At the time of Fallout2, in 2041-2042, the Enclave must have been at the height of it's power. when my character was at the oil rig, the heart of the Enclave, i I notices something strange on the Presidential Level (where the president was). You see in the room next to the presidents is a "Situation Map". It is an electronic map of the planet, and on it are highlighted many places.
Those places are: Anchorage, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Washington, Miami. That seemed logical, seeing as the Enclave was the pre-war government. But the other locations baffled me. The other places that have been highlighted were: Kuujjuaq (an Inuit village), Mexico City, Panama City, Rio and Brasilia, Santa Cruz, Santiago, and even stranger: Paris, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Istanbul, Benghazi, Accra, Luanda, an area in former Jordan, Mumbai, New Delhi, Ha Noi (Vietnam), Vladivostok, Sydney, Darwin and Perth. If so, then the Enclave must have had advanced intelligence gathering technology (satelites) to see those places and mark them as points of interest. My suspicion is that they were large survivor groups, like San Francisco. The Enclave also had advanced communications technology, so they must have been able to contact these groups. So my questions are these:
Why didn't the Enclave contact them?
Why didn't the "Chosen One" care? Such a wealth of information and technology is priceless...and he blew up the joint so he could come back and sharpen spears, and be a heathen...disgusting...
And the most important...
Why did the Enclave care in the first place?

Oh, and all these locations are speculations. You try to pinpoint something on a 50x50px map correctly, I did the best I could.

Any ideas? Answers? Questions?

Global communication isn't possible anymore. The existence of the Enclave on the oil rig was only possible because of this. Thus, I'd not try to interprete to much into something like this.
Nonetheless, those might as well be the proposed locations for members of the US government to escape to. Before the release of the game, I thought Beth might have used this concept to lead another government enclave (no capital letter) into the Capital Wasteland. They might as well plan to use it in the future, for the unavoidable sequel.

How is the non-exsistence of global communications relevant to the being of the Enclave? And why would they escape to such secluded places if there was no global communication?

And a degree of global communication DID exist via working satellites in orbit. The Pip-Boy 2000 uses satellites to Auto Map an area, working missile satellites are present in Fallout 3. So, why wouldn't there be some degree of communication via satellite?

Oh im pretty sure the Enclave is capable of global communication.

When they have access to old orbital weapon platforms then they also have access to still functioning communication satellites. That is supported by all the sat dishes we saw in F2 and F3.
They know where old military installations are, they know all satellites in orbit, know the access codes. They know what the rest of the world looks like...Europe...China... They know more than anyone else !


I also wondered what the locations shown on that map are.

Still responding pre-war installations ? Enclave bases ? Places with important pre-war installations which the Enclave is exploring ?

Relevant to this Enclave's state. The shutdown of global communications lead to their isolation, the only means of contact with the outside world being the observation of the vault experiments and the rudimentary PoseidoNet. Both connections didn't extend globally, thus leading to them adopting the idea to be mankinds last 'pure' haven, since they could never reach other enclaves, non-mutant people of the mainland, and so on.
If they had not lost contact with the mainland, they might just have gone to San Francisco and used the space shuttles to escape the planet, and not develop such in intricate plan based on the information they still had regarding the FEV.
We don't really know the state of the art in satellites in the Fallout world. There's absolutely no mention of them being used to communicate, and they mostly serve as what they were developed for: Spying, cartographing, and of course the SCIENCE! idea of an orbital weapons platform.
I have to admit that we can't rule orbital communication out, and all of those things are pure speculation based on ingame info and the Fallout bibles.

Well first, I'll just ignore Fallout 3 and it's apparent use of oribital missile satellites and Raven Rock's Eden recalling the West-coast Enclave personnel.

In Fallout 2, at least one network was seen being used still: PoseidoNet, which is never mentioned to be oritibal or land-based. The network was used by the Enclave to connect Navarro to the Oil Rig: who says it couldn't connect to other areas of the world? After all, Poseidon Energy was a large-scaled company andf also under Enclave control. The PoseidoNet could very well connect acrossed sea too.

In Van Buren, at least one orbital satellite is mentioned to still be working: B.O.M.B - 001. At some point in the game's design missiles were triggered to be launched by ODYSSEUS, which was on-land at that point. This would mean that prior to Fallout 3, communications could exist between land and orbital stations/satellites.

And finally there's the Vault Network. The Vaults were an overall social experiment by the Enclave, correct? Well, when it comes to experiments they do need to be monitored. This would mean the Enclave would need to set up a network that could survive a nuclear war

Is there a Vault network ? I dont think so. The Vault networks mentioned in the games are just seperate Intranets for each Vault.

As far as i know Vault 13 only knew the location of Vault 15 but never had any contact with it. Its location was stored in Vault 13's databases before the war. This also raises the question why it was mentioned there at all while there was no data regarding any of the other Vaults. (For instance Vault 12 under Bakersfield)

Lynette from Vault 8 (Vault City) was very surprised to hear the chosen one mention Vault 13 and wanted to know where it is.
She said that they never had any contact with any of the other Vaults.

I doubt that anyone was or is monitoring the Vault experiments at all. They do not seem to be experiments which require real time observation but rather result evaluation which can be done at any point in the future.

Regarding communications in general :

In Fallout 3 , the Enclave contacted Vault 101 via radio on a old government frequency. These radio systems and propably some environmental sensors seem to be the only contact of the Vaults with the outside world.

The overseer noted that this was the first time Vault 101 was contacted at all. Its likely that the Vault radio systems only listen on old Vault-Tek and government frequencies and ignore all others.

Logically the Vaults were instructed : "Do not call us, we will call you" once they would be sealed and to wait for possibly being contacted by Vault-Tek or the government who then would be able to identify themselves with codes. A exception would be a major emergency in which they could switch on on their automated distress broadcast for help.

But they were supposed never to attempt to contact anyone on their own as they might give away their locations and draw attention on themselves. Remember what happened to Vault 15 once its location was discovered by someone.

Vault 101 seems to be an exception with its location being widely known since before the war but nobody ever seriously trying to force his way in until those raiders tried it in 2277.

There is a vault network. The network seeminly (to vault dwellers) went dark after the bombs dropped, however, the Enclave were still able to use to to transmit the "Open" signal to vault 13.

From teh Wikia page on the Enclave



These actions would require a network.




From the wikia page on Vaults"

Also there is ODYSSEUS, which was originally supposed to be the monitoring system of the Vaults. When the Vaults became government property, ODDYSEUS was moved to the Prison that was in Van Buren.

Really it is a shame that Van Buren was never released. It probably had the best design of the series >_>

And I don't think a communications network ever existed between Vaults. Think about it. One Vault has a closing door problem, another one has broken lights. Would the Enclave really want them to figure out that each Vault had something wrong? No, the only network would be a monitoring one.

Hmmmm ok. Point taken. :huh:



But then this must be some sort of "reaction on demand" system as the Vaults are not interconnected with each other and i doubt that there is a permanent connection to the Enclave's Oil rig.
I think its ok to call this a network for convenience but actually it isnt one.

Meaning the Enclave sends a set of code instructions to a certain Vault via a satellite radio connection whichs computer systems then in turn does what they are ordered to do by program. Giving the all clear signal to the residents, opening the Vault door , sending status reports about the Vault experiment back to the Enclave and so on. It must be more of a one way remote control.

Everything happening without the awareness of the Vault residents nor the knowledge of their overseers.

Otherwise, as this was a clear emergency, the overseer of Vault 13 could have simply sent a message to the Enclave (or whoever he thought might be at the other end) asking them to provide a new waterchip or could have tried to radio Vault 15 before sending someone there blind. The overseer of Vault 101 also had no knowledge of his Vault computer network ever having a connection to an outside source.

Its surely not a permanent connection as it is hard to believe that nobody ever recognized a permanent data transmission going out. In 200 years, somebody would sooner or later stumble upon what the computers do "off screen" if they would do it all the time. It would also give the Vault locations away to anyone who would stumble upon the permanent data exchange.

The Master could have located all Vaults this way.

Poseidon energy was at the time, a world-wide cartel. The Poseidonet was their closed system of communication, providing world wide coverage. It seems rational to assume that other links to the network, other than the Oil rig and Navarro still existed. Maybe the places highlighted on the map were actual pre-war Poseidon Energy bases.
And it is a fact that the Enclave funded the whole Vault experiment program, and that a hidden network was established to monitor every Vault. Without that the Enclave would have no information regarding the Vaults, except visiting them in person. I believe that a monitoring network existed, if only to relay the progress of the Vaults to the Enclave.

And yeah, it's a shame Van Buren will never be released. I would really have liked to explore a pre-war satellite, and then, naturally drop the orbital payload onto the unsuspecting Earth. Call me evil, but I would probably never set this plan in action. I kinda develop a bond with the tiny people running around my screen! XD

According to the wiki, the Enclave was still monitoring the vaults, (may contain spoilers):

I believe there was or is a fan project aiming at finishing Van Buren. But i think this could only be decently accomplished by getting help from some of the original developers from Black Isle for free.

Is there an address to the fan devs? Ok, so now it's a fact tat the enclave had nearly everything. but let me get back to the original question. Why DIDN'T the Chosen One USE any of the adv tech other than military ones on the rig?

Dont know. I remember reading a article in some online games mag about people working on VanBuren. I did not saw a link to a website or something.

To the chosen one : Maybe its because he was just "the chosen one" and his primary goal was to free his people.

We also need to keep in mind that he was "just" a tribal afterall. Sure, we could evolve him to a 100 or more science skill character but in the end he would return to living in a hut and smoking sacred plants to communicate with the great radscorpion spirit. Maybe the chosen one was not that much interested in technology.

My guess as to why the Enclave has operations in these areas:

Annexed By the United States:
Dominion of Canada, Fort Chimo: RCAF Detachment Fort Chimo,Quebec(Former USAAF Base during WW2)

Occupied By the United States:
Mexico, Mexico City: Mexico was annexed by the US in 2051

Primary US Interests:
Panama City: It is assumed that the US still controls the Panama Canol in the Fallout Universe.
South America: Being part of America's Backyard, its not surprising that US interests exist in these countries.
France, Paris: Would probably still be home to the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe and US Air Bases would still be in France.
Turkey, Istanbul: Important SAC assets in Turkey
Libya, Benghazi: The US Military would still have intersts in Libya as we are to assume there was no Ghadaffi
Australia: Party to the ANZUS treaty

Other US Interests:
Denmark, Copenhagen: Potential CIA HQ in Europe
Helsinki, Sweden: Potential CIA HQ in Europe
Gold Coast, Accra: CIA Intel Operations in a British Colonial Territory
Angola, Luanda: CIA Intel Operations in Portugese Colonial Territory
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan: CIA intel operations in the Middle East
British East India: CIA Intel Operations in the Crown Jewel of the British Empire
French Indo-China, Hanoi: CIA Intel Operations on Communist Activities in French Indo-China
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Vladivostok: Home of the Soviet Pacific Fleet and many CIA intel gathering operations

One thing that bugged me is the Fallout Bible says the Enclave hid in every corner of the globe to avoid destruction in the Great War.

So besides the Oil rig, did any others survive?

Probably the largest surviving elements of the Enclave would still exist in West Germany, Naval Station Guantanamo Bay and Diego Garcia.

Too bad I can not side on the Enclave's side in any game. Because now I want to go and kill EVERY tribal there is! I mean, the tech and info on the rig could help put the world back together, and he blew it to communicate with spirits...if there are bad kudos I am giving them now. I am now anti-tribal. Even as a good guy, if there are tribals I exterminate them.

I don't know...the second game is so...primitive...
The "Chosen One" is a model of selfishness. He could have helped piece the world together. Instead he just blew up the rig and left to live in a hut wearing a loincloth. Disgusting.

Um, you do realise that the enclave was going to exterminate everyone in what was the continental united states, if not the world?

The only way to stop them was to blow the rig.

The GECK was used to found new Arroyo with the survivors of Vault 13. With the Villagers Argi-know-how and the Vault Dweller's tech knowledge, new Arroyo would have challenged NCR and Vault City for tech.

They still believe in spirits and "other" things. It doesn't matter how much tech you have at your disposal, if you are not using it rationally (religion...) you are still primitive. He proved that on the rig.
And I never knew how much time did the "Chosen One" have to blow the rig. It seemshighly unlikey that he had 20-30 minutes it took me to pass the rig.

I dont think so.

They cant hide at well known spots. All american military installations would be on the target list , no matter where they are.


Their safehouses must be far away from the whole show. Far away from any possible target and as far away as possible from the worst Fallout.

The Arctic circle for instance would be a option. Surely not a place where you can spend 200 years but at least you can stay long enough for the worst to pass and then you can look for a good place to move to.

Does the right to live get based on how "advanced" you are? Does having beliefs that you precieve as primitative make them unworthy of life? The Enclaves actions were in the end, evil/hostile to all life, life they did not exactly go out and try and help and piece back the world when they had the tech you covet so much, they watched things get worse.

ahem, Helsinki is the capitol of Finland, and not a city in Sweden, if its not Helsingborg that is highlighted on this map?

cant remember that map room but as i am replaying FO2 atm i will check it out when i arrive there.

Helsinki is the capital of Finland.....thier foreign policy was dictated to them by the Kremlin until the USSR collapsed, no way the Enclave would have set up anything important there.