this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2024
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Fallout

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I use the word functional instead of usable or controllable because that's kind of under the umbrella of how they could be implemented.

Both Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 had rail systems you could see moving (the presidential metro and Nuka-Express) opposed to Fallout New Vegas (Camp McCarran's monorail) for example.

I feel like the two major concerns would be how their addition would effect map design and how the engine is going to handle them.

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[–] Death_Equity@lemmy.world 19 points 3 months ago (1 children)

God no, there is too much crap on the ground and Bethesda is terrible at vehicles.

Maybe some sort of mutated horse or other lore friendly mount could work, but nothing with wheels.

The game doesn't even need it with fast travel and how fast you can move.

[–] CorrodedCranium@leminal.space 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I wonder how many horses would still be around or what other mounts they could go with?

I believe the appearances of horses in the Fallout New Vegas comic was stated to be an error and some of the early games mention they were wiped out.

[–] Death_Equity@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

There is obviously a large number of animals that survived but mutated in various ways. Lack of regional communication could explain their introduction.

Brahmins show that farm animals did survive, so it wouldn't be much of a stretch that horses survived in the Rockies and nobody outside of that area knew they existed.

[–] CorrodedCranium@leminal.space 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Of course what I was saying though was that I thought horses were canonically confirmed to not exist but it seems like people were misquoting a post on Fallout fandom.

[–] P00ptart@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

How about a sabre toothed donkey?

[–] slazer2au@lemmy.world 13 points 3 months ago

People have modded player controlled vertibirds into Fallout 4. if they can't do that in FO5 then I at least demand a rail car hat from Fallout 3

[–] Etterra@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago

It would be fun to be able to drive around with a sketchy-ass motorcycle. Also bicycles for when you're a lower level lol. But no having a motorcycle that, unless it's in perfect working order, that's a good chance of launching you over the handlebars would be hilarious.

[–] PP_BOY_@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago

Nah.

I remember seeing this exact debate on the CheatCC forums well over a decade ago lol

[–] VelvetStorm@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

They should have live mounts of some sort. There are plenty of rad stags and giant rad scorpions in the world, so there is no reason we shouldn't think mutated horses or other types of trainable animals exist.

They could also do some sort of motorcycle or even something like a sentinel bot you could ride on.

[–] finley@lemm.ee 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

FO4 also had vertibirds.

but, like, land vehicles? i don't think so.

first of all, all of the pre-war land vehicles in the Fallout universe were nuclear-powered, and that's a fuel source that requires a lot of refining, not to mention mining for the raw materials. for that to be available - even in the much smaller quantity required for the population alive in the 2280s-90s, it would require a pretty huge infrastructure which does not currently exist, and to build it would likewise require a pretty big industrial and manufacturing infrastructure which doesn't exist. even if they made/adapted them to be ICE-powered or electric, the same problems emerge.

whatever precious few vehicles that survived The Great War have been maintained for centuries and kept functional using scraps of those that were destroyed or broke down in the past 200 years, powered by whatever scavenged fuel sources still exist.

certainly, it stands to reason that, in some remote regions untouched by war and destruction, some small facilities for both fuel storage/refining and even vehicle manufacturing might exist somewhere, but they'd probably be under the control of, for example, the BoS and/or The Enclave and only produce extremely limited quantities of either/both which is why they're rarely seen or used.

they also would strongly impact gameplay negatively if they were used more widely than to progress storylines at certain points, eg to advance between chapters/move between major map sections. one of the key game elements is that all major travel infrastructure is destroyed, and the player must travel between destinations on foot (and the danger that entails, as well as the destination, characters, monsters, and loot encountered on the way). in many ways, the journey is the destination and a major part of the adventure of the game!

[–] CorrodedCranium@leminal.space 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I think there have always been liberties in the lore about energy capabilities so I don't think that would stop them.

I don't think it would be a major leap to go from power armor to vehicles.

I'm also pretty sure there are non-nuclear vehicles in Fallout like the Highwaymen from Fallout 2 and if I recall correctly there's also mention of super mutants using steam powered trucks in one of the original games. Plus there's combustion engines scattered across the wasteland as typical post-apocalyptic clutter and gas powered generators in Fallout 4.

The NCR in Camp McCarren also use the trucks present on the base. I think there's probably a lot of that "It's there but not shown in game" kind of stuff.


I do see what you mean though. In those situations it could almost feel like an interactive version of the transition zones between DLCs and the base game and not much else. I imagine they'd have to limit the amount of points of interest and make those sections relatively barren.

[–] finley@lemm.ee 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

There’s a reason you don’t get access to the teleporter until very late in the Institute/Minutemen/Railroad storyline: it suddenly makes the game feel very small— or, at least, much smaller. By that point, you’ve already hit most of the major and even most of the minor spots, met most people, and leveled way up. And even then, teleportation only gets you to key map points. Places that you’ve already been.

Plus, vehicles would screw with combat, since they’re giant weapons.

I don’t deny that they wouldn’t be a ton of fun, but I think they’re best relegated to rarities on the sidelines as they are now.

[–] CorrodedCranium@leminal.space 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I feel like it wouldn't be that difficult to largely limit vehicles to a segment of the map. Even if they didn't want to set a hard boundary like a fenced border with Fallout 4 levels of clutter on the road they could be made impractical for certain areas. I don't think that would necessarily make the map feel smaller or mess with combat.

I think the big concern though would be people pushing them into locations they were intended like Skyrim horses.

[–] finley@lemm.ee 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I know what you’re talking about, however, I think that any kind of limit that they could practically set in order for it not to screw with gameplay too much would kind of suck all the fun out of it, defeating a purpose. Ultimately, there would need to be some sort of balance, and I think that balance might just be too hard to find.

It might be interesting to experiment with it though.

That’s probably how they just settled on the teleportation device.

[–] Crozekiel@lemmy.zip 3 points 3 months ago

Where's that gif of the train car model stuck on a person like a hat to make it move... I imagine that is how Bethesda would implement this into their 20 year old engine.

[–] Hux@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

If I could find a functional land vehicle—or amass parts over hundreds of hours of gameplay to get one to run—I would want it to fail almost immediately and explode in a small nuclear fireball.

Here's how I want them to function: https://youtu.be/HxgdGJ_7lHA

[–] randomdeadguy@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

The motorcycle mod and the mobile base truck mod on the New Vegas nexus were very promising, but they had some issues and were susceptible to crashes due to being script-heavy. You could even mount guns on the motorcycle! It really fit the wasteland aesthetic. However the environments were mostly made to be crossed on foot, and not by a vehicle which can only be perfectly flat and only move in straight lines. Definitely recommend.

[–] ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

I want a small nuclear submarine. That would open up so many exploration options. You could zoom around short distances manually or use it to fast travel long distances from port to port (say DC to Boston). Mutated sea creatures to run from or fight. Flooded sunken coastal cityscapes. Ghoul Chinese sub crews still fighting the war. Secret underwater research stations. So many options.

[–] AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee 2 points 3 months ago

Took a moment to think about this, and I think it would be pretty cool to have a fallout game set in an absolutely humongously large map and have a system where you can fast travel small distances to essentially repair shop settlements in a vehicle that was possibly repaired and upgraded to use things like fusion cores or something else lore friendly enough. But if you wanna go from one side of the map to the other, you gotta drive closer to other settlements to try and keep some semblance of balance, possibly, to make the vehicle feel more worthwhile.

Just a fun little vehicle that has properties similar to a companion outside of hardcore/survival/whatever mode, but instead of going unconscious and eventually getting back up, you repair it with parts you find scattered all around the map or have purchased from various vendors. If it gets damaged, up until a certain amount, you could be able to fast travel to the nearest repair shop type area you've unlocked and you could repair it.

Wanna run into low level raiders? Go for it! Just watch out for the guy with a rocket launcher whose job is to try and blow up your vehicle and you! Wanna jump off a cliff and survive? Ramp it! Want a motorcycle instead of a car? You purchase that instead of a car. Car gives more protection whereas the motorcycle goes faster, but gives less protection to your character.

Just things to make the game feel more chaotic. Though I could see why people would not want anything like this, it sounds fun to me as a fan of digital vehicular antics. As for the logistics of making all that work, I couldn't tell you. Sounds like a nightmare due to how a lot of areas like settlements feel like they're made in such a way that vehicles would be hard to implement.

[–] CrayonRosary@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

Yes, and they should be required for fast-travel and have built-in storage. Let them be used for fast-travel even without having already visited a location by just picking a spot on the map if there are clear roads between here and there. Occasionally have random encounters when fast-travelling which take place in temporary locations, after which you just get back in the vehicle to continue the journey.

Add an optional driving mini game for giggles.

And then make the wasteland huge. Multiple towns and cities, not all on top of each other. Put important caves, power plants, army bases and such in the middle of nowhere, so you have to know where they are to travel to them effectively. And also let players see distant landmarks as silhouettes like in Wind Waker.

Vehicles shouldn't need fuel. Fusion Cores should last effectly forever. It's a dumb gameplay hack to have made them short-lived.

"This fusion core has been powering our whole building for years, but if you take it, it will only last in your power armor for one hour."

But wear and tear should be extreme unless you spend a lot of time and money fixing your vehicle up, but then it can also get stolen, so that's risky, but you can always steal it back if you can find it! Imagine finding the camp of the raiders who stole your vehicle, killing them all, and finding all your stored gear spread amongst them.

[–] Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca -5 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Nah fallout 46, 76? Whatever number they gave it was just bleh..so was 4. And their space thing. Bethesda isn't really worth it in my mind anymore. Too busy playing Indy games where they are about their game

[–] Death_Equity@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago (2 children)

76 is a lot better now than on release, it actually feels like a Fallout game now.

[–] cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 3 months ago

I still won't buy it until they let us self host our own servers.

[–] Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Does it? Maybe I'll give it a look. I'm very skeptical though.

[–] Death_Equity@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

The core of the game is like any other Fallout, but you can see other vault dwellers and conquer the wasteland with them if you want.

There is a lot of grinding if you want to get stuff for your base or certain weapons, but you can play the game entirely solo, except for public events where other players will be working towards the same goal as you to complete a loosely timed mission. The multiplayer aspect can be as relevant as you want. Most of the other players are nice and greifing is mostly limited to bases that are designed to kill you, but you can never interact with other players and never go to their bases if you choose. The only consequence to death is dropping your scrap junk that other players may loot. Public voice chat is abnormal, most players communicate entirely through emotes and actions like shooting at things to call attention to it(like something you intentionally dropped or to alert another player that you are waiting for a trader that they are occupying.)

There definitely is an incentive to pay for the monthly subscription, called Fallout 1st, that gives you a lot more inventory space and exclusive items that are inconsequential to playing the game. You don't need the subscription to enjoy the game, but will have to manage your limited inventory storage and can't loot goblin to your hearts content because of that.

[–] CorrodedCranium@leminal.space 1 points 3 months ago

What does that have to do with this though?