weather

T

TheTrader

First time out of the vault
I have followed the fallout series since game one, and love the setting but i dont recall much information being available about the weather in the fallout universe.

I ask as im runing an RP and i want the weather to affect the game world, but dont realy know how to simulate it and stay true to the fallout universe.

When i say not heard much about the weather im discounting the 48,000 times ncr troopers have wished for a nuclear winter.

Any help would be much appreciated
 
In original Fallout, in Shady Sands, IIRC, people complain about not raining much lately... they irrigate their crops, but hey, it's rain.
I think there a few more people complaining here and there, but nothing specific.

Don't know about Fallout 2. I can't seem to recall, but I gather that if there was rain in Fallout 1, no matter how sparse or radioactive the raindrops would be, there was apparently enough of it for the soil to 'stabilize', as a Fallout 2 world has far more plants and green in general.

Fallout 3 - depending on whether you consider it as canon or not - was supposed to have rain implemented, I think. Weather, in general, but that would be too much of a strain on engine. I think I've read that somewhere, maybe some interview with devs, but I can't be too sure, so take it with a grain of salt. Mods fixed that, though.

Fallout New Vegas is set in Mojave, a desert, so there isn't exactly any rain there, and is mostly dry, but in Honest Hearts DLC there is actual rain falling, clean, non-radioactive, so there you go. Ingame, Zion wasn't struck by nukes, but that doesn't matter much as global climate would be affected by radioactive particles, so radioactive rain would fall everywhere. Since that's not a case in Zion, I think we can safely conclude that majority of global climate is 'purified' and that weather is getting back to normal.






Now, I've mostly focused on the aspect of rain here, but that's not the only weather in existence.

I think sandstorms have been mentioned.
In Fallout 2 Cassidy tells us that there are twister and/or tornadoes (can't tell exactly) in Texas, so that's another element.
In Fallout Tactics in the game's beginning, basically, there's a huge storm which serves as a catalyst for game's plot (I think this is the case, actually - it's been a long time since I've played Tactics, and I've never finished it, so someone correct me on this one).
I saved snowing for the end - in New Vegas Mt. Charleston is covered with snow.
There was also a nuclear winter some time after the War, but I don't think that matters much here...


Hope this helps.
 
I always thought if there was rain in FO:3 it would be some kind of radioactive acid rain and that's why there's still no vegetation after 200 years. Being DC, shouldn't there be snow and ice in the winter months? Or did the climate change raise temperatures enough to kill off the cold winters?

Vegas doesn't necessarily have to be dry. Mojave summers tend to breed thunder storms in the afternoon which would have been cool to see in game.

Large sandstorms are mentioned in the Divide and it's implied that that's pretty much the only weather there. They get so bad they will strip your skin if you're not covered.
 
In original Fallout, in Shady Sands, IIRC, people complain about not raining much lately... they irrigate their crops, but hey, it's rain.
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They're saying about yellow (or something similar) rain, people from Hub too. So, rain from F1 isn't something good for anyone imho.
 
Alesia said:
I always thought if there was rain in FO:3 it would be some kind of radioactive acid rain and that's why there's still no vegetation after 200 years. Being DC, shouldn't there be snow and ice in the winter months? Or did the climate change raise temperatures enough to kill off the cold winters?
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The wiki states that the wasteland is an effect of both fallout and the black rain that started falling shortly after the war.
Also, I don't remember where, but I vaguely recall reading that the nuclear blasts made the earth stop turning resulting in a long term radioactive summer. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong (I think I am)

Large sandstorms are mentioned in the Divide and it's implied that that's pretty much the only weather there. They get so bad they will strip your skin if you're not covered.
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Those sandstorms occured when the bombs there detonated, creating the Marked Men as the result, and they were covered in armor. Unless there's a different kind of sandstorms there now.
 
The wiki states that the wasteland is an effect of both fallout and the black rain that started falling shortly after the war.
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What happened shortly aftera Great War, we know thanks to Randall Clark.

1. "Black rain falling outside. Geiger jumping. Should let it kill me but bottling water from back of cave all the same."

2. "Sounds dead outside, but can't look. Geiger goes crazy 15 feet from cave mouth."

3. "Two months in cave. Still lethal outside. Don't get it. In army they said 2-4 weeks cleared fallout."

4. "Sounded like windstorm out there for 2 days. Radiation down 500. What happened?"

5. "Took a peek. Snow. It glows green."

6. "Radiation low enough I could risk short exposure outside."

War started in October 23 2077.
Surface can be explored since January 30 2078. (without dying to radiation I mean)

So 4 months of hiding basically.


Next thng.
Great Winter.
Occured in 2130.
Pretty lethal because "The Great Winter of 2130 and the scarcity of human subjects make building his army difficult."
 
Alesia said:
I always thought if there was rain in FO:3 it would be some kind of radioactive acid rain and that's why there's still no vegetation after 200 years. Being DC, shouldn't there be snow and ice in the winter months? Or did the climate change raise temperatures enough to kill off the cold winters?.
Click to expand...


One of FO3's shortcomings was a lack of logic in many aspects, one of those the mentioned weather conditions and general look of the wasteland. But that's another, far wider topic.


Alesia said:
Vegas doesn't necessarily have to be dry. Mojave summers tend to breed thunder storms in the afternoon which would have been cool to see in game.
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I didn't know that.
Still, it's a desert. Reasons for not having rain implemented are probably similar to those why Fallout 3 didn't either.


Languorous_Maiar said:
They're saying about yellow (or something similar) rain, people from Hub too. So, rain from F1 isn't something good for anyone imho.
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If that's the case, then it isn't, no.

Still, it rains, and over time the yellow or whatever rain did get 'cleaner', as evidenced in FNV.

However, I'd like to point out that although rain in Fallout is bad for human population, it may not be the case for various plant species which might have mutated and adapted to wasteland conditions.
 
This is what the CW should look like between like Nov. and Mar. That's at least the way I imagine it.

FalloutSnow.jpg
 
Which mod is that from?


And yes, I agree with you. That's a pretty realistic looking wasteland 200 years after the nuclear war.
 
When I first played FO3 (which I actually started with) I was always thinking "200 years and it still looks like this?" Never would've guessed that that was an actual flaw at the time.
 
I never really thought of it myself. I started with 3 and always figured the war was so incredibly bad that the landscape just never recovered.

These days however, I think there should be more greenery, trees, grass, etc. Probably vines and crap all over the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial. The reflecting pool between them should be empty, the water would have evaporated or boiled out long ago. Speaking of which, if the coastlines changed drastically, like they did in L.A. where inland cities are now beach front property, sections like Anacosta and Rivet City should be underwater, if not the whole city of D.C. Winter months it should freeze and snow (that would have been awesome in game.)
 
The coastlines changed not because of flooding, but because of landscaping done with nuclear weapons. Hell, Orange County seems to have gone the way of the lake.

Anyway, I never really understood the "HUMANS DESTROY NATURE" vibe. If the Chicxulub impact failed to kill off all life on the planet, I very much doubt our firecrackers and pop guns could do that.
 
^

True, but I don't think the consequences from nuclear war and asteroid/comet impact are exactly same.
Similar, yes, and when it comes to the sheer force released, asteroid wins by a long shot, but there isn't exactly radioactive fallout in that case and its long remaining effects, or effects of chemical warfare etc.

Still, the notion of humans absolutely obliterating other forms of life on earth is absolutely without sense.
 
If you look at most mass extinction events though, what normally survives is the stuff we see in Fallout. The small, easily adaptable forms of life that don't need much to survive. Insects, small rodents, etc... Note that the Chicxulub impact obliterated all the largest species, namely the dinosaurs. I don't think it would be so out of place to say at least a good 80% of species would have died out in the great war.

Now plant life on the other hand is very adaptable. Even with the radiation not EVERY part of the wasteland should just be dead sandy desert. Maryland and Virginia are pretty green today, therefore I see no reason why the CW shouldn't look more like Oasis all over.
 
nyway, I never really understood the "HUMANS DESTROY NATURE" vibe. If the Chicxulub impact failed to kill off all life on the planet, I very much doubt our firecrackers and pop guns could do that.
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Atomkilla said:
^

True, but I don't think the consequences from nuclear war and asteroid/comet impact are exactly same.
Similar, yes, and when it comes to the sheer force released, asteroid wins by a long shot, but there isn't exactly radioactive fallout in that case and its long remaining effects, or effects of chemical warfare etc.

Still, the notion of humans absolutely obliterating other forms of life on earth is absolutely without sense.
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Remember Fallout is fantasy game, and can have some fantasy absurd elements, like almost dead nature.

You can accept talking flora/fauna but can't almost destroyed vegetation?
 
Atomkilla said:
Similar, yes, and when it comes to the sheer force released, asteroid wins by a long shot, but there isn't exactly radioactive fallout in that case and its long remaining effects, or effects of chemical warfare etc.
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You mean like Chernobyl is now a desolate wasteland devoid of any and all forms of life?
 
ive always wondered why anyone cares about the other forms of life in the first place. Without humans no one is going to miss them anyway.

Doesnt it rain on black mountain?
 
Tagaziel said:
Atomkilla said:
Similar, yes, and when it comes to the sheer force released, asteroid wins by a long shot, but there isn't exactly radioactive fallout in that case and its long remaining effects, or effects of chemical warfare etc.
Click to expand...

You mean like Chernobyl is now a desolate wasteland devoid of any and all forms of life?
Click to expand...


I don't think you've read my post(s) properly or understood what I tried to say.


Either way, I wouldn't compare effects of a nuclear reactor breakdown and a global thermonuclear war.
 
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