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.

  • CorrodedOP
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    2 months ago

    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
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      2 months ago

      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.

      • CorrodedOP
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        2 months ago

        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
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          2 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.