» Mon Jul 18, 2011 7:34 am
Area of effect: Leningrad, Saint Petersburg, Moscow and Wormwood (Chernobyl). The map is ideally a large one... cause nothing involving Russia is small.
Principal Enemy: Red Chinese Remnants - Russia and China are two old empires. China has been for over a thousand years, whereas Russia is the progressive left overs of ancient Greece. As Rome rose in power, Greek Remnants began heading north. You start seeing places like Moldovia and then later Saint Petersburg and so on, till they spread and became Mother Russia! Despite being all bombed to heck, the Chinese had 1/3 of the total world populace (current numbers are 1/4), and they were indirectly influenced by Russia's Lenin to become Communists.
Quirks of the region:
The Spetsnaz: When the only way to kill a terrorist is a back-flipping hatchet attack. Just like Ninjas... only with assault rifles. Well the Spetsnaz and the KGB run what little government is left... and regular soldier conscripts are tryign to keep the peace.
The AK-47: Considered one of the most popular assault rifles in the world, the AK-47 (called the "Chinese Assault Rifle" in FO3) makes its return only with upgrades.
Russia the Nuclear Power: Russia was in an arms race with the United States. During the Cold War, Russia spent tremendous amounts of state monies to compete with America on all avenues. As a matter of fact... Russia is very much like America... they just tend to be slightly behind in culture, but slightly ahead in technology. That was till the Berlin Wall fell and they discovered that Communism - though an excellent idea - had one critical flaw to it, and that was that there were still men in power. So long as men are flawed and cannot think thoughtlessly for others, then communism would never work. Worked great under Lennin, came to a damnable crashing effect when Stalin rose to power. FYI... Stalin killed more of his own people than Hitler ever did during the genocide. Nevertheless, Communist Russia is still alive in Wastelands: Russia... namely everyone who is a "Commoner" tries to help each other, and calls each other Comrade and such.
Technology: Militarily, more advanced than in Fallout. As such, a lot, and I do mean a lot a lot... of all the nuclear damage of the Great War would've had three principal causes. America, China and Russia. Others are like bottle rocket bangs in comparison to the nuclear devastation these three super powers would've wrought. Russia as 1950's culture would put it, would've been the principal damager, followed by America, followed by China. China may've shot first... but Russia would've shot last... and harder. Nevertheless, they would have tech in certain cases, especially energy weapons, that would rival that which was in America.
Battle Suits: Let's face it. Everything in Russia is done bigger and badder than it's done in America. Americans are likened to Eagles, Russians are likened to bears. Instead of power armor, a battle suit would be used instead... a sort of small walker vehicle. They're big and they're bulky, and the difference would be like comparing Iron Man (America) to Warmonger (Russia) from the Iron Man I movie. Another example might be - for lack of a better example - Warhammer 40,000 armor.
Children of the Bomb: The mutations that happen from radiation will need to be reminiscent of Russian Culture. Sure there would be Ghouls, but what else? The Rusulka is a drowned woman who lures people to their deaths, similar to a siren. The Domovoi is a helpful little elf that lives inside hearths and protects people. Yao gai would be enormous... swipe trees out of the way enormous. But then again I'd like to see specters... a sort of apparition
Wormwood: Though technically the Ukraine now... Wormwood (what Chernobyl means in English, being that the area is populated with wormwood tees) is inhabited by giant worms. The Fallout strangely is lessened in the area in comparison to the three major cities, but potentially there's alien tech here... just like Area 51 in America. How do you hide something really, really important? By making people think the area is irradiated for the next thousand years. Delve into the Coffin (the concrete slab that surrounds the reaction chamber) to find out what.
Nuclear Weapon Facility: Russia came up with this. During the height of the Cold War, prominent scientists and workers in certain fields were taken from their homes, disappearing from friends and family and transported to a secret facility that was a combination radiation mine, plutonium enrichment facility, and nuclear missile core production facility. The reactors ran so hot all the time producing weapons so often that the river attached to it never froze, even in the middle of winter. Also in this place imagine the creation of the atomic flamer. Pull the trigger and vent the fire from a nuclear furnace on people and watch them... BURN.
The Gulags: Gulags are the most feared prison environments in all the world. Maybe we should get rid of our super maxes and replace them with these things, because people feared them so much that they would do a great deal to avoid them. People were dying and they looked the other way because to speak against government could possibly land you in one of these horrific places. Speaking of horrific, its in these Gulags that you will encounter a survival-horror sort of aspect.
Living in the cold: Russia is gold, bleak and gray, it's harsh and its cold, its cold and... did I mention cold? Survival is more difficult because of the sub-arctic temperatures. Similar to my London extreme, a combination of living near tollerable radiation and as far south as possible are the keys to survival, preferably underground.
No Vaults, No bunkers: Ain't no Vaults or bunkers here... Everything was military in Russia. Considerations were made for Soldiers! So your hopes of survival were to find yourself out in the wilderness when the bombs hit. Luckilly, living in the countryside is a good way to stay warm... more trees to chop down for firewood. But as such, the closest thing people can get is living on submarines and destroyers and carriers moored in the docks. Being that Russia Nuclear sub technology is theoretically superior to our own - or was - something Red October-ish can be around, and there's a rather warm submarine running on nuclear energy being well maintained. But delving into military installations will be the principal thing for you to do in this game.
City Blocks: For protection, the cities are broken up into blocked sections. Moving from block to block through a city requires either A> Making agreements with people or B> making them fear you. Roaming the streets of the cities is often not a good idea... for there the gangs will get you.
The Russian Mafia: Italian Mafias just don't seem to be the end all be all of mafias anymore. Compare them to the ruthlessness of the Russians, Triads and Yakuza, the Italians don't seem all that. Speaking of which... the Mafia in this game is a major contender, being that they run the black market... which is the principal form of trade in the game.
The Underground: The Russian Underground is shallow, not like New York or London, the subway system of Moscow for example is rather shallow. The reason for this is the permafrost that's so close below the ground... it necessitates one to think twice before putting in a basemant. The underground nevertheless becomes the best way of getting around a city, to which there will be three major hubs of the underground, which are loosely connected by tunnels that lead to a central point between the cities, and then in a ring around the three cities.
That's all I can think of for the moment, your input would be greatly appreciated.
