Hi everyone,
I'm the lead developer of Fallout's Doomsday mod and I'd like to write a few words about it.
First, let me explain Hearts of Iron 2. This is quite an awesome WW2 strategy game where you can play any nation in the world. It runs in real time though you pause the game and control the speed. It is basically an empire building game, where you research technologies, build land, sea and air units, assign leaders and ministers, and wage war using divisions and higher level formations. The game has espionage, economics with resources like energy and metal, diplomacy and more.
So Fallout's Doomsday mod takes this most excellent and deep strategy game and completely converts it to the Fallout universe. The mod is set in 2245 AD which we say is a few years after the end of Fallout 2. You get to play nations across the whole of North and Central America and build an empire from the Post Apocalyptic ruins.
New nation states are arising across the Wastelands. So we have New Arroyo gathering in all tribes and townships in its region, combined with the vault dwellers of Vault 13 giving it technologies. We have Vault City, spanning two provinces now, with its burgeoning population outstripping its meagre energy production. Nearby is poor Gecko, with a live nuclear reactor and all the energy you could want. Gecko has some of the best tech teams in the mod with expert ghoul technicians, but will this be enough for them to survive? At the game start, there are ingame events for the ghoul nations to ally or unite. Perhaps all three together: Necropolis, Gecko and Kansas Free State, will be strong enough to remain free.
NCR and West Brotherhood of Steel border each other around Mojave Desert. The constant expansion of NCR is causing growing tension with the Brotherhood and will likely lead to war as the mod has in game events to represent this tension. Who will win? BoS has two understrength Wastelands battalions of power armoured Paladins and good technologies. NCR has teeming masses of manpower to draw upon and the willingness to defend their nation of hopes and dreams built on the rule of law.
In the east we have the eastern splinter of the Brotherhood of Steel with their radical departure from the traditions of the western Brotherhood, trying to build an empire by civilising the local population of their region. Next to them, however, are the powerful Mutant Army, the remains of the Master's army still dipping humans to grow their ranks.
And further east still we have the Former USA; yes, the actual remnant of the US government based in Washington DC. Much of the federal government managed to survive the holocaust in deep bunkers, despite being abandoned by the President, his executive and some top corporate and military leaders. They have struggled to survive the century and a half of horrors since the Great War, trying to hold on against the ever encroaching darkness of the radiated Wastelands.
And of course, there is the Enclave. You surely didn't think they were wiped out when the Chosen One destroyed their oil rig facility off the coast of San Francisco, did you? Safe in their fortress on Unimak Island off the coast of Alaska, they still plot their evil schemes to take over the Wastelands and they are rebuilding...
I could go on about the nations in the mod, but there are too many. There are 39 playable nations in the mod, and you can lead any one of them to greatness within this strategy game.
You might have noticed that the mod uses canon content from the great games FO1 and FO2. With such a huge map to fill, we also used content from FO:T, Van Buren and even some casual links to FO3, though the mod is set decades before FO3 takes place. Content has also been created from the fertile imaginations of myself and the other contributors to the mod.
Key features of the mod.
- Post apocalyptic science fiction setting set in the world of the Fallout computer games.
- 47 nations, 39 playable, set in post Apocalyptic North America.
- Stable game play. It's possible to complete an entire game without a crash (though it can crash rarely, must be space-time eddies).
- New political matrix and domestic sliders with supporting event pool.
- 400+ techs in all new tech tree, with awesome pictures containing pertinent and funny quotes.
- All new units and brigades. Each line has been extensively tested and play balanced, with each unit and attachment type having a gameplay niche.
- Primitive starting technology for units combined with low infrastructure, it makes for new war dynamics.
- Five races, each with custom techs and units.
- Modified economic system, suited to the Wastelands, with technologies playing a key part in providing resources.
- Thousands of events, including events for each nation and over 100 random events.
- Modified leader and minister traits.
- In fact, most of the text from the base game has been altered to suit the setting.
- Very nearly complete graphic replacement: user interface, all screens, all sprites and nearly all icons.
- Functional AI settings for AI wars, diplomacy, trade and espionage.
- End game alliance event chain and scripted final war.
- Event chains to bring the Wastelands world to life like the Great Western Caravan Trail.
- Unique *player* traits to further customise a human player's play style.
- Content and storyline from all the Fallout games.
- Unique Wastelands conquest mechanic, supported by hundreds of events.
- Fun pop culture references like the X-files random event chain depicting the descendants of the first two FBI agents on the X-files.
- One role playing event chain for anyone who plays the Former USA.
- Lots of minor nations added since version 0.3.
- Extensive play balance refinements and bug fixes.
- And much more than I'm probably forgetting. Play it to find out!
I always loved Fallout 1 and Fallout 2, and have played Tactics and Fallout 3 also. I think that if you are a gamer who loves Fallout as much as I do, then you might also enjoy this rich mod for a wonderful strategy game as much as I do.
I'll only post one picture here. There are many, many screenshots in the AAR (After Action Report) on the Paradox Interactive (who make HOI2) forum.
Cheers,
Sword
