[Megathread] Fallout 76

[unholytestament]

They've said they'll have private worlds, but not at launch. Same for modding. The two will likely come together, since that's the easy way to prevent mod conflicts; can't join a world if you don't have the same mods as the owner, kind of thing.

Hmm. I can get behind that. Vanilla experience at launch, go crazy with mods later. Or just ignore launch and pick it up after mods are usable.

[dope_danny]

I'm sorry, I wasn't aware you were the forum police and nobody but the people who love Bethesda are allowed to post in a thread about Fallout. I'll express my concerns about Fallout 76 in the thread titled Fallout 76, thank you very much.

I'm here precisely because I like Fallout, but I don't like what Bethesda is doing with Fallout. Legally it is their IP, but that doesn't mean they are using it well at all. Since the official Bethesda forums are absolutely filled with borderline sycophants and reddit is, well, reddit I post here instead, not like it makes much of a difference.

And yes, that absolutely broke canon. Ghouls cannot survive without sustenance, and being stuck in a fridge for 200 years is not sustenance. There's a reason they didn't bother explaining it, because there is no explanation. Among all the other myriads of things that make no sense like more raiders than targets or more Super Mutants that could ever conceivably be produced in the Institute's lab, or whatever the state of the X-01 Power Armor is after all the retcons surrounding it or...

Anyway, you'll have your opinions, I'll have mine, I don't attack yours so kindly don't go for the throat every time anyone posts something even mildly critical of how Bethesda handles this franchise.

Honest question, what did you think of Wasteland 2 that tried to go in the opposite direction?

[Jastall]

Honest question, what did you think of Wasteland 2 that tried to go in the opposite direction?

A flawed attempt, but a good game nevertheless. I appreciated that they tried for a more old-school feel, but the sheer amount of skill checks amounted to busywork at times and the story was kind of a directionless excuse that turned into a rehash. I think games like Pillars of Eternity and Divinity Original Sin were far better at meshing old school principles and modern conveniences/playability into a satisfying package.

I don't think Fallout has to be isometric and super old school to be good - my favorite game in the series is New Vegas - but it needs not to forget what it is at its core, and what it is an RPG that stars setting, characters and choice and consequence over blowing monsters up with plasma cannons. Bethesda are only good at that first item, and even then it is inconsistent at times. And I have no reason to believe the game being always online multiplayer will improve the situation.

[Arrashi]

Honest question, what did you think of Wasteland 2 that tried to go in the opposite direction?

Wasteland 2 was great idea, and definately had soul, but god damn was it burdened by tight budget. Also, alot of people get burned on the starting part (which is without doubt the worst part of game, especially if you go plant route), and never reach later parts (especially los angeles) where game really picks up. It was great game, but was very niche, mostly for very hardcore RPG fans.

[Deleted]

Found another Pete Hines interview, added to the list of interviews in the OP.



It hasn't been talked about a lot in this thread at least, but he alludes to the possibility of having several characters. Which makes sense, of course, seeing as though this isn't going to be a "one character per one server" -type of a game; there aren't visible servers and all progression and everything you build is tied to the character only.

[LoLcano]

Did they mention if u can have a dedicated group and have 4 people for example all build their camp near eachother for potential mini city and easier to manage resource and defense ?

Also they say u cant "choose" your server and when u click join u get put in a server , what happen to premade group? can i join a server and invite friend to same server later?

[Deleted]

Also they say u cant "choose" your server and when u click join u get put in a server , what happen to premade group? can i join a server and invite friend to same server later?

There aren't "servers", there are just "instances" much like in WoW. You can group up with a buddy and join the instance of the game that they're in. You'll never see a list of servers or server names though. But yeah, there'll be a friend list and you can group through that and then join your friend.

Aside from playing with your friends who are on your friend list - and there's the group limit, which right now is 4, you'll only ever play with random people, and there won't be any "server communities" that will form.

The subreddit has a lot of player-made factions though, so you can join those on their Discord, then add people once the game goes live, and then group up with them.

[LoLcano]

There aren't "servers", there are just "instances" much like in WoW. You can group up with a buddy and join the instance of the game that they're in. You'll never see a list of servers or server names though. But yeah, there'll be a friend list and you can group through that and then join your friend.

Aside from playing with your friends who are on your friend list - and there's the group limit, which right now is 4, you'll only ever play with random people, and there won't be any "server communities" that will form.

The subreddit has a lot of player-made factions though, so you can join those on their Discord, then add people once the game goes live, and then group up with them.

What about our camp? if i invite friend can they bring their camp too ?

[Deleted]

What about our camp? if i invite friend can they bring their camp too ?

Yeah the C.A.M.P. is saved with the character. If your buddy joins you, their C.A.M.P. comes with them in the spot where they left it, and if that spot is taken by someone else, then they'll get the device and they can plop their base somewhere else.

[LoLcano]

Yeah the C.A.M.P. is saved with the character. If your buddy joins you, their C.A.M.P. comes with them in the spot where they left it, and if that spot is taken by someone else, then they'll get the device and they can plop their base somewhere else.

Cool, tnx for info . lets hope this game turn good , it got potential !

[Endus]

Did they mention if u can have a dedicated group and have 4 people for example all build their camp near eachother for potential mini city and easier to manage resource and defense ?

I can't recall which interview it was, but I'm certain Hines mentioned that you can build cooperatively. Whether you can overlap and build a big co-op base or it's just that you can drop your C.A.M.P.s right next to each other, we still don't know.

Also they say u cant "choose" your server and when u click join u get put in a server , what happen to premade group? can i join a server and invite friend to same server later?

The way they've phrased it is that there aren't "servers" in the classic sense, at all. If you see your buddy on your friends list, you can join their worldspace, grouped or not. If you're already grouped, I assume it'll pull you into the same worldspace.

It's not like you have to pick "West Viriginia 32" to all be in the same space. You just enter the game and it plugs you in somewhere you'll fit, if you don't tell it to put you with a buddy.

It SHOULD feel seamless, since all progress is tied to your character and unless someone's CAMP was exactly where yours was, being pulled into a different worldspace shouldn't really be noticeable, if there is no loading screen (and if there is, you shouldn't really notice much difference, other than the player names present).

[mvaliz]

It SHOULD feel seamless, since all progress is tied to your character and unless someone's CAMP was exactly where yours was, being pulled into a different worldspace shouldn't really be noticeable, if there is no loading screen (and if there is, you shouldn't really notice much difference, other than the player names present).

That was something I was considering. I'm assuming the algorithm is going to be smart enough to know not to slap people in overlapped games.

Also, what happens if a group with a big base camp joins in and the camp is right next to you? Will you be just sitting there and have it materialize like a giant TARDIS? :P

I'm assuming they're also going to have an algorithm that makes sure your XYZ spaces away from another camp.... which would probably erase any form of co-op of multi-group sharing...

- - - Updated - - -

Yeah the C.A.M.P. is saved with the character. If your buddy joins you, their C.A.M.P. comes with them in the spot where they left it, and if that spot is taken by someone else, then they'll get the device and they can plop their base somewhere else.

Was that in an interview somewhere? Because if it's using the F4 building/settlement engine, you really just can't just pick up a whole base and "plop" it down somewhere else without having to deal with terrain issues. Though you can theoretically pick up and place entire sections manually - but that would be very interesting to see if they let you do that... especially if you build your previous camp on multi-level ground (ie. would crafting stations that were once on a higher level tier be floating in the air in the new location, ect)

[Endus]

Was that in an interview somewhere? Because if it's using the F4 building/settlement engine, you really just can't just pick up a whole base and "plop" it down somewhere else without having to deal with terrain issues. Though you can theoretically pick up and place entire sections manually - but that would be very interesting to see if they let you do that... especially if you build your previous camp on multi-level ground (ie. would crafting stations that were once on a higher level tier be floating in the air in the new location, ect)

It's in the original E3 reveal; they show the CAMP being deployed and everything spawning: it really doesn't look like the F4 settlement system at all, in terms of gameplay. We don't yet know how much you can build them up yet: what we've seen looks far more temporary, but that could just be the aesthetic the testers like.

[mvaliz]

It's in the original E3 reveal; they show the CAMP being deployed and everything spawning: it really doesn't look like the F4 settlement system at all, in terms of gameplay. We don't yet know how much you can build them up yet: what we've seen looks far more temporary, but that could just be the aesthetic the testers like.

Really? Cus it looks EXACTLY like the F4 settlement system in terms of gameplay from what I saw - right down to placing the laser turrets and everything. Honestly that's about the only reason I'm even keeping this game on my radar is because I enjoyed the F4 settlement designing aspect so much and this part looks like a portable version of exactly that. The only difference is that instead of them mapping out specific zones that are accessible via a sesile workshop, you place your CAMP down anywhere and it specifies an area you can build. Everything in the preview-camp they showed looked right out of F4, even being on a ledge of a different height if I recall correctly.

Now, perhaps another way for them to do it is to "pack up" everything into the camp and you have to manually place everything again. That's already built into the F4 engine.

[Endus]

Really? Cus it looks EXACTLY like the F4 settlement system in terms of gameplay from what I saw - right down to placing the laser turrets and everything. Honestly that's about the only reason I'm even keeping this game on my radar is because I enjoyed the F4 settlement designing aspect so much and this part looks like a portable version of exactly that. The only difference is that instead of them mapping out specific zones that are accessible via a sesile workshop, you place your CAMP down anywhere and it specifies an area you can build. Everything in the preview-camp they showed looked right out of F4, even being on a ledge of a different height if I recall correctly.

Now, perhaps another way for them to do it is to "pack up" everything into the camp and you have to manually place everything again. That's already built into the F4 engine.

What I mean by "not remotely like" is that the mechanics of placing might be similar, but it seems rooted to a smallish "platform" on which you can place things. Obviously, I haven't gotten a chance to test it, but I got the impression it was maybe about the size of an 8x8 square of the "floor" squares in size, in F4's settlement system (the big ones, not the smaller quarter-size ones). The F4 system was heavily tied to terrain, I assume they're removing that restriction completely to ensure settlements can be plopped anywhere, maybe with scaffolding under whatever flooring there is to justify it visually.

I don't think it's going to be anywhere like the size of F4 settlements. It might be bigger than that 8x8 number, since I'm really just making that up based on some gut impressions, and we don't really know how high or in-depth you can build, yet. This is what I meant by "not like F4 settlements in terms of gameplay"; I don't think you're getting a sprawling terrain and then building upon that terrain, I think you're getting a much smaller but portable radius the CAMP is the base of (it may not be a straight radius, the CAMP may just need to be somewhere within it), and it won't be terrain-dependent (at least, in the sense that it adapts to terrain dynamically rather than you having to adapt to terrain reactively, as in F4).

We've seen similar functionality come in F4 with things like Place Anywhere, so it's clearly within the system's capability to make a smaller radius you can plop anywhere. Likely not off steep cliffs, at least not past a certain extent. Maybe over water. We need some actual fiddling; I'm looking forward to the beta.

Edit: As an example, my current "main base" in my current Fallout 4 runthrough;



It's at Egret Tours Marina. While I used a mod (Scrap Everything, I think) to do stuff like remove the entire middle pier, and there's a few bits from either Homemaker or Snap n Build in there (the industrial scaffolding supports, mostly), the rest is vanilla. We MIGHT be able to build something that size, in Fallout 76, but we might not. The main building is basically a 3-story 5x5 floorplan, so it's not immense (bottom floor for power armor, middle floor crafting, top floor storage and comforts). But I'm standing on an undemolished building i've done nothing with, and there's another to the right of me, and there's a TON of space I'm not making use of, here, and egret Tours Marina isn't one of the biggest settlements to begin with. You might be able to drop something like my VaultHut down in 76, but I'm not expecting all that much more in terms of scale.

But really, that's a comfortable size, honestly.

Edit 2: I just went back through the E3 footage, they show 3-4 different camps, and they're all relatively small, and only single-story. I'm mostly referring to scale of the construction; I'm sure they're adding depth and utility.

[Lothaeryn]

So how is this game gonna stop me from lying in the brush with a sniper and popping every person that stops by? (If that's my kind of gameplay)

You mean the only gameplay for anything of the ilk (DayZ,Rust,Ark,etc...)

Its almost as bad as World of Tanks, where 90% of the time it was sniper duels across the battlefield.

[Deleted]

Was that in an interview somewhere?

Yup. They're all listed in the OP. Feel free to watch them for yourself. There's a few too many to just randomly remember which interview had which tidbit of information at which specific timestamp.

The way the C.A.M.P. works is that it saves a "blueprint" of your base, and you can pick it up (it's a machine that you throw down on the ground to create the base), and move your base, at will, wherever you like. For example, when your base is about to get nuked, and you get the warning, that would be the perfect time to push a button on your C.A.M.P., pack your shit up, and move.

Pete or Todd or whoever it was said that it will take a bit of work to make your base blueprint work in the new spot you choose, though. And, yes, obviously they have built upon the Fallout 4 settlement building system. Obviously it's not 100% the same.

If, when joining a game, whether when you're going back online alone, or going to team up with your buddy, there's someone else's base where your base is supposed to be, then your base will not be placed, but you'll have the C.A.M.P. instead, and you'll have to find a new base spot.

[Very Tired]

So how is this game gonna stop me from lying in the brush with a sniper and popping every person that stops by? (If that's my kind of gameplay)

Well there's about a dozen or so people playing on a map 4 times the size of Fallout 4.

I hope you bring some decent reading material for that brush.

[Deleted]

Well there's about a dozen or so people playing on a map 4 times the size of Fallout 4.

I know that you were probably just being a bit hyperbolic in the sense that you meant to say the world won't have a lot of players there, but I suppose a clarification is in order so that certain people don't take what you said as actual information and start spreading it. It does happen.

24-32 people per instance of the game is the latest word. No idea if there is any kind of a matchmaking system, such as based on the character's level, latency or zone (US, EU and so on), but one would assume that since this isn't like Rust, Ark or Conan, where you've got set, persistent servers that over time can become abandoned, as long as there's at least a handful of people playing this game around the world, you should always be thrown in with an instance that already has people, and people should be thrown in with you.

I said this on Reddit but I'll say it here too: first the biggest outcry was over there being even one person with you in a game, because the most vocal people wanted to play the game alone. Later the outcry will shift to "the player limit is too low!"

Just wait.

[unholytestament]

a map 4 times the size of Fallout 4

So have they said anything about fast travel?