Blast Zone

A blast zone is an impact site as the result of a launched nuclear warhead by a player character who claimed a complete launch code.

Background
The blast zone area is marked on the map as a red circle. Before the nuke is launched, a broadcast warning alerts the entire server of the nuclear strike and an air raid siren sounds. It will take three minutes for the bomb to drop. Player characters inside the circle when the nuke drops will be killed instantly.

Player characters on the edge of the blast zones will not be killed. Once a player character has entered the zone, they will take severe radiation damage unless wearing power armor or a hazmat suit, but hazmat suits are ill-advised due to the presence of high-level enemies in the zone.

Well-equipped player characters (Level 50+) are recommended for these sites. These sites are excellent areas to level up and get Legendary gear. If a nuke is launched at the glassed cavern or fissure site Prime, a scorchbeast queen will spawn and can be fought, although a large team of 8 player characters is recommended.

Locations
While where a nuke is launched is dependent on the choice of the player character with the launch codes, certain portions of Appalachia are in a "protected zone" and cannot be targeted.

Protected zone
The protected zone includes many areas of Appalachia where low-level player characters are likely to have early quests. In particular, the following locations are partially or entirely within the protected zone and cannot be targeted:

Behind the scenes
The nukes that drop on the sites are extremely low yield considering the true power of a nuclear bomb.