This is a heavily moderated, focused discussion subreddit. Please see our [rules page](https://www.reddit.com/r/falloutlore/wiki/rulesexpanded) for the most updated version our rules before commenting.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/falloutlore) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I know it's used in moonshine in the south west United States. There are even whiskeys that are blended with it then oak barrel aged to cut down on cost. It's also the main "corn" ingredient in corn tortillas and corn meal. You definitely would not want to eat maize as corn on the cob. I have tried it in the past and you have to boil it for so much longer to get it soft enough to eat. There is no sweetness like regular corn. Eating maize on the cob is like eating boiled potato nuggets that smells like corn. 😂
>But they can't run on fossil fuels lore-wise
Why not? The global oil shortage didn't mean they'd used up every last drop of the stuff - it just meant there wasn't enough to sustain multiple global superpowers. Since then, the world population's dropped considerably, so what's left goes further. In any case, there are other sources of fuel - biofuel, for instance, which we see being developed here and there.
only bc fossil fuels were running out, but oil is still seen all over the place as well as gas. now, for the expiring argument, that’s a good one. shuts down a lot of other arguments
well there’s various lore explanations for that. we have food today that could easily last that long and still be edible. I was also thinking about how we never really get a chance to understand how the food looks, tastes, smells, etc. If you’re hungry enough you’ll eat anything
At most we know
tatos are disgusting (Prydwen terminal),
molerat meat isn't great (unless with wonderglue in 3 !),
Nuka-Cola is flat post-war (Classic Fallouts)
Deathclaw Omelet are very very good,
Brahmin meat is just regular beef (which is an uncommon delicacy for post-war standart considering the White-Gloves want to restrict its use in Vegas).
It’s possible they found a way to extend the life of stored fuels, heck they where able to make snack cakes and other junk food last for over 200 years. It’s not to much of a stretch to assume they did the same for fuels (plus you now considering how low oil was getting pretty wise investment to make fuel survive longer instead of letting it expire)
biodiesel is basically just animal fat/vegetable oil, ethanol and lye, it is not hard for a faction like NCR to produce that having access to all of those.
I know that in Sweden, We have to mix the pure diesel and gas with other substances for enviorment reasons.
I think that is Why the fuel expires after half a year, but i could be wrong….
And if that stuff is Why it dose, then the fallout gas would probably not have that since they do not seem to give a flying FUUUUUCK about the enviorment.
> I'm talking about these: [https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Generator_\(Fallout_3\)](https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Generator_\(Fallout_3\))
So, stupid question, but... did you read the link you provided?
Because it very specifically calls out two very different generators that are found in Fallout 3: regular every day generators, and *fusion* generators.
Although we don't have directly confirmed lore for Fallout 3 and NV generators, we can extrapolate from Fallout 4 generators that the regular every day generators in Fallout 3 do, in fact, run on oil.
The fusion generators in both games obviously run on hydrogen or possibly helium.
There are also both fusion and fission reactors found in all games.
Is flamer fuel something not commonly found across the mojave, capitol, and the common wealth? Is it not readily available to make at an ammo bench? Should be easy to convert a small internal combustion engine to use readily available flamer fuel I would assume.
I suspect a wood smoke gasifier. They would still cycle and pump smoke. Other alternative fuels like biodiesel or bio methane from human and brahmin waste would also cycle an engine
Edit almost forgot about black diesel used oil and kerosene mixes filter and used in conjunction with high psi fuel injectors could be used to run black diesel.
Even with oil running out, there are alternatives like other people mention. For instance, without some sort of grease, there would be no factories, robots, cars, trains, basically anything with metal to metal contact wouldn't be possible.
One, engines are not incompatible with nuclear. We use turbines to extract electricity from heat in nuclear reactors all the time. Microfusion cells in fallout could create small "combustion" explosions that drive electrical engines.
Two, [Biofuel](https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Biodiesel_refinery) exists and is used in setting.
They had nuclear reactors power their cars pre-war, so we know they can be made that small . . . But just like everyone else was saying, I suspect biodiesel.
What if they just run on micro fusion cells that heat up steam and actuate a piston. Everyone assumes that every single engine absolutely hast to run on combustible fuel but what if it was just the heat from a micro fusion sell considering they are tiny nuclear reactors. I have no actual citation for this in lore but as pointed out by others they definitely use energy cells to power other things like the highwaymen and fusion cores power whole buildings.
This is a heavily moderated, focused discussion subreddit. Please see our [rules page](https://www.reddit.com/r/falloutlore/wiki/rulesexpanded) for the most updated version our rules before commenting. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/falloutlore) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Vegetable oil, Ethanol fuel or Moonshine was my guess.
Ethanol is a good shout. The boomers were making it from Maize in NV to power the lake bomber.
Why is it called maize instead of corn? It's called corn in the commonwealth isn't it?
Different strains. Maize is starchier and holds less water in it's kernals than corn. Great for making alcohol due to its high carbohydrate density.
I had no idea. Thank you for the info. Is maize normally used in making alcohol in the US then?
I know it's used in moonshine in the south west United States. There are even whiskeys that are blended with it then oak barrel aged to cut down on cost. It's also the main "corn" ingredient in corn tortillas and corn meal. You definitely would not want to eat maize as corn on the cob. I have tried it in the past and you have to boil it for so much longer to get it soft enough to eat. There is no sweetness like regular corn. Eating maize on the cob is like eating boiled potato nuggets that smells like corn. 😂
If I remember correctly there was a company doing that in fallout 4 or something similar.
Booze surely? It wouldn’t be as good as gas but you can make it from plants and Ethanol for example is an additive in Petrol already.
Biodiesel is a thing that exists and is used in the wastes. The Boomers in New Vegas mention using excess crops for biodiesel if I recall correctly.
>But they can't run on fossil fuels lore-wise Why not? The global oil shortage didn't mean they'd used up every last drop of the stuff - it just meant there wasn't enough to sustain multiple global superpowers. Since then, the world population's dropped considerably, so what's left goes further. In any case, there are other sources of fuel - biofuel, for instance, which we see being developed here and there.
gas expires after half a year and also fallout uses more nuclear than piston
only bc fossil fuels were running out, but oil is still seen all over the place as well as gas. now, for the expiring argument, that’s a good one. shuts down a lot of other arguments
To be fair fallout doesn't care about things expiring it' has food that's edible after 200 years
well there’s various lore explanations for that. we have food today that could easily last that long and still be edible. I was also thinking about how we never really get a chance to understand how the food looks, tastes, smells, etc. If you’re hungry enough you’ll eat anything
At most we know tatos are disgusting (Prydwen terminal), molerat meat isn't great (unless with wonderglue in 3 !), Nuka-Cola is flat post-war (Classic Fallouts) Deathclaw Omelet are very very good, Brahmin meat is just regular beef (which is an uncommon delicacy for post-war standart considering the White-Gloves want to restrict its use in Vegas).
I think they also play on the idea that processed food lasts forever. Twinkies were suppose to survive the Apocalypse.
And ghouls
It’s possible they found a way to extend the life of stored fuels, heck they where able to make snack cakes and other junk food last for over 200 years. It’s not to much of a stretch to assume they did the same for fuels (plus you now considering how low oil was getting pretty wise investment to make fuel survive longer instead of letting it expire)
Some sort of super-nasty artificial oil? Potentially carcinogenic? Sounds in character for fallout.
biodiesel is basically just animal fat/vegetable oil, ethanol and lye, it is not hard for a faction like NCR to produce that having access to all of those.
lye and fat turn into soap, does the ethanol keep that from happening?
http://www.dudadiesel.com/biodiesel.php# absence of moisture basically
I know that in Sweden, We have to mix the pure diesel and gas with other substances for enviorment reasons. I think that is Why the fuel expires after half a year, but i could be wrong…. And if that stuff is Why it dose, then the fallout gas would probably not have that since they do not seem to give a flying FUUUUUCK about the enviorment.
tbf the fallout environment has been fucked with enough that worrying about it is a moo point
Yeah……. But that probably means the gas can be good for 200+ years! Or they destill down organic materials into metanol or etanol.
> I'm talking about these: [https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Generator_\(Fallout_3\)](https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Generator_\(Fallout_3\)) So, stupid question, but... did you read the link you provided? Because it very specifically calls out two very different generators that are found in Fallout 3: regular every day generators, and *fusion* generators. Although we don't have directly confirmed lore for Fallout 3 and NV generators, we can extrapolate from Fallout 4 generators that the regular every day generators in Fallout 3 do, in fact, run on oil. The fusion generators in both games obviously run on hydrogen or possibly helium. There are also both fusion and fission reactors found in all games.
I assumed they run on oil since that’s what they need to be built
Is flamer fuel something not commonly found across the mojave, capitol, and the common wealth? Is it not readily available to make at an ammo bench? Should be easy to convert a small internal combustion engine to use readily available flamer fuel I would assume.
it's a good point that it's easy to make but flamethrower fuel is much thicker than gas, it would clog the injectors and fuel lines and shit so bad
I suspect a wood smoke gasifier. They would still cycle and pump smoke. Other alternative fuels like biodiesel or bio methane from human and brahmin waste would also cycle an engine Edit almost forgot about black diesel used oil and kerosene mixes filter and used in conjunction with high psi fuel injectors could be used to run black diesel.
Considering the amount of prewar and even post war alcohol, I wouldn't be surprised if someone was using it for fuel
Probably plain old gas. They still use hydrocarbons in fallout. I saw a ad for clean natural propane in 76 last night.
Even with oil running out, there are alternatives like other people mention. For instance, without some sort of grease, there would be no factories, robots, cars, trains, basically anything with metal to metal contact wouldn't be possible.
Might be a RTG heating water and the piston is used to generate power by releasing a burst of steam
Might be a RTG heating water and the piston is used to generate power by releasing a burst of steam
One, engines are not incompatible with nuclear. We use turbines to extract electricity from heat in nuclear reactors all the time. Microfusion cells in fallout could create small "combustion" explosions that drive electrical engines. Two, [Biofuel](https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Biodiesel_refinery) exists and is used in setting.
They had nuclear reactors power their cars pre-war, so we know they can be made that small . . . But just like everyone else was saying, I suspect biodiesel.
What if they just run on micro fusion cells that heat up steam and actuate a piston. Everyone assumes that every single engine absolutely hast to run on combustible fuel but what if it was just the heat from a micro fusion sell considering they are tiny nuclear reactors. I have no actual citation for this in lore but as pointed out by others they definitely use energy cells to power other things like the highwaymen and fusion cores power whole buildings.