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Welcome to the Nukapedia News Digest, Brought to you by Vault 13: A GURPS Post-Nuclear Adventure. Now available in only the best gaming stores.

In your Digest this week.

15 years of Fallout Special[]

Happy Fallout Day everyone, here's a list of what you can expect to see today, with links as they come up:

  • The New Moose is out, Leon will be along to say hi soon.
  • We have an exiting relic, looking at the UK's actual discussions to build vaults.]
  • And OWR is here to talk about his FanFic Special:
Fallout. A role playing game, and like many role playing games, contains a story so embedding, that we are dragged into. Sometimes even after the credits roll. When this happens, or when the game fails to cover some prime points and stories, we take it upon our selves as the fans, to keep writing the story. I invite you all, to join Me as he covers some truly amazing Fan-Fic, and obvious talent we have present here on our glorious site. Join us for "Fallout: The Fans - Celebrating 15 years".
  • And Lastly we'll be celebrating all day in chat, we might even have some special guests pop in, but none would be more special than you, so grab a bottle of your favourite Rotgut and come on is.

From the Administrative Enclave[]

  • For those who missed it last week, The Gunny has achieved Flag Rank and is now a part of our Bureaucratic Corps.
  • SaintPain has run out of chatlives, but does he deserve to reload a save? Have your say here
  • Say goodbye to the limit of having 5 user images. has more.

Eternity...[]

I don't plan on going too deep into Eternity as its not a post apocolypitic game, but for those of you in the know, its what Obsidian are doing next, and they need your help to do it. Already $US2.1 Million has been raised on Kickstarer, and you can join here.

Phew... With all those interviews, Who's making the game? Janitors and Interns?

Also a very happy belated birthday to Chris Avellone. To Celebrate, here's a few comics he drew to celebrate the kickstarter progress:

Wasteland 2[]

Short update from Brian Fargo on Wasteland 2.

It has been some time since I have posted a blog here and I apologize for the delay. I need to do a better job of communicating my thoughts and ideas as that is a part of the process I know people are interested in. I have been very focused on getting the first pass at all the writing complete by October. The thing that is most critical in creating a deep and re-playable experience is for us to have plenty of iteration time on the game. There is simply no substitute for allowing plenty of time for us to play the game over and over thus allowing us to hone in on the things that people are going try in the world. A wonderfully written script is not valuable if it is delivered too far into the development process. This game is going to be much deeper than most people realize and I will go out on a limb to say it is nearly impossible for two people to have the same experience playing through the game as there are so many nuanced decisions. The caliber of writing is very impressive and for those who wanted an M rated experience… you will be more than satisfied. We don’t pull any punches on the subject matters of a dark post apocalyptic world. My attitude is that if you going into a genre that has expectations then GO THERE.. all the way. It is for the same reasons I tend to love all the great shows and writing that I find on Showtime and HBO and find myself turned off by the material on network television. I don’t like to see pandering to a mass audience for my TV shows and I certainly won’t allow this game to soften up a rough world.
In addition to the benefits of creating better cause and effect it is also key in helping us understand what the asset list we are going to need. The map designs tell us everything about props, backgrounds, sound effects etc. Of course we are making progress on many fronts and I am especially excited at the ideas we are toying with in presenting the world map.

Not one to be left out of the Interviewing Craze, Brian Fargo talks to Eurogamer.de (in English).

Eurogamer: What will be the biggest difference between the original Wasteland and Wasteland 2?

Brian Fargo: Obviously the visuals have come a long way since the original and we had no music or real SFX so the world will be a lot more engaging than back in the day. We are able to create a mood that was not possible before. Also the scope and scale of the game is of another level. Gamers demand more density and we have a great deal more writing based on the amount of memory we have available, which wasn't technically possible before. We took the elements we liked about the first game like ranged combat, skills systems, world maps, gritty text and moral dilemmas and put a whole new shell on top. We focused on the elements that were fun and timeless.

Eurogamer: How much advancement is there in terms of gameplay mechanics in comparison to the original? Do you want to stay mostly true to it, but with a modern touch? Can you give us a few examples of things that have been or had to be modernized?

Brian Fargo: Combat is the biggest fundamental change from the first game. In the first game you controlled a party that was bundled together for the most part. The player could split the party up but they moved as a single unit for most of the game. Wasteland 2 is far more tactical in that they are always moving as indidivuals in the game maps (the world map is a different story). Combat is the thing you do the most so it better require thought and give you satisfying feedback. There was no cover, height advantages or formations to consider in Wasteland 1.

Eurogamer: How much of a connection will there be between the two games? I assume the experience will be more rewarding for those who have played the original, but without leaving somebody out who didn't play it?

Brian Fargo: There are two very important aspects of the sequel and they are 1) make sure there is no knowledge required from the first game and 2) make sure the players that did play Wasteland 1 feel like they are going to back a nostalgic place. The story in Wasteland 2 starts just 15 years from the conclusion of the first game which means characters are still alive or remembered from years past. You will get to visit some familiar places and see what has happened through the years and you will be surprised that people may even remember some of the passwords from the first game. Some inside nods to the first game are fun for the old fans and are invisible to the new players.

Eurogamer: You brought back quite a few of the original developers to work on Wasteland 2. How does it feel being back together again for a new project?

Brian Fargo: It is always great to be working with old friends and I'm proud that I have managed to keep my good relationships over the many years. They are very passionate about making Wasteland 2 special and feel like they really want to prove how good it can be. And fortunately the tools and technology have come along so far since those old days that the designers have far more creative range than they did with the original. We must not forget we took TEXT offline in the paragraph book due to shortage of disk space. And writing was one othe strongest elements in the first game.

Eurogamer: Do you consider yourself to be in competition now with today's Fallout games?

Brian Fargo: My focus of this game is on the vision for what I want it to be and qualities that I want it to have. Obviosuly all RPGs compete and Fallout sets the bar for tone and writing so I am cognizant of needing to improve upon what has been done before. I certainly think anyone who enjoyed the Fallout series will quite like what we are doing with Wasteland 2. We are really pushing the envelope of meaningful cause and effect and morality is never clear cut. There are so many choices that affect gameplay that it will be near impossible for two people to have the exact experience on a playthrough.

Eurogamer: How much of a say do the backers have in terms of the game's development? How crucial is their feedback and did it already lead you to change anything in the game?

Brian Fargo: The backers have been critical in their comments and postings before we even went live with Kickstarter. We worked closely with them to make sure the tiers had value and fairnesss and clearly that was a success. We are always reading the forums to remind ourselves of what is important and we continue to run things by them. As we were raising money via Kickstarter we asked our backers what elements were important for us to prioritize. A great majority voted for us to not spend a lot of money on audio but rather wanted a larger and deeper game so that is exactly what we did.

Eurogamer: If Wasteland 2 becomes a success, would you want to keep going with the series or would you rather do something else, maybe bring back another classic franchise?

Brian Fargo: I definitely don't want to stop making post apocalyptic RPGs, but I am hoping to have another project kicked off before Wasteland 2 is done. I would like some time to get comments from the players and give the writers the time they need before we started another one. It can be dangerous to a great franchise to start the next one too quickly.

Lastly Inxile are teaming with J!NX to create some Wasteland merchandise. Be on the lookout for that soon.

Does anyone here plan to buy the Wii U? Just curious...— Brian Fargo

Poll:Are_you_planning_to_get_a_Wii_U%3F

JES's Mod[]

JSawyer v5.1 is available with fixes to H2O/FOD/SLP/RAD values and dirty edit repairs. thanks to @xporc for his help— Josh Sawyer, Twitter

You can find that here.

v5 Changes:

9.29.2012
  • That Gun added to The Professional list
  • Wanderer's Leather and Highway Scar Armor placed in Mick and Cliff's stores respectively.
  • Ranger Battle Armor renamed to Lucky Battle Armor. Stats adjusted, Reilly's Rangers decals removed. Placed in Cliff's Store.
  • Has Backpack flag checked on Power Armors.
  • Bent Tin Can = Tin Can! recipe added. It turns Bent Tin Cans into Tin Cans!!!! WOW!!!!
7.21.2012
  • All primary quest XP in DLCs reduced by 66%. Edits were made in the quest scripts.
8.8.2012
  • Replaced accidental secondary placement of duplicate Mercenary's Grenade Rifle with the Sturdy Caravan Shotgun.
  • Fire Axe and Knock Knock added to Never Axed For This challenge weapon list.

No, there is no Fallout 4 News[]

Pizza and boardgame night at work. Sweet.— Pete Hines, Twitter
Having finished my Dishonored playthrough, not sure what to focus on next. Think I'm gonna do some more Torchlight 2 tonight.— Pete Hines, Twitter

Wrap[]

Casting Call, JUNK radio[]

I'm interested to hear from anyone interested in getting on the air with Junk Radio, if you've written and performed a song, if you have an idea for a comedy or drama series, if you're interested in doing a voice over or just DJ-ing, please hit me up on my talk page.

Relic of the war that wasn't[]

This week, from the UK's national archives, I delve into the secret discussions on building a Vault programme for the UK.

The year is 1955. The iron curtain has well descended on Eastern Europe and governments on all sides are still trying to adjust their planning to the new nuclear age. Nowhere is this more critical than in the area of Civil Defense. Governments want to know exactly what the effect of Nuclear War is likely to be on the country, and what they can and should do about it. In the UK, this falls to the Strath Committee, headed by its namesake Lord Strath.

Should war come, things look bleak for the United Kingdom. The Soviet Union is estimated to have 10 Hydrogen bombs with the Uk's name on it - the sheer difficulty in transporting them even by air makes their use on he USA seem unlikely. In addition, the Inter Continental Ballistic Missile is still billed as "Coming Soon", meaning most of Russia's might is likely focused on Britain and her European Allies.

The writers of the report come to the conclusion that any attack on the UK is likely going to be nuclear in nature - the only conventional wars they feel may threaten Britain's interests are likely to be elsewhere - South East Asia is specifically cited - so any home defence plan should be made with the bomb as the most likely target. The committee thinks its prudent that the general public should not be warned of the danger of the H-Bomb until the government can show its doing something about it.

Within the massive report compiled on likely effects includes a look at a shelter policy. The writers feel a national shelter scheme in principle is required. A combination of building shelters in homes and communal shelters is their number 1 suggestion; it will not save everyone - those within a few miles of the blast will die anyway, but those in the fallout zones stand a reasonable chance of survival if precautions are taken. But there's a cost: at £25 per head for 2-7 days survival, and 50 million people in the country this would cost a massive £1,250 million - bear in mind his is in 1955 pounds, no inflation included.

There are two other suggestions in the report, one is to only build shelters in new buildings, and make it a requirement, following a model Scandinavian countries and Switzerland had taken. This would cost £60 million per year. Alternatively the resources for building makeshift shelters could be stockpiled for a mere £250 million. Remember again these are 1955 figures and not adjusted for inflation.

The Comittee receiving the report, although in general agreement something should be one - seemed alarmed at these figures - a general on he committee described this part of the report as an "invitation to do nothing" - even the nearest option at £60 million a year is more than the government intended on spending to ensure it could function after the bomb.

The options have other faults too. A small scale shelter program for new buildings would increase the alarm level with the general public so much so they might demand an affordable national scheme and Stockpiling materials could be seen as a provocative act, convincing the Soviets that a British attack was imminent.

Although thought the 50s and 60's it was government policy to maintain World War 2 shelter shelters where possible, many were still decommissioned to make room for sports-grounds, car parks, and other developments.

Ultimately, this leads us to a sad ending as to why the vaults remain a work of fiction, beyond the occasional secret shelter. They're expensive, and they convinced the guy you're worried about that you're about to attack meaning they'll try and get you first.

Your Next Nukapedia News Digest[]

Will be next Saturday. Welcome to Rocktober for Monday. Agent c (talk) 01:50, September 30, 2012 (UTC)

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