Which states or cities would make good locations for a future Fallout game

The Dutch Ghost

The Dutch Ghost

Grouchy old man of NMA
Moderator
Hello all,

As the thread header already says, what states or cities would make a good location for future Fallout games?
Personally I always prefer states as a setting over cities as I feel that allows for more diversity in locations that can be used for NPCs, Quests, Plot etc, but cities seem to be the thing on the moment (I hope not for long).

I do research possibilities myself from time to time but I am sure that I am missing out on some obvious choices, perhaps people here, especially US natives can give me some good ideas.

Ideas from some Fallout mods and ideas are as follows

Fallout Lonestar;
El Paso - Good choice, military presence, oil refineries, a lot of variety in population and culture, high tech stuff, hooks to Fallout lore regarding the invasion and annexation of Mexico.

TorontRayne's Motorcity;
Detroit - Also a good choice, lots of pre war industry (I always imagined Detroit being reborn as an industrial capital when the US basically started to isolated itself and manufactured a lot of stuff such as cars, trucks, but also military equipment within their borders again), there is also some research and development going on here, close to the border to Canada which probably made it a jump off point to the invasion and annexation of Canada.

Fallout Resurrection;
I know Albuquerque appears in this but I have no idea what other places.

Fallout Between Good and Evil;
Absolutely no idea on what places would have been in this one.


Suggested locations for Fallout 4

Seattle; some of Bethesda's plans was to make this city an important transfer point to Canada during the Anchorage campaign.
Personally I feel we should downplay references to old conflicts in Fallout, it is not as if we in Europe are still feeling the after effects of the Napoleonic wars.
What would have this location of its own have that would make it an interesting setting?
According to Wikipedia it is home to a lot of 'old' and new industry such as computers and the internet.

Boston; somewhat of a similar idea to Washington DC, to really play up to Americana, especially the War of Independence.
Again I really think that should be downplayed, Bethesda made it a thing in Fallout 3 but Americana was of little relevance to people in Fallout 1 and 2 for many good reasons. They knew what America was about somewhat but did not go overboard on stuff like the founding fathers.
What does Boston of its own have that would make it an interesting setting for a Fallout game.
We know that Bethesda wanted to do something with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology but I really don't think we should have more androids indistinguishable from humans.
Clunky androids are fine but the Bladerunner/Cyberpunk androids are more a 70/80s thing, not something out of the 50s in general.
 
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Aside from the ones already mentioned in your post above, I can think of a few cities/states that would work well. I think the next Fallout should be in a location with a wider variety of terrain than what we have already seen in the base games. I want to see Chicago again, but that might not be an option. Quite a few states are, frankly, boring as shit. Take my home state of Oklahoma. Not the ideal choice for a Fallout game. Texas works pretty well, but Kansas for instance? Not going to work. Seattle is an excellent choice imo. Shadowrun featured the best depiction of that city.

How about something completely different? Memphis, Tennessee, or more specifically the areas around that region. You have the Confederate ties from the Civil War days. Also the Blues capital of the USA. Tennessee even had a small part to play in the Manhattan project. You really couldn't lose with Elvis Presley's mansion either. I'm not as familiar with the area as I am others, but it sounds like a good fit. It's worth looking at anyway.

I know New York is likely a radioactive pit in the ground, but that is the most obvious location I would think. Let's say parts of New York City were saved by some sort of missile defense thingamajig. The game would be laid out much like Fallout 3, as far as half the map being the city, the other half being surrounding areas. There would be so many pop culture references your head would explode. The locations pretty much write themselves for NYC, but it's fun to think of the less obvious choices.

Arizona is a good desert location if they wanted to go that route again. Montana has interesting terrain. So does Florida. All of these locations could work. Hell Oklahoma could work if included in a larger part of the region, like Texas, with DLC and such - much like Fallout 3 did with Point Lookout and the Pitt - but that all depends on the plot. Texas should have worked for Fallout BOS, but we all know how that turned out. I've always like your ideas for Texas Dutch Ghost. I think Texas is a prime candidate for a future Fallout game, especially with Dallas, Houston, and Austin being so large and interesting. I wouldn't mind seeing how the Mormons in Utah fared during the apocalypse either so Salt Lake City would make sense for that area.
 
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Best to keep factions to another thread I started a while back, but yeah new factions that are local to these places.

Personally and I might sound controversial perhaps, I want to kill off the BOS, or at least the Lost Hills chapter as a result of the BOS-NCR war, really showing that the Brotherhood has gone into a decline it will not recuperate from.
Outposts like Hidden Valley would remain and perhaps replace Lost Hills, but it would be the continuation of the idea that the Brotherhood has less and less influence on the world, and no longer able to maintain their monopoly on advanced technology.

As for the Enclave, I would wipe them off the map completely, just some of their technology still lingering around and occasionally resurfacing.

PS. I think Colorado (already mentioned in Van Buren) would also make a great setting.
 
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On the topic of those oil refineries, why are those relevant? The whole reason the war started was because of a severe lack of such resources.
 
Okay, I should have answered that one in the original topic.
It is actually not relevant of course because as you said, there is no oil anymore, what I actually meant was stuff like energy production, power plants, mines and such, reasons why some places are also economically very important or play an important role in the US's energy infrastructure.

Sort of a slip I guess.

I am interested in places that have a combination of interesting elements; interesting land marks, variety of culture, presence of research and development stuff, military installations, economic elements. (be they factories, important transfer points, hubs of for example railways, roads, air traffic)
Material that can be used to set up quests, factions and so on.
 
Well Colorado has NORAD, which I think could be interesting...
 
There was also a nuclear materials enrichment plant and a chemical weapons plant if memory about the Wikipedia article serves me well.

With Denver, Colorado Springs and Boulder so close by the map formula of Fallout New Vegas could be handled, though I still prefer Fallout 1 and 2's map nodes.

Think is, a whole new idea would have to be thought up for this setting as I would not want to rip off Van Buren.
 
I like NORAD as a location because there are rumors that a high speed monorail runs under Colorado/NORAD, near Denver Airport, all the way to Area 51. That would be a pretty powerful tool for a faction to possess. If it wasn't destroyed of course. Of course if we used the old Fallout map you could use a larger area to explore, but that wouldn't happen with Bethesda so...
 
The remains of West and East Berlin would be an interesting sight. A massive tank graveyard with the rotting hulks of the Berlin Brigade on one side, and the Soviet Army on the other, all while avoiding Ghoulified East German Border Guards still defending the ruins of the now ruined Berlin Wall.
 
RetroAmerica said:
The remains of West and East Berlin would be an interesting sight. A massive tank graveyard with the rotting hulks of the Berlin Brigade on one side, and the Soviet Army on the other, all while avoiding Ghoulified East German Border Guards still defending the ruins of the now ruined Berlin Wall.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't that affect the Soviet reputation though?

IIRC they were neutral to the USA, with them even having embassies and people from both the US and the USSR meeting themselves comfortably.

Actually, do we have evidence that Germany was still separated?

I like the idea though. Something new. However I really wonder if Europe was bombed. The tanks could contain loads of loot and valuable scrap, with people sending you to get them since the East German Guards shoot people on sight. Maybe even a quest to go in East Berlin using secret routes and stuff. Ah.... if only that was true. And find out how they still stick to their old ideas and stuff. With much of the people ghoulified. Maybe even them being very paranoid due to the Soviet attack on the West having the Soviets suffer very very heavy losses due to BAOR, and them fearing a Western Invasion. And.. OK, I'll stop now.

I think that Fallout will stick to America only though.
 
Bit of a late response (more than a month) but I agree with the last poster.
While I as well have played with ideas for a Fallout setting set in Europe including one idea that would have been a spin off to the cancelled Fallout Yurop (which actually did take place in Berlin and also played with the differences between West and East Europe, NATO and the Soviet Union), at some point I did come to the conclusion that it was better to keep Fallout games, stories, and RPG settings in the United States.

It is not meant as criticism against people who would like Fallout to move to other countries such as their own but Fallout is so ingrained into US concepts, ideologies, politics, and so on, that you can't really transplant it to other countries.
A lot of the world was already a mess with the US and China still standing before they both send their missiles and bombers flying.

I am still interested in ideas for locations for future Fallout games, so if anyone has one, please mention them here and tell why you think these would make good locations.
 
Montana:

It's more or less a clean slate, we know that from the Lonesome Drifter that there are people living there because he mentions being born in Montana and also working in the coal mines at a young age (for who though is a mystery, whether it be for the NCR or for some other kind of organization, perhaps slavers?) What I'm betting on though is that since it's a state that is far away from California, Nevada, etc. the NCR hasn't really gotten a foothold on the region, meaning that the devs would be free to come up with their own factions and conflicts, yet at the end of the day still keep the setting a "western frontier" because I feel Fallout benefits from that kind of setting (my favorite games are 2 and New Vegas, and I'm all for the idea of a wasteland frontier because walking around in endless ruins with no real society is really boring, just look at Fallout 3), if you get what I mean

Another advantage to Montana is its diversity, land wise. The north western part of the state (up near glacier national park) is much more of a wilderness with forests and mountains while the eastern part (from Billings eastward) is much more flat and at times can even feel like a desert/traditional wasteland, so if they chose to pursue that state as a location there would at least be some variety, although that would require expanding the game world to something more like Fallout 1 and 2, and I'm skeptical that will happen.

A lot of people (and the rumors) have brought up Boston as a potential setting and although it would be a fine location, (and I would know because I live there) Bethesda would obviously have to mention the Institute and androids and all that science crap which doesn't really belong in a Fallout game, and my worst fear is that they play it over the top and the entire experience becomes something reminiscent of Old World Blues (and even though it wasn't a bad DLC, I wouldn't want it to be an entire game experience)

I'm really betting on E3 being the announcement for the next Fallout game, so we'll just have to wait 3 months or so to see what happens. Either way, I'm looking forward to it.
 
Detroit.
All that mass produced consumerism promoted in the mr. handy commercials and such. You could even have a vault society that was able to use their GECK, and have a New Detroit with a functioning auto industry.
Also on the border with newly annexed canada, you can explore that history and make it more marketable to non american gamers.
Includes Lake Eerie. Heavy snow in the winter would be cool to finally put in a vanilla version. Close enough to Chicago & Cleveland if you want to include them as future DLC...
 
Nehanarac said:
Detroit.
All that mass produced consumerism promoted in the mr. handy commercials and such. You could even have a vault society that was able to use their GECK, and have a New Detroit with a functioning auto industry.
Also on the border with newly annexed canada, you can explore that history and make it more marketable to non american gamers.
Includes Lake Eerie. Heavy snow in the winter would be cool to finally put in a vanilla version. Close enough to Chicago & Cleveland if you want to include them as future DLC...
Click to expand...

2581370-4535523233-Fallo.jpg


I like that your idea includes cars. I suppose they could finally get around to disabling fast travel and replace it with your own vehicle, similar to Fallout 2.
 
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I don't see the point in outlining specific states as locations, it's not like state borders still exist in the Wasteland, it's all just general territories.

I thought Van Buren had a pretty good set of locations and territory, but obviously it's all been canonically hoovered up by the Legion, so they've restricted a Van-Buren territory game somewhat.
 
I'd like to see Buffalo, New York in a Fallout Game. My grandparents live there. I haven't visited in forever, but I can remember some cool stuff from when I was a kid.
It's situated on a strip of land between two great lakes and at the head of the Niagra river.
It's across from Fort Erie in Ontario, Canada.
There's a big naval park with all these ships docked.
There's a massive Art Deco railroad station.
There are grain elevators all over the place.
Birthplace of buffalo wings.

*edit*
As a matter of fact, I'd love to see a Fallout game centered on Lake Erie with Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, and parts of Canada all as major locations.
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Ironically, I feel like Hawaii would be one of the few place probably untouched or barely touched by the nukes because it doesn't have as much importance to the US and its so far away from the main land. Not trying to disrespect Hawaiians or anything like that, I'm just saying that what would anyone have to gain by nuking Hawaii? Although as I said on another post, I think Alaska or Washington would be interesting places because America annexed Canada and it would be interesting to see how the war effected those borders. Another reason I'd be interested in hearing about Washington is that its far enough away from NV to not have been effected by what happen there, but traveling merchants and/or civilians could end up bring word of what happened there. Outside of the US I'd like to see what happened in Korea or China. Korea is close to both China and Japan, so it would be a good middle ground. Shit, factions from all three could be fighting for more land and that would give you a very interesting plot. Although I think being able to be a ghoul or Super mutant in the next game would be interesting. Although they're both resistant to rads, Mutants can still die from it and Ghouls could possibly change into feral ghouls because of it. So for instance the longer a ghoul would be in rads, although they would heal, they would gain an int debuff in till they took in to many rads and became feral.
 
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Neon Child said:
Ironically, I feel like Hawaii would be one of the few place probably untouched or barely touched by the nukes because it doesn't have as much importance to the US and its so far away from the main land. Not trying to disrespect Hawaiians or anything like that, I'm just saying that what would anyone have to gain by nuking Hawaii?
Click to expand...

But it's close to Asia. I'd imagine the Fallout version of Hawaii would be even more chock full of military bases than it is IRL - an important strategic asset and refueling/re-supplying depot between the mainland and the war front in China. If we did want the Fallout series to go to Asia (which I honestly can't see happening, given the America-centric nature of the setting), Hawaii would be a logical bridge. I think Fallout: Oahu is a lot more likely, and in keeping with the setting, than Fallout: Seoul.

I agree Hawaii probably escaped the worst of the devastation, although between the wind and the ocean, plenty of radioactive material probably found its way there, leading to unique mutations. Because it's so remote, it would be interesting to see what kind of societies emerge there, and with all the prewar weapons lying around, each island could be a separate little fortress, each warring against each other not unlike the ancient Hawaiian kingdoms.

And if a powerful faction on the mainland was aware of Hawaii's existence, imagine the motivation for getting there: a fertile land, almost untouched by the scars of the war, and sitting on a gold mine of prewar military tech. I could imagine a Brotherhood outpost or the NCR trying to fix up an old ocean liner or a submarine (or just using a Vertibird) and sending there out on a scouting mission. The vessel gets shot down by one of the local factions and everyone on board dies except the player character, who emerges and must make their way through the islands.

And who knows, maybe groups in Asia or Australia or elsewhere have also heard rumors of this paradise and also want to seize it for themselves?
 
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I really really like the NORAD idea. Mostly because I am desperate for elements of FOT to become canon, and putting the game in Colorado would potentially give me my sweet, s w e e t, release.

I actually really like the idea of Boston, or anywhere on the East Coast really. If Fallout 4 is going to be on the East Coast (due to being a Bethesda game), and is going to be in Boston, they've already done enough goofy things with the lore that they could probably get away with doing something wacky and outrageous (but at least interesting). An idea I'd had is for some kind of neo-Britain to cross the Atlantic and attempt to "reclaim the thirteen colonies" as part of some kind of irredentist story arc. Could tie in with Boston really nicely, and could allow them to give us at least some window into how the rest of the world is doing.
Although really, with the Enclave showing up in FO3, I feel (I know) that Bethesda would screw the pooch and just give us the Enclave with incomprehensible British accents. Bethesda can only do what they know how to, and even then they're not very good at doing just that anymore.
 
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