Would You Survive? : Fallout Series Discussion

» Fri May 04, 2012 1:32 am

I would say my chances are very high. I've been in scouts when I was younger, so earned alot of first hand knowledge on the outdoors as well as animal and plant ID and tracking. I also have a good stash of supplies that would help me out in a post nuclear holocaust survival situation.

To break supplies down is as follows as vaugely as possible. Not going to list exact.

1x High powered rifle
2500x high powered rifle rounds - assorted

1x High powered pistol
500x high powered pistol rounds - assorted

2x low powered rifles
10000x low powered rifle rounds - assorted

1x High powered small caliber pistol
500x high powered small caliber pistol rounds

1x low - mid powered revolver
250x low-mid powered revolver rounds

1x surplus cold war Civil Defense geiger counter - New in Box

1x LBV - slightly used from my scouting days

Only thing is I am looking to expand my equipment collection more with the addition of two more rifles in the mid to high powered range.

I think I would have a fairly good chance at survival considering my stock piled supplies and my hands on experiance and training with my equipment.

Its more than just simply lining up the sights and pulling the trigger. If you are dealing with a high powered firearm for instance, you tend to shoot low and to the left if your right handed or low and to the right if your left handed. The reason for this is a few reasons, one of the big ones is your squeezing your trigger too hard and pulling the aim off. The other reason which is the most common is you antcipate the recoil and you compensate just as you pull the trigger by pushing the gun down which results in low POA and low POI.

I have and still do have this problem with my high powered pistol but I am slowly improving. When I started out with this one out of 200 rounds shot only 130 were on the paper. The second trip to the range I fired off 200 rounds and had 195 or so on the paper and the grouping was alittle better. But to compensate for my antcipation of the recoil I started aiming up and to the right in the 1 - 2 o'clock position to compensate.

There are a few tricks to get yourself out of the habit of antcipating the recoil but I havent done it yet. One I plan to try is randomly loading a mag with live ammo and dead ammo. That way you dont know when it will go bang when you pull the trigger so it helps you relax some and not antcipate recoil.

Ok im gonna hang out with this guy and ill survive

» Fri May 04, 2012 11:20 am

You wouldn't, you'd die; no matter how many high-powered rifles you had. And a gieger counter wouldn't increase your chances of survival, well maybe if you lived in a fairly remote area where the presence of lethal fall-out wouldn't necessarily be taken as read; but unless you'd be willing to kill any other person who threatened you and had enough supplies to hide when the wind blew the fall-out you're way you'd still die.

» Fri May 04, 2012 1:05 am

After reading The Road (the book svcked btw) I know for a fact I would never survive, after reading Alas, Babylon (pretty decent book) I figure I'd have a shot. If the world were to go the way of Fallout, I'd die. If the radiation didn't get to me, my lack of physcial fitness and survival skills would. Who cares about first aid if you can't even build a fire? I don't know how to use a gun, I do have two machetes, but irl machete vs. guns? Guns win. I'm...porky, so I'm a prime target for cannibals, which (according to The Road) will be everywhere because human beings are revolting. I couldn't be a farmer if I wanted to as every plant I touch dies. My only saving grace would be my medical skills, but I feel like eating my flesh would be more appealing to most groups. Yeah...I think God would forgive me if I killed myself.

» Fri May 04, 2012 10:47 am

Nuclear War aftermath is a great weight loss regime.

As far as survival 101, the most important thing is water. You can go a long time without food, but water.. you only survive a few days.

But, to purify water, dirt/soil is your friend. Setup a funnel system where you filter water through the dirt, if you think it is irradiated. This will remove it, so the water that comes out, will be safe to drink.

Btw, Road is I guess not your cup of tea, but technically, it is never said what happened. I believe McCarthy hinted once that it is based on if Super Volcano blew, but really, the mystery is better.

» Fri May 04, 2012 7:05 am

After reading The Road (the book svcked btw) I know for a fact I would never survive, after reading Alas, Babylon (pretty decent book) I figure I'd have a shot. If the world were to go the way of Fallout, I'd die. If the radiation didn't get to me, my lack of physcial fitness and survival skills would. Who cares about first aid if you can't even build a fire? I don't know how to use a gun, I do have two machetes, but irl machete vs. guns? Guns win. I'm...porky, so I'm a prime target for cannibals, which (according to The Road) will be everywhere because human beings are revolting. I couldn't be a farmer if I wanted to as every plant I touch dies. My only saving grace would be my medical skills, but I feel like eating my flesh would be more appealing to most groups. Yeah...I think God would forgive me if I killed myself.

Go watch Threads; you wouldn't want to survive.

» Fri May 04, 2012 2:14 pm

Depends. As I am now, no. I'd be radscorpion food in about a day or two. If I was born into the post-apocalyptic world, maybe. If I was born into the post-post-apocalyptic world of California, the answer is "fo' sho'!"

» Fri May 04, 2012 2:31 pm

I had to answer questions on a paper I did for the Lit course on Alas, Bablyon. One particular that stood out to me was "If money wasn't an issue and you had every resource avaliable to you, how would you prepare yourself for a nuclear war?" I just wrote the answer as I was reading this thread!

" I would build an underground, water/ radiation proof fallout shelter. It would be equipped with a power generator, canned foods including canned meat, and other non-perishable foods, and gallons of water. I would also acquire radiation suits, geiger counters, walkie-talkies, firearms, first aid kits, antibiotics, survival guides, seeds for fruit and vegetable bearing plants, soil, and hopefully I would be able to pull a Noah and gather a male and female of a few imporant farm animals in order to be able to survive after the radiation dissapates enough. You never know how long it will take for radiation to die off, and it may take a very long time. I would get at least 20 years worth of resources and have a rationing system. All of this would only be possible if money weren't an issue. In actuality, it would be very difficult to bring all of these resources together, and the average family does not have the money to afford such things."

I love how school is finally combining with something I enjoy learning about! But this just shows how unrealistic it would be for anybody to comfortably survive. You would literally need a vault and a GECK.

» Fri May 04, 2012 2:33 am

assuming im immune to radiation the yes id still die why because of other industrale chems released during the blasts like clourine ect ect not to mention the unstaffed nuclear power plants as spent rods take decades to cool down so yeah no were is safe soooo.... if the bombs drop id sit outside and watch

» Fri May 04, 2012 12:57 am

Yep.
I can shoot, I'm fairly well versed in survival skills, I learnt a [censored]load of field medicine skills from my late grandfather (he was an Army medic in Vietnam), I live in the middle of bloody nowhere and I'd like to think I'm smart enough to be able to avoid the roving bands of cannibals/raiders/Mad Max-style gimp bandits/zombies/whatever.
I'd hole up in one of the old RAAF supply bunkers in the hills near my place, stock up on plenty of food/water etc and stay there, only going out to look for supplies when needed.

» Fri May 04, 2012 6:38 am

Most people are going to say yes when they really shouldn't be flabbing their mouth so much... Buuut, I would. The reasoning behind that is that I've grown up practically learning how to survive. I do have the right gear such as Marine clothing, 2 AK47s (not lying, would post pic but I don't know how to yet on this site), plenty of mags and a mag pouch, camo gear, military canteen, now all I have to do is get a holster for my handgun, can't share all my secrets though.

» Fri May 04, 2012 1:24 am

Yep.
I can shoot, I'm fairly well versed in survival skills, I learnt a [censored]load of field medicine skills from my late grandfather (he was an Army medic in Vietnam), I live in the middle of bloody nowhere and I'd like to think I'm smart enough to be able to avoid the roving bands of cannibals/raiders/Mad Max-style gimp bandits/zombies/whatever.
I'd hole up in one of the old RAAF supply bunkers in the hills near my place, stock up on plenty of food/water etc and stay there, only going out to look for supplies when needed.

You would steer clear of other people on purpose? There's strength in numbers. Hostiles in real life don't show up as red dots on the map! There's power in numbers, and if you could hope to join a troupe of...whatever, just to get human contact, I think most people would be curious and try to connect with others.

» Fri May 04, 2012 3:30 pm

You would steer clear of other people on purpose? There's strength in numbers. Hostiles in real life don't show up as red dots on the map! There's power in numbers, and if you could hope to join a troupe of...whatever, just to get human contact, I think most people would be curious and try to connect with others.

I know they don't show up as red dots on a map, lol.
I'm not saying I'd avoid human contact. I would, however, be EXTREMELY suspicious of EVERYONE I didn't know. In a post-apocalyptic world, where everyone's doing whatever they can to survive, it would be dangerous to trust new people until you've figured out exactly what their motives and goals are. Even then you'd be stupid to trust them.
Basically, avoid larger groups (5+) of armed people, unless they're obviously not psychotic raider types. Smaller groups (<5) are fine, but keep your rifle handy at ALL times. Singular people, same story.
Even then, you'd want to be EXCEPTIONALLY careful about how you went about contacting them. People will be understandably jumpy, you don't want to end up bleeding out in the dust because you startled some trigger-happy kid on guard duty.

» Fri May 04, 2012 5:19 pm

Yep.
I can shoot, I'm fairly well versed in survival skills, I learnt a [censored]load of field medicine skills from my late grandfather (he was an Army medic in Vietnam), I live in the middle of bloody nowhere and I'd like to think I'm smart enough to be able to avoid the roving bands of cannibals/raiders/Mad Max-style gimp bandits/zombies/whatever.
I'd hole up in one of the old RAAF supply bunkers in the hills near my place, stock up on plenty of food/water etc and stay there, only going out to look for supplies when needed.

And what happens when there's fall-out in your area? Unless you can shoot the wind away then you can't garuntee your survival. And for supply bunker? Stock-up on food and water? You and the rest of Australia, nuclear wars don't just happen, there's an escalation and in it people panic buy; same with "going out to look for supplies" you and everyone else, and from where?

» Fri May 04, 2012 11:09 am

Like I said, I can shoot. I'm a fairly proficient hunter, I live in a rural area so there's plenty of food around if you know where to look/don't mind eating some odd things.
Radiation would be what got me. Like you said, there's nothing that's going to stop the fallout.
That said, I'm over 500km away from the nearest likely target, so unless they decide vineyards, farmland and a few near-exhausted gold mines are worth bombing then even that would be fairly low.

Edit: The RAAF base that the bunkers originally belonged to has been shut down for nearly thirty years, it's a housing estate now. So that's not going to be any sort of target. The bunkers themselves are up in the hills behind the base, nearly nobody except a couple of old folks and the few people, like me, who go hunting up there even know they exist anymore. The only problem I see with using them is the ventilation systems, the walls are 10ft of reinforced concrete for the most part so radiation isn't going to be a huge problem once I'm in there.

I've had a good old think about his, and I'm pretty sure I'd survive. At least for a while. Only things I can see killing me are radiation, or if I make a mistake and get shot by trigger-happy fellow survivors.

» Fri May 04, 2012 6:03 am

Most people are going to say yes when they really shouldn't be flabbing their mouth so much... Buuut, I would. The reasoning behind that is that I've grown up practically learning how to survive. I do have the right gear such as Marine clothing, 2 AK47s (not lying, would post pic but I don't know how to yet on this site), plenty of mags and a mag pouch, camo gear, military canteen, now all I have to do is get a holster for my handgun, can't share all my secrets though.

You can have a Ma Deuce, you can even have five of them. They don't necessarily mean you will survive. If you live in a urban setting, your chance of survival will be minimal.

Get shot, you are going to die. Run out of water, going to die. Run out of food, get weak, and slowly die.

The first advantage or disadvantage someone will have is where they live. From that point on it will be a matter of skill and luck.

» Fri May 04, 2012 12:59 am

Probably not, I am a decent shot with a rifle but other than that my anger issues/asthma would get the better of me at some point when under a high stress situation. Assuming I was able to work past that then I guess I could maybe survive for a while because I have gone through many a medical and survival course. Honestly though I wouldn't want to survive, because despite all this there is still going to be the problem of the cancer and tumors resulting from the increased levels of UV radiation that no amount of bullets can cure. ;-;

» Fri May 04, 2012 2:15 am

Probably not, I am a decent shot with a rifle but other than that my anger issues/asthma would get the better of me at some point when under a high stress situation. Assuming I was able to work past that then I guess I could maybe survive for a while because I have gone through many a medical and survival course. Honestly though I wouldn't want to survive, because despite all this there is still going to be the problem of the cancer and tumors resulting from the increased levels of UV radiation that no amount of bullets can cure. ;-;

If you live long enough for the sun to become visible again

» Fri May 04, 2012 12:45 pm

Eh, all depends. If my family was with me? Yes I would survive. Otherwise, not so sure I'd make it on my own. I can imagine it would get lonely in the wastes, living day by day trying to survive by myself... dunno. Hard to say IMO.

» Fri May 04, 2012 3:46 pm

If you live long enough for the sun to become visible again :wink:

The Sun doesn't have to be visible for Space Radiation (sounds 10x cooler than calling it UV/Gamma Radiation) to mess you up.

» Fri May 04, 2012 4:17 am

The Sun doesn't have to be visible for Space Radiation (sounds 10x cooler than calling it UV/Gamma Radiation) to mess you up.

Exactly. Assuming that all the nuculear fire burned up the atmosphere, avoiding Solar Radiation would be impossible unless you live deep underground. Not to mention the world would eventually wither up and die, became one giant desert.

» Fri May 04, 2012 4:02 am

The Sun doesn't have to be visible for Space Radiation (sounds 10x cooler than calling it UV/Gamma Radiation) to mess you up.

The rolling clouds of dust and smoke from the cities will protect you till the nuclear "winter" is over. Ever seen Threads?

» Fri May 04, 2012 1:31 pm

Someone once asked what the readers would do in case of a zombie apocalypse, and people started to give these wildly unrealistic answers, like "i'd kick and shoot my way to a fast car to steal, and then i'd drive to a well stocked store" etc. Lol, apparently they all saw themselves as latent action heroes.

But anyway, maybe we'll get a little taste of failed society in the years to come, and we'll see have they handle it then.

» Fri May 04, 2012 10:55 am

Someone once asked what the readers would do in case of a zombie apocalypse, and people started to give these wildly unrealistic answers, like "i'd kick and shoot my way to a fast car to steal, and then i'd drive to a well stocked store" etc. Lol, apparently they all saw themselves as latent action heroes.

But anyway, maybe we'll get a little taste of failed society in the years to come, and we'll see have they handle it then.

At least a lot of the Fallout fans don't view themselves as Lone Wanderer super humans. I'm into zombies but a lot of zombie fans don't have realistic answers to the "What would you do?" question.

» Fri May 04, 2012 5:30 am

You wouldn't, you'd die; no matter how many high-powered rifles you had. And a gieger counter wouldn't increase your chances of survival, well maybe if you lived in a fairly remote area where the presence of lethal fall-out wouldn't necessarily be taken as read; but unless you'd be willing to kill any other person who threatened you and had enough supplies to hide when the wind blew the fall-out you're way you'd still die.

1. firearms or any weapon at that is a requirement for survival. Without weapons you cant kill food, you cant prepare food, you cant build shelter. Some would say why would a weapon be used to build a shelter, in this case knives can be used to cut branches, reeds, trees, etc to be used in shelter construction.

2. A geiger counter would increase your chances of survival. It will let you know radiation levels in areas. Why do you think anyone going into the areas surrounding Chernobly always carry geiger counters. It is to let them know the location of hotspots and thus to avoid those areas.

3. Killing another person is hard for some people and is easy for others. I will just say that I have had to use my firearms in self defense and I do not have a problem or any guilt over that. In my eyes its me or them and I will side with myself over someone else.

4. The location I will not disclose since it is set up for survival for any numerous SHTF situations and I dont care to have people knowing exactly where and come in try to be all buddy-buddy like for supplies. I will say that the location of the property is remote, its on the outskirts of a town that just numbers 280 people, and ontop of that there is a vault, yes I said vault, under ground on the property where all my equipment is stored at.

The truth is we would not see a nuclear war like in FO series. We have a greater chance at being exposed to radiation through dirty bombs being detonated and allowing the air to disperse the fallout. In my case I am setup for this to survive this situation cause I am in such a area that it wouldnt be a target unlike some larger cities to the east and west of my location 100+ miles away.

» Fri May 04, 2012 5:00 pm

It depends on multiple factors. Who i'm with, where i am at the time the bombs hit, and exactly where the bombs hit. So maybe