See, Im from the UK and only started playing the fallout franchise from Fallout 3, a few years back. Now in an interview one of the Devs says ''it is the main central conflict of Fallout Few Vegas'' So im guessing that means Hoover dam will play a colossal part. Problem is I know nothing about it! can somebody explain to me what it is in real life and its fallout impact?

It produces energy.
Energy is needed.
What is needed is fought over the three factions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoover_Dam

;)

TROGS!
THEY BETTER BE THERE!

It is a big cork in the Colorado River.

OK, the Hoover Dam is one of the few dams in the world that people can point to and say, the benefits of this dam far offset the environmental impact (which in this case was minimal). The damn farther upstream that created Lake Powell is still controversial in the benefit/impact equation. Most other dams wreck the watershed downstream, and upstream.

It provides a reservoir of Water that feeds most of the SW USA. Normally, the Colorado River is a trickle most of the year, running calm and smooth. During the Spring run off months, it can be like a flood. What the dam did was smooth out the flow of water so that Spring Runoff would be available the rest of the year. California, Nevada, Arizona would not be what they are today if it was not for the Hoover Dam. In fact, the populations would be one tenth to one quarter what they are now, and California would not be agricultural powerhouse that it is today.

The fact that the dam makes electrical power is almost secondary.

In the Fallout world, well it is still a source of water (always important) and it is a source of electricity (always important). As such, anyone who controls that, controls two of the most important things to a society. With Water and Energy all other things can be produced.

The cynical gamer inside of me believes that most other New Vegas players are going to fail to consider this because it's a really big "thing" that they have the opportunity to blow up. And we all know that to your typical gamer, nothing is cooler than watching something really big go up in a mushroom cloud. :nuke:

So, OP (NeverSayNever) and CCNA, both of you get my props for being able to at least take a look at the "big picture". :goodjob:

It is a huge source of energy.

Good place to start...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoover_Dam

This gives lots of details.

I see, thanks for the through answers so far. However, I know fallout has no destructive environment features. But wouldn't it just be as simple as firing a rocket at the dam and poking a hole in it - rendering it useless? Caesars Legion seem obnoxious enough to do that, I don't see how it can be so Impenetrable. Potentially the main fighting point could be won/lost in seconds.

Hoover Dam (named build under President Franklin Roosevelt and named after President Hoover) is not far from Las Vegas.

It is a major dam on the Colorado River, which is a big river that runs through the deserts of Nevada and other western states. The water that backs up forms Lake Mead.

The desert is very dry with extremely sparse rainfall. So if it wasn't for Hoover Dam, a city the size of Las Vegas would not be practical in that area. Also it provides a good amount of Hydroelectric power.

But the main reason it was built was not for Las Vegas. The Colorado River is very variable before Dams where build along it. It would be a trickle of water at times, and when the snows at it source melt in the spring could swell to a very large size.

This meant that down stream, like in Southern California, places along the river would be dry at some times and flooded at other. Providing Dams to control water flow allows a steady stream of water allowing for towns and agriculture.


EDIT: Guess I took too long typing this in. A bunch of other answers appeared while typing. But hopefully there is a little more info in the post.

Yeah that's great thanks - i respect users who put effort into their posts, it doesn't matter who is first or last

Hoover Dam is big. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7_rzojvKdE There is a road for cars to drive along the top of it. Your typical RPG would do nothing to it.

However, I'm pretty sure I read an article somewhere that the Hoover Dam in FNV is destroyable - you simply need to find the means "big enough" to do so. And... those means are indeed available. :nuke:

I see, i think i understand more now - sorry for my ignorance. Obviously the orbital laser or those rockets/projectile things shown in one of the first previews im guessing?

In simple terms hoover dam is the ONLY dam likely to survive 200 years after a nuke war as it was overdesigned by a MASSIVE factor. It is by far the most durable dam ever made.

It also happens to be the reason vegas can exist at all as it provided the water and ALOT of it.

In the game its whats keeping vegas alive and it is what can power and water a massive expansion of any faction that controls it.

Yeah a Fat Man or a blast from the Archimedes II might do the trick. More certain about a Mini-nuke myself. The Shot from the orbital laser would only work well depending on where it hit. A single blast might not penetrate through enough material IMO.

I don't know for certain, but the article I read hinted that the orbital laser might have something to do with it. However, in a more recent article I read, the orbital laser isn't that powerful when you use it on some random NPC bad guys out in the desert. So I don't know for certain - we'll have to play the game to find out.

But I'm not blowing up the Hoover Dam. I'm clearing it out and then handing it over to whoever I think should be in charge of the region.

or that big bomber with "dambuster" bouncing bombs that I keep babbling about :wink_smile:

Yeah thats what ill be doing!

More an actual full-sized nuclear warhead, the Hoover Dam is enormous and well built. Plus, water + electricity = hydrogen, and hydrogen = fuel. So even though I know there's no cars, it'll provide actual clean fuel to burn. And the best part? No CO2 emissions... New Vegas is completely carbon-neutral.

But yeah, it's important, and I can't blame the NCR and CL for fighting over it. Plus, it should (and probably will) be blow-up-able. But more as a quest action than a 'random do what you like take all of the power from NV' kind of action.

Wow, if the dam is destroyable.....:nuke: Being like most gamers, I'd try and blow it up once, (saving the game first of course), just to see it happen. But in any "real" roleplaying sense, no one would want to blow it up. In theory, destroying the Hoover Dam would pretty much eliminate the ability for anyone to live in the area. No water, no food, no power, massive floods every year, etc. If I actually blew up the dam, I can see/hear the end game recap of my accomplishments now. "You #%!@&$*, you managed to kill off the livelyhood of thousands of people in one amazing act of stupidity. How do you sleep at night?" LOL :shrug:

Wow, to actually blow up the dam? Take a bit more than a rocket. This thing is thick reinforced concrete. Damaging the dam would darn near be impossible to do. 600 feet thick at the bottom 45 feet thick at the top. You are not blowing that dam up. That would be like blowing up the Great Pyramid of Giza.

What would be damaging is blowing up the power lines and irrigation control systems. Those are vulnerable.

As mentioned above Hoover Dam is big and well constructed. Given that it was built in the 1930s with limited machines that is pretty impressive.

A missile like from a Missile Launcher in Fallout 3 would have basically no effect. A Fallout 3 Mini Nuke would probably just crack the surface.

A larger Nuke or a whole bunch of Mini Nukes could probably damage it, at least near the top. As mentioned above it is very very wide at the bottom. It's made wider at the bottom to support the increased force from Lake Mead at that water depth.

I see. The destruction of the dam in New Vegas is inevitable though, Any weak points on this structure?

I'm very curious if the water it produces is clean or irradiated.

I think in one of the video previews they mentioned it was "a source of water" for the region. Whether he meant clean water or otherwise, I don't know. I would assume the former, though, otherwise the Dam wouldn't be as important.