Random, Special, and..."Unique" Encounters?

[The Vault Dweller]

I have something I've been meaning to report for a long time now. First let me set up the context of the situation...

Ya know how you have random encounters that involve lots of various things like battles, conversations, and trades? How they happen often, can happen multiple times, and are usually related to the place, like meeting townspeople from a town your wandering near, or a mutated creature near the glow, etc.

Now those "special" encounters. By comparison they happen rarely, only once, and anywhere. You have the "Crashed Alien Saucer", "The Footprint", etc.

However...has anyone heard of "unique" encounters? You see in one play through I had some encounters that happened only once and were ones I never had in any other game. However they werent "special" encounters and I know this, because they didnt give me any particularly rare or useful item and no one else I know of has had them before. Yet they werent "random" encounters since they only occurred to me once and each seemed very specific like a "special" encounter.

Here are four examples...mind you this was a long time ago and although I remember the situation I dont exactly remember the descriptions in the text box.

-
I appear in the middle of desert near a small patch of isolated vegetation. The text box said "You discover a small oasis with a fruit tree". I looked and saw a large rock with a pond spread out in front of it. A single tree grew near it with small boxes (How some items look when left on the ground.) which I picked up and found to be mutated fruit. I found a total of eight of them.

I know for sure there was a tree, but I may be imagining the rock and the pond only to have it makes sense. It was a long time ago.
-
In a completely featureless area of desert with no vegetation, rocks, or even a skeleton I found something disturbing. I was standing alone in the entire encounter area with just a corpse. The corpse was of a white, female wearing metal armor. I examined the corpse. "This person was apparently killed and the body chewed by some large animal...probably still around." I immediately looked around and saw absolutely nothing in the encounter area. I looted the body and found nothing. I felt really freaked and since there was nothing left to do I ran away.

I think that encounter was just some random wanderer killed by a deathclaw or anything. You would expect to find something like that if you traveled enough.
-
In another encounter I found what can be best described as a deserted campsite. The text box said "You find a bunch of junk lying in the middle of nowhere." In the middle was a burnt out firepit with three different chairs around it. One was a lounger, one a stool, and another just a wooden chair. There was also a pile of broken boxes, a broken table, a tire, and a dead tree. I found no items.

Looks like some group camped out there for a few days and left behind various rubbage. Now thats something completely legitimate to find when wandering around.
-
I found what the text box said was "A battlefield from long ago.". There was about six bodies about all killed in different ways. One by fire, another by many bullets, one by a strong attack, and the rest just dead. One particular thing is that each body had a different description. One was a merchant, another a mercenary, one a townsperson, one a wanderer, and so forth. I searched the bodies and found one stimpack, one gun, some bullets, and some random stuff. There were also a handful of items laying around. I found a throwing knife and also I think another stimpack.

This encounter really made me wonder. It looked like some various travelers were set upon by another group perhaps of raiders. This event is completely understandable, but I cant help to wish I knew what really happened. Also one strange thing is that I got this encounter multiple times, but only in one area. If you go to the very bottom right of the map and stay near the coast there thats where I got it. If it helps to the right and up a few sectors is the glow. I would like to point out that in real life this area is near San Diego if that helps anyone. I also remember the leader of the library keepers in the Boneyard saying she came from an area far to the south and east...she said she left an area plagued by raiders. Was that encounter there to fit the story?
-

My only explanation is that the character I did it with was, of all my characters, the highest leveled and an expert outdoorsman. I decided to explore the entire map since I thought I might discover something and with my super high outdoorsman I knew I wouldnt suffer any severe consequences. I have no idea whether what happened was due to my long-term wandering in the isolated areas of the map or from my outdoorsman skill.

Has anyone else had any of these encounters and if so what character specifics do you think led to it?

Sincerely,
The Vault Dweller

 

[RPGenius]

I've had one where a NPC runs over to you asking you to help him hide from a beast of a remarkably similar description to a Deathclaw.
On which note, anyone else get trouble from Deathclaw Spawn in Fallout?

 

[Hotel California]

In FO1 i've had some odd incounters;
You know the regluar rock slides where it says you narrowly avoid it, well i found one of those that had a crushed ghoul with only a few caps. I'd also occasionally just find a body in the middle of nowhere with very little on it.

I suppose that these things might take the devs about 10-30 minutes to do but they added a totally cool and unexpected relief from wandering the map without anything happening. It would be wonderful if the Bethesda devs put that effort into FO3.

 

[Yamu]

It disheartens me to say it, but I think it far more likely that overland travel in FO3 is going to be next-gen for next-gen's sake, lifted straight from Morrowind without any consideration for flavor or atmosphere (It may have worked for Elder Scrolls, but if the gander has two heads and glows green, I don't really think that what's good for the goose matters much one way or the other). O sad day indeed, when that addictive admixture of intrepid curiousity and burgeoning unease we felt each time we were dropped onto a new encounter map is supplanted by the anticlimax of seeing an enemy pop into reality at draw distance.

That may be a discussion for another thread, though... The point I was originally going to make was that I loved those 'rare' random encounters. The pack of dogs was a favorite for me... they didn't attack you, and you couldn't recruit them. They were just there, benevolently indifferent to you, so far past their days of domestication that they were wholly unaffected by a human presence. It was the slightly eerie little touches like that that really helped to establish the character of the wasteland for me, perhaps even moreso than the towns themselves.

 

[The Vault Dweller]

I suppose that these things might take the devs about 10-30 minutes to do but they added a totally cool and unexpected relief from wandering the map without anything happening. It would be wonderful if the Bethesda devs put that effort into FO3.

Someone needs to post that somewhere important so everyone can read it. You just summed up what I think is the best thing about those unique encounters...the creation of atmosphere through realistic, and individually different situations.

Sincerely,
The Vault Dweller

P.S.

Nice "unique" encounters everyone, keep 'em coming.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I remember getting the encounter with the lone corpse in the desert. Or one very similar to it.

Could it be, that you were just northwest of the Hub when you got this encounter? I think it's connected to the Deathclaw somehow.

 

[alec]

Yeah, it's not unusual to find corpses whilst travelling the wasteland. It's happened in my games as well.

I'm puzzled about the oasis thing, though: I've found fruit (boxes) in the wasteland on various occasions, but an actual oasis with a tree and a rock and some water? Never had that one.

The nicest ones are gang wars or whatever they should be called. Lots of loot afterwards.

 

[Jarno Mikkola]

Well, if it's easy to make the kinds of encounters, then well, if they release Fallout 3, and if they release a mod tools to it, it would be easy to make such, well but hell, there are all those ifs.

But are you sure there weren't rats at the site, were there was the lonely wanderer, cause I had one were they were reported to be eating him/her.

 

[Hotel California]

I love wandering around the glow. You find loads of floaters and centurs there.

And i also love the crazy father and son couple who killed Big Henry when he we goo goo. The Dad blames the government and the boy thinks his dad is trying to be too clever.

 

[Silencer]

And i also love the crazy father and son couple who killed Big Henry when he we goo goo. The Dad blames the government and the boy thinks his dad is trying to be too clever.

"Fisherman and his son" encounter? I've gotten it once and I've been trying to replicate it for some time. It's one of few places in Fallout 1 where you get to meet a child.

Also, how is this thread not about Gameplay, huh?

 

[Max]

Howdy, first post but long term Fallout fan.

I've had one, alot i might add, where it says something along the lines of "You fall over some rocks, this place could really use some architectual consultary out here," or something like that, think it was in fallout 1

Also got one in fallout 1 (asuming fairly regular so not really unqiue) Where it says "You search around for Water but fail to find any. The search takes **Hours"

 

[Roshambo]

Howdy, first post but long term Fallout fan.

I've had one, alot i might add, where it says something along the lines of "You fall over some rocks, this place could really use some architectual consultary out here," or something like that, think it was in fallout 1

IIRC this is the result of a failure in an Outdoorsman check over rocky terrain.

Also got one in fallout 1 (asuming fairly regular so not really unqiue) Where it says "You search around for Water but fail to find any. The search takes **Hours"

Carry more water flasks.

 

[Lazarus Plus]

I remember an encounter in FO2 where you run into "wilders". Basically tribesman. But what refrence is that to? Wheel of Time, or something else? It doesn't seem to fit WoT, so I was curious.

 

[Kahgan]

I've had one where a NPC runs over to you asking you to help him hide from a beast of a remarkably similar description to a Deathclaw.
On which note, anyone else get trouble from Deathclaw Spawn in Fallout?

Heh, I got that one right after leaving the Hub without having solved the deathclaw quest...made me really confused back then

I've also had the occasional dead corpse in the middle of the desert. Funny thing about that one is that the discription says "You see dead dead traveler"

And the battleground encounter too, yup, had it many times travelling around the glow

 

[Pyrrhus]

Also got one in fallout 1 (asuming fairly regular so not really unqiue) Where it says "You search around for Water but fail to find any. The search takes **Hours"

Carry more water flasks.

If I'm not mistaken, the PC should only carry one water flask because all of the flasks that he/she is carrying disappear if he/she gets dehydrated when wandering around the wasteland.

NPCs on the other hand don't suffer from dehydration so they should be given spare flasks for the PC to take once their one has been used.

 

[Kahgan]

eheh, the point of carrying water flasks is that they "disappear", but they don't really just disappear, the PC drinks them, and thus, you don't get that dehydration "encounter".

 

[Quantos Leap]

I had a strange one in Fallout 2. It was several years ago so I can't remember some of the details.

I can't recall if it started as just your everyday normal random encounter or if something was special about it; it took place on the desert cliff terrain. After dealing with the situation outside (if there even was one), I went into the cave looking for something to kill.

What I saw astonished me. There was a large group of enemies in combat armor. I believe they were using pulse rifles but I could be wrong. I also noticed that there were several chests lying around. Needless to say, I was quickly killed. I didn't save, so I couldn't try again unfortunately.

This may be more common than I'm thinking it is, but I haven't been able to reproduce it. I usually find only something like rats or scorpions in those caves.

 

[Gia Thai]

Random Robber Caves, chance to meet 1/13 map with caves. Equipments they carry depend on your level. When you got AAA and Gauss Rifle, the only challenge you got is Robber Caves and 5+ Enclave Patrol Team.

I love Robber Cave, not just because of loots. The tactical challenge there is just great. One wrong move and your team were chewed up by plasma and lazer.

EDIT: to meet Robber Cave, it seem you must have an encounter in a map with real cave. Normal caves got all kinds of critters. When you got an encounter like that, the game check your luck roll. if it fail you got empty caves. Per's Guide said, chance to meet that caves is 1/13. And the enclave patrol team never appear in caves map, we will never meet both enclave team and robber cave. I once got Remnant of master's army (SM, centaurs and floaters) in map with robber cave.

 

[Hotel California]

Not an esspecially unique encounter but cool all the same:

I once entered a cave after wasting a load of raider scum and found it FULL of geckos of every type. I killed every last one of them (<35) and found myself at the bottom right (having started top left) with another cave exit. It was really cool because it actually moved me a considerable distance on the world map. Really well thought out and interesting concept there.

 

[Duckman]

Not an esspecially unique encounter but cool all the same:

I once entered a cave after wasting a load of raider scum and found it FULL of geckos of every type. I killed every last one of them (<35) and found myself at the bottom right (having started top left) with another cave exit. It was really cool because it actually moved me a considerable distance on the world map. Really well thought out and interesting concept there.

I absolutely love the times when little details like that are placed in games. Even though this may be difficult/relatively easy to create, just that the designers actually *thought* about the shear size of these caverns is quite amazing.

But I also enjoy when these strange random/unique encounters occur, as it adds an enormous level of depth into a game. Just to have some odditty in the wasteland, say the raiders in a random cavern or the wilders, set the game world apart from any other generic RPG. This uniquness makes you want to travel the wastelands more and find more odditties.

I find this kind of stuff absolutely amazing.