So one thing that just struck me big time just now is.....why didn't anyone pull a Mr. House and rebuild D.C.? I know unlike D.C., Vegas was spared the bombs, but with all those rubble, and concrete all over, someone could have easily organised a revitalization of D.C. or something, clean up the streets, use the rubble to build concrete walls. (Or use concrete to make walls, then fill the walls with the rubble to save concrete. I mean, D.C. has a lot of food in it lying around I'm sure, if people just pulled together, they could have made it a shining example of what Men can do when they work together, instead people are sitting in a broken aircraft carrier and a nuke impact crater.

Because it was DC. All the monied people there were neither tech-savants nor pragmatic (they're politicians).

There is no reason, nor any sign that anyone tried. Why? Bethesda didnt want to do that story. Really old boy theres other reason, theres documentation of well-performing farms in D.C. from right after the war but they didnt do anything with those either.

I'd disagree, Moira, the bloke up at the water plant in Megaton, the ghoul technician in Underworld, three dog has a repair hand around, the PP scientists. Plenty of technical people around.

I know that from an outside perspective, but it'd be nice to imagine it was an ingame reason why, minus the super mutants.

I know it would be old sport but frankly there isn't one and you know it. You're right, D.C. is full of materials to build with and it's full of food, to which I will also add it's hardly scathed by the bombs, again there's documentation of original war survivors building working irrigation systems and growing food. There's no reason for the lack of any real society or civilisation.

Even the touted "Super-Mutants make it hard to organise" arguement that previous defenders on this issue on behald of Fallout 3 have used doesn't really hold because the Super-Mutants are hardly encountered outside of the city ruins with the exception of Vault 87 and Germantown - I mean the main road into Rivet City passes by a large Super-Mutant presence and it hasn't stopped them being the real merchant power in D.C. ([censored] off Cantabury, everybodies laughing at you). The other reason often employed was that D.C. was hit harder than most places... to which I say http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20081126120602/fallout/images/thumb/2/21/Pennsylvania_Avenue.jpg/803px-Pennsylvania_Avenue.jpg, seriously?

Really old sport, there exist no decent arguements to counter the point. There is no real in-game reason why it doesn't, it just doesn't come together I guess.

Well setting aside for the moment the argument of "Bethesda screwed up" (which they sorta did). Here could be some possible reasons (but keep in mind there is usually a counterpoint behind them):

1. The DC region has heavily irradiated soil and water and thus makes it poor for farming (however we see a terminal in the game of a supposed agricultural commune which started early on so this sort of contradicts that). Assuming that Bethesda simply did an "oops" on the commune however, one can assume that the DC wasteland has largely remained something of a hunter-gather society with limited domestication. Rather than an agricultural one which is needed for full civilization to occur.

2. There is a sufficient lack of a good water supply in order to facilitate the growth of larger cities than what we've seen. Seems like many of the settlements tend to stick close to the Potomac area. Hence Jame's plan.

3. The super-mutants, raider gangs, and other assorted harzards are more dangerous than that of New Vegas. While the Super-Mutants don't seem to be that much of a problem in-game, its fairly apparent that the people of the DC wasteland live in constant fear of capture.

4. There is a definite lack of a "founder figure" in the DC wasteland. For New Vegas it was House, for the NCR it was Tandi, for the Legion it was Caesar. Not even Elder Lyons was able to cement his authority until the defeat of the Enclave and after he was shaken out of his 20 year stupor. Without coherent leadership for most of its time, a definable lack of organisation became the norm, with groups in-fighting and doing more harm to each other than good. If you look at Fallout 1, most of the towns are friendly and trading with one another for the most part. However in Fallout 3, one town wants to completely blow up another, one of the largest towns is a slaver post which is essentially at war with everyone else, and Rivet City appears to be maintaining a policy of isolationism and the Citadel certainly is. The rest of the minor settlements are simply too small to do anything but survive.

5. Other than these? The people of the DC wasteland are just moronic, which is why I would prefer if the Enclave just took over and began doing things the right way. Damn it the people of DC had 200 years to show some progress, they failed and it was time for a significant change. The Enclave would have undoubtedly given that.

Simple, Bethesda didn't want to make a realistic world with realistic people with any real background.

Because the water is irridated to the point where it severly impares human intelligence when drunk too much, so much so that even an otherwise smart team of scientists thought it was a brilliant idea to build a water purifier next to the "coast" and complain about it not working on a large-scale instead of building the damn thing upstream.

Why hasn't one country in Africa taken over all the other nations and united the entire center of continent under one banner, when the majority of the continent is armed with spears and magical witch doctor voodoopowder as armor easily overtaken? Why didn't Japan become a more technologically advanced civilization in the 1600's despite being a similarly agrarian hierarchical society as the iberian peninsula? What was so special as some obscure tiny island off the coast of europe that they'd colonize everywhere? What was so great about Italian warlords that their society expanded to overtake many dozen others?

Answer: There isn't any one definitive answer. Sometimes people are too self interested or love to fight the next village over because they speak a slightly different dialect and their pronouns sound funny, or simply don't think or who knows what; situations are far more complex than simply asking why things haven't happened the way someone would like for them to. Sometimes they don't.

You can't give definative answers to such things, you can only speculate and pick out some good assumptions that are probably contributing factors.

In this case, probably because the standing situation narrative made for fairly interesting gameplay.

Too many deathclaws and Super Mutants roaming around. Could you imagine happily building your house then BAM! Random encounter spawns a behemoth next door, but instead of wrecking your house and giving you reason to move, he builds his own out of cobblestone and dirt and on top of that he throws an all-year house party for 12 years. Now picture all that cobble at dirt and a disco strobe light beside your house, Imagine the lag, the horror, the insomnia, the drunken ghoulettes!

Well downtown d.c isn't all that well populated bar rivet city wich has been working on keeping it self alive and project purity .In the strip mr house had a lot of man power so to speak to do such thing it wasn't a bunch of randomers .In d.cthere isn't anyone untill the bos (hey they might rebuild at some point) .It's similiar to freeside in that it hasn't had a mr house but I think they brotherhood could change that.

I gave it my best shot

Well no one decided to do it in DC. That's about the only reason I can think of.

The NCR wouldn't exist without the Vault Dweller putting down the raiders. He beat the Khans which paved the way for the rise of the NCR led by Tandi for many decades.. The legions territory was apparently a raider infested nightmare until Caeser united tribes and pacified the region according to Raul at least. The mighty NCR and the fearsome Legion owe there existance to one man. The protagonist from Fallout 1. The NCR made a statue of the guy outside there Hall of Congress for a reason. The east coast hasn't had a savior to put down the raiders, the slavers and other threats inorder to pave the way for rebuilding. The Lone Wanderer can qualify if the heroic path is taken.

Before House woke up and united the tribes around New Vegas it was an undeveloped and lawless. If no one told you, there'd be no clue the families on the strip used to all be living as tribals. I think the idea here in Fallout is until someone comes along to truly unify the people to show them the way. The petty squabbling and infighting will keep anything from getting done.

This!
The faith people on this board put in humanity is really optimistic, there are plenty of third world countries that have basically been third world countires for two hundred years. Just because the west coast recovered and advanced doesn't mean they represent the bar. There is ZERO reason to assume the rest of country would recover in anywhere near the speed the west coast did.

We also don't know everything that happened in the DC area over the past two centuries. Rockopolis was destroyed by slavers, Minefield was once a settlement until the slavers came and took everyone. (leaving only Arkansas). Old Oley clearly used to be a wasteland settlement before the Deathclaws moved in. The NCR is the super-power the Legion its challenger for supremacy while the east coast is a third world country in the wasteland. And it being a wasteland means its extra bad.

Well it aint that easy to just rebuild the DC area. The Enclave would no doubt have tried it if they would have taken out BOS, all the super mutants and ghouls and all the locals, but luckily the lost. The DC area is a warzone in itself. You cant build inside a wild warzone full of the worlds most dangoures creatures, mutants ETC. You gotta secure it.

I HAIL TO MY BROTHERS IN BOS TRYING TO TAKE DOWN THE SUPER MUTANTS. MAY YOU SUCCED IN YOUR MISSION, AND MAYBE DC WILL BE STRONG AGAIN

Maybe this is the attitude that led to DC being such a [censored]hole...

Nobody in DC had an army of securitrons to keep everyone in line while the rebuilding took place.

Seriously bro? Enclave do not have the right. Who says we want theire or the NCR stupid government? no one. They dont give us a choice but to fight back. Legion and House are no better.

Why rebuild the city itself? Place is just a pile of rubble anyways, better to build a new city outside the old one. And not with plane parts and junk, I mean actual houses like in Fallout 1 and 2. I bet they could use the rubble as building material though.

nevermind.

But in the Enclave's defense, they're also the only ones in the Capitol Wasteland doing jack.
Without the Enclave, the Capitol Wasteland basically sits on it's ass and [censored]es about how [censored] life is. At least they're trying to get something done, even if it is friggin genocide. One could argue that had the Enclave won, the Capitol Wasteland would be better off. Infact, that's practically a fact...

Or as one reviewer put it, "the Enclave is the only group trying to change things for the better, and that's why all the other lazy groups decide they must unite and kill them. That'll teach them to get things done!"

Indeed it would. Lets take a look at Eden's plan, which is generally considered the "worst" choice in Fallout 3 in terms of morality. On the surface it seems pretty cut and dry, murder=bad right? Well its a little more complicated than that.

Assuming the FEV was placed into the water supply, what you effectively have is a cleansing of the Capital Wasteland. True the virus makes no distinction between "innocent" wastelanders and more malevolent ones, but this is the cost of having a return to a "blank slate" from which to rebuild the CW without any threats at all to hinder it.

The numbers of "innocent" wastelanders is probably less than 20% of the total wasteland population anyhow. The majority of the inhabitants of the CW are either 1. raiders or armed mercenaries like Talon Company 2. Super Mutants and ghouls (feral or otherwise) 3. Abominations like the Deathclaws and Centaurs 4. Mutated Animals like Yao Guai and vicious dogs or 5. Military Adversaries to the Enclave (like the BoS).

Taking this into account, Eden's plan kills much more "hostile" creatures and humans than it does everyday wastelanders. Which places his plan firmly in the gray area if you ask me. Some however, think its unacceptable for any one wastelander to die period. Which I don't agree with.

Here's another way to view it in the form of an anology:

All the plans of the respective factions are similar to how one chooses to "fix" a drawing which has been messed up by the artist. For Autumn and the BOS, this involves attempting to weave in and out of the already existing picture in an attempt to save what's there and fix the picture that way. You may end up screwing up the drawing more, but it could be better for you if it works. For Eden however, the method is to similar rip up the paper and start a brand new and improved drawing.

Wiping the slate allows the Enclave to progress unhindered in rebuilding the capital wasteland. There is no having to "protecting" caravans from raiders, guarding people and workers against mutated threats, or dealing with a hostile population. The Enclave can be totally focused on the task at hand.

Ok lets look at the problem now. Genocide. They seriously didnt need to run around with flamers killing locals. Else i would gladly throw my gun to them if i could, but the idea they have in mind is wiping the state clean, as in completely clean. Kill the wastelanders, its not like they have brains or anything. Kill the Ghouls, they are gonna turn on us anyways in 200 years. Kill the super mutants, cause when you are mutated that definently means that you are stupid and dont deserve to live right? Well i say NO! The people are fighting for something, and that is the will to live. Eastcoast BoS are actually trying to HELP people not to secure the wasteland.

Boo hoo genocide...
Genocide; "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group"
Now the part we're looking at is racial (Ghouls/Mutants/etc) now what you're completely missing is while the Enclave make their plan clear for a "blank slate" which means no non-pure wastelander will live, the Brotherhood are also selective in who they wish to spare when the 'save' the Capital Wasteland, they are more than willing to kill and discriminate against Ghouls and Super mutants as well as any creatures roaming the wasteland. But yet you'd side with them knowing this and still throw away any evidence that the Enclave aren't 100% in the Black ?

BoS is the closes the capital wasteland got for a organized paramilitary group willing to help people for now. They may be dikes and sometimes racist but they are better then the Enclave. Well the Eastcoast BoS are atleast, westcoast can go kiss my ass.

The Wasteland has a Pre-War, highly organised and powerful military force already that descends from the official US goverment, who are more than capable of helping the entire human populace in the click of a finger, unlike Brotherhood who have been sitting around for decades doing nothing, well nothing that's made an impact. The place was better being over run by the Super Mutants.