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In the last few quests leading up to the activation of Project Purity, the Lone Wanderer is faced with a number of decisions, but one stands out above the rest:

Contaminating or not contaminating Project Purity with the modified FEV.

Which of these two options represent the canonical timeline of the Fallout games as a whole?

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  • You might find a better set of answers over on the Sci-Fi and Fantasy SE site as they do focus on game-lore :)
    – James
    Apr 24, 2012 at 22:25
  • @James: That seems like an excessively weird division of labor. Apr 24, 2012 at 22:33
  • Maybe, but it dose seem that it will be the norm in the not to far future that lore based gaming questions that are not specific to game mechanics will be finding that their home.
    – James
    Apr 24, 2012 at 22:35
  • @James: Heh. gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/2531/… ? Apr 24, 2012 at 22:50

4 Answers 4

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As far as I know, there is no canonical version of events (yet). Only two games take place after the events of Fallout 3:

  • The Broken Steel add-on, which contains eventualities for both cases of the choice.

  • Fallout: New Vegas, which takes place in a very distant location which should not be affected by that choice - in Fallout 3 it's stated pretty explicitly that the effects of the choice will take place in the Capital Wasteland, but no other region is mentioned.

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  • As the Wasteland Survival Guide exists in Fallout: New Vegas ( fallout.wikia.com/wiki/… ), one can assume that at least some repercussions of the actions of the Lone Wanderer reached the west coast.
    – Wilerson
    Apr 24, 2012 at 21:59
  • @Wilerson on the other hand, Pittsburgh is far closer and yet seems unaffected by that choice (The Pitt add-on).
    – Oak
    Apr 24, 2012 at 22:06
  • @Oak: It is also far closer in time. Keep in mind that the Potomac is a tributary to the Gulf Stream; so if the Potomac is clean, clean water should reach Northern Europe within a month. Distances over land, however, would take far longer to traverse. Apr 24, 2012 at 22:38
  • @Oak I don't think anything in The Pitt happened after the ending of the main campaign, even if you only go there after completing the main game (due to Broken Steel). In the timeline ( fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline#2277 ), the events of The Pitt happen before James' sacrifice. Interestingly, the same timeline places Mothership Zeta and Point Lookout after Broken Steel.
    – Wilerson
    Apr 24, 2012 at 23:02
  • @Wilerson that is strange :) anyway I think that it's obvious there is no referral to that choice in any content that is chronologically after Fallout 3, so there's no canonical answer yet.
    – Oak
    Apr 25, 2012 at 7:39
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Fallout 3 is the most recent-game in the series, chronologically, as far as the east coast is concerned, so at this point, it is unknown. While New Vegas takes place after the events of Fallout 3, the finale is not discussed, leaving things ambiguous.

Broken Steel (Fallout 3's DLC add-on which takes place after project purity) allows for either option.

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  • I could have sworn Fallout: New Vegas was set a few years after the events of Fallout 3? (The timeline confirms; FO3 begins in 2277; FO:NV begins in 2281) Apr 24, 2012 at 21:35
  • Right, but New Vegas is on the other side of the country, and the events on the East Coast are not discussed. I'll edit to clarify what I meant. Apr 24, 2012 at 21:44
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In Fallout 4, Deacon mentions how "you can drink the water" in the Capital Wasteland, hinting at the Lone Wanderer's success in the activation of Project Purity.

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Veronica kinda reveals the outcome of fallout 3 events saying "One chapter even HAD a civil war" clearly reffering to the capital wasteland BoS, the key word here is HAD which may have ended in peace or hunting down the outcasts and killing them all. Secondly the CW BoS tried to establish a contact with the western brotherhood right?Which it has because Veronica mentions it which means that they established contact after the civil war outcome. Indicating that the Citadel wasn't destroyed by the enclave sub orbital strike. Because they couldn't have made the contact if they were dead. Thirdly there is a wasteland survival guide in New Vegas which means that the book was successful. Not destroying the citadel means that the lone wanderer went the good way, 99.9 percent purifying the water. I think i made a point here connecting all logical things together. Long live elder Lyons

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