including Cheyenne Mountain and a few other sites. The NORAD complex at Cheyenne Mountain, along with Raven Rock, Mount Weather, and Greenbrier, are all real-life continuity of government operations bases in the event of nuclear war. And, when you're in the oil rig, there is a map on a wall with points of light all over the globe. Are they military bases? Nuclear silos? Enclave outposts? We don't actually know, but I would wager they are somehow under Enclave control.

Frankly, it is pretty silly that the Government's first fallback plan would have been a derelict oil rig on the coast most likely to be invaded by the Chinese in the event of conventional war. A nuclear submarine could have and would have scuttled Control Station ENCLAVE long ago. Fallout: Nevada introduces an alternative idea that I really like. In that game, the office of the President relocated to a bunker built by Vault-Tec on the mainland, but a decade after 2077 it was attacked (my interpretation is that the Vice President orchestrated a sabotage) and forced an evacuation to Control Station ENCLAVE.

In real life, most of the continuity of government bases are not centered on the West Coast, but there are many ways (including the divergent timeline) to justify why the Enclave seemed to be centered out there first. Most of them are in the Mid-Atlantic region (West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania) which makes a lot of sense. I don't think it cheapens the Chosen One's actions: he/she prevented the Enclave from exterminating the world, a project that was only possible in the context of the history of FEV research on the west coast pre- and post-war. The Enclave are the Fallout setting's equivalent to necromancers and lich kings, they are the ancient civilization that undid the world and lurk in the catacombs beneath ours. They are stock villains, and to me it has always felt that limiting or restricting their presence in the series comes from a misguided ethical/political view rather than something authentic to the storytelling of the series.

 

[PaxVenire]

What do you mean F3 Enclave being remnant of Navarro?

I dont remember anywhere in FNV and F3 said anything about the origin of F3 enclave army.

The only link, IIRC, is that Colonel Autumn stopped Eyebot program, so one scientist send this Eyebot to Navarro... But it doesnt say anything about the actual original location of said Eyebot, or F3 Enclave.

Y'know, that's true. I guess I just assumed, not sure if FO3 explicitly says where the Enclave in D.C. are from. I could have sworn they were tho, or at least most of them.

I'm confused by the question posed in the title.

The Enclave is at Washington D.C. because Washington D.C. is the capital of the Enclave. On paper, anyway.

The question in the title was for me to justify the Enclave in my TTRPG setting under the assumption that the Enclave in FO3 were all Navarro remnants.

Let's not forget that it was Fallout 3 that made the ridiculous claim that the entirety of the Enclave fled to the West Coast after 2077. It doesn't hold up to scrutiny considering real life continuity of government protocols the US Government has.

The US Government and its shadowy alphabet soup departments have facilities both known and unknown all over the nation. There ought to be an Enclave outpost in every state, a dozen off the shore, and maybe a few in space.

The Enclave doesn't have territory. In the strictest sense the entire North American continent might be what they consider "rightfully theirs" but they have evolved past the traditional definition of a state. They ought to be lurking in deep underground military bases and mountainous lairs, stirred awake only when necessary. They aren't "looking" for anything in Washington, D.C. They're listening. They're listening for people who would challenge their authority or pose a threat to the survival of the Human race--like when they detected the explosion in Los Angeles and learned about the mutant conspiracy against pure Humanity.

I was more under the assumption that the Enclave who fled to the Oil Rig before the war were the only ones spared both in body and organization as the Great War caught everyone by surprise in the night was a great equalizer, not that the Oil Rig and Navarro were the only Enclave funded/populated facilities pre-war. I knew there very well could be Enclave caches and outposts all around, but not necessarily still operating at the same level as Control Station ENCLAVE, if operating at all still 100+ years later.

 

[laclongquan]

Enclave in DC... Hmmm..
Why do they drop down there, then?
Based on Fallout2's Gecko plant event, I would guess they eardrop on Jefferson Memorial. Backdoor on computer, hidden surveillance, that sort of thing.
They get reminded of Project Purity when the main computer get activated and computing things
Why do they not drop down there, 2o years ago?
Possibly because they eardropped and know things not progressing well, plus they hadnt planned anything at that time. 20 years is enough to build up bases, build up whiteglove tentacle like Talon mercs.
Since building base in Rockland base and Adams Airforce Base certainly take time, It would be safe to guess they planned 2 prong attack on Citadel that way.
Raven Rocks is more like existing prewar base more than newly built one, SO Raven Rocks approach sound more likely a fake attack, or sudden strike to support the said 2prong attack
The Mobile Crawler Base sounds likely the main attack. The crawler base is more like a mobile platform to carry radio dishes to near Citadel position, then call down satellite strike on Citadel. If it's too far it's more likely to misfire and strike their own position instead, as illustrate by the last event in Broken Steel.
So Enclave planned for the war with Brotherhood quite a while.

 

[Yossarrion]

I'll repeat myself because I dont know if I posted but theres no real reason why the enclave wouldn't have multiple bases. It makes sense they would attempt to reclaim technology stored in the capitol and the Pentagon. You have all the alphabet agencies headquartered there as well. There's a big draw to reclaim the capitol of America.

FO3 enclave is from the west coast. Autumn was born on the oil rig.

The other reason for them being there is only so many people can live on the rig. Having multiple bases spread out also makes sense as a contingency.

 

[CT Phipps]

I'm surprised you need to justify the Enclave.

They have nuclear powered vertibirds (i.e. unlimited power effectively) and a bunch of them went to a fortified nuclear military base in Washington D.C. after being contacted by a ZAX super computer. What was already canon. They just hopped into their helicopter planes (which is what a vertibird is) and crossed the country.

I like to think it's the women, children, and civilians of the Oil Rig that evacuated once the self-destruct code began.

Rather than going with the scientist who FEV-ed all of them after the Chosen One said mutants we3re people too.

 

[laclongquan]

Moving an army necessary to control multiple locations in wild country, as well as the DC ruins... yeah, that would be too expensive to move them across the continent from California to DC, especially in post apocalyptic world.

So certain personel, like Autumn, may be from Oil Rig, California, but that army is in no way from West Coast.

 

[Risewild]

They have nuclear powered vertibirds (i.e. unlimited power effectively)

Was the vertibird's fuel retconned?

I never played FO76 or watched the TV show so I don't know if they changed this. But in Fallout 2 vertibirds needed refuelling stations (like Navarro) and in New Vegas Daisy mentions that vertibirds are limited in where they could go due to how much fuel they can carry:

Chosen One: First, why do you have a base at Navarro?
Dick Richardson: Simple. Navarro is an isolated base. Our Vertibirds have a limited range. They refuel there.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Matthew: Now, recently the Enclave established a base north of here called Navarro. It's used as a stopover point for the maintenance and refueling of Vertibirds.

Daisy Whitman: I never was happier than when I was in the cockpit. I was able to go just about anywhere and everywhere, limited only by the fuel I could carry.

 

[TheKingofVault14]

Hehehe, I know for a fact that a lot of people on here, & practically all those who are fans of the classic Fallout games, were reacting this way back in 2008:

 

[PsychoSniper]

Not sure if this is the right forum for this, but I've been developing a TTRPG rewrite of Fallout 3 for my friends and I for a long while now. I've talked about it with some of you before, but it's since gone under heavy changes. It's set in 2102 rather than 2277 to justify the post-apocalyptia and non-progression more so than 200 years later. I swapped setting dates with Fallout 76 intentionally.

My headcanon has always been that it was only in the last few decades that the DC regions rads dropped enough to be reinhabited, justifying why so little progression in rebuilding has occured.

As for the Enclave and it's motivations:
The crawler is dumb, but that aside it's an easy obvious target that moves slow as hell, makes more sense for them to want it to strip for parts.

Liberty Prime, makes sense and is very effective, but also lacks any stealth, would be hard to get back to a secure location without giving the location away.

The Enclave has the tech, but it may not have the supplies or personell, so a sensible reason could be they want to gather supplies and recruit the populations of some vaults.

My headcanon is that control vaults we're not just safe from experiments, but we're intended as breeding populations for the enclaves numbers, with the enclave able to send an alert to the vault that the vaults computer can verify as a government message, causing the vault to let the enclave in and follow it's orders