Just wondering, we see an enormous nuclear bomb in Megaton, which would indicate cumbersome, low-yield (alright maybe not low-yield considering the tiny radius was presumably for gameplay purposes as Bethesda couldn't really wipe out the entire map and still have playable game) bombs were still in use. Also mention in records of phrases such as 'when the bombs started falling'. But did nuclear-armed missiles, in 2077, also exist? Man still got to the moon in Fallout, so the technology is certainly there.

The V2 was invented in WWII... The first missle unstoppable and undetectable used in warfare and later its design implemented into the designing of Space Rockets.

So yes in the fallout timeline it is most probable that nuclear missles exist.

There's also nuclear satellites.

There are definitely ICBMs in the Fallout world. As to why bombs were used in practice, maybe it was because they had some highly-effective anti-ballistic missile system.

Both were in use.

That's what I thought, except wouldn't a bomber be an easier target than a missile? I suppose it could have been some sort of e-warfare countermeasure that messes with targeting systems and so manned bombers would still need to be used to circumvent it where it was in use.

it is possible to launch an ICBM (inter-continental ballistic missile) from a terminal in a certain fort, so yes there were missiles.

i think its cause "when the bombs fell" sounds better then "when the missiles came down"

I dont think the bombs were dropped by planes, but were dropped from orbit. That way they could just store them up in space and drop n' guide em when needed.

definitly both the megaton bomb and the vernon square,museum of history,and ft.constantine nuclear missles

Well Megaton formed because a plane fell out of the sky, with a bomb on board.

They also had bombs in orbit as you find in the Satellite complex, and ICBM's as well.

Its not really clear especially from the old games and I dont know what bethesda had in mind. I actually don think they thought a lot about this and probably did not think people who played the game would either. But a few things to ponder. Making manned rockets does not mean you have an effective ICBM. The reality of the early days of the cold war was that both sides were largely bluffing. Yes the soviets had launched sputnik and had put Yuri gagarin space but they had no working ICBMS for some time after that. our First missile sytsem was the atlas and its main effect was psychological The DOD dreaded the thought of ever having to fire them because what they did best was blow up while being fueled. they also blew up quite a bit during launch if they did not just fall over. (they were top heavey) The soviets also made a lot of noise in the early days about how large their nuclear arsenal was. It was not. They were blowing off those weapons in tests as fast as they were making them. Now by the 1970's it was a different story altogether.

Since this is a game and its fiction and its very inconsistant fiction at that, you just have to do a bit of figureing yourself. Im sure missiles were used but I dont think there were very many. It looks like from the damage and the depictions of bombs like the one in megaton that the weapons primarily used were gravity bombs and were low yeild fission bombs. So I would guess that was the primary weapon. And in the 1950's the primary delivery system was the bomber. I know in the game the year was 2077 but its a retro 1950's universe.

Well, from the looks of things, one would consider that bombs were the predominant form of nuclear warfare. Indeed most references are for bombs, rather than missiles. ICBMs did exist (I don't remember how I came accross the info, but the US moon rocket Delta IX was converted into an ICBM).

I'd suspect (and FO3 looks like it) that Chineese used ordinary small-yield A-bombs (judging from the destruction scale on DC) whereas US used ICBMs (like the crashed one or the one that can be launched).

Where did you find a crashed ICBM?

Also, the one you can fire in Constantine doesn't actually fire. It malfunctions

Vernon Square (a crashed Delta IX).

Ah, I'll have to check it out.

It seems to me as though both were used, considering the bomb in Megaton is the kind dropped from planes, whereas the game also has the Delta IX rocket that was used for nuclear missiles. I could imagine that the Chinese might have used simple bombs, but it seems like the Americans used them too, considering that I recall the bomb storage facility in Fort Constantine was filled with bombs like the one in Megaton, not Delta IX rockets.

The Delta IX rocket shows that ICBMs existed and certainly were used as a fact.

There were no "bombs in orbit", van Buren had the B.O.M.B. space stations that were intended to launch their on board nuclear missiles missiles but they were never used (even in van Buren) as the "Highwater Trousers" micro-nuclear weapons platform simply lacks the destructive firepower for destroying a city.

Also in case anyone forgot, the S.A.C. was composed of BOTH bomber wings and nuclear missile bases until it was disbanded in 1992 and considering in Fallout there is a United States Space Administration instead of a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA was formed in 1958) ...

And lets also not forget the B83 nuclear bomb, a weapon that entered service in 1983.

missles

really?
some proof would be nice =p

Well there is no "proof" because the screen shakes, there is a lot of noise and something seems to happen but if you go outside and check the silo doors ... its the same as before, if it launched they would be open and if it blown up I assume said doors would shown signs of a explosion within the silo.