Should there be guns in Fallout?

O

Octagon

First time out of the vault
Around the time of Fallout 3 and New Vegas, over 200 years since the war, would there be enough ammunition left for guns to exist in the way they do in Fallout? I don't know exactly how many bullets and guns there are in the USA, but at the rate we see lead flying, it seems like kind of a stretch to me that there's enough firepower around after two centuries for guns to be the go-to weapons for wastelanders. I can definitely believe that guns would still be around, I mean, it's 'Murica we're talking about. But I think it'd make a little more sense if only the richest people, or factions with access to bullet factories had what other wasters might see as magic (dare I say) "boomsticks?"

But hey, maybe I'm wrong. If anyone knows something I may have forgot, or a reason that it's entirely possible that there'd be enough bullets left after all that time, please let me know! I'm interested to hear people's thoughts.
 
Of course there should be guns in Fallout. [This needs proof?]

Not only can ammo be reloaded, but new ammo can be made ~and new guns for that matter. Contrary to Bethesda's re-imagined Fallout setting, the populous were never stagnant caricatures of a misconstrued retro 1950's. There was a chemist that reloaded ammo in Fallout, and a weapon savant in Fallout 2; all places being abstractions, that's indicative of more than just one of each. Myron (and any like him) would profit from selling gunpowder, custom shotgun rounds, and designing machinery to manufacture firearms and ammunition.

The Fallout setting is not [supposed to be] some timeless state of perpetual aftermath ~with survivors wandering around the war debris... Bethesda may be trying to simplify the setting to broaden its appeal by making it a more accessible concept, but even they would never strip out guns from the setting ~no matter what other damage they do to the franchise. The game is a shooter, so that would be shooting themselves in the foot.
 
Fallout always needs *some* guns. Though the current games have too many, which quickly makes melee/unarmed and throwing feel a bit useless.

The Dark Earth game probably handled it best. Almost everyone used melee, and a handful of people had crappy pipe rifles or crossbows... But the "real" guns like a .44 magnum or SMG were trophies to be cherished. One shot could kill a man, but you'd always think twice before using a bullet.

It would be good if you could carry an empty gun just for the scare factor... it worked for Mad Max.
 
I never was a fan of a PA setting in which guns and bullets are rare, or almost consider 'magical'.
The whole 'reconsider shooting a bullet, bullets are rare' mindset might work in other PA settings but I don't feel that has a place in Fallout.

Don't want to have tons of swords and crossbows crap in Fallout.
 
Yes, reloading was my first thought, exactly. But Sickle has a point, too; it's the same issue as with too much magic in some RPG systems, that of game balance. So yes, guns - but perhaps both they and decent ammo should be a lot harder to find.

Edit: @The Dutch Ghost, I'd tend to agree that having the pendulum swing too far the other way (guns as rare as magic) can also drain the game of fun; I guess I'd say that it's usually fun to ammo-spam enemies in Fallout 2, but that (especially in Fallout 1) it also can be fun to play within the other type of setting, where you really do have to make economic decisions about using ammo, not just moral and tactical / strategic decisions. It's why I liked the Solar Scorcher, I guess. I like the idea of having to decide whether to take the risk of using a lesser weapon from closer range (combat knife, anyone?) because I'm having to gauge just how many shotgun shells I'll need to get past that big guy by the exit door. ;^) -m
 
Last edited:
Don't misunderstand me guys, I do NOT want crossbows and medieval warfare in Fallout. This isn't from a gameplay perspective, just my curiosity.
 
Nobody mentioned medieval warfare... All the Fallout games already have plenty of melee weapons, but they never get used enough because of all the guns and ammo. And a crossbow isn't that much of a stretch, it's already in plenty of apocalyptic movies and games, and makes more sense as a hunter/trapper weapon than a gun.

Guns need to malfunction more. There's already critical failures but there needs to be more... A tribal like the Chosen One would never be able to maintain a gun properly, he's used a spear his whole life... the only gun in the village is a broken one the elder keeps.

But it'll never be possible... Fallout needs miniguns, rocket launchers, and laser weapons to be "fallout"
 
I also think the problem with unarmed/melee combat is the fact that you rarely encounter enemies that rely a lot on that, or that such skills are rarely better than using guns.

It might have been interesting if Sawyer's idea of the player having to manufacture their own ammunition or find people to manufacture it as planned in Fallout Van Buren had been implemented.
There would still have been traders and shops that sell ammunition but the best source would have been to make it yourself or have a companion that can make it for you.
 
Unless a Fallout game is set in a isolated are I don't see guns and ammo running out. We have the Gun Runners and various gunsmiths though the course of the setting. What I really think is that it needs more balance like Sawyer's idea, you could still find ammo in shops ( albeit a higher price) but the best source would be the player himself.
 
1379397678409612853.GIF
You are joking, right?
 
The only change I would make in regards to Fallout and firearms would be the implementation of many more older and simpler model weapons(such as for instance the inclusion of the M1 Garand in FNV), or for instance the Sten in FO: Tactics
 
Uhmm this would only be a problem if the people in it's setting just stood on their asses not bothering to produce any of the things they need to survive on their own. Which I guess then this would be aplicable for Fallout 3, but not the rest of the series.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top