[Fallout] The Mothman Prophecies

I'm ready go tonight. There's a party, alright. We don't need the raisin for joy, oh yeah. Tick down to midnight.
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Delthazar
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Re: [Fallout] 76 is a world of blue and yellow

Post by Delthazar » Tue Jun 12, 2018 1:01 am

Yeah, kinda the same here. The bit they mentioned about player/character progression going with you when you change servers or whatever makes me think that some means of surfing instances will be possible if necessary. I wonder if people are gonna be setting up specific RP/PVE-only servers. Certainly I'll be using Discord for voice chat and avoiding the fuck out of whatever in-game zone chat systems they put in, if any.

My inclination would be to group up with y'all and wander off to find a quiet corner somewhere to build on and hope for the best. Nothing is lost on death, so getting wrecked exploring too far from our camp is at least manageable.

I have a feeling that F76 mods via Creation Club will all be kinda unnecessary like they seem to be for F4. And for a fully online game, they probably wouldn't be able to change anything strictly mechanical, unless they somehow apply those changes to your whole server. Maybe if there end up being truly dedicated private servers for specific premade groups like ours then they'd offer mods like that eventually, kinda like the old days of running Unreal Tournament mods on LANs.

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Re: [Fallout] 76 is a world of blue and yellow

Post by Delthazar » Tue Jun 12, 2018 1:02 am

Here's a good interview which clarifies some details. Almost.

(C&D'd!)

Sounds like PVP will be kinda-sorta opt-in, or at least balanced in such a way to prevent griefing and/or incentivize good behaviour, but who knows how this'll work in practice. Definitely something they're still working on. They want a little drama without the assholery, so maybe this'll hash-out way more like Sea of Thieves instead of Rust.

Private servers are implied, and fully moddable private servers seems to be a post-launch goal. Hell, I'd be happy just to have private vanilla servers, I think, even if it's just an option to use in a worst-case scenario, like if every single populated server is full of shitheads.

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Thunderhead
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Re: [Fallout] 76 is a world of blue and yellow

Post by Thunderhead » Tue Jun 12, 2018 2:37 am

They're morons if they think they can stop griefing. Let me know when private servers go live.

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Re: [Fallout] 76 is a world of blue and yellow

Post by Delthazar » Tue Jun 12, 2018 2:49 am

They ain't that crazy. But these days anything that can be done to get people to be less shitty is worth doing. Good on 'em for trying, whatever it is they're trying.

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Re: [Fallout] 76 is a world of blue and yellow

Post by Delthazar » Tue Jun 12, 2018 4:11 pm

Everyone else might be skeptical about F76 but West Virginians are stoked.

https://www.polygon.com/2018/6/12/17453 ... t-virginia

Folks also be horny for Mothman.

https://www.polygon.com/e3/2018/6/12/17 ... hman-video

And players are already getting together to develop metagamey RP community concepts.

https://www.polygon.com/2018/6/12/17453 ... te-servers

I think it's stuff like this which in addition to Bethesda's own actions will really make a difference regarding griefer stuff and help avoid a lot of the sociopathic anarchy that makes games like Rust kinda impenetrable. There's even players volunteering to act as NPCs, which is kinda wild.

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Re: [Fallout] 76 is a world of blue and yellow

Post by Delthazar » Tue Jun 12, 2018 5:51 pm

Danny's F76 making-of doc is up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi8PTAJ2Hjs

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Re: [Fallout] 76 is a world of blue and yellow

Post by Delthazar » Wed Jun 13, 2018 12:53 am

Beyond just Mothman, it looks like they really took a deep dive on local folklore for all these new monsters. Some of them are kinda fucking terrifying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvD20r5PTmw

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Re: [Fallout] 76 is a world of blue and yellow

Post by Delthazar » Wed Jun 20, 2018 9:17 pm

Folks seem to have the broad strokes of the new map all figured out, at least based on existing information. Who knows what could change in the next few months.

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https://kotaku.com/fans-are-using-every ... 1826995439

Also, Danny's Noclip documentary confirmed one of the speculated locations I spoiled tagged earlier, which I'm pretty happy about 'cause it also soft-confirms they're pulling from the old Van Buren design docs for a few things.
Spoiler :
That giant ring-shaped object really is a crashed space station, or so Danny calls it, which kinda narrows it down to either the Van Buren BOMB satellites or something new inspired from that design.
We should totes set ourselves up somewhere in The Forest. Chill in the woods. Shoot anyone who rolls in to cut down trees for crafting lumber.

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Re: [Fallout] 4 is a world of flat cola.

Post by Delthazar » Sun Jul 15, 2018 10:36 pm

Delthazar wrote:
Fri May 18, 2018 2:30 pm
Speaking of Fallout total conversion mods for Paradox grand strategy games, here's one for Hearts of Iron IV.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2018/0 ... -strategy/
I'm poking at this a little bit now, not really knowing what I'm doing 'cause I've barely even scratched the surface of HoI4 vanilla yet, so :pacdown

The mod scenario is western or "core" (Fallout 1, 2, New Vegas, and Tactics, arguably) but I think they have plans to roll-in eastern stuff eventually. Places like Hopesville are on the map, as is Arroyo under the leadership of the Chosen One, and the Desert Rangers are here still separate from the NCR, so I think this is set between Fallout 2 and New Vegas.

There's also a ton of non-canon nations mixed in with the canon ones to help flesh-out the map, which I like a lot (especially in the north), though I think it would be nice if there was more open unclaimed wasteland between some of 'em - even if the idea of "claimed" territory in Fallout is really nebulous. I'm playing as New Victoria, in control of what is now Vancouver Island. (My actual part of BC is controlled by Bellingham, but they're potentially really dangerously landlocked, so I'll run as them later. Right now I feel safer across the water.)

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New Victoria is a democratic nation, yet it's ruled by someone who styles herself "Queen Victoria VI," which is a bit of fan lore I actually really like. I could totally see an official Fallout thing doing something pretty similar if they ever wrote official lore for this region.

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The larger map of western North America in this period (it continues as far south as Baja and northern Mexico.) The NCR and the Legion are inching perilously close to one another, as was prophesied. I'm interested to see if there are scripted events in place that reflect the official history - will the Legion absorb the tribes bordering NCR, will Hopesville become The Divide - or if it'll all happen procedurally, so perhaps differently, or just not at all.

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But I should be more concerned about the small wars going on in my own backyard. Just across the strait, the Issaquah and the Washington Brotherhood are having it out for control of the Seattle area and presumably the rest of former Washington state. This particular Brotherhood chapter appears to be extrapolated from Fallout Tactics and are quite evil. I'm hoping the Issaquah pull through, but I'm it's not looking good for 'em right now.

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So I'm trying to improve relations with the Issaquah, Bellingham, and the Dredgers. The latter appear to be democratic descendants of pre-war Canadian survivalists or something judging by their flag. They're led by a guy called Old Pete. 'sup Old Pete. The Broken Coast are slavers, so we're probably gonna have to ally-up and squash 'em soon, assuming the Issaquah don't fall to the Brotherhood early, which would likely present a bigger problem.

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Re: [Fallout] The Mothman Prophecies

Post by Delthazar » Wed Jul 18, 2018 6:16 pm

A couple years in now and it's been pretty fun watching some of the canon factions make bold moves and get smoked. For instance, New Reno - and their vassal state, Klamath - decided to pick a fight with the Yakuza and it went all the way bad for them. Not only did the Yakuza turn back the attack, they countered and annexed New Reno entirely.

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They're now pushing hard against Klamath and will probably win that war, too. The Yakuza already more than doubled their territory and resources with the defeat of New Reno; taking the Klamath territories will probably give 'em the strength to challenge the Desert Rangers, or push north. I didn't expect this at all considering their humble beginnings with just a narrow strip of land on the Desert Rangers' northwest flank.

(In official canon via Fallout 2, New Reno is definitely poised to become a strong power, assuming the player successfully navigates their way through the crime family drama in that city and reaches a reasonably stable conclusion. New Vegas implies such a result happened. The Yakuza only exist in Fallout 2 as random encounters outside the city and I don't think they even had a quest chain unless it was in the cut content.)

Another prominent canonical power making possibly fatal mistakes is Vault City. They declared on Eastport, a non-canon faction, and are very slowly being eaten alive. Even if they survive - and I'm not even sure if white peace or partial victories/defeats are a thing in this mod, or in HoI4 proper, given the context (every war I've seen here ends in a full annexation) - the Yakuza could easily wipe them out once they're done with Klamath.

(Vault City might be mentioned in passing in New Vegas, I can't remember, but the events of Fallout 2 put it on roughly the same ascendant trajectory as New Reno assuming the player makes the right choices. That said, it could just as easily become a state in the NCR by NV. Whatever the case, seeing them getting their teeth kicked in by a non-canon faction is pretty funny.)

Possible secret of Eastport's success:

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Delthazar
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Re: [Fallout] The Mothman Prophecies

Post by Delthazar » Thu Aug 09, 2018 9:14 am

If yer playin' Fallout 4 and yer tired of those boring loading screen tips, here's a better option.

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/21936

Image

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Falcon Critical
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Re: [Fallout] The Mothman Prophecies

Post by Falcon Critical » Thu Aug 09, 2018 12:53 pm

Yeah the loading screen replacement mods are pretty cool, I've seen ones that make some jokes, and ones that hit you with deep lore but the general rule of thumb is more variety is better.

Having said that my penchant for walking everywhere meant I didn't really fast travel much so saw less of these than most people.

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Re: [Fallout] The Mothman Prophecies

Post by Delthazar » Sun Aug 12, 2018 3:38 pm

Fallout 76 vids and deets from Quakecon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdn0ZQ51nGI

- Character customization will be available at all times, and for everything, right down to gender.

- No level cap, but stat growth stops at Lv. 50. Afterwards you'll continue to get perk cards at level up. There will also be randomized card packs given at certain intervals, probably to incentivize experimentation.

-I'm really looking forward to seeing the new mutation system in action and how quickly modders get some version of it working in Fallout 4. Making them work statistically like 1/2/NV's Traits is also great.

- The typical social features you'd expect will be there, yer ignores/blocks/mutes and whathaveyou.

- PVP is opt-in and doesn't unlock until Lv. 5. There's also a Pacifist toggle which disables the system entirely.

- There are anti-grief measures built-in. Basically, hitting another player does little damage and serves as a PVP invite. If the player who gets hit returns fire, that accepts the invite, and further attacks do normal damage.

BUT: if a player manages to kill someone who didn't accept the invite, the killer gets no drops, and is also marked as a "Wanted Murderer," which has a range of interesting effects.

1) they're marked on the map for other players to hunt
2) a bounty is given to anyone who kills a Wanted Murderer
3) if the victim takes out their killer, they get rewarded double that bounty
4) bounties are taken from the Wanted Murderer's own caps
5) Wanted Murderers can't see anyone on the map anymore.

- You don't lose anything when you die except crafting junk. You can also respawn near your body to recover your junk or back at Vault 76 for free, or respawn as a fast travel opportunity, with a cost that scales by distance. Junk can also be stashed to keep it safe.

- Pretty much like No Man's Sky, bases can be blueprinted and moved/rebuilt/restored anywhere else.

- As in Sea of Thieves, there are musical instruments. :pac

- Inon Zur's on the score, plus there will be more radio tracks in 76 than in any other Fallout.

- VATS still in but with no pause/slowdown, limb targeting requires perks, Perception increases accuracy. I'm having trouble picturing how VATS without the perks will function, or maybe it just isn't available until you have those cards.

- The photo mode looks about as fully featured as Uncharted or Horizon which makes me pretty happy.

https://youtu.be/HsAyw9YQwtM

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Re: [Fallout] The Mothman Prophecies

Post by Falcon Critical » Sun Aug 12, 2018 6:14 pm

Thanks for the summary!

I feel like that wanted system using the own player's caps is an interesting twist, but similar to Lineage ][ it's ripe for exploitation. What happens if the killer has no caps? I presume whoever takes them down still gets a bounty, but either it just generates that out of nowhere or the killer goes into a negative balance. Neither are particular discouragements. Furthermore, the tag/tag back PvP system can be used to bait players into becoming marked 'killers' allowing griefers to kill them and take their caps. You saw a similar thing in Destiny, the 'betrayal' system was meant to create tense extractions, but people would just go into zones not carrying anything and try to gun down players who had loot because even if they lose they don't lose anything.

At the end of the day perhaps it's fine, and/or perhaps everything comes so easy there's not even any point. The 'double reward' for killing your killer though, does that mean two players can make bank by just counter-murdering each other? :pacdown

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Re: [Fallout] The Mothman Prophecies

Post by Delthazar » Mon Aug 13, 2018 12:35 am

Heh, I was wondering that myself. Not knowing yet what the big cash sinks are gonna be, or how the player economy will work, it's hard to say if caps will be a big enough deal to be worth exploiting over or worrying too much about losing.

I imagine if a bounty is claimed against a Wanted Murderer with no caps the game will just reward some preset number and maybe ding the griefer later on a delay. No doubt we'll hear more during the beta.

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Thunderhead
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Re: [Fallout] The Mothman Prophecies

Post by Thunderhead » Mon Aug 13, 2018 1:22 am

Yeah, still don't care about 76. This, however...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPtAjvtJhf8

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Re: [Fallout] The Mothman Prophecies

Post by Delthazar » Mon Aug 13, 2018 8:07 am

Crazy how many of these giant projects have popped up lately. I think Miami brings the number of fan-made sequel-y expansions up to four or five, including at least one being made in NV instead of F4, after all these years.

Hopefully at least one of them actually finishes, but they're all so ambitious, so who knows. One of 'em actually set a hard release date for itself but I don't remember which.

...I have no interest in Miami as a setting personally, but maybe they can manage to do something new with it.

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Re: [Fallout] The Mothman Prophecies

Post by Delthazar » Thu Aug 16, 2018 3:38 pm

Not a Fallout game, but damned close: Dustwind has launched on Steam, which is extremely Fallout Tactics in particular.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/600460/Dustwind/

Waiting on real reviews since Steam user reviews are useless, but yeah, it looks 100% what you'd expect a not-Fallout Fallout Tactics to look like. I never actually played Tactics myself, but I guess it has its fans.

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Re: [Fallout] The Mothman Prophecies

Post by Delthazar » Sat Sep 15, 2018 2:18 pm

F4NV appears to be making good progress.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=997PAfxFiGE

The way they've managed to get F4 and NV's systems playing together and not looking like total ass when combined in the UI is actually pretty impressive. There's some solid choices made here regarding camerawork, too.

Y'all will probably notice that ain't Michael Hogan as Doc Mitchell, and I think the music is a slight remix. Totally remaking all the audio assets is probably a big part of the raisin why this thing was allowed to keep going at all. Better that than getting slapped with a C&D and shut down like the Fallout 3 total conversion, but man will it be weird to hear anyone other than Rene Auberjonois as Mr. House.

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Thunderhead
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Re: [Fallout] The Mothman Prophecies

Post by Thunderhead » Mon Oct 08, 2018 6:15 pm