Something I've always wondered about, is that comparing the Pipboy to a Laptop, why the Pipboy seems to have ever-lasting power. Some laptops (or at least the one I had, before it was stolen) only have a battery life of five or six hours. And putting it into energy-saving mode only really extended the life of it by a little.

I just don't understand how the Pipboy, marvel that it is, can be used week after week, and even as a flashlight (which I would assume would drain even more power) and never run into battery issues. I'd assume managing the inventory would be low-drain, but operating the radio has to drain some power, the built in GPS likely as well, the flashlight, so on.

It just occurred to me that I've never seen lore or mods that addressed that particular issue. Anyone got any thoughts on it?

The pip-boy was built to last well over 200 years and according to Stanley Armstrong the pip-boy could survive having a bomb dropped on it.

Its probably running on nuclear energy like most things in Fallout.

Then wouldn't you gather radiation from it over time?

I personally think the Fission batteries were meant to be bigger than they are, but I suppose it's possible for a Pipboy to run off one. And I never doubted the construction of a Pipboy, just merely it's power source. I mean, old school CRT, and all that, I'd think it would be an energy hog.

Kinetic energy perhaps? Just shake it for a minute and it will last you all day XD

Surprises me how few people remember butch commenting: "Awe, man how lame! You got a hand cranked model" or something similar

Edit: Typo

...

Is that what the knob on the hand does? I always wondered about that. I kind of figured it was some kind of extended control for the Pipboy (scrolls through menus or the like. Assuming the Pipboy isn't a touchscreen.) .

If it was on the other wrist mine would never run out of energy... I kid :whistling:

Personally, I use my other hand.

DUDE?! Why the hell are you guys talking about that here? LOL

I'm not a lefty, that's all I'm gonna say.

I always thought it was a joke? Anyway, like everything else in Fallout 3 having power after 200 years: FISSION BATTERIES! (A subset of SCIENCE! )

:lmao: @ posts 5, 8, 9 & 10!

Well, I was thinking it could get its energy from the sun. Solar powered :shrug:

Wouldn't it be funny to have to recharge it every couple of hours and have the player looking for a wall socket just so they could recharge :laugh:
I can picture my character standing next to a wall socket with a lead going to the Pipboy. It's not like you could take it off, what with being fused to the arm.

There's an idea for a mod
(I think I'll pass on that one. Having a laptop that holds 3 hours battery when used constantly then having to find a wall socket when away from home was such a pain.)

I see only one problem with having to recharge it using energy cells or MF cells. You do everything through the pipboy! You'd be unable to recharge! Oh lordy.
Or rather, the pipboy is so incredibly important, as it's effectively your "menu", that restricting it is dangerous at the best of times. Perhaps if you could turn just the radio and map off, or something.

Yeah, I didn't think of that. We use it for everything. Just like my sister and her iPhone. She can't do anything without it :laugh:

Maybe have the screen go fizzy and staticy like a lost TV reception. Still readable, or just barely, so it can be used for those important things.

this topic is full of six jokes! and I too am a lefty...

but i think that a mod that made us recharge every day or so would be dam awesome! i mean.. think about it! your in the heat of battle and your out of power, your also out of ammo! all thats left to do now is die! thats why maybe a different inventory screen for when you run out of power would be useful. then you would have a dam good mod!

Im gonna regret that first bit i just know it..

Except that when you think about that, it doesn't make sense at all. Oh no my pipboy isn't working anymore, now I can't grab any items from my pockets anymore!

im kinda drunk...

Given that I can carry 50 guns on my person and only see the one I'm using, I'm guessing there's at least a little matter/energy converter in it. In which case, I suppose it could power itself indefinately. Ah well.

It's a terrible idea. It's your UI, disabling it effectively disables the game, in the name of fairly dubious realism. Why does the Pip-Boy have infinite batteries? May as well ask why it's wrist-mounted when most of the computers you see are giant-wall-mounted tape-drive using things (apart from the others that are 1980s-style desktops). How can you store dozens of holodisks in it? More to the point, where do you plug the holodisks in? Why does it have a relatively sophisticated graphical interface when the terminals are all command line? Then you get to "But radiation doesn't make scorpions grow 2m long" territory. FO is supposed to have contradictory and nonsensical retro-futuristic tech, that's the appeal.

I dont know if it is possible, but maybe you could just bring up the items menu, but not the data or special menu. Also it would turn off any radio station you had on and you would be unable to look at the map or select a new ratio station. That way you could select a gun you dont have on hotkey.

I was just thinking that if it was ever to come to light, adding static to the screen, disabling the radio/map, and maybe your Geiger counter might prove enough of a reason to want to keep it charged.

Really just tossing around that thought, it was never a request or anything. Though, I can really see my character hunched down next to a wall, reading a copy of Guns and Bullets, waiting for his charge to build up.

Because it's a game and things don't have to make sense. Gameplay trumps realism. I would find it kind of annoying if I had to recharge mt Pipboy every few hours, that would be way too much micromanagement for no real benefit.

If you haven't noticed, the Fallout universe isn't very realistic. Considering you don't need a breathing mask and 3 layers of radiation protection to go outdoors.

Haha that's way too much realism for me.



Ease of gameplay comes before needless realism for me. But I can see some people downloading it if it disables things like the light, the map, etc. for a time.

:bowdown: