Talk:White House

Alien?
I'm on my 3rd playthough and nowhere near checking this out quickly (I intend to as soon as I can) but can anyone confirm that there is an alien at the White House? In the article Trouble on the Homefront someone makes this statement: "If you go to the overseers office you can hack his computer with good enough science skill. you will then learn that the vault was connected to the enclaves plan of using the F.E.V virus to kill any mutated life in the wasteland. Also this will show you a secret passage way that leads to thw white house and an alien inside."Suntelia 23:29, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

No, there is no alien.

Actually, I believe you are referencing to the Glowing One standing in the White House (or right outside), or atleast from what I can remember. --Holygiant 23:42, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

Radioactive clean-up?
Does anyone else find it strange that theres a sign infront of the White House that states the area is highly radioactive and is due for clean-up? Why is that there? I doubt some guy ran there and put it up as the Great War was happening, and after seems abit odd to. Maybe the White House went up before the War...?
 * These signs are post-war; there's one at Vault 87 too, which was definitely nuked during the war, not before. 72.192.55.156 03:05, 16 January 2009 (UTC)

Likely put up by the National Guard or some other sort of organization like that. The computer records in Germantown show there was still somewhat of an organized effort by police, hospitals, and the National Guard in right after the bombs dropped.69.204.65.201 00:48, 19 January 2009 (UTC) Yeah, there was a strong effort to try and keep the country together. However, it can be seen that it didn't happen. Quickly, a lot of people died to radiation poisoning, while others mutated into ghouls. Others still turned to raiding and slaving. Really, it'd be interesting to see a "near-complete" timeline showing the devolution of society after the Great War. ```MainMeister

Has anyone else noticed that all the signs are the same? Even the ones at Greener Pastures say that "Annual Dose Limit (Presumably 1000 Rads) can be reached in only .5 seconds exposure" even though you get at most, what, 14 R/s there?Kahlzun 03:53, March 15, 2010 (UTC)

The annual dose is less then 5 rads.Vault 815 19:39, March 14, 2010 (UTC)


 * Considering the triviality of flushing radiation from the system in Fallout (RadAway etc) wouldn't the dosage be higher? Kahlzun 03:53, March 15, 2010 (UTC)


 * The annual dosage limit in real life is much, much lower than the dosage required to cause you any sort of acute symptoms. It makes sense that the one in the Fallout world would as well, given the prevalence of radiation in that universe.TestECull 12:03, April 10, 2010 (UTC)

WTF
How is it that the white house was completely obliterated by a nuke but the buildings around it are in good condition for being hit by a nuke directly? 74.170.163.209 01:45, 22 April 2009 (UTC)


 * My theory and it make real sense is that since there is (in real world) and presumably in fallout world too a bunker housing president, they used a bunker buster to destroy the bunker in wich the pres was in. Destroying the white house was just secondary


 * The article does not state that it was hit by a nuclear weapon, although conversely it can be assumed it (somehow) did from the Rads you incur if you visit it. Now that I think about it, I'm glad you pointed this out. --The Incendiary (talk) 03:21, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Maybe it was a mini nuke. besides, technically their shouldn;'t be any buildings at all Dragonjts 15:08, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

Well, it could be possible that a smaller powered nuke did hit the White House. As described in the divergence article, our timeline has the miniaturization of computers while the fallout timeline had miniaturization of nuclear devices. Thus, just like how we have tactical ordinances, I would believe that Fallout would have tactical nukes meant to be only so destructive. The problem would be, it doesn't matter how small a nuke is, if enough are dropped, then nuclear winter will still occur. ````MainMeister

Correct me if im wrong, but isn't nuclear winter to do with smoke/dust clouds blocking out surface rays and therefore causing a massive drop in temperature. Im certainly no expert, but im sure that has a lot to do with it. So if the explosions were fairly small, there would be less debris, smoke, dust e.t.c. in the air. If thats right it wouldn't cause a nuclear winter, although it would still be fairly unpleasant to be near lol.--Greig91 21:31, 29 April 2009 (UTC) Thats only a theory... AreYouGoingToEatThatNuke? 03:46, January 14, 2010 (UTC)

why should they use a mini nuke when they can use a larger nuke so that it all would be oblitarated (dont know how to spell (T-T)) and how can they put a sign in front of it by coming out to the wasteland in some days or months even years or decades because there would be to much radiation and heat and stuff.Halfgod 15:25, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

Nuclear Winter is only a theory- a solid one, but there are those that think it would be near impossible for it to happen. The closest thing we've seen on our earth was an ice age and theory on how the dinosaurs went extinct. Do also recall that both the US and Russia have dropped hundreds of nukes in tests (in deserts no less, with plenty of debree) and also thermo-nukes and we don't seem to have seen the effects. But I digress. More important is the 'why mini nukes'. Mini-nukes could be made from the 'nuclear waste' of nuclear power plants or, in the Fallout World, the waste of smaller power units, like the ones in cars. This could be an easy access to weapons-grade material; in very tiny amounts, of course. Mini-nukes are practical if you are not practicing 'salt the earth' tactics. The Russians were famous for this, but the Chinese may not have wanted to do that. Maybe they hoped to one day take over DC. Obviously, such a plan, if it existed, didn't work.paladincarvin@gmail.com 16:07, 8 May 2009 (UTC)

Well, I apologize, I meant nuclear winter/fallout. Also, what I am saying is that they didn't bombard it with mini-nukes, although a carpet bombing w/mininukes would be devastating. The tactical nuke would probably be more like a bunker buster or a nuke that was meant to destroy a single block with limited ammunition. --MainMeister90 22:40, 11 June 2009 (UTC)


 * It's definite that either A) The White House was indirectly damaged, B) The White House was hit by a smaller, tactical warhead, or C) Some sort of cleanup or blast protection occurred. Vault 87 has 3000+ rads/second after sustaining a nuclear blast: while the White House has a lot, it's not nearly that lethal. Of course, Vault 87 had to be over-irradiated for the rule of plot, but the reason for not prioritizing the White House, Capitol, and other major buildings as a strike target seems a bit odd. I'm not surprised that 87 was a target: if the Chinese learned there was a vault there, they probably would have wanted to attempt to destroy the facility, and if they knew it contained either a G.E.C.K or the modified FEV (both of which could be considered advantages for the US Army, Enclave, or another force), then the tactical advantages of attempting to destroy the vault would be sensible. Why DC isn't obliterated entirely and how the surrounding buildings are in such good condition is questionable, though. Fallout's nuclear technology is unrealistic with modern physics conventions, so nuclear winter concerns are unlikely to be explainable. Miniaturization of nukes is only possible to a certian extent, beyond which a McGuffin way of reducing the critical mass (or no explained way) would be necessary to produce warheads as small as Mini-Nukes. Massive radio waves would be emitted by any nuclear blast (as would waves of nearly all frequencies on the electromagnetic spectrum), producing an EMP which would destroy all non protected technology permanently (sure, most of it makes sense, but the radios broadcasting the faint signals, etc, don't). And as mentioned by Dragonjts, all buildings would be likely destroyed, and instead of being an interesting and recognizable landscape, DC would be nothing. I don't play Fallout to make sense of its technology. However, the difference in radiation between Vault 87 and the White House were a bit of a detriment to me. As for the signs, we can assume that some government survivors attempted to create a radiation cleanup program at some point. Clearly it didn't work out too well. 67.162.113.118 06:16, December 8, 2009 (UTC)

My assumption was that they used some kind of 'bunker buster' bomb, which is designed to burrow into the ground before it explodes. Contains most of the radiation underground, and unless it is very near the surface, won't form a visible crater.

Subsidence may still happen over time, which is probably why theres a crater-looking thing.

Vault 87 was presumably built underneath something else (Like Vault 112), which was blasted off by the explosion. Considering the military aspects of the vault in question, it is not unfeasable that there was a base there or at least some kind of storage. A large enough fuel depot (remembering that all the vehicles are nuclear powered, and military vehicles are hardly going to use civilian fuel sources. Anyway, something radioactive went boom, and the Super Mutants have subsequently cleaned it up.

My assumption, anyway. Kahlzun 15:25, March 14, 2010 (UTC)

Broken Steel
How is this related to broken steel Dragonjts 15:09, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
 * The Presidential Metro starts in the tunnels beneath the White House. -- Porter21 (talk) 15:45, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

It seems that with the Broken Steel DLC, the ability to get outside the map has been removed. The White House is now part of the same map as Pennsylvania Avenue. It is also impossible to climb out of the White House now.

A little small
I'm not American. I've only seen pictures of the white house on the net and on TV but it strikes me that the grounds of the place are a little small and the remains of the other buildings are very close. I thought the place was supposed to have a couple of acres of land surrounding it. Am I right?A Pickering 19:37, January 19, 2010 (UTC)

Here in america our executive mansion is the smallest in the world, mainly because most in the world are old castles and large grand structures. What is not shown is the smaller east and west wing that extend from the sides of the white house.Vault 815 19:45, March 14, 2010 (UTC)

The Fallout timeline diverged from ours in 1945 or so, couple that with a bit of artistic license and a pinch of game engine limitations and you have a White House plaza that's half the size it should be. TestECull 12:01, April 10, 2010 (UTC)

This is just the result of downsizing everything to fit within the game world, this can be seen in more or less every open world game, and is due to technology and time constraints. Another example would be GTAIV's Liberty City being extremely compressed compared to the real New York City, or NV's Mojave Wasteland and all DLC areas being smaller than all of Las Vegas as a whole. Mr. Someguy 04:25, 27 April 2012 (UTC)

Reference Verification
This reference is currently on the page, it is not however on p.551 of the Fallout 3 Official Game Guide Game of the Year Edition. Can someone please correct this by verifying that it is within the guide!--Ant2242 (talk) 22:37, 29 October 2016 (UTC)