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If you added insulation, it would make the walls a lot heavier, likely causing a collapse of the haphazard structure. If you could even properly insert that insulation in the first place, since practical application (forget maintenance) of it is actually quite demanding, especially with rudimentary materials and methods. Fiberglass insulation is the cheapest insulation available, but it has to be specifically produced for that purpose in the first place, and it is virtually impossible to re-purpose the material without advanced industrial recycling.

Their homes are actually pretty neat, with even raider shelters bearing a strong semblance of organization.

Vault-Tec focused not on preserving construction skills for the future (when they were planning on preserving something at all), but mostly medical and utility skills.
You'd also be hard-pressed to find a textbook explaining this type of stuff in the wasteland, too. The amount of books available is in fact quite unrealistic already.

I'm not sure that such a thing can be assumed, considering how many bombs were thrown both ways, and the amount of nuclear materials that already dominated their way of life. There could very well be a continuous source of radiation, and there are radiation storms after all.

As far as radiation-they are still using things that are less than stable and still c ausing radiation.

If you look at some of the shanties in 3rd world countries you might be surprised at the the amount of crops they grow around them and I've seen quite a few with tv's and other luxury items.

In the Fallout world why you spend so much energy on building a really nice home, it would just be like making a "go here and kill me" sign for raiders or super mutants. The best of places would be like Vegas, where they have a lot of defense and time away from the dangers of the land. They have a lot of places surrounding the main strip that are protected as well, so it would take a bit to get into the main strip as far as raiders and the like. Even then, there is no real united front so if you get some larger settlements nearby there is likely to be fighting between them for supplies. So you probably will get one settlement going and then it gets overrun and things taken for another group. It's a war zone, and until there is a large united front it's unlikely that there will be any real luxury in housing. Weaponry is important, so it makes more sense to work on that for most. And even those are scraqed together from before the war.

If the game were realistic, population would have congregated to rebuild, and they would have at least a medieval-level technology. They would clear the rubble, and use the pieces to make walls and new houses, or rediscover masonry even at an ancient era level. Weapons would probably not survive 200 years and would mostly be solid pieces of rust. The typical weapons of a 200-year-post-apocalyptic civilization would probably be newly made spears, swords, bows, etc.

Of course, this real-life anolysis is for discussion only. The game would not be so fun if it were realistic. Also, we must remember that this series is somewhat fantastic. It is based on an alternate future line that separates from the real timeline around 1950, and that reflects not the world as it should be, but the world as the people of the 40's-50's "imagined" the future would be. It has a note of surrealism or almost a dream-like setting.

Speaking of shacks and shanties, I was working in decorating my player home, and rather proud of how I decorated it. My wife passed by and watching the screen she said, "What an awful place!" And I realized she was right. I live in Guatemala and here the poorest people live in houses much like those you get to build in Fallout 4. A bit depressing. Perhaps a mod can be made that will allow you to make prettier houses with the workshop, stone, brick or nice wood instead of shanties.

*spoiler*

Addendum to my previous post:

Having finally been to Diamond City, I did notice unique artworks- right off the bat (pun, sorry) the barber pole right in the middle of town. Then there are the found object pieces down some of the streets, assemblages of different colored pieces of junk. Not functional.

So looks like they made an effort to get that in there. I was pleasantly surprised.

You just answered your own question. All of that is an art form in its own right. Those are the art of a stable and secure society and those are not a common find in the Wasteland. You might find a few people capable in those skills, but in general if it provides 4 walls, a roof and a door it's a good home to most Wasters. In a world where food, medicine and clean water take precedence in your daily life, building Pre-War suburban homes, a luxury, is a bottom of the list priority.

is a really good example of a tidy wasteland city. That's obviously for a reason but they really have their settlement down, even if it does only have 5 or so people in it.

You couldn't use spoiler tags? Seriously? My eye still caught what you wrote even with the piss poor 'warning'. You just spoiled the game for me.

I would if i knew how to use them...

If it helps, is not a major plot point. In fact it's very minor and inconsequential. Still sorry he spoiled it.

That's good to know. Thanks!

There's an icon that says "BBC special code" when you hover over it. It's third over on the top row. Use the drop down menu to find the spoiler tags.

This is how you use spoiler tages

[spoiler] Content that will be hidden [/sp_iler]

Except the second spoiler would be spelled correctly, of course.

Use spoiler tags if you're in the General Discussion forum!
People excessively spoiling the game for others may receive a warning if it disrupts the forum.

Thanks!

One thing that I haven't seen anyone point out is that the Wasteland is a fictional universe where people have not evolved enough to do all those things.

That's why you have unrealistic things like unlooted chests all over the place, and Nuka cola that gives you radiation, and ghouls that are radiated people. And Bobby pins used for cracking safes.

It helps if you don't think too much on the realism and look at the game for what it is.

Societies evolve at different rates. I don't understand why so many people expect everything to be at West Coast levels of civilization. I mean, the Rockies and the Southwest (as seen in Honest Hearts) are even further behind NCR than the East-Coast, still living a tribal existance, yet people hardly comment on that.

First, I'm a fan of the series going back to the original Interplay/Black Isle game in 1997. To the extent that I see plausibility issues, I still love the games.

That being said, I agree with the OP that there should be more signs of progress after 200 years. A nomadic scavenger existence in a radioactive wasteland isn't really conducive to longevity or reproduction. The raiders 200 years post war would be several generations down from those who arose in the immediate aftermath. I'm inclined to think they'd have died out relatively quickly because they had no stable means to settle down and raise kids. People who stuck together and formed more permanent shelter would have significant advantages, and their numbers would increase far more than raiders, IMHO. Two hundred years later you'd still have criminals and thugs, but I can't believe that the rest of humanity would be under their thumbs.

As for tech being a lost art, ever heard of a library? No need for power, tons of knowledge stored right there. Sure, a lot of libraries were destroyed, but not all of them. The knowledge would still be there. Not to mention protected depositories like the Library of Congress. Then there's microfiche and microfilm, not to mention optical storage media (magnetic would probably deteriorate too quickly).

Both Boston and the Capitol have large numbers of buildings that are at least partly intact. That's the most logical starting point, taking an existing structure and reinforcing it.Not the ones with collapsed floors necessarily (though even that can be fixed) but certainly others are closer to usability. Security issues would remain, but I can't see people just giving up on sheltered living. And I can't see just forgetting how to build stuff. Electricity and modern conveniences are very recent, building isn't. As long as some of the survivors were carpenters, masons, contractors, etc the knowledge would be passed on.

y'all are missing the obvious point: it's supposed to look like a war-torn post-apocalyptic wasteland. If it was all fixed up, it would look like.. LA Noir. Or GTA (Ghoul edition). It would totally break immersion, and you all would be in here arguing "why is everything so spotless, isn't this supposed to be set after a world-wide nuclear war? lmao)

*hugs*

u right u right

This brings us back to the point of, "people complain to complain."

We want better shooting mechanics in Fallout 4!!

Oh nO! There are better shooting mechanics in Fallout 4!

To be fair, I'm not suggesting that the wastelanders clear the city streets of debris and demolish derelict structures. You could still have a post war wasteland with the occasional point of order in the chaos.

Hi, my name is Trudy, I operate a trading post out of this here Drumlin Diner. For, well, as long as I can remember now. I take good care of her, you can tell by how much time I spend polishing the counters. The skeleton? Oh we keep him for the ambiance. Really helps establish that this place has history.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r186/bclagge/fallout4.jpg