The Beginning of the World as We Know It 2.7
The Story
Summary
IMPORTANT NOTE: Due to time constraints, this game will be aimed at updating on a rigorous “whenever I have the chance” schedule. Updates will come, but they will likely come slowly. The goal here is to have a fairly slow paced game for the time being. Don’t forget about it!
The Fallout world exists in an alternate timeline that split away from the history of the real world following World War II. Up until the Great War in 2077, the Fallout world was dominated by the distinctively American culture of the 1950s, though with different technological progression. The Fallout world's setting is heavily influenced by the science fiction anthology Worlds of Tomorrow, which was released during the Golden Age of Science Fiction in the 1950s. We began in 2240, numerous years after a major nuclear war known as the Great War, or the Last War. Assume that everything that has taken place in the relevant games took place in the lands outside of the playable area. For your interest and background on the universe:
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_world
Faction Set-up
Spoiler :
Faction Name: (No use of any faction present in Fallout universe please or anything directly naming Walt Disney, all others fair game) Check out the Capitol Type section for suggestions on names and so forth. Typically it may be best to start out simply naming your faction after wherever you start
Leader Name:
Leader Profession: Choose one from Doctor, Mechanic, Soldier, Sheriff, Farmer, Adventurer, Blacksmith, Technician, Gunsmith, Armorsmith, Entertainer, Politician, Spy, Engineer, or Scientist
Starting Location: Essentially anywhere located on Google Maps that could also be found on the provided world map
Leader Background: optional, story based
Origins: Choose one from Pre-War Military, Vault Dwellers, Tribal Nomads, or Survivors
Capital Type: Choose one from Vault, Urban Ruin, Settlement, Tribal Camp, Bunker
Background: Optional, story based (If you choose Vault, Not Applicable)
Leader Professions
Leader Professions are what sort of training that your leader brings to the faction. When your leader dies, the following leader will have a profession of his own, usually based on your actions in the game to date. Yes, this means that your leaders are not permanent, and depending on what sort of government you have, leaders may change frequently or rarely at all. Below are listed only the starting bonuses, for more details on what these professions actually do, please see the relevant section of the rules.
Doctor: Clinic completed at start, stockpile of chems exists.
Mechanic: Random basic vehicle(s) available at start in addition to Fusion Cores.
Soldier: Small stockpile of laser weapons and ammunition.
Sheriff: Jail completed at start, small stockpile of 1-H Guns and ammunition.
Farmer: +100 Food and Water per turn at starting settlement.
Adventurer: Random selection of basic weapons and ammunition for them.
Blacksmith: Moderate sized stockpile of Low-Tech Melee and Ranged Weapons.
Technician: Random robots available at start.
Gunsmith: Moderate stockpile of 1-H and 2-H Guns and ammunition.
Armorsmith: Moderate stockpile of Leather Armor available.
Entertainer: Larger starting population and morale.
Politician: Additional bonus specialist at start, but you will NOT receive that specialist’s starting bonus.
Spy: Small stockpile of Stealth Boys at start.
Engineer: Bonus Materials at start.
Scientist: No starting bonus.
Origins
The Origins section of creating your faction revolves around the type of people that your faction was created out of. They should be fairly self-explanatory. With the exception of Survivors, most of the different types can only start in one particular place.
Pre-War Military: This represents the descendants of military units which somehow survived the Great War at various underground bases in North America. Starts with high tech military equipment, but small amounts of all other resources, including low food and water.
Vault Dwellers: This represents the descendants of those who survived the Great War by residing in the Vault-Tec Vault system. Starts with a large amount of food, water, and tech parts; but has very limited military equipment; can only start in vaults, please read the vault section before deciding.
Tribal Nomads: This represents the descendants of those who survived the Great War by retreating to various less populated places and reestablishing a tribal civilization. Has large amount of low tech military equipment as well as food and water; can only start in Settlements or Tribal Camps.
Survivors: This represents the descendants of those who survived the Great War by nearly sheer luck, living in the ruins of the cities and towns and eking out an existence scavenging from the rubble. Moderate in all respects, can start everywhere except for Tribal Camps and Vaults.
Starting Community Types
Your starting community will be the place your nation is born from. While you may start as a humble settlement among the Wasteland, the type of place you choose to begin from will indubitably shape the sort of nation you create. Each starting type has its benefits, and some starting types can ONLY become settlements in a nation by starting with them (see Rules section for more information on settlements). Because I describe the details of outposts and settlements further below, this section will only discuss things related to the benefits and less desirable results of starting in each location. Lastly, some starting community types cannot be created in certain climate regions. Check Google Earth to find good locations.
Vault: A vault is part of a pre-war nuclear shelter campaign, which was advertised to protect the people, and even help them thrive in a post-nuclear environment. They are said to be self-sufficient and able to sustain internal support indefinitely. Can only be started in by Vault Dwellers, will have higher number of food, water, and tech parts. Most vaults can be sealed in an emergency, which prevents any attack. Therefore a vault will NEVER be attacked by NPC raiders. These can also be started anywhere on the map, regardless of terrain. There is one important addition to this place however, which can either make your or break you from the very beginning, beyond your own control. All vaults are part of the Vault-Tec Sociological Experiment. This means that every vault has a flaw or unique feature, which will be randomly selected at the start of the game. This means, that beyond the already stated benefits, stats like population, ammunition, and your arsenal will be completely randomized, and unknown at the start. (Examples of Vault Names: Vault 101, Vault 3, Vault 21)
Urban Ruin: Located only within the highly urban regions of the former United States, these ruins are generally notable and relatively intact buildings. A good example would be communities based around pre-war landmarks or businesses. You can only start in an Urban Ruin if your starting location is within a heavily developed city region (as on the terrain map). Starting here will mean a moderate starting stockpile of food and water, but food and water gathering in an urban area is reduced by half. Starting weapons will be typically moderate, a small amount possibly being military grade. Your starting population number will typically be rather low.
Settlement: These are recently established settlements which have established new civilization. You can only begin in one of these in a region that is not extensively urban. These are typically able to feed and water themselves, but rarely have any starting weapons or otherwise. They also start with a relatively large number of people as compared to other starting sites.
Tribal Camp: Though some tribes have settled down, most have not, and continue to lead a nomadic existence across the more open areas of North America. A Tribal Camp is a mobile settlement, and is the only one of its type. If you are a nomadic tribe, this is also your only settlement, and it cannot have structures or anything. The plus side is that with a tribal camp, you are able to grow food on the move, but overall, you're going to want to look for a new home.
Bunker: These are Pre-War installations established by the United States military in the case of nuclear war. They come with large stockpiles of food, water, and ammunition, but no inherent way to produce any more of their own.
Cave System: Cave systems are naturally occurring formations which exist throughout North America, typically as Pre-War tourist attractions or hideaways. They were therefore ideal refuges after the conflict, and some contain springs and so forth, allowing for survival of a few lucky individuals. Starting here gives a lower starting population, but typically a more self-sustainable one at the same time.
Sample Standard Game Stats
East Florida Trading Company: Golden1Knight
Leader: Trade Lord John Smith (Adventurer; 59)
Faction Morale: 60%
Population: 2,710
Slaves: 800
Specialists: Ian Jacobs (Farmer; 33), William Mayhem (Gunsmith; 64), Thomas Graham (Engineer; 71), Daisy King (Blacksmith; 31)
Caps: 47k
Food: 430 (+2,700)
Water: 3,800 (+2,900)
Fusion Cores: 0
Materials: 4,900
Chems: 0
Ammunition: 2,175
Military Skill: 12
Settlements:
Spoiler :
Fort Jacksonville (Southside, Jacksonville, FL; Urban Ruin):
-Structures: Fortifications
-Arsenal: 150 Low-Tech Melee Weapons, 50 Low-Tech Ranged Weapons, 110 1-H Guns, 150 2-H Guns, 15 Laser Weapons
Reach (JEA, Jacksonville, FL; Urban Ruin)
-Structures: Fortifications (3)
-Arsenal: 194 Low-Tech Melee Weapons, 5 1-H Guns, 50 2-H Guns
Saint Augustine (Settlement, Capital): +1,500 Food, +2,100 Water
-Structures: Farming Equipment (3), Water Station (3), Fortifications (5), Radio Tower, Gunsmith, Ammunition Convertor, Jail, Inn
-Arsenal: 400 Low-Tech Melee Weapons, 100 Low-Tech Ranged Weapons, 50 High-Tech Melee Weapons, 325 1-H Guns, 110 2-H Guns, 25 Laser Weapons, 1 Howitzer
St. Johns (Settlement; St Johns, FL): +1,200 Food, +800 Water
-Structures: Water Station (2), Farming Equipment (2), Fortifications (4)
-Arsenal: 100 Low-Tech Melee Weapons, 470 1-H Guns, 150 2-H Guns, 10 Laser Weapons, 5 Heavy Weapons
The Rules
Spoiler :
Caps: A Merchant’s Tale
The basic unit of currency in the wastelands are old bottle caps. There’s plenty of these about and they act as the financial bedrock of the apocalyptic international community. These can be generated each turn by building a marketplace or by issuing new taxes upon your people. Obviously people will object to taxation when it is implemented. Caps can be used to purchase resources on the open market provided with each update or to hire various mercenary groups.
Morale, Population, and Slaves
Your population is all your people that you have available to you. Typically the numbers are going to start very small, but will quickly grow throughout the course of years. The "civilized" zones such as your faction won't be the only survivors out there, and based on your faction traits and other stats, you'll be receiving a slow flow of immigrants and refugees from more wild territories. This will be included alongside "natural" growth as well.
Faction Morale is a new and fairly important stat representing how well your people think you are doing as their leader. Morale will automatically decrease each turn by 2% for each settlement you have and 1% for every 500 Population you possess. You can mitigate Morale decrease by building certain structures such as the Brothel, Inn, or Jail. When you reach below 40% Morale the troubles will begin and people will get unruly. When you reach below 20%, a civil war becomes probable. If you somehow manage to allow things to reach 0%, you will face total faction collapse, end of game. Missing a turn’s orders will automatically drop faction morale by 20%. You’ve bene warned.
The Population stat isn't a representation of a larger population or a base from which to create an army. Your Population IS your army. Therefore, it is very important to keep your people happy and loyal as well as provide them with state of the art weapons and good equipment for battle. You have absolute control over your people, send them wherever you choose. They live to serve your whims and the faction as a whole. As long as they stay loyal, that is.
The slave stat is entirely up to you. If you want slaves, feel free to capture some from the wasteland or other factions. Slaves produce double results when sending out to scavenge, gather, or farm when compared to normal population. Of course, sending them out into the wastelands also increases the chance that they may escape, so make sure you have loyal guards with them.
Specialists
Specialists are a new addition to this game style, replacing the old Education system. There are fifteen classes of specialist that exist in this game, each with their own abilities and functions. Specialists unlock different buildings and items for construction, and will have their own personalities and agendas. Most of the Challenges for your faction will likely be driven by conflicts and disputes between your specialists. Your leader also counts as a specialist, to be selected when you create a faction. When your leader dies, one of your other specialists will likely gain control. Remember, each of these specialists offer new opportunities and chances, but can occasionally be more trouble than they are worth. Also, some items require multiple types of specialists for construction. Here’s a quick overview of each profession and what they can do for you.
Spoiler :
Doctor: A doctor allows for the production of Chems which help improve performance of your Population both in battle and in collection of scrap. New Chems can be produced 1 Chem for every 5 units of Food.
Mechanic: The Mechanic opens up the construction of a variety of vehicles for use, and keeps any vehicles you do obtain in good repair.
Soldier: A soldier is a skilled warrior who will dramatically improve the performance of any combat group when he leads them personally into battle.
Sheriff: A Sheriff keeps the peace in your faction and prevents total faction collapse when morale gets low, preventing morale from falling below 10%. They also prevent Spies from infiltrating whatever community they are assigned to.
Farmer: Farmers unlock Farming Equipment for construction and each Farmer adds +100 Food per turn to your faction total each turn.
Adventurer: Adventurers improve the odds of finding unique and interesting scrap out in the wasteland when they are sent out with a salvaging team.
Blacksmith: Blacksmiths allow the production of a wide variety of low-tech weaponry.
Technician: Technicians reconstruct robots and can unlock treasures contained behind terminals in the wasteland if sent with salvage teams.
Gunsmith: Gunsmiths unlock the construction of firearms.
Armorsmith: Armorsmith unlock the construction of armor.
Entertainer: Each Entertainer boosts morale by 5% a turn, as well as unlocks a variety of morale-boosting buildings.
Politician: Politicians reduce the chances of negative Challenges and unlock more options when it comes to dealing with Challenges that you do receive.
Spy: Spies can be used to infiltrate other factions and communities and find weaknesses or perform other covert activities. They are the only such unit that can infiltrate and conduct these sorts of operations and are even more effective with Stealth Boys.
Engineer: Engineers unlock a variety of high-end buildings and also can be used to improve returns of Materials when sent with salvagers.
Scientist: Scientists offer the ability to research new technology as well as unlocking the construction of advanced weapons, buildings, and equipment.
Supplies in Their Natural Habitats
Chems are an element of supplies that are created by Doctors from Food. Chems provide a strong boost to your Population in different circumstances. They can be used to double the amount of Materials slaves or population can collected while scavenging. They also can be used to double the effectiveness of your soldiers in battle. Chems can also be exchanged for Faction Morale. They can be exchanged at a rate of 100 Chems for 1% Morale increase, with a maximum increase of 10% a turn. Be warned, chems are highly addictive, and each largescale use of chems will create a risk of addiction, which will cause a constant drain of chems on your stats. If you do not have enough chems to meet this drain, you will face harsh morale penalties.
Food and Water are the most important resources out there, period. Good food and purified water are essential to the literal survival of not just the faction, but the very species. Each person that you have in your faction will require 1 Food and 1 Water every year. If they do not receive it, they will die. This includes slaves unfortunately. Some old pre-war facilities have food or water production of their own, sometimes in large amounts. The only reliable way to gather food and water is to send out your population or slaves each turn to collect it from the wilderness. Collecting water won’t do you much good, however, unless your town is near a fresh water stream, river, or lake.
Fusion Cores are what is needed to power most vehicles and for the construction of robots. They can be found fairly extensively through old world ruins, as they were in common use among the military and old corporations. Fusion Cores are essential to maintaining and using the most powerful weapons and equipment available to wasteland factions.
Materials represent the random detritus that is the leftovers of the modern world. This can include anything from the shells of cars, to timber, to any assorted scrap metal, wood, or other building material. They are used in construction as well as to create weapons. They can also be converted into ammunition with the appropriate facilities.
Ammunition is required for the use of all non-melee weapons. Without it, your guns are just fairly useless clubs and you'll get torn apart by the most primitive tribes. Different types of guns expend ammunition quicker, and you lose ammunition based on how many battles you fight in a turn and how many.
Military Equipment and Skill
Scavenging and exploring will often result in the recovery of different types of weapons. Even better, when you defeat a group of raiders or another faction's army, their weapons become your own. The list of goodies you can use to fight are in a below post. Lastly, if you don't have enough weapons for your whole population, it is assumed that they are using standard melee makeshift stuff, which is always the least effective tool. Your military equipment stat is the total military equipment for your faction, and each settlement’s individual arsenal stats are taken out of this total.
Military Skill is the type of ability that your population has for combat. Remember, all of your population generally knows at least something about fighting and war, otherwise they'd die off. Therefore, your whole population is your army and this stat reflects what sort of experience and abilities they possess in the terms of combat. Obviously the higher the better, and the more you fight, the better you get. Better weapons, armor, and chems will help improve the military skill stat in combat situations.
Exploration and Scavenging
As frequently mentioned above a large amount of your time and energy would be best focused on sifting through the ruins of society. With scouting parties you can locate promising ruins which could work well as a outpost or community. You can find nice bits of salvage and old-war gems, including hidden special projects that you could bring to life with just enough Tech Parts and/or Energy. My recommendation is that you have at least one scouting party heading out somewhere every turn. Of course, there's always the small chance that they'll get hit by raiders or other factions, so make sure to give them some firepower to help them out. To Explore to Scavenge simply say in orders "Send __ people with ____ weapons to Explore and/or Scavenge in _____ spot.”
Settlers can gather at most 1 Material per turn, and Slaves can gather 2 per turn. Sending expeditions to multiple spots matters less than having a large force conducting the scavenging.
Outposts and Expansion
The civilizations of the wasteland begin by uniting a variety of small towns and outposts. They usually begin as fortified positions or tribal communities but ultimately evolve into a part of a much larger nation. There's always the chance settlers will be hit by raiders on the way, so once again, make sure they have weapons. There are several "standard" types of places you can discover that are detailed here. These do not include some of the places which qualify as starting zones, as they typically must be conquered, not colonized. Settlement prices are listed below based on type of settlement.
Urban Ruin: This is the most common type of outpost or settlement that you can establish. These typically are buildings, small towns, or landmarks leftover by the old world which are intact enough to be fortified and turned into outposts. When establishing a base in an urban ruin, you are likely to find tech parts, and this is the only way you're likely to discover the rarest of pre-war artifacts as well as plenty of standard ammunition and regular weapons.
Military Base/Bunker: This is a particularly uncommon type of outpost or settlement you can discover and claim. These are particularly nice because frequently they have large amounts of ammunition, and occasionally even ammunition-producing machines. They can also have decent stockpiles of food and water within them, sometimes even limited production facilities of their own. One or two military bases may even have fun treasures hidden within them.
Settlement: Whenever you're in a particularly barren region, there's always the option to simply just create a settlement out of spare parts in the area. While this may be useful to help monitor your territory or encourage trade, typically settlements have little or no resources of their own. If they're created in fertile lands they can become profitable farming communities.
Cave System: Outside of the cities, there are occasionally cave systems in the mountains and other isolated regions. These are frequently a good source of water, and perhaps other resources as well from failed post-war attempts at survival. They are also hard to find and therefore rarely come under attack by raiders, making them easy to defend and man. Of course, if you’ve researched an area and know where a nice cave system is, the advantage is yours.
Warfare in Post-Apocalyptia
As I've already mentioned, there are no standing armies or militias. Every person in your faction knows how to fight and thanks to the leftovers of modern technology, only a small number of people actually need to stay home and farm or maintain things. In order to fight, simply state the number of people you want to send into battle, what weapons you want them to carry, and where you want them to go. Typically war is fought as a series of firefights, not sustained fronts or warfare. Each battle will expend ammunition, so be careful of your stockpiles before you go out on campaign. If you run out of ammo, it is quite likely things will end poorly for you. Always keep a garrison at your outposts if you want to keep them. When planning battles, feel free to be as detailed as you'd like, it can only help.
The World of Fallout Florida
War, war never changes.
The outbreak of war with China led to a significant drop in the importance of Florida to the United States’ government. Most military forces moved to the west coast, and with the Baby Boomer generation beginning to fade, the civilian population soon followed. As a state which relied heavily on tourism, nuclear, pandemic, and war scares began to cripple the state, leaving it with a declining infrastructure and severe economic troubles. As international travel was brought to a halt, many hotels and theme parks shut down, unable to maintain a solid business. Therefore, when nuclear weapons were unleashed, Florida was not a priority target for Chinese missiles and attacks. Though large urban centers and military bases were hit, much of the state was spared from direct nuclear attack. Unfortunately the chaos that followed did more damage and harm than any nuclear weapons could.
The geography of Florida is as diverse as it is unique. In the south, the Everglades has overrun the ruins of Miami, and much of the southern part of the peninsula has been claimed by the swamps. These swamps are deep and mysterious, few enter them and fewer leave, especially in the vine-choked ruins of the great city of Miami. Miami itself consists of half-sunken skyscrapers and derelict vessels, as well as hordes of various creatures and monsters looking to feast. Along the western coast of the peninsula lie a number of sparse and disparate coastal communities, most long abandoned by their residents. Tampa was badly hit by nuclear weapons during the war and traditionally has been avoided by scavengers due to high radioactivity. On the eastern coast from the edge of the swamps to Jacksonville is an unending row of hotels and beach towns, stretching as far as the eye can see. These tilted hotels are without number, standing as if tombstones to the people who once lived in them, a modern Easter Island, facing toward the sea. In the center of the state is the metropolis of Orlando, the most populous city in Florida at the time of the war. Hit hard by nuclear weapons, it is full of ruins, and the skies remain choked with dust and radiation. In the south the old amusement parks crumble, though some remain hauntingly active, as some old rides still, just barely, function, without any riders or operators. Throughout northern Florida and southern Georgia, the numerous small towns and cities remain mostly abandoned, lost during the chaos after the war. Some treasures may remain, as scavengers from more organized communities look for ways to prolong their existence.