I mean, the symbol is SO close that it could easily be a symbol of another *branch* of Vault- Tec... one that manufactures weapons. That said, it doesn't mean that THEY dropped the bomb - Lockheed and Martin don't *drop* the bombs they make. Looking forward to the show maybe telling us who did fire first!
Plus according to the lore previously to the show USA was taking (or took) Alaska back and was pushing hard in mainland China with the new T-51 power armors, with the chinese surrendering everytime they saw them.
He didn't say it accidentally. He as a video on his RUclips channel where he talks about how he never considered it a mystery because the dev team of the first game intended for it to be China.
Not to mention Richardson said so in F2. I know there are reasons why he might be lying or mistaken in that, but when you have people in and out of universe say it was China there isn't much room to speculate.
To be honest, tim Cain was talking off the cuff with no script. He could have let slip his own personal head Canon (not one confirmed by other writers too) instead of a definitive admission of lore
I think the biggest piece of evidence countering the “Vault-Tec did it” argument is the fact that so many vaults were unfinished when the Great War started. If they wanted to test their vaults, those vaults would need to be completed and secured first before that happened. We see plenty of unfinished vaults in every game, some of them barely even having started constructions. Some didn’t even have staff in them. No matter what their plan was, they would have needed the vaults finished before they did anything.
Not saying you're wrong But there are human factors to consider in that statement - embezzlement, local legal issues, resource shortages, military timetables, that sort of thing. Corporate saying a thing should be done by a date is little guarantee it will be done by that date. Corporate knowing there is a drop dead date doesn't mean they can actually act on that without giving up state secrets.
Though it can be Vault-Tec incompetence, I still on the camp that they 'might' just have intention to do it but in the end thing just getting out of their (and all others) hand.
man, most of the vaults were even built NOT for survival, but for experiments. You thing they won't shoot themself and populace in the leg? HeII, they are ready to rocketjump for science.
Even if the symbol on the bomb was the Vault Tec one. Theres an old war practice where pilots or gunmen would draw enemy logo's/symbols on their shells, missiles, and bombs as a sort of F-You to the enemy. Basically getting blown up by their own symbol. So the Chinese pilots or whoever could've done that, especially considering how close Megaton's nuke is to Vault 101 and the airport the first settlers used to build the town
Remember when you totally made the moral RPG choice of whether or not to blow up Megaton? And then the tutorial quest giver is still there and not even mad at you? Some also claim I'll run into some other clowns before I get there but no the vault to megaton is a straight line like half a kilometer in the first direction I ever ran. I play 4 like a man because teleporting around stabbing things is more fun then listening to Ceasar not understand books. There I said it and I won't take it back because I'm right. I'm finally trying 1 right now. My gifted 1 intelligence non combat specialized character is sailing through the 1st act so far. Or you could just punch your way through like Warlockracy.
Something you seem to ignore completely is the fact that the *manufacturer* of a weapon is not necessarily the same as the *user* of that weapon. Weapons are sold, stolen, and misplaced all the time. Even in our timeline, there have been a shocking number of Broken Arrow incidents where American nuclear bombs could theoretically have fallen into another faction's hands. I wouldn't put it past Vault-Tec to make and sell nukes to whomever is willing to pay, and I also wouldn't be surprised if America gave nukes to a country that then sold them or betrayed America, in the Fallout universe.
Its not like America hasn't "misplaced" a few nukes here and there over the last few decades... The megaton nuke may have been just been one of those nukes that were "misplaced", but the actual war happened before the government could get it back to a secure base.
@@judyfps5059 Not sure if you knew this, but Lockheed Martin actually DOES make nukes for the US Military... Among MANY other companies like BAE Systems, Honeywell, General Dynamics... and most terrifying of all, Boeing...
The visual mods for Fallout 3 and New Vegas also turn this symbol into a full on Vault Tec logo, like shown in Oxhorn's videos, and thanks to a mod we now have a show with a giant retcon
The greatest evidence in the show that Vault Tec did not drop the bombs is that Janey is with her father when they fell instead of with Barb in a vault. She was involved with the planning and said her only goal was protecting her family. Her whole deal was getting them a place in a "good vault".
Well, we know from the opening of the show that Coop and Barb got divorced. What we don't know is what the custody agreement was. It is possible that Coop managed to secure a custody agreement that blocked Barb from seeing her daughter. After all, he had dirt on Vault-Tec. He could have leveraged that to get Barb's own bosses to pressure her into giving away custody of Janey - esp if the only thing he was asking to keep their secret was full custody of his daughter. So I wouldn't say that the bombs dropping while Janey was with Coop is necessarily evidence of anything.
Its possible that Jane tried but Vault-Tec went ahead with their plans. Its also possible that, after the bombs dropped, Jane managed to take their daughter
I think the best option for Fallout is to give ample opportunity for all involved to have been the ones who set everything off, but never give any concrete "they did it, and here's how/why". That way, the mystery stays a mystery, and folks get to explore the possibilities in videos and discussions like this.
I think that they bomb in megaton was just an American bomb that never got used. Like the bomber that carried it got blasted out of the sky (I assume that it was launched via bomber rather than icbm)
That's what I always assumed or it launched from a ground silo or submarine and something malfunctioned which caused it to crash land, luckily not detonating
those type of bombs arent launched, theyre dropped, and during the cold war we had bombers in the air 24/7, its absolutely plausible the aircraft was landing or taking off and the bombs have to be armed before drop, lack of arming means it wouldnt blow when dropped
That's wild to me. 'We're gonna prevent war by ensuring that future generations will be brought up to be just like the people who had a vested financial interest in starting the upcoming war: us!"
Yeah, it's all so cartoonish and stupid. They literally have one if the shareholders say she wants a milk delivery robot to run one of the vaults. All they were missing is whacky Looney Toons music
@@richter6699 when has fallout NOT been pretty loony tunes... its part of the charm. The Irony within the general stupidity that such a world has. Was never meant to be taken as a realistic/realism logic simulator.
Former military pilot here, I will explain as rationally and simple as possible and I believe you will be satisfied with your evident answer for the very first time as to who dropped the bombs first. Honestly, I didn't even know that this topic was still an issue and being discussed among the people as it was right there all obvious to me but today after finishing the show and I must say I loved it, seeing this video I realized that it is interestingly still a mystery. I know and played the whole game series and as of today I know the discussions on the entire Vault-Tec started theory but that's neither the Vault-Tec insignia on that bomb in Megaton nor they detonated any bomb on the US soil. A simple comparison of the original Vault-Tec insignia from the game files with the one on the Megaton bomb shows that they are not identical by any means. A clean version of the bomb insignia also exists on the internet so feel free to check that out, they are simply different. However, these bombs have a major role on grasping and understanding the logic behind as to who started it all. These bombs matter scientifically and from lore perspective. Because they are the only real traces for the eyes and minds just like the pieces of breads in the Hansel and Gretel. Aight so, that insignia on that bomb in Megaton also exists on all of the same model bombs inside the Fort Constantine military base, of which was built and used by the US Army since 2043 till the day bombs fell. Meaning that it is, and in fact all the nuclear bombs you come across in wasteland including 'The One' near Devil's Throat and the other in Sacred bog during the hallucination scene are all %100 US Army nuclear bombs from the US Army inventory, type C-23 Megaton model to be more specific, obviously not Chinese and we see these bombs fell, which is being literally the very *key word* here, on the US soil and also found in a US Army base. Now this, actually tells a lot if you are not a layman without a military education and background on the weapons of mass destruction and how this entire...how to put it; *The End* , process happens, well, when that happens. And my hat is off to the script writers for their seamlessly coherent scenario because they knew it. Yeah. They knew it and put it there as a hint because its the only real hint and I mean it. And I believe they wanted you to search, observe carefully and figure it out yourself. Now I know perhaps some of you did it in your own ways but with a little bit of simple attention others could have done too. Because evidence is all there and flawless with the script, and the lore. So here goes everything. Who launched the bombs first and why were US bombs dropped on American soil? China launched the bombs first. And the scientific logic behind it is simple; why do we find US bombs all around, why were the US bombs dropped on American soil? They were not dropped, they fell. They fell right after they were launched on the trajectory course, their flight path just like any aircraft or jets would have done so, and as they did so you come across them all around the wasteland. Why? See, munitions with nuclear warheads such as ICBMs or rather MIRVs (real bad bombs) not only destroy life on earth or earth's climate conditions after they explode, but they also cause a burst of electromagnetic radiation, which we refer to as Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse or EMP if you will, that creates a powerful electromagnetic field, resulting in the temporary or permanent disabling of electrical and electronic equipment, causing a wide range of electrical failures and damaging electronic systems with current and voltage surges throughout the entire atmosphere and earth's surface, actually even above the atmosphere making it into the space, which is actually being the very reason you see all those fallen US bombs, satellites and some sort of damage on the other types of electronics in the game, such as terminals. The most vulnerable and the very first things EMP reached and affected in the game were those without any solid material between them slowing this very effect: planes and US nuclear missiles which were off the ground on their flight paths. This is what happened in Fallout and this is why you see fallen undetonated US bombs on the wasteland. The US was caught off guard. They launched the bombs *DURING* the Chinese nuclear warheads were exploding on the US soil. And that is actually why the reports on the terminals, like the one in Fort Constantine, are all accurate and telling the truth; the US was engaging to an actual Chinese attack as a *RESPONSE* . Now, if it was the other way around, or if it was -presumed- Vault-Tec or anyone else from inside the US, we would have seen evidence for 2 WAVES, this is very important, 2 nuclear bombardments targeting the US: the very first initial Vault-Tec attack, doesn't matter if it came with a couple of spoof bombs or rained down countless bombs from inside the US and no one saw it as it was happening (even funny while reading), triggering the actual US response. And the second wave, from China came in retaliation for the US attack, which the US carried out after the -presumed- Vault-Tec attack. It would have taken some time for Chinese missiles to reach the US and we would have known if the US started it all without anything. Right? Right. Well, none of these have happened. None. There is nothing, no evidence or whatsoever related to the Chinese wave came after a US attack. The US launched bombs simultaneously during the attack, causing some of its bombs to malfunction and fell on the flight path. And this is the only single reason we find these malfunctioned US bombs exist in the entire game. There is no other scientific, theoretical or rhetorical reason for their existence. As I said, if Vault-Tec or anyone else had launched a spoof attack, we would have seen evidence of 2 WAVES targeting the US as a result of a chain of events. The US bombs were also not launched first and obviously were not malfunctioned in the meantime. Meaning China launched the bombs first. I tried to explain in a simplified manner as much as I can, avoiding the military jargon and terms that might cause confusion so I hope I did well and it helped to clarify things for you. Should you have any questions, I would gladly answer them. Y'all have a wonderful day.
Good post and a mostly correct explanation of how a nuclear exchange would occur. As an NDU grad that works in this unfortunate field there are a few things that sparked my interest in this video and in your response. I think the most plausible explanation for the bomb in Megaton is that it fell out of an aircraft that carried the bomb. The walls and many other structures of Megaton are built using aircraft parts so it makes sense and it would explain how it got on the ground given that people probably cut up the aircraft the bomb was in for parts and to build structures in the town. One would think that a person would not want to mess with a bomb so they left it there while they disassembled the plane that it was in. My concern with your EMP explanation is that it's not an entirely accurate understanding of an EMP. When a nuclear weapon detonates it is not like a conventional boom like most people think, it is a process that creates a multitude of effects not present in a conventional blast. One of these effects is colloquially understood as an "EMP." The science on EMPs is hotly debated so you'll see all sorts of claims about an EMP destroying every electronic thing in the world to claims of a small, temporary, and localized effect. In fact the best publicly available data is from the Starfish Prime test conducted in 1962, which was detonated in space with an estimated yield of 1.4 megatons, with local effects in Hawaii being "knocking out street lights, setting off burglar alarms, and damaging a telephone company microwave link" while also driving instrumentation off scale. Considering this test was in 1962 and we don't know the technology of the fallout universe at the time of the great war it's hard to estimate how much impact several detonations with subsequent EMPs would have had. I'm not saying your theory of an EMP knocking out the plane is wrong, just stating that it's one possibility of several others that I think are more likely. The blast effects, the thermal heat of a blast, and atmospheric effects would probably make flying the plane impossible. You're probably a better pilot than I was so maybe you wouldn't panic in that moment of witnessing the end of humanity through your own eyes at altitude. Either way, the detonating bombs would have SOME effect, but not as large and as sweeping as you stated. A megaton class warhead would have a significant impact, possibly enough to down an aircraft (even though the aircraft in the fallout universe aren't nearly as electronics dependent as our real world aircraft), but based on what we know from Starfish Prime it's unlikely that the incoming (presumably Chinese) warheads would have such a devastating EMP effect. I'd recommend the study that Sandia labs did on the streetlight incident if anyone is interested in why some electronics failed but most others did not. As for who started the war, I personally doubt it was VaultTec, but not for the reasons above or anything that was discussed in the video. My contention comes from the fact that a private enterprise would have access to nuclear weapons. This should come as a comforting thought to everyone here; no corporation has control of any nuclear weapons, not in the U.S. and not anywhere else. I'm willing to bet the TV show will describe some plot by VaultTec to acquire nuclear weapons but here in the real world that's just not going to happen. What I do suspect is that the TV show will walk right up to the line of confirming who shot first but they won't cross it, like Bethesda didn't, and like Interplay didn't (until the interview given many years later). It makes better sense for an entertainment platform to not answer the question so I doubt they will. That's why the new TV show creators gave such a vague answer. If anyone made it this far reading please do take the threat of nuclear war seriously. The Cold War may be over but we can still end humanity with nuclear weapons. Please take your responsibilities as a citizen seriously and have your voice heard.
Well like the other commenter here I doubt the downing of the plane holding the bomb in Megaton was done by EMP. It more likely was caused by the other effects of a nuclear bomb going offy namely the insane heat warping metal and maybe even the shockwave creating turbulence so strong, it caused a stall the plane couldn't recover from. So it might have been a reserve long-range bomber scrambled when the Chinese ICBMs where discovered on radar, which was too close to a blast to survive it. Either way like you and the other commenter in this comment chain wrote it makes most sense for the attack to have come from China, given all the evidence we have so far.
Hey Rad, I just wanted to say I binged your entire channel over the past month. It has been great content and I am happy to have found your channel. Glory to atom ⚛️
Bro, I don't know who he does it, but I never get tired of hearing his voice. Other channels get on my nerves by trying to force humor or by clearly trying to push a narrative. Clearly one of a kind here.
I feel its a little dumb making Vault-Tec the one who dropped the bomb there are plenty of examples of unfinished Vaults that we see throughout the games such as Vault 114, Vault 88, and I think the "fake vault 13" from Fallout 1 is a construction site for a Vault (if its still cannon). so why would Vault-Tec drop the bomb if a portion of there Vaults were still unfinished, wouldn't it be better to wait for the completion of all Vaults? I'm sure that there are plenty of examples of Vault staff and residents not making it in time, wouldn't they give the enrolled people and personnel ample time to make it to get the best out of there experiments (unless that was the intention of the experiment). I do think RadKing makes a great point of EMPs and such disabling delivery vehicles (planes, rockets, etc.) and causing there nuclear ordinance to rain down on America and thanks to the large amount of saftey on nuclear warheads to prevent Broken arrow incidents, would prevent them from detonating, and if Vault-Tec or a subsidiary really did drop them on home turf, why didn't they explode? And why would they leave there prints at the scene of the crime? (spoilers I think) I might be wrong on this one but in Fallout 4, Vault 111, weren't they testing long term cryogenic stasis and its effects, as in what happens. so why do we see soo many higher ups frozen in Vault 31 if they were skeptical of the viability and results? Copper Howards daughter is with him when the world is bathed by atoms Devine glow, and if barb knew or had a say in it, wouldn't she make sure her daughter and husband were berried deep below the surface when it would happen. I think that no matter who they say dropped the bomb there will be always people arguing about it and finding holes in the story. But in the end its whoever they say it is and we have to try and make it work
Its actually not that strange they might decide to move up the date before all projects are complete, companies do that all the damn time in the real world. As for why, well Barb does mention peace talks have been progressing which would require them to step up their time line. Vault-Tec doesn't care about most of its staff, it seems, like take vault 111 you mentioned, it was always intended that the skeleton crew would starve to death. Vault-Tec knew the supposed 180 days would not be enough time. As for the experiment itself it does specify unsuspecting test subjects which is fairly specific, but also kinda silly. We actually don't know how much control Barb actually had over when the bombs dropped and I doubt those who do get to decide would delay over an employees kid.
in new vegas, Mr. House says he "misjudged the start of the war by 20 hours." that's why he didn't have his platinum chip. we've always known that vault-tec PLANNED to drop the bombs because vault-tec was the enclave. but just because they planned to drop it, doesn't mean they did.
If the war had started to look like it might end, and without thermonuclear exchange, then Vault-tec might have decided nuking the world was their last chance to remain relevant
I would add a few points to clear up this mess. 1, The Triggerman Ghoul in the Fo4 quest "Unlikely Valentine" said this when being asked about the security of the vaults: "Because they (Vault-Tec) weren't planning to use it, you Moron. We (Union?/Government?) used to pull this kind of con all the time before the War. Get a bunch of union boys to work some construction job that would go nowhere. Keep everyone on payroll" In which Vault-Tec was already making money through the Government with contracts as seen in vaults 114 and 76. The Union of course getting its cuts and Uncle Sam with his taxes on those paychecks as well. In which cost overruns and extensions. Brings back to the point you made that many of the vaults were "unfinished" when the bombs fell proving there was an unexpectedness and unpreparedness of the events. 2, What good is money and profits if you aren't alive to use it? In all reality there is no real capitalist/financial incentive or motive, post war, for dropping the bombs. You lose your customers, money, and power to the ruthless wastes. (All citizens who would've bought seats, government and union contracts, and corporations are all gone. Even Robbert House lost Robco and its manufacturing capabilities and power to the bombs and proves that corporations would die in the apocalypse.) Even if The Enclave (or other corporations) gets remote access to the vaults and exerts its power and experiments for a reconquered wasteland in "its (vault-tec) image", the vault-tec leadership and investors just sold their underground "utopias" (Their Only real money makers) to the US Government for study and they lose out on the potential profits of milking the event further and forever or faking the bombs dropping and extorting the scared civilians while keeping them away from the curious public above wondering where their families and friends went. At least in that case they could finish their vaults, build and sell more, sell more seats, and rinse and repeat while using the US Government, corporations, and media's propaganda to cover up any investigations against them, labeling "conspiracy theorists" as pro communists. The Government/The Enclave could even use vaults as concentration camps as they did with the sino-americans during the war. It would bring justification to any wrongdoings found out about the experiments to the public as they were war criminals. 3, In the Switchboard in Fo4 on a Terminal for DEFCON status for the year of Oct 2077 the terminal announces that there are reports of 3 USOs or Unidentified Submerables off the coast of Cali (Not even mentioning The Yangyze off the coast of Boston.) As well as airforce reports of having Eyes on possible squadron of Chinese airplanes at High altitude off the Bering Strait before 4 probable launches being detected as well as confirmed "birds in the air", Shortly after Pennsylvania and New York were hit by atomic blasts. This plus the Enclave claim in Fo2 and the victories in the Chinese front as well as the Chinese finding out about the FEV all push for China to be the final launchers of the bombs.
Thanks for gathering some solid evidence and sharing it. I've taken the stance that China was pushed into a corner and fired first for a while now, because it simply makes sense. What we learn in FO 4 solidified that. If your China and losing a ground war in your own nation, you have a LOT of reason to push the button. All the FEV stuff and other 'war winning tech' the USA was cooking up and nearly had ready to deploy is just more justification from their perspective. Nuke the world now or lose outright? I know what fanatics will chose.
Interesting, thanks for sharing - as much as it sounds like it just fits that vault - tec were the culprits for dropping the bombs, I'm inclined to stand by the bombs were launched by China and America when the war reached it's meltdown status after China learned about FEV. That makes the most logical sense to me.
@@Coolcleverstoneso, the hub. Like, one of the largest most populated settlements in the region. With constant supply caravans, travelers, and other oursiders coming and going, not a single one, ever, ran across, saw, or even heard of a death claw? I find it hard to believe. That’s like living in NYC and never once hearing about rats. That’s like living in Florida and never knowing about gators.
@@stuglife5514 Do you believe every last rumor you hear? Should everyone who travels through Novac believe No-bark Noonan? In Fallout 1 the Deathclaws were thought to be a cryptid, stories that were passed around but not to be taken seriously. Boneyard knew of it because they nested right next to them. The Hub thought it just a rumor. Hell, Cleo specifically calls it such. “What rumors do you want to hear?… The Deathclaw ate it. Rumors ain’t worth nothing. The world’s full of rumor and suspicion, and empty of truth. Look for fact, not fiction.”
Ive seen a lot of people put to Barb Howard and say she said Vault-Tec did it, but she didn't. She just said Vault-Tec would be willing to if things didn't happen "naturally"
If I'm not incorrect, doesn't the enclave control vault tec, west tec, etc If so, won't it be more appropriate to ask why the enclave would start the great war
Judging by the enclaves goals, it would seem they wanted the war as a clean slate so they could come out of hiding and take over. We know before the bombs fell, they wouldn’t be able to come out of hiding. You already had half of virgina succeeding from the union, mass rioting in Massachusetts and other cities, and people were shooting eachother at gas stations (because remember, civilian nuclear tech is newer tech, many cars canonically still used gas and all the micro nuclear tech was a response to dwindling world oil supply. Makes sense as well, with how much ceramics and bakelite are used instead of plastic) if the enclave had tried to come out and take over then, they would have been obliterated by loyalist groups in the US military and civilian militias. Most of the US military wasnt in the enclaves pockets. So, wipe the slate clean to create your “perfect” society, makes sense. They talk constantly about purity and real amercianism etc etc etc. it makes sense that they’d genocide everything to start again. It’s what fachist germany was trying to do, kill everything off to create your “perfect” society, kinda makes a lot of sense for the enclave to do that tbh. Rid the country of all the “unwashed peasent masses” and replace them with loyal, brainwashed, soldiers of the enclave. After a nuclear war there surely wouldn’t be anyone who had the means or power to oppose their takeover right? It’s not like a small faction of the US military would survive the war and stockpile more powerarmor then even the enclave has right? (To be fair, they couldn’t foresee something like the BOS forming)
@@theghostofthomasjenkins9643 Then how is the power still on 200 years later? They had cold fusion. Bro you can make electricity out of water there's tons of that in game. Even the original lore is becoming dumber the more I think about it.
Greetings RadKing! You earned a new subscriber. Your videos on Fallout Bible and Fallout Cartography helped me drive across the country. So relaxing, and I learned so much! I know you like to pronounce things correctly (you taught me I'm saying "slough" wrong) so as a New Englander I thought I'd share this with you: #1 - You say Concord wonderfully in your Cartography videos! It's "Kahn-kerd" not "Con-corde" (the Con-corde is an airplane). Bravo! #2 - Natick is "Nay-tick." Almost "Naydick." #3 - Cambridge is "Caim-bridge." I thought that would interest you. Thank goodness they didn't use Worcester or Gloucester in Fallout 4. No one can get those right! Amazing videos. Keep up the great work, and EMBRACE THE GLOW :)
Everybody talking about vault tech but what about the boneyard where the heck is it?(They don't explain it in the show)(It takes place in LA and nobody mentions it?)
Everything before has basically been wiped. In fact unless that's a common name in the Brotherhood is that supposed to be Maximus from 4? Because well then 4 is gone too.
Its important to note that Besthesda Fallout is more of a reboot, rather than a sequel, as lore is freely changed and seems to be more Lovecraft fantasy than hard sci-fi.
The Enclave in the second game confirms that the Chinese struck first, and the Americans were winning the ground war prior. And The Enclave faction would know. They ordered Vault tech to do the experiments in order to prep for their space colony plans and study stuff(hence the main ones we learn about at the time are Isolation experiments and the Vault 12 radiation experiment). It's definitely possible they were planning a nuclear strike in the near-medium future to further their plans, but the disorganized nature of the Enclave post-war suggests they never got the chance. Perhaps someone leaked their intentions to the Reds and they decided to move first
They'd also know, because they're one of the few pre-war groups that'd have any valid pre-war knowledge, alongside people like House or Zao. The remnants of the US government, later rebranded the Enclave under Eden, would be the only group with experience of that day, the means to know what happened when precisely, and the ability to put together the pieces. They even seemed to be prepped for it, considering the sheer stockpile they must have stashed away for their standings in 2, 3, and 76 to make sense.
Vault Tech is basically the Enclave, so I'm not bothered too much when people say they did it. it's still canon the Chinese launched, but that doesn't really matter when Bethesda's laziness means the Megaton Bomb has the same skin as the one at Fort Constantine. The mysterious symbol is meant to be a royalty-free variant of the US Airforce symbol.
Why would you self incriminate yourself but putting your logo on nukes? Thats a dumb argument in favor of this theory. And it was pretty clear by the Shi supercomputer in Fallout 2 that it was China but lets just retcon it all
According to Tim Cain himself, it was never set in stone who started the war, but they had thrown around ideas such as China or Vault Tech. Meaning, you are still wrong.
I dont think its that much to say that the logo may be related to vault-tech when theory or lore crafting. If that be a subsidiary, joint partnership, project logo or a front company. I think people have to remember that none of these games (and most large settings in media) are made with a perfect complete image in mind, retcons and newly made lore will happen, if said lore is ever officially filled in. Like there isn't a true answer at this time but, I don't think its wrong to point to possible relations.
For years I was under the speculative impression that Megaton, probably being one of the first settlements built by Bethesda had left in an un-updated version of the Vault Tec logo on the Megaton bomb, whereas the design was later revised later in development but the bomb texture was forgotten about. As for the bomb being on american soil, I always thought the plane that was carrying it simply crashed Yuba City style, hence the settlement built from an entire aircraft. Wasn't until years later I heard about the apparent nearby airport, and that theres no forthcoming evidence of the Vault Tec logo evolving after Bethesda acquired the franchise. It was a major mandella effect moment when what I believed for years turned out to be baseless.
If the fallout 3 remaster ever comes out it'll be very interesting to see what they do for the logo on the bomb. It's so commonly misconstrued for a Vault Tec logo that they might just actually change it to one.
One has to note that the bomb in megaton did not detonate so it was not armed at the time. The most likely answer is that the plane was damaged by the EMP and he dumped the heaviest thing he could find. It would seem that he was unsuccessful as Megaton was built from parts of a plane.
I love your history deep dive into this myth. Tracking stuff down on the internet is insane, seeing how trends, memes, and ideas start and proliferate.
I honestly prefer it stays ambiguous. If the show is to be regarded as canon to the games, then the only thing we know for sure is that they had plans to drop nukes first, whether or not they did strike first is another story.
It isn't ambiguous, though? China dropped the first bombs. That's directly implied in Fallout 2 and has since been confirmed by Tim Cain. Anything else would be a straight-up retcon to the existing canon.
@@bfeldz1023 Nope. Implying through unreliable narrators doesn't mean dick hell implying through reliable narrators also doesn't mean dick. Specially when Tim Cain himself is a fan of characters being unreliable narrators as he's said many times about characters in things he's written. Implying which even you've used is by definition leaving it ambiguous. And no Tim Cain doesn't get a say any more at this point. He had his chance to make that canon if he wanted to but chose to leave it vague. He also by the way is actually enjoying what the series is doing so I don't think its as concrete or as serious as you're pretending it is. Honestly even if China attacked first that can be explained by Vault-Tec detonating their nuke in China, which makes more sense than them detonating it in the US anyways.
@shadenox8164 Tim Cain absolutely still has say over what is and is not canon in the Fallout games he wrote, which are still canon to the series. He outright said in an interview that China dropped the first bomb and that it was in response to them finding out America was still experimenting with FEV. If Bethesda decides to make it Vault Tec, it is still a retcon to existing canon. Whether that is a good or bad change is up to the individuals engaging with the material but that doesn't change the fact that making who dropped the bombs Vault Tec, or anyone else other than China for that matter, is 100% a retcon.
@@bfeldz1023 or he could've been pushing one of his ideas that got shut down during the production of the game? interviews dont' decide canon, especially when they are held YEARS after the game came out. that's why kirkbride doesn't get to make elder scroll canon anymore and pelinel isn't a time traveling cyborg. if it's not in the actual media, it doesnt' count.
Props on the amazing breakdown of the Megaton Vault-tec rumors. Its all good to have such arguments about a fictional universe, but taking sources into account and under scrutiny is important when trying to find out the truth. Especially when we run off rumours so much nowadays. I'm proud to see practices like this properly being used in entertainment, when its so lacking in even more serious topics. Academia aside of course. Praise be to atom and its scholars. 😊
Wait, the Big MT rep was Sinclair? Why? Sinclair wasn't a military or scientific partner, he just agreed to work with Big MT to fund construction of the Sierra Madre, and was kept pretty in the dark about a number of the experiments going on there.
@@Zaczac111 Right? They hyped up the show by telling us it was made by Fallout fans who knew the lore inside and out, and then it's packed full of retcons, OCs and nonsense that doesn't fit with what's previously been established. Just like a fan project.
When you take into consideration that Vault-Tec is front and center in most of the Fallout narrative and very little detail is put regarding who else might have started the war, is it really a surprise? Neither company behind the Fallout games really fleshed out the super secret society that wanted to watch the world burn. Up until The Enclave came up in the show (I only came on board as a fan with Fallout 3), I was among the people who figured it was Vault-Tec behind the whole thing.
I think that was the bigger takeaway from that scene. It wasn't that Vault-Tec dropped the bombs, but it demonstrated what they (and more specifically, Barbara) were willing to do. It illustrated how monstrous they were.
@@Vantud391 No, not stupid, greedy and capitalistic, which is what Fallout has always saterized, they're making sure their investments, and the investments of people like Mr. House, don't go unused. Vault-Tec absolutely would've dropped the bombs, they just didn't have to
@@CasuallyShadowCriticising capitalism specifically is very much a Bethesda thing. Fallouts 1, 2, and Tactics very much are critiquing nationalism and American exceptionalism as made evident by the amount of critique levied at all parties involved with the great war, including China.
As Tim Cain is something akin to the grandfather of Fallout, I'm inclined to believe him when it comes to deep lore. He has a unique position in the creation and conception of this universe, which gives him a distinctive authority of it, that should be acknowledged.
Honestly, I’m not surprised that Vault Tech is crazy enough to do something like this. They are so similar to Umbrella. I would love a Fallout game or TV series that focuses on the Pre War era.
I think that the people in the shadows are Original Enclave members. MODUS in Fallout 76 says that the Enclave consisted of government AND corporations so it wouldn't surprise me that Vault-Tec would be included.
The Megaton bomb was probably dropped by a US bomber that got hit with either the EMP from one of the Chinese strikes or damaged by one of the blasts. The first thing the bomber crew would do if the engines went out or they took damage is to drop the UNARMED bomb in order to shed weight and allow them to either glide to safety or fly to a landing site. That's why the bomb is on US soil. Because of Manya we know that other planes were taken down due to the EMP. The weird thing is the rocket. Once it was launched it should have just kept going as an EMP wouldn't really do anything to it since nuclear missiles use mechanical systems to specifically harden them against EMP. Though I may be a bit off there since I wasn't a Nuke during my time in service.
I remember seeing the mystery symbol and thinking something like, "Huh, that looks like it could fit inside the Vault Tech symbol." instead of "That is the vault tech symbol." So I think I just kind of assumed for a long time that Vault Tech maybe had some kind of hidden second division that worked on weapons development that they perhaps sold to the U.S. government, and that the bomb probably wound up there because of a misfire or a crashed plane or something. Weirdly enough I don't think it ever even occurred to me that Vault Tech may have fired it themselves until I started seeing the theories online. Really I like the idea of not knowing for sure though, it keeps things more interesting that way, but if it's something that they finally do want to explore in the new show, I think that's fine too.
As someone who does sci-fi writing as a personal hobby i also started a fan-fic exploring the possibilities and potential of the Fallout universe and i cant help but feel we are all missing something when it comes to who started it. My purely speculative opinion formed over the years is that someone/a small group in a position of power in the US government got wise to Vault-Tec and the Enclave. In their investigation they find themselves trapped, cornered, with their only option to personally fly out some of Vault-Tecs own nukes in hopes of preemptively starting the war and catching Vault Tec/ the Enclave off guard, one of these would have been the Megaton bomb that was intercepted by the military over DC. Its hard to say but ide imagine these bombs weren't intended for the reds thousands of miles away, they were intended for Vault-tec and Enclave tagets, the ladder of which fared a bit better. It could also be an infiltration job, but i like this idea best where the most partiotic act of any American in the Fallout universe was in nuking their own country.... War Never Changes....
I think the issue of who dropped the first bombs is secondary, Vault-Tec had a vested interest in the War starting. Vault-Tec built a large number of Vaults, most of which had some form of socialogical experiment in them. Once they had designed those experiments and set them up in the Vaults, they would want them to run, and for that to happen, the bombs had to drop so the residents would enter the Vaults. The show also leads me to believe that the purpose of Vault 11's experiment was to field test the cryogenic process before they froze their own people for "Bud's Buds". Vault 118 may have been for the same reason, to test the process before using it on high-level employees. Vault-tec may or may not have been the ones that actually started the War. I think it's clear they helped it along at the very least.
I think the symbol was a vault tec symbol that was used in the company's earlier days. I feel like the center of the symbol almost looks like a vaults door , and it does have three lines going out on either side. Orange white Orange. So it does parallel with the vault tec symbol. And I personally (way before the show) thought that Vault Tec started the war (in some way)
In my headcanon the megaton crater was made by a long-range bomber that was scrambled too late. Meaning it carried the bomb now in the center and its parts and those of similar planes strewn around the are was what was later used to construct the town. This would also give an explanation to why it didn't explode: It simply wasn't armed. Additionally I think they used the whole theory thing about the Megaton bomb and the scrapped movie to lead the audience on about Vault-Tec starting the war. It seems like a red herring that is going to be revealed as such through a twist later on in the story.
same, it could be that the plane carrying the bomb was hit with some EMP effect during the war leading to the plane crash and the bomb itself having its arming mechanism be disabled the predecessors of megaton then found the plane and made a town out of its scraps
@@EnnnVyyyI am not completely convinced an EMP could've taken down a long-range bomber meant to deliver nuclear bombs. They would most likely harden its electronics against that by shielding it with metal cages. It doesn't even have to be an EMP, the shockwave or heat could've been enough, if the plane was still low. I mean there wouldn't have been that much warning anyway, once the Chinese ICBMs where spotted on radar and while there no doubt would've been some bombers flying all the time, they would've still tried to send as many as they could. The Megaton one could just have been one of the last to take off, hence being low enough to be hit by the shockwave and/or heat of the blast.
I’ve always thought Vault-Tec might have had a separate branch or a company they owned which produced atomic bombs for the US government. D.C. gets struck, an American bomber carrying it to Chinese targets goes down from the EMP or the sheer blast force
Honestly I don't think whoever started it should be revealed at all. Fallout is at its strongest when it's not agonising over what was lost, but rather building a better future. The non-bethesda fallout games understand this, especially Old World Blues.
@@snuduthey basically crippled the ncr so they are basically a band of raiders, barely above them if being charitable and the outro credits are a cinematic of a destroyed vegas. Until season 2 we really don't have any info to suggest otherwise.
@coinisinorbit The NCR hasn't fallen, Shady Sands did. And as the billboard says "the first capital" its heavily implied that the NCR has since located somewhere different. And how is it shown that New Vegas is desolate? All you see is a shot from very far away.
Honestly, I had figured that it was possible the megaton bomb didn't properly display the vault-tec logo because of the low resolution of most of the textures, but that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. There's no way they'd downscale something THAT important. Still, it was placed intentionally, so it's easy to think there's gotta be a reason for the similarity.
I think the most important part of all this is that, in the end, it doesn't really matter *who* dropped the first bombs, who started it, because the world's already ended, the damage already done. There's ultimately no point to any of the conjecture, the who-what-when-where-why of it all. The results are in, the world is forever changed, and it's best if we all could just drop it and get on with our lives. And that's the beauty of it all, that we can't give up on the speculation. It's what drives us, to fortune and misfortune both. That we can't begin again. That we can't let go. That we know. Because War... War never changes.
The bomb in Megaton is from a fallen bomber plane. During the cold War many nuclear bomber planes were constantly on the sky waiting for orders. This one must have been damaged by the Chinese nukes that exploded in DC and fell out of the sky. This explains why the nuke didn't go off (it wasn't armed yet), why it's an American bomb, why it's in a crater, and why Megaton is made from plane parts.
I think it would be neat if the symbol turned out to be a secret nuclear division of VaultTec. It would make sense that they'd want some mark that it's their property, but miiiiight not want their public facing brand associated with a nuke when they're selling bunkers 😂
I know the wife of the guy that does the sound the music for fallout and I was informed that fallout 5 is it supposed to come out 20/25 let's see if that holds true but due to Bethesda it's can take that much longer you're talking with or listening to a guy that knows people within the bike world so it may take some time for this to take fruition great things are going to happen in the great gamer world
If House was in the meeting, and knew the plan, why was he caught unawares when the bombs came? The biggest issue with the Vault-Tec theory is that Vault-Tec did not survive the war. That’s the whole reason they were supposedly starting the war. It would be like burning down your home for an insurance payout and dying in the fire.
Excellent analysis of the show! Thanks for providing additional insight. I was thinking they hamfisted Vault-Tec into a "capitalism bad" plot line but this makes more sense.
So heres my take: Just because Vault Tec wanted to drop the bombs first doesn't mean they actually ended up doing it. It could be they wanted to, but China beat them to it. The original Fallout creators even said China was the first to drop the bombs because they found the US research on FEV
Personal theory vault-tec was planning ways to do it, was caught, and then someone struck first. this is why several vaults where unfinished and not ready for the bombs. either they had to throw the switch early or someone did it to stop them
There's no reason to believe that's the case. It's purely unfounded speculation - not *impossible*, but it simply has no evidence. What we do know is that the symbol is very similar to the Vault-Tec logo, so naturally the speculation runs in that direction.
@@sherlockhooves574 Considering that the symbol on the bomb is not used anywhere else in the game then it's open to non-Vault-Tec and US origins. As the video stated, similarity with other known symbols is only proof of it being similar, not that it's from those sources. Also the fact that the Chinese did drop bombs and missiles in the game has already been established. The evidence for my point is that the other source, namely Vault-Tec, is ruled out because there's no evidence that it was coming from them. There's no reason NOT to believe it's not a Chinese bomb and it's not unfounded to say so because of what I outlined.
@@MrSnivvel I don't think you even read my post. Yes, other origins are certainly possible. But the only evidence we have for its origin is the symbol, and the only thing that we know about the symbol is that it bears a striking resemblance to the Vault-Tec logo. Nobody is saying it can't be Chinese, but the only concrete evidence we have does not point in that direction. Actually, there is further evidence that it isn't of Chinese origin - the other markings are all in English, which would be strange (though not impossible) for a Chinese weapon. Finally, this line: "The evidence for my point is that the other source, namely Vault-Tec, is ruled out because there's no evidence that it was coming from them." This is so maddeningly inconsistent I have to wonder if you got an AI to write your point for you. You claim Vault-Tec is ruled out because of a lack of evidence (untrue, what we lack is concrete proof), then say that because we've ruled out Vault-Tec, it's rational to say that it's of Chinese origin *without evidence*. In essence, you're saying that it can't be Vault-Tec because there's no evidence, but also it could be Chinese despite there being no evidence.
@@sherlockhooves574 I read your post and it was regurgitating the "it's a similar symbol therefore lets consider it" take. It's ruled out because similarity is not evidence to support the claim. You lack any form of evidence other than a symbol that looks similar to other things, old US Air Force and Vault-Tec logos. Mimicry is not evidence. There is no "concrete evidence" to support the claim. The evidence in my favor is that China did drop bombs, which is leaps and bounds closer to a justifiable claim than a symbol looking similar. Furthermore, there were known Chinese spies and nationals in the US right before the war broke out and thus having access to material with English printed on them. Occam's Razor.
@@MrSnivvelI believe it was just a US or undetonated bomb that fell, I don’t think it’s unrealistic for vault tec to have helped produce weapons for the military or have/build sentinel sites, as someone else pointed out, it could have been a bomb for china that just fell during the EMP wave, or, it was part of a bomber that crashed in the area and that’s why the walls of megaton use plane parts, they simply just didn’t want to fuck with a bomb, the fact the bomb isn’t armed and the player has to arm it or disarm it to use it should tell us simply that it was not meant to be used at that moment
I think the scene from the show actually helps to counter the argument that vault tec started the war. Why? Because that would mean Mr. House was a share holder, and we know from New Vegas that the platinum chip did not arrive before the bombs dropped. Why in the hell would Mr. House drop the bombs when he himself was not ready for them to be dropped? It could be that one of the other shareholders somehow found out about Mr. House's plans to circumnavigate the bomb dropping plans through the platinum chip so hurried the plan along, but I guess we would need to wait for more scenes before we can start to draw conclusions.
I would discount the tv show as in any way canonical. And if anyone is confused by that I mean that I don't consider the tv show to be canon. It's a typical bums in seats adaptation of a game series but instead of telling a good story that actually fits into the lore the producer and director ignore it to basically tell their own story that "happens” to be set in a beloved game series world. In other words it's a fanfic but isn't written by a fan.
When you asked why they would drop the bombs I always thought they ( enclave/vault TEC ) had some sort of robot or system like PAM (or even Pam herself) that basically reinforced their idea of starting a new world by telling them humans would go to nuclear war either way at some point so they thought fk it we will start it early.
I genuinely don't like this idea for a number of reasons. SPOILERS 1. Before the fallout show Vault Tec was just a greedy somewhat idiotic company that gambled humanity's future on silly and dumb social experiments. Evil but more so due to greed and incompetence. 2. The bombs being dropped by Vault Tec kinda take away from the theme "War never changes" Fallout is meant to be the aftermath of humanity's inability to compromise or find a better solution. Are natural drives to commit atrocities for our goals. Vault Tec doing this changes the meaning of corporations greed to profit off a conflict does in a way fit the theme but it's in a more roundabout way. 3. I find it Really Really dumb that you'd rather nuke the world to achieve what exactly? King of dust and bones? Every Vault Tec executive easily lived a better life Pre-War than they ever could post apocalypse. You had super models and cavier now you have rad roaches and ghouls. You had jacuzzis and luxury cars now you have radioactive rain and heavy Boots.....like what? This is like actively blinding yourself for sympathy. 4. Vault Tec despite not being a factor in post apocalypse somehow has the capability to wipe out and cripple NCR throwing it into complete chaos. I'm sorry what? And somehow they associate with the enclave and we only are hearing this now? It kinda makes it feel like the last 5 major fallout games lost a bit of their meaning. Vault Tec apparently could have simply nuked any wasteland threat if it got too powerful. TLDR Vault Tec is somehow responsible for everything that happened in Fallout from beginning to end and despite decades of lore this is just only being told now.
2 - Wars have indeed been conducted n the name of greed and business. The United States, for example, toppled the government of Guatemala partly because it was being socialist but also partly because some of the government had shares in The United Fruit Company who were in danger of losing money because of the new government
I speculate that a different faction dropped the megaton bomb. Maybe Vault-Tec is really a front for something much larger and their logo was based on that faction's logo. It would explain the similarities between the logos, and paints a more enigmatic agenda behind Vault-Tec's actions.
In Fallout 4, we saw the starting minutes of the Great War at the Switchboard. The Ghost Fleet (an ultra secret Chinese project that the US Military didn't even want to pretend was real) pops up on scanners and launches its entire payload at West-Tek, New York, and Philly. NORAD retaliates.
Even though Tim Cain has said that China dropped the first bomb. It doesn’t contradict the idea that Vault Tech could have orchestrated the circumstances leading up to it. I think that the company being behind it just adds more layers to the story.
Silly question, but who would still be using gravity bombs in 2077? You'd never get a traditional bomber anywhere near its target against 21st century air defense. Right?
I haven't played a lot of New Vegas, and have spent even less time in Nellis, but for an Air Force base I don't recall much anti air? I think it's just artillery. And I've never seen any anti air in Fallout 3, though I haven't played it myself. Assuming it was Chinas bomb in Megaton, maybe they had a stealth bomber, and if it was Vault-Tec then their place in the US government would give the US little to no reason to suspect a vault tech plane in the air. Just a few thoughts about it.
Fallout's art style is Retro-Futurism, its what people of the 1950's speculated what 2070's would look like. In the '50's ICBMs were still in their infancy and air-defense was still mostly guns and flak-cannons. So I think the prevalence of gravity bombs is mostly an artistic choice.
I remembered number stations existed and watched a couple videos about them, then I came across one that sounded like the one in the intro. RadKing, is the source of your intro a number station?
(Seemingly) unpopular opinion: I hope we never find out who dropped the first bomb. For me, the point of fallout is to show that total war is the worst possible outcome for life. No one wins in this scenario. War is hell, and war never changes. Saying who dropped the first bomb, imo, diminishes this perspective on the series.
We don't need to know who started it. It's pointless for the tales Fallout wants, or should want to tell. The intro narration of Fallout 2 says it best; War. War never changes. The end of the world occurred pretty much as we had predicted. Too many humans, not enough space or resources to go around. The details are trivial and pointless, the reasons, as always, purely human ones. Don't make Vault-Tec into this big bad behind it all that our plucky band of unlikely adventurers needs to vanquish for peace to be restored in the land.
I think China did it. USA was recovering Alaska and at the same time was pushing in mainland China with the chinese surrending when they saw T-51 power armors.
Indeed. It doesn't matter who shot, or in this case, dropped the bombs first. Unfortunately it is where the franchise is heading, or at least the TV show and future canon.
An interesting thing about Megaton/Vault101/Springvale is that it is in Real Life McLean VA, (All the Fallout 3 water towers say McLean) and the ZIP code for McLean is 22101.
Hey RadKing I have a question. Theres an unknown only-mentioned character named "Bagman" that's mentioned in FO3, Lonesome Road and FO76 new Update. Apparently he had high level clearance to fire the nuclear bombs at Fort Constantine and the Hopeville Silo. You think he could be the USA president from Before the War?
i’m just gonna drop why i headcanon vault tec starting the war: without a smoking gun, i have to wonder from a narrative perspective what “who dropped the bombs” actually means in terms of a story. I can’t really think of any meaningful difference between the US or China starting the war. no real symbolism or deeper meaning. Vault tec is a mega corporation that managed to monopolize the end of the world with a cute cartoon character. vault tec and weapons manufacturers actively stood to gain from stoking the fires of nuclear war. meanwhile, the ongoing war is over resources and expansion. it crafts a story about corporate greed, government greed, and the toxic waste made by combining them. in my headcanon, after governments and corporations started to buckle under their own weight vault tec were the only ones with the means, motive, and opportunity to wipe the slate clean in an ill-fated attempt to own the world that would rise after. this also can explain the experiments. it would take a lot of time and upfront resources to set those up, so why do it if they don’t plan to use that data somehow? if anyone actually reads this i’m interested in hearing ur thoughts but please don’t expect me to argue about my fallout HC, i’m not THAT cringe
I think it was the enclave. They wanted a clean slate to build their perfect society in. They couldn’t do that prewar, since the US population and most of the military would just turn on them. But after the nukes fall, who would have the power to stop them? Theyd be the closest thing to a legitimate government, they have stockpiles of weapons and aircraft and powerarmor and bases made before the war, it makes a lot of sense they’d drop the bombs to wipe the slate clean to start over and build their perfect society (in their eyes, “perfect”) they’re the ones with the means, the reasons, and the resources to do so. The only problem with their plan, is that they didn’t expect that the wasteland after the nukes would ever pose a threat to them. They didn’t realize things like the chosen one and his party would exist, or that a small faction of the US military would survive and grow to outnumber them, they couldn’t have foreseen the institute covering the east coast in super muties or the facility out east to have a FEV breach and create the master and his army, they couldn’t have foreseen the successor state to the US rising up (the NCR) and well, their plans just didn’t pull through. Itd makes sense tho why’d they’d think prewar that’s the best way to go about wiping the slate clean
I've long felt that narratively, answering 'who shot first?' with 'It doesn't matter now.' was the right move. Fallout 1 did that and I liked it. If there has to be an answer, the side losing the war makes sense because thematically it doesn't matter who was losing, anyone starting to lose badly enough would hit the button.
The bomb in Megaton is likely from a bomber that was already in the air or scrambling when the first detonations occurred. Damaged by shock / blast waves it broke up, ejecting the unarmed bomb(s) it as carrying. IIRC there have been a few RL incidents where US nuclear armed planes have broken up in mid-air or encountered other emrg and their nuclear payload was ejected, landing on American soil.
Bud Atkins explains it in the series: the point was not to “outprofit” competition, but to outlast it. “Time is the ultimate weapon of mass destruction”.
I just always figured it didn't look exactly like the Vault tec logo because it was old and worn out. Hell with the show doing what it's doing I wouldnt be suprised if that's retroactively what it becomes
one thing i think is key to understand is that this doesn't outright confirm vault tec started the war, they were merely planning to ensure the war happened if the us or china didn't do it
I trust corporations less than I trust national governments, if only barely If only because I can count on the fact that a corporation will always do the worst possible thing in every situation without exception
Doesn’t West-Tec dissolve into Vault-Tec? If so WT is known for its military background. Therefore would it be so far fetched to believe this is a West-Tec bomb and maybe there is a slight variance in logos with the rebranding?
I mean, the symbol is SO close that it could easily be a symbol of another *branch* of Vault- Tec... one that manufactures weapons. That said, it doesn't mean that THEY dropped the bomb - Lockheed and Martin don't *drop* the bombs they make. Looking forward to the show maybe telling us who did fire first!
Tim Cain did say, accidentally, that China dropped the bombs because the US was developing the FEV
Plus according to the lore previously to the show USA was taking (or took) Alaska back and was pushing hard in mainland China with the new T-51 power armors, with the chinese surrendering everytime they saw them.
He didn't say it accidentally. He as a video on his RUclips channel where he talks about how he never considered it a mystery because the dev team of the first game intended for it to be China.
@@JanusVesta I guess accidentally confirmed is more acurate when he said it during the interview with Tk-mantis
Not to mention Richardson said so in F2. I know there are reasons why he might be lying or mistaken in that, but when you have people in and out of universe say it was China there isn't much room to speculate.
To be honest, tim Cain was talking off the cuff with no script. He could have let slip his own personal head Canon (not one confirmed by other writers too) instead of a definitive admission of lore
I think the biggest piece of evidence countering the “Vault-Tec did it” argument is the fact that so many vaults were unfinished when the Great War started.
If they wanted to test their vaults, those vaults would need to be completed and secured first before that happened. We see plenty of unfinished vaults in every game, some of them barely even having started constructions. Some didn’t even have staff in them. No matter what their plan was, they would have needed the vaults finished before they did anything.
Not saying you're wrong
But there are human factors to consider in that statement - embezzlement, local legal issues, resource shortages, military timetables, that sort of thing. Corporate saying a thing should be done by a date is little guarantee it will be done by that date. Corporate knowing there is a drop dead date doesn't mean they can actually act on that without giving up state secrets.
Though it can be Vault-Tec incompetence, I still on the camp that they 'might' just have intention to do it but in the end thing just getting out of their (and all others) hand.
There's a reason for vaults to be unfinished,
1. Budget cuts due to resources being more scarce.
2. Deliberately done as a twisted experiment.
It would raise suspicion if they stopped building vaults
man, most of the vaults were even built NOT for survival, but for experiments. You thing they won't shoot themself and populace in the leg? HeII, they are ready to rocketjump for science.
Even if the symbol on the bomb was the Vault Tec one. Theres an old war practice where pilots or gunmen would draw enemy logo's/symbols on their shells, missiles, and bombs as a sort of F-You to the enemy. Basically getting blown up by their own symbol. So the Chinese pilots or whoever could've done that, especially considering how close Megaton's nuke is to Vault 101 and the airport the first settlers used to build the town
It is like a scaled up version of engraving a target's name on a bullet.
@@EatWave Yep
Remember when you totally made the moral RPG choice of whether or not to blow up Megaton? And then the tutorial quest giver is still there and not even mad at you? Some also claim I'll run into some other clowns before I get there but no the vault to megaton is a straight line like half a kilometer in the first direction I ever ran. I play 4 like a man because teleporting around stabbing things is more fun then listening to Ceasar not understand books. There I said it and I won't take it back because I'm right. I'm finally trying 1 right now. My gifted 1 intelligence non combat specialized character is sailing through the 1st act so far. Or you could just punch your way through like Warlockracy.
True, but that doesn't explain the exact same bomb including logo showing up in facilities elsewhere
@@SomeKiwi Reused assets. Why make a whole new texture for bombs that youre not gonna get that close to for the most part
Something you seem to ignore completely is the fact that the *manufacturer* of a weapon is not necessarily the same as the *user* of that weapon. Weapons are sold, stolen, and misplaced all the time. Even in our timeline, there have been a shocking number of Broken Arrow incidents where American nuclear bombs could theoretically have fallen into another faction's hands.
I wouldn't put it past Vault-Tec to make and sell nukes to whomever is willing to pay, and I also wouldn't be surprised if America gave nukes to a country that then sold them or betrayed America, in the Fallout universe.
like in "sum of all fears"
I imagine nuclear missiles are branded “Lockheed&Martin.” But in our world it won’t be them who peoples directly blame
Its not like America hasn't "misplaced" a few nukes here and there over the last few decades... The megaton nuke may have been just been one of those nukes that were "misplaced", but the actual war happened before the government could get it back to a secure base.
@@judyfps5059 Not sure if you knew this, but Lockheed Martin actually DOES make nukes for the US Military... Among MANY other companies like BAE Systems, Honeywell, General Dynamics... and most terrifying of all, Boeing...
@@wayneigoe6722 oh god….Boeing…..
Bombs? You want them? Its yours my friend! As long as you have enough rupees
*rubies. morshu mispronounces them as "rubies".
Sorry link. I can't give credit. Come back when you're a little mmm richer.
The visual mods for Fallout 3 and New Vegas also turn this symbol into a full on Vault Tec logo, like shown in Oxhorn's videos, and thanks to a mod we now have a show with a giant retcon
The greatest evidence in the show that Vault Tec did not drop the bombs is that Janey is with her father when they fell instead of with Barb in a vault. She was involved with the planning and said her only goal was protecting her family. Her whole deal was getting them a place in a "good vault".
His wife might be a "true believer" in VaultTec. Maybe she tried her best to get Janey to the vault but "the company" decided to drop.
Maybe she just doesn’t care enough to save her
brother its vault tec they really DO NOT CARE for their employees
Well, we know from the opening of the show that Coop and Barb got divorced. What we don't know is what the custody agreement was. It is possible that Coop managed to secure a custody agreement that blocked Barb from seeing her daughter. After all, he had dirt on Vault-Tec. He could have leveraged that to get Barb's own bosses to pressure her into giving away custody of Janey - esp if the only thing he was asking to keep their secret was full custody of his daughter.
So I wouldn't say that the bombs dropping while Janey was with Coop is necessarily evidence of anything.
Its possible that Jane tried but Vault-Tec went ahead with their plans. Its also possible that, after the bombs dropped, Jane managed to take their daughter
I think the best option for Fallout is to give ample opportunity for all involved to have been the ones who set everything off, but never give any concrete "they did it, and here's how/why".
That way, the mystery stays a mystery, and folks get to explore the possibilities in videos and discussions like this.
Honestly same, but if they insist on giving us a name it should be a third party.
completely agree, sometimes less is more and an air of mystery is part of the appeal
I think that they bomb in megaton was just an American bomb that never got used. Like the bomber that carried it got blasted out of the sky (I assume that it was launched via bomber rather than icbm)
Yeah it's not that improbable that either a blast ripped off part of the plane and the bomb fell out separately.
And since Megaton is made out of several aircraft, it makes sense.
That's what I always assumed or it launched from a ground silo or submarine and something malfunctioned which caused it to crash land, luckily not detonating
@@jonholla6463 The front door of the town is for some reason a big old jet engine so I'm pretty sure plane.
those type of bombs arent launched, theyre dropped, and during the cold war we had bombers in the air 24/7, its absolutely plausible the aircraft was landing or taking off and the bombs have to be armed before drop, lack of arming means it wouldnt blow when dropped
That's wild to me. 'We're gonna prevent war by ensuring that future generations will be brought up to be just like the people who had a vested financial interest in starting the upcoming war: us!"
Yeah, it's all so cartoonish and stupid. They literally have one if the shareholders say she wants a milk delivery robot to run one of the vaults.
All they were missing is whacky Looney Toons music
The show writing is stupid like that, typical blaming on "evil corpos".
vault tec loves to do a little trolling
@@Vantud391 i genuinely want to ask if youve actually played a fallout game
@@richter6699 when has fallout NOT been pretty loony tunes... its part of the charm. The Irony within the general stupidity that such a world has. Was never meant to be taken as a realistic/realism logic simulator.
Former military pilot here, I will explain as rationally and simple as possible and I believe you will be satisfied with your evident answer for the very first time as to who dropped the bombs first. Honestly, I didn't even know that this topic was still an issue and being discussed among the people as it was right there all obvious to me but today after finishing the show and I must say I loved it, seeing this video I realized that it is interestingly still a mystery. I know and played the whole game series and as of today I know the discussions on the entire Vault-Tec started theory but that's neither the Vault-Tec insignia on that bomb in Megaton nor they detonated any bomb on the US soil. A simple comparison of the original Vault-Tec insignia from the game files with the one on the Megaton bomb shows that they are not identical by any means. A clean version of the bomb insignia also exists on the internet so feel free to check that out, they are simply different. However, these bombs have a major role on grasping and understanding the logic behind as to who started it all. These bombs matter scientifically and from lore perspective. Because they are the only real traces for the eyes and minds just like the pieces of breads in the Hansel and Gretel.
Aight so, that insignia on that bomb in Megaton also exists on all of the same model bombs inside the Fort Constantine military base, of which was built and used by the US Army since 2043 till the day bombs fell. Meaning that it is, and in fact all the nuclear bombs you come across in wasteland including 'The One' near Devil's Throat and the other in Sacred bog during the hallucination scene are all %100 US Army nuclear bombs from the US Army inventory, type C-23 Megaton model to be more specific, obviously not Chinese and we see these bombs fell, which is being literally the very *key word* here, on the US soil and also found in a US Army base.
Now this, actually tells a lot if you are not a layman without a military education and background on the weapons of mass destruction and how this entire...how to put it; *The End* , process happens, well, when that happens. And my hat is off to the script writers for their seamlessly coherent scenario because they knew it. Yeah. They knew it and put it there as a hint because its the only real hint and I mean it. And I believe they wanted you to search, observe carefully and figure it out yourself. Now I know perhaps some of you did it in your own ways but with a little bit of simple attention others could have done too. Because evidence is all there and flawless with the script, and the lore.
So here goes everything. Who launched the bombs first and why were US bombs dropped on American soil? China launched the bombs first. And the scientific logic behind it is simple; why do we find US bombs all around, why were the US bombs dropped on American soil? They were not dropped, they fell. They fell right after they were launched on the trajectory course, their flight path just like any aircraft or jets would have done so, and as they did so you come across them all around the wasteland. Why?
See, munitions with nuclear warheads such as ICBMs or rather MIRVs (real bad bombs) not only destroy life on earth or earth's climate conditions after they explode, but they also cause a burst of electromagnetic radiation, which we refer to as Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse or EMP if you will, that creates a powerful electromagnetic field, resulting in the temporary or permanent disabling of electrical and electronic equipment, causing a wide range of electrical failures and damaging electronic systems with current and voltage surges throughout the entire atmosphere and earth's surface, actually even above the atmosphere making it into the space, which is actually being the very reason you see all those fallen US bombs, satellites and some sort of damage on the other types of electronics in the game, such as terminals. The most vulnerable and the very first things EMP reached and affected in the game were those without any solid material between them slowing this very effect: planes and US nuclear missiles which were off the ground on their flight paths. This is what happened in Fallout and this is why you see fallen undetonated US bombs on the wasteland. The US was caught off guard. They launched the bombs *DURING* the Chinese nuclear warheads were exploding on the US soil. And that is actually why the reports on the terminals, like the one in Fort Constantine, are all accurate and telling the truth; the US was engaging to an actual Chinese attack as a *RESPONSE* .
Now, if it was the other way around, or if it was -presumed- Vault-Tec or anyone else from inside the US, we would have seen evidence for 2 WAVES, this is very important, 2 nuclear bombardments targeting the US: the very first initial Vault-Tec attack, doesn't matter if it came with a couple of spoof bombs or rained down countless bombs from inside the US and no one saw it as it was happening (even funny while reading), triggering the actual US response. And the second wave, from China came in retaliation for the US attack, which the US carried out after the -presumed- Vault-Tec attack. It would have taken some time for Chinese missiles to reach the US and we would have known if the US started it all without anything. Right? Right. Well, none of these have happened. None. There is nothing, no evidence or whatsoever related to the Chinese wave came after a US attack. The US launched bombs simultaneously during the attack, causing some of its bombs to malfunction and fell on the flight path. And this is the only single reason we find these malfunctioned US bombs exist in the entire game. There is no other scientific, theoretical or rhetorical reason for their existence.
As I said, if Vault-Tec or anyone else had launched a spoof attack, we would have seen evidence of 2 WAVES targeting the US as a result of a chain of events. The US bombs were also not launched first and obviously were not malfunctioned in the meantime. Meaning China launched the bombs first.
I tried to explain in a simplified manner as much as I can, avoiding the military jargon and terms that might cause confusion so I hope I did well and it helped to clarify things for you. Should you have any questions, I would gladly answer them. Y'all have a wonderful day.
Now that I think about it, you are 100% correct. Thank you.
This really makes sense to me. Thank you!
Great comment.
Good post and a mostly correct explanation of how a nuclear exchange would occur.
As an NDU grad that works in this unfortunate field there are a few things that sparked my interest in this video and in your response. I think the most plausible explanation for the bomb in Megaton is that it fell out of an aircraft that carried the bomb. The walls and many other structures of Megaton are built using aircraft parts so it makes sense and it would explain how it got on the ground given that people probably cut up the aircraft the bomb was in for parts and to build structures in the town. One would think that a person would not want to mess with a bomb so they left it there while they disassembled the plane that it was in. My concern with your EMP explanation is that it's not an entirely accurate understanding of an EMP. When a nuclear weapon detonates it is not like a conventional boom like most people think, it is a process that creates a multitude of effects not present in a conventional blast. One of these effects is colloquially understood as an "EMP." The science on EMPs is hotly debated so you'll see all sorts of claims about an EMP destroying every electronic thing in the world to claims of a small, temporary, and localized effect. In fact the best publicly available data is from the Starfish Prime test conducted in 1962, which was detonated in space with an estimated yield of 1.4 megatons, with local effects in Hawaii being "knocking out street lights, setting off burglar alarms, and damaging a telephone company microwave link" while also driving instrumentation off scale. Considering this test was in 1962 and we don't know the technology of the fallout universe at the time of the great war it's hard to estimate how much impact several detonations with subsequent EMPs would have had. I'm not saying your theory of an EMP knocking out the plane is wrong, just stating that it's one possibility of several others that I think are more likely. The blast effects, the thermal heat of a blast, and atmospheric effects would probably make flying the plane impossible. You're probably a better pilot than I was so maybe you wouldn't panic in that moment of witnessing the end of humanity through your own eyes at altitude. Either way, the detonating bombs would have SOME effect, but not as large and as sweeping as you stated. A megaton class warhead would have a significant impact, possibly enough to down an aircraft (even though the aircraft in the fallout universe aren't nearly as electronics dependent as our real world aircraft), but based on what we know from Starfish Prime it's unlikely that the incoming (presumably Chinese) warheads would have such a devastating EMP effect. I'd recommend the study that Sandia labs did on the streetlight incident if anyone is interested in why some electronics failed but most others did not.
As for who started the war, I personally doubt it was VaultTec, but not for the reasons above or anything that was discussed in the video. My contention comes from the fact that a private enterprise would have access to nuclear weapons. This should come as a comforting thought to everyone here; no corporation has control of any nuclear weapons, not in the U.S. and not anywhere else. I'm willing to bet the TV show will describe some plot by VaultTec to acquire nuclear weapons but here in the real world that's just not going to happen. What I do suspect is that the TV show will walk right up to the line of confirming who shot first but they won't cross it, like Bethesda didn't, and like Interplay didn't (until the interview given many years later). It makes better sense for an entertainment platform to not answer the question so I doubt they will. That's why the new TV show creators gave such a vague answer.
If anyone made it this far reading please do take the threat of nuclear war seriously. The Cold War may be over but we can still end humanity with nuclear weapons. Please take your responsibilities as a citizen seriously and have your voice heard.
Well like the other commenter here I doubt the downing of the plane holding the bomb in Megaton was done by EMP.
It more likely was caused by the other effects of a nuclear bomb going offy namely the insane heat warping metal and maybe even the shockwave creating turbulence so strong, it caused a stall the plane couldn't recover from.
So it might have been a reserve long-range bomber scrambled when the Chinese ICBMs where discovered on radar, which was too close to a blast to survive it.
Either way like you and the other commenter in this comment chain wrote it makes most sense for the attack to have come from China, given all the evidence we have so far.
Hey Rad, I just wanted to say I binged your entire channel over the past month. It has been great content and I am happy to have found your channel. Glory to atom ⚛️
So impressive how far this channel has come, from the intro to the humor and pacing. Keep up the good work brother
Bro, I don't know who he does it, but I never get tired of hearing his voice. Other channels get on my nerves by trying to force humor or by clearly trying to push a narrative. Clearly one of a kind here.
You have quickly become my favorite Fallout channel, followed closely by Nate. Good stuff bro
I feel its a little dumb making Vault-Tec the one who dropped the bomb
there are plenty of examples of unfinished Vaults that we see throughout the games such as Vault 114, Vault 88, and I think the "fake vault 13" from Fallout 1 is a construction site for a Vault (if its still cannon). so why would Vault-Tec drop the bomb if a portion of there Vaults were still unfinished, wouldn't it be better to wait for the completion of all Vaults? I'm sure that there are plenty of examples of Vault staff and residents not making it in time, wouldn't they give the enrolled people and personnel ample time to make it to get the best out of there experiments (unless that was the intention of the experiment).
I do think RadKing makes a great point of EMPs and such disabling delivery vehicles (planes, rockets, etc.) and causing there nuclear ordinance to rain down on America and thanks to the large amount of saftey on nuclear warheads to prevent Broken arrow incidents, would prevent them from detonating, and if Vault-Tec or a subsidiary really did drop them on home turf, why didn't they explode? And why would they leave there prints at the scene of the crime?
(spoilers I think)
I might be wrong on this one but in Fallout 4, Vault 111, weren't they testing long term cryogenic stasis and its effects, as in what happens. so why do we see soo many higher ups frozen in Vault 31 if they were skeptical of the viability and results?
Copper Howards daughter is with him when the world is bathed by atoms Devine glow, and if barb knew or had a say in it, wouldn't she make sure her daughter and husband were berried deep below the surface when it would happen.
I think that no matter who they say dropped the bomb there will be always people arguing about it and finding holes in the story. But in the end its whoever they say it is and we have to try and make it work
Its actually not that strange they might decide to move up the date before all projects are complete, companies do that all the damn time in the real world. As for why, well Barb does mention peace talks have been progressing which would require them to step up their time line.
Vault-Tec doesn't care about most of its staff, it seems, like take vault 111 you mentioned, it was always intended that the skeleton crew would starve to death. Vault-Tec knew the supposed 180 days would not be enough time. As for the experiment itself it does specify unsuspecting test subjects which is fairly specific, but also kinda silly.
We actually don't know how much control Barb actually had over when the bombs dropped and I doubt those who do get to decide would delay over an employees kid.
in new vegas, Mr. House says he "misjudged the start of the war by 20 hours." that's why he didn't have his platinum chip. we've always known that vault-tec PLANNED to drop the bombs because vault-tec was the enclave. but just because they planned to drop it, doesn't mean they did.
If the war had started to look like it might end, and without thermonuclear exchange, then Vault-tec might have decided nuking the world was their last chance to remain relevant
I would add a few points to clear up this mess.
1, The Triggerman Ghoul in the Fo4 quest "Unlikely Valentine" said this when being asked about the security of the vaults: "Because they (Vault-Tec) weren't planning to use it, you Moron. We (Union?/Government?) used to pull this kind of con all the time before the War. Get a bunch of union boys to work some construction job that would go nowhere. Keep everyone on payroll" In which Vault-Tec was already making money through the Government with contracts as seen in vaults 114 and 76. The Union of course getting its cuts and Uncle Sam with his taxes on those paychecks as well. In which cost overruns and extensions. Brings back to the point you made that many of the vaults were "unfinished" when the bombs fell proving there was an unexpectedness and unpreparedness of the events.
2, What good is money and profits if you aren't alive to use it? In all reality there is no real capitalist/financial incentive or motive, post war, for dropping the bombs. You lose your customers, money, and power to the ruthless wastes. (All citizens who would've bought seats, government and union contracts, and corporations are all gone. Even Robbert House lost Robco and its manufacturing capabilities and power to the bombs and proves that corporations would die in the apocalypse.) Even if The Enclave (or other corporations) gets remote access to the vaults and exerts its power and experiments for a reconquered wasteland in "its (vault-tec) image", the vault-tec leadership and investors just sold their underground "utopias" (Their Only real money makers) to the US Government for study and they lose out on the potential profits of milking the event further and forever or faking the bombs dropping and extorting the scared civilians while keeping them away from the curious public above wondering where their families and friends went. At least in that case they could finish their vaults, build and sell more, sell more seats, and rinse and repeat while using the US Government, corporations, and media's propaganda to cover up any investigations against them, labeling "conspiracy theorists" as pro communists. The Government/The Enclave could even use vaults as concentration camps as they did with the sino-americans during the war. It would bring justification to any wrongdoings found out about the experiments to the public as they were war criminals.
3, In the Switchboard in Fo4 on a Terminal for DEFCON status for the year of Oct 2077 the terminal announces that there are reports of 3 USOs or Unidentified Submerables off the coast of Cali (Not even mentioning The Yangyze off the coast of Boston.) As well as airforce reports of having Eyes on possible squadron of Chinese airplanes at High altitude off the Bering Strait before 4 probable launches being detected as well as confirmed "birds in the air", Shortly after Pennsylvania and New York were hit by atomic blasts. This plus the Enclave claim in Fo2 and the victories in the Chinese front as well as the Chinese finding out about the FEV all push for China to be the final launchers of the bombs.
Thanks for gathering some solid evidence and sharing it. I've taken the stance that China was pushed into a corner and fired first for a while now, because it simply makes sense. What we learn in FO 4 solidified that. If your China and losing a ground war in your own nation, you have a LOT of reason to push the button. All the FEV stuff and other 'war winning tech' the USA was cooking up and nearly had ready to deploy is just more justification from their perspective. Nuke the world now or lose outright? I know what fanatics will chose.
Interesting, thanks for sharing - as much as it sounds like it just fits that vault - tec were the culprits for dropping the bombs, I'm inclined to stand by the bombs were launched by China and America when the war reached it's meltdown status after China learned about FEV. That makes the most logical sense to me.
The answer is probably up there with why the Master would ignore three vaults in his backyard.
To be fair lore inconsistencies have been part of the franchise since the first game (see the Hub not knowing about Deathclaws but the Boneyard does).
@joshstack34 that's not inconsistent it's just certain people in-verse not knowing
@@Coolcleverstoneso, the hub. Like, one of the largest most populated settlements in the region. With constant supply caravans, travelers, and other oursiders coming and going, not a single one, ever, ran across, saw, or even heard of a death claw? I find it hard to believe. That’s like living in NYC and never once hearing about rats. That’s like living in Florida and never knowing about gators.
@@stuglife5514or like living in NYC and not knowing what 9/11 is
@@stuglife5514 Do you believe every last rumor you hear? Should everyone who travels through Novac believe No-bark Noonan? In Fallout 1 the Deathclaws were thought to be a cryptid, stories that were passed around but not to be taken seriously.
Boneyard knew of it because they nested right next to them. The Hub thought it just a rumor. Hell, Cleo specifically calls it such. “What rumors do you want to hear?… The Deathclaw ate it. Rumors ain’t worth nothing. The world’s full of rumor and suspicion, and empty of truth. Look for fact, not fiction.”
That intro is looking sharper
Hope he never gets rid of it
Ive seen a lot of people put to Barb Howard and say she said Vault-Tec did it, but she didn't.
She just said Vault-Tec would be willing to if things didn't happen "naturally"
which we 100% already knew from the games. vault-tec was the enclave and the enclave had plans. china just beat them to it.
If I'm not incorrect, doesn't the enclave control vault tec, west tec, etc
If so, won't it be more appropriate to ask why the enclave would start the great war
I'm pretty sure that it was confirmed that they planned on colonising other planets without the intervention of laws, massive power grab
I think the explanation for why the enclave wanted to bomb the us is this:
"You wouldnt understand"
Judging by the enclaves goals, it would seem they wanted the war as a clean slate so they could come out of hiding and take over. We know before the bombs fell, they wouldn’t be able to come out of hiding. You already had half of virgina succeeding from the union, mass rioting in Massachusetts and other cities, and people were shooting eachother at gas stations (because remember, civilian nuclear tech is newer tech, many cars canonically still used gas and all the micro nuclear tech was a response to dwindling world oil supply. Makes sense as well, with how much ceramics and bakelite are used instead of plastic) if the enclave had tried to come out and take over then, they would have been obliterated by loyalist groups in the US military and civilian militias. Most of the US military wasnt in the enclaves pockets. So, wipe the slate clean to create your “perfect” society, makes sense. They talk constantly about purity and real amercianism etc etc etc. it makes sense that they’d genocide everything to start again. It’s what fachist germany was trying to do, kill everything off to create your “perfect” society, kinda makes a lot of sense for the enclave to do that tbh. Rid the country of all the “unwashed peasent masses” and replace them with loyal, brainwashed, soldiers of the enclave. After a nuclear war there surely wouldn’t be anyone who had the means or power to oppose their takeover right? It’s not like a small faction of the US military would survive the war and stockpile more powerarmor then even the enclave has right? (To be fair, they couldn’t foresee something like the BOS forming)
and we already know that answer. there were no resources on earth left. the vaults were merely testing grounds for future space travel.
@@theghostofthomasjenkins9643 Then how is the power still on 200 years later? They had cold fusion. Bro you can make electricity out of water there's tons of that in game. Even the original lore is becoming dumber the more I think about it.
Greetings RadKing! You earned a new subscriber. Your videos on Fallout Bible and Fallout Cartography helped me drive across the country. So relaxing, and I learned so much!
I know you like to pronounce things correctly (you taught me I'm saying "slough" wrong) so as a New Englander I thought I'd share this with you:
#1 - You say Concord wonderfully in your Cartography videos! It's "Kahn-kerd" not "Con-corde" (the Con-corde is an airplane). Bravo!
#2 - Natick is "Nay-tick." Almost "Naydick."
#3 - Cambridge is "Caim-bridge."
I thought that would interest you. Thank goodness they didn't use Worcester or Gloucester in Fallout 4. No one can get those right!
Amazing videos. Keep up the great work, and EMBRACE THE GLOW :)
Everybody talking about vault tech but what about the boneyard where the heck is it?(They don't explain it in the show)(It takes place in LA and nobody mentions it?)
The Boneyard is what was formerly downtown LA.
play fallout 1
The boneyard is based in modern day skid row.
Everything before has basically been wiped. In fact unless that's a common name in the Brotherhood is that supposed to be Maximus from 4? Because well then 4 is gone too.
Its important to note that Besthesda Fallout is more of a reboot, rather than a sequel, as lore is freely changed and seems to be more Lovecraft fantasy than hard sci-fi.
The Enclave in the second game confirms that the Chinese struck first, and the Americans were winning the ground war prior.
And The Enclave faction would know. They ordered Vault tech to do the experiments in order to prep for their space colony plans and study stuff(hence the main ones we learn about at the time are Isolation experiments and the Vault 12 radiation experiment).
It's definitely possible they were planning a nuclear strike in the near-medium future to further their plans, but the disorganized nature of the Enclave post-war suggests they never got the chance. Perhaps someone leaked their intentions to the Reds and they decided to move first
They'd also know, because they're one of the few pre-war groups that'd have any valid pre-war knowledge, alongside people like House or Zao. The remnants of the US government, later rebranded the Enclave under Eden, would be the only group with experience of that day, the means to know what happened when precisely, and the ability to put together the pieces.
They even seemed to be prepped for it, considering the sheer stockpile they must have stashed away for their standings in 2, 3, and 76 to make sense.
The Enclave is not a trustworthy source for pre-war information given they are literally a shadow government conspiracy with delusions of grandeur.
Glory to Atom! Our Radking has released another banger!
I am glad you liked it!
@@Rad_Kingmissed you
Vault Tech is basically the Enclave, so I'm not bothered too much when people say they did it. it's still canon the Chinese launched, but that doesn't really matter when Bethesda's laziness means the Megaton Bomb has the same skin as the one at Fort Constantine.
The mysterious symbol is meant to be a royalty-free variant of the US Airforce symbol.
Why would you self incriminate yourself but putting your logo on nukes? Thats a dumb argument in favor of this theory. And it was pretty clear by the Shi supercomputer in Fallout 2 that it was China but lets just retcon it all
And Richardson, and Tim Cain in an interview...
My understanding is that china nuked first, before we did, but we were going to do it
Narcissists and help themselves.
According to Tim Cain himself, it was never set in stone who started the war, but they had thrown around ideas such as China or Vault Tech. Meaning, you are still wrong.
On the first point, hubris. As well as the idea that the evidence would be atomized and no one would be around to see it
I’m always happy when radking uploads.
I dont think its that much to say that the logo may be related to vault-tech when theory or lore crafting. If that be a subsidiary, joint partnership, project logo or a front company.
I think people have to remember that none of these games (and most large settings in media) are made with a perfect complete image in mind, retcons and newly made lore will happen, if said lore is ever officially filled in.
Like there isn't a true answer at this time but, I don't think its wrong to point to possible relations.
For years I was under the speculative impression that Megaton, probably being one of the first settlements built by Bethesda had left in an un-updated version of the Vault Tec logo on the Megaton bomb, whereas the design was later revised later in development but the bomb texture was forgotten about. As for the bomb being on american soil, I always thought the plane that was carrying it simply crashed Yuba City style, hence the settlement built from an entire aircraft. Wasn't until years later I heard about the apparent nearby airport, and that theres no forthcoming evidence of the Vault Tec logo evolving after Bethesda acquired the franchise. It was a major mandella effect moment when what I believed for years turned out to be baseless.
Video dropped right as I'm looking for something to sleep to, god bless you Radking
If the fallout 3 remaster ever comes out it'll be very interesting to see what they do for the logo on the bomb. It's so commonly misconstrued for a Vault Tec logo that they might just actually change it to one.
One has to note that the bomb in megaton did not detonate so it was not armed at the time. The most likely answer is that the plane was damaged by the EMP and he dumped the heaviest thing he could find. It would seem that he was unsuccessful as Megaton was built from parts of a plane.
I love your history deep dive into this myth. Tracking stuff down on the internet is insane, seeing how trends, memes, and ideas start and proliferate.
I honestly prefer it stays ambiguous. If the show is to be regarded as canon to the games, then the only thing we know for sure is that they had plans to drop nukes first, whether or not they did strike first is another story.
It isn't ambiguous, though? China dropped the first bombs. That's directly implied in Fallout 2 and has since been confirmed by Tim Cain. Anything else would be a straight-up retcon to the existing canon.
@@bfeldz1023 Nope. Implying through unreliable narrators doesn't mean dick hell implying through reliable narrators also doesn't mean dick. Specially when Tim Cain himself is a fan of characters being unreliable narrators as he's said many times about characters in things he's written. Implying which even you've used is by definition leaving it ambiguous.
And no Tim Cain doesn't get a say any more at this point. He had his chance to make that canon if he wanted to but chose to leave it vague. He also by the way is actually enjoying what the series is doing so I don't think its as concrete or as serious as you're pretending it is.
Honestly even if China attacked first that can be explained by Vault-Tec detonating their nuke in China, which makes more sense than them detonating it in the US anyways.
@shadenox8164 Tim Cain absolutely still has say over what is and is not canon in the Fallout games he wrote, which are still canon to the series. He outright said in an interview that China dropped the first bomb and that it was in response to them finding out America was still experimenting with FEV. If Bethesda decides to make it Vault Tec, it is still a retcon to existing canon. Whether that is a good or bad change is up to the individuals engaging with the material but that doesn't change the fact that making who dropped the bombs Vault Tec, or anyone else other than China for that matter, is 100% a retcon.
which we already had theories about vault-tec dropping first, so nothing changes.
@@bfeldz1023 or he could've been pushing one of his ideas that got shut down during the production of the game? interviews dont' decide canon, especially when they are held YEARS after the game came out. that's why kirkbride doesn't get to make elder scroll canon anymore and pelinel isn't a time traveling cyborg.
if it's not in the actual media, it doesnt' count.
Props on the amazing breakdown of the Megaton Vault-tec rumors. Its all good to have such arguments about a fictional universe, but taking sources into account and under scrutiny is important when trying to find out the truth. Especially when we run off rumours so much nowadays.
I'm proud to see practices like this properly being used in entertainment, when its so lacking in even more serious topics. Academia aside of course. Praise be to atom and its scholars. 😊
Wait, the Big MT rep was Sinclair? Why? Sinclair wasn't a military or scientific partner, he just agreed to work with Big MT to fund construction of the Sierra Madre, and was kept pretty in the dark about a number of the experiments going on there.
Imagine my shock that the show wasn’t actually well thought out.
@@Zaczac111 Right? They hyped up the show by telling us it was made by Fallout fans who knew the lore inside and out, and then it's packed full of retcons, OCs and nonsense that doesn't fit with what's previously been established. Just like a fan project.
@@TheMaghorn That’s a disservice to Dan projects. Nuka Break is way better than the official show.
@@TheMaghorn I mean every game is basically made with cast of new characters why would the show be any different?
When you take into consideration that Vault-Tec is front and center in most of the Fallout narrative and very little detail is put regarding who else might have started the war, is it really a surprise? Neither company behind the Fallout games really fleshed out the super secret society that wanted to watch the world burn. Up until The Enclave came up in the show (I only came on board as a fan with Fallout 3), I was among the people who figured it was Vault-Tec behind the whole thing.
It would be fun if the symbol is used to represent west tec
Might make sense then. The show showed all the companies getting in on it. Maybe west tec had the nukes but not vault tec?
I always disarm the Megaton Bomb, it's the first thing I do whenever I get to Megaton.
No matter what the canon explanation is, to me it will always be the aliens that started the Great War
The aliens didn’t seem that bright when we ran through their ship. One could have accidentally pressed the button that nukes Canada in mothership zeta
@@judyfps5059 Great now I am imagining Zetan Goku going "now where is the muffin button" only to press the nuke Canada button.
@@spartanonxy the scene from monsters vs aliens with the two identical GIANT red buttons. One is for coffee and the other is nuclear Armageddon 🤣
Hey I was just playing and noticed the fusion core logo is the same as the Nuke bomb please take a look 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
Haven't watched it all yet, but my theory is that it's not that Vault tech STARTED the great war, it's that they would've had it not happened itself
I think that was the bigger takeaway from that scene. It wasn't that Vault-Tec dropped the bombs, but it demonstrated what they (and more specifically, Barbara) were willing to do. It illustrated how monstrous they were.
They WANT it to happen. The vault tec in the show are stupid like that.
@@johnmccarron7066 EXACTLY
@@Vantud391 No, not stupid, greedy and capitalistic, which is what Fallout has always saterized, they're making sure their investments, and the investments of people like Mr. House, don't go unused. Vault-Tec absolutely would've dropped the bombs, they just didn't have to
@@CasuallyShadowCriticising capitalism specifically is very much a Bethesda thing. Fallouts 1, 2, and Tactics very much are critiquing nationalism and American exceptionalism as made evident by the amount of critique levied at all parties involved with the great war, including China.
As Tim Cain is something akin to the grandfather of Fallout, I'm inclined to believe him when it comes to deep lore. He has a unique position in the creation and conception of this universe, which gives him a distinctive authority of it, that should be acknowledged.
Honestly, I’m not surprised that Vault Tech is crazy enough to do something like this. They are so similar to Umbrella. I would love a Fallout game or TV series that focuses on the Pre War era.
I think that the people in the shadows are Original Enclave members.
MODUS in Fallout 76 says that the Enclave consisted of government AND corporations so it wouldn't surprise me that Vault-Tec would be included.
Or Nestle, or Amazon, or Monsanto honestly countless other real world.
@@brunoactis1104 Oh spot on.
@@mattt233 Oh yeah! I almost forgot about that character! Thanks for the reminder 👍🏼
@brunoactis1104 look up the Quandt family.
It reminds me a lot of the air force symbol (or w/e it is) on the P51 Mustang
I feel like bethesda wanted to take a big poop on interplays lore
The Megaton bomb was probably dropped by a US bomber that got hit with either the EMP from one of the Chinese strikes or damaged by one of the blasts. The first thing the bomber crew would do if the engines went out or they took damage is to drop the UNARMED bomb in order to shed weight and allow them to either glide to safety or fly to a landing site. That's why the bomb is on US soil. Because of Manya we know that other planes were taken down due to the EMP. The weird thing is the rocket. Once it was launched it should have just kept going as an EMP wouldn't really do anything to it since nuclear missiles use mechanical systems to specifically harden them against EMP. Though I may be a bit off there since I wasn't a Nuke during my time in service.
Is fallout who drop le bomb first is just the fallout version of star war who shots first
I remember seeing the mystery symbol and thinking something like, "Huh, that looks like it could fit inside the Vault Tech symbol." instead of "That is the vault tech symbol."
So I think I just kind of assumed for a long time that Vault Tech maybe had some kind of hidden second division that worked on weapons development that they perhaps sold to the U.S. government, and that the bomb probably wound up there because of a misfire or a crashed plane or something. Weirdly enough I don't think it ever even occurred to me that Vault Tech may have fired it themselves until I started seeing the theories online.
Really I like the idea of not knowing for sure though, it keeps things more interesting that way, but if it's something that they finally do want to explore in the new show, I think that's fine too.
It was Gandhi.
Absolutely, he's just too trigger happy.
Mahatma Gandhi was a known jet addict from the commonwealth of Massachusetts, he constantly snorted Mirelurk blood and had hallucinations
Nah it was Abraham Lincoln and Obama. Damn politicians . Abe Lincoln posted about it on Facebook the day before it happened. Duh
As someone who does sci-fi writing as a personal hobby i also started a fan-fic exploring the possibilities and potential of the Fallout universe and i cant help but feel we are all missing something when it comes to who started it.
My purely speculative opinion formed over the years is that someone/a small group in a position of power in the US government got wise to Vault-Tec and the Enclave.
In their investigation they find themselves trapped, cornered, with their only option to personally fly out some of Vault-Tecs own nukes in hopes of preemptively starting the war and catching Vault Tec/ the Enclave off guard, one of these would have been the Megaton bomb that was intercepted by the military over DC.
Its hard to say but ide imagine these bombs weren't intended for the reds thousands of miles away, they were intended for Vault-tec and Enclave tagets, the ladder of which fared a bit better.
It could also be an infiltration job, but i like this idea best where the most partiotic act of any American in the Fallout universe was in nuking their own country....
War Never Changes....
Hello, father.
I think the issue of who dropped the first bombs is secondary, Vault-Tec had a vested interest in the War starting. Vault-Tec built a large number of Vaults, most of which had some form of socialogical experiment in them. Once they had designed those experiments and set them up in the Vaults, they would want them to run, and for that to happen, the bombs had to drop so the residents would enter the Vaults. The show also leads me to believe that the purpose of Vault 11's experiment was to field test the cryogenic process before they froze their own people for "Bud's Buds". Vault 118 may have been for the same reason, to test the process before using it on high-level employees.
Vault-tec may or may not have been the ones that actually started the War. I think it's clear they helped it along at the very least.
I feel like they really dropped the ball with vault tech lore
I think the symbol was a vault tec symbol that was used in the company's earlier days. I feel like the center of the symbol almost looks like a vaults door , and it does have three lines going out on either side. Orange white Orange. So it does parallel with the vault tec symbol. And I personally (way before the show) thought that Vault Tec started the war (in some way)
In my headcanon the megaton crater was made by a long-range bomber that was scrambled too late. Meaning it carried the bomb now in the center and its parts and those of similar planes strewn around the are was what was later used to construct the town.
This would also give an explanation to why it didn't explode: It simply wasn't armed.
Additionally I think they used the whole theory thing about the Megaton bomb and the scrapped movie to lead the audience on about Vault-Tec starting the war. It seems like a red herring that is going to be revealed as such through a twist later on in the story.
same, it could be that the plane carrying the bomb was hit with some EMP effect during the war leading to the plane crash and the bomb itself having its arming mechanism be disabled
the predecessors of megaton then found the plane and made a town out of its scraps
@@EnnnVyyyI am not completely convinced an EMP could've taken down a long-range bomber meant to deliver nuclear bombs. They would most likely harden its electronics against that by shielding it with metal cages.
It doesn't even have to be an EMP, the shockwave or heat could've been enough, if the plane was still low.
I mean there wouldn't have been that much warning anyway, once the Chinese ICBMs where spotted on radar and while there no doubt would've been some bombers flying all the time, they would've still tried to send as many as they could.
The Megaton one could just have been one of the last to take off, hence being low enough to be hit by the shockwave and/or heat of the blast.
I’ve always thought Vault-Tec might have had a separate branch or a company they owned which produced atomic bombs for the US government. D.C. gets struck, an American bomber carrying it to Chinese targets goes down from the EMP or the sheer blast force
Honestly I don't think whoever started it should be revealed at all. Fallout is at its strongest when it's not agonising over what was lost, but rather building a better future. The non-bethesda fallout games understand this, especially Old World Blues.
Yeah but Bethesda would prefer eternal shanty towns, bos and super mutants hence why they killed the NCR and new vegas
@@niatscreations4913 they didnt kill ncr or new vegas
@@snuduthey basically crippled the ncr so they are basically a band of raiders, barely above them if being charitable and the outro credits are a cinematic of a destroyed vegas.
Until season 2 we really don't have any info to suggest otherwise.
@coinisinorbit The NCR hasn't fallen, Shady Sands did. And as the billboard says "the first capital" its heavily implied that the NCR has since located somewhere different. And how is it shown that New Vegas is desolate? All you see is a shot from very far away.
@@niatscreations4913Bethesda and also the creators since… well they wanted to get rid of the NCR and Shady sands quite early
Honestly, I had figured that it was possible the megaton bomb didn't properly display the vault-tec logo because of the low resolution of most of the textures, but that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. There's no way they'd downscale something THAT important. Still, it was placed intentionally, so it's easy to think there's gotta be a reason for the similarity.
Hear me out. Maybe that logo on the bomb is vault tec, but perhaps a secret branch of the company. They could have had a top secret weapons division.
I think the most important part of all this is that, in the end, it doesn't really matter *who* dropped the first bombs, who started it, because the world's already ended, the damage already done. There's ultimately no point to any of the conjecture, the who-what-when-where-why of it all. The results are in, the world is forever changed, and it's best if we all could just drop it and get on with our lives. And that's the beauty of it all, that we can't give up on the speculation. It's what drives us, to fortune and misfortune both. That we can't begin again. That we can't let go. That we know.
Because War...
War never changes.
Actually it was me who started the Great War. My bad honestly
The bomb in Megaton is from a fallen bomber plane. During the cold War many nuclear bomber planes were constantly on the sky waiting for orders. This one must have been damaged by the Chinese nukes that exploded in DC and fell out of the sky. This explains why the nuke didn't go off (it wasn't armed yet), why it's an American bomb, why it's in a crater, and why Megaton is made from plane parts.
I think it would be neat if the symbol turned out to be a secret nuclear division of VaultTec. It would make sense that they'd want some mark that it's their property, but miiiiight not want their public facing brand associated with a nuke when they're selling bunkers 😂
I am Sean demonica and I appreciate what you do I can add a lot more knowledge to the lore of fallout
I know the wife of the guy that does the sound the music for fallout and I was informed that fallout 5 is it supposed to come out 20/25 let's see if that holds true but due to Bethesda it's can take that much longer you're talking with or listening to a guy that knows people within the bike world so it may take some time for this to take fruition great things are going to happen in the great gamer world
And by the way my daughter works for EMS Elon musk
The Zetans dropped the first bomb. While many don’t like the fact that Mothership Zeta is canon, it is mentioned in that DLC.
The raddest king released another philosophical essay.
If House was in the meeting, and knew the plan, why was he caught unawares when the bombs came?
The biggest issue with the Vault-Tec theory is that Vault-Tec did not survive the war. That’s the whole reason they were supposedly starting the war. It would be like burning down your home for an insurance payout and dying in the fire.
That symbol kinda looks like the reverse of the Vault Tech logo... so it wasn't Vault Tech .. it was Tech Vault!!
It was me. I dropped the bomb.
You bastard!
Thank you Mr fallout
Excellent analysis of the show! Thanks for providing additional insight. I was thinking they hamfisted Vault-Tec into a "capitalism bad" plot line but this makes more sense.
So heres my take:
Just because Vault Tec wanted to drop the bombs first doesn't mean they actually ended up doing it. It could be they wanted to, but China beat them to it. The original Fallout creators even said China was the first to drop the bombs because they found the US research on FEV
Personal theory vault-tec was planning ways to do it, was caught, and then someone struck first.
this is why several vaults where unfinished and not ready for the bombs. either they had to throw the switch early or someone did it to stop them
No one seems to have considered that the symbol was from the Chinese, either their air force or such.
There's no reason to believe that's the case. It's purely unfounded speculation - not *impossible*, but it simply has no evidence. What we do know is that the symbol is very similar to the Vault-Tec logo, so naturally the speculation runs in that direction.
@@sherlockhooves574 Considering that the symbol on the bomb is not used anywhere else in the game then it's open to non-Vault-Tec and US origins. As the video stated, similarity with other known symbols is only proof of it being similar, not that it's from those sources. Also the fact that the Chinese did drop bombs and missiles in the game has already been established. The evidence for my point is that the other source, namely Vault-Tec, is ruled out because there's no evidence that it was coming from them. There's no reason NOT to believe it's not a Chinese bomb and it's not unfounded to say so because of what I outlined.
@@MrSnivvel I don't think you even read my post.
Yes, other origins are certainly possible. But the only evidence we have for its origin is the symbol, and the only thing that we know about the symbol is that it bears a striking resemblance to the Vault-Tec logo. Nobody is saying it can't be Chinese, but the only concrete evidence we have does not point in that direction.
Actually, there is further evidence that it isn't of Chinese origin - the other markings are all in English, which would be strange (though not impossible) for a Chinese weapon.
Finally, this line: "The evidence for my point is that the other source, namely Vault-Tec, is ruled out because there's no evidence that it was coming from them." This is so maddeningly inconsistent I have to wonder if you got an AI to write your point for you. You claim Vault-Tec is ruled out because of a lack of evidence (untrue, what we lack is concrete proof), then say that because we've ruled out Vault-Tec, it's rational to say that it's of Chinese origin *without evidence*.
In essence, you're saying that it can't be Vault-Tec because there's no evidence, but also it could be Chinese despite there being no evidence.
@@sherlockhooves574 I read your post and it was regurgitating the "it's a similar symbol therefore lets consider it" take.
It's ruled out because similarity is not evidence to support the claim. You lack any form of evidence other than a symbol that looks similar to other things, old US Air Force and Vault-Tec logos. Mimicry is not evidence. There is no "concrete evidence" to support the claim.
The evidence in my favor is that China did drop bombs, which is leaps and bounds closer to a justifiable claim than a symbol looking similar. Furthermore, there were known Chinese spies and nationals in the US right before the war broke out and thus having access to material with English printed on them.
Occam's Razor.
@@MrSnivvelI believe it was just a US or undetonated bomb that fell, I don’t think it’s unrealistic for vault tec to have helped produce weapons for the military or have/build sentinel sites, as someone else pointed out, it could have been a bomb for china that just fell during the EMP wave, or, it was part of a bomber that crashed in the area and that’s why the walls of megaton use plane parts, they simply just didn’t want to fuck with a bomb, the fact the bomb isn’t armed and the player has to arm it or disarm it to use it should tell us simply that it was not meant to be used at that moment
I think the scene from the show actually helps to counter the argument that vault tec started the war. Why? Because that would mean Mr. House was a share holder, and we know from New Vegas that the platinum chip did not arrive before the bombs dropped. Why in the hell would Mr. House drop the bombs when he himself was not ready for them to be dropped?
It could be that one of the other shareholders somehow found out about Mr. House's plans to circumnavigate the bomb dropping plans through the platinum chip so hurried the plan along, but I guess we would need to wait for more scenes before we can start to draw conclusions.
I would discount the tv show as in any way canonical. And if anyone is confused by that I mean that I don't consider the tv show to be canon. It's a typical bums in seats adaptation of a game series but instead of telling a good story that actually fits into the lore the producer and director ignore it to basically tell their own story that "happens” to be set in a beloved game series world. In other words it's a fanfic but isn't written by a fan.
When you asked why they would drop the bombs I always thought they ( enclave/vault TEC ) had some sort of robot or system like PAM (or even Pam herself) that basically reinforced their idea of starting a new world by telling them humans would go to nuclear war either way at some point so they thought fk it we will start it early.
I genuinely don't like this idea for a number of reasons. SPOILERS
1. Before the fallout show Vault Tec was just a greedy somewhat idiotic company that gambled humanity's future on silly and dumb social experiments. Evil but more so due to greed and incompetence.
2. The bombs being dropped by Vault Tec kinda take away from the theme "War never changes" Fallout is meant to be the aftermath of humanity's inability to compromise or find a better solution. Are natural drives to commit atrocities for our goals. Vault Tec doing this changes the meaning of corporations greed to profit off a conflict does in a way fit the theme but it's in a more roundabout way.
3. I find it Really Really dumb that you'd rather nuke the world to achieve what exactly? King of dust and bones? Every Vault Tec executive easily lived a better life Pre-War than they ever could post apocalypse. You had super models and cavier now you have rad roaches and ghouls. You had jacuzzis and luxury cars now you have radioactive rain and heavy Boots.....like what? This is like actively blinding yourself for sympathy.
4. Vault Tec despite not being a factor in post apocalypse somehow has the capability to wipe out and cripple NCR throwing it into complete chaos. I'm sorry what? And somehow they associate with the enclave and we only are hearing this now? It kinda makes it feel like the last 5 major fallout games lost a bit of their meaning. Vault Tec apparently could have simply nuked any wasteland threat if it got too powerful.
TLDR Vault Tec is somehow responsible for everything that happened in Fallout from beginning to end and despite decades of lore this is just only being told now.
2 - Wars have indeed been conducted n the name of greed and business. The United States, for example, toppled the government of Guatemala partly because it was being socialist but also partly because some of the government had shares in The United Fruit Company who were in danger of losing money because of the new government
I speculate that a different faction dropped the megaton bomb. Maybe Vault-Tec is really a front for something much larger and their logo was based on that faction's logo. It would explain the similarities between the logos, and paints a more enigmatic agenda behind Vault-Tec's actions.
In Fallout 4, we saw the starting minutes of the Great War at the Switchboard. The Ghost Fleet (an ultra secret Chinese project that the US Military didn't even want to pretend was real) pops up on scanners and launches its entire payload at West-Tek, New York, and Philly. NORAD retaliates.
Even though Tim Cain has said that China dropped the first bomb. It doesn’t contradict the idea that Vault Tech could have orchestrated the circumstances leading up to it. I think that the company being behind it just adds more layers to the story.
Silly question, but who would still be using gravity bombs in 2077? You'd never get a traditional bomber anywhere near its target against 21st century air defense. Right?
thats what i think eevry time i see that stupid megaton bomb in thr 21st century we would allbe using missiles not fat manesque gravity bombs
I haven't played a lot of New Vegas, and have spent even less time in Nellis, but for an Air Force base I don't recall much anti air? I think it's just artillery. And I've never seen any anti air in Fallout 3, though I haven't played it myself.
Assuming it was Chinas bomb in Megaton, maybe they had a stealth bomber, and if it was Vault-Tec then their place in the US government would give the US little to no reason to suspect a vault tech plane in the air. Just a few thoughts about it.
Fallout's art style is Retro-Futurism, its what people of the 1950's speculated what 2070's would look like. In the '50's ICBMs were still in their infancy and air-defense was still mostly guns and flak-cannons.
So I think the prevalence of gravity bombs is mostly an artistic choice.
i mean, it's not different than them still using CRTs and vacuum tubes. they have Nuclear capability, but their chips were very primitive.
I remembered number stations existed and watched a couple videos about them, then I came across one that sounded like the one in the intro. RadKing, is the source of your intro a number station?
(Seemingly) unpopular opinion:
I hope we never find out who dropped the first bomb. For me, the point of fallout is to show that total war is the worst possible outcome for life. No one wins in this scenario. War is hell, and war never changes.
Saying who dropped the first bomb, imo, diminishes this perspective on the series.
We don't need to know who started it. It's pointless for the tales Fallout wants, or should want to tell. The intro narration of Fallout 2 says it best;
War. War never changes.
The end of the world occurred pretty much as we had predicted.
Too many humans, not enough space or resources to go around.
The details are trivial and pointless, the reasons, as always, purely human ones.
Don't make Vault-Tec into this big bad behind it all that our plucky band of unlikely adventurers needs to vanquish for peace to be restored in the land.
I think China did it. USA was recovering Alaska and at the same time was pushing in mainland China with the chinese surrending when they saw T-51 power armors.
@@dr.krimson1010 I love you
CHINA.
Indeed. It doesn't matter who shot, or in this case, dropped the bombs first. Unfortunately it is where the franchise is heading, or at least the TV show and future canon.
An interesting thing about Megaton/Vault101/Springvale is that it is in Real Life McLean VA, (All the Fallout 3 water towers say McLean) and the ZIP code for McLean is 22101.
Hey RadKing I have a question. Theres an unknown only-mentioned character named "Bagman" that's mentioned in FO3, Lonesome Road and FO76 new Update. Apparently he had high level clearance to fire the nuclear bombs at Fort Constantine and the Hopeville Silo. You think he could be the USA president from Before the War?
i’m just gonna drop why i headcanon vault tec starting the war:
without a smoking gun, i have to wonder from a narrative perspective what “who dropped the bombs” actually means in terms of a story. I can’t really think of any meaningful difference between the US or China starting the war. no real symbolism or deeper meaning. Vault tec is a mega corporation that managed to monopolize the end of the world with a cute cartoon character. vault tec and weapons manufacturers actively stood to gain from stoking the fires of nuclear war. meanwhile, the ongoing war is over resources and expansion. it crafts a story about corporate greed, government greed, and the toxic waste made by combining them.
in my headcanon, after governments and corporations started to buckle under their own weight vault tec were the only ones with the means, motive, and opportunity to wipe the slate clean in an ill-fated attempt to own the world that would rise after.
this also can explain the experiments. it would take a lot of time and upfront resources to set those up, so why do it if they don’t plan to use that data somehow?
if anyone actually reads this i’m interested in hearing ur thoughts but please don’t expect me to argue about my fallout HC, i’m not THAT cringe
I think it was the enclave. They wanted a clean slate to build their perfect society in. They couldn’t do that prewar, since the US population and most of the military would just turn on them. But after the nukes fall, who would have the power to stop them? Theyd be the closest thing to a legitimate government, they have stockpiles of weapons and aircraft and powerarmor and bases made before the war, it makes a lot of sense they’d drop the bombs to wipe the slate clean to start over and build their perfect society (in their eyes, “perfect”) they’re the ones with the means, the reasons, and the resources to do so. The only problem with their plan, is that they didn’t expect that the wasteland after the nukes would ever pose a threat to them. They didn’t realize things like the chosen one and his party would exist, or that a small faction of the US military would survive and grow to outnumber them, they couldn’t have foreseen the institute covering the east coast in super muties or the facility out east to have a FEV breach and create the master and his army, they couldn’t have foreseen the successor state to the US rising up (the NCR) and well, their plans just didn’t pull through. Itd makes sense tho why’d they’d think prewar that’s the best way to go about wiping the slate clean
I've long felt that narratively, answering 'who shot first?' with 'It doesn't matter now.' was the right move. Fallout 1 did that and I liked it. If there has to be an answer, the side losing the war makes sense because thematically it doesn't matter who was losing, anyone starting to lose badly enough would hit the button.
The bomb in Megaton is likely from a bomber that was already in the air or scrambling when the first detonations occurred. Damaged by shock / blast waves it broke up, ejecting the unarmed bomb(s) it as carrying.
IIRC there have been a few RL incidents where US nuclear armed planes have broken up in mid-air or encountered other emrg and their nuclear payload was ejected, landing on American soil.
Just think if vault tec started the war then they wouldn’t be able to get anymore profit
it was more than just "profit"
Bud Atkins explains it in the series: the point was not to “outprofit” competition, but to outlast it.
“Time is the ultimate weapon of mass destruction”.
I just always figured it didn't look exactly like the Vault tec logo because it was old and worn out. Hell with the show doing what it's doing I wouldnt be suprised if that's retroactively what it becomes
one thing i think is key to understand is that this doesn't outright confirm vault tec started the war, they were merely planning to ensure the war happened if the us or china didn't do it
It was zetans in a terminator 2 type scenario
There's a Fat Man replica in the Ohio Air Force Museum.
Nah, that's a Davy Crockett nuke launcher. It's what the fat man is based on.
Same at the aircraft museum in Pensacola.
If I'm not mistaken, I think NMC's texture pack replaces that logo with that if vault tec, which probably added to people's confusion.
I trust corporations less than I trust national governments, if only barely
If only because I can count on the fact that a corporation will always do the worst possible thing in every situation without exception
What if, the bomb is part of a sister vault tec company so the symble is so simular but is under the vault tec umbrella
U should be writing about the wars going on right now Since you’re pretty good at doing it with fallout lore
Doesn’t West-Tec dissolve into Vault-Tec? If so WT is known for its military background.
Therefore would it be so far fetched to believe this is a West-Tec bomb and maybe there is a slight variance in logos with the rebranding?