theories of how is the world after the Big One?

The world is probably a huge wasteland, now what's interesting is what kind of life/factions were created by the war.
 
Nah, I doubt that SMBComix. Really, if I understand my FO lore correctly, the United States and China were the ones to launch most of the nukes. I'm sure other countries did as well, but those were the big two. Now China and the US were probably hit hard. I could see Russia being devastated too, probably the Uk. But alot of the smaller countries out there are probably in a state similiar to the US; a barren wasteland with people struggling to survive. I could see Australia surviving--hell, if no Nukes hit them, they probably would be doing pretty damn good unless wind currents brought radiation to their shores. Undoubtedly the nuclear fallout after the Great War would've reached most countries, but the ones not directly hit by nukes would likely recover a lot faster than, say, the US.

If I had to guess I'd say MOST of the world is probably in a state similar to the US in FO. Possibly some more isolated or smaller countries that had little to nothing to do with the Great War may actually be thriving because they weren't directly hit with nuclear weapons, and the radiation has probably dissipated in those areas enough to let communities grow pretty damn fast. So I imagine a hodgepodge of differing areas throughout the European area, with some areas thriving and others completely and utterly devastated.
 
That was a very interesting topic there Naosssano, and one I missed; thank you for posting that :) I tend to agree with most of what they were saying in that original post, and alot of what was said in that topic as a whole; pretty much, it wouldn't matter if the areas were hit directly because of the breakdown of local governments and such; the areas would be screwed either way, for any sort of "normal" life. But like you said, I do believe some isolated areas could possibly be better off, or at least by comparison to the rest of the world.
 
Yeah, the world probably isn't doing so hot, in whole or part. My command of the lore isn't outstanding, but most (if not all) regions fell into internecine strife during the resource wars and they'd probably torn themselves up pretty badly before the bombs even had a chance to drop. When the war did go hot, I'd imagine that few places were spared, as there were plenty of nukes to go around and there would be military targets and potential hidey-holes and resource reserves on every continent. If you're fairly certain you're going to be mostly obliterated, your only real option left is to make sure you wipe out any potential competition for postwar revival on your way out. It's the dark obverse of the mutually assured destruction policy.

America and China are probably doing better than most places because being the last societies with resources to spare means there are more goodies kicking around for the survivors to find, but that could also mean that areas that have had to fend more for themselves and had less access to prewar weaponry have developed more stable and wasteland-savvy communities.

Resource hubs were probably heavily militarized by their local or colonial despoilers in the days before their depletion, and if any of them escaped targeting they'd be prime sources for regional powers to spring up from.

I doubt many populations would have been totally wiped out-- we know Mexico fared decently, and if the neighbor of one of the biggest targets of the war can make it, there's hope for almost anyone. I think it would kind of go against the 50s/80s ideal of total nuclear annihilation if any area much larger than Vegas or Zion Canyon managed to survive unscathed, though.

Then again, even the original devs (original enough, anyway-- the good Messrs. Sawyer and Avellone) have been moving away from the pulp-sci "absolute" wasteland ideal for the setting and beginning to alloy it more with "real-world" science and logic, with numerous suggestions in NV and its DLC that there were sizable groups of people who managed to survive outside the vaults, so who knows? Maybe there are whole island nations that didn't get hit, though without resources of their own or anybody to import from I imagine they would have backslid rather quickly into tribalism or something resembling it.

Anyplace that might have survived wouldn't have been able to support modern-age population figures, and they likely would have lost most of their most specialized (and technically valuable) citizens in the die-off. Most populations wouldn't largely be in possession of the knowledge and skillset necessary to adapt to the new world, which might leave traditionally poorer and less advanced areas with a distinct advantage.

... I'd close by asking your forgiveness for a lack of coherent organization here. It's late, I've got a very high fever, and yes, I'm aware that this is a bit long in the tongue even for me.
 
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