Fallout Bible 8

Fallout Bible 8 is the eighth installment of the Fallout Bible, a collection of documents containing background material for the first Fallout games compiled and written by Chris Avellone. This installment was released on October 2, 2002.

The Fallout Bible upd-eight
Here's the eighth Fallout Bible update - if you missed any of the others, check the Black Isle main page (www.blackisle.com), scroll down, and click on the "Read More News Here" section (and scroll down or do a "Find" for "Fallout"). The first three updates have been collected into a sinister "Update Zero" and the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh updates stand on their own.

For those of you who haven't seen these before, the Fallout Bible is a collection of background material and hi-jinks from Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 compiled into one document so the fans can take a look at it. If you see anything wrong or if you think of anything you'd like to see, email me at [mailto:Cavellone@blackisle.com Cavellone@blackisle.com] and I'll see what I can do. I can't promise I'll answer your emails immediately, but I will get around to it, usually when the weekend hits.

Anyway, blah, blah, blah. This update contains an interview with Fallout designer Scott Bennie, a crapload of questions, the original draft of the EPA, the fury and flurry of nuclear winters, a little bit about the old Wasteland "sequel" Meantime, why the Corvega Highwayman has a fat ass, a bit on tribal societies, a new mind-bending contest, the winners of two others, and more random irradiated crap from the Fallout universe.

Thanks for supporting Fallout,

Chris Avellone @ Black Isle Studios

Fast forward
Here's another list of stuff to start the update with. It's almost the same thing as last time, so you can fast forward over this if you're a veteran of these updates.


 * 1) Again, any questions or suggestions for the Fallout Bible, send it on in to [mailto:Cavellone@blackisle.com Cavellone@blackisle.com]. Before you do, though, read #2, below, and "Questions I Will Not Answer," after that. 
 * 2) Suggestions for material to include in the Bible, suggestions for good Fallout fifties tunes, comments on why you like pen and paper RPGs over computer RPGs, questions about Fallout events, and suggestions for good source material are welcome, but there are a number of things I can't or won't answer because I am busy and I hate you. They include:
 * 3) * Giving hints or walkthroughs for the game. If you need a hint or a walkthrough, go to the Black Isle message boards at: http://feedback.blackisle.com And within fifteen seconds, someone will post an answer to your problem. The answer will occasionally be snide and sarcastic and may be followed by the words, "silly rabbit" or "dumbass," but you will get your answer. So make your voice heard.


 * 1) * Providing technical support. If you have any troubles with your Fallout disks or other Interplay games, you need to contact Interplay customer support at one of the following addresses: For technical problems: [mailto:support@interplay.com support@interplay.com]  And for any other questions regarding Interplay products, barring hints and tips:  [mailto:orderdesk@interplay.com orderdesk@interplay.com]


 * 1) * Answering questions outside of Fallout 1 or 2. Occasionally, if I am lucky, I can answer Fallout Tactics questions. I don't answer Fallout 3 questions.
 * 2) * Reading fan fiction or fan-created material for Fallout.
 * 3) * Providing any information, walkthroughs, hints, or support on the Baldur's Gate series, Icewind Dale I or II, Planescape: Torment, or Dark Alliance. 
 * 4) Thanks for everybody who sent in tunes - if you have anything that strikes you as a good Fallout fifties ambiance, send it my way at the email address, in #1, above. I'm always looking for new music tunes.
 * 5) There are a lot of questions sitting in my archive. If you don't see your question here (especially if it was recent), I haven't forgotten, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.
 * Oh, and Robbie wants me to post a link to his website in the next release of the Fallout Bible.http://www.geocities.com/ashfordcity

I want to do a MUSH/MOD/MUD/PNP/D20 conversion with Fallout!
I figure this may hold off a lot of questions for you potential game developers (or whatever) out there who want to do stuff with the Fallout license. Before you read the following, keep in mind:


 * 1) What follows is the best answer I can give you. It took a very long time to get this answer for some of you, but here is the answer I was able to get. Don't like it? Tough.
 * 2) As long as what you are doing does not have a price tag associated with it, you are not making money with it, it doesn't hurt or misrepresent the Fallout license, there are still risks involved, but the risk is much smaller. Get an intellectual property lawyer and ask them some questions.

Now, if you will imagine the question as:

'''I want to do a MUSH/MUD/MOD/PNP/D20 Conversion for Fallout. Can I?'''

So basically, you can use Fallout if you're willing to take the intellectual property risks. This isn't a "no" or an "official yes," just a "if you want to do this, you'll be proceeding at your own risk."

I wish we could just come out and say, "sure," but we don't have the time for contracts. In my opinion, as long as you hold true to the Fallout license, make sure there's no money involved, and don't claim it's an Interplay-sponsored or official thing, you should be fine.

Tribal societies
Anyway to get the balls rolling, David Camacho had a comment on tribal societies from a few issues ago. And here it is.

Thanks, David. If anybody else out there has comments, feel free to send them my way, and I'll post them.

Pie in the face section
Welcome to the pie in the face section where you get to rub my nose in bad facts. As promised, this will be a regular feature.

1. Will Toraason had some comments about the New York reactor incident that I Homer Simpson'd in the Fallout Timeline:

Thanks, Will.

2. I couldn't find the original EPA design doc last time, but I managed to dig it up - this first draft was done by Jason Suinn, who eventually passed it off to me...



...so there you go. The first draft of the EPA in all its scanned glory.

Deathclaws...
I have two big winners this time, one for the deathclaws and the other is for nuclear winters. The big winner for the Deathclaws is (try to imagine the flashing lights and cheering crowds):

There you have it, Anthonie Wain was the BIG WINNER from last time. His answer, correct, was the tarrasque. His answer boils down to:

And to the bunches of other people who sent in their answers - you were all right on the first guess.

Big winners and big winters
Okay, I finally went through all the Nuclear Winter responses and the winner is:

Although Mark was just as helpful about providing nuclear winter info as everyone else, he was also very, very fast and very, very patient, so he wins. Note I wasn't looking for a "right" answer, just some explanations. Anyway, here's Mark's response:

And Mark was kind enough to respond to a bunch of irritating follow-up questions I had for him, so he wins the patience award, too.

Other contributors include:

Nuclear warfare 1
From Rhombus:

Cool.

Nuclear warfare 2
David Camacho (remember him from the tribals section?) had this to say about nuking the world...

Thanks for the info, David. As for Deckard's gun, I can't find an artist to confirm it, but it looks pretty similar.

Nuclear warfare 3
Robbie Crash throws in his atomic 2 cents...

And follows up with:

Nuclear warfare 4
Vipasnipa says:

Thanks, Vipasnipa.

Who's the big winner? You can be!
Okay, I have a new contest for you Fallout aficionados - the first one to email me at [mailto:CAvellone@blackisle.com CAvellone@blackisle.com] with the correct answer gets to be the BIG WINNER next time. This one may require a little net research and some guessing, but nothing that will cripple you for life.

In any event, the question is... drumroll, please:

A few questions
Here are some questions and some answers. If I didn't answer yours, it's pending, so enough with the bitching, you pansy-ass whiner.

Are you sure Necropolis is Bakersfield?
Theodor had some questions about geography:

It's been a while that I played Fallout, so I hope I get this right.

'''1. Necropolis is supposed to be Bakersfield. But Bakersfield is NNW from L.A. On the Fallout map, it would probably be on the third square south of the Brotherhood. The only real-life location corresponding to Necropolis now would be a small town called Baker, at the Soda Lake.'''

'''2. Killian clearly states that Necropolis is south of Junktown, the Hub to the south-west. It was obviously the idea that Necropolis would be on the way to the Boneyard.'''

'''3. Either Ian or the singer in the Skumpitt gives you directions in relation to the coastline. They do not match the map at all, and put the Hub far nearer to the coast than it now is.'''

My personal conclusions were that the dialog was written long before the map was drawn, and later never changed; and that terrain difficulties originally were supposed to have a far greater importance in gameplay, hence the stress on travelling along the coast.

Well, it seems I actually was the only one who ever noticed it.

I think the locations may have been moved at a later date to spread them out better along the map. Necropolis is supposed to be Bakersfield, but I'll see if I can check with Chris Taylor to make sure.

You're not the only one to notice this, however, the deadly DJ Slamák noticed it, too (possibly from a post you made on the BIS boards, if you're Bertcom):

'''Also, If you keep on playing F2 after destroying the Enclave, the arms dealer in New Reno will offer you "special prices" which are actually tenfold or more and increase each time you address him, and will attack you if you ask for modifications. That seems a bit weird for a bug, is it supposed to be some sort of joke?'''

It's probably a bug. I know, I know, big surprise.

BOS corrections
Sebastian Rushworth (the author of the pen-and-paper Brotherhood of Steel sourcebook, BTW - check it out at http://www.iamapsycho.com/fallout/index.htm) had some comments on my Brotherhood of Steel summary from Bible #6 (thanks, Sebastian).

Thanks again, Sebastien. My takes on the BOS were:

Brotherhood Installations: Understood - didn't mean to imply those posts were full-on outposts. The installations and bunkers I mentioned are elsewhere.

Paladins and Elders: Well, I couldn't find anything definite on this, so I asked Dave Hendee, who designed the BOS:

Sebastien - my take is that they're paladins elected to the council, but in the Maxson line, they elevated mostly because of seniority. You're right - the limited number of council members would preclude becoming an Elder because of seniority only - though you could also argue that BOS members don't usually live to get "old."

My take on this is that the Brotherhood would want you to know everything about maintaining your equipment inside and out before becoming a Paladin. It would fit in with their technology-worshipping culture. Knights still see combat, however, and even go on patrols.

Dislike of Mutants: Their dislike of mutants has mostly to do with the BOS' position on the Fallout world map (Lost Hills' proximity to the Military Base which has spawned a crapload of mutants, and not just the Master's super mutants) and their military psychology (if you are cooped up in a bunker for, oh, 80+ years, you really need an enemy to focus your attention on, or you'll start fighting amongst yourselves). It doesn't hurt that most mutants look butt-ugly and are (mostly) blood-thirsty slavering beasts.

Ghouls are a different matter. BOS contact with ghouls (around the times of F2) has been limited, but negative - it's difficult for the BOS to respect a stumbling crew of emaciated scavengers that tend to dismantle or FUBAR old world technology. BOS' anger grew even further when various salvaging operations began in the Glow (a location which the BOS came to regard highly both for their fallen comrades and the Pre-War technology there) with ghouls at the forefront. Most BOS members see ghouls as filthy scavengers.

...and the horse you rode in on.
Sean P had some questions.

'''I have some questions regarding the Fallout universe, which probably has little relevence to the games themselves, but nonetheless sparked my curiosity nonetheless. Feel free to ignore them.'''

1)Did horses (in any form) survive the Great War, within the area of California? Arguably, I imagine that if they did, horses would begin to replace cars as the main mode of distance transportation.

Nope. Some mules did (the poor mule killed by the raiders in F1), but not for long. Besides, I think that mule was a discrepancy.

2) Assuming that horses did not survive the great War, can Centaurs be tamed? One would think that the surviving human communities would try to use the radiated animals and their increased bulk to help them move cargo, as the lack of vehicles or roads for vehicles is apparent.

I think Centaurs would be far too vicious to tame. I mean, they're a mish-mash of humans and dogs (at least), and they can't be very comfortable with how they've been, uh, mashed together.

You could, however, create a variety of Day of the Dead-style adventure seeds of someone trying to tame a Centaur, but with less... successful... results than Dr. Frankenstein did in ''Day of the Dead. ''

3)This is more of an engine question than a background question. How exactly does AC determine to-hit of an enemy? Right now, I'm playing a game and trying to build a melee monster (ironically, unarmed combat seems to be more effective than melee weaponry). Now, assume that my character (Let's call him Lil' Jesus) runs out to an Enclave trooper and initiates combat.

'''Lil' Jesus has 51 AC, but the Enclave Trooper has a default chance of 160% to hit him with a plasma shot. Would the to-hit of the Enclave Trooper be determined:'''

a)Enclave Trooper has 160% to-hit Lil' Jesus, which is then rounded down to 95%. This 95% is further reduced by 51%, so he will actually hit only 44% of the time.

or

b)Enclave Trooper has 160% to-hit, which is reduced by 51%, making the Enclave Trooper's to-hit against Lil' Jesus "down" to 95%.

B is the correct answer, as I understand it. Pumping your stats above 100 is intended to help offset distance penalties, lighting penalties, and opponents with a really high AC.

If its the latter, where can I buy a good funeral for the melee lovers of Fallout?

Go to Redding.

4)This is related to the third question, but were there any plans for more melee weapons or melee-specific perks in the game?

Well, Fallout 1 and 2 are done already, so no. If we ever did a sequel, I don't know. Probably.

5)About the NPC party members. Was there any further plans to deveop the character of the party members further? I notice that the early party(Vic and Sulik) members get more development than the later ones(Cassidy, Marcus), etc.

Nope. Pretty much what was in the game for them is what was planned. I know I didn't want to do anything more with Cassidy because sometimes you ruin a character if you develop him too much (Myron).

6)Finally, is it against the game engine for NPCs to develop "perks" or special abilities? One thing that I always hoped for was that Sulik might get a version of HTH dodge, or that Marcus might find the metal armor of the Lieutenant in the Maripol Millitary Base(Going in naked against the Enclave Derrik is too hot for him).

I think that would have been cool. It's not really against the game engine, but we just didn't put that stuff in.

Raccoons
Here's a concept of the Burrows Raccoons from last time. Oh, and some old Khan tire armor. Rharrr!

Just desert
Spawn_NER wants to know what's up with all those deserts.

'''Hello. One question realy pisses me off... Fallout2 is a "GURPS post nuclear adventure", but after nuclear war there must be global winter and very cold... and in Fallout there are desert everywhere. '''

Actually, based on feedback I've gotten, I don't think the world of Fallout had a nuclear winter. It's part of the genre - miles upon miles of scorched earth, inhabited by slathering, bloodthirsty mutants.

Why is the Fallout world all funny-looking?
Rob had a comment:

'''Firstly i think that your site is great and i really enjoy playing the fallout games. the reason for the e-mail is to find out when the war happened and why the cars and buildings look weird? I understand that the war was ment to have happened in the future but if so why are people dressed in 50's stuff and doing 50's things?'''

Hey, Rob - the basic theme of the Fallout games is that the world of 2077 had a retro-50s feel when the nukes dropped - sort of a "what people in the 50s imagined the future (and post-holocaust future) would be like." This theme translates into the "look" and the actual physics of the world (Torg-style, if you've ever played Torg) - so anyway, you get giant radioactive monsters, pulp science with lasers, blasters, vacuum tubes, big expensive cars with fins, Art Deco architecture, robots with brains in domes atop their heads, lots of tape reel computer machines, the whole "atomic horror" feel, and it explains the artistic style of the interface.

So there you go.

From 13 to 31 to madness
Pawel/Paul Kranzberg sent me 31 questions, of which I chose to tackle 8 (notice a theme?) of them:

Just like you, I earned money by working on Fallout :) I translated about 70% of F1 texts for the local distributor in Poland - you know, a part of Russia, where the local Russians are using Latin alphabet instead of Cyrillic (feel free to quote me on that whenever you want to piss some Polish moro... I mean 'patriots' off - I'm of German origin, so my judgment is impartial ;-). I know the game pretty well, but nevertheless have some questions about it.

1. I guess that's a rhetorical question, but in creating Fallout were you guys directly inspired by those kick-ass 1950s educational movies like 'Duck and Cover', 'Survival Under Atomic Attack', 'Atomic Alert' and of course 'About Fallout' (downloadable from http://webdev.archive.org/movies/prelinger.php )?

2. Is it possible to play roulette or craps in F1?

3. Was Vault 13 located under Mt Whitney?

4. What's the location of Vault 69?

'''5. Those holo-somethings, are they actually tapes or disks? They do look like tapes...'''

'''6. Is Fallout in the same universe/timeline as Wasteland (as the presence of Tycho suggests)? If so, why are the ruins to the SE of Vault 15, which I assume to be the remnants of Las Vegas, deserted?'''

16. Why does Dr Wu swear so much (at least for a Child of the Cathedral)?

'''29. Since Necropolis is Bakersfield, how come it's to the NE of L.A. and not to the NW? Don't you Yanks know that in the spot where you placed Neropolis there are only some holes called Baker and Crucero, and the real Bakersfield lies near the Lost Hill(s) Brotherhood Citadel?'''

I'll try to answer your questions piece-meal over the next few weeks, but here's some quick answers:

1. As I understand it, the feel of the game was very much inspired by those educational movies.

2. I don't believe so, but I didn't do much gambling in F1 so I could be wrong. I know that Chris Holland, one of the programmers in F2, loved craps and roulette, so he scripted the gaming tables so you could do it.

3. I don't know. I don't think so - but I'll ask the creators. If any of the creators of F1 read this and know the answer, feel free to email me.

4. I'll never tell. :) To be honest, there probably won't be answer unless that specific Vault is actually placed in a future title.

5. Well, according to Vree, they are "high-density, laser-readable, manufactured-crystal storage devices. Each one holds over 4,000 gigabytes of information." I would prefer them to be tapes, but I'm not sure if you can read tapes via lasers. They are alternately called holodisks and holotapes throughout Fallout 1 (and at least once it's called a "holodisc tape"), and they all share the same graphic, so I'd go with tapes, since those are more 1950-ish.

6. No. If it shared the same universe and timeline, then we probably would have leaped at the chance to do Wasteland 2.

16. See Scott Bennie's interview earlier/later on in this update. It should answer your questions about the nefarious Dr. Wu!

29. Apparently some don't. See the answer elsewhere in this exciting update. Man, this question started rearing its head all over the place.

More answers to come. Maybe.

What's up with the car's fat ass?
Petruschka asks why the Fallout 2 car used to have a fat ass:



Note: The screenshot above is an old one, when the car, well, had a fat ass.

Matt Norton, lead designer for Fallout 2, says:

Then Petruschka has an alternate answer to his own question:

'''Thanks for your answers. Just wanted to clear that rocket booster on the place of the car trunk "mystery." Our reader and contributor Jay Kowalski discovered some pictures of the Mad Max car Interceptor with the same kind of fuell tanks:'''

http://www.madmaxmovies.com/cars/interceptor/images/max2.jpg '''

http://madbrahmin.bonusweb.cz/ruzne/clanky/prispevky/obrazky/cots2.jpg '''

'''So it was probably removed from the Fallout game because of some copyright issues or maybe just because the player would be deprived of the storeroom/car trunk. '''

'''So there you go... or sumthing - petruschka'''

What the hell are these items?
DJ Slamák had some questions:

Would you happen to know (or at least be able to dig up) anything about these items from Fallout? - Tangler's Hand (FO1, item no. 114)

- Field Switch (FO1, item no. 222)

- Smith's Cool Item (FO2, item no. 264)

- Trophy of Recognition (FO2, item no. 275)

Thanks.

The guilty pieces of art are:

Smith's Cool Item is not listed, because it's just a blue box.

According to Tim Cain on Tangler's Hand and Field Switch:

According to Chris Taylor on Tangler's Hand and Field Switch:

As for me, the only one I (Chris A) know off the top of my head is "Smith's Cool Item." During the development of Vault City, Feargus had determined that a result of helping Farmer Smith in the VC Courtyard, a player was to get, quote, a "cool item." Now the nature of this item was never locked down, so we made a placeholder for it to make sure the quest worked. Toward the end of the cycle, when requesting more art and more items became a laughably bad idea, we switched Smith's cool item for a Desert Eagle, but left the inventory item in the list.

No one knows what the Trophy of Recognition was for, although I'll make a guess that it someone's joke at Dave Hendee's expense, since we all got points on the white board for each time we were able to make him burst out into tears.

Questions from Romania!
I'll let the next fellow introduce himself:

'''HelloMy name is Butnariu Catalin, I'm from Romania and I'm a big fan of Fallout. The reason I'm writting is I have a question about Fallout 2: in Arroyo, in the area where you go to find the dog, there is a big rock and if you look at it it says it is not of natural occurence. I tried to blow it up with dynamite but it didn't help. I didn't find anything about this in any walkthrough. Does it serve a purpose or was it just meant to make me curious?'''

The danger of re-using art from Fallout 1 is that sometimes the item and scenery descriptions will hang around on pieces of art that otherwise seem like they belong. I'm guessing that that rockfall was the same piece of art used at the beginning of the radscorpion caves in Fallout 1. It happens with other pieces of art in F2, too.

Questions from the Czech Republic!
Petruschka has allied himself with the forces of darkness to send the following questions (also, he apologizes for his English - and I don't think he realizes this, but it tends to be a hell of a lot better than a lot of emails that end up in my mailbox).

'''I am an editor from one of the biggest Fallout sites in Czech Republic http://madbrahmin.bonusweb.cz (which means not much, if you consider the size of our country... IF you know Czech rep. anyway). Just a little reminder – I was asking you for the blessing for translation of the Fallout Bible (which is hell a lot of hard but enjoyable work) few months ago. '''

One of our readers - Jay Kowalski - was playing around with the Fallout 2 files and discovered few interesting titbits:

'1. In the \data\party.txt and \text\english\game\MISC.MSG ''was a record with 25 party members including Maria (older version of Miria?), a guy called McRae (Cassidy?), Doc (?), Chicken (?), Karl (that old wino from Den?) and even CarTrunk (what the heck?). The question is: are some of these unused party members or just older alter egos of the present party? '''

1. Maria: Not sure. She could have been an older version of Miria, I think.

McRae used to be Cassidy. (See the answers to other questions elsewhere in this exciting issue!)

Doc: Don't know.

The Chicken was the NPC that was supposed to hatch out of the easter egg.

Karl: I don't know.

Trunk: I don't know. It was probably set up as an NPC so it could follow the player around and have an inventory, but I don't know for sure.

2. Another mystery – what should mean this picture (mapper2.lbm) from the \data file:

'''It looks like some kind of long forgoten developers editor tool. Say... couldnt it be possible to release this sweet baby for the public use? OK – this was probably a naive question but the hope never dies, you know...'''



I asked one of our programmers, Chris Jones, and he says:

Chris is the one working on getting the editors ready to be released. He is doing it on his own time, so please send him money if you can.

3. Another one: these video names are from the naming.txt file but are not in the master.dat:


 * timeout.mve - including this picture:



That is the "movie" that appears after you've played the game for a crapload of years (game time - 13 years, I think). There needed to be some "cut off" point for programming reasons.


 * adestroy.mve - Arroyo Destroyed with Dying Hakunin?

What it says - nothing remarkable. .


 * car.mve - Starting the car?

They wanted a movie for when you started the car. Vrroom. Vrrroom.

This movie was actually done, but it ended up being so shitty, we cut it. Or to quote Scott Everts:


 * cartucci.mve - Family Cartucci dealing with Enclave?

That's the movie for the vertibird -> Salvatore meeting outside of Reno. Cartucci was Tim Cain's old name for the Salvatores, I think. We decided the event didn't need a movie, and a "cut scene" would work.


 * dethclaw.mve - Seeing the DeathClaw leader?

There was supposed to be a Deathclaw boss in V13 in the original design, but it was scrapped.


 *  enclave.mve - Prisoners in Enclave escaping to tanker?

Just what it says - we just ended up not doing it.

'''4. And the last one is – Why is the Hubologists base in some files called the Elronologists base? I don´t know – it´s maybe some kind of "US only" joke, but could you please make it clear for the rest of the non english speaking world? I know about the Hubologist = Scientologists thingie (OK-OK – to be politically correct – Hubologist ≠ Scientologists ...of course not ...oh where is the free hippie spirit of the USA? :) So, who or what are the Elronologists?'''

You might think that the Elronologists were the original name for the Hubologists, but any relationship between the groups is purely coincidental.

Those silly Cartuccis!
Neli writes:

'''i found a .txt file in the master.dat file and theres a line "Cartucci family dealing with Enclave", any ideas what is cartucci family. I think that was suppose to be a movie clip, but it was left out of the game.'''

Cartucci was the old name for the Salvatores in New Reno. There was supposed to be a movie of them dealing with the Enclave (mentioned above in "Questions from the Czech Republic").

And now... Mariano
Mariano writes:

1 I dunno if it is a bug of my comp (I don't think so) but in the shi palace when I go in the northen lab and "use" a comp they tell me I'm fucking lucky and then I got only 1 dialog option : - more

'''when I click on it it simply takes me back to the upper view. What does it normally do?'''

and what can be really done whith the comps of the shi ?

If I recall correctly, if you have a high Luck (8 or higher, I believe), you have a chance of guessing the password. It depends on the computer you're using (the Biology computer and the Physics computer seem to check this).

2 the guy who said the comp of the sierra a. b. (2° level) did not turn of the force fields is right it disables the shock plates instead (hate that).

Got it.

'''3 I got a horible bug with lynette she will never give me the westin holod. and even if I transform an item into the disk using a trainer Westin doesn't take it (no dialog option) what can I do? (I don't play whith the CD I use Huge install Is that the reason?) I really want to finish this quest to see if gecko & VC will be saved ( I think it's the biggest hidden quest of the game)'''

3. Are you sure it's a bug? In order to complete the quest, you can't just make the item, since it checks states in the game, too. You need to:

a. You need to find and defeat the raiders.

b. Find the account books in the raiders safe. Now here's the trick - the account book by themselves only mean that Bishop hired the raiders, they don't say *why.*

c. You need to open Bishop's safe on the top floor of the Shark Club and get the holodisk there, then bring that back to Lynette.

d. Once she has all these items (and you should be able to present her with this stuff incrementally, not all at once), ask her if there's anything more you can do to help, and she'll tell you to take a holodisk to Westin.

Now, when I played it last, I had defeated the raiders, found the account books, and got the holodisk from Bishop's safe and presented her with them all at once, and the quest worked. So let me know how it goes. Just hacking the item isn't enough, though, the game has some internal checks to check the stages of the quest.

4 are there very difficul pearks to find VC innoculations was really well hidden I got reaaly luky when that radscorp hit me.

Vault City Innoculations is one, there's the Shit Shoveler perk in Broken Hills, the Gecko Skinning perk in Klamath, and I believe, Vault City Medical Training in VC as well (hey, doctors needed something good in the game). If you want, you can post the question on www.blackisle.com, and I guarantee someone will give you a full rundown within an hour, along with details about how to get each one.

One extra perk: If I recall correctly (and my dialogue file for Dr. Troy is corrupted, unfortunately), once you are Captain of the Guard in VC, you should be able to get Marcus into the Auto-Doc at Vault City.

When you do:

...and he'll give you a shitload of ammo.

5I'm trying an evil carracter is it possible to alliate with the raders?

5. No, although it is possible to ally with Bishop.

why are there no coakroak in the game they are the most powerful survivalists of the world since the dawn of time...

We didn't do cockroaches, I don't know why. Probably time.

more personnaly What are your favorite pearks?

I am deeply in love with the Empathy perk, even though it's not used consistently. I wish there had been more perks like that, but Empathy was kind of a pain in the ass to implement.

FEV is the answer
Peter Hopkins asks:

'''I was reading version 5 of the Bible, and found a bit of a conflict with current knowledge... In one of your anwers, it was said that it was random whether the FEV increased intelligence or not. However, as far as I know, FEV increases the growth and integrity of ALL cells consistently, by doubling the amount of genetic material in the cells. In this case, an increase in brain size (assuming a healthy brain to begin with) and intelligence should be regular. Another theory could be that, as the mutant's brain grows, the mass of the mutant's body increases exponentionally and the brain would not be big enough to control the whole body and sustain the throught process of a human body. Also, it is possible that while intelligence does increase initially, the brain does not gain the resistance to radiation that the body does, and the mutant develops brain damage and shows reduced intelligence. Are any of the above true? PS There is a very good report documenting the effects of FEV and how it was developed on the No Mutants Allowed message board (www.nma-fallout.com). PPS I don't know about any so called 'purists', but i am hugely interested in the fallout world and would love to FOT background in the Bible.'''

About FEV:

That might be why some of the super mutants (such as the Lieutenant) are smart (or remain smart) - but generally, for some reason (I don't know off the top of my head, nor do I know if it's spelled out anywhere), they're about 30% dumber than a normal human being, if Vree's research disk in the Brotherhood of Steel is accurate. I wouldn't be surprised if the dipping process caused brain damage in dipped subjects - it's a hell of a shock to the system.

Furthermore, everyone's favorite introspective machine intelligence, Zax, has the following to say about it:

Other possible factors that might be causing the super mutants' stupidness:

- Most mutants have some degree of radiation poisoning, which may cause problems and brain damage, as mentioned above.

- The process is unsafe - the mortality rate on "dippees" is pretty high. This is likely due to radiation poisoning.

- Memory functions are "sometimes" impaired by the dipping, and intelligence loss may occur as well. Harold's memory wasn't in the best of shape after exposure.

From the Pre-War experiment tapes, it looks like some mammals did display consistent increased intelligence (raccoons), while others didn't (the dogs) or even suffered brain damage (the chimps and the seizures). However, in an old Scott Campbell doc, there was a note that later subjects injected with the FEV (especially the chimps) hid their enhanced intelligence from their captors (or in the case of the raccoons, made a break for it).

Furthermore, the FEV tests at West-Tek were done through injection, not dipping, so it's possible the dipping process itself that causes the brain damage. Possibly with the increased brain mass in the skull, the brain is "squeezed," and all that tasty juice runs out the ears.

Still, on the other hand, a lot of the animals Grey talks about in his experiment tapes that were running around the Military Base were getting smarter from the FEV, and he himself became supra-intelligent.

So there's a long-winded series of random answers. Moving on!

Whoa, Neli!
Neli writes:

I am probably missing something obvious, but I still havent figured out what happened to the Enclave base at Navarro, is it still there with a few Vertybirds and (if you didn't kill them) a bunch of Enclave troops, who are figuring out a new plan how to free the world from mutants?

No one knows what happened to Navarro after Fallout 2 - with the destruction of the Enclave, the base may not have been able to maintain itself for more than a few months before needing to move on or change its operations.

Marcin, Marcin
Marcin has more questions:

Hello I have some questions about Fallout especial Fallout Tactics I now that BlacIsle did't create FOT but the history must be the same 

'''1. The BOS!!! Are the old Brothehood is this brotherhood from F1 or in FOT is new history and have no connection to F1 and F2?'''

'''1a. If the history are the same then why the Vault Dweller or Chosen One did't go to Vault 0 after all this was a Super Vault for sure their have more Water Chip's or more GECK's?'''

2. Are you really aren't produce F3 (in net all fans of Fallout are talking that in F3 will be 3D engine zooming rotating)or you just don't want to sey about it but if it's true I can do only one I'M BEAGING ALL INTERPLAY BLACK ISLE START WORKING ON NEXT PART OF THIS MAGNIFICENT GAME

'''2a. I have idea why history in F3 will have connection for all Fallout game ( F1,F2,FOT) I mean place all city's from all Fallout's (I know that is very much work but all city's + some new will be this what all fans expected from Fallout 3 )'''

I know now you think ah next sucker for colection but I'm just wirte what i fell and don't think that I'm only played FOT I've played all of Fallot part and I finish it more the 5 time now i have request can you answer on my e -mail

Actually, the FOT and the FO history/world physics aren't the same - there were discrepancies, especially with regards to some Vault theories and the deathclaws, but that pretty much puts it on the same level as Fallout 2. But let me try to answer your questions:

1. The BOS in FOT are a splinter group of malcontents from FO1, I believe.

1a. The Vault Dweller only knew about Vault 15; he didn't know about Vault Zero, and neither did anyone in FO2. It's kind of like how no one in F1 knew about the mysterious organization known as the "Enclave."

2. See Fallout Bible #6 for the answer to this question.

3. That would make a VERY big game; I don't know if that would be possible.

Prompts>_?
Per Jorner asks:

'''All these were prompted by instalment No. 6, the latest one. If I'd known from the start that you'd put my questions in the update, I'd have made them smarter. :)'''

To everyone: If anyone ever doesn't want your questions in, let me know. Chances are, I'll publish it anyway.

''' * In the "Pie in the face" section a timeline entry mentions "Lydia, the head of the 'return to the surface' faction" and her supporters, "Therese" and Lyle. In F1 TheresA is the head of the rebel faction, Lyle is not identified as a rebel, and there's no one named Lydia. I suppose she could have orchestrated the whole thing from inside a locker or something.'''

I think I referenced an old walkthrough to get their names right. Or am just getting senile.

''' * I like the phrase "Vault 13 refugees from Vault 13". :)'''

''' * The fact that you never found out where Ed got the Vault 13 flasks is something I've been wondering about, and then I mean in a game design sense as opposed to a game world sense. The whole "Vic thread" starts in Arroyo, but in Vault City it just dies, although you do get a lot of other towns on your world map in the process so that you can continue exploring. Was there never an intention of having one uninterrupted thread of clues and connections leading through the entire game for those who wanted to follow it?''' Basically, the gist of clues was:

- Water Flask from Vic in Klamath.

- Go to Klamath, find out Vic is in Den.

- Go to Den, rescue Vic, discover he got flask from Ed.

- Go to Vault City, find Ed, find what you think is the Vault. From there, you realize:

a. Maybe it's V13.

b. Realize it's not V13, but it might have clues to V13.

- Go to Gecko in order to get into VC Vault.

- Go back to Vault City. Get into computer room.

- The computer room identifies V15.

- Go to V15. This puts the player so close to NCR that chances are, they will explore NCR, too.

- From NCR + V15, there's a bunch of ways to find V13.

I guess it may not seem obvious, but yeah, there was a plan. Also, you're right, you're not forced to do this. You can choose never to bring the GECK back to Arroyo for the whole game, and that was intentional - it's not very Fallout to force the player to do things in a certain order. Torment was just a different experience, and it was much more story-exploration-focused than world-exploration-focused.

''' * For some reason I liked your mention of the steam trucks from F1. They've puzzled me a bit since that was the only mention of vehicle technology anywhere in F1 as far as I know, and it was odd that a bigger deal wasn't made of the fact that the super mutant army actually had them. You'd only ever hear about them if you found that ghoul refugee behind the bookcase.'''

It may have been embarrassing for them to mention it. It may have been a very ugly-looking vehicle.

They probably didn't make a big deal of it for art reasons and gameplay reasons. ("Where's the steam truck?! I want to drive it!")

''' * Another possible pie in the face... Ian was supposed to be in the Abbey, right? Or was he momentarily moved to the Den after the Abbey was scrapped?'''

Ian was actually slated for the Abbey and the Den that I know of, but something that Ausir (I think) pointed out, he was actually in Vault City before he was cut from the game. Man, that old fuck Ian sure gets around when he's not blowing holes in you with his SMG. Thanks to Ausir for "Old Joe..."

''' * About cow-tipping: that effect was actually in F1 as well, but there you had to use a Booze or a Beer on a brahmin for it to tip over. I assume most players wouldn't have tried that. (And in F2 cows are actually pushable, only they'll tip over instead about 50% of the time.)'''

Got it.

''' * Here's an addition to the Fallout library I thought of. In the late 70s and early 80s some French guy named Claude Auclair wrote a post-apocalyptic comic in five parts called Simon de Fleuve, or Simon of the River. It's been translated into several languages including Swedish, Dutch and Norwegian, but not, it appears, English. It includes among other things: a nomadic tribe which is attacked and brought into slavery by militaristic government remnant forces packing tanks and hi-tech fliers; a race of ghoulish dwarf-mutants living in an old atomic power plant which eventually blows up; a bunch of shaved, bespectacled scientists who all look *exactly* like the Doc Morbid character model. :)'''

Thanks - another book to add to the post-apoc collection.

Uh... Nina's your mom?
This next question/letter explains itself:

'''Hey, Chris, thanks for answering my question. I'm glad you were able to find some time in your intricate timetable to answer it. You know what, I was a bit at a loss when I saw a letter addressed to my Mom. As you may have already understood I'm using my Mom's e-m@il so that's why it was subscribed by her name. So my name is Dmitri Polioutinne and Nina Pastoukhova is my Mom. Hoping to see my name in the next update. Thanks in advance. Now on to business.'''

Just a word of warning - when I get an email from someone, I'm always going to assume it's from the name in the email. If it is not you, then be sure to put IN CAPS at the front so my old, withered eyes can tell the difference.

'''- I'm sending a fixed version of my question with a fixed spelling.(with a patch installed, just kiddin'). Hope you'll insert the fixed one 'cause I don't want to look like an illiterate asshole. '''

'''- Besides I wanna be aware of one more thing.(Don't think I'm too insistent) Everybody's mentioning the EPA, the Abbey and the Primitive Tribe(Village). Is there any tiny possibility of these additional locations ever being released or a crack to unpack them? As far as I'm concerned the data of this locations is included into the Master.dat, if I'm not mistaking. So there must be a way to reveal them and make them playable, right? It will do several days of complete enjoyment. I guess you know how it is valuable for the fans.'''

Nope. There's no data in the .dat file either, except slots for them. Other than the documentation I presented in the last update, nothing exists but a paragraph description for each one, no dialogues, no maps, nothing.

Much sadness.

Drunk monks
A few from the Drunk Monk who needs to lay off the snake squeezin's:

'''Sorry that there is so much stuff, i'm obsessed with fallout and I just discovered the bible. Fallout bible questions and additions '''

'''1. I know about the Bozar gun in NCR, and the XL70E3 in the tanker. Are there any more secret guns? '''

Not that I know of.

'''1a. Also, I found the "Fallout two strategy guide" in new reno. are there any more things like it? '''

There's a few: Talk to Lynette (with a smart and stupid character at the end game), just about everyone in Reno, there's a computer at the bottom of the Vault in Vault City in the NW corner, talk to Father Tully in Reno, and Miss Kitty. Everyone should say what a great guy/gal you are. I don't know of any others.

2.I noticed that you changed dialouge for new reno people (i.e you sure kicked ass on the enclave!") after you beat the game, but not for other towns and citys. Why? Did you run out of time? 

I was the only one who did it, and we didn't talk about it as a group because we were all too busy surfing for porn. There was some debate about letting the player keep playing, so no one knew if it was worth it. I think Matt and Ferg were thinking of cutting the Reno "after game" stuff out since it was inconsistent, but I begged and pleaded so we were left with the inconsistency.

'''3. When you are in golgotha, you can dig up a grave that reveals a living ghoul, who has been buried by racist new renoers! Who is that guy? '''

He's Lenny's dad (one of the ghouls in Gecko, sharing a hut with Harold).

'''4. In the den, you can pay to see a mummy. What is that thing, just a poor ghoul? '''

Yup - you can get the quest to find him in Gecko, I believe.

'''5. Why are there so many damn random encounters? I want to know what are the chances of hitting something, because when i'm traveling I cant go through 1 square without having at least 3 encounters! Do I just have bad luck? '''

The wasteland just loves you.

'''6. In the temple of trials, you use plastic explosive to blow the door. How do tribals out of contact with civilization have military grade explosives? '''

Don't even ask. They probably had it sitting around, along with that handgun in the Elder's tent in the opening movie. The entire Temple of Trials thing is one big mystery and is pretty implausible - the sliding mechanical doors are what really confuse me. I think it came down to an art decision.

Anyway, the story I'm sticking to in the official universe is that the Temple of Trials is actually built on an existing abandoned church - or museum.

'''7. In klamath, whats up with the vertiberd crash? Pilot failure? Foreshadowing? Also, the robot sometime says, "I Can't let you do that, matt." Another programmer joke? '''

Matt Norton put it in Klamath to foreshadow the presence of the Enclave (a good call, I thought). "I can't let you do that, Matt," is a reference to 2001: "I can't let you do that, Dave," except Matt just used his name instead, I think. More 2AM development wackiness.

'''8. On the desktop, the icon for fallout two is the fallout warning icon. When I look in the folder in program files, the icon is some guy! No its not the pipboy! Another programmer joke, and if so, who is it? '''

It is Tim Cain, who worked on Fallout 1 and 2. Chris Jones, one of the programmers, put it in because past his stone-faced exterior, he likes to laugh as much as the rest of us.

'''9. Is there a way to do bishops wife and/or daughter without him getting angry? (Easter egg, sortve: In the end game speech, it says that mrs. Bishop had a baby, the father was never known, and he ruled the bishop family well. If you do it, of course.) '''

Yeah, get on Moore's good side in Vault City, then deliver Moore's briefcase (the good one) to Bishop, and you'll be allowed to wander around on the top floor of the Shark Club without Bishop getting mad. Then you can sleep with whoever you want without him freaking out.

Of course, if you have killed the Raiders, then any conversation with Bishop has a chance of him snidely bringing up the fact that he heard you were responsible, then guns start getting pulled out, and there's bloodshed and woman and children crying.

And here's some hints he would like to pass on to the community:

'''stuff that people probably know, but I am adding it for those who dont. If you want just pick the good ones and copy them into bible, that would be awesome. If theres no good ones thats ok.'''

'''Fun little quest

'''remember joshua in vault city? you had to rescue him for his wife. now think of his son curtis - the one who talks about mr. Nixon. This explains his little quest. Look near the bar where cassidy is, on the ground. you will find a mr. nixon doll. Give it back to curtis(100 xp), and watch his dialouge with mr nixon. He says "Should we dig up daddys wrench?" And tells you that its right behind the bar. Go near to where you found nixon, and there is a pile of rocks in the open. When you click on them, the use item should show up. dig it up and get a free wrench for your troubles. (Note - You cant dig up the wrench before you learn about it, not even with dynamite.)This quest helps with vics daughter, in vault city. She needs a wrench and pliers, so you dont have to go all the way to Reno anymore. Yay.'''

'''Easy gold - this doesnt help much, but its a start. Look in the pot in aunt morliss' tent and get $100! This isn't much, but in the beginning of the game it helps. There is also a shovel outside her tent. In klamath, look in the golden gecko. There is a closet with a locked door, and if you pick it, you get an elvis picture worth $300! Again, good money in the beginning of the game. Fuel cells - in vault citys vault, there is a vent on level two that rattles. Look in it for some microfusion cells.'''

'''THE Bozar - Weird name, huh? this awesome weapon is found in the NCR Bazaar. Search (steal from) the guys in combat armor gaurding the midgets Shop-tent. You should see a big metal machine gun. Do however many saves and reloads it takes, This gun is the best machine gun in the game, maybe the best weapon in the WHOLE GAME, even if it does run through the .223 fmj. You can also get this from new reno arms later in the game, but its just not free.'''

'''The XL70E3 - another gun. This is not a very good gun, but its fun to have. Search the girls with black hair on the tanker (If i'm wrong, search everyone) and one of them should have the XL70E3.'''

'''THE FALLOUT STRATEGY GUIDE - After and only after you have beaten the game, travel to new reno. Talk to father whats-his-name in the church (The alchoholic) He will congratulate you on sticking to the game, and most gamers wouldn't do it these days. He rewards you with an awesome book - it gives 10,000 xp each time you read it, and sets all skills to 300%! This is no joke!'''

'''Algernon - In the basement of new reno arms, you can find moldy ol' algernon! He is a weapon savant (I think that means good at one thing, moronic at everything else) and UPGRADES WEAPONS FOR FREE! Here is a list of weapons he can upgrade, I think I got most of them but i probably missed some. Also look in the corners of that basement for containers, holding:50 micro fusion cells, hard leather mark 2, and an electronic lockpick.

Hunting rifle -> scoped hunting rifle.

Desert eagle -> Expanded magazine

Magnum -> Speed loader(Only 2 ap to reload)

FN FAL -> Night Scope

Plasma Rifle -> Turbo plasma rifle

Assault rifle -> Expanded mag

'''Cattle Prod! -> Super cattle prod'''

'''After you beat the game, some new reno junkies have up to and over 30 packs of Jet! And since there stoned, its a breeze to steal! At 25$ a pack that adds up! I don't know if this was meant to happen, or if it is from junkies with respawning inventorys. '''

Nah, it was something stupid I forgot to check.

'''After you beat the game, you can go back and do miss kitty. Nice. Sorry theres so much stuff but i'm a HUGE fan, and I just learned of the bible last night. Hope I didnt reveal too many secrets ;)'''

No worries. Let's give it up for him, people!

Mutating mutants
Marcin has some questions:

'''Hello again - some questions (1) super mutants in F2 where they come from (I know Master created they) I'am asking becouse Vault Dweller destroy main base of mutants and the master hideout and in F2 is huge number of them are master realy created so much super mutants (2) My character addict of "Tragic" I pleyed it once and now a have addiction what it do becouse I don't see anything happends with my character? (3) ghouls are they "product" fo FEV and radiation or only radiation and why they live so long'''

1. The super mutants in F2 are the remnants of the Master's army that fled east after his destruction in F1. He made a lot of them, and not all of them were at the Cathedral or the Military Base. A lot of them could pop up in random encounters, which may have made them seem more numerous.

2. The addiction doesn't do anything - it's harmless. It's a joke related to "Magic the Gathering."

3. Radiation according to Tim Cain, FEV + radiation according to Chris Taylor. Based on points brought up by several fans (including Mr. Carrot and Red_Nmmo), I'm now in the ghouls = radiation camp. And no one knows why they live such a long time - they just do. Well, as long as they stay hydrated.

Meantime?
Chris Avellone had a question for the old producer of the Wasteland engine sequel, Meantime, Bill Dugan, who is expecting a little Dugan girl in the near future. The question was asked on behalf of Ausir and Jason Mical, and it boils down to, "tell me about Meantime."

I can almost hear the Buggles singing "Video Killed the Radio Star" during that last paragraph.

Avalanche!
Sagittarius A squeezed out a crapload of questions:

'''Hi, Chris. Another list of questions. '''

'''1. Why is PMV Valdez using fuel instead of fusion cells? It's relatively new (it's carrying a vault door, and is fully automatic) and it fits perfectly into Enclave's dock. I think the tanker should have been modified by Poseidon Oil to use fusion power instead of burning valuable oil or another flammable fuel. '''

'''2. What IS Poseidon Oil company? It owns nuclear stations, marine vessels, gas (sorry, fusion energy) stations, prints maps (like the map of L.A.in FO1). It even has it's own network, which connects NORAD stations (!), Iron Mountain bunker and even the Enclave. Is it some kind of state corporation? '''

'''3. The Captain (the head of the punks) tells the player that he was a tech in Navarro. How did he run away from there? And where was the fob located before he was reclaimed by the Enclave? '''

'''4. And why NavComp can be found in V13? And about poor Ed (who was dead). '''

'''5. Wasn't the Vault Dweller the first man who had ever left the V13? Or was Ed from another Vault? '''

'''6. What chemicals did Metzger store it the church? I remember they were from VC and were to be delivered to NR, but what for? '''

'''7. And how did Metzger get to know about radio transmissions between Salavatore and Navarro? '''

8. And, finally, which part of VC was in Moore's briefcase?

1. I may be missing some statements from within F2, but my opinions are:

A. Despite the fact that is carrying a Vault Door and is automated doesn't mean the tanker is "new" - it may be old/very old by 2070s standards and not incorporated any fusion technology into its design - and it may be too difficult to retrofit the tanker to run on fusion (although getting the fob was easy). It is not known whether there were any tankers incorporating fusion power sources in the 2070s, although military vehicles would be a different story.

B. Poseidon Oil (during the Pre-War years) would not want its tankers using fusion cells because that would run contrary to the image of the company, despite its practicality. Plus, the idea of something so big running on something so small hurts its self-confidence.

C. Fusion cells are very easy to get (in the game) and thus would undercut the adventure seed of connecting the fuel and the necessity of dealing with the Shi and Hubologists.

D. On some thematic level, the fact that the tanker runs on fuel helps drive home:

i. The fact the player is going to an oil rig.

ii. Brings up images of the real-world Valdez.

iii. Suggests the dinosaur-era technology of the tanker and it also provokes some images of the desperation of the Resource Wars, if you're a Fallout history buff.

E. The fact that there is a Vault Door aboard the tanker does not mean the tanker itself is new.

2. Poseidon Oil was supposed to have the feel of a larger than life Pre-War conglomerate - kind of like the business-centered evil empire in cahoots with some of the darker and more selfish sections of the federal government. Whoooooo... scary.

3. The Navarro Base has had plenty of deserters (including Dr. Henry in NCR); once exposed to the mainland (even in all its trashiness and monster-ridden wastes), some people prefer a life there to the steel bunker walls of Navarro and the lifelessness, sterility, and closed-in oil and stale smells of the Enclave (reminding you of The Amtrak Wars yet?). And that electric maze at the bottom, which was used extensively for hazing purposes.

4. NavComp in Vault 13: I don't know. I think someone told John to put it in there so the player would be forced to go to Vault 13.

5. Ed, according to Chris Taylor, was a Vault Dweller who went out before the PC. And maybe before Talius, I guess. So you might be the third person out. As for Ed, he's covered in Bible #6, I think - just so a search for "Ed."

6. Metzger: It was just a generic, unknown "chemical" required for the Jet distillation process, since all that brahmin shit needs some processing, too. It's a "McGuffin."

7. Metzger and Radio: Beats me; Dave Hendee knows for sure. He may have had a working radio before he busted it and needed Vic to build him a new one. Metzger mentioned it to help foreshadow the Enclave -> Salvatore ties, like the crashed vertibird in Klamath.

8. It was two separate things: (1) two super stimpaks should appear in Bishop's inventory after you deliver the right case (super stimpaks are valuable, no matter where you are, and Bishop's always in danger of suffering head trauma from snipers - or his family), and (2) some downloads from the VC main database - which Bishop requested from Moore, although Moore didn't realize that Bishop wanted the current roster of all VC guards so he could see if he could "get" to one of them with drugs or other "convincing."

Toe the line, Horrigan!
Master Chef had a question about the mutated toe.

You said something about the mutated toe doing nothing to Horrigan....But it actually made his HP turn from 999/999 to 996/996.

Yeah, that's true, it will do some poison damage to Horrigan, like it will do to anyone else. So it does something, just nothing special.

Again, please ignore any rumors telling you to use the toe on Horrigan at the end battle in Fallout 2 - it's a bad joke.

Just like a Khan to bring a knife to a gunfight
Sagittarius A had a question on the Raiders section from Fallout Bible 6:

'''In FO Bible #6 you say that "They are eager in combat to prove their worthiness to the clan by engaging in hand to hand combat with fists or clubs. The Khans carry very few firearms (since they are for cowards)." But as far as I can remember, the Khans were mean gun thugs in FO1. Why were they changed?'''

The answer is, I don't know. They may not have been tough enough with just melee weapons - and as far as I know, the designer who initially wrote the concept of the Khans (Scott Campbell, I think) wasn't the one who finally implemented them (Chris Taylor, I believe). It's mostly a game logic reason - Chris T may have wanted them to have guns, or maybe they were too weak with just melee weapons.

Forces, fields, and fifteens
Kotbogdan asked this...

'''I was wondering about V15 generator in Fallout 2. You can't do much with it, apart from repairing it. Was it originally a part of some quest, that doesn't exist now? Are the forcefields installed just for fun?Maybe, if the player rapaired the generator, the Squaters coluld move in and use the forcefields to protect themselves from the outside world?'''

I checked with the designer, and he said:

If I find out anymore, I'll post it in a future update.

Oh, and nothing will protect the Squatters from the outside world. Their lives are harsh, victimized ones.

Cassidy's big brass balls
Dave had a question on the only combat-focused NPC ally I did for Fallout 2:

'''Howdy Chris Avellone. I was wondering if you could find someone to verify this for me. Y'see, I have this little theory that Cassidy (from Fallout 2's Vault City) is the son of a character MacRae(from Fallout's Boneyards). Evidence:'''

Same sprite for a start,

Both good at unarmed combat,

About the right age difference,

When you try to sell Cassidy as a slave, his name comes up as none other, than MacRae.

'''Can you find the guy who made Cassidy and find out if he really was meant to be MacRae's son please? And if not, why do they bother showing Cassidy's second name when you sell him?'''

The answer is no, he's not MacRae's son. Cassidy is a stand-alone man of the wastes. However, all of the reasons you listed above are good examples of why you could make a case for it. Most of the confusion lies in:

- The model.

- The "McRae" name. Basically, "McRae" is an inside joke, since it's Feargus' (our division director's) middle name. He designed a lot of the Boneyards, put McRae in, and he also did the second pass on Vault City in Fallout 2, and he put McRae as the name of the bartender.

- When I took over the area, I liked the name "Cassidy" better, so I gave Cassidy that name and designed his character to be a gunfighter who likes to drink too much.

- The reason they show Cassidy's second name when you sell him is a bug.

Sorry for the confusion, Dave.

What's Carlson's deal?
Brady Brewer, whose emails are black text on a black background because of a stupid glitch with Outlook, asks:

Does Vice-President Carlson, in NCR, serve a purpose in NCR, serve a purpose in FO2, cause I cant even get him to talk to me.

He's just there to be assassinated for the Bishop mission. Die, Carlson, die!

Birth, school, work, death
Henri had some questions about the birds and the bees...

'''In Fallout Bible's timeline you say that the Vault Dweller was born in 2141, right? Then somewhere in the net (I don't remember where, it could be one of those bible updates) I found a .pdf file which included a "poster" in which read the rules for living in a Vault. One of the rules said that because the Vault's resouces are limited, the people in it are not allowed to reproduce during their stay there. That would mean that the Vault Dweller would have had to enter the Vault when the bombs dropped in 2077. Or are the rules wrong? I mean, Vault 13 was designed to stay closed for 100 years and only few people live that long, so they had to reproduce.'''

'''The next question is that in your Fallout Bible you said that the Arroyo Elder was Vault Dweller's descendant. However, in the game the player, the Chosen One, says all the time that the Vaul Dweller was his ancestor. That would mean the player and the elder were related, maybe even brother and sister, or that the elder was his mother. BTW, why does the Chosen One speak of the Dweller as an ancestor? It's only 80 years later than Fallout1! I hope you now understand how confusing this is.'''

Here's the problem with Vaults and no reproduction, though:

1. War starts in 2077.

2. Vault 13 lets the Vault Dweller out in 2161.

3. So you're right - if no one in the Vault is allowed to have children, then there's some weirdness going on. So my opinion is that people within the Vault were allowed to have children, but the births were strictly controlled so as not to interfere with the equilibrium of the Vault population and fuck up the whole closed system.

The Arroyo elder is the daughter of the Vault Dweller, and the Elder is your MOM!

The word "ancestor" is used because it sounds more cryptic and tribal-ish. Oooohh.

Suicidal Bob takes it on home
Suicidal Bob has some issues:

'''You said in the fourth Fallout Bible(i think) that the Enclave could remotely go through the logs of the vault's inhabitants and their Pipboys. So wouldn't they have been able to monitor the location of the original Vault Dweller and then the main character in F2. You would think that if they saw him in San Fransico then running around in Navarro at about the same time their Vertibird plans disapeared they would have disposed of the character. Did I totally misunderstand what you said? am I crazy? do I need to go outside more than one a year? '''

Yup - under ideal conditions, they probably could have monitored both. But there are problems with doing it in F1 and F2:

(F1 is kind of irrelevant, since the Enclave wasn't really an idea then. Nor were the Vaults "experiments" then either, I believe, so let's shelve the Vault Dweller issue.)

Before we go into an annoying list, the Vaults were an experiment. The experiment is useless if you can't collect the results. Some brainiac came up with the question of "hey, is there some way of collecting the results without compromising the experiment?"

So why didn't they track the Chosen One?

1. The Enclave machinery, all the way down to communications, is not up to spec, at least as far as the Enclave guard's complaints in Gecko are concerned.

2. The computer networks weren't able to access all the Vaults remotely after the war - like the network log in the computer in the Gecko reactor, most links between systems were shut down or destroyed. They were the ones who sent the "all-clear" to the Vault 8 Overseer, though, which Lynette tries to explain - and can't. They also were able to transmit an "all-clear" signal to Vault 13, getting them to open the door. Once the President made the decision to go take the V13 inhabitants as test subjects, the vertibird teams scrambled, sent the signal and waited. No one did a search on all the PIPBoys.

3. Reading information on the PIPBoys within the Vaults is one thing, but tracking them (while possible) is a different story. They probably could (1) if they knew what frequencies to look for, and if (2) they had bothered to read the PIPBoy specs. My feeling was that they wouldn't even have considered trying to hunt him/her down with the PIPBoy - what would a tribal be doing with a working PIPBoy? As for a Vault 13 PIPBoy, they already had all the members of V13 captured anyway, or so they thought. Plus Arroyo is many, many miles from Vault 13.

Also, I have no idea what happened to the player's PIP Boy while it was laying at the bottom of the Temple of Trials. I doubt it was up to spec anyway. :)

4. No one in the Enclave (i.e., Chris Avellone) was really bright enough to think about this idea. Only a few people in the Enclave knew the in-depth secrets of the Vaults and how the inhabitants were monitored. This may help or may simply be more confusing. If it's more confusing, let me know.

And sure enough it was confusing, so...

'''As for the players pipboy being not up to specs, cant you bring it up to specs at the Vault 8 computer if you have high enough perception? Or does reformatting not count? Or the fact that theres wires hanging out of it not make it up to specs? and I was also curious about the button on the pip boy that is scratched out, is that actually supposed to say something or should I stop looking at it so hard?'''

You can bring its programming up to spec, but not its mechanics, if that makes sense.

I think that button was for another interface screen, but I'm not sure. I think only the artists on Fallout 1 know for sure. Let me ask, and see if I can get an answer for you.

Bots, caps, and vines
Jonathan Agnew peppers us with a three-parter:

'''A. In FoT were the 'bots at all based or inspired by the bots from wasteland? (not sure if you know anything about design elements of FoT) '''

I don't know.

But I asked some of the designers from FOT, and they say, "no."

So, no.

'''B. Who suggested that there be a 'real' currency type (gold coins as opposed to bottle caps) in FO2 and why. Was it just that the team thought that enough time had passed to start making money again or what? '''

Somebody (not me) didn't like bottle caps. I personally love bottle caps. But I am not allowed to be lead designer since the toilet paper incident.

'''C. Was there any specific reason the Shi's vine (it was a vine right?) wouldnt grow in other soil (im talking about the radiation eating one in the end movie). '''

I think it was intended so the plants couldn't "cure" the rest of the world, since we wanted to keep the rest of the world a nice and irradiated desert wasteland. It was just game-based reason.

D. Can you direct me to FOB 4?

Update 4 should be after Update 5 in the Other News section on the Fallout boards. Just do a "Find" for the word "Fallout," and you should find it.

Mr. Postman
Geraldo/Darkblade has some questions:

'''I´m just another Fallout junkie (name´s Geraldo) and I´d like to thank you and everybody about this "Fallout Bible" thingie, this is just up my alley, getting to know pratically everything about my favourite game! And so, I´d like to "contribute". My questions are simple: '''

'''1 - Was the Fallout game inspired by Kevin Costner´s movie "The Postman"? I recently watched the movie and I must say I loved it, and found some things similar to Fallout, especially the "nameles hero roaming the wasteland" Postman-Wanderer thing. Yes, I know that fallout´s main inspiration is the game "Wasteland" (i´ve played it a bit, but it´s a bit tricky), but I guess the team had to get some ideas from other places as well.'''

'''2 - More technical question: I was playing Fallout 2 recently, and came upon Metzger, the slaver, with two npc´s by my side, Cassidy and Vic. When I asked to Metzger if he wanted to buy any slaves, Cassidy was listed as MacRae. What gives?'''

'''3 - And a last but not least: in the latest bible updates, you´ve been adding info about the several stages of the npc´s. My question is, is there any way we can check which stage is an npc at? Also, how do they level up? I had gone through four levels already and the damn npc´s never said those white "floats" of the levelling up.'''

4 - Minor thingie: can you list the songs that people have been recommending to you for fallout pen & paper?

1. Nope. The "Postman" movie has some good Fallout ambiance stuff in it, but the book is a lot better. It's possible the book had some influence since Senor Cain and Senor Campbell are pretty well-read.

2. (Mentioned above) MacRae was Cassidy's old name. Feargus originally called him that. MacRae is also Feargus' middle name (or one of his crazy ancestors) as it turns out. We changed it. Cassidy went through a crapload of names in the MacRae --> Cassidy transformation, but all the others sounded like pussies. So Cassidy it was.

3. There's no way to check to see what level the NPC is except with the Alertness perk (which should check current hit points). Then you can contrast with the level info and see where the NPC is. The NPCs should have a chance of leveling up when you do, depending on their level up rate - don't know why it wouldn't be happening in your case.

4. I will in a few more months. I haven't gotten a lot of responses, and some aren't really 50s tunes - I can still post them in a later update, though.

Chamber of death!
Shards (no relation to MMORPGs shards, I believe) had a "quick, stupid question" that was nonetheless easy to answer... well, easy for Chris Taylor to answer, that is:

The 10mm pistol, although being an automatic, has a revolving chamber, and the description even says "Each pull of the trigger will automatically reload the firearm until the magazine''' is empty." Why the discrepancy? Miscommunication between the artists and the designers? '''

Chris Taylor (who recently received a well-deserved promotion at his new place of work, so send him cookies) says:

Fallout Tactics and hot, steamy sex
Alex Lim (also known as Alexsi the 13th) had a question about having sex with Fallout Tactics.

'''Does the relationship with the Reaver go anywhere? - Its in Newton when you save the female Reaver (Glenda Close) using a male character. The objective is to save the 4 Reaver elders.'''

Well, Alexsi, we've consulted many of the FOT designers, all of them who have tremendous amount of sex on a regular basis, and they say:

Dan Levin: Even though the Glenda Close professes her instant and undying love for the character (either sex would have the same result... I think) she still ends up in the interment camp/brotherhood inquisitors regardless (which should be mentioned in the mission debrief).

This fatal attraction was a spin off Fatal Attraction (starring an actress with a similar name). It also illustrates the no nonsense, heavy handed approach of Brotherhood rule. Hope this helps.

Ed Orman: I'm not sure. I think Dan may have written her to be, shall we say, slutty, and she might have tried to come on to the player in her dialogue. But it wouldn't have ever eventuated in anything (such as her waiting for you back at the barracks in a slinky negligee).

The Union of Atomic Workers
John Sellars (On Da Bounce) had a question about those wacky Union of Atomic Workers.

'''The Union of Atomic Workers are mentioned by the gun merchant in the Old Town Section of The Hub. IIRC his name is Jacob. [ Sorry, I don't have the whole game memorized. ;) ] I appreciate any information on them, it sounds like they would be an interesting aspect of the FO universe to develop if there isn't much on them. '''

Professional game designer and assassin, Scott Bennie (who is interviewed later on in this issue of the Fallout Bible), says:

Giving the world the 13
Chris Avellone asks:

'''Why does the Fallout flag have 13 stars? '''

Tim Cain says:



As always, firm chests just out of reach
Justin "Solid Snake" Braman, in addition to his formidable knowledge about the anatomy of the Tarrasque, would like to know how to get his hands on those big, bulging chests in Broken Hills.

The answer to your Deathclaw model question (although the real nerds have probably beaten me to it) is: The Legendary TARRASQUE!

'''One question that has always bothered me is as follows: In Broken Hills during gameplay of FO2, there are several chests along the north edge of the first map area that are (apparently) unreachable. At least I've never been able to get to them. I'm just curious as to if you know what they contain. If so, what? This has driven me crazy since I first saw them and I want to know if I'm missing out on something cool. Thanks for reading this and I hope to receive an answer soon, but I won't be suprised when you say "Nothing."'''

First, Justin, you're dead on on the tarrasque. Mr. Wain, however, was the first one to get it (he got it in five hours of the post), but everybody who's responded has gotten the right answer.

Your answer to the chests in Broken Hills is a technical answer - basically, when we do/did "stores" in Fallout 2, we had fake chests placed off-screen that handled all the store contents. As it happened, the ones in Broken Hills were accidentally placed so people can actually see and get to them. As for the way to get to them, I don't recall the bizarre series of steps you have to take to get there - but if you post the question on the BIS boards, someone will be able to answer it, I'm sure. Or if you do a search for "Broken Hills" and "chests" you might turn up some leads on the BIS boards WHEN THE SEARCH FUNCTION STARTS WORKING AGAIN (otherwise I would have posted it here).

Fallout Tactics and the Vault Project
The ever-deadly Kane had some Fallout Tactics questions I couldn't answer:

'''As we all know that the Vault Project is a great experiment. So what is vault 0 used to study? And the second question is, is The Calculator one of the ZAX series? If not, which company or organization designed it?'''

Well, Kane, here's what two Microforte guys had to say (well, one Microforte guy - Ed's too busy counting the sweet, sweet cash he made working on Freedom Force for Irrational Games):

Ed Orman, the Thunder from Down Under, says:

1. Vault 0 is designed to repopulate the continent if the other vaults fail. It contains the biggest "brains" of the time, and their genetic data.

2. The Calculator was designed before the ZAX series, to control and regulate the vault network. Originally, it was supposed to do just that, but it eventually grew to the point where it could control the vaults individually (had the connections with each vault remained constant).

And Gareth Davies said:

1) "The sturdy Vault 0 was to be the nucleus of the vault network. Housing the greatest leaders, artists and scientists, the inhabitants of Vault 0 were to reunite the vaults and lead the people to a new life, a new world. But, after the bombs, the world would be a harsh one. To ensure the creation of a post-nuclear utopia, the Vault Dwellers would need help. Machinery was constructed to tame a land hardened by the ravages of war, then tempered by nuclear winter."

2) As far as I know the Calculator was completely unique, and unrelated to Zax, but can't find any documentation to support either side of the theory. I think it's fairly safe to assume Zax and the Calculator have very little in common.

Fallout 2 intro... hunh?
But Kane (whose English is fine) had even MORE questions...

'''In the FO2 intro, we can see some Enclave Soldiers opened an unknown vault, and killed 3 dwellers. I gauss after that, other dwellers would be killed as well. So my questions is:'''

1. Which vault is this unknown vault?

'''2. Why did these Enclave Soldiers kill the dwellers? Don't they wanna know the result of the experiment?'''

(My English is poor, hope you can understand what I wanna know:)

Hey, Kane. That was Vault 13, and those citizens were killed. The official story the Enclave soldiers were sticking to was that "these Vault Dwellers were resisting capture," but it was bullshit. The Enclave soldiers were so keyed up after waiting for the Vault to open that they opened fire against the orders of their superiors. They then ran in and stormed the Vault, capturing the rest of the citizens.

As a piece of development trivia - that was actually not the way the movie originally ended. The original ending had the Vault door open up, and a child stepping out into the wasteland and looking around. Then it faded to black. It wasn't very interesting. But it made you think. What was that kid looking at? The desolation of the wastes? A mirage?

Mark my words
Sean McGrorey had a question... about MARK.

'''What happened to the guy (Marc, I think was his name) who accompanied Harold into the military base? He said that Francine got killed by a robot and grey fell into a vat, but Marc just dissapeared. Did he make it out alive or did he perish along with Francine?'''

No one knows; the mystery of what happened to Mark has never been explained. He was wounded, returned to the surface, and Harold never went to look for him.



Oh, and I have a suspicion that Mark was a reference to Mark O' Green, the lucky fellow who wrote Harold's dialogue, but I can prove nothing.

Three from the Master
Richard Grey/Dweller had these three questions:

Hi 

I have few question

1.What Harold did in period between Falloutom 1 and Falloutom 2 ?

2.Exist Super mutants before approach Master on the scene ?

'''3.What happened with Mark ? Harold spoke something about his survive.'''

1. What Harold did between Fallout 1 and 2 is a mystery. To tell the truth, even if asked, Harold himself may not remember. He did stay in the Hub for a time, then went wandering, and eventually made his way to Gecko.

2. It's possible, yes, although I couldn't find any mention of them in the documentation. It wasn't until the Master started mass-producing and standardizing them that they really became identified as "super mutants."

3. No one knows what happened to Mark - see above.



Arroyos
Chris Avellone asks:

'''How did you guys come up with the name Arroyo? Was it based on a real world location, or was the name chosen just because it because the town was literally an arroyo?'''

Tim Cain says:

Appendix: Perls from Ron Perlman
While I was sorting through the narration text, I ran across a series of death lines we were planning to have Ron Perlman record, but we didn't have time (at least I think they weren't recorded). In any event:

The end
In any event, that's it for this upd-eight. If you have any questions, see anything wrong, see anything you take exception to, feel free to email me at the address at the beginning of this update - or post it on the message boards. Email is usually faster... even with Outlook acting all screwy.

Until next time,

Chris Avellone @ BIS

This white text is fun. In the future, I may be leaving secret messages all over these updates. Be warned.