I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.
Fallout: Orleans
Geography: Regions: South
The Bayou Wasteland
These are places that aren't in Orleans proper and weren't covered in the first act. These include the various settlements of the region, and significant ruins/buildings of note. Like most side-settlements, these have intended quests associated with them.
South Region: The Blue Water Coast
The coastal regions south of Consul Road where the Blue Waters are most prevalent. Occasionally in contest with the Enclave or Orleans.
The south has some dungeons, usually off-shore. It also has something of a raider problem, with Blue Water merc and pirate groups being hired to raid the factions and occasionally each other. Raiders and pirates don't count as Blue Waters for factional purposes, meaning you can kill them freely.
Ship-Breaker Village
Faction: Their Own
Old World Equivalent: Morgan City, LA
Themes: Rust, under-water terror, salvage center, off-coast submerged sky scrapers
-Before the war there was an artificial harbor and a ship-breaking yard to the south. The tidal waves of the nuclear bombs threw some of the ships out of their dock and from where they were parked in the ocean and put them bow-first into the sand, creating a 'sunken Tokyo' effect of ships simply placed in the sand like sky scrapers.
-The Ship-Breakers are a small, unobtrusive community at the corner of the map. They break ships for scrap, not make them, so they get along with the Blue Waters with no problem. They pay taxes to the Enclave in the scrap electronics they salvage, and are left alone. They're too far away and too minor to bother Napoleon.
-The quest here is that, while exploring one of the vertical-placed ships, one of the village children got lost. Your job is to find your way aboard it, and then navigate around the dis-oriented, twisted ship.
-This quest goes into under-water horror, and plays with the Masters of the Deep. The lost child is beneath the water line, and breaks in the ships mean that there are places the water has gotten inside. Expect to see dark shadows of Masters swimming by outside, as well as sudden thrusts of tentacles probing inside the ship for you. Possibly even a 'boss fight', in which you have to fight off a tentacle that is groping for you.
-The verticle-ship would also be a prime place for a 'replacement device' search, especially if the vertical-ship itself is a pre-war warship.
The University
Faction: Blue Waters
Old World Equivalent: Houma, LA
-A (fictional) satellite campus of the University of New Orleans that survived the war. The ruins of UNO proper were repurposed as a living area.
-Initially (re)established by the First Consul when salvaging/re-opening the Campus for living space. Houma was intended to be the crown jewel of south-western expansion for the Orleans Republic, before Napoleon continued to expand westward and left it behind.
-Fell into Blue Waters influence during the war. Located in the suburbs to the south-western side of the city, out of the southern war zone.
-Initially a public service to educate the population, the Blue Waters demanded a profit in exchange for not simply looting the place. The school became a for-profit school, and the faculty now works on commercial projects rather than public goods.
-The University Faculty would like to be claimed by someone other than the Blue Waters, so that they can focus on research for a public good. Orleans or the Enclave can oblige if helped, with different visions of 'public good.'
NASCAR City
Faction: Enclave
Old World Equivalent: Raceland, LA
Themes: NASCAR, rednecks, trailer trash, redundant descriptions, refugee camp, refugee recruitment
-A NASCAR race track which was packed and in mid-race when the bombs fell. The track and parking lots are still packed with vehicles which serve as houses and homes for a modest town-turned-refugee camp.
-NASCAR City was always a small town of people living in the race track stadium or the cars of the parking lot for shelter. Its fortune improved with the rest of Orleans, however, when the First Consul discovered how to re-start the nuclear engines in the race cars and use them to power ships. NASCAR had an atomic engine gold-rush, in which the engines of the NASCARS and Parking Lot cars were stripped and shipped to the Drydocks.
-The war cut the prosperity down before the engines ran out, as the Enclave and Blue Water pirates separated the car engines from the construction yard. Instead, the population has swelled as war refugees flee to the relative shelter of the Parking Lot and the stadium.
-The Enclave supports a refugee camp here, but the track remains an afterthought to bigger picture priorities. Instead, the Enclave frequently recruits from here: manual labor for the farms, factories, or construction clean-up, or even for police and the Guard. Desperate people without homes offer a number of recruits.
-Besides the Enclave, members of the Followers of the Apocalypse are present as well to help the refugees. Even though they don't like or approve of the Enclave, the Enclave is indifferent to them, letting them work and save them the resources.
-Besides the opportunity to just walk/run the race track and jump on the cars, the missions of NASCAR would mostly be about helping the refugee camp.
Cutoff
Faction: Blue Waters
Old World Equivalent: Cutoff, LA
-Eastern end of Coast Road, and effectively where the Orleans coastline becomes brackish-marsh
-A small settlement that is the furthest south-eastern settlement south of Orleans, originally home to tribals who joined the First Consul. They were wiped out by the Blue Waters during their arrival, much to Napoleon's anger.
-Now a Blue Water military camp that serves as the Blue Water anchor on the southern marsh.
Sunken City:
Faction: None
Old World Equivalent: Golden Meadows, LA
-A collection of pre-war buildings and/or skyscrapers now off the coast since the coastline change.
-Inhabited by squatters/scavengers.
-The player can dock and climb skyscrapers, and possibly explore the locked and sunken skyscraper beneath the waves.
-An underwater window could be used to provide a Fallout-style take Raputre-escque underwater city (ruins), with submerged cars and visible remains of nuclear destruction
Naval Air Station
Faction: Enclave
Old World Equivalent: Naval Air Station (Joint Reserve Base) New Orleans
-An Enclave-held stronghold in southeastern Orleans, the furthest eastern Enclave presence.
-A small pre-war military facility, expanded and fortified after the Enclave invasion.
-An isolated but strategic Enclave position that disrupts the Blue Waters and Orleans trade efforts. From here, the Enclave Marines are able to harass and retaliate against both Orleans and the Blue Waters.
-Somewhat of a reverse-Camp Forelorn Hope, with super-hooah and highly motivated Enclave Marines making everyone else in the area miserable and depressed.
-The Enclave Marines are kept out of the way in this area to help keep suspicions of them from other 'pure' Enclave forces.
-Players touring the site will notice a chapel filled with Uncle Sam-themed propaganda and a poster of Governor Hans where religious icons would go.
River Fort
Faction: Orleans
Old World Equivalent: Alliance Refinery
-A pre-war oil refinery, one of the last, on the lower Mississippi SE of Orleans.
-Used as a river fort by Orleans. All factions want an outpost on the lower river to limit/charge trade floating up or down the river.
-Was intended to limit Enclave/Blue Water trade along the lower river and counter the Enclave Marines for control of the river delta. In actuality, the pirates are bribing the Orleans commander, and the Enclave Marines are making their lives miserable.
-Napoleon sent an ironside riverboat to support the troops. The Enclave Marines sank it along the river for a nearby nav point.
-The refinery, while long-since emptied, has a lead-in to the Black Gold quest, and the city of Oro Negro.
-The local mission help the Enclave and/or Blue Waters drive Orleans out, or help Orleans fort be more effective.
The Hundred Islands
Faction: None (Multiple)
Old World Equivalent: The current region of bays and land west of Chandeleur Sound.
-With time/weather/erosion, what's left of the SE coast outside of the marsh is a wide collection of broken islands.
-Islands resemble the Point Lookout beach of micro-islands, mixed with marsh
-A place with animals, tribals, pirate huts, and so on.
-Not a strategic area, past being a hiding grounds for some pirates.
Black Bay
Faction: None (former Blue Waters)
Old World Equivalent: Black Bay, LA
-A historic pirate hideout in the hard to reach Marsh/Hundred Islands area. Pirates have sailed from here since before the First Consul.
-Now the home base of the coastal pirates, Blue Water affiliates who have gone rogue and now prey on their former employer as well.
-The pirates are just coastal raiders. Everyone hates them.
Delta Wildlife Refuge.
Faction: None
Old World Equivalent: Delta National Wildlife Refuge
-The furthest SE section of marsh, its own isolated island
-Home to some exceptionally dangerous marsh critters
-Possible environmental joke: people go there thinking it's a refuge FROM nature and hostile wildlife, and end up getting killed by it.
Heron Bay Lighthouse
Faction: Blue Waters
Old World Equivalent: Heron Bay, MI. A small peninsula north of Grand Island.
-A lighthouse on Lighthouse Bayou, though the entire peninsula has been reinforced into hills by the pre-war government.
-East of Orleans, it guards/guides/helps control shipping going in and out of Orleans between Smuggler Cove and the coast. Currently in Blue Water hands
-Restored by the First Consul to help trade. Currently controlled by Blue Water Pirates, who are using it as an observation post of the coast to hinder Orleans smugglers from going east.
- Orleans wants it back to advance the same. A target for destruction by the Enclave Marines, who don't want either Orleans or the Pirates to have it.
-A three way help/hinder mission, based around an Orleans attack to retake it, the Pirates intent to defend it, and an Enclave Marine plan to sabotage it during the chaos. You can help the Orleans, help the Pirates, or pretend to do either while secretly advancing the Enclave sabotage.
-If Orleans or the Pirates win, they occupy the light house for the rest of the game. If you sabotage and destroy the lighthouse, both sides abandon it and the Enclave Marines set up a camp inside the ruins.
Smugglers Cove
Faction: Blue Waters
Old World Equivalent: Half Moon Island, LA (also Grand Island, LA)
-The Blue Waters Headquarters, a pre-war island fort intended to control the mouth of the river. A cove and bunker built into an artificial island-hill, it resembles a cave-lagoon.
-A cove surrounded by nearly impenetrable rock/concrete walls, with a small wooden dock outside on the back. The dock frequently gets submerged under water, making it more of a death-trap for the masters of the deep than a secret back entrance.
-Inside, a 'feisty' pirate hangout. In a big central hall Captain Supermutant holds court.
-Your first arrival to the Pirate Cove is an invitation (if you gave the Pirates the Cure), or a perilous sneak-in (if you did not). You will be found, Captain Supermutant offers his sales pitch to work with the Blue Waters, gives you a complimentary Blue Water Stock, and you are given your boat.
-Pirate Cove is a 'lockdown and death' site: if you start a rampage and kill Captain Supermutant, an infinite stream of increasingly high-level enemies will flow into the locked room. This is standard for the 'throne rooms' of all three faction leaders.
Camp Cargo and Bazaar
Faction: Blue Waters
Old World Equivalent: None. Floats off coast.
-A massive, pre-war cargo ship anchored off of the coast, with a merchant bazaar on its top. A floating dock surrounds it, and a countless ships of various sizes are moored at the floating docks.
-A veritable floating settlement, it even has an anti-torpedo net underneath the ships and docks, keeping Masters of the Deep out. One of the only places in the ocean you can fall in and not die.
-Camp Cargo (the name of the cargo ship and tag-along boat town) is the merchant heart of the Blue Water pirates. It is the import-capital of the region, with Blue Water ships always coming in to bring in new supplies.
-The Bazaar is the single largest, best stocked, and most exotic shopping center of the game. It also has the most one-of-a-kind 'foreign' weapons, and is a prime pick-up spot for DLC equipment packs and such.
-The second largest ship in the fleet is the Water Tanker. The Water Tanker is said to have made the trip from DC filled with Aqua Pura, and has desalinization equipment as well. Where Camp Cargo is the market and home of the fleet, the Water Tanker is the administrative capital of the corporate alliance.
-The entire ship and docks are effectively a Blue Water town. Access costs money: you can either pay for a Blue Waters boat to ferry you over, or you can pay a sizable (and possibly re-occuring if you lose approval) fee for a permanent docking space.
Oil Rig
Faction: None
Old World Equivalent: None. Modeled off of Gulf Coast oil rigs.
-A small oil platform. After the gas ran dry, a pre-war rich eccentric tried to renovate it into a self-sufficient safe house for when the bombs fell. The desalinization tech and gardens worked… but after the bombs fell refugees soon swarmed and took it over.
-Part of Companion Jack's personal quest, looking to salvage a 'Dye Chip' from the oil rig.
-Plays a parallel-parody of the FO2 oil rig.
Shipwreck
Faction: None
- An off-shore pre-war wreck on a rock. Possibly a pre-war military vessel.
-The ship serves as a moderate-high danger dungeon dungeon.
-Invested with mud crabs and other critters, as well as automated/robotic defenses.
-Obvious location to salvage some parts for the Orleans superweapon
Author Note:
The coastal region was a lot of fun on multiple angles. I was aiming for a good deal of variety, from soft beaches to rocky coasts with a bit of marsh delta thrown in, and a good number of different types of settlements. This is the non-Bayou region where most interfactional conflict occurs, which makes it an interesting place. There are spheres of influence, but nothing is absolute here.
One of the design intents with the off-shore parts of the coastline is that a lot of the coastal region locations should only be reachable once you have a boat. In the south and west it's easy-ish to walk to the coastline, but the eastern coastline in Orleans territory has a lot more rocky coves and unapproachable cliffs. The idea of off-shore points was also one that I had to cut back on for fear of over-saturating: from pre-war city ruins popping above the waves to stranded shipwrecks or off-shore platforms. You could make as few or many as needed to suite your campaign, or even have missions to intercept ships moving along the coast.
Secret of the Bayou:
Hurricane season is a big deal for Orleans and the coastline. Over the centuries, hurricanes have reshaped the coastline and devastated the region time and time again. The city endures, the Bayou absorbs, but pretty much everything along the coastline is either built to last or made to be rebuilt. If it wasn't built in the pre-war, when the region government was using 'long-term durability cost savings' as an excuse for pork-stimulus make-work to keep employment up and instability stable, it probably doesn't last more than a few years.
Since the war, actual weather stations have been put up by the Blue Waters on spots across the Caribbean. When a Hurricane comes, the war changes: the Blue Water ships leave the region, the Enclave buttons down the hatches and secures its equipment, and Orleans mobilizes for major activity, as the reduction in pirates and Enclave technology gives them a limited window of opportunity to seize terrain and shift the status quo.
Orleans has made two major war-shaping offenses during major hurricanes. The first was a saving throw and miraculous victory in the first years of the war that dealt a major setback to the Enclave and preserved Orleans hold in the city. The other was a catastrophic disaster that nearly saw Orleans lose the war, were it not for the intervention of the Blue Waters and their deployment of the Supermutant Pirates.
There is no intended mechanic for hurricanes, besides the scripted storm during the Act 2 climax. The sky of Orleans is frequently cloudy and overcast as if it were storm season, however.