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Welcome to the Nukapedia News Digest, brought to you by the Junktown 2164 Olympic Games bid... Where else are you going to host it?

In your digest this week.

From the Administrative Enclave[]

We have some votes and discussions for you

New Template[]

{{Platforms needed}} is the new template to add to bugs which have not had a platform included in them, so the bug can be checked out to see where it works. There's more here.

Video Policies[]

A couple of Video policies to discuss this week. First up is a discussion on adding videos to articles demonstrating weapons. Take a look here.

This has lead me to create a discussion on the wikiwide video policy, codifing the rules and preparing the wiki for the seemingly inevitable "related videos" rail. Please let us know your thoughts.

Weapon Comparisons[]

Gunny's been hard at work at the Weapon Comparison tables, and has some suggestions for their further improvement. Join that discussion here.

From Wikia[]

Wikia Games are getting into the Olympic Spirit with a range of Video game inspired events. You can help your favourite characters compete here. Couldn't spot any Fallout Characters though.

==The Strategic Nuclear Moose== Leon (Garoux Bloodline) has setup a forum on the future of the Strategic Nuclear Moose. If you want to see this section continue, [[Forum:Future_of_the_Strategic_Nuclear_Moose|it is imperative you participate this forum]].

Developer Roundup[]

Some Tweets, quotes and comments from your favourite developers

In the year of our lord 2012, it seems safer to work for an independent developer than a publisher-owned developer *space monocle flips out*— Josh Sawyer, Twitter
It is never a good idea to start a game company when your focus is making a "billion dollar" company or franchise. Just make a good game.— Brian Fargo, Twitter
The tools today allow us to make more progress in 3 months than what would have taken a year when we made our RPGs in the 90's.— Brian Fargo, Twitter

Josh Sawyer on Marxism/Communism

I've never been a huge fan Marx's predictive philosophy, probably because so much of the work of the men I just listed involves separation from definitive narratives. We have so much difficulty being certain that we can have faith in what we know (or I do, at least) that looking forward with predictive confidence seems beyond reason.
Briefly, that capitalism will eventually give rise to socialism, which will in turn give rise to classless communism. These are expressed in terms of inevitability. More than Marx himself, many 20th and 21st century Marxists have entrenched this into their own orthodox interpretations of dialectical materialism. I have read several self-professed Marxist conversations in which the participants debate about how to interpret events in contemporary society that point toward charted socialist or communist endpoints. It comes across as more prophecy than philosophy or historiography.
Analyzing history as class struggle is valid and useful. I think the theoretical aspects break down for me when private ownership is removed. Capitalism mechanically entrenches power, but it is certainly not the only method by which power can be given or taken by individuals. The true power of a leader is his or her ability to motivate others to devote their volition to the will of the leader. In any society where power ostensibly resides with the populace, demagogues can wield tremendous authority even in a completely unofficial capacity. Giving someone a theoretically equal share in the means of production is no guarantee that they won't willfully surrender it in the future. - Josh Sawyer, Formspring.

Josh Sawyer on Weight Allowance

I think weight allowance is something that needs to be analyzed along with other system goals. The primary reasoning is that if things have weight and you have a carry limit, the weight of things you choose to carry is a strategic consideration. The problem is that the relationship between weight and value (usually tactical) is not directly proportional. Especially when it comes to weapons, you can get into a weird cost-benefit analysis that often doesn't make sense.
E.g. the Minigun in F:NV is a pretty good weapon. It's also very heavy. Is it better than the Anti-Materiel Rifle or Brush Gun? In certain circumstances, yes, but it's not "objectively" better. Three weapons with different tactical applications at roughly the same level of power, but one weighs much more than the others.
An even more extreme case is the Fat Man. In the original release of F:NV, the Fat Man did pretty modest damage, but it still weighed a ton. The patched version increased the damage a lot and GRA introduced "low-end" ammo for it, but ultimately its use wasn't particularly tactical. For 99% of all fights, players kept the Fat Man jammed in their back pockets, only pulling it out when they effectively didn't want to fight.
DX:HR illustrates this conflict even more clearly. The Rocket Launcher and even the Sniper Rifle are huge weapons. Carrying them around is a large strategic liability, and their usage/applicability in any given scenario is often either pointless or overkill.
This can also cause consideration conflicts in armor. In F:NV, heavy armor protected better than light armor, but it slowed the player down and weighed more. The consideration was not simply DT/movement, but DT/movement/weight, which motivated more people to use light or medium armor. In the original Fallout, protection generally increased with weight (excepting Metal Armor, sort of), so there was a strategic trade-off, but that effectively ended with Power Armor. PA and HPA granted +3 ST, so the increased weight of the armor was offset by the player's adjusted max carry. Practically speaking, this meant there was no good reason to use Combat Armor or Brotherhood Combat Armor once you gained PA or HPA.
What does all of this mean? It means I think we (myself included) often take weight allowance and item weights (or slots, or whatever abstraction) for granted instead of considering how they influence players' strategic decisions. - Josh Sawyer, Formspring

Josh Sawyer on AK-47's and weapon design

There was no real need. There wasn't a large caliber automatic weapon in the core game, but the Automatic Rifle filled that role in Dead Money.
I conceive of weapons largely through usage/application, then back out to what the weapon actually will be, if that makes sense. I thought there should be a high RoF, accurate, scoped rifle that did modest DAM and good DPS. The result was the Marksman Carbine. When I thought of a weapon that would make a good high caliber, not-so-accurate automatic rifle, I decided on the Automatic Rifle (essentially a modified BAR).
Once a role is filled, I generally avoid making weapons that fill the same role at the same tier. While there could just as easily have been an AK-47 as an Automatic Rifle (setting aside what caliber it would be), it doesn't make much sense to have both. They're obviously very different from each other in details, but from a broad usage/role perspective, they're both automatic, high caliber rifles. - Josh Sawyer, Formspring.

Wrap[]

Relic of the War that wasn't[]

Well, I've just finished watching the Olympic opening ceremony - if you're only going to watch 5 mins of the Olympics, the Mr Bean part is it. This week and next we'll be looking at the Cold War and the Olympics... This week, a little something that Simpsons fans may be familiar with.

Although the Olympics try to rise above politics... that doesn't always work out. At the 1980 Moscow Olympics following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, 65 countries (lead by the USA) did not take part at all, and 16 more "altered" their participation (by doing things like not marching under their flag, or competing under the Olympic flag rather than their national one). The Boycotting nations instead competed at the Liberty Bell Classic athletics tournament at the Universal of Pennsylvania

This didn't pass without response. The Following summer Olympics (Los Angeles 1984) were in turn boycotted by 14 Soviet Block countries who instead set up their own competing event the "Friendship games", although a few other countries also sent some athletes too. This event rather than being based in one city was based in nine of the boycotting nations, with the main opening ceremony in Moscow and many Olympic style trappings, including the torch entering the stadium.

1988 saw a continuation of boycots, but at a much reduced level. We've talked about North Korea before in the Relic, so it shouldn't surprise too many of you to learn that North Korea refused to attend an Olympics held in South Korea (and convinced a few other countries to join in).

However since then the IOC has taken a firm stance against any possible boycotts, and nations doing so can expect fines, and not to be invited to future games.

Next week: we'll take a trip to East Germany.

Coming Soon[]

Keep an eye out this week for "Fallout: The Apprentice". Seven contestants have been selected, but only one of them will be named "The Apprentice". You'll be able to have your say on their challenges, and ultimately decide who goes home, and who wins the cup.

This is but the first in events for the 15 Years of Fallout celebration, coming your way as we approach 30 September.

Your Next News Digest[]

Will be on Friday or Saturday next week. Thats all folks.Agent c (talk) 01:29, July 28, 2012 (UTC)

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