I just remembered that Rad-X and Radaway was mostly something I used to get something for all the assault rifles and leather armours I was carrying around when merchants didn't have anything else to trade (you only need two Rad-X in all of FO and FO2 and Radaway you are unlikely be eating more than one radaway). So! Will there be any need for these drugs in V13 (i.e. will there be radiation)?

I think radiation has the potential to be an interesting mechanic in V13. I also think that it has the potential to be one of the most frustrating, tedious, and soul-crushing additions to a game ever. It has been fairly consistently present in fallout games to date, however, so I'd bank on it at least making an appearance.

How useful RadX / Radaway are will depend, I think, on what sort of class / profession split we end up seeing. If V13 ends up sticking to fairly traditional RPG archetypes, and includes a healer or medic class, then I would expect the Rad drugs to end up being their purveyance. On the other hand, if the game eschews hard and fast class distinctions, and instead simply opts to adapt the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. / Skills / Perks system to an MMO format, then it's probably more likely that Rad-drugs will remain as consumables. I'd like to see them become useful without being obligatory, which is a very fine line to tread. You want to avoid them being simply another form of currency, as in previous fallout games, but by the same token you don't want to force players to farm ridiculous amounts of chems just to remain competitive. Maybe you'll sit and sigh, wishing that I were near
Then maybe you'll ask me to come back again
And maybe I'll say "Maybe"

Personally I'm hoping for a class-less system (with no levels too, but that's another story) but I hope that the effect of rad-x and radaway will depend on skills -- if you're a good doc, you should be more effective with drugs than if you're not. Especially stuff like rad-x, radaway and (super, whatever) stimpacks.

But the real question is: will there be radiation in any appreciable degree in V13? Do you want it? Should it be pseudo-omni-present (i.e. almost everywhere) or location specific?

I think for radiation to work well, it needs to be,

a) Dangerous. Radiation in Fallout 3 was a joke -- you could fill up your entire health bar drinking from a toilet and then either pop one of your nine dozen radaways, or just quicktravel back to your apartment and use the robo-doc to cure you.

b) A choice. A risk. If it's just omni-present, and the solution ends up being that you have to go back to town every X hours and pay a doc / buy some radaway to cure you, then that's dull and tedious. By the same token, if it's just limited to pools of toxic waste on the ground, well then again, that's a bit of a snoozefest since you just don't step in them. One of the best implementations of radiation in the original fallout games I felt was the centaurs, who'd irradiate you when they hit you. I think that sort of thing is interesting, where you can avoid radiation by avoiding a monster's attacks, or killing it a certain way. By ignoring that, you can kill the monster more quickly / efficiently, but you have to balance that with your radiation intake.

c) Curable / reversible. Mutations could potentially be very cool, but if you're going to make me grow an extra hand out the back of my neck, you'd also better let me amputate it Maybe you'll sit and sigh, wishing that I were near
Then maybe you'll ask me to come back again
And maybe I'll say "Maybe"

I always thought it funny when I got the hint about drinking water was a strategic choice because you would get radiated in FO3 -- I have never worried about radiation except for the quest where you have to get irradiated.


Radiation attacks from critters is a must. I'll take it you like to have location specific radiation over pseudo-omni-present radiation. I'm not sure myself. Maybe radioactive critters, i.e. get too close and get irradiated, is an idea too.


Mutations! Yes please.

Stupid mutations like an extra toe or finger would be cool, it would also add a penalty to your stats.
If you read up on the AARs from Chernobyl, then you know that radiation sickness is not cool at all.

There should be a slight chance of becoming a ghoul if you are exposed to radiation for a longer time or you'll just die or something (somewhat like the: becoming super mutant idea i put up somewhere)