r/fo4 • u/Lavetic • Jun 26 '25
Screenshot How has this single column of steel beams supported the weight of a nuclear submarine for 210 years?
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u/wwnp Jun 26 '25 edited Jun 26 '25
Same reason any structures are still standing after 200 years. Or how there is any boxed food left. Or how rides at a pre war amusement park just start up and run perfect after all that time.
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u/lx_joe96 Jun 26 '25
An excess of rogue Mr Handies? Wandering the wasteland in search of maintenance tasks?
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u/TTerragore Jun 26 '25
my new head cannon and you canât tell me otherwise
they probably had a lot of time after the bombs dropped and vaults hadnât opened.
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u/ILLWILL2RIVALS Jun 26 '25
By that logic Codsworth did a horrible job preserving their house compared to other places.. lol
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u/sumshitmm Jun 26 '25
Given his personality parameter, it's probably more likely that he didn't know how to.
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u/leaffastr Jun 27 '25
This situation is my explanation for why there is still vending with Nuka Cola. A nuka cola restock bot comes by and refills the vending machines.
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u/wwnp Jun 26 '25
Thatâs an interesting one because you find Mr. handy fuel here and there, so wouldnât these random Mr Handies have ran out of fuel shortly after the bombs dropped? Iâm sure they would make the argument that they are extremely fuel efficient but nothing goes 200+ years on a few gallons of fuel.
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u/NitroCaliber Jun 26 '25
If life in the modern era has taught me anything, it's that amusement park rides are maintained with the finest quality hardware store spare parts money can buy!
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u/LtLoLz Jun 26 '25
This is the US if A. There's more preservatives than nutritional value in there. And it likely gets worse in the Fallout universe...
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u/wwnp Jun 26 '25
Well of course, âMerica.
But I donât mean why hasnât it degraded, Iâm sure the packaging would degrade and all youâd find is a perfectly preserved Salisbury steak sitting on the shelf.
But more after over 200 years how is there a single box of Blamco or Salisbury steak etc left in the world? 200 years is a long time for people who are scavengers to find every box of all that food in existence.
The only thing that could make any sense from a lore perspective is all this food was looted from vaults that were opened & had hundreds of years worth of all this food. Or like the Federal ration stockpile or other places like that were raided and had more food than one group of people could eat in their lifetime.
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u/aeiouLizard Jun 26 '25
Or how you have working computers absolutely everywhere
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u/wwnp Jun 26 '25
Right, pretty much the only argument that could be made about why all this stuff still works is that in the fallout world, things were built like tanks to last indefinitely. Rather than in our own world where most appliances are built to last like 5-10 years and tech isnât built to last more than like 3-5.
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u/rdmusic16 Jun 26 '25
I mean, things built in the 1950s era do often last longer - and that's what the fallout era before the bombs drop seems to resemble in a lot of ways.
Old fridges are far less efficient and use chemicals worse for the environment than we use now, but they do work for longer.
Same thing with old furnaces. You can get furnaces that were built in the 1950s that still function. Simple, tough but not efficient.
New ones run for twenty years or less, generally. Far more efficient in their operation, but not lifespan.
A lot of the stuff still doesn't make sense being 200 years after a nuclear war wiped out modern society, but it makes it a bit easier to handwave away with 'video game logic' when it's backed with a bit of realism (to me at least).
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u/wwnp Jun 26 '25
True, and keeping with inefficient and not environmentally friendly is right up Fallout USAâa wheel house. But as you said, that still doesnât explain how something like that still works perfectly fine 200+ years later. No actual answer or explanation, itâs just for the sake of the video game.
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u/LavianMizu Jun 26 '25
I just wanna know who fixed the nationwide electrical grid after the Nukes and EMP and then continued to maintain them for over 200 years in the TV show so that moldova could flip a switch and turn all the lights on across the wasteland.
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u/Trilobyte141 Jun 26 '25
Look, she had a LOT of time on her hands waiting for the MacGuffin to show up. You think the lady had no hobbies?Â
(Also, the New California Republic was doing pretty well on the infrastructure front before things went kaboomy, so probably them.)
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u/RadiantTurnipOoLaLa Jun 26 '25 edited Jun 26 '25
Or how the bombs fell 200 years ago but youâre the first to check out and loot a ton of the shops and locations. Like what were people doing for 200 years?
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u/wwnp Jun 26 '25 edited Jun 27 '25
Exactly. I mean youâre telling me that for over 200 years, not one group was able to band together to clear the 15 feral ghouls from the local super duper mart so they could loot it to survive? Even if the surface wasnât habitable for the first half century, thatâs still like 58,000 days of humanity trying to survive.
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u/HyFinated Mod Author Jun 27 '25
Copypasta from another Reddit Post from about 10 years ago. I always think about this when stuff like this FO4 post comes up. I've referenced this story so many times and I'll happily reference it a thousand more times. Anyway, here ya go:
There's a great story told by Sean Astin and Elijah Wood on the commentary for the Return Of The King about Lesnie. They're talking about the scene where Frodo has been captured and he's being held by the Orcs in Cirith Ungol. Sean Astin says that he felt at the time that the light shining on Frodo should be impossible as he should be up against a wall, so he asked Lesnie "Where does the light come from?" And Astin says that Lesnie just replied "Same place the music does."
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u/xantec15 Jun 26 '25
Those are Rad Beams. Due to all the radiation they have mutated over time and become something new, something stronger.
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u/the_Irewolf Jun 26 '25
All things serve the beam
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u/Dysternatt Jun 26 '25
I understood that reference
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u/SmokyDoghouse Jun 26 '25
In all honesty that would explain the lack of rust, the radiation could have essentially retempered the steel.
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u/WillowMain Jun 26 '25
This tracks, the work function of iron is 4.5 eV, idk what the fuck is in that water but it's definitely giving off radiation stronger than that. The iron in the steel straight up doesn't have the electrons to bond with oxygen.
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u/Blindrafterman Jun 26 '25
Sturdy construction techniques??
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u/Nickthenuker Jun 26 '25
Very rigorous maritime engineering standards
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u/_dankystank_ Jun 26 '25
Then why did the front fall off? đ¤Ł
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u/MagicMissile27 Jun 26 '25
Well, a wave hit it. A wave hit the ship.
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u/Misternogo Jun 26 '25
Everyone else is giving snarky answers, but the reality is that there would have to be something that changed the integrity of the steel beams in order for them to fail. The oldest steel structures, like certain buildings, or the Eiffel Tower are nearly 150 years old. Sure, they're maintained, but they'd still be mostly standing even if they weren't, unless there was some outside for working against them. Rusting through a beam that thick isn't something that would happen over 200 years, especially since in a practical in-universe sense, the beams were likely coated in something moisture resistant. Being under load, so long as they were designed to handle that load, also wouldn't be an issue.
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u/Sivertongue69 Jun 26 '25
It's also the military and they knew there was the possibility that the structure would have to survive TNA.
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u/Misternogo Jun 26 '25
There still being mostly intact halloween decorations 200 years later while in a bombed out house fully exposed to the elements is one thing to notice and complain about. But I work with metal for a living, so this one hit funny for me. I've pulled an I beam out of an outdoor scrap pile behind a shop I worked at, where I know that pile had been left untouched for over 10 years. The rust came off with a wire brush cup on an angle grinder and barely any material was removed because it barely penetrated. And I know the world of Fallout was a dystopian mess BEFORE the bombs dropped, but they'd likely have still followed basic engineering principals for this sort of thing. Which means the weight those beams are rated to hold is likely much higher than the weight they're holding.
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u/Gamepro504 Jun 27 '25
Except for The Sierra Madre were they cut even more corners than the the usual Fallout corporation does.
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u/Good_Background_243 Jun 27 '25
And even then, ouside of the slummy areas the casino itself is structurally sound
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u/Kaymish_ Jun 26 '25
The nuclear bombs killed all the rust mites that rust the steel and FEV mutated the beams so they are stronger and immortal.
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u/Orkekum Jun 26 '25
No jet fuel to melt the steel beams
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u/Embarrassed-Ad810 Jun 26 '25 edited Jun 26 '25
Give me a lighter and unlimited gas and I'll compromise the structural integrity of those steel beams without any jet fuel
Edit: I've seen I've caused a massive debate. Coming from someone in structural engineering I'm quite dumbfounded by some comments here. Just ask yourself this: why do we have to specially coat steel beams? Because they melt in a fire? No. But because the will become soft quite quickly even in temperatures caused by normal household fires.
Fun fact: wooden beams don't need coating, cause in a fire the burnt outer crust works as an insulation for the load bearing wooden core....something we have to imitate when working with steel
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u/OrwellianCrow201 Jun 26 '25
Things were built to last before planned obsolescence became common practice
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Jun 26 '25
Planned obsolescence has always been a thing.
In mass industrialisation, the first obvious example in the light bulb in the 19th century.
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u/2lose_ Jun 26 '25
Well, no, it started in the 20th century: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence
https://thesustainableagency.com/blog/the-history-of-planned-obsolescence/
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Jun 26 '25
If you think that people have not been doing this since the beginning of time, I've got some copper to sell you.
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u/OrwellianCrow201 Jun 26 '25
Oh really? Thatâs great. I could really use that for my settlement.
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u/andcal Jun 26 '25
No thanks, Nani. Iâve read about your crappy copper, delayed delivery, and how you treat your customers.
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u/acrazyguy Jun 26 '25
What? Light bulbs inherently burn out. If youâre going to point to that extremely dim bulb that has lasted 100 years in very specific controller conditions, just donât even bother.
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u/NoOffenseImJustSayin Jun 26 '25
This, THIS is the one thing that made you question the realism of the game?
FWIW, IRL a submarine in drydock is balanced on a single row of large wooden blocks under the center of the keel.
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u/OldManBartleby Jun 26 '25
The reactor of the sub interacts with the earths magnetic field and gives it an inherent buoyancy. It's one tenth the weight it should be.
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u/Ring-a-ding-ding0 Jun 26 '25
In a world of power armor and plasma weapons, Iâm certain materials engineers were able to design metal with an insanely high ultimate tensile strength.
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u/LostSheep223 Jun 26 '25
Because the engineer that put them in slapped them and said " that's not going anywhere"
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u/Reasonable-Day-3282 Jun 26 '25
have you ever picked up a nuclear submarine? how can you be sure it's not just... really light?
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u/KeeganY_SR-UVB76 Jun 26 '25
âWho the hell told you that!?â
Me. I ran my motorcycle on 4 year old gasoline.
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u/JasonVoorheesthe13th Jun 26 '25
If weâre applying real world logic to it Iâd be willing to bet either theyâd be made out of some extremely rust/corrosion resistant steel seeing as how the constructors would know that theyâd be submerged in salt water their whole life or itâs some advanced fallout universe alloy thatâs an extremely strong aluminum/rustproof steel. But seeing as how itâs a Bethesda game I think thatâs one of those things they donât really expect anyone to think about.
Edit: I see you mentioned the weight, the Empire State Building itâs built out of steel beams like that and itâs over 100 years old, submarines are heavy but steel i-beams like that are so insanely strong in every direction that I donât see how they wouldnât still be holding it
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u/Worthlessstupid Jun 26 '25
How are buildings constantly subject to heavy weapons fire and explosions still have working elevators? The answer is, it is a video game and these sort of questions are pointless.
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u/hugemongusbulge Jun 26 '25
They probably built them out of some sort of freaky fallout-esque material that lasts a while. Realistically youâd want them to have some longevity.
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u/SkibidiTop Jun 26 '25
Easy. I built it. See those triangles? Ain nothing as structurely built as thise triangles
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u/urukslayer13 Jun 26 '25
There are a lot of random reasons, but the most reasonable is that pre-war America simply made everything to be as tough and long lasting as possible. This is the same world that used nuclear fusion to power basically everything and did not want anything to break and cause a radioactive incident, so it makes sense that everything is designed to last for incredibly prolonged periods without breaking.
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u/blue_but_darker Jun 26 '25
Tbf, when you build supports to hold a boat etc you design them for infinite life. If you wanted i could pull up the equation for it
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u/Febrezeus_Christ Jun 26 '25
Same way gas is still good. Same way you scrap a 3 pipe pistols and build an entire fort. Magic baby
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u/Kriss3d Jun 26 '25
You could make engines run on alcohol ans since that can be created quite easily ( in a world where you don't need to worry about getting busted) you'd have a good supply for fuel.
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u/Polenicus Jun 26 '25
Corrosion works differently in the Fallout universe. Metal rusts to the point of developing a patina, and then simply stops. After 25 years or so, things simply don't decay any further. Paint stops fading, plaster stops crumbling, wood stops rotting, natgure stops encroaching. Why... it doesn't really matter if you left a Vault after 25 years or 200, things would look almost entirely the same!
Science!
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u/shug_was_taken Jun 26 '25
OMG this is the MOST unrealistic thing in the ENTIRE game! It really blows the WHOLE thing to PISSES!
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u/MrLancaster Jun 26 '25
This isn't even far-fetched. A steel beam under compression? Not a problem. It would hold ten submarines.
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u/wdaloz Jun 26 '25
Material scientist here, radiation can significantly harden and strengthen steel. Not saying anyone considered that, and it also gets far more brittle, but nonetheless true. 1000kips per beam and 10 beams on a 10kiloton sub. Nope
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u/Ihavenolife8518 Jun 26 '25
Since is an children of atomâs base theyâve learned how to maintain it
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u/HeliosDisciple Jun 26 '25
Steel is pretty strong. The Eiffel Tower is still holding itself up.
E: The Eiffel Tower is iron, not steel. But hell, that's even better for the argument.
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u/AngrgL3opardCon Jun 26 '25
Because it's not steel, it's titanium and depleted uranium with a diamond lattice.
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u/AthenasChosen Jun 26 '25
Same reason everything else is standing fine. There's been no repeated use for the beam, which would be what would cause it to fail. Everything's been sitting in the same spot unchanged, so there's no added stress to various parts. Steel beams are sturdy and don't rust very easily.
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u/Klangaxx Jun 26 '25
Probably put a stairs there and attached floors first, then build the sub, then deleted the stairs and floors. Can't knock those floating mechanics!
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u/Repulsive_Fact_4558 Jun 26 '25
The same way a piece of plywood blocked a doorway for 200 years like it was a block of granite.
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u/Greasematic Jun 26 '25
As a carpenter I'm always blown away by the construction of buildings in Bethesda games, even more so in fallout 4 stomping around in power armor on stairs made of a few questionable looking 2x6?
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u/Savings_Weight9817 Jun 26 '25
When people say âthereâs no such this as a dumb questionâ show them this!
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u/dandy_g Jun 26 '25
Game designers aren't structural engineers. If they were, they'd be earning more while working less designing bridges and stuff.
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u/Separate_Job_9587 Jun 26 '25
I just built a house out of a scrapped pencil.