ive been playing fallout tactics and in the begining it say that they made blimps and they crashed in the mountains thats how there brotherhood formed so i fthey use blimps in tactics how come they cant send reinforcements in fallout 3 and new vegas?

This is generally why Tactics is considered semi-canon

although in realtion to FO3 I guess it's because the western elders didn't want anything to do with the EBoS. On top of that they were very difficult to make and crashed due to hurricanes, they probably didn't want to risk soldiers for a group that has gone 'rogue' (I use that term loosely).

They all got diabeetus and spontaneously combusted. And SuperAIDs. Which is why we never heard of them again.

They probably wouldn't want to brave the Tornado alley Radioactive tornadoes on the way to Vegas.

Building that many zeppelins would cost alot of resources. Pretty much a one time thing. Later in the game there is info given that the Western Elders new the danger in sending the air convoy. Also the only BoS sent were those that wanted change. Those that wanted to let in outsideds. Pretty much the debate we see in New Vegas between the Chapter leader and Veronica. Now imagine close to half the western BoS siding with Veronica. To me the air convoy was a way to get ride of them, to send them farway. Knowing that there was a chance it would fail in disaster, all the better. Western Elders winning a civil war without firing a shot. Some survived and started the Midwestern BoS, they let in outsiders. Explains why the BoS back west want nothing to do with them.

Tactics takes place between FO1 and FO2 so the story of the air convoy is not why its considered "semi-canon." It got that because It goes against alot of Van Buren. Thing is Van Buren was not made so it's not canon, so Tactics can't go againt it.

I wasn't specifically saying that wsa the reason why it was considered semi-canon but because some things in it don't match up with the official series

To me the only thing that does not match up to FO1 and FO2 are the oild drums everything else can be explained and made to fit same way things in FO3 are. Devs of New Vegas have said that all fallout games have things that don't always add up. I am not talking about Brotherhood of Steel most would agree that game is not canon because it by far has the most mistakes with lore/canon.

Anyways guess this is going off topic.

To be honest, that always bugged me too. The brotherhood have the capability to build some sort of aircraft; Even if we say tactics is semi-canon, Zepplins are well within their technical abilities, Good Weaving technology (such as that evidenced in their combat armour technology), and the ability to seperate water into hydrogen and oxygen (which is a basic high school experiment requiring nothing more advanced than an electric current and something to store the gasses in), the idea that there isn't some scribe in the brotherhood with a screw loose or two working on it is beyond my comprehension - I mean this 18th century tech we're talking about.

Why they would choose to walk when there are other options?

The material would be very hard to find. Besides, the Brotherhood don't have manufacturing facilities.

Building zeppelins takes alot of time and resources to make. You also need large hangers to store them. They also have the habit of bursting into flames. They lost the first air convoy why would they try it agian? also tactics shows the BoS have many vehicles to travel by land. New Vegas lets us know that the BoS are slowly dying out. They may not have the man power any more to build large airships. NCR has pushed them out of the west or forced them underground. NCR has vertibirds. vertibirds vs hydrogen ship? its clear which will win.

Why they did it in the first place for Tactics I already gave some good points.

The material isn't hard to find at all - we're talking basic textiles here, easily grown by farmers in the wasteland, possbily as a byproduct. The Brotherhood have the capability to manufacture kevlar weave for their armour, so the capability is there. One just needs to weave enough of some sort of material at a narrow enough weave and put it around a metal frame - basic welding is within their capability too.

The Pioneers of flight in the 18th and 19th century had much less than the brotherhood have.


The first few folk didn't have hangars to store them... And folk died in the early days of flight, but people kept going.

The NCR has vertibirds at the start of NV, but its not clear when they obtained them. Lyons left 13 years after FO2, so its possible that NCR airpower could have kept them down.

True you don't need hangers if its a a one time trip. Still the point is hydrogen is not the best to use because it burns, Hindenburg best example. Also yes the fabric to make the skin can be easy to come by but making it water proof is another matter. Another reason why the Hindenburg burned up. Finding chemicals needed to make it safe would be very hard to come by. BoS lost the first air convoy.

True we don't know when NCR started Getting Vertibirds but other factions like the Shi got their hands on how to make them after fallout two. The golden window for making airships was before the time of FO2. After that other factions would have come powerful enough to cause problems for the BoS like NCR did.

Still travelling by land is safer. The people in the first air convoy questioned it, they wanted to go by land they knew the risk of going by air. Still Elders said no your going by air, again my theory is the Elders wanted the airships to end up like the Hidenburg so they can be ride of the deserters. Winning a Civil War without firing a shot.

Manpower and a good enough reason to actually use them. The BoS (I think) was still at war with the NCR during New Vegas, and it seemed as though they were getting their asses kicked. They would need all the manpower they could get to fight the NCR into a ceasefire. There probably wasn't even a reason why they should use them anyways, nor did they have enough supplies to give to a large enough group to send them on their way. Everything was probably needed for the war effort.

in tactics intro you see a tank going by with the jeeps so im guessing they blew them up?

Any working Tank or other vehicle would be something the BoS would want at least in the early years. Guessing they would want it more for parts now. MWBoS used them to expland so fast. Still other factions like NCR might see them as a waste of resources. Having to few to be practical. Brahmin and mercs on foot would not be able to keep up. By themselves they can't carry that much. Powercells needed for them could be better used on other things. Having to build an maintain roads. NCR also went with trains. As for Western BoS seem to be more interested in Weapons putting there slowly shrinking man power into the presuit and acquisition of weapons tech. Western BoS also dont seem to be interested in controlling towns like MWBoS are so the needed to have mass supply lines is not great. Why have a tank when you have PA?

Lets not forget my favourite thing cut from Fallout 1 - Steam vehicles (crewed by the masters' mutants).

The Western Elders are baisclly pissed at Lyons and won't reinforce him.

As for New Vegas, the Brotherhood is there in the first place because they were baisiclly in retreat.

I think the reason that the Capital Wasteland expedition walked is because they set out after Tactics, and blimps didn't work out so well for the Midwestern Brotherhood. Also maybe Lyons wasn't so well respected in the first place.