5 nuclear apocalypse tips from Fallout that are actually useful

Eric Milzarski
Jun 27, 2018 6:05 AM PDT
1 minute read
Gaming photo

SUMMARY

One of the most entertaining video game franchises to make waves in last decade has got to be Fallout. It’s a quirky take on the nuclear apocalypse that shows us a world in which the 1950s marked the last cultural shift before the world’s…

One of the most entertaining video game franchises to make waves in last decade has got to be Fallout. It's a quirky take on the nuclear apocalypse that shows us a world in which the 1950s marked the last cultural shift before the world's end. Each game leaves the player to survive in nuclear-wasteland versions of formerly beautiful locales, like Washington D.C., Las Vegas, and Boston.

The game's critical acclaim is largely due to the fun, engaging gameplay mechanics, but the game developers did their homework to make sure the objectives and the little details required by enduring the aftermath of the "Great War" are actually legitimate pieces of nuclear-apocalypse survival advice.


Should you ever awaken in a fallout shelter only to emerge and see naught but hellish landscape, you can actually use some of the things you learned while gaming.

It couldn't hurt to start saving bottle caps now. If the apocalypse doesn't happen, you can still use them for art... or something.

(Know Your Meme)

Currency will change

Instead of using regular greenbacks as you would in the normal world, bottle caps are the new, post-apocalyptic currency. The in-game reason given is that the caps on Nuka-Cola bottles were plenty and there's no way to accurately recreate them. So, everyone essentially agreed that they had intrinsic value.

That's actually the exact way our real-life monetary system works. Shy of the copper found in older pennies, the money we use today only has value because we all agree it has value. Without a Federal Reserve to enforce that value, people in a post-apocalyptic world may use something else, like bullets, gold, or maybe even bottle caps.

You don't have to go as far as to clean ALL the water — just enough to survive.

(Bethesda Game Studios)

Find clean water

The main objective of Fallout 3 is to establish a clean water system for the city of Washington D.C. because most sources have become highly contaminated. Throughout the game, you seldom find purified water. For the most part, you're going to poison yourself (to a degree) trying to stay hydrated.

If there's any advice that all survivalists can agree on it's that everyone's first goal should be to find drinkable, poison- and nuclear-contamination-free water. Your body can only survive a few days without it, but you won't be able to function properly in a high-stakes environment for more than a day.

Mutated rabbit... yum...

(Bethesda Game Studios)

Food packaged before the apocalypse is best

A quick and easy way to heal in the game is by eating food. Everyone needs food to survive and the extra calories gives you the edge you need to fight off mutated freaks. You can eat whatever you want (and even endeavor in cannibalism if you feel the urge), but the most efficient food is stuff from before the apocalypse.

For very obvious reasons, you don't want to be eating poison. Finding clean food isn't all that difficult if you know where to look. Sealed environments, like the game's "vaults," are often veritable supermarkets, but even packaged food that was deep underwater before the blasts went off have been proven to be clean. Just look at the wine bottles from shipwrecks, for instance.

It doesn't need to be as fancy as a Pip-Boy but you can find one at most universities.

(Bethesda Game Studios)

Get a Geiger counter

Like other games, you'll be reminded of several factors: your health points, any injuries sustained, how much ammo you have, etc. It will also tell you about the radiations levels of anywhere you're going.

Nuclear radiation doesn't exactly glow as pop culture would have you believe. Unassisted, it's impossible to detect. The only way you're going to know for sure that you're not being irradiated is by using a Geiger counter.

What is it with lawless societies and their affinity with wearing spikes? I can't imagine that'd be comfortable at all.

(Bethesda Game Studios)

Not all survivors are friendly

Because it's still a fun action game, enemies are plenty. Irradiated beasts, mutant freaks, roaming hordes of bandits, and, of course, just regular survivors looking to protect what's theirs.

Think about how brutal some people towards each other during Black Friday. If people are willing to maim and kill each other to take 25 percent off of a toy's price tag, imagine what they'd do in a world where laws no longer exist and they need to make sure their children survive.

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