Development Info J.E. Sawyer & Sean K. Reynolds on Van Buren vehicles

[Spazmo]

Tags: Black Isle Studios; Fallout 3 (Van Buren); Sean Reynolds

Posts at <a href="http://www.nma-fallout.com">No Mutants Allowed</a> by ex-Interplay developers <b>J.E. Sawyer</b> and <b>Sean "Ping-Pong" Reynolds</b> have yeilded lots of details about the various vehicles that were going to appear in the abortive Van Buren Fallout 3 project. Here's SeanK from <a href=http://www.nma-fallout.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8580&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0>this thread</a>.
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<blockquote>I don't remember what all of the found locations were for all five vehicles (cop car = Dogtown, train = the Dome, the others = ??) but you had to go all over the map, and the map was BIG. Like "shows four southwestern states" big. The odds of finding four vehicles that had the potential to be repaired in an area that big aren't too bad. It's not like The Road Warrior where you have an entire gang riding around in cars....</blockquote>
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A render of the semi trailer later appeared in the NMA forums and can be seen on Duck and Cover.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.duckandcover.cx">Duck and Cover</A>

 

[Whipporowill]

No matter what some people say, I certainly wouldn't mind roaming the wasteland in a custom cop car!

 

[Major_Blackhart]

I would.

 

[Shevek]

I actually really like what I read over there about the vehicles. It sounds to me like they were doing them right and managed to make vehicle choice/use reflective of how the player wanted to approach the game. I especially liked the Semi with the mobile Science lab. Great idea.

http://diogenes-lamp.info/images/truck2T.jpg

 

[Transcendent One]

I thought Puuk is Damien Folletto

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

You thought wrong, because he is.

What?

 

[taks]

now you've confused me, too...

yes, puuk is damien folletto.

taks

 

[Avin]

were != is

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

This topic gets the official Jon Stewart Seal of "Whaaaaa?"

 

[Spazmo]

Well, it's what we call a SNAFU. I corrected it in the front page post, but it doesn't seem to do it on the forum post... So for reference purposes, SKR != Puuk

Anyhow, I agree with Whip. Five vehicles in four states is reasonable, really. Beats the crap out of MCA's 1 vehicle : 200 people for the NCR. Having four states in a Fallout game is something else.

 

[Sol Invictus]

It's definitely reasonable, as it doesn't go against the setting at all. It would be utterly ridiculous to say that only a single solitary working car existed in the world of Fallout.

 

[Kamaz]

Now that we have agreed it was ok to have so much cars in vanBuren, can we, please, have the game?please? I mean - oh god it can't be dead! Mr.Steggar-Lea..I mean, Mr.Herve-Whee.

 

[Whipporowill]

Whoaa. The rest of the renders are up on NMA. Suh-weet.

 

[Azael]

Don't really have a problem with the vehicles, although I would have liked a brahmin pulled cart as an (fuel free) alternative.

 

[rasta_kid]

you'd have to feed it with iguana-on-a-stick..

 

[StraitLacedDeviant]

You could feed your donke.. car all the items that you don't want and it would level up. no wait thats silly....

 

[suibhne]

It's definitely reasonable, as it doesn't go against the setting at all. It would be utterly ridiculous to say that only a single solitary working car existed in the world of Fallout.

The bigger problem is the assumption that there are still roads in such good shape that they cause no damage to your car.

Major roads should mostly still exist, other than in areas with harsh winters (where the roads would be damaged to the point of unusability in just a decade or two), but they would probably be eroded enough to require frequent tire changes and transmission realignments. The notion that most car parts are rare in FO, but that tires are either immortal or a dime a dozen, just doesn't square with me - particularly considering that rubber tires age pretty poorly when you're talking about the passage of decades.

 

[StraitLacedDeviant]

Would it be very hard to fabricate tyres from scratch or scraps of other material?

 

[suibhne]

Would it be very hard to fabricate tyres from scratch or scraps of other material?

The question is, what material? Harder materials would much more rapidly degrade the roadways (though it may not matter much, considering the shortage of vehicles), and softer materials would fall apart with little use.

 

[Azael]

The question is, what material? Harder materials would much more rapidly degrade the roadways (though it may not matter much, considering the shortage of vehicles), and softer materials would fall apart with little use.

Rubber made from other raw material than crude oil? I know that there are already such products, although I don't think they're exactly suitable for tires.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

You can make tires strictly from plants, but they wouldn't be as hard as partially synthetic tires. You also have the problem of getting them steel belted.

That said, I don't really like the idea of having five cars in a Fallout game. With a decent science skill, you can own all five of them. I can't really say I like ONE car in Fallout, given what was said about the cars in Fallout 1. Cars are dead, Jim. Like cats. Only heavier.

 

[Jed]

Yeah, I gotta say the cop car does look pretty sweet.

 

[Walks with the Snails]

I don't have that much problem with cars in Fallout, really. If the BOS can maintain friggin' power armor and plasma rifles as well as manufacture their own improved combat armor and weapons, maintaining cars or even building a few new ones shouldn't be too big of a deal. Fuel ain't that really that hard, assuming a little cropland. If you have a decent grasp of high school chemistry, there's homemade biodiesel. It even requires zero modification of existing diesel engines. I don't think the fine art of making ethanol is going anywhere, either, given the fact that lots of the survivors would probably be of that kind of survivalist/anti-government bent.

Tires? Yeah, there's plant-based alternatives. And again, the Brotherhood designed and manufactured their own armor and weapons. Just off the top of my head, improved combat armor and the super sledge did not exist before the bombs dropped. Who's to say you couldn't come up with a reasonable approximation for tires, either. Just because they work fine for us today doesn't mean steel-belted, vulcanized tires manufactured in Flint, Michigan are the only means of locomotion for an automobile. Anyone who survives in the post-apocalypse is probably going to be pretty good at improvising with what's on hand.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Hovering cars!

 

[Major_Blackhart]

I always thought the Brotherhood simply rebuilt the power armor and weapons from things they had lying around (scavanging and shit).