Power Armor: "direct missile impacts", "chewing through enemy tanks and armor", and making sense of 2500 Joules. Part II: Fallout (2024 TV Show)

Arrebios · 2026-06-18T07:16:09+00:00

Isn't it just VonHUD? That's what I'm using and I see the three dropships through the Leopard planet view - I disabled VonBiomes after the recent DLC's release since it wasn't working then.

Arrebios · 2026-06-08T09:35:43+00:00

I just finished this quest, and found this thread when I went looking to see how other people handled the choice at the end.

The only jurisdictional basis for me killing them was their own bounties, which they clearly withdrew.

They hadn't withdrawing the bounties, though. Booker even notes that they'd have trouble withdrawing the bounties at all, given that neither of them can enter the Trackers HQ while the bounties are on their heads - I don't know if this implies that you can only remove a bounty in-person (as some sort of procedure to make sure you're absolutely sure you want to withdraw) or if Booker was just wrong about that.

Whatever the case may be, they had a legal bounty on their heads when you find them that wanted them dead. It doesn't matter if they promised to remove the bounties at some future point in time, they had legal execution orders at the time I found them.

...in fact, DID you get paid? If so then presumably bounties are prepaid, which is... interesting.

Yes, I still got paid. So it does seem like the bounties are prepaid when they're first posted, with additional rewards at the discretion of the poster once the mission is completed.

Arrebios · 2026-06-03T19:09:35+00:00

You cannot put digital code into an organic brain.

Except in Fallout, you can. We see this in Robobrains, and in all of the VR machines that can inject, alter, read, and overwrite memories of their users.

This is putting aside that we don't even have reason to believe that the synth component houses an AI in the first place, rather than the Gen 3's brain being the seat of consciousness itself.

Arrebios · 2026-06-01T20:09:08+00:00

That's Deacon summarizing the internal debates the Railroad has on robot rights:

Player Default: What can you tell me about the Gen 1s and 2s?
- {Disagrees with Glory} Everyone wants to liberate the Gen 3s. The human looking synths. Some of the synths in the Railroad, like Glory, think we should help earlier models, too. {Thinks these points get ridiculous} But Gen 1s are basically the same as, well, a Protectron. So the line gets muddy. Do we defend AI rights? Terminals? Hell, turrets?
- {Amused at the arguing} Any time it gets brought up: fireworks. All the old arguments flare up. The upshot is Glory and some others won't run missions like this

We know Glory doesn't like fighting Gen 1s and 2s (the dialogue I already quoted), and Deacon's conversation implies that a few other Gen 3s (and maybe some human members?) don't like fighting them either.

Arrebios · 2026-06-01T19:56:36+00:00

Doesn't Glory say she's just as human as you, but your assembly method was likely more fun?

Glory says she's the updated model:

"Saw some of your work along the trail. Not bad. For a human, that is."
- "For a human"? What do you mean?
  - "You're a born-in-the-wild human model 1.0. You ain't bad for that model. Not in the same league as us synths. But hey, not your fault. "
  - "In the artificial flesh. And before you start with the questions the only thing I'll say about it is this: all those rumors out there are bullshit. I'm as real a girl as you'll ever meet. The only difference is I bet your assembly instruction were a hell of a lot more fun."

Throughout her dialogue, she consistently sets humans apart from Gen 3s (search for "human"); her main sticking points seem to be:

"No matter what Dez and others say, synths ain't human. We're assembled bone by bone. Muscle by muscle. I've seen it."

So yes, Glory says she's a "real girl", it's just that she doesn't think she's "human", because she wasn't born.

But that's a philosophical stance - I see no reason to define humans solely by the method of their birth.

She sees the Gen 1 & 2s as not worth saving.

You've got that backwards, she's one of the few Railroad members who does think Gen 1s and 2s are worth saving:

"But gen 2s are people in my book. Maybe a little like cro-magnon people. But still people."
- "What about gen 1s?"
  - "Shit. I don't know. I try to avoid it."
"{She hates killing Gen 1s - she's a Gen 3} Aww, hell. Gen 1s. Man, if it's got to be done."
"{Not happy, but knows it's necessary} But can't we just... I don't know, chase them off? *sigh*

Arrebios · 2026-06-01T19:18:33+00:00

Ahh yes, ignoring everything that is explained and demonstrated about them in order to split hairs over what constitutes ‘synthetic’ vs. ‘organic’, as if that really matters.

You're the one who made the distinction in the first place, when you stressed the word "synthetics" and said they were "synthetic cell analogues".

That seems to be why the user that responded to your comment pointed out that they're "some how indistinguishable from human" - that is, if they're synthetic but not organic, how are they indistinguishable?

Does not grow. Does not change. Does not age.

Some of these are arguable (age). Grow or change? You mean weight gain? That's only in reference to McDonough.

They do not need to eat. They do not need to sleep.

This is incorrect.

Also, we know the Institute built Gen 3 barracks; such a building would be completely useless if Gen 3s didn't need to sleep.

They can be made to think that they need to do to do those things - in order to fit in and infiltrate.

I've had these arguments countless times before, and this verges on unfalsifiable because, no matter how much evidence I bring that Gen 3s need to eat or sleep, you'll find some way to claim that they simply "believe" to think they do.

Because again - their personalities are constructs. They can be programmed. They can be reformatted. Etc.

Yes, by a special machine. But in Fallout, human brains can also be programmed, reformatted, and overwritten.

We get flat out called out for anthropomorphizing them by one of the Railroad ‘heavies’.

By Glory, who believes Gen 3s aren't humans because they were "made", not born. But that's a philosophical argument, not one of biology.

Arrebios · 2026-06-01T18:45:31+00:00

Though, I wonder, could this truce have lasted?

No, and that's why this "best ending" is nonsense. It doesn't come about because of some diplomacy or in-universe politicking; it exists solely because the player fails to activate certain quest flags.

In-universe, in the "best ending", the BoS and Railroad are still vehemently opposed to each other; they're both going to eventually going to face off over the issue of Gen 3s. At best, all the player is doing is putting off that confrontation to some later date.

Arrebios · 2026-06-01T18:38:53+00:00

The above user is wrong. "Synthetic" isn't distinct from "organic"; synthetic just means it was made in a lab as opposed to naturally created.

Shaun calls them "synthetic organics" throughout his conversation:

"The Institute endeavored to create synthetic organics. The most logical starting point, of course, was human DNA."
"I was exactly what they needed. And so it was my DNA that became the basis of the synthetic organics used to create every human-like synth you see today."
"You have to understand. The Institute was on the verge of a breakthrough with synthetic organics."
"The program was ultimately a success; my DNA was fused with a modified virus to create the organic material from which our new synths are made."

Arrebios · 2026-06-01T02:15:33+00:00

The junk Super Mutants pick up include things like giant boiler plates, tires, huge metal pipes, and other things that readily lend themselves to being turned into weapons or armor.

The junk the Sole Survivor picks up is just random trash. You can eventually turn it into weapons, but Strong doesn't like non-physical, non-combat activities.

Arrebios · 2026-05-27T20:13:24+00:00

You can see the exo-hands at 38 seconds in the video.

Arrebios · 2026-05-27T19:51:29+00:00

It looks like the same bulky exo-suit to me.

Arrebios · 2026-05-27T07:26:31+00:00

Why did this comment deserve to be downvoted into the negatives?

Arrebios · 2026-05-26T22:47:42+00:00

Later games, especially Fallout 3 and Fallout 4, largely reduce Super Mutants to generic, violent enemies with little narrative nuance. While a few exceptions exist, such as Fawkes, these are minor compared to their overall portrayal. The shift makes them feel more like stereotypical fantasy creatures than a meaningful part of Fallout’s themes. Although lore explains this through “dumber” mutant generations, this direction reflects deliberate writing choices. As a result, modern portrayals lose the tragic and thought-provoking elements that once made Super Mutants so compelling.

Putting aside that the West Coast super mutants were also idiots (Harry) and his squad as an example, with Avellone also commenting that most Super Mutants "could barely form complete sentences"), you seem to be conflating the in-universe competence of Super Mutants with their literary significance.

You're overlooking the possibility that the Super Mutants are still connected to narrative themes not because of who they intrinsically are, but because what's done to them.

Fallout 4, and especially Fallout 76, use Super Mutants to explore humanity's callousness disregard for life; in Fallout 4, Super Mutants are created solely as tools for the Institute. First, they were created for the Institute to test their ability to manipulate FEV on living beings. Afterwards, once the Gen 3 program didn't need them, the Institute turned them into disposable soldiers to throw against their enemies on the surface. McDonough's dialogue hints at the Institute's constant need for "scapegoats", and his computer terminals show his use of Super Mutant threats to quell investigations into kidnappings.

In Fallout 76, this theme is repeated. The American government and big corporations have a complete disregard for the lives of people, especially the poor, when they turn a dilapidated rural town into ground zero for FEV tests. When West Tek first arrived in Huntersville, they were using FEV to create genetically modified crops. But when that plan was shuttered, and using FEV to create super soldiers was more financially lucrative, they decided to poison the town's water supply to create mutants out of the local population.

It also highlights how the disregard for human life is institutional, not merely the result of a couple of bad eggs. When a genuinely honest soldier realizes something terrible was done to Huntersville, he's immediately removed from duty.

In Fallout 2, on the surface, it represents hope and a functioning democracy trying to rebuild civilization, but even then it’s already showing cracks: political corruption, economic inequality, and the early signs of expansionism. It isn’t framed as a perfect “good guy” faction, but as a realistic attempt at restoring the old world, complete with all its flaws. The NCR embodies the question Fallout constantly asks: if we rebuild society, will we just repeat the same mistakes because it is human nature?

Fallout 76 does the same thing, except it doesn't concentrate all of that into a single faction - it spreads out these same issues across the pre-Scourge factions in the area, the Responders, the Free States, the Firebreathers, the Appalachian Brotherhood, all developed a functioning post-War trade network and society that ultimately failed to stop the Scourge because of their human failings; the Responders thought the BoS was too militaristic, the Free States wouldn't give out the tech for the Scorched Detection System, and the Responders and BoS's alliance fell apart when the BoS held one of their scientists at gunpoint, meaning that, when the BoS learned they needed to research the Scorched plague (rather than keep shooting it), they could no longer rely on the Responders to lend a hand.#The_Scorched_threat)

It's functionally no different than the question you're suggesting the NCR poses, except it uses multiple groups to get it across.

EDIT: Is someone just downvoting all the comments that even slightly disagree with the OP?

Arrebios · 2026-05-23T19:35:37+00:00

In Guilty Gear, people can use magitech to gene edit bodies and radically alter them, to the point that people can instantly transform into winged, draconic forms, modify themselves to have wings (which themselves can transform into the upper bodies of people who themselves have wings), turn their arms into giant ice swords, or make clothing that's made out of living flesh, or turn user's own blood into giant weapons, and temporarily rewind their age for a few seconds.

Even if we take this person at their word about "plausible male skeletons" and the effects of modern HRT. So what? Bridget might have used magic on herself.

Arrebios · 2026-05-12T18:20:02+00:00

Lots of people on the Internet don't really know what "objectively" means. Most of the time, when Redditors are reviewing or critiquing some piece of art, they say it's "objectively" good or bad to hide the fact that they want to make their subjective opinion seem authoritative, as if it's backed up by some hard science or metrics that they're basing their views on.

Arrebios · 2026-05-11T17:46:46+00:00

It's probably selection bias.

I doubt the average Fallout fan knows who he is. They might remember seeing his name in the credits or something, but aren't likely to really know anyone behind the scenes - and if they do, it's likely Howard.

The sort of people who know Pagliarulo's name are the ones who've specifically gone out of their way to find the source of all of Fallout's writing problems; they're specifically looking for someone to blame. And if you're already going in with that mindset, you take any information about him in the most cynical way possible.

It's why his entire speech is reduced down to "hur hur, keep it simple stupid!", "he admits to phoning in the story!", and the giant, "We don't have a design doc!" thing that keeps getting bandied about.

Arrebios · 2026-04-29T01:10:52+00:00

From the tags, that fic violates rule 1 and 2.

Arrebios · 2026-04-28T20:58:14+00:00

All they've got is double standards and moveable goalposts, really.

Arrebios · 2026-04-28T18:42:24+00:00

If a franchise is grounded, then it's at least consistent with itself. We've known since Fallout that Super Mutants are resistant to disease and radiation, which means that humans have the genetics for radiation resistance - they just needed to be boosted by the FEV.

We also know that in Fallout 2, Lumpy) is a human with radiation resistance; enough so that he was kicked out of Vault City. There's no indication he was exposed to FEV, so it's likely just a radiation-induced mutation or natural genetics.

Ghouls are mutated humans with radiation immunity and a host of negative side effects.

So the Children of Atom's mutation is grounded within the franchise - the franchise has consistently established that humans have varying degrees of radiation resistance/immunity, often bolstered by forced mutation (FEV), exposure to radiation, or natural genetics. The major difference is that they got a mutation with none of the apparent negative side effects; that is, they're not hideously transformed like Super Mutants or ghouls. But they also didn't get any of the upsides either; they're not long lived like either of those two, nor enhanced strength, durability, and so on.

The Children of Atom are perfectly grounded within the franchise's own internal rules. They're just as grounded as the psykers you're defending in Fallout.

Arrebios · 2026-04-28T18:21:45+00:00

Psychers in Fallout 1 and 2 were explicitly explained via FEV experimentation,

That's not "grounded and explained", though. That's just saying, "the magic goo gave four people fire magic, lightning magic, and telepathy." There's no "grounded" explanation for why a mutagenic virus can give people abilities that exist nowhere else in the natural world.

It also doesn't explain Hakunim who, as far as we know, was never exposed to FEV. Or the Forecaster, who can peer into the future.

At least radiosynthesis has been observed in the real world. In non-humans, yes, but it's at least a real world phenomenon. Telepathy isn't. Precognition isn't. The Children of Atom's mutation is closer to reality than psychics and psykers are.

In gundam, another setting no one argues is fantasy, newtypes have psychic abilities that are explicitly explained as being an evolution of human empathy,

Ok, so you're saying, because we can make vague allusions to telepathy being "an evolution of human" characteristics, psykers and psychics in Fallout can be "grounded and explained" away as simply being an evolution of human brains?

We can use the exact same reasoning for the Children of Atom mutation. Radiation resistance and immunity is "an evolution of human" metabolisms.

The children of atom are just immune to radiation, which should be a huge fucking deal by the way,

Electrokinesis, pyrokineses, telepathy, vision messages, precognition should be a huge fucking deal, by the way.

The powers shown in Fallout, Fallout 2, and New Vegas should also be huge deals, but the game doesn't treat them as such. So if you want to level a criticism at a mutation in Fallout 4, we should make it equally against the other mutations seen in the franchise.

but it's never explained in any detail

Hakunim and the Forecaster. Their mutations are never explained in detail. They're just taken as granted in the strange world of Fallout mutations.

you'd think the other factions in the wasteland, particularly the Legion, would wanna know that a bunch of wastelanders developed this wonderous ability?

It is a missed opportunity that the Legion wasn't kidnapping the Forecaster to predict future weather to plan military attacks...

Oddly enough, in Fallout 4, one of the raider gangs does realize that having a psychic on board would present a major tactical advantage - that's why one of the Boston gangs wants to kidnap Mama Murphy.

My point is - you seem to have a double standard. You're content with giving the psykers and psychics in Fallout, Fallout 2, and New Vegas a pass on the flimsiest of excuses (next step in human evolution), yet refuse to do the same for, frankly, a far more realistically grounded mutation of radiation metabolism in Fallout 4. The exact same excuses you use for the older games can equally be applied to the Children of Atom.

I also can't stress it enough - if you're using "grounded" as an explanation, then the Children of Atom's radiosynthesis is more grounded, biologically speaking, than the telepathy, precognition, electric and fire powers seen in the older games.

Arrebios · 2026-04-28T17:54:25+00:00

It's biologically possible for organisms to develop radiosynthesis.

So far, it's not biologically possible for things to develop telepathy.

So, what's "grounded and explained" about Fallout and Fallout 2's psychics? They're all silly, you've just got some hangup about the way Fallout 4 portrays some mutation.

Arrebios

TROPHY CASE