Hi there everyone, long time Fallout fan, first time posting. I tried writing to Todd Howard through the customer support system, and it was suggested to me that I could

try and put my idea forward on the forums.

One of the things I've noticed while playing the Fallout games (particularly Fallout 3 and New Vegas), has been the absence of weather conditions.

Irradiated rain in certain parts of the game could dramatically change the way the player navigates the map. For example in
Cormac Mcarthy's novel The Road, the two protagonists actively try to avoid traversing in the rain, because the lack of dry clothes would put
their health at risk. Such a feature in Fallout could add an interesting dynamic to the game. Even the house building system could
include a rainwater tank which filters the irradiated water and makes it safe to drink. Besides, how terrifying would it be to traverse Deathclaw territory in a thunderstorm?

Anyway, that's my idea. I thought it added a similar realism to hardcoe mode. What do you guys think? Would irradiated/acid rain be an interesting part of the game? And

if it's not already planned to be included at some point, would it be something players would enjoy?

I think its been said that there will be rainstorms brewing up from an irradiated portion of the world. Not sure about the water itself being radioactive, but its been said lightning strikes will emit radiation.

Was that announced at Quake con? I don't remember hearing that during the E3 presentation.

I think it was at E3: http://www.pcgamer.com/fallout-4s-todd-howard-talks-lighting-and-weather-effects-in-new-video/

Crap, I'd be happy with regular garden variety thunderstorms.

I completely missed this part about the weather, it answers most of my question. Thanks, Protectron. I guess what I'd like to

know now is how the house building system accomodates for hazardous weather. Will we be able to build things which let us

work with that kind of weather, like rain tanks and protective roofs?

I love weather effects in games, I'm looking forward to what fallout 4 has to offer... Irradiated rain sounds totally cool!

That would be cool. Maybe you'd have to lead line stuff or have it deep enough underground. Better not rust up all the robot buddies I hope to have...

I doubt they plan to connect the weather system to the settlement system (well besides the obvious fact it be smart to put a roof on the houses to keep the rain out)

I agree with that, but I'm assuming there would be an option to reinforce the house or add to the basic design, much like anything else you build in the game. Even something like a water tank could help encourage the player to work with his environment because you're not just strengthening the building for the sake of it. It wouldn't make sense to build a tin shack for example in a part of the map where there's thunder and lightning.

hence why I doubt because beth wants to ensure that youre as free as you possibly to make a settlement the way you want to, rather then need to (at least as far as weather goes)

Consider that the game is basically already finished, and done.

How the game is right now, is how the game will be, no matter the suggestions anyone of us might have.

If the game, on release, doesn't meet up to our expectations, and desires, then, no worries; there will always be the modding community that has always and forever producing mods that make the game 100x better than the vanilla release.

For instance; the "weather" in Skyrim was primarily visual, and eve then, it would still rain through overhangs, and covered areas.

Someone fixed this with the mod Real Shelter - https://youtu.be/eZL21TqAaEk

Additionally, other modders made the weather an actual real hazard, and set up scripting where NPCs would put on cold weather clothing when it snowed, and cover up, and go indoors when it rained as well as other effects.

Look to all the wonderful mods available at the Nexus site.

I typically play with at least 150+ active mods installed on Bethesda games, and, it makes for a whole world of difference.

I wonder how the roofs you build will handle rain physics...

Because... Skyrim handled it bad.

If they have any weather system at all, it'll be an improvement over the previous titles.

Also, I'm not so sure about irradiated rain. It's been 200 years since the war, most of the radiation has dissipated enough so that rain should no longer be considered radioactive.

But realism aside, it'd probably make a cool game feature. Wasn't there a mod for F3 that added these?

well I dont expect it to pour of the roof and form puddles and such, I think they will settle for just fixing the common rain through the roof glitch.

I say irradiated rain, because most of the time water in the Wasteland is irradiated anyway.

As for the roofing system, a good way to do that could be to include a feature where houses built in particularly hazardous areas could include an effect that weakens the defense points of the structure. You'd be able to fix this by adding things to your house which would protect it against those particular types of hazards.

Skyrim didn't handle rain physics at all, becuase it lacked actual rain.

In FO4, Todd already explained that the thunderstorms come from the Glowing Sea. This is the place where the bomb dropped and it's still highly radioactive. This means that some of the nastiest creatures (as far as mutated and/or irradiated) will be there or around there, and the radiation from the storms makes perfect sense since that is the source of the storm itself.

As an aside, I never really had any "rain through the roof glitch" that some people seem to have (and some claim is universal which it obviously is not since I haven't had it, or very seldom, and only when entering indoors during inclement whether very sporadically). The few times I have had rain or snow follow my indoors, I looked at it as more realistic because weather blowing in from outside when you come inside is what I would expect.

Well one thing I am looking forward to, is exploring the Glowing Sea during the storm.