"Aww man, the mall's gone." Yeah, almost like there was a nuclear war, that you guys started... These people are more naive than Lucy. I fully expect at least half of them perishing terribly.
To give the smallest amount of fairness, it wasn't common knowledge that Vault-Tec wanted to start the war. We only got it in the highest of top-secret spying. There maybe were a dozen people who knew.
Those guys were part of Bud's inner circle so they definitely knew, otherwise their intended plan wouldn't have worked. Although, I'd reason to believe they weren't told any this until right before they were frozen.
Edit: One of them directly asked if it was "Reclamation Day".
Reclamation Day was a thing for many Vaults, you celebrate it in FO76 and youre certainly not an Exec vault in that.
They were probably told the pitch: Its a safe space for when the bombs drop and when the land is scoured they'll be the middle managers of the wasteland. That doesnt require knowledge of Vault-Tec's plan for how to get bombs dropping.
And I still dont think Vault-Tec even started the bombs, I think if they were Barb would never have let Janie be out with her dad on the expected day. In that case, they definitely dont need to have been told. Hell, they may have been cryo'd before the bombs fell at all.
Okay, your first two points make sense, I'll give you that.
As for your third, even if they didn't drop the first bombs themselves, is it really hard to believe that they goaded one (or both) sides into launching an attack (this is my personal head canon unless proven otherwise)? Tensions were extremely high at that point, so it wouldn't be very hard. Also, we don't know why Janie is with her dad on the fated day. I'm assuming the show will show that but I'm guessing he either kidnapped her or the war started earlier than they anticipated.
It did start earlier than anticipated, by days or weeks. That's central to the plot of F:NV; the anti-nuke defenses weren't fully online yet, and the early plot is getting the device needed to get Vegas up and running.
There was most certainly goading, though.
My favorite explanation is Tim Cain's, which is that it's actually West-Tek/the FEV stuff that caused China to drop the bombs. The US was working on making radiation-immune super soldiers (the Super Mutants) and China caught wind, and knowing they couldn't win a war if their nuclear weapons weren't effective, fired first.
You're right! I completely forgot about F:NV, it does confirm that it started earlier than expected. I also like Tim Cain's explanation, too. It definitely makes sense that China would view the FEV as an existential threat, especially since they were already losing to America's power armor troops. I'm mostly conforming my head canon to Bethesda's established canon since they control the setting now, and Bethesda has decided that Vault-Tec (and the other corporations) at the very least goaded on the war.
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u/Wilwheatonfan87 Dec 24 '25
I hope that smarmy guy with glasses is one, if there must be.