i took another trip to the headcanon mines, this is a pretty long game concept brainstorm.
i saw this idea float around some places but they wanted it to be fallout 5's location: i disagree. i feel it would be better served being an enhanced spinoff similar to new vegas and fallout 3. i know we had a dlc that was there and bethesda dislikes using the same area twice but a full fledged game here would be awesome.
after the war for alaska, the chinese were pushed out early in 2077 and that same year they dropped the nukes starting the Great War. you think the chinese just forgot about alaska? no, no they did not. and since alaska's one of the least nuked areas of the world, remnants of the chinese (similar to our us enclave) came to retake it for prides sake and for the relative untouched land/resources. this game will be set only 10 years after the nukes btw: they survived the dark storms with bunkers, both ones made during the alaskan occupation and newer ones and a few untouched/abandoned vaults. some of the old guard went home to china to survey the damage and came back, and came back with as many people as they could wrangle.
these guys are hardcore. the veterans are leftovers from the alaskan conflict and are well armed, well armored and experienced. some are even ghouls and still serve. the newer ones are conscripted chinese survivors who are fairly armed (if the vets have assault rifles, these guys have decent battle rifles), basically trained and are fanatical. they are basically endless, have organized and well entrenched bases, have military discipline and training, and have a plan to take over the rest of southern alaska. this faction (ive yet to come up with a name) hates america and by extension really hates you. you got your work cut out for you compared to fallout 4.
but why you? because your character is a veteran of the battle for anchorage, similar to our fallout 4 male pc. during the battle for anchorage, you and your squad were tasked with assaulting multiple bunkers containing both supplies and commanders.
this will be the set for our prologue, the day of the battle. we get a nice moment to see our squad gathered, a full 10 men and women with 2 power armored specialists and an assaultron. the ladies of the squad are the designated marksmen, of course. the rest are armed with laser rifles and combat armor. the lieutenant stands in front of your squad with a board and goes over the assault plans, someone (maybe you) makes a smart alec quip and everyone laughs, even the assaultron. she's one of the more sophisticated ai ones, think codsworth level of emotional intelligence.
you all move out, in the distance you can hear combat: guns firing and explosions, shouting in both english and chinese. if you look over a trench, you can even see some of the other fights going on. you take the first couple bunkers containing supplies easily but the fighting gets harder as you go. your squad leader identifies one of the bunkers as containing an important chinese commander and tasks the assaultron (need to also come up with a name for "her") to circle around it. she goes but before you guys even get there, youre bombarded by chinese artillery. the ice beneath your feet cracks and begins traveling foward, you and your squad sprint to avoid it, but one by one youre all dragged into the water.
are you dead? somehow not, you wake up in an infirmary bed in some sort of bunker. a doctor with a vaguely french accent is sitting next to your bed. apparently you've been asleep for almost 22 years, frozen under the ice. as the ice ebbs and flows, you were eventually found in an iceburg near a vault. this vault is vault 582, a control vault containing scientists and their familes. its been 2 years since they've popped their hatch. a few left at first, but most stayed. raiders found them, nestled between some hills and began attacking and a few vault dwellers were lost, more of the families began to leave. now its just 4 scientists left in a mostly abandoned vault, continuing their work. our doctor found us while they were hunting for ice to study the effects of high radiation and fev on ice.
as you get situated, adjusting to the new world, one of the remaining scientists catches odd radio waves. these are actually encrypted chinese radio waves and here begins our sandbox story; finding out the chinese have not given up on alaska and are building some sort of superweapon to help them. you have to find people capable of helping you stop them while you find out what they're making, how it works and how to stop it.
this will contain a version of fo4's settlement building but it will be limited to 5 large plots you make fortress cities at. theres also smaller captureable outposts that generate and transfer resources to your bases.
you need a faction to help you maintain this, of course, and you have 4 main options: the enclave (gasp! yeah of course they're here and they're the "pragmatic evil" option), the brotherhood of steel (a fairly neutral option), becoming overboss of the raiders (the obv evil option) and a new faction: the alaskan ice rangers. these guys are basically the other scientists and survivors banding together, and are the good option. which ever faction you go with will assign you a lieutenant/adjutant from their faction and will move into vault 582 as its regional hq. your faction affects the overall 'flavor' of your settlements, including the general atmosphere, the spawned guards and patrols, the settler's comments and designs.
this will affect the appearance and atmosphere of the vault as well:
the brotherhood basically just cleans it up and fills it with bos flags and symbols, moves some military gear in and gets some research scribes in to help the scientists and its all very neat and organized. some younger initates are seen training and its all positive feeling and very military. the vault scientists approve of this option and the brotherhood treat them with respect.
the enclave take the place over, they move extra scientists over and the general atmosphere of the vault darkens. the scientists are watched by jackboot wearing officers. power wearing guards patrol the halls and some conscripts are seen learning how to use energy weapons. the vault scientists are basically shunned and dislike this option; they're basically house arrested prisoners.
if you become overboss of the local raider gangs, the vault gets trashed. its like vault 3 from new vegas without so much murder. theres raiders having fights in makeshift arenas, doing drugs, making out, its crazy. the scientists are basically left alone tho; they're the boss's guests and are to be treated decently. their every need is tended to and efforts are made to get them to loosen up. even though they made out pretty good with this option, the vault scientists hate this, this was their home and now its a trash heap.
if invite the alaskan rangers back into the vault, its kept basically as it is but its more lived in. families settle in the rooms, crops are grown in the hydroponics bay, the armory is filled again and it just basically returns into a stable control vault. some guards keep watch at the important entries but its all nice and cosy. this is the happiest option for the vault scientists: in the introductory scenes, they recognize some of the faces and theres alot of handshakes and smiles.
theres a 5th, hidden faction as well. you remember that assaultron i mentioned earlier? if you find her in a certain hard-to-reach bunker that will dredge up memories when you find it, she opens up the 5th faction: the alaskan remnants. as the last confirmed living member of the us military in the region (not including the enclave and the brotherhood of steel, since both are essentially different factions altogether), you are considered the ranking officer and are given the rank of general. this is your own custom faction, and the only one you're truly in charge of aside from the raiders. this is basically the minutemen from fo4 but even more military. the vault is a combination of the alaskan rangers (families move back in) and the brotherhood (soldiers are seen training and patrolling). you do actually have the option of folding the alaskan rangers into this faction if you have made friends with them earlier. this is the other very happy option for the vault: the best of both worlds. the scientists are free to be with their friends and families, research their individual projects and come up with counter measures against threats. meanwhile, theres still a strong military presence to ward off the chinese and raiders.
whew.
some other favorites show up and some classics are missing.
super mutants in masse will not be featured, you may find a few here and there, but they will be scaled to the power they're supposed to be lorewise; they're all boss level enemies. fev was invented but unlike most areas, its not been spread a ton out here. ghouls are in, yao guai are in and deathclaws are in.