Ron Burke answers Fallout 3 questions

[xdarkyrex]

Simply because we don't know the exact mechanics of it yet doesn't mean we should toss all sensibility out the window.

Well it's not a matter of sensibility, we aren't even sure that self-sustaining fission is plausible. And even if it was, it might produce little to no actual power.

Besides, it's already established that fusion technology in Fallout does not explode when shot. If it did, then every single battle involving Power Armour or fusion cell powered rayguns would turn into ground zero.

:/ that's a really good point, unless they work on different principles.

 

[Sorrow]

Both fusion powered cars and rayguns are the result of the power armor program.

 

[Vault 69er]

Well it's not a matter of sensibility, we aren't even sure that self-sustaining fission is plausible. And even if it was, it might produce little to no actual power.

Many things in Fallout are implausible. Nobody denies that. But it's still implausible in that lovable science! manner.
Exploding fusion reactors are actually a brain bug inherent in 80's-90's sci-fi.

:/ that's a really good point, unless they work on different principles.

Well, the Highwayman uses the same exact fuel-cells that laser and plasma weapons do.

 

[xdarkyrex]

Many things in Fallout are implausible. Nobody denies that. But it's still implausible in that lovable science! manner.
Exploding fusion reactors are actually a brain bug inherent in 80's-90's sci-fi.

I dunno bout that, 50's Science! really spans the whole breadth of silliness.

Well, the Highwayman uses the same exact fuel-cells that laser and plasma weapons do.

The Highwayman was a custom modified car though Not that it matters. Perhaps though, military model fusion reactors were built with a more stable but expensive reactor type? It doesn't seem too hard to suspend disbelief here.

 

[Vault 69er]

The Highwayman was a custom modified car though

No it wasn't; it was merely rebuilt from parts taken from other cars and places.
Note that the fuel regulator you get in Klamath comes from an identical model car, and it's obviously related to the fusion power source and not modified later because of the icon markings and description.

Not that it matters. Perhaps though, military model fusion reactors were built with a more stable but expensive reactor type? It doesn't seem too hard to suspend disbelief here.

That's really stretching it, and the real point is.. we shouldn't have to. Maybe Bethesda will come up with some excuse, but it's really just bending the universe around their ideas rather than the other way around.

 

[xdarkyrex]

That's really stretching it, and the real point is.. we shouldn't have to.

...what?
That's an entire double-standard.

 

[Vault 69er]

That's really stretching it, and the real point is.. we shouldn't have to.

...what?
That's an entire double-standard.

What I mean is we shouldn't have to spend time trying to reconcile what is essentially a gimmick into Fallout's universe.
Fallout had mutants made with magic goo. But they had a point. They were part of the story. Exploding nuclear cars are just there for the sake of being exploding nuclear cars. Nevermind that they shouldn't exist, shouldn't make mini-mushroom clouds and would've been long since looted of their power cells/reactors/whatever before 101 boy bursts onto the scene and starts nuking everything.

 

[Sorrow]

Fallout had mutants made with magic goo.

Err...
No, F1 mutants were made with a virus that altered the subjects DNA.

 

[Vault 69er]

Fallout had mutants made with magic goo.

Err...
No, F1 mutants were made with a virus that altered the subjects DNA.

Yes but it's a made up virus that's transmitted by means of being dunked in a vat full of viscous green fluid.
Hence paraphrasing it into "magic goo".

 

[xdarkyrex]

What I mean is we shouldn't have to spend time trying to reconcile what is essentially a gimmick into Fallout's universe.
Fallout had mutants made with magic goo. But they had a point. They were part of the story. Exploding nuclear cars are just there for the sake of being exploding nuclear cars. Nevermind that they shouldn't exist, shouldn't make mini-mushroom clouds and would've been long since looted of their power cells/reactors/whatever before 101 boy bursts onto the scene and starts nuking everything.

Eh, well I'm gonna be honest, I don't like the idea of nuclear cars exploding. I wasn't arguing your point. I was arguing your method of delivery. You seemed to make some bizarre conclusions that I didn't understand.

My argument is that it just feels excessive.
As for the science... I see no reason to quibble over it.
http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=68803



interesting read on that link, you might enjoy it.
I did.

*edit*
http://www.sandia.gov/media/z290.htm
http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inertial_confinement_fusion

 

[DirtyDreamDesigner]

The question is not whether nuclear cars are possible. It's not even if exploding nuclear cars are possible.

The question is do exploding nuclear cars fit in the Fallout universe or not, and the answer is a re-fucking-sounding no. First of all because no one in their right mind would make, sell or buy a car that would destroy seven city blocks and irradiate the rest in the first fender-bender it gets in.

Second is that Fallout 1 and 2 established that cars do not explode in the Fallout universe. Neither the Junkyard cars nor the highwayman.

The third is that even if they did, don't you think that someone would have utilised these obviously powerful sources of energy in a post nuclear environment instead of leaving them for the Vault Dweller v 2.0 to blow up?

 

[xdarkyrex]

First of all because no one in their right mind would make, sell or buy a car that would destroy seven city blocks and irradiate the rest in the first fender-bender it gets in.

While this is only quibbling and for the most part I agree with you, but just because something explodes when shot doesn't mean it'll explode when you crash. Plus, I'm pretty sure its a tiny explosion or some random shit like that. They make it seem the same size as a fuel tank explosion...

It all seems a bit silly, the whole car thing.

Although, a plasma or laser gun could realistically detonate a fusion cell into a bomb, but only if it managed to hit it from a lot of different angles at once. (thats actually how the fission trigger sets of the fusion core in a modern H bomb)



But yeah it still shouldn't be in the game. Although it hardly seems like a big enough deal to hate the game over haha.

 

[Bernard Bumner]

First of all because no one in their right mind would make, sell or buy a car that would destroy seven city blocks and irradiate the rest in the first fender-bender it gets in.

Er, the Ford Motor Company?

Well, at least they came up with the Ford Nucleon, a "nuclear-powered" concept car, in 1958...

 

[Brother None]

I'm guessing one of the reasons the Nucleon never went into production is because it could explode.

Raise your hand if you know cars don't actually have the tendency to explode like in movies.

 

[Killzig]

RE: Safety concerns. Fun fact: American autos used to be ridiculously unsafe.* The fact that a really unsafe car would be part of the fallout universe sis actually quite appropriate as most of that zomgofthefuture stuff wasn't designed with safety in mind. What does bother me, like the rest of you, is that they are apparently littered strategically around the world with their cores mostly intact and unharvested ready for teh kabooming.

bigger concern still: all of the combat that's been revealed has been completely mindless (much like Oblivion's). Is there really any reason to run about shooting ants or mutants other than "OMG SCARY MONSTERS!"? (Don't tell me it's fun, if there's anything Oblivion taught me it's that video game combat isn't fun!) Wasting Slavers? Raiders? Over-priced hoors? Pick pocketing little shits? That's the kind of violence I can get behind.

*See: Nader's Crusaders.

 

[Makagulfazel]

I'm guessing one of the reasons the Nucleon never went into production is because it could explode.

Raise your hand if you know cars don't actually have the tendency to explode like in movies.

*Looks at everyone else raising their hands*

Aw, fuck. The movies has deceived me again!

 

[Bernard Bumner]

...apparently littered strategically around the world with their cores mostly intact and unharvested ready for teh kabooming.

Yeah, see that is the the problem; I could probably accept it if, once, on a mission to retrieve a power core from a rare nuclear-powered car, outgunned, I had the chance to fuck the mission and blow up a party of huge supermutants, maybe...

In Fallout, the best weapons were things to anticipate getting your hands on, but they didn't come too easily. Bethesda's worst mistake would be to go for cheap thrills and party-tricks everywhere, to forget subtlety, and undervalue the sense of reward that rarity brings.