EVERBODY knows radiation is bad for you. Avoid it whenever you can. ["Tick-tickety means run your ass out of there, children."] You would think that lifelong residents of the Commonwealth would head for cover whenever a rad storm sweeps into the vicinity. Like storm cellars in the tornado belt of the US. However, here in FO4, all NPCs react to rad storms not at all. Do ALL of them have so much RadX and Radaway that they have no need to cower during rad storms? (If so, I definitely want to find A LOT more of that stuff on the bodies I loot!)

Considering that you still get radiation when you go inside a shelter (unless it's in another cell), there's no point for an NPC to try to go running from it. They've all been used to them since they were born and the tiny amounts of radiation from them are insignificant. It does make sense for the sole survivor to be freaked out by them though!

do the rad storms only come after you visit the glowing sea during that one quest? I reached level 30 or so, before doing that quest, and never seen one storm until after I completed it...I wondered if it was like skyrim, where only after the quest to kill your first dragon they appear from then on?

anyone else have that happen? I didn't notice my first playthrough probably because I did the glowing sea quest way earlier than this playthrough..

No. I get them all the time.

Nope, I get them quite frequently and I haven't even been to the glowing sea with my current character yet.

Just very random. My first character experienced one less than a day after she left the vault.

The rad storms blow in from the glowing sea. I've encountered rad storms way before I ventured into the glow sea. And don't bother seeking refuge in one of those Pulaski shelters, they don't work! Not that you'll want to spend 5 mins in one of those things anyway.

Which begs the question: Just what about the rad storm is dumping rads on the character? It seems to be tied to lightning flashes. Regardless, being in an entirely enclosed space that is not at all exposed to the outside atmosphere should be enough to block at least some, if not all rads from the storm. (Like the storm cellar keeping the tornado at bay. It takes a direct strike to do damage to the occupants.)

And the amount really isn't "insignificant". Absent RadX, the average storm will dump 30-50 rads on me. A half-dozen such storms with no Radaway and my hitpoints would be down to single digits.

The utter casualness of the locals concerning rad storms suggests that 10 generations post-Apocalypse suggests to me that they have genetically adapted to their environment. (Which makes pretty much EVERYBODY a "mutant" to at least some degree.) More resistance and likely the ability to shed rads over time. Two genetic alterations that wouldn't be available to Vault dwellers that never had several generations of ancestors living in the Wasteland 24/7.

To me they're pretty insignificant. A half dozen radstorms would be a few months game-time, so by then I would have seen a doctor or used some radaway. I usually don't even bother until I get at least ~400 rads.

I even slept with Cait in the middle of a radstorm. If you activate between flashes you can skip the whole thing.

I just go to sleep for a couple of hours and the storm passes with no rad damage to me

It's only 40 caps to heal ya self or radaway which seems abundant in supply. I suppose its just the inconvenience

I agree, but I have am afraid the simple truth is - the engine can't handle it. The only way to solve this might be to make every building you build a new cell.

First time I ran in to the rad storm I was in sanctuary, I ran in to a building and still took rads so I fast traveled to sanctuary (about 5 foot away XD) and then it was a nice clear day. Weather reloads every time you load the cell. World isn't well linked together.

ah well, have the hazesuit alway's with me

Ghouls and insects are more dangerous than radstorm when it comes to gaining radiation.

Not to mention the Children of Atom

Radstorm is only for babies

the Children of the Atom! I had my first enemy encounter with them the other day, and it's a good thing I always carry all my radiation chems with me.

I've thought of responing here on the subject matter but can't get it out of my head that OP things some of the storms in game are Totally Radical. Dude.

It'd be pretty neat if rad storms made all humans seek refuge. Just something that could have been in the AI but even my feeble mind can imagine that it's be a heck of a lot of work to work in seeking shelter for every human npc in any location on the map.

As well as people running inside when these storms happen, it would be nice if when you go inside somewhere like the concrete Warwick place that you took no or fewer rads, none when you close the door.


I always either sleep through the storm or fast travel to avoid the rad hit, which is a shame as I never get to appreciate the storm.

I often just keep going about my business and enjoy the storm. They're really not that dangerous. I don't wear gas masks, hazmat suits, power armor, or have any perks to reduce radiation and the storms produce only about a sliver of red on my bar by the time they have ended. A cooked mutant hound meat would make it go away as using radaway would be a waste for such a small amount of radiation.

So stay out and enjoy the beauty of the storm. Praise Atom!

There was a mod in skyrim that made villagers seek shelter when dragons/vampires attacked. I won't pretend to know how much effort it took though.

And I would imagine it would be somewhat harder to make it work in Settlements because you can't send your settlers inside the nearest inn, shop or whatever because the player creates the buildings and they're in the same cell (no loading screen).

They are mostly just an annoyance. Wish it was possible to make near airtight buildings tho, to shelter from the rads. Like, we can make concrete walls, but not sealed ones? I can collect tons of rubber, but somehow can't use it for making things airtight. Doesn't make sense and who builds walls with huge gaps in them? I get it adds to the overall feel of things not being polished, but come'on Beth. What's the function of a wall, if it can't keep out what you build them for in the first place (weather) privacy? lol

Not for me it does not even have to be an build house just under an roof in an blown up building will do if you are against the far wall 3 meter inn.

Waiting for an hour solves it anyway. Main downside if is no chairs of beds making it impossible to wait.

Unless NPCs have Geiger counters, or a Pip boy, who would they actually know if the storm is radioactive? A green sky doesn't necessarily give it away either.

If anything, rain should be avoided at all cost assuming it's irradiated.

Bed? Chair? No no no You cower down in a corner and stare out the window beholding the wrath of Atom for the duration of the storm. It is the only way.

Real realism is really real.

___

EDIT:

You. Here. Cookies for you. That's a mighty fine hypothesis. Humans collectively forget things or mistake things in very short periods of time. 200 years... totally concievable that some wouldn't know. And if it were killing them off, some groups might not even understand they their lives are abbreviated.

Captain patch is actually correct that there are variations of humans.

The vault dwellers are considered pure, and are not significantly different from the people before the war. The enclave believed these people were superior and their whole plan was to eradicate the rest.

The surface dwellers, the people who did not have the vaults were exposed to massive levels of toxin and radiation in the war, and in some areas FEV was released in an airborne state due to the explosions. The people suffered genetic damages, and mutated several key genes that allow them to survive much greater does of radiation, and heal it much faster than the people of the vault. They also mutate genes far more rapidly that people before the war, which confers a number of advantages and disadvantages, resistant to parasites and foreign diseases, higher rate of genetic disorders, and above all else they effectively evolve faster. They may not be noticeably different at this point, but every generation they get more and more genetically distinct from the "pure" humans, and the Enclave fear eventually they will outcompete, and replace them as the main human species.

Super mutants are genetically modified by FEV, and obviously different from normal humans.

Ghouls also, massive but not quite lethal radiation exposure.

Other smaller sub groups, the ghost people, marked men, others.