Design Principles

Nuclear 14 is a fork of Space Station 14 and based on the similar gamemodes in Space Station 13, known as Fallout 13 or F13. Despite that similarity, SS13 / F13 is written in a DreamMaker whereas SS14 is written in C# and Yaml, making the code entirely incompatible. As such I (Peptide) started this fork in July 2022 as a totally bare fork of SS14 and have worked ever since with a number of contributors to build this into the best iteration of Fallout in the Space Station community. We have a long way to go but below are some of the design principles I have set out from the start to ensure we offer something new and exciting while not falling into some traps of F13.

The Basics / World Setting

Not so much a principle but here is the groundwork to make sure we offer something new and aren't just repeating the mistakes of the past:

• No Legion Faction. Legion Vs NCR is stale, Legion invite some problematic themes and players and there's far more interesting themes and locaitons in the world than New Vegas for the 1000th time.
• The Brotherhood of Steel are a fan favourite faction and power armor is the most iconic symbol of Fallout besides the Vaults, featuring on every cover art except Fallout New Vegas. So lets play with that and have TWO Brotherhood factions with totally different morals and beliefs, evenly matched in gear unlike NCR vs Legion and with potentially competing objectives.
• The world is set in the Pacific North West, in locations similar to Fallout Tactics and Fallout 2 and after the events of all other games (See the game wiki for actual lore). We will have maps set in other areas but this is the general location for the main game. Other forks will go back to F13 roots with Legion and that's fine, but its not our recipe for success.
• Maps can be far larger than they are in F13 and our systems are more advanced to allow for greater opportunity. Pixel movement vs Tile movement alone gives us far more freedom to build great worlds.
• Rounds are designed to last up to 4/5 hours in an ideal world. This allows time for factions and players to develop a story and have fun and for the world to be impacted, but not too long that you're investing your whole day into a single round and character. This allows key roles to change player a few times per day and doesn't exclude people entirely who have jobs or families. This allows for varied roleplay experienced, plus a mid and end game event if necessary to tie up a round and gives us the most flexibility in running these events or gamemodes.
• The world is meant to be a mostly circular economy with a heavy crafting economy. Scavenging and buidling are planned to be a big part of helping rounds progress, with a cargo system via the Caravan Company designed to bring in rare things and help the round from stalling at later stages, and provide other fun opportunities for roleplay such as heists, raids and more.

These are just some of the core things that set us apart and over time they will grow and we may grow actual principles, but while I (Peptide) am project lead for Nuclear14, and the vision is pretty clear, there isn't much need to lay out every detail.