Fallout Chicago: A Fallout Tactics Reckoning 

Fallout Tactics is the unsung gem of the Fallout series. That's why I constantly vouch for how good, and how influential it was. Radroaches, Brotherhood airships, Enclave power armour in Fallout 3, continuing to use former Star Trek actors as voice actors, etc. Fallout Tactics is surprisingly full of things that are important to the franchise.

1. There is a whole German WW2 U-boat in a museum in Chicago. Big quest potential there. 2. Cloud gate: all hail the silver bean 3. Maybe the Elevated Trains for some interesting housing/ settlements/ transport? (I actually had a similar idea for a game set in the Southeastern US called Fallout Seared South.)

Tactic's Brotheehood of Steel Summary: - Abandons old dogma for the sake of practicality - Helps others to get help in return - Strives to master and understand technology - Harsh but effective justice - Allows outsiders to join their ranks - Basicly Brotherhood only in name

You really f*-king got me. I, a Chicago resident, was taking notes while listening to the video. I started to tune in more when heard you talking about uptown. I go to uptown all the time to catch live shows or get a drink. My mind started to wander. "Wow! I'd love to see 'The Riv' in fallout. Or walk The Redline from there down to Addison. I'd love to build a-" "WrIgLeY'5 fIeLd" and I broke from my trance.... "an 'S? There is no-" "Home of the White Sox!" and my face turned red. I skipped back and listened to it again so ready to correct you.... Then I saw the picture. I had been punked! You knew what you were doing, and you got me.

I think it would be interesting if we could find that after the events of Fallout 4, Nick Valentine goes to find what happened to the original Valentine, and finds him goulified and has a reunion with himself.

A Fallout set in chicago would be awesome! You could have prohibition era tunnels and survivors, dig into the F:Tactics lore with remnants from the robot army (can't remember the name now). But Your Grace RadKing I would like to suggest Houston Texas for another episode of this series, I think the Lone Star state has a lot of potential for the games

I think an interesting concept would to make Chicago highly irradiated, much like the Glowing Sea in Fallout 4, as a reference to how in the original Fallout Tactics, you never really get to visit Chicago proper. Maybe this could be why. Perhaps there can be a Vault located underneath Chicago, with the original entrance being on lower Wacker Drive, a street in Chicago which is unique for going underneath Chicago and along the riverfront. The nuke would be detonated in Millennium Park, leaving a massive crater, and exposing part of the Vault from the damage. It is the only way to enter the Vault as the original entrance is entirely underwater. It just so happens to be where the Vault's reactor was, which explains why the area is still highly radioactive around 2 centuries later.

Since trains are nuclear powered in the Fallout world, it would make sense that major post war cities would form around rail yards. Locomotives are 6000 horse power in our world (towards the max) which would keep a small town running on its own. Let alone having hundreds of them laying around. Especially given Fallout world nuclear technology effectively runs forever.

As a chicagoan, i have several thoughts on this i felt like sharing. For one, while yes we do have an Irish presence, i feel it'd be remiss to ignore our SIGNIFICANT Polish population. We had more polish people than any city outside of Poland (til new york took that because they have such a massive population; we still have a higher rate per capita), and we have an important city holiday celebrating a prominent polish figure in the history of chicago, Casimir Pulaski day. Another thought is that it feels criminal to try to recreate the chicago skyline without the sears tower (i know it's the willis tower now but too bad) and the hancock center. I'd LOVE to see a fallout-ified version of those iconic skyscrapers, maybe in ruins or maybe with somewhat more wacky architecture similar to the skyscrapers in fallout 4's boston. A fairly important aspect of downtown chicago that didn't get mentioned here is the iconic elevated train system (the L), which of course includes the Loop. Imagine a faction that uses the loop as a border of their territory, maybe building down from the elevated tracks to make it into a border wall like New Vegas, or just using it as a way to travel the city with some elevation on your side. Maybe this faction is what grew from the remnants of chicago's organized crime, and you can live inside their territory with their protection from outside threats, but also with the downsides of being ruled over by the mob. One major downside of a game set in chicago is the distinct lack of wilderness. the chicagoland area stretches for a HUGE area around the city proper; it'd be pretty hard to find forests or plains or any undeveloped space within a realistic distance from the downtown area. Undeveloped, untamed, and unknown wilderness is a pretty big part of the fallout series, so i think it would be pretty difficult to make a game without that still feel like fallout. Maybe it'd therefore be more important for DLC to focus more on that nature & wilderness, maybe with a national park like you mentioned, or going up into surrounding states' rural areas (hey, the bristol renaissance faire is right over the wisconsin border. it'd probably feel off in fallout but hey i loved it as a kid so i'm gonna mention it). If you want to get political (which the fallout series often does), chicago is a GREAT option for that. you can touch on the rampant corporatization of public life as a result of capitalism (A lot of public transit is managed by a private company (metra), many parking spaces in the city are owned by private companies, etc), the history of racism in housing (chicago has a LONG and awful history with redlining and other racist housing laws & practices), or just the overall divide between the rich and poor. I'm not sure how much of that bethesda would really want to tackle, but hey, it's there. last couple thoughts: 1) it's just very funny to think that i could visit the spot where my irl house is but in a fallout game, maybe live in whatever exists on that spot lol 2) hey, maybe due to some nuclear mishap the chicago river is PERMANENTLY green, instead of just on saint patty's day; that could also create a pretty interesting gameplay mechanic where swimming in the river is incredibly dangerous so you have to use the many many bridges if you want to get around safely, and therefore different factions fight for control of said bridges. 3) as usual, this was a fantastic video and evidently really got me thinking about my city and how it might appear in one of my favorite fictional worlds. keep up the great work Your Majesty

I feel like the canonicity of Tactics can be summed up like how Metroid: Other M is. The events of that game happened, but not as they were portrayed.

I could very much imagine that the Children of Atom created some kind of pilgrimage course that starts on the Memorial statue, goes through 2 or 3 locations (like the Bullfrog Lake) and ends in the universities Fission Lab, where they have created some kind of "Cathedral of Atom".

I can imagine a really dark outcome where Chinatown gets “re-organized” into a hyper-patriotic Americatown that exemplifies the worst of Prewar America’s eco-fascist attitude towards its neighboring nations and the consumerist drive that lead to nuclear oblivion.

the line about the detachment in Chicago going rogue kinda works with an idea i had for a raider gang founded by an ex BoS unit, with the gang's original identity being lost to time, but with the BoS culture intact, but mixed with raiding and chems. they'd also be operating in a region with no former permanent BoS, so to everyone there it'd be a mystery where they came from, but to the player themselves it'd be subtly hinted that they're BoS

Funny you mention this my writer showed me this video, our team is currently working on a Fallout NV Expansion set in Chicago

I think an interesting approach with Chicago being the transportation hub it is would be to use Chicago as something of a hub world, for a lack of a better word. Take a boat down the river to St Louis or a train to one of the surrounding cities. Something like Point Lookout or The Pit being smaller maps but mesh in a bit more sensically for the setting. Fast travel on the trains to go to other hub areas and cover more area without having a larger map. You could even get a bit whacky with the factions. Railway nomads, that go from city to city trading and scavenging whose origins are old train staff or something. Or turn Gary Indiana into a Vault City situation where it's (kinda) thrived post war. Canadian migrants from across the lake.Not sure what you'd do with said factions but it'd be neat I guess.

I think the brotherhoods main base being the crashed airship would be cool

Because of the Chicago fires, maybe having burned/burnt/Smoldering/torched/chard/ as prefixes for harder variants of wasteland creatures would be fitting. Also have Mysterious Rad Fire storms that pop up with irradiated (green?) fire in certain locations would be interesting. As always great video Rad.

Dark black soot-covered buildings, rampant organized crime, secret passages, weird cults, and psycho killers? My Brother in Atom, you've described Gotham City. FALLOUT: ARKHAM

If you keep plotting out more of these great, plausible game areas, Bethesda may finally get smart and hire you! I really dig how you touched on so many aspects of what makes Chicago special. This is the kind of game design that can lead to a memorable, even legendary, player experience.

A few comments, but not much: I think one thing that should be in a Fallout Chicago but wasn't mentioned is the Rum Tunnels. These are a separate system than what you mentioned and were dug by the gangs of Chicago to move liquor between areas of Chicago and places in Southwest Michigan and Northern Indiana. Also the L-Train systems (especially in the Loop areas as highlighted in the map you gave) would probably hold some importance too. As far as DLC, two I'd love to see that are important to Chicago to a degree would be Gary Indiana (right across the Illinois Indiana border) which currently IRL looks like Fallout in areas but miiiiight be a bit too similar to the Pitt as it was a steel mill company city, but more prominent during the 50s and having a very direct connection (via shortrail that runs directly from it to Millennium Station in Chicago, where you had shown) is South Bend Indiana. This city was prominent in the car industry pre-70s, but heavily in the 50s and 60s with Studebaker, plus the presence of the University of Notre Dame could lead into a large number of themes you presented in this video.

I’m actually planning a fallout ttrpg set in Chicago, this video is really helpful! An idea I thought about would be, with Chicago’s historical meat packing history, a company like mama dolce’s could lead to a Chinese influence in post Great War Chicago. Possibly a faction or a location! Thank you for the good videos!

I would love a crime faction you could join similar to the trigermen from f4. Just on a larger scale and joinable especially due to their presence in Chicago during the mafia golden age and probation, it would also work due to fallout 1950's vibes

Rehashing some ideas I've posted before on how Tactics could be brought in line with the current lore. For starters, move the events of Tactics to after the events of Fallout 2. This would make it so that the Brotherhood's encounter with the Enclave and the realization that they are no longer the technological big dogs in the Wasteland was the catalyst for the schism that saw the formation of the Midwest Chapter. Next, seeing as ED-E's recordings confirm the presence of Enclave in Chicago, make them the main antagonists instead of the Calculator because, let's face it, if a robot army like that had existed in prewar America, its remnants would be everywhere, not just in the Midwest. You could even make it so that the reason the Brotherhood crashed wasn't because they flew into a storm, which makes them seem pretty negligent, but were shot down by the Enclave. And the reason their power armor starts to look like a hybrid of Brotherhood and Enclave armor is because it is. They would start using components taken from the armor of dead Enclave soldiers to repair and upgrade their own armor.

24:18 there *are* hot dogs in the Fallout games, specifically Fallout 76. I remember a particular daily quest in Camden Park where you have to eat hot dogs on plates in a hot dog eating challenge.

26:17 - I'm envisioning a Ferris wheel being immobilized by rubble or welding, and turned into a small makeshift settlement with the carts being turned into shops or apartments

Its really nice to see that you didn't just cover the main city but included outer towns, one which I'm from, in the larger city map. Also, as Sailor, I love the idea of a bunch of Sailors branching off and making their own faction.

Small correction: Wrigley field is home to the Chicago Cubs, not the White Sox.

I can see it now! Fallout: The Black City.

Yes! Chicago must be a Fallout game some day. Maybe even with Springfield showcased as a DLC city that was mostly untouched by bombs and mostly intact and portrayed as a community that is actually banding together to rebuild and hint that they intend to be a legitimate rival to the Enclave. Just my imagination running with the concept LOL. Have a great day all !!

I'm working on a project set in Fallout's Chicago, and this has been extremely insightful. Thanks for the great content!

Loving this series, keep it up! Some suggestions for some other settings to potentially look at could be: -Seattle -Hawaii -New Orleans

I literally keep coming back to this video over and over again as my biggest aid in creating my Fallout TTRPG campaign. Thanks for the great ideas and inspiration for plenty of my own!

There are hotdogs in FO76. You can find them on grills sometimes, and there is a daily quest at Camden Park that involves a hotdog eating contest.

A few other ideas: North Side / South Side rival factions (Cubs vs Sox), the L (Chicago's Metro system) could still be functional, and Argonne National Lab and Fermi Lab are two very important physics laboratories just outside of the city.

As a Chicagoan, born and raised, I would love to see what would be done with the Shedd Aquarium. I used to go there so much as a kid. And Navy Pier would be a great place for a trading plaza in fallout.

So here's a neat little idea to go along with your criminal gangs factions. Since Capone retired from the Mob in the 30s, and was originally from Brooklyn, you could have two major groups. You could have the "Capones" and the "Outfit." The first basically in the style of the Kings venerating Elvis. They could have a more New York aesthetic to them. The Second group could represent the disciples of Capone and the Colisimo crime family and have more traditional Italian/Irish Catholic Mob vibe. Basically fanatics of the Alcohol Bootlegger King who died of Syphilis, vs. Made Men who dabble in protection rackets, gambling, and harder drugs.

For about a year & a half I have been planning/writing a Fallout RPG with Chicago as the setting. Atom Bless You for making this video, so much great inspiration!

I know I can count on you to post some quality fallout content when I needed it. Thank you.

I’m actually from around Chicago (I’m a little bit outside the city) and I think that one thing I’d love to see that this video mentioned a little is involvement of Lake Michigan in some way (possibly a dlc, main plot or a way to cross the lake to other dlc areas)

even though it's quite a bit outside the map you suggest, I think a trip out to naval station great lakes would be a great DLC concept. if they chose to reproduce the "battle stations" facility which is basically the final exam for passing Navy bootcamp and is literally a ship at a pier, inside a giant warehouse. recruits board the ship just around sunset, and they spend the first few hours doing the basic menial stuff like standing bridge watch, loading supplies from the pier to the ship, etc. but then, missile hits are simulated and there are rooms that fill with smoke, ammunition magazines that start to flood, so you're supposed to move all the heavy "shells" to an adjacent compartment before all the ammo gets waterlogged. walls and ceilings that collapse, floors that shake, and rooms that catch fire, all so sailors can put all their basic training to the test. that would be a great dungeon dive. there is also the firing ranges, the gas chamber, the swimming pools, the NEX (Navy equivalent to the super duper mart), and a rather large chapel. across the street you have a few other training commands for occupational specializations including diver training so there's a pretty wide number of interesting facilities that they could incorporate.

Remember Wasteland Omelet quest? What if there is a quest for making a Wasteland Burek? Or just Rakija/Moonshine, but without that fission battery trash, but by mixing with other alchohols: Beer and Moonshine to make Concrete, with sparkling water/Aqua Pura for some tonic, vodka and unique Nuka Cola to make cheap White Russian. Or hell, make it a plant/fruit only moonshine that gives some idiotic buffs)

This is truly amazing. You've made a great case for Chicago as a setting in a future Fallout game, or at the very least, an epic mod.

I always had the dream Fallout game set in Chicago and its surrounding area. It would work as a spinoff like New Vegas but much more developed (like 3-5 years of development into it) and have a similar map to what you laid out but more extensive, incorporating more areas south, southeast, southwest, north and northwest. Having the Midwestern Brotherhood and Enclave very much involved alongside many other factions, tribes, raider groups, etc. I would even have direct ties to New Vegas and Fallout 1 and 2. And definitely a revisioned Fallout Tactics story that would be made canon. I’d have the game set in Fall of 2290 but spanning all the way into summer when seasons change occurring throughout the game. We have to get a game set in Chicago

How can you neglect the L! Chicago has a railway system called "The L" It is was initially coal powered and was unvailed during the Colombian wold exposition in 1893. It is a largely elevated rail that started as a "loop" in the downtown area that would reach up and out some. Today the L is a "Commuter" railway designed to take folks from outside and in the edges of the city in toward The Loop. It still forms that "Loop" in downtown then sends folks right back out. This rail actually gives Chicago's downtown it's nickname of "The Loop". The L also got it's name because it's elevated. In the downtown area, The L has a few lines that sit 3-10 stories above ground level. It also has a few line that travel underground and under the river just to pop back up and join there elevated brethren. To locals, it's nothing new. Kinda loud when you're under it. To visitors and tourists, however, it's baffling. To be on a rail in the air that runs down roads, pops into neighborhoods and weaves between the houses. It's an experience for sure.

Minor correction about the hot dogs: Hot dogs are actually featured in Fallout 76 for a daily quest called "Chow Line" at Camden Park

There should definitely be a side quest where you destroy the old Meigs Field by sneaking in at night and blowing it up

It's absolutely crazy that this shows up on my feed and came out 2 days ago, as I've been working on creating a fallout campaign setting for the tabletop RPG setting in Chicago, because of the great setting, history, and open lore connections to the existing universe. I've done most research on many of the points in this video but nonetheless it will be an awesome resource to use to help with my project.

Oh mighty and Knowledgeable RadKing... Awesome idea of location and your concepts and reasoning is sound. Only one small issue Wrigley Field is the home of the Cubs not the White Sox. LOL as a Chicago Southsider, and White Sox Fan, my favorite baseball team is the White Sox and my second favorite team is who ever is playing the Cubs. The rivalry between the Sox and Cubs is visceral and that too would make a interesting factional spin...

I love these kinds of videos. Speculating where the next fallout game could be.

Fallout is my favorite game. Children of Atom is my favorite faction. Chicago is my favorite city. I was born and raised less than a mile from where those experiments took place. Loving this vid. Would be the best game ever! 💚

Great video!! Chicago or New Orleans would be awesome.

Great video, man!

FYI, there are hot dogs in Fallout 76. The Chow Line daily is a hot dog eating contest, they are found various other places on the map, and the Nuka-World update includes Nuka-Dogs as well.

Good stuff. Many thanks.

Ghouls on fire that never burn out. A monster in the lake that only the most demented worship. Terror birds roosting in the highest buildings. Gangs that use the rail lines to mark their turf. It has potential.

What about Caesar's Legion? In Fallout New Vegas, they mention contacting the Midwest Brother of Steel. It could work as the Legion being an outsider group who saw the value of Chicago steel mills for the mass production of weapons, Enclave returning to regroup and collect the technology like the Midwest Power Armor suit (which is in reality, Advanced Power Armor MK II but more robust), Brotherhood of Steel who is their on their purge of super mutants, and Gammorin's Army, lead by a former Brotherhood of Steel member who saw the light after being save by a Super Mutant and Ghoul who just want peace but have been murder by his BOS members.

I wonder if maybe instead of focusing on a single urban area, like the last few fallout games, the next game uses the Great Lakes as a whole. It could be based in Chicago, then the main story has you travel to other locations on the Great Lakes like Cleveland, Toronto, Sault Ste. Marie, Duluth, etc. Perhaps the reason for this is because some dangerous, new creature dominates the countryside and it's just safer to travel over water. This could also be a reason why we never hear about midwestern settlements in other games, they either never made it there or didn’t want to try and make that same dangerous journey back. I'd also love to see what an area governed by the Brotherhood of Steel would be like; perhaps there are bans on certain tech, creating a black market for things like energy weapons, bringing smugglers and gangs into the mix.

Been waiting for a video about a fallout in Chicago, I think it has everything needed for a fallout game and has been my n1 pick for years

the fact that all the buildings in chicago are leaning is actually a really cool hint that maybe just like irl the city was lifted

Surprised there was no mention of a Canada DLC in this hypothetical scenario. Should be pretty easy to take a boat across the lake since we had Point Lookout and Far Harbot

There is some things you forgot and understandably so… 1. Hotdogs are in the Fallout Universe and are in Fallout 76. The strange part is there is no bun,it is just the sausage 2. While your trying to stay reasonable with map size being less then Fallout 4,their most recent title 76 was “4x” the size.

Your broad outline of Chicago fits a lot of the thoughts I’ve had, so I’ll comment on DLC areas. I like the idea of going to the Mall of America and seeing it as hi-tech but cheesy place, probably filled with Viking raiders. Kind of like Nuka World but with more brand names. My headcanon, for lack of a better word, is that St Louis was the HQ for the mutants because the wanted to dump FEV in the river. Maybe you have to return here because a new strain has emerged & is killing folks. Detroit. Even more Raider heavy than the Mall, someone is turning old cars into a new patchwork army of robots. Attack of the Killer Corvegas!

for a chicago fallout, up in wisconsin there is a museum submarine USS Cobia, so maybe some sort of mini faction using said submarine

I would love to hear Chicago blues in the next Fallout, but don't forget, Gene Autry had his start singing on a Chicago radio station in the 1930s. Add to that, Bozo the Clown. You have to have a clown character, and maybe even Svengoolie.

I like the idea of the Chicago faction of the BoS having gradually been infiltrated and overtaken by the Children of Atom, becoming the Brotherhood of Atom. A splinter faction would reject this and be forced to vacate the city. You could pick either side, and also form an allegiance with the Enclave. You could spread the teachings of Atom amongst the Enclave, converting them and turning them against the BoS. Or the BoS could ally with the Enclave to bring down the Brotherhood of Atom, which would be an interesting dynamic.

Chicago could have two major warring fsctions, one centered around Wrigley Field and one centered around Comiskey Park. They battle twice yearly over some resource called the Battle of the crosstown classic 😂 . If you want to include real life military installations in the game I think you have to expand the map a little bit to cover Glenview naval Air station and fort Sheridan further to the north.

There a crazy ring of nuclear power plants around Chicago. When the Cold War was ramping up they figured out they basically created a terrible chain where if one reactor got hit the whole lot of them would go up one after the other. But might be too late for your 60s cut off, I'm not sure when most of the reactors went up. Could be interesting to have a sort of radiation moat that has largely led to Chicago's isolation though. Also definitely could play into the Children of Atom ideas you already have.

Being from Wisconsin I'd love to see a DLC for Milwaukee where it's more light hearted(ish) like Nuka World where theres like a cheese king that's just out of his gourd that and have Wisconsin be a booze making hub for the wastes that's be super cool. Chicago is legitimately my hope for F5🙏🙏🙏🙌

I did a gurps tabletop campaign in Chicago so hearing this lore with the research I’ve done was cool

I really like your ideas for a Fallout Chicago. Bonus points if I get to take Nick Valentine with me as a tour guide, just to hear him make witty commentary on the various changes to the Windy City.

Imagine someone sees the hot dog signs and thought people ate dogs in pre war so they make a dog farm and sell dog meat in buns 😭😭

7:39 I think the main reason they made it non-cannon was for that map. Lake Michigan looks like it was mirrored, the terrain around the west side looks like the Appalachian mountains (and it looks like it wasn’t from the nukes either) and there’s a random river that looks wider than the Mississippi River in Wisconsin 😂. Maybe I’m just picky as someone from the Chicagoland area but I really hope they make a better map next time around

One of the resent datamines from F76 revealed one of the Caculators robots in the game files. We have to wait and see if we will see them in F76 in the future. EDIT: Seems to be the Security Robot from Fallout Tactics. EDIT: Hotdogs can be found and eaten in F76 btw

i think Chicago would have a lot of good factions based of the mafia, the china and Greek towns, a faction similar to responders or NCR, a vault faction with vault 85 and 86 alliance, (fallout gravel pit) a dlc mission to Canada or on islands in the great lakes would be interesting to explore also was Lincoln born in Kentucky

As a fellow follower of Atom, and Chicago native This is perfect. Sprinkle in our Gothic cemeteries and The forest preserves with huge mutated deer and rodents. Along with the minor Paranormal activity fallout series encompasses would be a chefs kiss. 👨‍🍳 Also the Indianapolis Idea, thats perfect.

I've actually been considering getting into Fallout 4 modding so that I could potentially make a big mod based in Chicago, and this video's really got my fuel rods reacting. It's exciting hearing about someone's ideas for it.

A potential DLC location could be the Rock Island Arsenal. My own personal headcanon is that the reason the Midwest BoS has radically different power armor compared to the other games is that a parallel development of power armor took place at RIA, where the distinct Midwest BoS PA was developed. However, due to crony corporatist lobbying, price, insufficient manufacturing capabilities, or something else entirely, the WestTek T45 and T51 models were downselected as military issue instead. The RIA models were then put into storage, and the Great War triggered an automated lockdown of the facility, keeping raiders and wastelanders out. The Midwest BoS could initially be depicted in a potential FO:Chicago as having equipment that's worn out from years of use with little appropriate maintenance capabilities, and the entire RIA DLC could be centered around assisting them in shutting down the automated lockdown and defenses of the facility, which would not only explain where their armor came from, but also aid in refurbishing their other weapons, equipment, and vehicles, as that's basically what RIA does in real life and has the facilities to accomplish.

I would love for you to do video of a Fallout game based around St. Louis and the Mississippi River!!! With the plains of Illinois on one side and the hills of the Ozarks on the otherside it would make for a diverse map. With plenty of historical figures and sights to reference like Lewis and Clark, Abraham Lincoln, and Mark Twain. With the size or the Mississippi there are plenty of places to set DLC like down in New Orleans where the Mississippi empties out into the ocean or as far north as Lake Michigan and Chicago as you said. I know im biased because of like the region but think it would make an amazing Fallout setting and a post apocalyptic arch would be beyond eye catching!

Great idea

Maybe a Fallout Gettysburg. We already got Pittsburgh for Pennsylvania but I think a more rural area would be a unique spin on things plus the massive historical importance.

I think that Soldier Field should be there instead of Wrigley Field. Fallout 4 already had the baseball representation, I think Football in the Pre war should represented as well, plus they could represent Soldier Field as it originally was, which is a bonus.

Also Tactics take place between Fallout and Fallout 2 so it could be that the location of the super mutants changes.

I always get goosebumps when you mention the rock city,Detroit

This would be my own head canon, but with access to Lake Michigan, any that they sometimes go out of the area, I would love a trip to Mackinac Island. Would love to visit the Grand Hotel and Fort Mackinac and the bridge between upper and lower peninsulas. And it’s history with the War of 1812. Probably doesn’t hold a lot of interest, but it could be a neat side quest.

I know that some developers or some people that work for Bethesda and work on fallout which they said "We look at what's cannon in the games, so what happens in fallout 1,fallout 2, even some of fallout tactics." So with that we know that fallout tactics is semi cannon. And Oxhorn himself goes over this. When he talks about the aftermath of fallout tactics. So go check that out if your interested.

4:50 Also Caesar references BOS from the East, which is very likely a subtle reference to Chicago BOS.

Captain Tuvok.. er... KELLS talks about airships in a vague reference to Tactics as well.

One of John Cassidy's floating dialogue comments in Fallout 2 is that the midwest has "twisters miles wide" and is a "big ol' radioactive dustbowl now". Though IIRC he prefaces this with "I hear" making it in universe second hand information. As far as interesting game concepts, having the war permanently alter weather patterns could make things wildly different. If you look at maps of the Great Lakes you'll notice population density is unevenly distributed. The east side of lakes, even the smaller (non great) ones get very cold and huge amounts of snow in winter, leading to difficulties that result in small and spare settlements. Even without the war changing the weather, the advanced technology of the pre-war likely meant rapid expansion of suburbs into these areas where abundant energy and snow clearing robots made these challenges become mere inconveniences. They'd likely have been abandoned entirely during the (nuclear) winter of 2077-2078 and never resettled, only being explored during the warmer months. Since most places in Fallout still have people living around ruins, a mostly untouched location has a lot of potential. Since you said "let it fly", well, it's visible from Chicago at least. Mount Baldy is a sand dune in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore on the south shore of Lake Michigan. It's roughly 126 feet tall and it wanders very slowly over time. In 2013 a 6 year old child was swallowed up by an anomaly in the dune and while you'd expect someone buried in sand to die very quickly, a search and rescue effort located and rescued the boy after over 3 hours. Sand dunes aren't supposed to have any natural cavities as they're made entirely of sand. Baldy was closed to the public after this, and over half a dozen other anomalies, called "decomposition chimneys" have since been discovered, attributed to decaying black oak trees.

Wrigley Field is home of the Cubs, not White Sox.

How I would tie all of this together: The Great War severely damaged the city of Chicago, yet a sizable civilian population managed to live in the underground tunnels and vaults, as indicated in the video. By exchanging resources and building a railroad system that connected the many towns, the survivors were able to create a society that was relatively harmonious and that helped Chicago become an important hub for trading. The Enclave, which was concealed underground, chooses to emerge and seize power. They create a government that resembles that of the Pre-War era, with the catch being that they now control all commerce and have, in essence, established a state of exception more akin to a dictatorship than a democracy. Due to the Enclave's restrictions on trade, a thriving black market was established to deal in illegal items like chems and perhaps even slaves. A small group of organised criminal families and gangs handled the black market, which eventually expanded to the most remote areas of the city and may have even reached Canada (which could make its first appearance; some refer to it as The Grey). Thus, the Enclave maintains a civil society but a black market operates underground. Eventually, a external threat would come, which might be remnants of the Super Mutants, the BOS, or a group like the Children of Atom. I think it would be interesting to explore the latter, maybe merging all the mutants, ghouls, and followers of Atom into one group that praised the surrounding area as sacred and regarded its residents as infidels. This Atom Cult would naturally clash with the Enclave, and from the war that goes on the people and the gangsters may be attempting a revolution to seize control of the city. The playthroughs could be divided into assisting the Enclave in keeping the peace and driving away the invaders; assisting the Atom Cult in capturing the city; assisting the populace in a Revolution; or overthrowing the government as the Gangsters (similar to liberal revolutions that occurred in Europe). The BOS could potentially be featured as a minor faction, especially because I would want them to be weaker than Fallout: Tactics' BOS, so it doesn't end up being just Fallout 3 and 4 again. The BOS must have failed in their campaign, as implied by the 'bad ending' in FO: Tactics, and as a result they dispersed and settled as part of Chicago's ordinary society in the role of scientists, mechanics, mercenaries, and such. This might be able to explain the "Black Devil" Enclave Power Armor design from Fallout 3: it's a new set developed from Midwestern BOS Power Armor components. Being disorganized and skeptical of BOS dogma, the former members could be enlisted by the Player to support his preferred faction, but they wouldn't be portrayed as heroic white knights or anything; rather, they would be portrayed as battle-hardened survivors who might still harbor some nostalgia for their earlier, more powerful days. As for Chicago's ordinary citizens, there could be a variety of factions centered on various marketplaces, such as Runaways who operate trains, Poppers who sell booze, Prairies who are wandering criminals, Yuppies who are wealthy gangsters that embraced Pre-War style, and so on.

I've been teaching myself creation kit and LOVE big things like this that cover many areas of aspects to work with, I have also been kinda thinking of doing a big new area mod for fallout 4, I'm not that skilled yet, but the mod I'm currently working on should give me a pretty decent level to work at, soooo I wont lie, some of your ideas might get used if you dont mind. I'm a huge fallout fan as well and adhering to established lore is a huge thing for me, I'm honestly pretty anal about the small stuff lol A mafia like faction that mispronounce Capone and call their leader "cap one" more of a military like tank then an actual name

The Great Lakes region would be such a great setting, michigan can be pretty empty in some places but they could do so many new things.

I'm really digging your ideas for a Chicago-based game. My biggest love that you've presented has easily been the culture/history. I'm probably not alone here, but Fallout 4 and 76 are woefully lacking in brutalist concrete skyscrapers and lavish art deco installations. Fallout 3 hilariously got that aspect of atmosphere and world design right despite the hate it gets; fitting the retro futurism really well and looking good while doing it. While an interesting art direction, I think 4 leans too hard into metal buildings and curvy architecture. Yes, it's retro-futuristic, but not Fallout's interpretation. The music would be interesting to hear take such a change compared to the usual (still great, mind you) swing and jazz. I think this all sounds so refreshing while not just being different for the sake of it. All in all, makes me wish for it bad.

Great video, got a lot of info for a fallout 2D20 game I’m running. One thing though, Wrigley Field is the home of the Cubs, the Sox play at US Cellular field, probably not relevant to anyone not from the mid west but thems fightn words in Illinois lol

Hey RadKing! I’ve recently came across your channel and I really like your videos. But I have a question, what mod are you using for that outfit you’re wearing? I think it’s super cool, and I think it would fit my COA play through I’m currently working on modding. Also keep up the good work on the videos, I really like how informative your lore videos are. I’ve actually been learning new things about fallout I never knew, so thanks again! 💚

Considering Chicago’s climate, it would be interesting if we saw a return of Hairy Deathclaws. Possibly ones that resemble the Fallout 1 concept art, which depict Deathclaws as weird Wolverine bear things. Or at very least a creature that resembles them.

Love the RadCult

That black obelisk at the Trinity site could also be a nice little shrine. Though that being in Arizona would probably confine it to a Vegas sequel

These location videos are always very interesting due to the research put into them and the possibilities they present. I'm still hoping for a look at El Paso/Ciudad Juarez and the surrounding area eventually (White Sands Missile Range, anyone?).

Me and some friends did a TTRPG (using the GURPS system) of FO. Taking place in the midwest, starting in Chicago and ending in SE Minnesota. - It started with a civil war the four major Tongs of Chinatown. Each with a different Chinese themes paired with Animal motifs. (I.e Dragons/Tradional Ming, Tigers/Raider, crane/Suits, Tortoise/Kung-fu) as well as Chinese remnants attempting to take over Chinatown. - As they explore outer chicago they get reports of strange creatures coming out of the river And compromising the mirelurk “farms”. It later leads to the party assisting The faction there chosen to align with in investigating the threat. This leads to the party follow the Mississippi river monsters up north where the monsters appear to be coming from. - As they follow the river they eventually find a prewar military facility in Wanamingo, MN. In this facility they were creating biological weapons. One of which was a creature that can be seated into clouds to rain on to the Chinese populous (like El Nino with the frogs) to rain havoc on the chinese population. However they never saw actual use. After the facility respond eventually the eggs rehydrated and found their way into the into the water system. (There were multiple ways for the party to end the threat)