That’s because in the fallout universe the nuclear war happened after electricity, and computers were a thing. I believe steampunk is an alternate timeline where technology advances without advancement in electrical and digital technologies (aka steam and hydro-mechanical energy). That’s a different setting from the nuclear power age of fallout.
I think the difference is based primarily on the main power source (steam, nuclear, or coal).
P.S. I’m not actually sure whether transistors exist or not in the fallout universe they might have existed but where a new underdeveloped technology.
snek_boi@lemmy.ml 6 days ago
This makes so much sense. There are computers but they use vacuum tubes!
What is the in-game explanation for how intelligent robots are? Like, Fallout’s robots aren’t brilliant, but they seem more capable than any mass-market robot today!
cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 days ago
That, I’m not sure. The big computers did use vacuum tubes. I don’t think the Pip-Boy did, though. Too small.
Robobrains are powered by human brains. The others, I think are far more basic. In Fallout 4 though, Codsworth is not a Robobrain, but a Mr Handy maid robot (based on the Mr Gutsy military robot with three weaponised arms) and it has at least simulated emotion. Then there is Curie, which is another Mr Handy (or whatever the “feminine” version is called… Ms Handy doesn’t sound right) who dreams of human ambition, and can be placed in a synth (i.e. a manufactured human), which gives her the full range of human emotion. And you can flirt with her, which fucks with her hormones, which she can’t control, so she’s easily flustered. You can even hook up with her, which is incredibly disturbing once you learn one of the game’s big secrets. The big secret (CW: SA in some form):
spoiler
It’s revealed that the synths are clones of your character’s son Shawn; ergo, every synth is biologically your son or daughter, at least for their DNA. So by having sex with a clone of your son… well, the best that can be said is “at least the synths are sterile.”