Martial arts, unarmed combat and Fallout

Yamu said:
You don't happen to live in America, do you? Because it sounds a lot like you're talking about the kind of watered-down "Taekwondo" they teach in strip mall dojos with absolutely no standards for oversight or accreditation (see also, "Karate"). I used to know an old South Korean army vet who would regularly take apart any and all comers with the real thing (which is saying a lot, considering my home ground wasn't wanting for serious dojos for just about any style you could care to name).
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Yes I do.. I also assumed thats what the OP was referring to as fallout takes place in the us and thats just what kung fu or taekwondo means here. Anyone who is actually proficient in real TKD or other chinese martial arts could kick my ass all day. Apologies for any misunderstandings.

In that case to answer the original question i doubt it would survive in its strict form as there probably wouldnt be any dojos or anything around, but id guess aspects of it would be passed down to people looking for the ability to handle themselves in close quarters situation
 
What about the Vault Dwellers? Those guys seem to have nothing but time on their hands. Would it be unlikely if one of the occupants happen to be a skilled, maybe even Olympic level in Martial Arts that could have passed on from generation to generation? Eventually creating a vault full of ninjas that wondered the wasteland teaching the art along the way.
 
Krav-maga would have survived. It is the mixture of four to five different style of martial art. It's really very dangerous and is highly used by Israel army. Lot of American kids are seen practicing krva-maga these days as an after school program. These style really amazes many kids.
 
naossano said:
Unarmed needs a serious buff to survive agains't nuclear strike...
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You clearly are not familiar with the mighty power of CHI!
In fact, the legitimicy of Chi explains why China has no need of actual armed forces or a nuclear arsenal, since they can simply utilize the power of chi to blast away any incoming missile or aerial or naval attack hurka derp burk
 
I think most of the experience a person would get is just from being in a lot of fights and at least surviving them.

Think of a modern infantry unit. All of the people of a certain unit get the same training, however as these people are exposed to fights they transition from "green newbie" to combat veterans.

Might not be the best example but it's all I could come up with.

Anyway to actually answer the OP, I think if it can be agreed at least some form of Eastern Martial Arts made it over to the US before the bombs fell, they would have a chance to be preserved. They don't refer to these fighting styles as "art" for no good reason. These traditions are much more than combat; they are a way of life.

Thinking on this "way of life" aspect, I would assume they would be less impacted by the dismantling of "modern" society caused by the great wars of the Fallout universe.
 
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I know one thing, Unarmed (and melee in general) is boring as hell, ESPECIALLY in first-person

Seriously, we need some sprinting kicks, jump kicks, kicks in general, better punches, tackling, non-lethal punches, lethal punches, "You are already dead"-shit, Bruce Lee shit.

I've literally never played a first-person game where unarmed was interesting. Excluding, maybe, Dark Messiah, but that was mainly just that godly standing kick.
 
I think the unarmed maneuvers you could learn in NV were a step in the right direction. Learning them was irritatingly situational and they were hardly among the most intuitive mechanics in the game, but I still got a fair amount of use from the Ranger Takedown and the Khan Trick. (I guess there were special VATS unarmed moves, too, but trying to spice up unarmed combat with VATS is kind of like trying to spice up gruel by serving it in a grey rain boot.)
 
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Hate to quote Elder Scrolls here, but "The best techniques are passed down by survivors" would fit in the post-apocalyptic world. Some fighting styles might have survived the apocalypse but aside from books and vaults, all wastelanders would have adopted some sort of a mish-mash new fighting style that would match their purposes IMO.
 
zegh8578 said:
naossano said:
Unarmed needs a serious buff to survive agains't nuclear strike...
Click to expand...

You clearly are not familiar with the mighty power of CHI!
In fact, the legitimicy of Chi explains why China has no need of actual armed forces or a nuclear arsenal, since they can simply utilize the power of chi to blast away any incoming missile or aerial or naval attack hurka derp burk
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I once heard The Force is just microscopic bacteria in your bloodstream...
 
Martial arts is also very glorified, even IF you show up "with the real thing". It is a guideline and a reflex training, but by far any kind of guarantee. You will kick ass if you face someone unprepard for your skills, but the way movies give people these impressions, of a master facing a horde of wannabes, kicking all their asses :D Obviously, one shouldn't fall for movie-learning, but through hundreds of movies, Asian martial arts have almost gained a reputation of carrying a guarantee for victory.
Not to mention that movie-fighting is very aesthetic and elegant, it has a lot of style, a lot of acrobatics, some movies taking it way too far, such as The Matrix series, where fucking robots needed to resort to some kung fu, because kung fu trumfs guns, bombs, hell even uninstalling a person from the goddamn system, and where nobody actually fought - as much as they sparred, for then to punch and kick with no actual force, mysteriously making people fly (I've come to almost hate that now... *tap*-*flyyyy!*)

That lil rant said, I have respect for martial arts in their genuine form, their actual capabilities, and I am curious about all the lost forms of fighting. There was some medieval notes/drawings found recently, showing old and semi-forgotten sword-fighting tricks, many of the drawings included using the handle as a melee weapon, disarming, etc.

Scandinavian archeology have suggested even vikings had structurized military barracks, which again suggests a lot of physical training, including hand to hand fighting. It would be interesting to see what they learned. This idea of "Only chinese people jump and kick kung-fu style, cus they're so tiny and lightweight" is sortof racist, and I'm sure it's a big fat myth :D
 
It made sense in the first matrix movie where they can only do reality bending kung fu while inside the matrix but the sequels had me scratching my head too.

Anyway i remember reading somewhere that european knights learned to do backflips and jumping kicks in full plate armor so im sure you are right that its not just a chinese thing.
 
BonusWaffle said:
Anyway i remember reading somewhere that european knights learned to do backflips and jumping kicks in full plate armor so im sure you are right that its not just a chinese thing.
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I didn't know that!
But take a peek at little hints in culture, for example, old Norwegian folk-dance will often feature the "halling-kick" where the male dancer will bounce around acrobatically "psyching" himself up, before he performs an impressively tall jump-kick (kicking a hat off a stick).
Today I don't think anybody anywhere thinks of this as more than a dance, or ever thinks it was anything more than a dance, but think logically about it - most dances incorporating violence (kicking :D) have a root in that reality.
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Since many of these parts of history are gone, I doubt we will ever have them confirmed, but I lean on common sense dictating that obviously - people needed to know good martial arts in all human cultures, throughout all of human history.
 
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