Padding out The Power Of The Atom

You guys are thinking to small. I mean, come on! The most powerful weapon in mankinds arsenal, bar none, is sittin' in a friggen puddle in a shithole of a town, with NONE of the factions showing even a slightest interest in it?
I mean, where is this? Bizarro world?
You could create an entire main quest just based of that nuke and the different factions struggle to obtain it. Come on! Its a friggen NUKE! Is no one else bothered by this? Its treated like some kind of mildly amusing device that just happens to blow shit up.
There is no way to save that quest since the nuke shouldn't even be there in the first place! Never mind that a sensitive device like an a-bomb would never even survive any kind of impact hard enough to leave a crater, much less survive 200 years of neglect out in the open to be activated with just one random component.
No, even if the above wouldn't be true, you would still have the first faction even catching a rumour of a maybe functioning nuke, commin' down on that town like a bag of hammers to obtain it.

Its a silly quest through and through. Better to use the game resources like when the bomb goes off and try to use it to create a new main quest that makes friggen sense.

/rant off

Sorry, but to me, this quest is the epitomy of the bad writing and lack of logic in this game. So I needed to vent a bit.
 
Westbend said:
Sorry, but to me, this quest is the epitomy of the bad writing and lack of logic in this game. So I needed to vent a bit.
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And I feel like an idiot for not realizing the obviousness you pointed out earlier since the game came out. No, I think I should get my head examined, really... that's just pretty bad on my part as a player to not notice something that bad.
 
I agree with Westbend. The Most Powerful Weapon of All Time is sitting in a puddle in the middle of a shit-town and... nobody cares. Can someone tell me WHY that town hans't been teared apart by the Outcasts and that bomb taken to their Fort? Or the Super Mutants? Or Lyons' BOS?

I saw a lot of good ideas in this topic... It's fascinating how a bunch of people in a forum can make a better quest than Bethesda in some minutes.

Here's a suggestion: Make it so you can't just go in and disarm that bomb. It's not a land mine IMHO, it's a NUCLEAR BOMB. It would make much more sense if you had to go around and seek information about nuclear weapons. Arlington Library would be a good place to have some info, Rivet City's scientists and the Museum of Technology and History could have more info. The BOS and the Outcasts probrably have some useful knowlodge, too. With all the necessary knowlodge and clues, you should head back to Megaton and disarm that bomb, get a lot of money and glorious XP.

As for the other factions... it would be very interesting to involve them. Super Mutants, who are immune to the radiation, would be VERY interested in getting that bomb for themselves so they could, I dunno, nuke the BOS or something. Lyons' people would probrably be scared of a potential danger lying around in some shithole and may ask you to help his boys get that bomb secured, disarmed and researched. The Outcasts would be VERY interested in such a powerful piece of technology and they would probrably contact you though one of their agents, offering to you something very good if you help them get the bomb. The Enclave? Well, maybe Burke is one of their agents?

Also, that explosion should have more consequences on the game world. Fallout raining from the skies for a week, people talking about "That big flash in the horizon", radiation affecting you from a certain distance of Megaton (not just in the crater, some kilometers near it, too), Tenpenny giving you some Rad-X and saying "You better stay indoors this week, friend." and Ian West mourning the death of his sister.

This mod got some great potential.
 
I'd suggest we move that bomb away from megaton to a hidden stash in close proximity. As stated before: nobody would build a "town" around a bomb. So maybe Simms discovered the bomb after it was too late to just abandon megaton. So he hide the bomb even better . Maybe it fell through a roof of a bigger building but did not detonate and Simms moved it even further down in the basement and made sure it could not be found easily. But somehow parts of the information have been leaked and this quests gets started and ends far beyond simple detonation/deactivation ending, but as mentioned before a struggle for it, where the player determins through his actions who ever gets this powerful weapon.

/e also I'd suggest to redesign megaton partially. Bomb away ofc, then maybe more space in the middle for a bunch of brahims, some stable at the outside and most important redesign of the walls. Come on people some old rusty metal tagged to gether is supposed to be some sort of protection? You can kick against it and it would fall down. Does not even protect against 10mm, never the less supermutants with grenades. Maybe use the walls of tenpenny tower surrounding the vicinity, has some sort of Shady Sands feeling. Right now you think you are Kevin Costner stuck in some sort of bad version of water world (which is kinda..bad because water world was already really poorly designed)
 
The reason that they didnt get rid of the bomb is because of those Church people, they needed the help from them to build the city and if they moved/disarmed the bomb they wouldn't help with the builing of Megaton. And seriously, some 18 year old person living in a hole their whole life, can just come out and be like: "Whats up with that nuke?" "Oh, its just been sitting there, wanna disarm it?" "Sure!" and then they go and disarm something they have never even seen or even looked at in real life for that matter, and why would you trust some random kid that just walks into town to touch something that could blow you to bits? Simms is really retarded. It would be kinda neat to have the different factions fighting over megaton for the power over the bomb, I would think it would be a good war between the Enclave and BOS after the PC gets to the citadel so that when a player starts out they dont land in a warzone with power armor and plasma rifles.
 
I don't think people would be fighting over the bomb. Sure it's a powerful weapon, but it's completely useless without the ability to load it into a plane and drop it.

The enclave might be able to use it, but for what and why? It wouldn't do them any good in particular.
 
Westbend said:
You guys are thinking to small. I mean, come on! The most powerful weapon in mankinds arsenal, bar none, is sittin' in a friggen puddle in a shithole of a town, with NONE of the factions showing even a slightest interest in it?
I mean, where is this? Bizarro world?
You could create an entire main quest just based of that nuke and the different factions struggle to obtain it. Come on! Its a friggen NUKE! Is no one else bothered by this? Its treated like some kind of mildly amusing device that just happens to blow shit up.
There is no way to save that quest since the nuke shouldn't even be there in the first place! Never mind that a sensitive device like an a-bomb would never even survive any kind of impact hard enough to leave a crater, much less survive 200 years of neglect out in the open to be activated with just one random component.
No, even if the above wouldn't be true, you would still have the first faction even catching a rumour of a maybe functioning nuke, commin' down on that town like a bag of hammers to obtain it.

Its a silly quest through and through. Better to use the game resources like when the bomb goes off and try to use it to create a new main quest that makes friggen sense.
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You are right. This has potential for a series of half a dozen quests in succession. With multiple paths possible and for playing different factions between eachother and milking more than one at the same time, then backstabbing some or even all.


Roflcore said:
I'd suggest we move that bomb away from megaton to a hidden stash in close proximity. As stated before: nobody would build a "town" around a bomb.
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Personally I like it in the middle of the town. It gives Megaton its charm and says something about the seeming insanity and irrationality of a post apocalyptic situation, where a benefit of a good crater outweights the downside of possibility of a nuclear blast.


bhlaab said:
I don't think people would be fighting over the bomb. Sure it's a powerful weapon, but it's completely useless without the ability to load it into a plane and drop it.
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It is useful. It would take a giant effort to move it (with massive manpower and a sort of brahmin pulled sledge maybe). But it is so powerful (ability to virtually anihallate any one chosen rival faction) that the effort could be worth it.

In fact we could use this. It could be explained that so far the bomb has been unmollested because of the giant effort required to move it. But now with factions at odds with each other so much, it presents an interesting weapon to some of them and a great danger to others.

Alternatively some may only be interested in scavanging it for the detonator and the nuclear material (albeit why would they need nuclear material? Maybe they plann on making a nuclear powerplant in the future but that is too wacky...).


Just my 2 cents worth of brainstorming.
 
It takes such effort to move it, so how would it be used? If you wanted to take out the brotherhood of steel you'd have to drag this megaton bomb into the middle of their base without them noticing
 
bhlaab said:
It takes such effort to move it, so how would it be used? If you wanted to take out the brotherhood of steel you'd have to drag this megaton bomb into the middle of their base without them noticing
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This.Nobody has the means to launch it.
Not even the enclave have proper bombers.
Vertibirds are too weak to be used as bombers.
 
Maybe they build a launcher for it? Like a giant Fat Man? Then the BOS or Enclave or whoever can launch it wherever they want, or make New Megaton if it doesnt detonate again!
 
Westbend said:
Never mind that a sensitive device like an a-bomb would never even survive any kind of impact hard enough to leave a crater, much less survive 200 years of neglect out in the open to be activated with just one random component.
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Just a side note - if the arming mechanism somehow failed and the bomb is not armed, then you can friggin' tear it apart with a sledgehammer and it won't go off. This ain't TNT - spark won't set it off.

Though the idea of a nuke just lying around with only some half-assed cult and Tenpenny being interested in it is fucking retarded.
 
Yeah, at least raiders would be interested, after all they just like killing people pretty much, and they seem like the people who would like to see a nuke destroy an entire town.
 
And the end of the game could be a surreal scene of megazor- i mean Liberty prime tossing the bomb at Raven Rock
 
Frederic said:
bhlaab said:
It takes such effort to move it, so how would it be used? If you wanted to take out the brotherhood of steel you'd have to drag this megaton bomb into the middle of their base without them noticing
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This.Nobody has the means to launch it.
Not even the enclave have proper bombers.
Vertibirds are too weak to be used as bombers.
Click to expand...

It's possible to use that bomb without a bomber.

(FALLOUT TACTIC SPOILERS)
Fallout Tactics has Plutonius, the bomb that is worshiped as a god in Kansas City/Gravestone by a bunch of ghouls. Gammorin's Super Mutants find out about the bomb and the ghouls make a deal with the brotherhood - Brotherhood gets the bomb if they protect Gravestone from the mutant atacks. And from what I remember, Gravestone IS one of the hardest battles in the game, the kind where the enemy throws a horde of crazy, berserk, bloodthirsty Super Mutants on you and the only hint the game gives to you is "Have Fun." Oh, and don't let more than five ghouls die. Have luck.

Later in the end game, the Brotherhood comes across the Vault 0, the Calculator's Base: Its Vault 0, which is a super-fortified bunker-vault in Cheyenne Mountain. The Brotherhood puts the bomb in a truck and after you clean a path to the entrance, they drive the bomb to the entrance, arm it, then it's going away and a matter of DUCK 'N COVER. This allows the BOS to enter Vault 0 and attack it.

See? Just because you don't have a bomber does not mean a nuclear weapon is useless. I could imagine the Outcasts scientists going giggly at the thought of researching and tinkering with a real a-bomb!
 
Yeah, the outcasts would be quite interested in it. To blow up megaton you dont even need to drop it out of a plane.
 
Well yeah because it's already in megaton. The problem is moving it around, and I just can't see anyone in the fallout universe coming by with trucks.

I can definitely see how people would not think the megaton bomb is a big deal. The BoS probably has nuclear technology up to their eyeballs, the enclave has better weapons and prefers covert activity, and the raiders would just throw rocks at it or something.

And tbh, I think the general vibe of megaton is one of the few instances where bethesda 'nailed it' as far as presentation and thematics go.

The quest related to the bomb should just be better designed and written, with real motivation for tenpenny and more sensical interaction within the town itself. You should have to take every side's perspective into greater account and not just waltz into town and fuck with their bomb. I think that's all the quest really needs and I feel that some of you are over-thinking it a bit.
 
And Mr. Burke should approch you when you enter town, as the first time I did it I just went down and disarmed the bomb without even thinking about. Even when you do enter the saloon he is just sitting there, so you kinda need to be wanting to do it to even have the option.
 
bhlaab said:
It takes such effort to move it, so how would it be used? If you wanted to take out the brotherhood of steel you'd have to drag this megaton bomb into the middle of their base without them noticing
Click to expand...

Well it`s a hydrogen bom from 2077. It`s blast radius is enormous. And the radition fallout is even wider. It is not required to move the bomb in the middle of the BoS base. Half a mile from the base should be sufficient. Or a querter of a mile just to be sure.

The real challange is taking the bomb from Megaton without anybody noticing that. But of course everyone will get word of that even before it is moved which is why the politicing can kick in.

And it does not need to be actually used to be useful. A faction that would posses a functioning bomb like this could use it as a leverage with all the other factions. It would be a dagger hanging over their heads. At any time the faction in posession of the bomb could threaten others they will smuggle the bomb close to their base (or some other high value target) and detonate it in order to keep them in line.

In fact that way it may be more useful than using it right away. And the faction in posession may seeing that actually become very reluctant to use it because they would loose leverage. To the point where other factions would start to wonder if the faction in posession is not only bluffing and decide to seek out a say provenly resorceful outsider, who can not be traced to them should things go south, to attempt to find out where the faction in posession keeps the bomb, sneak into that place and sabotage the bomb by dearming it or if his employers and he are evil even detonating it, destroying the faction in posession.
 
This has potential. Think about it: One of the big ironies of Fallout is that nuclear weapons, which destroyed the world, are also what saves it. In FO1, you use a nuclear bomb to destroy the Cathedral. IIRC, you do similar to destroy the Oil Rig in FO2. Yet in FO3 you can set one off in your first quest and no-one gives a damn.

You could rework the entire main quest to be about the fact there's an unexploded a-bomb in DC. None of this crap about water purifiers. Megaton could be more of a crazy religious community where everyone is part of the Church of Atom, and better hidden rather than right on Vault 101's doorstep.

Of course, this would be a monumental task, as it essentially involves rewriting FO3 entirely. But it could be an opportunity to create new factions rather than recycling the BOS and Enclave, and to make the world such that it makes sense.
 
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