We have throwing spears, but no hand to hand spears. No clubs or axes made of sticks and rocks. No bows, not even any crossbows, which would be easy to make given the wealth of materials laying around for the taking. No blowguns, despite the vast quantity of disused plumbing. No slings. I can see where adding medieval style weapons like swords and halberds would kind of ruin the feel, but aren't there tribes of backwater people struggling all over place to survive with whatever they can make?

Well the nailboard and the rebar club both fit in to this category and the machetes are actually salvaged lawnmower blades. Bows require well-seasoned wood if their low-tech and with so many firearms around I don't think people would bother. One could ask "why are there tons of firearms around?" and in New Vegas in particular I was surprised by the number of energy weapons running about (FO3 had plenty after the Enclave started moving out but plasma weapons were quite rare before then).

I like the more-primitive weapons myself, especially the reclaimed ones like the machetes. Obsidian is trying to portray a world that's starting to reclaim civilization and get some semblance of order with New Vegas so I can understand why they want fewer makeshift weapons but I think some more would be nice as well.

To add more to it, we have people saying that before House came back there were "tribes" living in Old Vegas.
I guess House sent out his Robots to destroy all tribal material. :shrug:
Explains why only Legionaries have throwing spears since they came recently from the east.

We had spears as hand weapons in FO2. I wouldn't mind seeing a tribal mod being made where a small group of tribals who refuse to utilize new tech. Have a series of unique weapons like melee spears, rock knives, a primitive mace made out of a piece of wood with a large rock tied to the top, etc. Maybe a simple quest where you can convince them to join one of the factions (gaining you fame with that faction) or convincing them to move further away from New Vegas so that they can live to their tenants without as much danger from gun wielding foes.
I think that would be fun.

H.D., I can see where *bows* would be hard to make in the middle of a desert if don't have the right wood and the right skills to do it. But you can make a crossbow from a leafspring, and just look at the abandoned cars all over the place.

But I guess you have a point with the "we're past the tribal weapons stage" part. House tidied up the place, and then the NCR moved in.

I like the kitbashed weapon and armor look for recent postapocalyptic settings. Where humanity (or mutants) are just hauling themselves up by the bootstraps. However, Fallout is well past that stage. They are now in the rebuilding stage of society. They are maintaining, repairing and even building power supplies, firearms, even entire cities. They are moving away from hunting/gathering back into agriculture. Some groups are putting together proper law and punishment systems instead of just killing or exiling criminals. Some groups are even advanced enough to be building advanced technology like power armor, robots and vertibirds.

So aside from some throw back societies like Ceasar's Legion and the Supermutants (who are using repuprosed items like patchwork armor, rebar clubs and bumper swords), society in general doesn't need that sort of stuff. Reclaimed or refurbished gear is to readily available.

We already saw a prime example of people using bows and arrows vs guns. Look at how the Aztecs turned out.

I'd settle for a greater number of throwing knives being available. And perhaps a unique throwing knife.....that could be picked up after being thrown :shock/horror:

Seriously, I'd love to use throwing knives more. In general though I do think there is a good number of weapons made from found objects, like the rebar club as people mentioned above. Why would wastelanders make weapons that are lower tech and not as effective as other options. A bow is pretty hard to manufacture, and even then not as effective as a firearm. The longbow was successful in England but the archers were trained from childhood, and it was useful in certain circumstances - ie big battlefield, lots of archers. A crossbow made of car parts would be neat. Sort of like a mini version of the rail-spike gun. I imagine it would be really slow to use though.

That would be awesome.

It would be great to see a group that sticks to salvaged weapons in a DLC or future game - a sort of Luddite group that opposes technology and preaches that people need to become in tune with the ruined landscape. Maybe even throw in some napped weapons, napped stones can be extremely sharp so you could give them a good damage and some ability to ignore DT but have them wear down very quickly.

Some Super Mutant came after me the other day with a Bumper Blade or something, that was pretty primitive.

Of course my somewhat modern 44 Magnum took care of him and now that Bumper Blade thing is sitting in a chest in my Suite.

I was also wondering about bows when I go though my Oblivion resources....and it would be cool to make a hold bunch of poison arrows instead of just one.......

Simple really. Any tribe/culture/settlement that eschewed modern weapon technology would have been steamrolled by tribes/cultures/settlements that didn't. I'm sure out of 86 tribes conquered by Kie-Zar, there were a couple who felt that they didn't need guns to protect themselves.

Hell, Arroyo (from FO2) thought they could get by without modern weapons. Then the Enclave happened by.

I like the NCR's soldier uniforms. They have this style that's neither fututristic nor apocalyptic, they seem to have achieved a level of technology similar to our own 1950s, with the ability to mass produce this stuff. And yet, their uniforms still as this grim look to it, as if the materials were slavaged from older unifroms and remade.

The NCR and their 2277 war are probably the reason why there's so many quality firearms available.

Ive played 200+ hours and Ive never even seen a throwing spear and the only throwing knives and hatchets Ive seen were in Micks or whatever that place is called.

Actually it wasn't musketry in the field that won that war. The Spanish had allies, siegecraft, cannons, dishonorable tactics, naval superiority...and smallpox. Read some history.



Ah, but how many 10mm rounds do you think you could make out of sticks and feathers and broken glass? Cuz I could make some arrows out of that. Your shiny chunk of steel is only deadly if you have ammunition for it. The whole point of improvised weaponry is that it's expedient and simple to maintain with what you can get in the field.

you know? I didn't even tought about this... guess that's why I think this is NOT a problem...

Sure, this would be an issue.. IF it was at all difficult to come up with ammo. But it isn't at all. Even if you discount all the ammo you find in game just laying around in areas that should have been picked over a hundred years ago, and even if you set aside the player's habit of stealing everything not nailed down and going into tough areas that most scavengers wouldn't return from... There is still ammo being made and sold all over the place. With reloading benches now it is within the player's reach to recycle their own brass, and gunpowder is not that difficult a formula to learn to replicate. Remember, the Gun Runners, who are new to the area, have their own gun and ammo factory. As do most of the other larger factions, no doubt.

Legionaries usually carry them.
Go south of Novac/east of Nipton and you should find a small CL camp with two powder gangers held hostage, the legionaries should carry some throwing spears.

Thing is ammunition isn't really that scarce, and the process of manufacturing it hasn't been lost. Yeah, you can't make bullets out of rocks and twigs, but it's so plentiful that no one needs to. It's never been an issue. When modern ammo is simple to acquire, there's no reason to create an army that can operate without it.

A leafspring crossbow that fires rebar bolts (Half-Life 2). I have to admit, that would be pretty awesome. Also, why is it you can't pick up rocks and throw them at people?



I beg to differ on that. If you want proof, get someone to pistol-whip you. No ammo required and it hurts like hell.

I have seen one dead critter with spears sticking out of it, that was in the beginning of the game.

That is if the whip actually hits the person.
One could always dodge and counter.

One can dodge a swing from a sledgehammer.
One can deflect arrows.
One can block a punch.
One can reflect a laser beam.
One can absorb a bullet's impact with a kevlar/ceramic vest.

Just because there is a counter to something doesn't mean it's completely ineffective. A pistol-whip can be deadly regardless of the fact that you could miss. Hell, you can miss while shooting at someone. Does that make shooting at someone an ineffective way to take your target down?

Your bare fists are about as primitive as it gets.

Me: There should be more improvised weapons
Forum: We have guns, we don't need clubs
Me: Guns only work if you have ammunition
Forum: Well you can club people with guns
Me: ...

Seriously. How is an empty gun a better club than a club.

Ammunition is common enough to make improvised and primitive weapons not very appealing, I agree. Ammunition is too common really.