Fallout's Biggest Scam

in the early 2050s much of the United States population was worried and scared several World altering events occurred at the turn of the decade War erupted between the European Commonwealth and many nations of the Middle East the planet's only platform for Global discourse the United Nations was disbanded and the highly contagious new plague was spreading throughout busy population centers things were not looking good and so in an attempt to provide the much needed feeling of security to those scared Americans the federal government greenlit a National Defense Initiative dubbed project safehouse the goal was to craft a series of shelters that would protect a sizable portion of the country's population and while one relatively obscured defense contractor at the time a company named fault Tech won the bid for project safehouse that didn't stop at least one other company from cashing in on the fear of helpless Americans allow me to introduce to you the biggest scam in the universe of Fallout the polsky preservation Services powellski preservation shelter [Music] before we begin this episode of The Adventures of Captain Cosmos we've got a message from the fine folks at Pulaski preservation Services purveyors of products there when you actually need them seems there has been a lot of talk these days about Vault life but not all of us have the luxury to spend so much on something that frankly we may not actually need unlike those other guys the sensible Folks at Pulaski preservation Services have created an affordable line of personal protection products to make sure no one gets left behind personal protection there when you actually need it remember that's palowski preservation shelters exact change only and now on to our show The Adventures of Captain Cosmos co-starring Jangles the moon monkey foreign [Music] Services was an American defense company operating out of the East Coast their Flagship and only product was the polski preservation shelter taking on the appearance of a metallic phone booth or porta potty the tubular shelter was intended to operate as a last-minute personal protection pod designed to shelter the sole occupant in the event of a nuclear attack I should note that the in-game design of the shelter has been significantly changed between Fallout 3 and 4. despite this I figure the actual operation of the machine would remain mostly the same between the two versions anyway should the air raid sirens be heard the prospective user should make their way to the nearest unoccupied pulski shelter with exact change in hand the user should put the necessary coins into the coin slot and proceed into the shelter the shelter doors would then seal and the words occupied should be illuminated across the top sorry Little Billy this one is full maybe you could use that fridge the next step is to put on your oxygen mask if your shelter has one that is and in the words of a sign on the shelter wait for radiation to clear what the shelter fails to tell you however is exactly when the radiation has been cleared the shelter has no integrated geiger counter or any other radiation measuring device for that matter surely that's not too important we'll come back to this later while the games offer no explicit explanation of how the shelter works you know just how it actually protects the user from radioactive fallout and such the physical design of the shelter provides some necessary Clues to be able to make what I think is an accurate estimate let's go over how the polski preservation pods work obviously the metallic outer shell provides some resistance to Flying debris and explosions based on how thin the walls of the Pod actually are I doubt they would stop a large chunk of rock or concrete from denting or splitting open the shelter it's more so to prevent the shrapnel-like rocks that would come from explosions or crumbling infrastructure although we have never seen a dented shelter in game steel is notoriously susceptible to buckling buckling can occur when steel is actually compressed causing it to bow out in a direction or even crumple like a pop can definitely not something that you want to happen while you're inside but when it comes to a nuclear attack the immediate explosions shrapnel and Mayhem are only part of the problem latent radiation produced in the aftermath of a nuclear strike is the true danger and silent killer and the polski shelters tight and impermeable seal is designed to keep the user radiation free the advantage of keeping radioactive particles out of the shelter also comes with the disadvantage of keeping other particles in when I'm trying to say is that the shelter would only have a limited supply of oxygen inside of it after time through just breathing this oxygen would be converted to carbon dioxide eventually leading to the user suffocating when oxygen levels reach critical amounts now that would be the case if the shelter didn't come with its own ventilation and fans in Fallout 3 a fan and vent can be seen with one end attached to the shelter and the other attached to the ground presumably tying into clean air underground likely to evolve or maybe even the underground Metro in Fallout 4 while the vent and fan isn't as prominent surely we can assume that this little outcrop would be the vent inside the shelter a pair of oxygen masks can be found tied into the shelter serving as a direct way to get breathable and uncontaminated oxygen and finally maybe the least anticipated problem would also be solved by the pods maybe intentionally but likely not the polsky preservation shelters had at least in the capital Wasteland one-way locks any naridables who wish to access the person inside of the shelter would be unable to do so once time in the shelter was purchased access to the shelter became loaded to whoever was inside NPC enemies in-game are unable to open the shelter so should alone Wanderer be in desperate need of a break from combat just hop inside one stim yourself back up and open the door like your Scarface the exception of this is of course the shelter known as the Box in Paradise Falls the slavers there seem to have rigged the locking mechanism to work in reverse the shelter locks from the outside resulting in a cruel form of solitary confinement for misbehaving slaves in Fallout 4 however it would seem that the powulski shelters don't have a proper lock it could be that the ones in the Commonwealth weren't installed properly or that specific model didn't use a lock this seems like a bit of an oversight but what can you do it's not like you have time to complain there are nuclear bombs on the way now outside of those key features the shelters were quite Bare Bones no food no water no place to sleep comfortably no place to relieve yourself except for that one in the combat zone but this is the obvious exception and was likely modified post-war it just seems extremely odd that you'd make a single pool ski shelter with a urinal anyway you can tell from the Bare Bones design that the designers at powellski preservation Services were going strictly for his survival you wouldn't be comfortable and you might starve to death but at least you wouldn't die for radiation poisoning and in a world where a catastrophic nuclear event was being threatened just about every day sometimes that's all you can ask for where Vault text vaults were touted as the premier method for surviving not only the bombs but also any long-term aftermath of nuclear fallout the polski shelters were there to provide immediate and short-term shelter to anyone who didn't have an approved spot in a vault after all admissions were limited and many spots had already been accounted for and despite vault-tec shelter being much more costly and much more advanced both provided the same sense of relief for the average citizen if the bombs were to drop an option for those unable to reserve a vault spot had a place to go they would be safe that is if it wasn't a total scam I believe the actual intention of polsky preservation services and their shelters wasn't to protect the average Joe I believe that the shelters were just a get rich quick scheme profiting off the fear of the average American citizen and sure while a similar argument could be made about vault-tec at least most of the vaults did work even if it's not how the public expected them to sure you weren't safe from the Twisted experiments but at least you wouldn't evaporate in the Great War or develop some weird mutation or become a ghoul I mean except for Vault 12 that is but with the polsky shelters if I'm being frank you were outright screwed remember how I just went on about the shelter's key features they didn't sound too bad at first right well the reality is is that if you entered one of these shelters at the start of the Great War there were high odds that you wouldn't leave alive let me explain many of these shelters can be found in major population centers next to buildings and other large landmarks now while this makes sense from a city planning point of view you know put the shelters where people can access them if one of these buildings were to be damaged in the Great War and a large chunk of rubble were to fall on the shelter it could very well crush it due to how thin the shelter's walls are After All Steel is susceptible to buckling at the very least it could puncture a hole in the shelter allowing harmful contaminants and radiation to seep in definitely not something that you want to happen besides the shelter's questionable durability there's actually some circumstantial evidence in Fallout 4 that the powellski shelter isn't that great at protecting the user from radiation a live feral ghoul can be found in the preservation shelter in College Square to me this indicates that the person gullified whilst using the shelter meaning that either this specific one was faulty or the powellski shelters don't perform as advertised but that's not all as mentioned before the shelter has no other utilities or supplies that come along with it you're stuck with whatever you had on you when you entered no additional food no water nothing so if you actually wanted to make effective use of the shelter for an extended period of time I hope you are carrying around a jug of water and some non-perishable cans of food else you might just die from starvation or dehydration where she at let's say it's been a while and you think that enough time has passed for surface conditions to be fine and you think the radioactive followed is no more well you'd actually never be able to confirm that because the shelter doesn't have its own Geiger counter outside of the shelter could be teeming with radiation but you would never know all you would have is a taunting sign that reads wait for radiation to clear well when is that Mr powellski because I don't have radiation vision and if my explanation of the structure's flaws aren't good enough for you the many skeletons found in these shelters should provide enough of a testimonial to prove how ineffective these things truly were to get the most out of one of these shelters at the start of the Great War you would need to be carrying one some change to get in two a water jug so you don't go thirsty three some non-perishable food so you don't starve four a waste bucket to relieve yourself five a geiger counter to check when it's safe to leave six a radiation suit because you can't really trust the shelter seven some scrap metal and a welding torch to patch up any dense fractures or holes eight probably should bring a rebreather because who knows if you can trust the ventilation at this point so just be sure to be carrying everything on this list to ensure you're 100 fully protected during the Great War and its aftermath it's not a whole lot is it surely it could fit in a purse or briefcase right honestly at this point you'd probably have better survival odds by seeking shelter in your home's basement so with all this being said it raises a question if the shelter couldn't actually protect its occupant what exactly was it for well dear listener what if I told you that it was made to make someone very rich after all this is followed if vault tech targeted the affluent then puelski targeted the impoverished like I said before many spots in these vaults were already taken and reserved the United States population was exponentially larger than the total amount of bunks inside the vaults and where some people would see a problem with that powellski saw dollar signs Vault text vaults only quelled the fear of those who could afford or managed to reserve a spot in them there were still millions of scared Americans left without any plans for a nuclear Holocaust what were they to do well how about come stay in a powellski preservation shelter huh advertised as protection on a budget the shelters offered the average citizen a chance at survival and so pressured by scared citizens Regional governments in the capital Wasteland the Commonwealth Appalachia and I'm sure much more purchased using taxpayer money of course a handful of these shelters never mind that there still wouldn't be enough shelters to house everyone in these major population centers they would at least serve to ease the minds of some and in times of national hysteria that's all you can ask for polski preservation Services was essentially selling nuclear age snake oil instead of selling a truly effective shelter they sold the promise of surviving an anticipated event when the reality was you would still likely perish but by the time anyone would figure that out it would be much too late and that is the tale of what I believe to be the biggest scam in the universe of followed powellski preservation Services preservation pod a metal porta potty promoted with the premise of protection when in reality it was nothing more than a snake oil death cage developed as a get-rich-quick scheme for some deceptive businessman thank you for listening that's all from me today folks if you liked the video be sure to share and subscribe have a good rest of your day cheers [Music]

Channel: N_orte

Views: 1,206,539

Keywords: fallout, fallout lore, norte, n_orte, gaming, gaming lore, nuclear shelter, scam, fallout scam, fallouts biggest scam, prewar fallout, prewar fallout lore, fallout 3 lore, fallout 4 lore, pulowski preservation shelter, pulowski shelter, pulowski scam, prewar scam, pulowski

Id: TiX8li69Hh8

Length: 14min 22sec (862 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 17 2022