How are the lights even operating at this point? There shouldn't even be lamps operating this long after an apocalypse. Yet another immersion breaker. I'm sure there are plenty of pretend theories that really don't make sense to follow.
Yeh, I have no idea. This is the kind of thing I think about if I end up mining.
I think it depends on how long ago you assert the apocalypse was and what it involved. The game sends conflicting messages about how long that has been. Lights powered by a semi-functional electrical grid to me suggest the apocalypse was yesterday and the nuclear weapons used were very limited in number and scale. Other things in-game suggest to me the apocalypse was several years ago.
I cannot reconcile the observations and that's kind of fun in its own way. It's a mystery.
I do like "reality" in games. I don't expect perfection. Its easier for me to gloss over lore. Its harder for me to gloss over things not working in a way that leads to realistic decisions and outcomes. For instance:
- I can gloss over the notion that 10-year old gasoline can still run a motor even though that gas would be useless in reality.
- I can roll my eyes and go along with the notion that a survivor can dig up a backyard somewhere, take the dirt, and refine it into gasoline. Because I can rationalize this as making an alcohol-fueled car and that he's really distilling alcohol.
- I could not gloss over gas pumps that pumped out hotdogs and that people flocked to pumps for their livelihood.
I can also concede there is no "perfect" when it comes to representing reality in a game and that to make a game of things they sometimes have to conveniently reinterpret things. Immersion breaks for us all at different points.
Personally, I have to ignore the idea nuclear weapons were used. The presence of irradiated zombies does not scream "nuclear weapon" to me, plus things like a semi-functional grid. But I could see where a nuclear power plant failed in a spectacular way.
Fascinating stuff. I could chat about this for hours.
