The secret of Fallout's America is that the entire country is one big vault tech experiment. The rest of the world is fine.

Well, it can't be too dismal for trans-Atlantic travel - which even if that's only by sailing ship must mean it can't be too dismal for organised power structures. Not everyone can build a sailing ship capable of an Atlantic crossing, nor can just anybody repair and refit a 200 year-old powered ship, and if a society has enough resources to support specialists like that, they have enough resources for the most powerful to be pretty smug about their lives.

And if the poor and desperate can afford to make the crossing (as opposed to only the powerful and smug), there must be a bunch of people who are a lot less desperate.

But I guess there's always the scenario that the crew of a ship sent to prospect the chances of a settlement or resource-grab would mutiny and try their luck in a dangerous and unknown land, as surely being better than the hell-hole that their lord was boss of

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Thinking about it, I've realised why I'd prefer to think of things this way. It's because I think it would be more interesting, rather than repeating the Fallout theme of a chaotic but individualistic post-apocalyptic dystopia, to contrast it with a brutal and authoritarian post-apocalyptic dystopia.

Neither of them are particularly original themes, but it would be interesting to see them contrasted in Fallout and a spin-off or even a small side-quest.

Not that either are likely. Sad, but possibly for the better for the coherence of the series.

Best. Paranoid. Theory. Ever!

Now I really hope a future Fallout game has one deranged and ranting lunatic who believes this.

And remember, if the definition of insanity is being in a minority of one, then if no-one believes you then you are, by definition, a lunatic.

Even if you're right!