In Mothership Zeta, one of the prisoner recordings you get has some military higher up giving stats to the aliens about military stength via mind control. He is resisting, but appears to be about to give them launch codes.

Could this mean that the Aliens might have started the nuking by using one country's nukes against their will?

some have drawn that conclusion. but no data proves they ever actually obtained the codes, let alone used them.
Since prior to its release, the Devs said that MZ basically came back for vengance, it seems to be that the crashed ship in the CW is there as a result of the war and they were none too happy about losing one (or more?) of their saucers.

not that i know how launch codes work exactly, i have always thought that if they wanted the codes, it would be because they didnt want us to blow ourselves up-they may have been trying to disarm the missiles perhaps, like there was (at least pre-war) some interest in our planet.

There's one little thing... How would obtaining launch codes prevent the launch? I mean, I too don't know exactly how they work, but they are launch codes, not activation on/off codes. The implication alone is, to me, a big step in the wrong direction in a long road of wrong. Nonetheless, I'm willing to believe it was intended as a joke rather than an effort in trying to evolve the series.

we need a launch code expert here. theres about 500 80's ruskie movies playing in my head surrounding this, and i want to say that atleast once, the launch codes were the same as what was used to abort/deactivate the warheads.

still agree that it doesnt mean they lanched the nukes, though..

I agree that the implication is in the wrong direction. As for the codes, there were different ones for deactivation. (Plus, I just realized that the aliens could only arm the nukes then. Not launch them. YAY human failsafes.)

Perhaps the "Launch Codes" also include the "Abort Codes"

Let me explain what launch codes are, as I have several years experience dealing with them. Pretty much what launch codes (Permissive Action Links, or PALs[I always LOVED that they were my PALS, but that was besides the point])are, would be a series of alpha numeric characters that tells a launch crew that they have valid authority to release their weapons. Here is how it works, one unlucky day you're sitting in you LCCC reading or doing whatever and a very loud alarm goes off. Over the teletype a series of alpha numeric codes. You and your watch partner unlock the safe that contains a nice little book that tells you what those codes mean. You verify the EAM... If its a bad day, the code translates into an attack order, you open up the corrisponding order packet and away we go.

I shold also explain... the launch codes have NOTHING to do with actually releasing your weapons. All the PALs do is give you PERMISSION and orders. Not to make light of the situation, but its like Mom saying you can go get a cookie out of the jar. Whereas here, the cookie is an ICBM with 8 MIRVs. The men in the silos were the ones turning the keys. In the game, if the aliens got the launch codes, they'd have to hack into the secure comm networks and transmit a false order. By having Also, to be a bit more realistic, if an officer that had first hand knowledge of the PALs went missing, the old codes would be invalidated and new PALs would be created. I'm oversimplifying this of course, so...

Oh, one other thing, there are no abort code. What I mean is, once the birds fly.... no force on earth is going to stop them. Either they're going to get shot down by an ABM or they're going to their target. That being said, up until the point of launch, with the right orders, we can always stop.

thanks for bringing some real world knowledge to this \m/

They stole the launch codes from General Chase's mind. That's why you find his message and uniform on MZ. I liked the idea of FO2, where Prez Richardson said the Reds launched first because they said FTW after they lost in Anchorage.

dont think it actually ever says they were stolen..


i will stick with Ron Perlman on this one

aliens wanted the launch codes and seem to be trying to get them in a holotape in MZ...



If the aliens were actually trying to make peaceful contact at first or to keep us from blowing ourselves up for more mysterious reasons that would not only put the ball back in our court but make us look even worse.
in brief: most objections to MZ becoming canon bely the fact that it goes against "the moral of the story" which is that mankind is responsible for Fallout and the Great War. If outsiders caused it in some way it sorta ruins that. Also the aliens don't fit into that grand scheme. But if they fit in in some other role and responsibility is still ours it wouldn't be so terrible if they were (drone) canonized.

I agree. I don't really have a problem with aliens being canon as long as their role is limited in some way. Not the original cause of the fallout. That would be disappointing and ruin "the moral of the story" in my eyes.

Someone on this form at some point had a great line and I am sorry I can't remember who that was but they said: "War, War never changes, except when aliens attack!" The implication is that the aliens started the great war. The Devs left it alittle grey without having shown 100% that the aliens started it but just having that damn question of "did they" messes with fallout so much >.<. Fallout is about mankind rebuilding from are biggest mistake. A war started by man and not aliens. If aliens started the war then that changes everything about fallout.

To me mothership zeta is one big easter egg and not canon at all.

here we are :wink_smile:

MZ does not state that the Aliens started the war or were by any means involved in it. Thus we check if there are other mentions of who started the War. And then we got the game intros telling that humans did it, and Richardson stating that the Reds did it when the Americans had plunged deep into Chinese territory.

people are always paranoid when it comes to aliens. just go with it.

Least we forget the bored A.I. s referenced in FO1 or depression prone A.I.s in FO2 that just waant to stretch their legs.

Fallout Two's intro

"War. War never changes. The end of the world occurred pretty much as we predicted. To many humans not enough space or resources to go around. The details are trivial and pointless, the reasons as alway purely human ones. The earth was nearly wiped clean of life. A great cleansing an atomic spark struck by human hands, quickly raged out of control. Spears of nuclear fire rianed down from the skies. Continents were swallowed in flames and fell beneath the boiling oceans. Humanity was almost extinguished. Their spirits becoming part of the back ground radiation that blanketed the earth. A quiet darkness fell across the planet lasting many years"

Not enough space...details are trivial...The presence of aliens is more of a consequence than a cause. They have the launch codes as a momento of human destruction. We did their job for them and they revel in it.

Struck by human hands...if war never changes then consider that civil wars have frequently been cheered on by outside enemies...