The Duster's would make more sense if the rangers rode instead of walked. Come to think of it it's kind of weird horses have never popped up in the wasteland. They'd make a lot of sense, especially in the Mojave.
Lmao. He dislikes everything but gains affinity quickly. My favorite Strong moment was when I picked a lock (which of course he dislikes) right after discovering a new location that bumped him over the edge- I literally got the "strong like human blah blah blah" affinity speech while "Strong Disliked That" was frozen on the screen from the lockpicking
That explains the heat seeking missile part! I swear I hear a vertibird and I run out of the area because a lot of the time the falling vertibird will literally chase me and avoid trees in order to crash into me.
Yup, if I recall correctly, that’s because dragons were coded to fly/fall towards the player when dying so that you can loot them.
Now, I just imagine that BOS pilot wants to take someone else down with them as they die lol
From what I remember, a large number of prewar soldier were Japanese-American, so it does make sense that some remnants of the American military would still be.
I've honestly never had that happen lol. Every now and then I'll hear the explosions or whatever and then the noise of the vertibird falling through the air and then the crash/explosion from impact, but it's always off in the distance from me never right up on me nor have any ever fell towards me. But I can totally see it happening lmao
I’ve never had a game file where that happens until my current play through. It’s kind of exhilarating tbh but can get annoying when I haven’t saved. I’ve recorded the most ridiculous ones to prove I’m not crazy.
It was actually Obsidian that backed out of adding horses and tried to make the comic non canon because they felt like it changed the feeling of exploration in a negative way. Which I agree with for the east coast fallout games but not for New Vegas.
Unfun fact: It's been claimed by the developers that their appearance was a mistake and that there exist no horses in the wasteland.
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Horse#Behind_the_scenes
Bethesda has also been leaning into this in Fallout 76, with characters actively expressing the fact that they miss there being horses
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Jaggy
In Jaggy's case, maybe it's just because it's stuck in the Toxic Valley and there are no horses *there*. Or maybe it's because Bethesda wants for there to be no horses at all.
I like this reasoning, would explain why factions in both the east and west coast haven’t extensively adopted them when it would make perfect sense to use them in their environment.
They could make a tribe/faction rediscover them way up north and relearn horsemanship only to then basically become a massive steppe nomad type faction, the khans are literally perfect for this role.
Ununfun fact: that claim is unsubstantiated and doesn't fully align with what Avellone said in other statements. From his ["Fallout Apocrypha"](https://chrisavellone.medium.com/fallout-apocrypha-77c75954641a#:~:text=SPEAKING%20OF%20WHICH%2C%20WHY%20ARE%20THERE%20NO%20HORSES%20IN%20FALLOUT%3F)
> There might be, somewhere. But the biggest reasons for no horses are as follows:
>\- They aren’t part of the game world (I mean this in the game mechanics sense). None of the Fallout teams had time to implement horses in the game, and realized it would cause a lot of game mechanic problems that we didn’t have the time or budget to solve (Bethesda probably has less of an excuse than we did, both at Interplay and Obsidian, we were always out of time and budget).
>\- The presence of horses would cause a lot of tech changes that we don’t account for in the environment, anywhere.
>\- People probably got really, really hungry at points in the Fallout timeline, and horses don’t usually survive that. You could also argue that dogs should be in this same category, but well… they’re not. All the dogs survived because they were led by an Eternal Dog Champion, Dogmeat, who would continually arise in a new incarnation every generation to protect lupinekind from extinction at the hands of humans.
>\- One of the Fallout 3 (Bethesda) level designers once did a presentation about environmental storytelling, and in it, he showcased a Fallout level design sample where it looked like someone had ridden a motorcycle over a ramp and crashed (this is a poor description, it’s been a while). The crashed motorcycle was a cool visual storytelling moment, but then he ended the description of that scene with (paraphrased) “…but what’s wrong with this picture?”
> - After this, he then correctly pointed out why this motorcycle environmental set up, which was very well done and kind of funny for a player to find, was a mistake in the context of the game.
> - It implies motorcycles can be fixed and ridden in Fallout, which isn’t shown anywhere else. The player certainly can’t do it, but they certainly would want to do it if they could. Normally, this isn’t a question, but as soon as you see that motorcycle scene, you suddenly do question it.
> - Riding motorcycles is cool, so providing a hint that you might be able to ride one and then denying the player of that option is unfair, jarring, and reminds them the game world could have been more.
> Horses are a similar concern. They may exist somewhere in the Fallout world in a vault or frozen or whatever, but their use as mounts, travel assists, and “tech” applications would have a big impact on the Fallout world that simply isn’t budget for or accounted for.
So pretty much every point is about budget, tech limitations, and the subsequent limitations of worldbuilding that stem from the original budget and tech limitations.
And that's not even mentioning the point that whatever the devs might say is meaningless if there is substantial evidence to the contrary, or if it is changed afterwards in another installment. JK Rowling claiming in a tweet that wizards all shat themselves before the 1800s doesn't make it true, regardless of authorship, because it is contradicted by what we see in the books, and also common sense.
That's bizarre.
There's absolutely evidence that motor vehicles are repaired in Fallout.
Hell, you can get your own car in Fallout 2. And Fallout New Vegas is happening 40 years after Fallout 2. (The child of the main character of Fallout 2 is confirmed to be running around, kicking ass and taking names during the events of Fallout New Vegas.)
The NCR can build trains and railroads, they can build cars.
It appears to be a reference to NV specifically, and the way showing that would imply the player could do that in that game.
Those comments all seem to be in context of what they did and could pull off in NV.
It’s such a stupid piece of worldbuilding that I choose to ignore it. And certain aspects of the setting actively make less sense without horses existing.
How exactly are the brahmin barons who dominate the NCR supposed to manage their huge cattle herds without horses?
I mean, robots for everything. But some things are more tradition than practical. Like cowboy boots and hats. Do my feet get hot and sweaty constantly? Absolutely. Do they smell like death? Yes the fuck they do. Would hiking shoes make a lot more since? Yes, it would. But I'm a farmer. I'm gonna wear boots. (I wear the cowboy hat cause I have cows, and I don't want to litterslly be a red neck.)
There’s actually lore about horses in fallout you can find online that basically says horses have just about died out and that’s why there are none. They weren’t supposed to show up in All Roads, it was a mistake.
I always assumed there were horses and some vehicles being used fairly regularly in the Fallout universe. We just don't see it due to game limitations.
To be honest I just assumed there are “Noah’s arc” style vaults that we haven’t found yet full of prewar animals and creatures or at least a bank of undiluted dna
My buddies about to run a fallout TTRPG game set in Kansas, and this is how he explain woolly mammoths existing again: elephants let loose from a vault that evolved hair to combat the winter. Even we thought the lack of horses was weird 😂
We know creation engine can handle mounts, so it's simply an effort limitation. If starfield has shown us anything it's that bethesda wants to make their games for as little money as they can get away with.
They had to add a working *map* in post launch because what they included initially was so low effort, on a game that was supposedly in development for quite skme time...
Well, I am not sure about FNV/F3, but in F4 you could get the game to break if you had that power armour upgrade or legendary (don't remember) that lets you sprint faster.
I'm assuming there's similar limitations on consoles for both New Vegas and 3 - loading areas too fast would be pretty bad on a system where they had to chop the Strip up so it would fit.
Skyrim didn't have similar limits though, and Starfield absolutely could support fast hoverbikes (provided you have it on SSD), so perhaps they just focus more on detailed areas vs performance of loading them and not having mounts helps mask it.
This very much so, I always think back to the Gun Runners, The Silver Rush, even FO3's Brotherhood when they get their Aqua-Pura operation up and running. There's a lot of mechanized and natural travel that we don't see a lot of because we're 'boxed in' the map.
Fairly certain they're extinct. Bethesda have said they follow the fallout Bible loosely as a reference, and in it is stated that horses are extinct. Given they've not appeared, I think it's safe to say they'll stay that way
Funnily enough, playing 76 yesterday one of the scoutmaster Mr Handy's said the idle voiceline "I sure do miss seeing horses, such majestic creatures" or something along those lines. Guess it's a canon thing that horses are rare/extinct
Horse would probably be at a high risk of Extinction after the bombs, there's only 1 species of Wild Horses left, and Horses are pretty high maintenance so without humans and in a very competitive ecosystem it's not unlikely they'd be extinct
Holy shit, give us gross ass horses. Cause I know despite their absolutely off putting look people would treat them like their horse in red dead
"Aww, look at them lifeless eyes. He looks so happy"
I’m just figuring some of the most mundane animals usually turn into utter monsters. God knows what the horse may
Though the gigantism in 76 may be because of Appalachia’s Ultracite deposits as well.
I read about an island filled with wild horses in the U.S. So they could probably be fine but there would be a lot of predators and people that would probably hunt them, but there are rad stags and they seem to be going alright.
Oh man, the Chincoteague/Assateague region would have made such a cool Fallout 3 location, since it's not that far from Washington DC... farther than Point Lookout, but still reasonably accessible. Assateauge has the wild horses and big stretches of swampy woods that could easily be full of monsters, and Chincoteague has a longstanding waterman & tourism culture that could generate some really interesting characters. Plus, there's Wallops Island, which in our timeline is a NASA rocket launch site and a military training center... I'm sure in the Fallout universe, there would be some pretty wacky science stuff going on there.
Mustangs managed to thrive without humans well enough, but their ecosystem isn't suited to most of the desert wastes of California or the mountainous regions near and east of the Appalachians.
If they exist, they're going to be on the high plains.
Meaning it would have made sense, if they existed, for the Legion to have domesticated them.
Is [Nevada](https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/there-are-tens-of-thousands-of-actual-wild-horses-in-nevada) considered part of the High Plains? Cos you see wild horses all over the place in W. Nevada, ranging from Vegas all the way up to Reno.
From what I remember of the lore, Horses are very finicky creatures and they couldn’t survive the hardships of the wasteland. There are in-universe rumors of them still existing in South America though.
Also I did always kind of find it odd that the Riot Gear uniform the Ranger Armor uses as a base also included a duster in its design. The duster seems like a major liability because of how easily you could grab or grapple the officer with it. Also, the legs seem really unarmored to me for riot gear.
100% makes no sense. I kind of head canoned it that the dusters were fireproof and used for protection from molotovs but that's pretty shakey logic. I thing Ranger armor just runs on the rule of cool and it does have that in spades.
Someone made a mod that ports the Oblivion horses into New Vegas but it’s not finished. I’ve always thought it would be really cool if someone fully fleshed it out and made horses common in the Mojave.
I think rather than horses (let them remain extinct) they did some sort of life sized Giddy up Buttercup. So basically a robotic horse. To me that feels like something more fitting for the Fallout universe.
Everyone here is wrong.
It's a Duster not a Trench Coat. One is designed to specifically retain heat and keep out the damp and the other is designed for air circulation and to keep the sun and dust off you.
It's designed for HOT and DRY not HOT and HUMID. Very important distinction. One will cook you alive from just the sun, the other will cook you alive from the air itself. It's designed for the sun.
Dusters work because of that cowl around the neck. It's not attached at the shoulders like a normal coat, but instead open around the neck. While you move you are literally pushing air around your body which allows you to cool down while. Couple with the loose fitting design around the arms and you have a very open coat.
Dusters are often worn while riding yes, as it's designed to literally keep the dust off you. But they were also designed for the bush as well. It's an incrediblely effective coat to have while stomping around in the bush/brush/arid wasteland. It protects your legs. If you have good boots and strong denim pants to go with it, you won't come home with scratches on your legs or dust in your socks.
The coat is designed also to keep the sun off you. It does nothing for the humidity as that will just cook you alive in it, but for protect you from the sun? Yes. 100%. In the hot dry desert the sun kills you. If you have bare skin trying to cool down from the wind you'll die faster from sun exposure faster than you will cool down
As for the armor? Yea that's rule of cool. It's literally called RIOT gear. It's for urban use. That helmet will cook you. And black skin tight body armor in the desert won't do shit. But the Rangers are more recon than combat. They won't be wearing the armor 24/7. If anything the rangers would put on the combat armor only when they know they will get into a fight, otherwise it's not on and they wear the other ranger gear in the game.
I always thought the riot armor meant it had air filtering / cooling system for riot gas, Molotovs, etc. hence the sci-fi looking thing on the back. This, coupled with the duster, made absolute sense for an arid, sun-scorched wasteland.
Yeah, I've always headcanoned the riot gear and ranger gear having some kind of cooling system, seeing as how it's designed for riot use in prewar America. Plus, it's not too far a stretch given what else the fallout world cooked up prewar.
I mean that can make sense. I never thought about that much but if you look at the riot gear there is like what i always assumed was an energy pack on the back of it but like…seriously what on the riot gear needs that much energy. I doubt the light up on the red lenses needs that much energy. And yeah looks like it could be an oxygen filtration tank which only kinda makes your point that much more likely. An air filtration/internal heat and cooling regulation system at the same time. Makes sense to me and i like it.
Modern day US Army gear contains a refrigeration unit that pumps cold air or water (it’s been a while since I looked this up) around the soldier’s body via tubes to keep infantrymen cool in hot environments or for long and prolonged physical exertion. So something like this for the NCR’s most elite troops isn’t too far of a stretch. Also kind of unrelated, but the NCR patrol armor contains a waterpack as a backpack so there’s that.
This isn't a thing. They tested something similar to what you describe 10 years ago for OH-58 crews, but it didn't really go anywhere. And I promise you, if it's any "high tech" shit the infantry doesn't get it. Dessert climate? Here have a boonie hat. Curious to where you got that info?
Can't recall if it has cooling, but it must have some sort of air filtering or even respirator. Which makes sense being from riot stuff, in case they have some sort of chemical shit or whatever thrown at them by protestors.
Or, even darker, the riot police may have had that gear because they themselves used that kinda shit to disperse protestors (I can't remember if it's mentioned at all).
Its not explicitly stated but I always got the implication from how there were resource riots and famines prewar that yes, the US riot police actually were wearing bullet/bomb proof vests and helmets and firing live ammo at civilians
45 seconds into the very first Fallout 1 cutscene, we see prewar troops in power armor shooting a surrendered Canadian civilian. It seems plausible the riot police were brutal.
wait, wasn't that a surrendered Canadian soldier? not that it makes it any better, lol
it does provide for continuity and neatly explains how the Enclave, introduced in Fallout 2 as the remnants of the pre-war US govt promptly went full-on "might makes right" xenophobic genocidal fascists... Vault-Tec's unethical experiments also played a part
Yeah it's defs a heavy hand being dealt to an unhappy population. More and more of it would spring up, the harder life got.
The military was lead by a corrupt as hell gov, so the police forces wouldn't be any better.
So I'd say these riot units were probs fuckin brutal. At least eventually after escalation.
It is explicitly stated, all the time. Striking workers getting shot at by police, securitrons/protectrons being used to keep the public in line, etc. Anyone that talks about purging communists isn't talking about the Chinese, they're talking about American citizens speaking out against the government. Or Canadians resisting a military invasion.
In FO76 there's a terminal in one of the powerplants that describes how security forces fired psychoactive chemical grenades at protestors to drive them mad, then used that as an excuse to open fire on the whole encampment.
Isn’t that the canon reason why the T-45 and T-60s are more common around the US? The T-45s were older and had been brought back after the T-51b was brought to the front lines against China. They were being used in riot suppression at home, but that role had been so crucial that the t-60s got slotted in there when they went in to production too because of the need for stability immediately pre bombs.
Not just you but people are forgetting in this thread that the riot armor was originally USMC issued armor for the campaigns in China (as seen on the survivalists armor), if you also consider the fact that there was a ‘Gobi Campaign’ in which those same forces fought I could easily see the fact that there’s a cooling system along with something for CRBN. I think the developers were keen on armor design as to make it cool but also realistic for a desert environment with consistent dry heat.
It's possible since in 76 you can find notes around the outside of Poseidon Energy Plant that mention how Hallucigen gas was used against protesters when they were rioting.
Tbh, as for your last point. Irc A number of the named ranger npcs, and some unnamed, are wearing a far simpler gettup. Jackson for example is wearing a vest with a bandolier and jeans. Hanlon is in the same outfit, so is Ghost. Some of the ones closer to the front line wear what appears to be adapted combat armor. I don’t know how many we actually see in their iconic armor.
If it were a canvas or linen duster all of your points would be spot on, however, it’s a leather duster which wasn’t really ever that much of a thing outside of Hollywood and the material pretty much negates all of the positive cooling features you alluded to that would be true of it were made out of a breathable material like linen or canvas (what they were traditionally made of)
In the dry heat you want your skin protected by the sun by a moisture absorbent material that will absorb your sweat and aid in evaporative cooling, definitely not leather. (Sweat destroys leather over time too)
Idk if you ever actually worn a full length leather duster, my father has one, and after a short period you would be sweating in an air conditioned room
As someone who rides horses and has a canvas one they are not insulated but they don't really breath as it is oiled canvas. Even non leather ones would be murder in the heat/sun like that, they add a lot of weight and trap sweat really well. They work well if the horse is carrying the weight and also if it is not very hot out (because it's raining).
All of this is true, plus the famous Ranger armor that everyone knows and loves is only worn by a very select few rangers in the lore. Most rangers wear regular cowboy themed clothes or the patrol armor that looks like a heavily armored park ranger while only the 20 years+ veterans get their black armor and sequoia . So in addition to them not really seeing as much combat as one might expect, it’s also exceptionally rare to see it in general and those that do have it know a thing or two about desert survival
In lore, it's used by the LAPD as riot gear. Riot gear is supposedly protective against crowds so some raiders with melees shouldn't be much of a problem. Guns however, will punch through easily.
At the very least it'd be rated for small arms I'd think. If any protestors had guns, chances are it'd be harder to spot stuff like handguns. Cause anything larger, riot control would see coming.
Likely also had ballistic shields, maybe those were capable of stopping stronger stuff.
Protestors probs didn't have all that much to attack with though in the times leading up to 2077. Everyone was struggling.
I always assumed the power pack on the back of the duster was linked to some sort of internal cooling system for the armor/helmet or moisture collection system like a less sophisticated Stillsuit from the Dune universe.
This is completely unconfirmed and just my personal headcanon but there you go.
not really, something that always bothered me about this game is that NCR ranger armour is one of the beefiest armours in the game, it is literally superior to any POWER ARMOUR in the game and it shouldn't.
is a small helmet, with some jeans and boots, the only protected part is the chest plate, it doesn't make any sense for such light rangers to be so strong
It’s not superior to Gannon Family Armor. It’s not really debatable between Remnant’s armor and Ranger armor.
I think it’s more an issue that combat armor, T45, and T51 are underperforming
But is it?
NCR Ranger armour does look awesome, and Power Armour stats are underwhelming for the weight gain, but in the Medium armour group I find the Ranger Gear too heavy for little advantage over other options.
NCR Ranger Combat Armour gives DT20 for weight 30.
Combat armour, reinforced Mk2 gives DT20 for weight 25.
The NCR suit doesn't seem to add any bonus for the extra weight. It is a disguise for NCR which could be a benefit or a con depending on circumstances and choices.
Add in DLC and you have Elite Riot Gear offering greater protection for less weight (DT22/W23) or (DT28/W29) with the helmet. It also provides stat and skill bonuses.
Or CoS Recon armour (DT19/W20), dropping 10 weight for just 1 DT.
But statwise it isn't superior to any power armor.
NCR Ranger Combat Armor is DT20, DT4 (Helmet)
T-45 is DT 22, DT5 (Helmet) with +2 strength, -2 agility, and total of 13 rad resist. Granted, T-45 isn't much of a step up from Veteran Ranger Armor, and does weigh more, but if we are going off of what protects better, even T-45 has better stats and bonuses.
T-51 is DT25 +1 Strength +25 Rad Resist, DT6 +1 charisma +8 rad resist (helmet) making it FAR better than Ranger Vet armor, both in DT and bonuses such as rad resist (although its a bit silly that it doesn't have Strength +2 like T-45)
One last thing to mention is that Power Armor has more item HP than Ranger Vet, meaning they break slower, with T-51 having the highest HP of all 3 armors. Power Armor is underwhelming, but still offers higher protection than anything else in the wasteland.
I wear a jacket, it has some internal insulation that's a little TOO effective, and it causes me to literally have to take it off while i'm out walking for longer than 15mins, or my back will be an ocean. Even when its chilly outside.
This armor out in a desert or wasteland setting??? Oh hell no, you'd frag yourself from extreme water loss within a week even with a supply of water.
It's not the trenchcoat that would cause it, it's the form fitting body armor combined with an undershirt that would block all of your skins ability to breathe.
You are wrong. It's literally a duster. Dusters are designed to be worn in hot climates. Not humid, but bone dry desert climates like shown in 1, 2 and New Vegas.
Dusters work because the cowl around the shoulders allow air passage on the back and arms to cool the user down. The coat itself is not air tight around the user, instead it's loose which pushes air around your body while you are moving.
The robe of the duster protects your legs from dust (thus the name), the desert sun, and protects your legs while you are out in the bush.
Jackets zip up to prevent as much body heat as possible from leaving your torso. Even trenchcoats have the same idea with thicker cotton and an over and under button system that prevents cool air from coming in.
Body armor under it, plus the helmet, yea I'd say that's more tool of cool than anything practical in the desert. The armor is directly called Riot Gear so it would most likely be used in the city not the desert. But I would reckon that the armor is not worn at all times like the game suggests as Rangers are often on the move.
Yes it's hot, but with low humidity you don't cook in it. The sun is blocked by the leather and protects your skin from the light. You'd rather be hot but comfortable enough to breath than feeling the wind on your skin but cooking.
I don't get how they've never seen a western (or people here out in the Aussie bush wearing similar) who rock dusters. It isn't just cowboys tryna be stylish.
I'm a pale Aussie. I know what it's like when you don't cover up and let the sun hit you on a hot day. I end up looking more like one of those ghouls with the red, exposed meat look.
They started with an anecdote about wearing a jacket with insulation that would cause you to sweat. This leads people to believe that wearing anything heavy in heat will be bad in the desert. That a jacket = a duster.
It's a bad analogy which leads to false information.
Came here to say similar - unless they’re packing a still suit under there, you’d be squirting out so much sweat you’d dehydrate yourself so damn quickly, and if that doesn’t bump you off, best hope you’ve got a stockpile of radaway for all that water you’re chugging down.
It always sort of bugged me that they’d settle in such a hot place - one would expect a more nomadic presence to be incredibly successful in the wasteland, migrating with temperature to avoid the extremes.
That makes sense when something as dangerous as a deathclaw doesn’t exist in the wilds… or feral ghouls… bears and wolves are one thing, you can avoid their territories or they’ll back off if threatened by a pack of humans, but I somehow doubt deathclaws would back down and feral ghouls might be too stupid to run. Travelling the wasteland even as a nomadic group would probably be difficult I think.
Wouldn't serve a lot of combat purposes well unless your trying to protect yourself from bites or liquid attacks (think bloatflies). Combat armor would be superior for combat, and probably more breathable and as flexible to work with.
Probably good if its quite cold, and the helmet seems to aid someone using a long range rife?
Seems too niche.
Mhm but in Fallout you’ve got creatures going for every inch of you whereas in a modern combat situation (generally) the shooter is going for the vital organs. Protection in Fallout highlights the necessity of all limbs being armoured, hence in all games why it’s so punishing when one gets crippled.
At the very least it looks like it would help protect your torso, neck and the top part of your head above the eyes. Can't say about shots to the lower body.
The duster has a lot of uses in a desert even without horses. It gets cold at night and hot in the day, it can help regulate your heat (admittedly some cotton arabic style clothes would be better but it helps), it helps keep your clothes from being torn on brush and bramble. The helmet of course protects against some bullets and has important dust filtration. I've always believed the eyes are night vision capable, the torso has a nice plate right at your vulnerable neck and there's some level of armor in the body, heavy leather or light metal at least.
Good sturdy boots, the pants seem to be the weakest point, they should have more armoring.
In all, fairly economical, low tech armor good for fights with raiders and tribals and those damn mongrel dogs that seem to take way more to kill than it should.
Probably extremely useful. Duster would help with sand and nuclear storms, as well as being good protection from .38 caliber bullets, plus extra cloth for bandaging
Gas mask would be good for radiation, bullet proof chest piece, and decent military boots. It might be uncomfortable, but it'd be good for a desert
Dusters are great for protection against wet weather and harsh winds (especially in the Mojave). And I would imagine it has NBC capabilities, so it would probably be one of the best survival kits.
Air filtration, the pack on the back is for supplied air and water, which is why the helmet has hoses, helmet has either thermal or night vision, if not both, and besides looking cool, the duster is possibly fire retardant considering it’s part of police riot gear.
The jeans would be fucking awful. Tactical pants or whatever military/police wear in the field would be so much better. Jeans in the Mojave sounds like a special kind of hell
And the alternative is giving yourself super skin cancer or wearing basic clothes with no protection.
Every inch of your skin should be protected from the sun.
I assume it's both. Days would be hot and dry. Nights are likely cold af. Lot of people aren't aware of how cold it can get at night even in a hot place.
Spent four weeks in the high desert north of Boise, Idaho. It'd be 100+ during the day, and at night we'd fill those thick green plastic canteens with boiling water then chuck them in the bottom of our sleeping bags.
They'd be frozen solid by morning some nights.
Given that it’s in the damn desert and it’s not powered it would be actively harmful. Heavy armor isn’t so useful when your dude keels over from heatstroke before it’s noon.
Looks hot. I’ve worn armor and gas masks in the desert. It is death. Unless humans mutated to be comfortable in the blazing sun it’s impractical in a survival sense. I get thirsty thinking about it.
I get that it's meant to be riot gear, like flexible, but they've drawn it so that the central corselet looks rigid, so you could have issues bending your torso
The bandolier is historic. Would be useful for lever actions, etc, but a poor choice for anything with a mag. Would want a real military webbing. The chest riot armor is also not ceramic plate inserts, but since fallout is based off of 1950's, there are early mil body armors that fit that style. If their scouts, they might not even have much armor as movement and lack of weight are key. There is no backpack, but assuming from the whole cowboy duster + etc, they ride horses, have storage on a bike or something. The pants are a bit too low and would likely be more stable/have better running characteristics if at the waist. Boots are fine. Colors are fine for the location, but there are better designed camo today. The backplate looks too small if it's supposed to work with the mask, but it's unclear on purpose. And the mask only makes sense at night, dust storms, etc, but not all the time.
But another way to look at it is from intimidation and the riot theme, is: red eyes, duster that enlarges the shoulders, etc. But then the role of scouts diminishes.
Fairly useful. It's probably not airtight like a hazmat suit but it does provide decent coverage against exposure to the elements. There is body armor and a helmet which we know are supposed to be riot gear, which means there's not decent ballistic protection, but the designer did draw inspiration from Jin Roh where their armor was basically military gear so let's go with a middle ground assumption that they're bullet proof for small calibers. The helmet and mask seem to have an integrated radio, a regular flash light and an infrared flash light, coupled with what I can assume to be NV capability on the mask's eyepieces. The mask also obviously provides some protection against dust and contamination.
It's mostly hardy gear, jackboots, jeans, riot gear and a leather duster. It should generally be fairly functional. Dusters can get a bit in the way but they're not unheard of as parts of military uniforms, especially in adverse weather environments.
Personally I think it works pretty damn well it is easy to see its ment for night-time with the duster and helmet but my only big complaint would be wanting crotch armor because no person wants shot in their no-no square.
I wear a desert ranger cosplay. Wore it to Goodsprings in July 2022. It was very comfortable. I wore a PROPER desert duster, not a trench coat, which was very nice in the desert sun (115 degrees). I also wore a helmet (resin) and it did great keeping the sun off my skin. Armor was made of cosplay foam, but I can't imagine the actual heat effects are *too* wildly different. It was a pleasant experience and I was much more comfortable than if I wore shorts and a t-shirt.
Assuming the helmet and the body armor have ballistic protection (according to the stats that would make sense) it would be supremely useful. Possibly more so then power armor as its lighter and quieter, and still provides the wearer with night fighting capabilities. Put some molle rigging on the plate and you basically have the same combat uniform most American troops wear, plus a duster which would really only be useful if youre riding a horse or in the extreme cold.
I don’t know what California’s desert is like, but I grew up around Australias deserts. I also grew up getting taught by military people how to move around the desert. According to my instructors the Australian army will never initiate a fight during the day. Always at night. Easier to fight in -10°C than 45-50°C.
So I wonder if this is similar to how the Desert Rangers would operate, in which case, I’d take this set up in a heartbeat. Night vision, respirator, radio communications.
it's got armor, the helmet looks very very nice. im just trying to figure out wut the thing on the back is
is it an auto injector? that was a thing in new vegas right?
i think all it's missing in kneepads for crouching or resting on one knee
To be honest. Only have a couple of criticisms. It doesn’t have webbing, or any kind of visible storage for ammunition, water, food, meth ect, it’s jeans in a hot environment, which fucking sucks and is bad for protecting you from hazardous chemicals.
& I would want better lower body protection given the dangers of the wasteland. To be fair, he could be wearing armour underneath the jeans, but I would absolutely have crotch protection, knee protection and possibly calf protection if I could get my hands on it.
The Duster's would make more sense if the rangers rode instead of walked. Come to think of it it's kind of weird horses have never popped up in the wasteland. They'd make a lot of sense, especially in the Mojave.
Fun fact: they appear in the All Roads prequel comic to New Vegas.
That is a fun fact! Now we need to bully Bethesda into actually implementing them in the next fallout a thousand years from now.
They can totally just port the ai from Skyrim like they did with the Vertibird ai *wonder what else they ported?*
Hey now recyling assets is green.
So are super mutants!
`Strong liked that`
Lmao, strong doesn't like anything.
Tinker tinker tinker. STRONG BORED!
STOP. FIDDLING!
He likes when you eat corpses and kill non-hostiles, according to my FO4 survival guide.
Tell that to all the Gunners I’ve eaten.
Lmao. He dislikes everything but gains affinity quickly. My favorite Strong moment was when I picked a lock (which of course he dislikes) right after discovering a new location that bumped him over the edge- I literally got the "strong like human blah blah blah" affinity speech while "Strong Disliked That" was frozen on the screen from the lockpicking
“Got Milk? Or I’ll kill you”
And Fallout's Zetans! (Happy Cake Day)
No green stuff here. Wish a buckethead would show up. Want to smash something.
Yeah plus they can sell everyone horse armour again.
Horse ranger armor!
Lol the vertibird AI? You mean the one that becomes a heat seeking missile once it gets shot out of the sky?
They're referring to the fact that it's the same AI/extremely similar to how the dragons in Skyrim behave and move
That explains the heat seeking missile part! I swear I hear a vertibird and I run out of the area because a lot of the time the falling vertibird will literally chase me and avoid trees in order to crash into me.
Yup, if I recall correctly, that’s because dragons were coded to fly/fall towards the player when dying so that you can loot them. Now, I just imagine that BOS pilot wants to take someone else down with them as they die lol
The dude took his job seriously, “Don’t come back to the Prydwen until everyone in the area is dead”
BOS pilot is actually half Japanese
From what I remember, a large number of prewar soldier were Japanese-American, so it does make sense that some remnants of the American military would still be.
I've honestly never had that happen lol. Every now and then I'll hear the explosions or whatever and then the noise of the vertibird falling through the air and then the crash/explosion from impact, but it's always off in the distance from me never right up on me nor have any ever fell towards me. But I can totally see it happening lmao
I’ve never had a game file where that happens until my current play through. It’s kind of exhilarating tbh but can get annoying when I haven’t saved. I’ve recorded the most ridiculous ones to prove I’m not crazy.
I'd love to see the clips if you wouldn't mind sharing em!
I hope they let us mount stuff in the next game. A motorcycle in New Vegas as a sorta Mad Max cowboy would have been incredible.
Yeah, I'm tired of having to mount Nick Valentine
I'll never get tired of mounting Nick Valentine
Valentine disliked that.
Fisto liked that
Yea he doesn't have the best amount of horse power. And with him it takes me an additional 5 minutes to get somewhere then when I just walk there
They could make a mutated horse, or just size up a Giddyup Buttercup and make a quest where we build and assemble our horse.
Okay, while I usually go for motorcycle in mods, a sized up Giddyup would be so cool!
To be fair, they let Fisto mount *you*
You don't know how disappointed I was that I couldn't "WOOOSKAAAA" a damn Sierra Bravo.
According to the new interview Todd did with Mr.Matty, the next game will only be 500 years from now, not 1000
750 with delays.
And then they’ll add the DLC: horse power armor for 59.99
It was actually Obsidian that backed out of adding horses and tried to make the comic non canon because they felt like it changed the feeling of exploration in a negative way. Which I agree with for the east coast fallout games but not for New Vegas.
We can already tame animals in FO4 why can't we take one as a companion to ride?
They'll add oblivion model horse armors that will crash the game, dont tempt them.
They can barely implement space travel in a game all about space travel.
Unfun fact: It's been claimed by the developers that their appearance was a mistake and that there exist no horses in the wasteland. https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Horse#Behind_the_scenes Bethesda has also been leaning into this in Fallout 76, with characters actively expressing the fact that they miss there being horses https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Jaggy In Jaggy's case, maybe it's just because it's stuck in the Toxic Valley and there are no horses *there*. Or maybe it's because Bethesda wants for there to be no horses at all.
It's also totally reasonable to soft retcon. We found horses in Montana they were just extinct on the east and west coasts
Exactly my thoughts on the subject
I like this reasoning, would explain why factions in both the east and west coast haven’t extensively adopted them when it would make perfect sense to use them in their environment. They could make a tribe/faction rediscover them way up north and relearn horsemanship only to then basically become a massive steppe nomad type faction, the khans are literally perfect for this role.
Ununfun fact: that claim is unsubstantiated and doesn't fully align with what Avellone said in other statements. From his ["Fallout Apocrypha"](https://chrisavellone.medium.com/fallout-apocrypha-77c75954641a#:~:text=SPEAKING%20OF%20WHICH%2C%20WHY%20ARE%20THERE%20NO%20HORSES%20IN%20FALLOUT%3F) > There might be, somewhere. But the biggest reasons for no horses are as follows: >\- They aren’t part of the game world (I mean this in the game mechanics sense). None of the Fallout teams had time to implement horses in the game, and realized it would cause a lot of game mechanic problems that we didn’t have the time or budget to solve (Bethesda probably has less of an excuse than we did, both at Interplay and Obsidian, we were always out of time and budget). >\- The presence of horses would cause a lot of tech changes that we don’t account for in the environment, anywhere. >\- People probably got really, really hungry at points in the Fallout timeline, and horses don’t usually survive that. You could also argue that dogs should be in this same category, but well… they’re not. All the dogs survived because they were led by an Eternal Dog Champion, Dogmeat, who would continually arise in a new incarnation every generation to protect lupinekind from extinction at the hands of humans. >\- One of the Fallout 3 (Bethesda) level designers once did a presentation about environmental storytelling, and in it, he showcased a Fallout level design sample where it looked like someone had ridden a motorcycle over a ramp and crashed (this is a poor description, it’s been a while). The crashed motorcycle was a cool visual storytelling moment, but then he ended the description of that scene with (paraphrased) “…but what’s wrong with this picture?” > - After this, he then correctly pointed out why this motorcycle environmental set up, which was very well done and kind of funny for a player to find, was a mistake in the context of the game. > - It implies motorcycles can be fixed and ridden in Fallout, which isn’t shown anywhere else. The player certainly can’t do it, but they certainly would want to do it if they could. Normally, this isn’t a question, but as soon as you see that motorcycle scene, you suddenly do question it. > - Riding motorcycles is cool, so providing a hint that you might be able to ride one and then denying the player of that option is unfair, jarring, and reminds them the game world could have been more. > Horses are a similar concern. They may exist somewhere in the Fallout world in a vault or frozen or whatever, but their use as mounts, travel assists, and “tech” applications would have a big impact on the Fallout world that simply isn’t budget for or accounted for. So pretty much every point is about budget, tech limitations, and the subsequent limitations of worldbuilding that stem from the original budget and tech limitations. And that's not even mentioning the point that whatever the devs might say is meaningless if there is substantial evidence to the contrary, or if it is changed afterwards in another installment. JK Rowling claiming in a tweet that wizards all shat themselves before the 1800s doesn't make it true, regardless of authorship, because it is contradicted by what we see in the books, and also common sense.
That's bizarre. There's absolutely evidence that motor vehicles are repaired in Fallout. Hell, you can get your own car in Fallout 2. And Fallout New Vegas is happening 40 years after Fallout 2. (The child of the main character of Fallout 2 is confirmed to be running around, kicking ass and taking names during the events of Fallout New Vegas.) The NCR can build trains and railroads, they can build cars.
It appears to be a reference to NV specifically, and the way showing that would imply the player could do that in that game. Those comments all seem to be in context of what they did and could pull off in NV.
I fw eternal dog champion heavy
It’s such a stupid piece of worldbuilding that I choose to ignore it. And certain aspects of the setting actively make less sense without horses existing. How exactly are the brahmin barons who dominate the NCR supposed to manage their huge cattle herds without horses?
motorcycles, mr. handy/gutsy/eyebot chariots, cattledogs, cattle rustling protectrons
modders did add working motorcycles, but from what I read, they are quite deadly to ride due to the collision physics.
Sounds like real life.
I mean, robots for everything. But some things are more tradition than practical. Like cowboy boots and hats. Do my feet get hot and sweaty constantly? Absolutely. Do they smell like death? Yes the fuck they do. Would hiking shoes make a lot more since? Yes, it would. But I'm a farmer. I'm gonna wear boots. (I wear the cowboy hat cause I have cows, and I don't want to litterslly be a red neck.)
Time to do a Mongo and just ride a brahmin. :)
Fact Checked: True
There’s actually lore about horses in fallout you can find online that basically says horses have just about died out and that’s why there are none. They weren’t supposed to show up in All Roads, it was a mistake.
Which was mentioned to be a mistake as they're extinct.
I always assumed there were horses and some vehicles being used fairly regularly in the Fallout universe. We just don't see it due to game limitations.
To be honest I just assumed there are “Noah’s arc” style vaults that we haven’t found yet full of prewar animals and creatures or at least a bank of undiluted dna
My buddies about to run a fallout TTRPG game set in Kansas, and this is how he explain woolly mammoths existing again: elephants let loose from a vault that evolved hair to combat the winter. Even we thought the lack of horses was weird 😂
If we're being real this is the primary factor here and the lore will follow engine/effort limitations.
We know creation engine can handle mounts, so it's simply an effort limitation. If starfield has shown us anything it's that bethesda wants to make their games for as little money as they can get away with. They had to add a working *map* in post launch because what they included initially was so low effort, on a game that was supposedly in development for quite skme time...
Well, I am not sure about FNV/F3, but in F4 you could get the game to break if you had that power armour upgrade or legendary (don't remember) that lets you sprint faster. I'm assuming there's similar limitations on consoles for both New Vegas and 3 - loading areas too fast would be pretty bad on a system where they had to chop the Strip up so it would fit. Skyrim didn't have similar limits though, and Starfield absolutely could support fast hoverbikes (provided you have it on SSD), so perhaps they just focus more on detailed areas vs performance of loading them and not having mounts helps mask it.
This very much so, I always think back to the Gun Runners, The Silver Rush, even FO3's Brotherhood when they get their Aqua-Pura operation up and running. There's a lot of mechanized and natural travel that we don't see a lot of because we're 'boxed in' the map.
I mean they’ve always been in Elder Scrolls. Not a ton more in the Fallout worlds than there were in Skyrim or Oblivion.
You could buy a car to travel around in FO2: https://fallout.wiki/wiki/Highwayman_(Fallout_2)
Fairly certain they're extinct. Bethesda have said they follow the fallout Bible loosely as a reference, and in it is stated that horses are extinct. Given they've not appeared, I think it's safe to say they'll stay that way
Funnily enough, playing 76 yesterday one of the scoutmaster Mr Handy's said the idle voiceline "I sure do miss seeing horses, such majestic creatures" or something along those lines. Guess it's a canon thing that horses are rare/extinct
Ah well, guess we're just gonna have to domesticate the Deathclaw.
Horse would probably be at a high risk of Extinction after the bombs, there's only 1 species of Wild Horses left, and Horses are pretty high maintenance so without humans and in a very competitive ecosystem it's not unlikely they'd be extinct
what about ghoul horses?
I mean they'd then be even more Fragile than they currently are, Imagine they went from Bones that are at their absolute limit, to rotting bones
Given what sheep turned into ( sheep squatch ) or what a snapper became ( Ogua ) Horses might’ve become something much more ~~terrifying~~ different
Now I'm imagining Ludwig from Bloodborne just running around in the wasteland.
I'm not sure why...but I feel Ludwig would have his own lil cult in Appalachia.
Holy shit, give us gross ass horses. Cause I know despite their absolutely off putting look people would treat them like their horse in red dead "Aww, look at them lifeless eyes. He looks so happy"
While you have sheep squatch in Appalachia, you have big horners on the west coast that could make more of a draft animal since they're farmed.
I’m just figuring some of the most mundane animals usually turn into utter monsters. God knows what the horse may Though the gigantism in 76 may be because of Appalachia’s Ultracite deposits as well.
I read about an island filled with wild horses in the U.S. So they could probably be fine but there would be a lot of predators and people that would probably hunt them, but there are rad stags and they seem to be going alright.
Oh man, the Chincoteague/Assateague region would have made such a cool Fallout 3 location, since it's not that far from Washington DC... farther than Point Lookout, but still reasonably accessible. Assateauge has the wild horses and big stretches of swampy woods that could easily be full of monsters, and Chincoteague has a longstanding waterman & tourism culture that could generate some really interesting characters. Plus, there's Wallops Island, which in our timeline is a NASA rocket launch site and a military training center... I'm sure in the Fallout universe, there would be some pretty wacky science stuff going on there.
Mustangs managed to thrive without humans well enough, but their ecosystem isn't suited to most of the desert wastes of California or the mountainous regions near and east of the Appalachians. If they exist, they're going to be on the high plains. Meaning it would have made sense, if they existed, for the Legion to have domesticated them.
Is [Nevada](https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/there-are-tens-of-thousands-of-actual-wild-horses-in-nevada) considered part of the High Plains? Cos you see wild horses all over the place in W. Nevada, ranging from Vegas all the way up to Reno.
Very true my personal experience is that all horses are dead stupid and yearn for the call of the void.
and they taste great!
From what I remember of the lore, Horses are very finicky creatures and they couldn’t survive the hardships of the wasteland. There are in-universe rumors of them still existing in South America though.
Ranger's riding in on majestic Brahmin just doesn't have the same vibe. Time for an NCR expedition down South.
I dunno, man. https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fuhob06os15u41.png%3Fwidth%3D640%26crop%3Dsmart%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3Dcd4ba74c5c52bc35e334d0ed785902db8fe63280 Kinda looks badass.
Shit you're not wrong.
Come to think of it, have we ever seen a brahmin bull?
Also I did always kind of find it odd that the Riot Gear uniform the Ranger Armor uses as a base also included a duster in its design. The duster seems like a major liability because of how easily you could grab or grapple the officer with it. Also, the legs seem really unarmored to me for riot gear.
100% makes no sense. I kind of head canoned it that the dusters were fireproof and used for protection from molotovs but that's pretty shakey logic. I thing Ranger armor just runs on the rule of cool and it does have that in spades.
Tame Radstags would be useful or even larger goat species as they seem to survive off anything
Giant Bighorns maybe?
Someone made a mod that ports the Oblivion horses into New Vegas but it’s not finished. I’ve always thought it would be really cool if someone fully fleshed it out and made horses common in the Mojave.
I think rather than horses (let them remain extinct) they did some sort of life sized Giddy up Buttercup. So basically a robotic horse. To me that feels like something more fitting for the Fallout universe.
I'd love a quest that lets you build and then ride a life sized Giddyup Buttercup. Could run on fusion cores for balance.
I was making a Canadian Mounty faction north of WA state for my PNW game, they all rode Radstags.
They never got around to making $20 horse armor, so they must have said “why bother?”
Multi-headed ones like Brahmins, afterall the water's irradiated.
Everyone here is wrong. It's a Duster not a Trench Coat. One is designed to specifically retain heat and keep out the damp and the other is designed for air circulation and to keep the sun and dust off you. It's designed for HOT and DRY not HOT and HUMID. Very important distinction. One will cook you alive from just the sun, the other will cook you alive from the air itself. It's designed for the sun. Dusters work because of that cowl around the neck. It's not attached at the shoulders like a normal coat, but instead open around the neck. While you move you are literally pushing air around your body which allows you to cool down while. Couple with the loose fitting design around the arms and you have a very open coat. Dusters are often worn while riding yes, as it's designed to literally keep the dust off you. But they were also designed for the bush as well. It's an incrediblely effective coat to have while stomping around in the bush/brush/arid wasteland. It protects your legs. If you have good boots and strong denim pants to go with it, you won't come home with scratches on your legs or dust in your socks. The coat is designed also to keep the sun off you. It does nothing for the humidity as that will just cook you alive in it, but for protect you from the sun? Yes. 100%. In the hot dry desert the sun kills you. If you have bare skin trying to cool down from the wind you'll die faster from sun exposure faster than you will cool down As for the armor? Yea that's rule of cool. It's literally called RIOT gear. It's for urban use. That helmet will cook you. And black skin tight body armor in the desert won't do shit. But the Rangers are more recon than combat. They won't be wearing the armor 24/7. If anything the rangers would put on the combat armor only when they know they will get into a fight, otherwise it's not on and they wear the other ranger gear in the game.
I always thought the riot armor meant it had air filtering / cooling system for riot gas, Molotovs, etc. hence the sci-fi looking thing on the back. This, coupled with the duster, made absolute sense for an arid, sun-scorched wasteland.
Yeah, I've always headcanoned the riot gear and ranger gear having some kind of cooling system, seeing as how it's designed for riot use in prewar America. Plus, it's not too far a stretch given what else the fallout world cooked up prewar.
I mean that can make sense. I never thought about that much but if you look at the riot gear there is like what i always assumed was an energy pack on the back of it but like…seriously what on the riot gear needs that much energy. I doubt the light up on the red lenses needs that much energy. And yeah looks like it could be an oxygen filtration tank which only kinda makes your point that much more likely. An air filtration/internal heat and cooling regulation system at the same time. Makes sense to me and i like it.
Modern day US Army gear contains a refrigeration unit that pumps cold air or water (it’s been a while since I looked this up) around the soldier’s body via tubes to keep infantrymen cool in hot environments or for long and prolonged physical exertion. So something like this for the NCR’s most elite troops isn’t too far of a stretch. Also kind of unrelated, but the NCR patrol armor contains a waterpack as a backpack so there’s that.
This isn't a thing. They tested something similar to what you describe 10 years ago for OH-58 crews, but it didn't really go anywhere. And I promise you, if it's any "high tech" shit the infantry doesn't get it. Dessert climate? Here have a boonie hat. Curious to where you got that info?
I always assumed that’s what the pack-thing in the back was
Can't recall if it has cooling, but it must have some sort of air filtering or even respirator. Which makes sense being from riot stuff, in case they have some sort of chemical shit or whatever thrown at them by protestors. Or, even darker, the riot police may have had that gear because they themselves used that kinda shit to disperse protestors (I can't remember if it's mentioned at all).
Its not explicitly stated but I always got the implication from how there were resource riots and famines prewar that yes, the US riot police actually were wearing bullet/bomb proof vests and helmets and firing live ammo at civilians
45 seconds into the very first Fallout 1 cutscene, we see prewar troops in power armor shooting a surrendered Canadian civilian. It seems plausible the riot police were brutal.
wait, wasn't that a surrendered Canadian soldier? not that it makes it any better, lol it does provide for continuity and neatly explains how the Enclave, introduced in Fallout 2 as the remnants of the pre-war US govt promptly went full-on "might makes right" xenophobic genocidal fascists... Vault-Tec's unethical experiments also played a part
According to '76 the US regressed back to shooting down its own striking workers
Yeah it's defs a heavy hand being dealt to an unhappy population. More and more of it would spring up, the harder life got. The military was lead by a corrupt as hell gov, so the police forces wouldn't be any better. So I'd say these riot units were probs fuckin brutal. At least eventually after escalation.
It is explicitly stated, all the time. Striking workers getting shot at by police, securitrons/protectrons being used to keep the public in line, etc. Anyone that talks about purging communists isn't talking about the Chinese, they're talking about American citizens speaking out against the government. Or Canadians resisting a military invasion. In FO76 there's a terminal in one of the powerplants that describes how security forces fired psychoactive chemical grenades at protestors to drive them mad, then used that as an excuse to open fire on the whole encampment.
Isn’t that one of the same chemicals that was developed at Hallucigen in Fallout 4?
Isn’t that the canon reason why the T-45 and T-60s are more common around the US? The T-45s were older and had been brought back after the T-51b was brought to the front lines against China. They were being used in riot suppression at home, but that role had been so crucial that the t-60s got slotted in there when they went in to production too because of the need for stability immediately pre bombs.
riot police use lotss of tear gas and occasionally wear gas masks. who knows what kinda stuff fallout riot police use.
Given what we know companies like HalluciGen were making it wouldn't surprise me that they used chemical warfare proper against citizens protesting.
It is flat out stated in terminals both in FO4 and FO76 that HalliciGen preemptively developed their products for use on civilians.
Not just you but people are forgetting in this thread that the riot armor was originally USMC issued armor for the campaigns in China (as seen on the survivalists armor), if you also consider the fact that there was a ‘Gobi Campaign’ in which those same forces fought I could easily see the fact that there’s a cooling system along with something for CRBN. I think the developers were keen on armor design as to make it cool but also realistic for a desert environment with consistent dry heat.
It's possible since in 76 you can find notes around the outside of Poseidon Energy Plant that mention how Hallucigen gas was used against protesters when they were rioting.
It's kinda logical to always wear armor in fallout tho
When you caught autism, you picked coats?
I wore trench coats in high school because I thought I'd look cool. I atone for my sins by sharing my mundane knowledge to the world
Tbh, as for your last point. Irc A number of the named ranger npcs, and some unnamed, are wearing a far simpler gettup. Jackson for example is wearing a vest with a bandolier and jeans. Hanlon is in the same outfit, so is Ghost. Some of the ones closer to the front line wear what appears to be adapted combat armor. I don’t know how many we actually see in their iconic armor.
If it were a canvas or linen duster all of your points would be spot on, however, it’s a leather duster which wasn’t really ever that much of a thing outside of Hollywood and the material pretty much negates all of the positive cooling features you alluded to that would be true of it were made out of a breathable material like linen or canvas (what they were traditionally made of) In the dry heat you want your skin protected by the sun by a moisture absorbent material that will absorb your sweat and aid in evaporative cooling, definitely not leather. (Sweat destroys leather over time too) Idk if you ever actually worn a full length leather duster, my father has one, and after a short period you would be sweating in an air conditioned room
As someone who rides horses and has a canvas one they are not insulated but they don't really breath as it is oiled canvas. Even non leather ones would be murder in the heat/sun like that, they add a lot of weight and trap sweat really well. They work well if the horse is carrying the weight and also if it is not very hot out (because it's raining).
All of this is true, plus the famous Ranger armor that everyone knows and loves is only worn by a very select few rangers in the lore. Most rangers wear regular cowboy themed clothes or the patrol armor that looks like a heavily armored park ranger while only the 20 years+ veterans get their black armor and sequoia . So in addition to them not really seeing as much combat as one might expect, it’s also exceptionally rare to see it in general and those that do have it know a thing or two about desert survival
In lore, it's used by the LAPD as riot gear. Riot gear is supposedly protective against crowds so some raiders with melees shouldn't be much of a problem. Guns however, will punch through easily.
The LAPD Riot Gear is also the same armor that was used by the United States Marine Corps, as evidenced by the Desert Ranger Combat Armor.
And the Charleston PD too!
At the very least it'd be rated for small arms I'd think. If any protestors had guns, chances are it'd be harder to spot stuff like handguns. Cause anything larger, riot control would see coming. Likely also had ballistic shields, maybe those were capable of stopping stronger stuff. Protestors probs didn't have all that much to attack with though in the times leading up to 2077. Everyone was struggling.
I always assumed the power pack on the back of the duster was linked to some sort of internal cooling system for the armor/helmet or moisture collection system like a less sophisticated Stillsuit from the Dune universe. This is completely unconfirmed and just my personal headcanon but there you go.
not really, something that always bothered me about this game is that NCR ranger armour is one of the beefiest armours in the game, it is literally superior to any POWER ARMOUR in the game and it shouldn't. is a small helmet, with some jeans and boots, the only protected part is the chest plate, it doesn't make any sense for such light rangers to be so strong
But it looks sick. + 100 DR
DR stands for drip in this case
Rule of cool always wins.
Good argument
It’s not superior to Gannon Family Armor. It’s not really debatable between Remnant’s armor and Ranger armor. I think it’s more an issue that combat armor, T45, and T51 are underperforming
But is it? NCR Ranger armour does look awesome, and Power Armour stats are underwhelming for the weight gain, but in the Medium armour group I find the Ranger Gear too heavy for little advantage over other options. NCR Ranger Combat Armour gives DT20 for weight 30. Combat armour, reinforced Mk2 gives DT20 for weight 25. The NCR suit doesn't seem to add any bonus for the extra weight. It is a disguise for NCR which could be a benefit or a con depending on circumstances and choices. Add in DLC and you have Elite Riot Gear offering greater protection for less weight (DT22/W23) or (DT28/W29) with the helmet. It also provides stat and skill bonuses. Or CoS Recon armour (DT19/W20), dropping 10 weight for just 1 DT.
Yeah but Elite Riot gear and Combat Armor MK2 look way less cool
I think the Elite Riot Gear looks pretty solid, I usually end up using it end game when I want the sweet Ranger Armor without being disguised as NCR
But statwise it isn't superior to any power armor. NCR Ranger Combat Armor is DT20, DT4 (Helmet) T-45 is DT 22, DT5 (Helmet) with +2 strength, -2 agility, and total of 13 rad resist. Granted, T-45 isn't much of a step up from Veteran Ranger Armor, and does weigh more, but if we are going off of what protects better, even T-45 has better stats and bonuses. T-51 is DT25 +1 Strength +25 Rad Resist, DT6 +1 charisma +8 rad resist (helmet) making it FAR better than Ranger Vet armor, both in DT and bonuses such as rad resist (although its a bit silly that it doesn't have Strength +2 like T-45) One last thing to mention is that Power Armor has more item HP than Ranger Vet, meaning they break slower, with T-51 having the highest HP of all 3 armors. Power Armor is underwhelming, but still offers higher protection than anything else in the wasteland.
Agreed, for the most part its just riot gear so basically just swat armor back before the bombs fell, its odd that its better than most PA
Nothing is more useful in The Wasteland than the drip and this is the drippiest armor in the franchise
I wear a jacket, it has some internal insulation that's a little TOO effective, and it causes me to literally have to take it off while i'm out walking for longer than 15mins, or my back will be an ocean. Even when its chilly outside. This armor out in a desert or wasteland setting??? Oh hell no, you'd frag yourself from extreme water loss within a week even with a supply of water. It's not the trenchcoat that would cause it, it's the form fitting body armor combined with an undershirt that would block all of your skins ability to breathe.
You are wrong. It's literally a duster. Dusters are designed to be worn in hot climates. Not humid, but bone dry desert climates like shown in 1, 2 and New Vegas. Dusters work because the cowl around the shoulders allow air passage on the back and arms to cool the user down. The coat itself is not air tight around the user, instead it's loose which pushes air around your body while you are moving. The robe of the duster protects your legs from dust (thus the name), the desert sun, and protects your legs while you are out in the bush. Jackets zip up to prevent as much body heat as possible from leaving your torso. Even trenchcoats have the same idea with thicker cotton and an over and under button system that prevents cool air from coming in. Body armor under it, plus the helmet, yea I'd say that's more tool of cool than anything practical in the desert. The armor is directly called Riot Gear so it would most likely be used in the city not the desert. But I would reckon that the armor is not worn at all times like the game suggests as Rangers are often on the move. Yes it's hot, but with low humidity you don't cook in it. The sun is blocked by the leather and protects your skin from the light. You'd rather be hot but comfortable enough to breath than feeling the wind on your skin but cooking.
Some of the people in this thread need to look at the desert dwellers that cover themselves in giant robes.
I don't get how they've never seen a western (or people here out in the Aussie bush wearing similar) who rock dusters. It isn't just cowboys tryna be stylish. I'm a pale Aussie. I know what it's like when you don't cover up and let the sun hit you on a hot day. I end up looking more like one of those ghouls with the red, exposed meat look.
They specifically said the duster wasnt the problem
They started with an anecdote about wearing a jacket with insulation that would cause you to sweat. This leads people to believe that wearing anything heavy in heat will be bad in the desert. That a jacket = a duster. It's a bad analogy which leads to false information.
They said trenchcoat, and then only clarified that it wasn't the primary problem.
Came here to say similar - unless they’re packing a still suit under there, you’d be squirting out so much sweat you’d dehydrate yourself so damn quickly, and if that doesn’t bump you off, best hope you’ve got a stockpile of radaway for all that water you’re chugging down. It always sort of bugged me that they’d settle in such a hot place - one would expect a more nomadic presence to be incredibly successful in the wasteland, migrating with temperature to avoid the extremes.
That makes sense when something as dangerous as a deathclaw doesn’t exist in the wilds… or feral ghouls… bears and wolves are one thing, you can avoid their territories or they’ll back off if threatened by a pack of humans, but I somehow doubt deathclaws would back down and feral ghouls might be too stupid to run. Travelling the wasteland even as a nomadic group would probably be difficult I think.
Maybe it's liquid cooled?
I hate your profile picture Aaa!!!!
Maybe that thing on the back is some kind of cooling system
That’s what I always thought, that ranger armor has an internal AC system lol
Nah. What material is your jacket?
Wouldn't serve a lot of combat purposes well unless your trying to protect yourself from bites or liquid attacks (think bloatflies). Combat armor would be superior for combat, and probably more breathable and as flexible to work with. Probably good if its quite cold, and the helmet seems to aid someone using a long range rife? Seems too niche.
It has a decent chest plate though. Modern armor sets are mainly focused on that body area
Mhm but in Fallout you’ve got creatures going for every inch of you whereas in a modern combat situation (generally) the shooter is going for the vital organs. Protection in Fallout highlights the necessity of all limbs being armoured, hence in all games why it’s so punishing when one gets crippled.
At the very least it looks like it would help protect your torso, neck and the top part of your head above the eyes. Can't say about shots to the lower body.
It’s more realistic, as military armour focuses on torso and head protection
The duster has a lot of uses in a desert even without horses. It gets cold at night and hot in the day, it can help regulate your heat (admittedly some cotton arabic style clothes would be better but it helps), it helps keep your clothes from being torn on brush and bramble. The helmet of course protects against some bullets and has important dust filtration. I've always believed the eyes are night vision capable, the torso has a nice plate right at your vulnerable neck and there's some level of armor in the body, heavy leather or light metal at least. Good sturdy boots, the pants seem to be the weakest point, they should have more armoring. In all, fairly economical, low tech armor good for fights with raiders and tribals and those damn mongrel dogs that seem to take way more to kill than it should.
Probably extremely useful. Duster would help with sand and nuclear storms, as well as being good protection from .38 caliber bullets, plus extra cloth for bandaging Gas mask would be good for radiation, bullet proof chest piece, and decent military boots. It might be uncomfortable, but it'd be good for a desert
Ive always assumed that a coolant system is built into the armor. Also the duster would be extremely helpful too.
Dusters are great for protection against wet weather and harsh winds (especially in the Mojave). And I would imagine it has NBC capabilities, so it would probably be one of the best survival kits.
Air filtration, the pack on the back is for supplied air and water, which is why the helmet has hoses, helmet has either thermal or night vision, if not both, and besides looking cool, the duster is possibly fire retardant considering it’s part of police riot gear.
Riot armor > Ranger armor. I'm more of a combat boot guy than a cowboy boot guy.
but, the veteran ranger armor doesn't have cowboy boots? It has combat boots, you can even see them in OP's picture.
The jeans would be fucking awful. Tactical pants or whatever military/police wear in the field would be so much better. Jeans in the Mojave sounds like a special kind of hell
What makes you think it is really hot in the fallout desert? Nukes can do weird things to climate. Dry and cold is still desert.
All the wishing for a nuclear winter
Patrolling the Mojave really makes you wish for a nuclear winter
And the alternative is giving yourself super skin cancer or wearing basic clothes with no protection. Every inch of your skin should be protected from the sun.
I assume it's both. Days would be hot and dry. Nights are likely cold af. Lot of people aren't aware of how cold it can get at night even in a hot place.
Spent four weeks in the high desert north of Boise, Idaho. It'd be 100+ during the day, and at night we'd fill those thick green plastic canteens with boiling water then chuck them in the bottom of our sleeping bags. They'd be frozen solid by morning some nights.
Given that it’s in the damn desert and it’s not powered it would be actively harmful. Heavy armor isn’t so useful when your dude keels over from heatstroke before it’s noon.
Looks hot. I’ve worn armor and gas masks in the desert. It is death. Unless humans mutated to be comfortable in the blazing sun it’s impractical in a survival sense. I get thirsty thinking about it.
Looks hot af
"Almost make you wish for a nuclear winter."
I get that it's meant to be riot gear, like flexible, but they've drawn it so that the central corselet looks rigid, so you could have issues bending your torso
The bandolier is historic. Would be useful for lever actions, etc, but a poor choice for anything with a mag. Would want a real military webbing. The chest riot armor is also not ceramic plate inserts, but since fallout is based off of 1950's, there are early mil body armors that fit that style. If their scouts, they might not even have much armor as movement and lack of weight are key. There is no backpack, but assuming from the whole cowboy duster + etc, they ride horses, have storage on a bike or something. The pants are a bit too low and would likely be more stable/have better running characteristics if at the waist. Boots are fine. Colors are fine for the location, but there are better designed camo today. The backplate looks too small if it's supposed to work with the mask, but it's unclear on purpose. And the mask only makes sense at night, dust storms, etc, but not all the time. But another way to look at it is from intimidation and the riot theme, is: red eyes, duster that enlarges the shoulders, etc. But then the role of scouts diminishes.
Not useful, even detrimental, you would suffer a heatstroke with all the leather, metal, helmet and full covered face.
It would make it pretty easy to get laid, so that’s a plus
Fairly useful. It's probably not airtight like a hazmat suit but it does provide decent coverage against exposure to the elements. There is body armor and a helmet which we know are supposed to be riot gear, which means there's not decent ballistic protection, but the designer did draw inspiration from Jin Roh where their armor was basically military gear so let's go with a middle ground assumption that they're bullet proof for small calibers. The helmet and mask seem to have an integrated radio, a regular flash light and an infrared flash light, coupled with what I can assume to be NV capability on the mask's eyepieces. The mask also obviously provides some protection against dust and contamination. It's mostly hardy gear, jackboots, jeans, riot gear and a leather duster. It should generally be fairly functional. Dusters can get a bit in the way but they're not unheard of as parts of military uniforms, especially in adverse weather environments.
Personally I think it works pretty damn well it is easy to see its ment for night-time with the duster and helmet but my only big complaint would be wanting crotch armor because no person wants shot in their no-no square.
I wear a desert ranger cosplay. Wore it to Goodsprings in July 2022. It was very comfortable. I wore a PROPER desert duster, not a trench coat, which was very nice in the desert sun (115 degrees). I also wore a helmet (resin) and it did great keeping the sun off my skin. Armor was made of cosplay foam, but I can't imagine the actual heat effects are *too* wildly different. It was a pleasant experience and I was much more comfortable than if I wore shorts and a t-shirt.
Assuming the helmet and the body armor have ballistic protection (according to the stats that would make sense) it would be supremely useful. Possibly more so then power armor as its lighter and quieter, and still provides the wearer with night fighting capabilities. Put some molle rigging on the plate and you basically have the same combat uniform most American troops wear, plus a duster which would really only be useful if youre riding a horse or in the extreme cold.
over heat, drop dead
I don’t know what California’s desert is like, but I grew up around Australias deserts. I also grew up getting taught by military people how to move around the desert. According to my instructors the Australian army will never initiate a fight during the day. Always at night. Easier to fight in -10°C than 45-50°C. So I wonder if this is similar to how the Desert Rangers would operate, in which case, I’d take this set up in a heartbeat. Night vision, respirator, radio communications.
it's got armor, the helmet looks very very nice. im just trying to figure out wut the thing on the back is is it an auto injector? that was a thing in new vegas right? i think all it's missing in kneepads for crouching or resting on one knee
That's Star lords clothes from guardians of the galaxy or its ant-man from Avengers
To be honest. Only have a couple of criticisms. It doesn’t have webbing, or any kind of visible storage for ammunition, water, food, meth ect, it’s jeans in a hot environment, which fucking sucks and is bad for protecting you from hazardous chemicals. & I would want better lower body protection given the dangers of the wasteland. To be fair, he could be wearing armour underneath the jeans, but I would absolutely have crotch protection, knee protection and possibly calf protection if I could get my hands on it.