A Summary of Technology in 2317
The world of Fallout exists in an alternate universe where not only did history go very differently, but the laws of physics may be fundamentally different - allowing advanced technology that could not be produced in our world. These changes are too numerous to mention, but can be explored here:
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Divergence.
The World of Tomorrow
The major split between our world and Fallout occurs just after WWII. In our timeline, the transistor was in invented in 1947, manipulating the effects of quantum mechanics to create semi-conducting electrical switches and making microcomputers possible. In Fallout, either this discovery was not made or the underlying physics is different, rendering transistors more difficult to produce or apply. This small change in the Fallout Universe would significantly delay the coming of the internet and its Information Age. At the same time, either Fallout's earth contains fewer fossil fuel deposits or the laws of combustion are different, requiring fossil fuel engines to burn much more fuel than they would in our world. These differences combined to create a world that, by 2077, was much different than our own.
Nuclear Technology
PRE-WAR
Fallout's America was mad with nuclear development. An insane stockpile of nuclear weapons was amassed by the nations of the world and then deployed in the Great War. Any city with a population of over 200,000 would be serviced by a uranium-fueled nuclear power plant. Automobiles were fueled by a small nuclear reactor, requiring regular refueling in coolant rather than gasoline (coolant refills provided by "gas stations" like the Red Rocket chain.) Controlled nuclear fusion was discovered in 2066, but by 2077 the technology was still rare and expensive. Resource-rich government and corporate structures used fusion generators for electricity production. The US Military made the most use of fusion, deploying fusion generators to power their ships and aircraft, they made hand-held fusion cores to produce electricity for vehicles, power armor and certain robots, and they produced battery-sized fusion cells to power weapons and small devices.
It seems that in the Fallout universe, both nuclear fission and fusion are far less energetic and generate much more ionizing radiation than in our world. A fission plant that would power a city of millions in our world barely services 200,000 in Fallout. In our world, the latent radiation from an atom bomb declines to safe levels within days, while the radiation of the Great War in 2077 is expected to reach pre-war levels in 2377.
POST-WAR
Fission Plants: Many traditional nuclear power plants remain, but very few are online. They were specifically targeted by Chinese missiles, so many of these plants are the most radioactive areas in the wasteland.
Fusion Reactors: Often deployed by high-tech factions in the wastes. Nearly every Vault-Tec vault and Brotherhood of Steel bunker has a working fusion reactor, in need of a constant supply of coolant.
Fusion Cores: Most American systems were engineered to accept a universal TX-28 hand-held fusion core, and so they are not uncommon. A core taken from a heavy robot, fusion electricity generator, power armor or gatling laser can be removed and used in any other of these devices. Although able to hold their charge for thousands of years, the power needs of most of these devices will drain a fusion core rapidly, requiring it to be recharged.
Fusion Cells: Fairly common. A small, battery-sized unit, mostly used as ammunition in laser-based weaponry.
Mini-nuke: A very small fission explosive, most commonly deployed with a Fat-man launcher. About twice as destructive as a shoulder-launched conventional-missile, and bathes the target zone in radiation.
Atom Bombs: There are still many gravity-dropped atom bombs in the wasteland, both unused American weapons and Chinese bombs which went undetonated.
Nuclear Missiles: Although most of these weapons were launched in the Great War, there are still some unused ICBMs and shorter-ranged missiles to be found in missile silos and submarines.
Computers and Robots
PRE-WAR
In 2077, nearly every household owned a computer terminal. This was powered by vacuum tubes, with a display and operation similar to MS-DOS. These computers were simplistic and had limited access to public networks. While these advancements were behind our own, Fallout's America made huge strides in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence. By the time of the Great War, robot automation in industry was overhauling the American economy, causing a terrible labour crisis. Wealthy families were served by Mr. Handy robots as servants. Military, police and medical services were assisted by a variety of robotic helpers. These robots arguably achieved full sentience, but were never granted rights. Military research produced even more advanced artificial intelligence, surpassing human abilities, but these experiments were rare and kept secret. Pre-war society didn't concern itself with robotic ethics, and as such, all robots are perfectly capable of violence against humans.
POST-WAR
Pip-Boy: A Pip-Boy wrist computer is issued to every vault-dweller and wearing one will imply to wastelanders that one is a vault-dweller. The Pip-Boy is a total information system, offering maps, journaling program, a radio receiver, medical information for the wearer, Geiger counter and holotape player/recorder.
Computer Terminals: These self-contained computers are everywhere, and given electricity, many are still functional. Their processing power resembles a pc from our early 1980s, but the data on these terminals is often wastelanders' only window into the pre-war world.
Hr. Handy/Miss Nanny: A three-armed domestic assistant robot, which floats and moves via a central rocket engine. Many are still operational. Before the Great War, some of them were modified for combat use, and these are designated "Mr. Gutsy."
Automated Turrets: Firearms, energy weapons or missile launchers fitted with a basic AI were commonly used in pre-war America as defensive or security measures. Many are still operational and high-tech factions such as the Brotherhood of Steel can construct new ones.
Assaultron: Humanoid military units capable of great stealth and equipped with an array of weapons. Some are still operational and are highly-prized weapons.
Eyebot: US Military surveillance robots which hover and fly freely. Around the wastes, they are often used as scouts and messengers. The Capitol still produces them for the repressive surveillance of their own population.
Robobrain: A robotic body supporting a living human brain. The cybernetic process is usually damaging to the host's mind, driving them insane. Though some perfectly reasonable robobrain's still exist, most are raging maniacs, violently attacking anything that startles them.
Sentry Bot: Basically a living tank powered by two fusion cores, sentry bots are heavily armoured and equipped with rapid-fire laser cannons and missile launchers. Still found in some priority military facilities and best left undisturbed.
Synth: The product of the now-destroyed Institute, Synths were a largely successful attempt at producing artificial humans that could be controlled. First generation Synths were little more than advanced assaultrons, but by Gen 3, Synths were so life-like that they could not be distinguished from humans. No mechanism nor procedure could tell a Synth from a human, save for killing the person and retrieving a biological Synth component from within their skull. This made the Institute extremely powerful and dangerous, for which The Commonwealth destroyed them. Although The Institute and its ability to produce new Synths is gone, many Synths remain, indistinguishable from their human neighbours.
Vehicles
PRE-WAR
Before the Great War, nearly every home in America had a nuclear-powered automobile, trains were plentiful and air travel in enormous, fission-powered, propeller-driven aircraft was common. Jet aircraft were available, but fuel costs limited their use. America had an active space program (and an even more active propaganda machine which greatly exaggerated their accomplishments) which deployed rocket spacecraft, ion drives and solar sails. Shipping and naval travel was conducted mostly by large nuclear-powered ships. The military, with its astronomical budget, deployed a variety of vehicles including gas-powered jeeps and motorcycles, nuclear submarines, aircraft carriers, jet and rocket aircraft, nuclear tanks and enormous nuclear-powered bomber aircraft.
POST-WAR
Horses: Domesticated horses did not fair well in the Great War and are extremely rare in the wastes, if not extinct. No other species has been successfully bred to accommodate a human rider.
Brahmin: These mutated, two-headed cattle are the most common domesticated creature in post-war America. They are used not only for their meat, milk and hides, but also as pack animals, often a travelling merchant's best friend.
Motorcycles: Most bikes did not survive the Great War and the scarcity of petroleum makes them difficult to maintain.
Automobiles: The hyper-capitalist society of pre-war America intentionally engineered these nuclear vehicles to break down after five years of use, so very few are operational today. Some military vehicles were built to last, but even these are difficult to keep running in wasteland conditions.
Boats: Almost all of the wasteland's bodies of water are radioactive, especially the oceans, making water transport dangerous to humans. Small boats are still employed, but are often lead-lined and kept to short voyages.
Ships: Huge nuclear-powered commercial and military ships can be found in the harbours of every coastal city, but without the enormous crews required to maintain them, they are lifeless. A few ships and oil rigs are in use by high-tech factions, but these are extremely rare, as is trans-ocean travel.
Vertibirds: The US Military made extensive use of helicopter-like rotary aircraft, known as vertibirds. These vehicles are still used in the wasteland by the Brotherhood of Steel, Midwest Brotherhood of Steel, and The Capitol. They require a huge supply of coolant to operate, and are therefore very expensive to maintain.
Airplanes: There are almost no fixed-wing aircraft still in use, but the remains of these vehicles still exist in airports and crash sites.
Dirigibles: Lighter than air balloons are the most common aircraft in the wastes, due to their easy construction and fuel efficiency. They are used extensively by the New California Republic and The Rustlands for freight and scouting, though their slow speed is not conducive to passenger travel. Famously, The Capitol built a grand military blimp called the Prydwen, which it used as a mobile base of operations until 2287, when Commonwealth artillery destroyed it.
Spacecraft: The true extent of American space travel is unknown, as much of the space program's face was propagandist misinformation. A few space agency facilities do remain, complete with in-tact rocket ships. There are a number of satellites in orbit that still offer GPS, weather and imaging services. Whether there is any truth to reports of space stations, colonies on the moon or mars, space-based weapons or other non-terrestrial vehicles is pure conjecture.
Firearms
PRE-WAR
Great War America was a pro-gun society fighting an active war with China on the Alaskan front, so firearms were ubiquitous. Almost every household was equipped with a firearm, and purposeful government action kept guns and ammo cheap and available. Military and law enforcement personnel were extremely well-armed. And anti-gun sentiment was considered neurotic and treasonous.
POST-WAR
Revolvers: Although rarely used in pre-war times, the mechanical reliability of revolvers has made them common in the wasteland. Easy to maintain, but with a small ammo capacity that is slow to reload, revolvers are mostly found in the hard-hitting .44 magnum round.
Pistols: Compact and concealable, automatic pistols are popular. The standard 10mm pistol issued to Vault-Tec security in the vaults has become greatly sought after in the wasteland for its reliability and easy modification.
Shotguns: Able to do a great deal of damage at short range, shotguns are favoured by merchants and travelers who have to deal with mutated wildlife. Semi-automatic combat shotguns with extended magazines are rare, but capable of throwing out a devastating amount of damage. Almost all shotguns are chambered in the same 12-gauge format.
SMGs: Fully-automatic submachine guns offer a dangerous weapon that can be operated with only one hand. The downside being that they require a large amount of ammunition, which can be hard to find in the wastes. They are commonly chambered in 10mm, but .45 SMGs are not rare.
Rifles: The most widely used firearm in 2317, rifles are reliable, accurate and can be heavily modified. From .38 caliber plinking rifles for hunting small game to high-powered .50 caliber anti-vehicle rifles, the people of the wastes rely on these weapons every day.
Assault Rifles: Semi or fully automatic assault rifles can be found in use by virtually every military, law enforcement, mercenary and security service in the wasteland. Fully modified by a talented mechanic, these weapons can do as much damage as many big guns and energy weapons. The most commonly found variants are the 5.56mm assault rifle and the .45 caliber combat rifle.
Miniguns: These weapons use a rotating series of barrels in order to fire at a very high rate without overheating any single barrel. They produce a great deal of damage at the cost of a lot of ammunition. Miniguns fire belt-fed 5mm rounds, which can be found in almost any military installation. Favoured by super mutants.
Pipe Guns: Crafty (and desperate) wastelanders have learned to cobble together parts to produce various handcrafted firearms. These come in pistol, revolver, SMG, rifle and assault rifle formats, usually chambered in .38 caliber. Although notoriously unreliable, they're often better than nothing.
Homebrew weapons can be found in the
Weapons of Forever Fallout list.
Energy Weapons
PRE-WAR
The US Military was still experimenting with energy weapons by the time of the Great War, but had already developed viable laser, plasma, radiation and electricity-based weapons for combat use. Laser weaponry was available for civilian purchase, but was still rare. Many Mr. Handy robots were equipped with a laser arm (ostensibly for household use.)
POST-WAR
Flamer: Liquid-burning flamethrowers have been in wide use since the early 20th century and still exist in the wasteland. The military-issue Flamer is favoured by Raiders and bandits who value its cruelty and destructive power.
Laser Rifle: Powered by disposable fusion cells and firing an amplified beam of light energy, laser rifles are the most common weapon of the Brotherhood of Steel, chosen for their armour-piercing qualities. They can be heavily modified.
Laser Musket: A laser rifle variant found in The Commonwealth, a laser musket can be overcranked in order to deliver more damage, at the cost of speed and ammunition.
Plasma Rifle: These weapons fire super-heated plasma, to devastating effect. Plasma rifles were issued to only the most elite of the US Military's forces and are highly coveted in the wasteland. They operate on plasma cartridges and can also be heavily modified.
Gamma Gun: A post-war phenomenon, gamma guns are pistol-format energy weapons that emit an intense burst of ionizing gamma rays. Commonly used by followers of the Children of Atom religion, these weapons are useless against ghouls, supermutants and many mutated wasteland creatures, but are crushing to humans.
Gatling Laser: A rapid-fire laser platform, these weapons make use of replaceable fusion cores. Extremely rare and sought after.
Explosive and Launchers
PRE-WAR
The US Military deployed many explosive devices, the majority of which were not available to civilians.
POST-WAR
Gunpowder: Easy to produce and stable, gunpowder production is alive and well in post-war America. Many villages are perfectly capable of producing their own ammunition, although handcrafting these rounds makes them expensive.
Frag Grenade: Standard issue military fragmentation grenades are still plentiful in the wasteland.
Plasma Grenade: Blasting a zone with fiery plasma, these grenades are now rare.
Frag Mine: Often and improvised device, many locations in the wasteland are trapped with explosive mines.
Nuka Grenade: A miniature nuclear device, these cause massive damage and radiation to envelope an entire zone.
Missile Launcher: A shoulder-mounted tube that fires small, high-explosive missiles, these weapons were issued to most military units. They are still produced today by the Midwest Brotherhood of Steel, and The Capitol.
Fat Man: A shoulder-mounted rail that launches a single mini-nuke explosive. Extremely rare, but deadly. Also very dangerous to the operator.
Armour and Clothing
PRE-WAR
By 2077, women had achieved equal standing in workplace, military and political affairs, but the repressive culture of pre-war America rigorously genderized clothing standards. Male fashion and female fashion were kept distinct, with men expected to wear suits and hats and women to wear dresses. The US Military researched heavily in body armour, developing light combat polymers and even large hydraulic mech-suits called power armor.
POST-WAR
Casual Clothing: Clean, well-fitting clothes made with light pre-war materials are still hard to find in 2317, and confer a bonus to Strength and Agility checks.
Formal Clothing: Wastelanders are surprised and impressed by a well-dressed person. These clothes offer a bonus to Charisma checks.
Leather, Raider, Metal Armor: Many wastelanders wrap themselves in whatever they can for protection. The quality of these pieces can vary wildly, from almost useless to comparable to military equipment.
Combat Armor: Polymer plates worn by US combat personnel. Rare and coveted for their lightweight protection.
Power Armor: Deployed in battle just months before the Great War, power armor is a hydraulic combat suit giving an enormous amount of total body protection. Powered by a single replaceable fusion core, the suit grants super-human strength, immunity to falling damage and a self-contained atmosphere. These suits can be heavily modified with sensors, weapons and defensive measures. A few pre-war units exist in the wasteland and are greatly prized. They are still manufactured at great cost by the Brotherhood of Steel and The Capitol. Even groups of Raiders have been known to engineer their own suits from scrap.
Ballistic Weave: Advanced textiles can be weaved into ordinary clothing, conferring hidden protection. Ballistic weave is expensive and extremely difficult to produce, making it absolutely treasured by those in the wasteland lucky enough to have it.
Homebrew clothing and armour can be found in the
Clothing and Armour of Forever Fallout list.
Devices
PRE-WAR
The people of pre-war America made little use of most advanced technology. The average home featured the same appliances and devices that could be found in the 1950's, save for their atomic car, microwave oven, simple computer terminal and robotic servant. But at the same time, government and the military were making use of many cutting edge devices unknown to the public.
POST-WAR
Holotape: A simple data device capable of storing audio, video, text or simple programs. These can be used with any computer terminal or Pip-Boy.
Stealth-Boy: A compact device which generates a modulating refraction field, providing near invisibility. Never mass produced, these units are extremely rare. Long-term use causes paranoid delusion and hallucination.
Cybernetics: Although still experimental in 2077, medical researchers were on the verge of cybernetic enhancements, augmenting human bodies with mechanical parts. A few high-tech labs with talented doctors are able to apply cybernetic implants, but these are extremely rare and expensive.
Homebrew tools and devices can be found in the
Miscellaneous Items in Forever Fallout
Food and Drink
PRE-WAR
Even with war-time rationing, American society was very well-fed. A wide variety of industrial edibles were designed to never spoil. Clean water was abundant.
POST-WAR
Dirty Water: All wasteland water, including rain water, is mildly radioactive. Drinking it will alleviate thirst, but confer radiation damage.
Purified Water: Facilities that can provide safe drinking water are generally small and hotly contested, like Culligan Spring in Emancipation. Only The Capitol with its Project Purity water plant has a sizeable source of clean water.
Nuka-cola: America's favourite soft drink, containing seventeen fruit essences, bottles of nuka-cola can be found throughout the wasteland that are perfectly drinkable. They provide an Action Point bonus and a bottle cap that can be used as currency.
Pre-war Food: A variety of preserved meals and snack foods are still preserved and edible today, including Fancy Lad Snack Cakes, Blamco Mac & Cheese and Yum Yum Deviled Eggs. It should be noted that most of these are radioactive, due to the Great War.
Wild Food: Wastelanders hunt and gather many wild foods, eating almost anything they can catch. Although most of these foods are irradiated, often simply cooking them can render them safe (physics?) Eating mutated plants and animals can sometimes grant strange bonuses and abilities.
Homebrew food, drink and chems:
Foods Beverages and Chems of Forever Fallout.
Non-human People
PRE-WAR
Before the war, Americans dealt regularly with robots, but no other non-human intelligences. Myths of alien contact were common, but not taken seriously.
POST-WAR
Ghouls: Extreme human exposure to radiation can sometimes result in ghoulification. Those affected appear to be in a state of constant decay, though the opposite is true. Radioactive energy is continually regenerating their body in strange ways. They are immune to radiation, poison and do not age. Many go "feral," randomly descending into a thoughtless state of random violence against non-ghouls. This process is not well understood. And so ghouls, with their hideous appearance and chance of random violence are usually ostracized from human society. Many ghouls have been alive since the Great War, but ghoulification is possible whenever a human is exposed to enough radiation.
Super Mutants: Before the war, the US government was conducting super soldier experiments involving the Forced Evolution Virus. Although initially unsuccessful, something about the latent radiation of the post-war wasteland caused FEV to generate super mutants. These mutated humans stand over seven feet tall, are extremely strong and muscular and entirely immune to radiation or poison. They lose their genitals, present no sex dimorphism and cannot reproduce. Most have limited intelligence and are filled with murderous aggression, though a fraction are more calm. A handful of individuals have even retained their human intelligence. In 2137, a malign intelligence known as The Master began forcefully converting humans into super mutants in order to create an army. But by 2162, he and his FEV facilities were destroyed. Since then, super mutants have only existed in small pockets, often with cadres of super mutants kidnapping humans and infecting them to add to their population.
Intelligent Deathclaws: A few heavily mutated, 10-foot tall, bipedal predatory lizards (aptly called deathclaws) were experimented on by a group known as the Enclave. That group was destroyed, but a small population of their intelligent deathclaws remains. These modified creatures are capable of complex thought and limited human speech. A nest of these creatures were instrumental to the Midwest Brotherhood of Steel in the Calculator War, earning the deathclaws full citizenship.
Zetans: Wastelanders have discovered many indications of extraterrestrial visitation, including flying saucers and strange energy weapons, but these sightings are extremely rare.
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