Talk to Hancock.

i think you mean target rich enviroment

Try Carol in Fallout 3, over in Underworld. If you ask her about her life, she specifically says "So... yes, I'm a pre-war ghoul".

That line implies that not all Ghouls were made in the initial nuking. If they were, she wouldn't have needed to specify that she was a pre-war ghoul, as no ghoul would arise after the Great War.

And if that's not enough, try the Ghoul barber/stylist in Underworld. He mentions that he used to cut hair in Rivet City before he changed into a Ghoul. Rivet City was established in 2239, meaning that he had to have become a ghoul AFTER that time.

There is Moira in Fallout 3 if you decide to be an evil SoB by blowing up Megaton. Then there is Harold while having been born in 2072 did not become a "Ghoul" until after he left his vault. Although, Harold is a FEV mutant that looks like a Ghoul.

actually what this implies i believe is that she was alive before the bombs dropped

Pre-war ghoul: was 'human', then the bombs dropped ghoulifying them (so they live super long), but these would be people that can still tell of their experiences of humanity before the war

Other ghouls: 'humans' born after the war (during this apocalypse) but were ghoulified sometime during last 200 yrs for whatever reason/exposure; however these ghouls (previously 'human') were not alive before the war

is this wrong?

No, you have it right. And that's what I meant.

That's ONE, after 200 years. And according to the Fallout wiki http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/John_Hancock , he ghoulified not from a blast "of an ungodly amount of radiation", but rather the injection of of a radioactive drug -- and just how many rads can you put into a single dose of a drug? It wouldn't be all that much -- NOT an ungodly amount -- even if was a syringe of pure radioactive sludge.

I don't believe I ever talked to him. Did he describe the event that ghoulified him?

Never having detonated the Megaton bomb, I entirely missed out on that event. Out of the entire population of Megaton, did anyone else ghoulify? (I would think at least one would have to be a Child of Atom.)

dont u guys watch storyteller on shoddycast? xD

The ghoul term on here is what we would see as some of the deformed Hillbillies like in "Hills Have Eyes."

All the NCR soldiers of Camp Searchlight would fall into this category I think. I mean, they wasn't ghoulified from bomb radiation, and thus "only" exposed" from nuclear material dropped in the vicinity. Leading to the conclusion, that heavy radiation, after the war, could result in the same thing.

No. But unless he was talking about some other Rivet City that existed before the war (which is incredibly unlikely), should it matter?

And we have a winner! I had totally forgotten about Camp Searchlight and its dozens of NCR soldier ghouls.

(I would still like for some bioweapon component to be mentioned. "It's a drug that makes you immune to radiation. Unfortunately there are some.... unpleasant side-effects. Which bomb builders deliberately incorporated to sow some post-detonation terror among the survivors.")

There are several hints throughout the various Fallout games (1,2 and 3) of FEV playing a role. However, much of that info has been retconned, re-retconned back and forth, at least a couple of times, over various sources. As it stands, now, radiation alone is enough to make you a ghoul. Altho, the Fallout bible (to my knowledge) isn't canon anymore, so the FEV theory might stand, as per the original sources. I can't really remember much of this anymore, but the info is out there

i love the ghouls in this fallout iteration - i think they are very well done... and i love fighting hordes of them

However, Supermutants were created purely by FEV injection/dipping. Radiation is NOT what made them Supermutants. But FEV had the side-effect of being highly resistant to radiation, pretty much to the extent that Supermutants are immune to the stuff. (Supermutant tissue soaks up lead like normal human tissue soaks up iron perhaps? Might account for the greenish tinge to their skin.) [Hmm, no. Lead would account for the grayish skin tones. Green skin is indicative of copper, like the original Mr. Spock.]

Yup, that is right. And one of the reasons why FEV involved with ghouls as well, got retconned at one point. Basically, so many people have been involved with the canon of the game, and all altered a thing or two here and there. It is sort of a mess. First idea's of FEV was that it was all over the the US wasteland in lesser or bigger degree, depending on area. If you got infected with the virus, and got heavily radiated, you could mutate. Later tho, it got changed to make FEV a thing for super mutants only, and thus it got removed from the world, and concentrated in a few places.

Anyways, I usually don't get that hung up in game history. Either way works fine for me. It is just a game.

Did you ever use Martigen's Monster Mod for FO3? I'm creeped out to this day from what he did with subway tunnels. Armies of crazed ferals lurking in the dark. Ghouls freak me out like nothing else in the games, not because of BGS or Obsidian, but Mart.

Anyway, in regards to the OP, no the ghoul numbers do not make sense, but it's not unusual for game lore and gameplay to not match up. See every recent bioware game, and most other AAA publishers for examples. BGS seems to focus more on theme park and rule of cool design, and you'll only drive yourself crazy if you try to look behind the curtain.

I have a theory that FO-verse radiation is linked (or outright is) to the power of Dunwich stuff. Which would be why the Dunwich locations are full of high level ghouls, and why rads mutates animals into huge monsters, the eldritch critters make things into monsters with their powers/rads.

Also, in FO3, in the Dunwich Building, you can find 2 separate sets of logs (Jaime's holotapes and the terminal records) of someone becoming a ghoul in a mere few days, apparently just from being in the building (which is pretty intact and barely irradiated). Note that Jaime still has his name, this links to the next bit. In FO4, in Dunwich Borers, there's a group of ferals at the very bottom who still all have their names. I think this is because rather than being feral because their brains were deteriorated by rad damage, they're still people and in control of their actions, but have been driven mad by the nearby artifact and/or shrine to the point that they behave like ferals.

Ie. ghouls are the undead army of cosmic horrors.

Actually, FO3's Dunwich Building is a direct reference to H. P. Lovecrafts's "The Dunwich Horror", which is part of the Cthulhu mythos. The book referred to in the Dunwich Building was most likely the Necronomicon (which is a primer for invoking the Old Ones or Ancient Gods).

I know that, anyone with a bit of proper culture knows that. Doesn't invalidate my fan-theory. I used the term "Dunwich stuff" to collectively designate all the related Lovecraftian content in the FO-verse since it's all based in or linked to locations that belong to the Dunwich family/corporation. Even Blackhall Manor might be in the same set, given that Obadiah tells you his family took the name when they arrived at Point Lookout, who's to say his family isn't the Dunwhichs ?

Also, we saw the FO version of the Necrominicon, it was called the Krivbeknih.