Honest Hearts and Tourism in the Fallout Universe

[Hassknecht]

Mind you, personal nuclear weapons WERE designed in real life.

Yes. But there's a difference between a relatively small explosion like from the Fatman and the 10 to 20 tons of TNT from the MK-54 warhead. Not to mention that the MK-54 still weighed about 23 kg, and the Davy Crockett was not exactly a "personal" weapon. It was a recoilless gun to be fired from a jeep or a tripod, not the shoulder.
And finally, the weapon was deemed useless because unlike 10 tons of TNT the nuclear weapon still sends out a pretty hefty dose of radiation which will be a problem for the operating crew due to the low range of the recoilless launcher.

 

[CT Phipps]

Yes. But there's a difference between a relatively small explosion like from the Fatman and the 10 to 20 tons of TNT from the MK-54 warhead. Not to mention that the MK-54 still weighed about 23 kg, and the Davy Crockett was not exactly a "personal" weapon. It was a recoilless gun to be fired from a jeep or a tripod, not the shoulder.
And finally, the weapon was deemed useless because unlike 10 tons of TNT the nuclear weapon still sends out a pretty hefty dose of radiation which will be a problem for the operating crew due to the low range of the recoilless launcher.

Mind you, technology has marched on and become far more advanced in the Fallout universe. You could argue there's actually some realism in the fact after the oil and fossil fuels have been exhausted in the world that they turned to nuclear power en masse.

 

[Hassknecht]

Mind you, technology has marched on and become far more advanced in the Fallout universe. You could argue there's actually some realism in the fact after the oil and fossil fuels have been exhausted in the world that they turned to nuclear power en masse.

While I agree that the world of Fallout operates under slightly different laws of physics where a miniaturization of a nuclear weapon to such a degree might be more feasible (there are some hard physical limits to criticality), what's the point of making a gun that will shower the operator in hard radiation on impact and that requires extensive maintenance and expensive materials when the resulting explosion isn't larger than a thermobaric bomb, which has the advantages of not necessarily killing the operator and not irradiating the surrounding area?

 

[Risewild]

Mind you, technology has marched on and become far more advanced in the Fallout universe. You could argue there's actually some realism in the fact after the oil and fossil fuels have been exhausted in the world that they turned to nuclear power en masse.

Also the world didn't turn to nuclear power en masse. If that was the case, the Resource Wars wouldn't have existed, the UN wouldn't have disbanded, and China wouldn't have invaded Alaska. Everyone would be happy and living life in peace because it was the oil running down almost everywhere and everyone fighting for a slice of the remaining deposits that created all of these things. If nuclear power was used en masse all over the world, everyone would be fine and no wars or end of the world would have happened.

 

[Pwener]

Also the world didn't turn to nuclear power en masse. If that was the case, the Resource Wars wouldn't have existed, the UN wouldn't have disbanded, and China wouldn't have invaded Alaska. Everyone would be happy and living life in peace because it was the oil running down almost everywhere and everyone fighting for a slice of the remaining deposits that created all of these things. If nuclear power was used en masse all over the world, everyone would be fine and no wars or end of the world would have happened.

It was just the U.S. from what we know whom embraced nuclear power correct? I mean, even Nuka-Cola was made with a freaking isotope. Insanity.

 

[Hassknecht]

It was just the U.S. from what we know whom embraced nuclear power correct? I mean, even Nuka-Cola was made with a freaking isotope. Insanity.

Another Bethesda-thing, though, where they decided that absolutely everything had to be NUKULAR.

 

[Pwener]

Another Bethesda-thing, though, where they decided that absolutely everything had to be NUKULAR.

Fallout 3 being canon aside, explain then why in Fallout 1 & 2 the refreshment is called NUKA-cola and why it gives radiation when regular alcohol doesn't.

 

[Walpknut]

Actually Nuka Cola didn't increase radiation in FO1 and 2. They did have a chance to cause Addiction.

 

[Pwener]

Actually Nuka Cola didn't increase radiation in FO1 and 2. They did have a chance to cause Addiction.

Well it does for me. Is that a Fixt thing or what?

 

[Walpknut]

Maybe because even the wiki states
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Nuka-Cola_(Fallout)
They don't even offer healing. They can be used to kill Big Jesus Mordino tho.

 

[Hassknecht]

Fallout 3 being canon aside, explain then why in Fallout 1 & 2 the refreshment is called NUKA-cola and why it gives radiation when regular alcohol doesn't.

It's called Nuka Cola because it's a spoofy play on words, and it doesn't give radiation, at least not in vanilla.

 

[peadar87]

Also the world didn't turn to nuclear power en masse. If that was the case, the Resource Wars wouldn't have existed, the UN wouldn't have disbanded, and China wouldn't have invaded Alaska. Everyone would be happy and living life in peace because it was the oil running down almost everywhere and everyone fighting for a slice of the remaining deposits that created all of these things. If nuclear power was used en masse all over the world, everyone would be fine and no wars or end of the world would have happened.

U-235 is a finite resource. Sure, we have technologies like fuel reprocessing breeder reactors, thorium reactors and heavy-water-moderated reactors, but they've not been perfected or widely implemented. By some estimates we only have about 150 years left of economically extractable uranium at current rates of extraction. If breeder reactors and widespread reprocessing were never developed in the Fallout Universe, combined with the vastly increased use of nuclear power, it's quite possible that the world is running low on uranium by 2077.

One of the main reasons we're not using breeder reactors and thorium today is that light water reactors are better for producing plutonium for atomic bombs. Most of the early research into nuclear power was done by the military for this purpose. Nuclear fuel is cheap compared to the plant, so there's no real reason for companies to spend trillions on R&D for new reactor classes for a saving on fuel, which is only a fraction of the overall cost. (A similar thing has held back renewables. Most of the research into thermal powerplants, boilers and steam turbines was carried out initially by the Royal Navy, Kriegsmarine etc. for use in ships. One of the reasons that renewables have historically been so expensive is that they have to absorb the R&D cost into the cost of the power they generate, whereas thermal power plants do not)

 

[Hassknecht]

U-235 is a finite resource. Sure, we have technologies like fuel reprocessing breeder reactors, thorium reactors and heavy-water-moderated reactors, but they've not been perfected or widely implemented. By some estimates we only have about 150 years left of economically extractable uranium at current rates of extraction. If breeder reactors and widespread reprocessing were never developed in the Fallout Universe, combined with the vastly increased use of nuclear power, it's quite possible that the world is running low on uranium by 2077.

I thought that, too, but weirdly enough uranium is nowhere mentioned in the timeline of the Resource Wars, and the driving catalyst seems to have been oil and not uranium. An indicator would be that microfusion power was developed a few years before the war out of necessity and that it came too late to change the world (especially since the US didn't appear to share it), but the world of Fallout doesn't seem to have run too low on nuclear elements. I mean, there's an easily accessable uranium mine in Fallout 2 after all.
But yeah, it would be reasonable to assume that nuclear power was also running out quickly, especially since the timeline does manage power rationing after a nuclear melt down in New York.

 

[Jogre]

While I agree that the world of Fallout operates under slightly different laws of physics where a miniaturization of a nuclear weapon to such a degree might be more feasible (there are some hard physical limits to criticality), what's the point of making a gun that will shower the operator in hard radiation on impact and that requires extensive maintenance and expensive materials when the resulting explosion isn't larger than a thermobaric bomb, which has the advantages of not necessarily killing the operator and not irradiating the surrounding area?

Maybe they were supposed to be siege type weaponry, that you fired in to enemy bases to blow a hole in there base, and force everyone out by making the base flood with radiation.

 

[CT Phipps]

While I agree that the world of Fallout operates under slightly different laws of physics where a miniaturization of a nuclear weapon to such a degree might be more feasible (there are some hard physical limits to criticality), what's the point of making a gun that will shower the operator in hard radiation on impact and that requires extensive maintenance and expensive materials when the resulting explosion isn't larger than a thermobaric bomb, which has the advantages of not necessarily killing the operator and not irradiating the surrounding area?

Killing the enemy, presumably. The thing to remember is the American government inside the Fallout universe is what I suppose could best be described as AmeriNazis. The future Enclave, if it follows the same pattern of "big ridiculous ideas that are wholly impractical" endemic to fascism than impractical designs are all but guaranteed. The Osprey, for example, shows what a democratic capitalist state can produce let alone one that conducts mass human experimentation.

It's called Nuka Cola because it's a spoofy play on words, and it doesn't give radiation, at least not in vanilla.

Oddly, growing up in rural Kentucky, I just assumed it was Nuka Cola because its ingredients were nuked to kill any bacteria in the polluted pre-War world like they do milk.

Silly me.

We nuke our food all the time after all.

Also the world didn't turn to nuclear power en masse. If that was the case, the Resource Wars wouldn't have existed, the UN wouldn't have disbanded, and China wouldn't have invaded Alaska. Everyone would be happy and living life in peace because it was the oil running down almost everywhere and everyone fighting for a slice of the remaining deposits that created all of these things. If nuclear power was used en masse all over the world, everyone would be fine and no wars or end of the world would have happened.

Nuclear power is not the be-end-all of cures to pollution as well as resources as we've seen with what can happen with crappy machinery and poorly handked devices. I say that as someone who generally supports nuclear power even as we're dealing with the disasters in Japan and the situation in Washington's abandoned nuclear plant. But yes, it's very possible the transfer to nuclear power happened BECAUSE of those things not INSTEAD.

After all, America and China are the only states left in Fallout by the time the bombs fell. Saying they exist because of nuclear power may explain a great deal.

 

[Risewild]

U-235 is a finite resource. Sure, we have technologies like fuel reprocessing breeder reactors, thorium reactors and heavy-water-moderated reactors, but they've not been perfected or widely implemented. By some estimates we only have about 150 years left of economically extractable uranium at current rates of extraction. If breeder reactors and widespread reprocessing were never developed in the Fallout Universe, combined with the vastly increased use of nuclear power, it's quite possible that the world is running low on uranium by 2077.

One of the main reasons we're not using breeder reactors and thorium today is that light water reactors are better for producing plutonium for atomic bombs. Most of the early research into nuclear power was done by the military for this purpose. Nuclear fuel is cheap compared to the plant, so there's no real reason for companies to spend trillions on R&D for new reactor classes for a saving on fuel, which is only a fraction of the overall cost. (A similar thing has held back renewables. Most of the research into thermal powerplants, boilers and steam turbines was carried out initially by the Royal Navy, Kriegsmarine etc. for use in ships. One of the reasons that renewables have historically been so expensive is that they have to absorb the R&D cost into the cost of the power they generate, whereas thermal power plants do not)

Would make sense except that the resources war started in April 2052 and only in 2060 did the USA start to look into using fusion (2060: Traffic on the streets of the world stops moving. Fuel becomes too precious to waste on automobiles, so alternatives are explored - electric and fusion cars begin to be manufactured, but factories can only make limited amounts. Pressure on fusion research increases.) and only in 2066 did the USA made the first crude fusion cell as an alternative to the resources being almost depleted (Summer 2066: Adding further insult to the Chinese-American relations, the first crude fusion cell is unveiled, one of the results of the Power Armor project. Devices designed for the fusion cell begin to be manufactured. Incorporating fusion power into the general US infrastructure begins, but the process is too slow to supply power to the regions that need it. Nearly thirteen years later, few sections of the United States were supplied with fusion power.).
Makes no sense that the USA would start to invest into using fusion only after a decade or so of the resource wars and only after oil was pretty much depleted to the point cars couldn't use it anymore, if uranium was also depleted.

After all, America and China are the only states left in Fallout by the time the bombs fell. Saying they exist because of nuclear power may explain a great deal.

I don't know what you mean by "America and China are the only states left", there is no information about what happened to every other country in the world. The European Commonwealth was in state of civil war, but still existed. You can't have a civil war if you don't exist.
There are also no information about South America, Russia, Africa, Australia, most of Asia, etc.