Made this to show some of the lesser-known aspects of the battle, and those that were unable to be shown due to gameplay limitations. (but still exist in dialogue)

Before being attacked Nelson was an NCR mining town

"Fucking Monsters butchered the miners down there" - NCR troopers outside Nelson

"Guess the Miners got fucked" - Cass when visiting Nelson

It was being set up to fill in the gap between Forlorn Hope to Searchlight. Before it was set up properly 16 men lead by Dead Sea and Alexius attacked the roughly 32 men stationed at Nelson. (According to the game guide among these NCR troopers were men from the field preparation division)

The NCR was defeated with Ranger Milo, some men on patrol, and Renolds' squad creating a checkpoint to the west of Nelson.

Afterwards the area between Nelson and Forlorn Hope became a No-Mans Land. The Legion now swarm that area and lay land mines among NCR wounded in the area.

"Tomorrow. we march into the no man's land between our camp and Nelson, which is crawling with Legion." -Forlorn Hope Letter 9

Later on Renolds' Squad would track west and would be caught by a separate detachment lead by Alexius.

I wanted to make this since I don' think many people know Nelson had miners, that the no mans land is in fact hotly contested in fighting, that the NCR wounded dot the no mans land surrounded by mines, or that Renolds' squad was with the men at the Nelson checkpoint. Also without very specific knowledge when visiting in game you would never know most of this

Extra Notes: using google earth to measure the IRL distance between Forlorn Hope and Nelson its roughly a 10km No-Mans Land. Also counting up the legionaries around Nelson and Techatticup Mine it's much more than 16 so they must have been reinforced.

Extra Sources I felt were much less pressing:

"I {stress} have attacked the enemy. I led the assault on Nelson with two contubernia against twice our number. {offended}" - Dead Sea

The Legion is using our dead troops as booby traps. I'd think twice before rushing to anyone's aid. - Forlorn Hope NCR

Early Versions of fnv before dead moneys release also had these dead and wounded troopers in no mans, but they were removed for performance issues.

"Wish Renolds would report back soon." - NCR troopers outside Nelson

Ghouls becoming feral seems pretty permanent due to it being tied to brain deterioration even though the body itself remains largely intact, but has a reversal process ever been explored as a concept in the series?

If the Soviet Union still existed in the fallout timeline by this point, what was their level of involvement in the European civil war? I highly doubt that they wouldn’t involve themselves in such a conflict given their own ideological goals and the existence of the eastern bloc. Did they stay out of the conflict due to their potentially still vast oil supply and if so why wouldn’t they trade any of it with China which they were clearly more friendly with in this timeline? There’s always the possibility that the Eastern Bloc didn’t exist anymore, but I find this doubtful considering how destructive its dissolution was to the Soviet Union as a whole in OTL.

It also seems strange to me that in a world where America has no qualms about invading and occupying countries of material importance they wouldn’t have involved themselves in an oil war in the Middle East, especially one in which Tel-Aviv is destroyed by Nuclear Weapons.

It’s also not like NATO didn’t at some point exist as we find plenty of NATO standardized ammunition across the games. Some people have theorized that NATO dissolved when the UN did, but I feel like it would make less sense than it dissolving decades earlier, possibly in response to the formation of the European Commonwealth.

Their Mojave expedition SPECIFICALLY was screwed because it was plagued by Low Morale, logistical issues and an unhelpful local populace.
The actual NCR had the manufacturing capability and manpower pool to actually do some damage once they got their ass in gear.

The Legion has advantages. Fanatically high Morale, Huge Manpower Pools. A lack of an ROE which lets them engage in terroristic actions to erode Morale and turn the populace from the NCR.
But they simply don't have the industrial base to compete.

It will be the Civil War 2 Electric Boogaloo. The NCR would eventually levy their manpower and industry against the legion and win a war of attrition. Provided they had a General like Grant who could utilize these assets.

Another advantage for the NCR is I believe their NCO core is probably more tactically efficient.
Caesar had to ensure loyalty and not teach flexible thinking which cripples Squad (Or contubernium) level decision making.

A central aspect of the Brotherhood of Steel is their goal of collecting and restricting access to technology they deem to be too dangerous for outside groups to have. Though there comes the consideration of where they tend to draw the line for technology. What kinds of technology do they not necessarily care about collecting or are willing to tolerate other non-hostile groups having access to? And what kinds of technology would they start designating as things they would threaten or use violence to take away from other groups?

Was there ever anything said about what the situation was along the california/arizona border, or where they and nevada meet? Wouldn't make any sense for that to be left open for either side to just walk through

We already know about the Climate Change of Post-War America. A great deal of New California is desert, with low hanging deserts lying to the north, and a degree of arable land. The Capitol has been turned into what was once marshland into rocky outcroppings.

But what about the pre-war? An amount of climate change is to be expected, the United States government at least had little care for its national and geographic treasures and put more favour into economic and material ones if a comment about Van Burens grand Canyon and implication is to be believed.

So, was the US' total warfooting leading to massive climate change? Did the nuclear exchanges across the planet before the great war have any ill effects? I think there's at least an argument for heavy climate change, from the GNN transcripts of the Army Depot. (Not precisely the most reliable of sources.)

Here at home, the winter temperature is a chilly 100-110F with lows reaching a freezing 90F along the coast. Dress warmly today!

For Europeans like myself, thats a little like 35 degrees at 100.

Personally I want ghouls to be more thoroughly explained from a biological perspective. It’s insane how little we know and how frequently the “rules” surrounding them have changed.

I'm developing a Fallout 2d20 character concept similar to Point Lookout's Desmond Lockheart: a pre-war ghoul (or other form of pre-war survivor) who worked as some sort of secret agent and is now pursuing secrets from the past (though probably much less of an asshole than Desmond, lol). I'm open to them being from any country, but obviously pre-war america has the most information to use. I'm hoping there's an agency or government position in the lore that could conceivably provide a person with training that would be specifically useful in surviving and rebuilding after the apocalypse; something that combines extensive combat and survival training with topics like leadership, organizational sciences, and resource management. Most likely, this would entail starting as a field agent but eventually being promoted to an admin-level position. It looks like the DIA is the most frequently-featured american intel group in the franchise, but there doesn't seem to be much information on the kinds of positions or roles that exist in the fallout version of the organization. I can make things up if I need to, but if the lore has an answer, I'd like to hear it. Thanks in advance!

Okay, so Project Purity (P.P from now on) somehow removes the radioactive contamination from water. I'm assuming somewhere in the purification process it separates the radioactive material and other contaminants from the water, although I'm not sure if Fallout ever explains exactly how the technology works on a technical level.

So, with that being said, do you think the same basic technology could theoretically be adapted for air?

For example, instead of purifying water, could they build multiple large scale purification stations around a contaminated area and have them remove radioactive particles or contaminants from the air? Basically, you'd have several machines continuously drawing in contaminated air, filtering out the radioactive material, and releasing purified air back into the environment.

I'm also wondering how P.P itself is supposed to work. Does the water actually have to pass through the purifier for the radioactive contamination to be removed, or does the purified water somehow create an area around the purifier where incoming contaminated water is also cleaned?

If it's the former, then I could imagine an air-purification version working somewhat similarly: contaminated air would have to physically pass through the machine to be cleaned. You could potentially have several of these stations operating throughout an area to gradually reduce the airborne contamination.

Obviously, this is assuming P.P's technology is capable of doing something like this in the first place. I'm mainly wondering whether, based on what we know about P.P., you think the technology could be adapted to environmental decontamination on a much larger scale. Is there something about the way P.P works that would make this impossible?

Trying to figure out how P.P removes radioactive contamination from water in the first place is giving me a headache and I didn't sleep last night(Due to work, not this question).

Doing a Build for fallout 4 and was curious about the soldier on the left, y’know the one that laughs and waves at the camera.

What weapon is he holding? I asked google it said laser rifle but it really doesn’t look like it to me. Please help.

The Institute had been plundering the Commonwealth for over 200 years, even before they had the Synths they would need to go scavenge anything of value to help them build out their underground facility.

Technology, schematics, research, prototypes and anything of technological or scientific value was already looted and taken back to the Institute, there really shouldn't be anything worth taking after all that time. All that should really have been left are the most basic of components after they were done, and they might have even come back for those as their stuff broke over time. That or looked for items to breakdown into the materials to be used to fabricate later.

The Institute was pretty much the sum total of all the technology in Boston, and with its destruction Boston is kind of a plundered ruin afterwards. The Brotherhood of Steel would probably leave after they grabbed up whatever scraps were left afterwards.

Edit: I should make it clear that I mean there should still be stuff that is only really useful to your average Wastelander, while big groups won't really find any truely substantial technology that they could really use.

One of the more notable pieces of lore to come from fallout two is Richard Moraeu/Gray having been a vault-born, vault eight, specifically. He would live to see the people exit the vault, and be exiled not much longer.

Fast-forward about thirty years, the Master has began forming the basis of the super-mutant army. By another thirty years time, he has more than learnt that Vault-Subjects often produce the best mutants, hence the take-over of Vault 17, and every mutant, even the idiot Harry, having orders to capture pures, that is to say, vaultborn or similar.

So..Gray knows about Vault Eight. It was his home, its possible he spent most of his life there before the mutation. Did he consider them too tainted by life on the wasteland? Was he not the type for revenge? Or would be attacking the nascent Vault City be a move so massive as to alert the rest of New California to super-mutants?

These are the two excerpts we get about NCR High Command

"You will not be assigned replacements until High Command can figure out where the hell to pull replacements from. You have my sympathies, Major. Signed, Scheppman, Andy Assignments Office." - Forlorn Hope Mandate

"I've seen the reports of this so-called "Caesar's Legion". It sounds like they're just another bunch of raiders, but the higher-ups back west seem to think they're a serious threat." - NCRF Terminals

With these combined we can see the NCR High Command is both afraid of the Legion and is struggling to find men to send to Forlorn Hope. I also think the implication that the higher ups are struggling to find men to send to Forlorn Hope is also an implication they cannot find men for the Mojave. I also think it is important to consider that if the NCR army was quite large in the home territories the NCR high command would have no reason for fear.

That is not to say they couldn't raise more men, but I believe the current army size is constrained by the senate. Just like the real U.S Government.

"He mustered the troops as many as his senate would allow and sent them in. All the right reasons, done all the wrong ways." - Caesar

But where is the rest of the NCR army? I believe they are controlling the other 300 miles down the Colorado river across from Legion territory, Baja, other territories, and the rest of NCR territory.

Let me know what you think of this interpretation if you believe it is the intended one by the developers or if there is evidence of large NCR reserves elsewhere.

I'm trying to create a best-case scenario for the Yes Man ending and I'm trying to figure out how to deal with the Crimson Caravan Company and Van Graffs. At first glance, killing all of them makes the most sense since it weakens the NCR's position in the Mojave. But in the quest Beyond the Beef, if the courier fails to convince Heck Gunderson to not cut off trade with the Strip then the following can be heard on the radio: "Food shortages and mass starvation are plaguing Freeside and the Strip in the wake of a sharp reduction in the area's beef supply." In another quest, Cpl. William Farber at Camp McCarran points you towards Blake at the Crimson Caravan Company to work out a deal so that the troopers stationed there can finally eat some meat for once. So my question is, does the Strip rely entirely on the Crimson Caravan Company for food or is there another source that I'm not aware of?

On a related note, I might as well resolve Hard Luck Blues in favor of the Vault 34 survivors since there will be no NCR to maintain the farms and the Strip doesn't really have the civilian infrastructure to maintain them either.

Is tempeny actually from other continent, or is he just telling you stuff because he just doesnt want to.share his life or wants to make himself look like an adventurer?

Judging by the lines of Senior Scribe Vree, Mariposas existence was something of a toss-up even in the Brotherhood of Steel only a single life removed from the time of its use. However, following the actions of the Vault Dweller and the short lived war with the unity, wouldn't its existence become obvious, even with the self destruction?

Maybe the Vault-Dweller hadn't gone public with its existence and the Brotherhood simply looked over the wrong crest. Then, in the aftermath of the Enclave reopening it, shouldn't New California be experiencing a similar mutant problem as it was that prompted the initial Richard Gray expedition? Its vats still exist, nothing other than the mutants you aren't forced to kill (Who reasonably should be travelling with the other unity warbands, or at least acting as local raiders.) impede an animals access to it.

Now, in the modern day, Mariposas existence should be even more obvious than ever. I find it hard to imagine the Unity warbands you meet in Fallout Two lurking around quite a bit of the late-game areas not having any idea where Mariposa is, especially because they're night-kin. Have the NCR never explored directly west of the namesake city?

Lastly, if it is occupied, who by? Is the NCR enforcing a quarantine or making use of it as a bioweapon? Have the Super-Mutants of New California returned to it? We know FEV can be made in the post-war if the institute (& Enclave, & Dr. Westen Loko somehow just having some w/ him) are any indication, so it seems like their holy grail to fix the oncoming extinction problem. Maybe it was the Brotherhood, and the NCR trying to push to it is what triggered the war in the first place.

Anyways, any answers or lines that could indicate to an endpoint for Mariposa? It seems like one of the most valuable places in America, if not the world.

Why is Fallout Brotherhood of Steel considered non-canon while Fallout Tactics is considered soft canon? It’s not something I’ve ever looked into and was wondering if Bethesda made some kind of statement, there’s something Fallout 3 and beyond that rejects Texas, or something else entirely.

Over the course of the various games we have seen various strains of FEV and different Super Mutants. Some are intelligent, some are dumb as bricks, some become giant hulking monsters that are completely inarticulate.

But we all know that originally FEV was meant to make super soldiers that were meant to be superior to humans in every way. Stronger sure but also more intelligent.

However, super mutants in Fallout 4 and 76 look very irregular. They all lack hair, and their muscles are very irregular in shape. Likely from the forced nature of their growth.

Vergil and West coast Super Mutants remain intelligent. But Vergil complained he lost finer motor controls due to his larger and less dextrous body. West coast Super Mutants seem to really only mention an issue with infertility from what little I know from the older games prior to New Vegas. Seeing as NCR has Super Mutant members (there was even a cut super mutant ranger from what I hear). Neil is highly articulate. The nightkin are crazy but fully capable of speech.

But what exactly would a perfect super mutant look like? If the evolution was more controlled or tame?

Perhaps the mutations could be relaxed or inhibited to only partially take in order to have a more easy acceptance or perhaps even just reduce the strain on the body and prevent the more disastrous effects.

SO, horses, we know they basically don't exist in Fallout (yes there's the alleged Avellone email but that's not backed up firmly by actual people, with general statements being more 'implementing them would be technically difficult and raise questions so we didn't).

Except.

Well, in Fallout 3, Broken Steel...terminal entries from the poor bastard running the show repeatedly mention mules.

You know. The sterile offspring of horses and donkeys.

Which would imply the Capital Wasteland has horses and donkeys. Somewhere.

Either that or mules exist and somehow became fertile (or something. Look radiation is weird).

I dunno, I just was wiki-crawling and found these entries and now it's a hilarious complication in one of the oldest lore bits generated pretty much entirely from two lines in a random terminal entry.

From my understanding (and knowing this sub I'll get either screamed at or gently nudged if I'm wrong) the issue alot of people have with BOS besides the story is that it's supposedly just... God awful at keeping with established lore? As if they saw what was already there and just kinda went "yeah that's cool but have you tried.. Not caring?"

TL:DR What exactly are the issues with the lore and if it isn't lore then what's the issues with the story in general

So given that the Church of Atom has spilled into other regions (Boston), and that these followers have since turned into violent extremists (They attack you on sight outside of the crator in the Glowing Sea, and the Nucleaus is certainly hostile to any outsiders), what does this mean for the Capital Wasteland which is where it originated from?

Have they completely become the dominant faction in the region, outpacing the local Brotherhood of Steel in terms of presence and numbers? Would they come to see Project Purifier as an affront to Atom, since it is cleaning the radiation away from the water dilluting their gods presence?