I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.


Fallout: Orleans


Act 2: The Boat


The Navigator's Boat, and the initial plot hook to justify the Navigator's involvement with the initial story plot. Being the means of life for the profession, a navigator without a boat is just a less prepared wastelander, and not one with a great life expectancy in the Bayou.

A shallow-bottom airboat with a pre-war nuclear engine for power, the Boat can go just about anywhere there is stream worth the name, and there are rivers and streams or canals across the map. It is the primary and most advised means of traveling the Bayou: staying on the Boat will protect you from the radiation in the water, and provide protection from many of the Bayou threats. It also has limited storage space, allowing you to pile in more loot to carry back to traders.

The boat is a useful investment for the players. Starting as a basic airboat with little more than seats and a small equipment box that can hold a certain amount of loot, the player can invest in upgrades to make it more useful for combat and exploration. Upgrades are bought at the Shipyard from the Blue Waters, and the Navigator would lose use of the boat for the duration of the upgrades, a period that might be hours to a week in-game. Practical upgrades focus on enhancing your combat and exploration abilities. Cosmetic upgrades would be more about theming your boat like you could your FO3 house. Game masters can decide whether all upgrades are available from the start, or if some could be enabled as quest rewards or exploration finds. Say stumbling across a blue print for your enhanced engine, purchasing rare materials for upgraded fan blades, or even getting a free cosmetic upgrade as a reward for a quest. Any such quests to upgrade the boat should come from the Shipyard.


Combat in the Boat is a regular affair, and focuses on melee, ranged, and boat-to-boat fighting.

Fighting from the boat is an advantage against melee enemies. Most animals can not harm you at all from the water. Only a Bayou Bobcat might jump in from above, while Deathjaws have a powerful slam that can heavily damage your hull and knock down the boats passengers (or, if they're near the edge, knock them overboard). Humanoid enemies like feral ghouls will have to swim over and climb aboard, a period of exceptional weakness. Ranged weapons are effective against swimming enemies who can't fire back, while melee weapons get a contextual critical bonus against enemies climbing on the side.

Ranged fighting is more conventional. A boat starts with virtually no cover or armaments, but can be upgraded for modest cover and firepower to use against other targets. The greatest threat are heavy weapons and explosives: if they get into the boat, not only are they liable to do heavy damage to the player but they can quickly wreck the boat. Small guns and energy weapons, however, are less effective.

Boat-to-boat fighting will occur against pirates or some of the factions in the Bayou or off the coast. Enemies in their own boats will approach and engage and may even try to board, with different styles depending on their group. Enclave Marines mostly stay at a distance. Orleans boats will try to get in grenade range. Pirates are the most likely to actually try and board you, approaching close enough to jump directly on your boat for melee. Unlike your own, enemy boats can be sunk: a tactical advantage in the Bayou, and instant victory on the ocean once the Masters of the Deep finish off the enemy for you. If you manage to board the enemy boat without sinking it, however, you can claim it for a bounty from the Blue Waters with a beacon. Depending on the size of the boat, from Bayou canoos to ocean-side fishing boats, the bounty could be a few dozen to a thousand caps. (Trying to keep it without signing it over, however, will have it stolen and disappear once you leave it for any duration.)

The Navigator's Boat would be indestructible, so you never buy a new one, but could be damaged in combat or excessively rough treatment. Sufficient damage could come with a variety of weaknesses, depending on damage. Heavy hull damage could lower your speed. Bow-centered damage could disable a weapon emplacement. Taking on water (explosives landing in your boat) allows water-radiation to affect you on your boat. Damage to the pilot's chair and controls could make control sluggish and more difficult. Catastrophic damage to the nuclear engine could cause a nuclear explosion that, even if it doesn't kill you, radially slows you and leaves you with an extremely heavy repair bill in the thousands of caps. In general, the boat and its components should have HP equivalent to high-tier power armor: occasional engagements and small arms fire won't be a concern, but enemies who use heavy weapons and explosives are the real threat.

Repairs could be purchased from the Shipyard, or done by the player themselves with sufficient resources and skill checks. A high repair skill, sufficient scrap metal or electronics, and a welding tool (an upgrade option) would be a major money saver for do-it-yourself players. Fixing the nuclear engine could require a high science skill. Fixing the gun emplacement would tie into the relevant weapon skill. These repair checks would be a money-saving reward for players with the right skills and saving the right resources.

Boat travel can be done manually, or by fast travel. If you are sitting in the captain's chair of the boat and fast travel, your entire boat will travel to the destination. Boats can only fast travel to places with docks, making these key locations to find across the region

Boat tracking when you don't fast travel with the boat is a special concern, since losing your boat after finding it again would be an issue. A few potential mechanics could be used to help keep that from happening, as well as a quest for having your boat stolen.

-The Boat Transponder. A story item you get from the Blue Waters upon reclaiming your boat, this would allow you to always see where your boat is on the world map. Whether your boat is right where you left it, or stolen, this will show you where it is.

-Assign a Companion. You can task a companion to stay with the boat and guard it. The companion will do so until relieved. The boat is guaranteed to not be stolen if a companion is guarding it, even if left on an embankment.

-Temporary Docks. Across the map are various boat docks. They can be found at most river-side settlements, ocean points, dungeons, and so on. When you fast-travel as a boat, these are where you go. These are recommended departure points, as your boat will not be taken away from a Temporary Dock as long as you are in the local area. You can also tip a boat watcher (typically a child or local civilian hanging by the docks) ten caps a day to keep your boat secure, for no more than a week. Temporary docks are sufficient if you are doing local dungeon crawling or staying within a settlement.

-Reserved Docks. A step up from temporary docks. A dock reserved for you, your boat will never be stolen from one of these. They are only found at significant settlements, and are rewards for high approval, accomplishing local quests, or outright buying a permit.

-Blue Water Boat Fee. Mentioned before, the Blue Waters offer a service-extortion, charging you a few hundred caps each game month as a license to use your boat. You can fight them off and refuse to pay, but if you do pay their registration fee your boat is recognized as a Blue Water affiliate. People won't steal your boat if you leave it parked in the Bayou or on a river embankment. Instead, your boat will automatically be moved to the nearest dock if left unattended.


Grand Theft Boato: Boat Theft.

A semi-random quest in which your boat is stolen by raiders. Triggering when your boat is unsecured for a sufficient time (say, leaving it on a Bayou embankment and wandering away, leaving it in a temporary dock for too long), if you go back to your boat you'll find it absent and the Transponder will show it moved.

The first time it is stolen, it will be by Brown Water Raiders and taken to one of their outposts. You can peacefully enter their headquarters and negotiate its return, or you can go in guns blazing. This is the only time the Blue Water boat fee won't protect it from being moved to a settlement. Afterwards, if you don't have Blue Water coverage, it will be local raiders or criminals who will move the boat to the closest raider-affiliated temporary dock. The only peaceful way to reclaim your boat is to sneak in and sail away, or pay a bribe to a Blue Water to bribe the raiders for its return.


Boat Upgrades

Bought at the Shipyard, these optional upgrades enhance the abilities and survivability of your boat. Or just make it look cooler, if theming is your thing. Your boat can effectively become your home base, and is a major potential resource sink as you upgrade it to maximum capability.


Practical Upgrades

Boat Inventory Storage: Upgrade the storage container on your boat. Your boat starts with the ability to carry a modest amount of weight in its storage trunk and still fast travel. Upgrading storage can increase your storage capability, allowing you to carry around more loot off your person. Storage upgrades are along the lines of 100 - 250 - 500 lbs, etc.

Cargo Market Contract: A convenience upgrade that allows you to sell items directly from your boat's inventory storage to merchants. In exchange for a one time fee of a few thousand caps, you no longer would need to carry all your items from the boat to your purchaser.

Bed: Puts a bed on the boat, allowing the player to sleep. With the cabin house improvement, the Bed even offers the well rested perk from an owned bed.

Faster Fan: Upgrade the airboat's fan to move more easily. Faster movement and maneuverability.

Reinforced Sides: Adds armored sides to the boat. Provides modest cover from enemy fire, increases time enemies need to climb aboard boat, and increases durability of sides.

Reinforced Nuclear Engine Block: Significantly increases the engine armor of the engine block, allowing it to take more damage before going nova.

Cabin house: Puts an actual cabin wall and roof over the boat. Provides exceptional cover, makes boarding attacks by jumping harder, and prevents anyone inside from being knocked overboard by Deathjaws.

Weapon Mount: Allows a heavy weapon to be mounted on the boat's bow. The weapon will benefit from exceptional stability for aim and recoil. Intended for heavy weapons, such as machine guns or explosives. Ammo for weapon is stored in special ammo can underneath. Companions can use this weapon while Navigator pilots boat, making it useful for boat-to-boat fighting.

Point Defense System: An extremely expensive piece of pre-war tech that will shoot down rockets aimed at your boat. The most expensive thing to buy, and extremely expensive to maintain, the rounds it fires are rare, expensive, and cost almost as much as the missiles they interept. They're just cheaper and better for your health than the repair bills of a heavily damaged boat. Useful for late-game boat combat when enemies are packing serious heat.


Cosmetic Upgrades

Similar to the FO3 house themes. The player can deck their boat out in different ways.

Default: A post-apocalyptic theme. No factional indicators. The jury-rig nature of the additions stands out in the scrap metal sheets and welding.

Enclave: A sleek, dark, and smoothly curved theme that makes the airboat resemble a pre-war military airboat. Matte black and gentle curves and glowing green sensors give it an element of modernity and Enclave technology.

Orleans: A bright, colorful, and slightly bombastic theme with red, white, and blue dominating. The age of the boat can't be denied, but the bright colors make up for it with spirit.

Brown Water: An even more rustic, backwoods, hickish version of the default. Rust, wood, and savage trophies on the sides emphasize the hillbilly backwood nature of the jury-rigging.

Blue Water: An explicitly pirate-themed boat, even with a jolly roger. Has the most emphasis on wood outer coverings, making the boat look like something out of a pirate movie.


Author Note:

The boat is a potentially ideal way to travel, being up to three to four times faster than running and having various upgrades for convenience and utility. While it is restricted to the waterways, there are waterways almost everywhere on the map, especially the Bayou. Between the Mississippi River to the west of the city, canals within the city, and Bayou rivers and coastal inlets, there are very few places you can't get at least reasonably near with your boat. It's just a matter of whether the appropriate route is quicker than running directly there.

The boat is a tool and it is necessary to region some areas, especially off-coast ones, but it's still largely optional. If someone wants, they can do the classic dungeon raiding and fast travel back to town to sell... but why do that, when you can dump more loot onto your boat?

While you can't steal and keep anyone else's boats, you can play pirate and hijack them for profit. By turning them over to the Blue Waters for a bounty, the player can make a viable income from hoisting the jolly rodger, slitting throats, and taking on any faction's boat travel... at least so long as you can avoid their heavy weapons.


Secret of the Bayou:

The renaissance of boat travel can be traced, like much of recent Orleans history, to the First Consul. The First Consul and his team were able to find a way to regain use of the pre-war nuclear car engines, turning potential nuclear fireballs on wasteland roads everywhere into a viable power source. Though the need for water-cooling makes their use away from water difficult, they have become a new source of powered water travel. The only place in the Wasteland with the knowledge and equipment to make these conversions is the Shipyard. When the Blue Waters came to Orleans, they did so with the intent of destroying the Shipyard. Instead they seized it, and now there is a lucrative import market as merchants ship in nuclear car engines from afar to be converted into invaluable boats.

The origins of the Navigator's boat is a mystery. It is deliberately left vague and up for the player to head canon, with vague and contradictory dialogue options for the player. Opportunism, inheritence, a past business deal gone well... even the claim that you won it in a card game.