Fallout's Mysterious Sea of Tranquility Conflict | Fallout Lore 

Hello there, Delta IX = 9. That is all.

Actually, a fallout where you start on the moon and try to make your way to earth to see if anyone survived would be cool

Hey. In Fallout, the Space Race was more of an actual conflict. Basically put it down as "who claimed territory on the moon first" in a military way.

The tether connected to the weapon the astronaut is wielding could be a power line, given that this took place quite a bit before the Great War, energy storage probably wasn't good enough to fit into a pistol, so it could be connected to a backpack battery.

Perhaps that moon base is where all the enclave and vault TEC elite went when the bombs dropped. Maybe this is Bethesda's way of setting up a storyline that involves the enclave and vault TEC finally getting their comeuppance.

I think that the Sea of tranquility war was actually fought between the U.S. armed forces stationed there and the Zetans, but after the conflict the government decided to blame it on communists in order to prevent a mass panic.

3:50 considering the fact that we don't see any sign of enemy (and one historical example of such silence), and the general "fight for preservation of freedom" narrative, I think, that this could be a war with Soviet Union. Remember that crazy guy from NV claiming that communists want to take over the moon? This could mean that war actually was fought by US and some communist nation, either USSR or China. Why was it USSR, and not China? Because, as we know from Black Isle games, USSR got the relations normalized with US soon before the war with China and nuclear bombings, to the point of soviet consul and his family finding refuge in the Vault. If Sea of Tranquility Conflict would be against China, there would be no attempt to silence it. The historical example of similar silence would be the soviet perspective on Finnish participation in Great Patriotic War/Continuation War. Soviets valued friendly relations with postwar Finland, since it was one of the several foreign trade gateways, a market for industrial goods (miliary tech in particular) and few other reasons, so the research or attracting public attention to the role finnish army played in 1941-44 wasn't really approved of. It was known, but not actively mentioned in media. For example, a cult classic novel The Dawns Here Are Quiet (that was later adapted as a cult classic movie) was supposed to feature finnish recon group as the antagonists. Instead they had to be replaced with germans. So, why couldn't it be USSR?

A moon vault would make for an interesting game opening.

I think that instead of China, they fought the USSR. No proof for this but I think it would be a great parallel to the Space Race with the USSR in our timeline.

Also, yeah, that aircraft, if you pay attention, has two different thrusters when depicted on earth or on the moon, they were retrofitted to operate in the vacuum

The cable/conduit from the hand held weapon to the Back of it's wielder is a power conduit for prolonged firing . Space suite are difficult to reload a clip with .

I've always viewed the Sea of Tranquility conflict as the race to the moon more than an armed conflict

Sea of Tranquility is such a cool name for a location honestly, and I kinda wish we'd go to the moon more in real life just to explore that area. But to imagine an actual armed conflict there? I'm getting 40k Luna wolf vibes from that.

couldve been Zetans, and the overall intensity of the cold war until 2077 kindve distracted from them making it really well known, remember it still wouldve been fresh in the memories of the citizens when the bombs dropped, only being a 20 year old war. Like Americans remembering the Gulf war or desert storm- it was just overshadowed by a larger conflict could be they thought they wiped the Zetans out entirely, who knows xD

My guess is that it was either the Soviet Union which never fell in the Fallout universe OR it was a country that the USA would normally view as an Ally. I tend to think it was the 2nd one. If it was China they would have it the start of the Sino-American war. The 3rd possibility is the most Fallout and one or more companies fund the US Military to "Jump" somebody else's claim and try and take it.

I suppose if you were too look at the design choices for a lot of military vehicles. The Stingray deluxe could be a void/atmospheric attack craft, owing to its unique design. And if they thought the next conflict could be in the void of space or extraplanetary bodies they'd need a fully sealed APC, Infantry armour (possible with power armour) aswell as Armoured support, hence this could be why every design in fallout look so radically different to military vehicles today

I’m so glad to see someone make a video about this. I don’t think this lore has been paid as much attention as it should. With the inclusion of this lore and the warfare that obviously took place on the moon according to the mural it opens up so many possibilities. Obviously there has to be several military bases / facilities located on the moon which means there has to be a lot of supporting infrastructure set up on the moon as well. Are there still remnants of the U.S. government, or the Enclave up there? And what about Vault Tec , are the leaders of Vault Tec still up there hidden away, still monitoring their insane vault experiments? Or maybe they were even trapped on their moon base after the Great War and all died off having no way to get back to earth. So many questions that just make the mind wonder.

All your lore stuff gets my brain cooking. Love hearing all the fun facts and theories! Fallout is so damn fun

Bro I had been looking at that mural everytime I países trought Cocord on Fallout 4 because I think its a banger art but I never thought that the space section was dedicated to a war, your content is some of the top noch in the fallout comunity 🙏

When I saw the title of the video, I'm like "how is this guy going to do 10 minutes off a single sentence?" As always you never disappoint with your deep lore dives. Great video

There NEEDS to be a Fallout Game that shows what happened... Either we go there or a simulation Anchorage-style

I always enjoyed how you structured your videos. Instead of simply talking about the lore itself, you describe it in the perspective of someone within the universe.

nice video!! lore was pretty dope, congrats on 200K!

The Sea of Tranquility conflict might also have been a reason for the Y-17 Trauma Override Harness, from Big MT. The design of it would easily allow it to become the standard spacesuit and it had the ability to "walk" autonomously along with engaging enemies while the user was unconscious or injured to the point they couldn't fight, something very important in low gravity situations as moving is hard enough, and evacuating a casualty would be near impossible.

The war was fought over whaling rights

The mystery pistol is probably an early laser pistol, and the cable is its power source.

Glad you’re back! I’ve recently been getting back into Fallout 76 and have found numerous different video ideas that may soon be explored on this channel. Some of these topics include what happened with Fort Defiance, some of the different Vaults in Fallout 76 and their purpose, the Brotherhood of Steel’s story when coming to Appalachia, or even the USSA and their activities before and after the war. These are just a few suggestions for topics some may find interesting. Keep it up :)

why isnt that a dlc

I have an alternative idea. The lack of information found in game makes me believe the conflict had some degree of shame associated with it or was mostly classified. With the realization that resources were dwindling and conflict looming I think there was a portion of the government or elite with an escapist plan to colonize the moon and space while the planet gets nuked. This would have led to split factions and a possibility of a small scale civil war that the general public would have little information on with most of it being propaganda.

Enclave moon base perhaps??

I've recently gotten addicted to fallout and love all of your videos

If they make a fallout based in Texas should definitely be in Houston since NASA is based there perfect way to get space involved with fallout again, Maybe even get a dlc based around launching a rocket to space to go to the moon base that may or may not be abandoned

Always a good day when Synonymous posts. Missed you buddy!

That line might also be connected to a power pack kind of like some of the weapons in Warhammer 40K where the laser-based weapon is plugged into a backpack that is a massive battery/reactor to provide hundreds or even thousands of shots. In theory, laser weapons in fallout could be plugged into a battery pack as the small power cells that fuel the weapons are effectively tiny reaction chambers.

I like how even though theres a transcript he still puts in the time to get the first few seconds in his description. ♥️

Regular firearms don't really work in space. The vacuum means the heat from firing doesn't dissipate, and the metal on metal will eventually friction weld the parts together.

Nice to see you making vids again. Also I’m not saying it was Zetans but it was Zetans

Never once thought of what that mural meant. Sidebar: I wonder if it is easy to sort out who the artist is (real world, not in-game). They did a great job.

It would be very interesting to see a dlc set on the moon it could possibly cover the colonies of the moon and the different factions there.

I theorize that the reason it's not discussed could be that the enemy was other Americans that wanted independence from the USSA I'm still curious about the success of the Alantropa Project. This was an idea proposed in the 1920s of draining the Mediterranean Sea to make more living space and agricultural development. According to the map in the DIA switchboard, this project was pursued and the Mediterranean does not exist in the fallout universe

My theory, and I know it's silly, but judging from the Mothership Zeta DLC in fallout 3 I would hazard a guess that first contact was made on the moon and it didn't go well for the humans, but as someone else said given America's pride meant that it was largely not talked about despite being a milestone moment in human history.

What about the Aliens? There are Aliens in all of the Fallout games

That sure would be fun if there’s still a decaying, surviving colony on the moon!

The Delta IX rocket can go to the moon with a certain payload. If you out multiple nukes, that are heavier, on it, the range suddenly shrinks dramatically

I wonder how the aliens could factor into this war?

Missed your videos, my brother. Glad you're feeling better and back to recording. As usual, well done on the video.

A good explanation could just be that the conflict on the moon just gradually fizzled out, due to the massive strain on money and scarce resources such as fuel involved in constantly sending rockets to the moon. As resources gradually faded due to the resource wars nations found it increasingly difficult to send rockets to the moon meaning the campaign gradually ground to a halt with no clear winners but many lives lost, so the conflict was seen more as a failed expedition than a glorious victory hence there being less coverage in the prewar world

i like the idea of a brief conflict on the moon just cheesy enough for fallouts goofier side

I haven’t seen anyone bringing up Jason Bright. Him and his ghoul tribe survived on the moon, so it’s not likely that aliens still inhabit it.

One thing i can argue is... the zeta's on 2 factors... the usa was aware of their existance and the fact the conflict goes out of its way to avoid saying who they fought

Something interesting to note, is that the Virgo II is very clearly an LK lander made by the soviets which implies that the Soviets and USA teamed up for the moon landing.

Couldn't the geck be used on Mars

I’ve always found this extremely interesting. Thanks for bringing the topic more main stream.

It was probably them moon whale hopefully they brought their trusty harpoon

This is why fallout remains one of the best games ever the lore and attention to detail is sooo deep

*Holds up hands like that guy on the history channel* Alienss.

Oh you know Bethesda is going to sprinkle some of this info into star-field.

You're deep dives on lore are amazing

“Ohhhh where whalers on the moon, we carry a harpoon, but there ain’t no whales so we tell tall tales and sing our whaling tune!”

It would be neat to center a fallout campaign around one of the lost military ships. Filled with soldiers,scientists and engineers, shot off course and unknowing of the last 200 years. Now that they’re coming home, it’s a race for factions for who can take control of or destroy this craft as its research, technology and warfare capabilities would be a game changer

My god, its just as Grandpa said! we had to fight the Moon Kaiser!

Could this link into the vaults being test runs for long distance space travel? The moon is mentioned (indirectly) quite a lot.

You can't make a RU-vid title like that and not expect me to click on this video.

As for the lack of documentation, it's likely the USSA just lost REALLY badly and want to just gloss over it rather than use WAY more propaganda

You can see ww1 on the mural with the tanks and planes but it's in the background. Something similar to the Vietnam war as well with the tank and helicopter between ww2 and the sea of tranquility.

that could be an awesome DLC...

Wouldn't it be cool if in fo5 a faction comes from the dome on the moon down to earth? Good or bad it seems like they would fit into the lore. They just sat up there watched the great war and waited a couple hundred years while gathering resources and advancing technology until they finally got curious enough to come back.

Great video! I think your own inclusion of the Van Buren details that later became DLC for Fallout New Vegas is key to understanding the Sea of Tranquility event. The studios, STUDIOS, involved in making the Fallout games have done a great job of world building on key elements the fan base has responded to. Look at the BoS lore building that's been done across generations, or the sympathetic super mutant/Nightkin communities. I feel that Fallout 4 had a very specific story they wanted to tell, but felt free to leave dangling threads that could later be pulled upon.

hey! love the channel, i myself often lose interest in fallout. how do you find it to keep playing?

I love stuff like this that are just pieces of forgotten lore.

As a Denverite, I REALLY want to see my post apocalypse Fallout equivalent of the homeland

This has so much lore potential so it's frustrating it's just randomly mentioned

talking about domes that could perhaps go in space and endure it's harsh conditions : the think tank in the big empty....hell the whole Big Mountain Research and Development Center

The missiles going a few inches past the powerlines is hilarious. One small bump and they wluld go off right there.

Real world explanation. Bethesda just put it there because it sounded cool but didn't put any effort to explain what it was all about

The cord on the weapon may be a power supply for a first gen weapon that they are still working on.

In Fallout 76 during one of the more recent seasons one of the rewards from the SCORE board was a power armor appearance that is a Space suit variant and more importantly has the Enclave insignia on it.

Battle of tranquility sea is a war with zetans aliens that's probably why it's not documented

Be cool if theres a fallout dlc for the moon where theres people probably government soldiers

Don’t mean to be a nerd but you missed Vietnam and ww1

The conflict also could have been against the aliens hence why it was so clandestine

Omg I just noticed the twin turrets on the back of battleship Missouri in the memorial painting

Seeing that it's untouched lore from a recent game, I'm sure Hodd Toward will try to make it not as cool, very soon!

I’m fairly certain it’s Zetans. It would make sense, given that even after the world nuked itself to oblivion, it took them centuries to bring another scout craft along. If they had discovered Earth before, and saw it delete itself, they would have come immediately unless there was some event that causes them to hang back and watch. What better event than having their forces get their butts kicked on the Moon and then learning that one of the major nations on the main planet has rockets with nuclear weapons aimed at the Moon in case you establish another base.

Standard firearms would still work on the moon. The explosive needed to propel the bullet is contained in the shell/cartridge. No external oxygen is needed. However, due to the lack of an atmosphere, the guns would heat up pretty fast, as they have no air to dump their heat into. Much better options are lasers, rail guns, plasma weapons, and maybe even things like high draw weight automatic crossbows with explosive heads that detonate on impact, or maybe electrify the spacesuit to fry its life support and the astronaut within.

That mural is what I set my desktop background to earlier today They're watching

You could definitely use some sorta flame throwing by just adding oxygen to the mixture in a pressurized tank

I love when government press says things like, "Over 77 launches." AKA, 78 launches.

After seeing the mural again from Fallout 4 it reminds me how poorly a job they did on many ballistic weapons in it. Not only where they stupidly left hand charge they were based on very little from previous games. Many shown like the Garand, M1 Carbine, BAR and M14 like assault rifile make much more sense.

Great video! I've always called it the delta nine, like the roman numerals

Perhaps Val Tec built a Vault on the Moon? This entire story would be great for a MOD...

I know I'm 11 months late but I think the sting rays could be blending over from the missed section of the mural depicting either Vietnam or korea. Since we can see a fallout tank alongside Vietnam era helicopters on the mural

My theory as the why there is no info abour the conflict is because the US lost and the government in the Fallout world would be too embarrassed to put up reminders of it

Maybe it's something like the Cuban Missile Crisis, but instead of diplomacy, one side decided to just send troops. It'd fit Fallout's "cold war dystopia" vibes, and if it was fought by special forces it'd make sense for there to not be much public information, even if the crisis itself was big news. We see a few satellite-based weapons in Fallout 3 and New Vegas, maybe one side (presumably communists, judging by the magazine cover shown in the video) tried to put strategic weapons installations on the moon?

The GEK is effectively a 'Genesis Device'. Although in the absence of transporter/replicator technology it is very unclear how it works or how large its area of effect. 'Seeds' are mentioned but I suspect they are not plant seeds but aspects of technology which are named seeds. The jets would not have functioned on the moon--they rely on wings for aerodynamic lift but there is no air to provide this. Nor would their engines work. Normal reaction weapons would have still shot in an airless environment certainly. However with only a little under one fifth of Earth's gravity it would be extremely difficult to control the recoil. This is why in real life the very few weapons designed for use in space were made to be as recoilless as possible. Also in our version of reality there are things called 'recoilless rifles', but they are more like a cross between a small field piece and a large mortar. They work by venting the gasses from a highly specialised cartridge behind the tube so its forward-force mostly cancels the shell's backwards-force. They are not perfect however and likely would be dangerously unpredictable in the Bay of Tranquillity. Given both laser and plasma weapons exist it is likely these would have been the preferred weapon for the moon, especially the laser which effectively has no recoil at all. Since a glob of plasma is physically shot then it must have has some degree of reaction. What fascinated me most about Fallout is where did their alternate history diverge from ours? It seems the Revolutionary War was common with us, as was the American Civil War since ZAX wants to be Abraham Lincoln. However when the second world war comes along there are already differences since it was not 'Enola Gay' and 'Bock's Car' that dropped their first two nuclear weapons. Whatever the complaints about the game itself that cinematic from the opening of Fallout 4 is brilliant and carries a massive emotional punch. It is amazing to be able to see what the world was like before the damage of the nuclear war. However I am convinced that all of 'Fallout 76' actually occurs within a 'Paradise Lane'-style virtual reality simulator being run for some purpose by The Enclave. In fact there are console entries to be found which--if you chose to believe them--confirm this idea. Likely the simulation is an experiment to determine the survivability of a Nuclear War for Enclave Members before they allow it to occur in the real world. I really hope when they finally shut down the servers for the game that we are given a 'waking up' event.

I think it could possibly be the Zetans, would explain why there's so little knowledge of the incident. We have seen the Zetans being around at least in preindustrial times thanks to the frozen samurai, so it possible.

In order to see a person on the moon (2m resolution) you would need a telescope with a minimum aperture of 100m (roughly the size of a football field). The largest telescope we currently have is 10m. Observing what people are doing on the moon from Earth isn't as easy as you'd think.

Smart analysis, sound theorizing and smooth narration made this a fine video worth watching even when knowing a good deal about the subject already. I'd like to suggest that maybe the StingRay jets aren't intended to be part of the "Lunar Conflict" section but rather are part of the Korean War section immediately to the right of the WWII soldiers, whose uniforms and arms are the same as in our time line and likewise probably also were carried over into the early Cold War armed conflicts. I justify this expanded differentiation of mural sections by virtue of two significant features of the depiction: firstly a similar section in a mirrored position between the MinuteMan and the Iowa-class battleship containing a British "Land Battleship"-type tank amongst WWII-era tank traps (likely an anachronism by the artist) and a flight of stout-engined biplanes reminiscent of SPADs which suggest a WWI section, and secondly what appears to be an M46 Pershing tank and less prominently a Sikorsky S-55/H-19 Chickasaw helicopter, both of which were used most notably in the Korean War in our timeline and the latter of which made history by carrying U.S. Marines into the first helicopter airborne assault, prompting the Soviets and Chinese to build the counterpart Mil Mi-4 and Harbin Z-5. At first I thought the military use of the Delta IX rockets to carry nuclear warheads was a desperation move borne of dwindling inventory, but you're completely correct to point out that there was no shortage of terrestrial ballistic missiles, so the use of them for "moon shots" makes more sense. The retrieval of the first flag planted on the moon makes little ceremonial sense except in the case of an abandonment of the Tranquility Base, at least by the USSA. I can think of a few reasons why that might have been necessary, ranging in severity from least to worst: first, the moon may simply have been made off-limits by an international agreement similar to our Outer Space Treaty for the remainder of the Resource Wars, spared from the destruction as a prize for the victors on Earth or perhaps returning resources all the way to earth during the war was too cost-prohibitive and the moon was left as source for rebuilding afterwards; second, it is specifically mentioned that *manned flights* stopped, so maybe the Lunar facilities were and potentially are still all operated by robots, for whom such symbology was deemed wasteful; third, the installation might simply have been handed over to the Pre-War Enclave, who already had their own distinct flag design and whose operations were not made public knowledge, all the more so in this case if it involved "preservation of government" or "alien first contact"; fourth, the U.S. could have unilaterally chosen to abandon its moon base in the face of potential bombardment from other World Powers who might have overwhelmed any defenses; fifth and finally, the base might have been overrun or destroyed by the unnamed enemy in the conflict, if it was the Chinese or any other adversary from Earth, destruction by a grand scale bombardment seems the most likely scenario as the history posits America at the pinnacle of earthly technological development making a successful assault seem unlikely, however the Zetans would be the more plausible opponent to destroy or seize the moon and drive the humans from it in the immediate Pre-War period.

Thank you for this gem 💎 💖

Perhaps the Communists they fought on the moon were the Soviets, since they were also interested in the Moon during the Space Race. The Sea of Tranquility War could have just been another stage in the Space Race or an actual conflict during the Resource Wars involving the US and Soviet Union, whom could have been losing legitimacy as a major superpower(with the Chinese growing stronger) and tried to claim the Moon as a means to keep themselves in a legitimate position of power on the world stage but ultimately failed, with the US driving the Soviets off the Moon, and keeping them from being seen as a legitimately powerful nation and making them irrelevant in the near future.