Chapter 2: Wastelander

...

After an indeterminate amount of time, I ultimately regained consciousness. Though only somewhat since I wasn't entirely there yet and everything was kind of fuzzy.

Thus, that being my state, I continued sitting there waiting for my head to clear up, or at least I hoped it would. As time continued on, my head got clearer and clearer until I eventually regained full clarity. Despite that, I now had a new problem. Everything within my vision remained enshrouded in darkness, and for some reason or another, I now felt as if I was floating.

What in the hell happened to me?

Unsure of what kind of situation I was in, I began thinking back on what I could remember, and as I progressed through my recent memories, I remembered that I had been overwhelmed by a sharp pain in my head before passing out.

I doubt with the pain I experienced back there that I'm in a coma, so I suppose I died. As for where I ended up, I have no clue since everything appears as nothing but a pitch-black void and shares no resemblance to any heaven or hell know about. Guess the bunch of various religions back in my old world were all just spouting a bunch of bullshit in the end, supposing this is where everyone ends up. However, seeing as I appear to be here by myself, maybe I diverged from the path I was supposed to be on, only to end up here somehow.

As I continued thinking and observing the dark void around me that I looked to be floating in, I leaned my head down to see if I could actually see my hands and make sure that my vision was truly working or not. The very instant I did, I saw that my hands appeared ethereal and ghost-like appearance, which confirmed that my vision wasn't the issue at the very least.

That pretty much confirms that I'm dead... Eh, I had a good run. Just wish I could've seen my family one last time before I departed for the afterlife, but it is what it is.

Assured that I was most likely dead at this point, I continued floating through the void with nothing to do. This went on for god knows how long and as I was beginning to lose my patience with current situation because of my boredom, a light cyan holographic screen suddenly appeared out of the blue within my vision, surprising me.

Initially surprised, I regained my usual calm and directed my focus to the holographic screen before me, the only thing of interest in this dark void, although not lightless void.

[ Wastelander ]

The choice is yours.

1. Undercity 7, Nevada [ + ]

2. Cheyenne Mountain Bunker, Colorado Springs, Colorado [ + ]

3. Undercity 1, Washington, D.C. [ + ]

4. Raven Rock Bunker, Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania [ + ]

5. ??? [ + ]

6. Random Start [ + ]

I'm in one of those reincarnation or transmigration scenarios, aren't I.

I guessed before my mind ran wild with various thoughts and ideas regarding my current situation and the several options shown to me.

…

Well, there's not anything else to do here other than staring off and floating throughout this black void in perpetuity. So let me see what I'm working with for my new life and which of them would be the best to go with, out of the bunch.

I'm going to have to think long and hard on each of these choices because if I don't pick the one, that gives me the best chance of survival. The innumerable mutants and many wasteland powers that exist out in wasteland will have no problem ripping me apart, not to mention Zetan aliens.

Whilst I began looking over the six options I had available to pick from, I immediately noticed the plus symbols beside each option.

I already have an idea of what three of the options probably entail. But let me see if the plus symbols beside each option will expand and give me more details regarding my choices.

Upon finishing that thought, I tried selecting one of the plus symbols with my ghost-like ethereal hand. Unfortunately, my action seemed to have done nothing.

Guess that doesn't work, so let me try something else.

Not ready to give up on getting more information, I tried focusing on it and willing it to expand. And the very next second, the first of the options expanded and presented me with some much needed info.

Looks like that did the trick. Let's see what I'm working with here.

1. Undercity 7, Nevada [ - ]

Details: You will start your new life in one of the many undercities that were constructed across the former United States to house hope for future generations to rebuild in case nuclear war ever broke out between NATO and the Commodus Alliance. Though really, the construction of these undercities primarily aimed to house and protect the elite class from the dangers of war.

As for the specifics of your situation you will be born to a couple of researchers who are both experienced and well-versed in the fields of science and medicine in Undercity 7, a massive underground city located hundreds of meters underground in a large mine that was supposedly abandoned over a dozen years before the hundreds of countries around the globe were reduced to nothing but rubble thanks to nuclear annihilation.

...

From what I know about the three Wastelander games, Undercity 7 will probably be my best bet and the option I'll be going with in all honesty, simply because that specific undercity never truly faced any dangers in Wastelander 3. The reason for that is simply due to it being located quite a number of miles north of Las Vegas in a remote area of the mountains. Which, no doubt, has helped keep it from becoming found by any wastelanders, at least to my knowledge. Besides that, the undercity is basically a very well armed sleeping dragon that is more than equipped to handle most of the top tier powers if they ever decided to expand from far below.

However, with that said, more and more undergrounders are venturing forth out into the wasteland to complete the increasing amount of lucrative work the Undercity 7 government keeps issuing to the wasteland explorers of the city. Thus, their hidden status won't remain the case forever, regardless of the many measures they've put in place to try to keep the whereabouts of their location and existence unknown. Despite that, I shouldn't have to worry about any of that until the year 2268, which is the time you venture out from Undercity 7 in Wastelander 3 at the age of 18…

My thoughts continued running off into a number of directions and after letting my thoughts roam uncheck for a while, I resumed my previous train of thought.

Getting back on track, together with its advantageous location, the undercity can provide me with a safe place to grow and strengthen myself prior to many of the events that take place in the 3 games. One of those events being the main powers of Las Vegas going to war with foreign powers trying to wrestle control of Hoover Dam away from them for its power production and the large reservoir of very clean fresh water it holds.

Other than events like that, there are also the Zetan aliens I have to worry about that are still roaming around the planet capturing wastelanders and numerous types of mutants throughout the wastes for their experiments and other unknown reasons upon their spaceships. So getting as strong as I can get in the safe confines of the undercity should help with avoiding any abduction attempts and getting anally probed, or at least I hope so…

Another benefit of going with Undercity 7 would be that both of my would-be parents will have quite a bit of knowledge as well as experience in two very useful and important fields. Learning that knowledge they hold will help prepare me for the myriad of dangers that lurk out in the wasteland.

In addition to that, the two of them will be relatively well off, since the both of them are researchers. And assuming both of them are who I think they are, my would-be father should be close to the governor of the undercity with the two of them being childhood friends and all.

Presuming that's how things are, I can potentially use that close relationship that my father has with the governor to build myself up even further. Expanding upon that idea further, the governor's daughter should be born shortly after me, so I can also try to build a close relationship with her as well. Not the most moral thing to do, but this is the wasteland after all, so I'm going to need to take and abuse whatever advantage I can. 

On top of what I've already covered, the state of Nevada has the military site Area 51. That site is supposed to house an advanced underground research facility with many advanced technologies, including many of alien origin. I get access and take control of that military complex, the technology it houses will no doubt propel me technology wise leagues above every power in the wasteland with exception to the Zetans. Though it should help me out a decent bit when I eventually need to deal with them at some point or another however that relies upon if I even make it that far.

Apart from the highly advanced tech, the base will most definitely have plenty of military equipment sitting there untouched, because of the site being heavily guarded by many automated defenses and minefields. I don't know for sure if that will be the situation here since it was never accessible, considering it was an unreleased expansion and all. But from what I gathered through in-game information and reading up on it online, that is what it's supposed to be.

Moving from Area 51, the state has a ton of natural resources in general that I can take advantage of once I obtain some robots. Continuing down that line of thinking, seeing as I would be in a massive self sufficient undercity and given what I remember of the facilities Undercity 7 had in the game, I should be able to buy and produce the robots myself when I acquire the necessary equipment.

However, as a prerequisite to either of those options I will definitely need to dedicate a decent amount of time to researching and studying various sciences and robotics to take proper advantage of them… But now that I'm thinking about it, I don't think the numbers I'll be able to produce there will be all that great unless I want to dedicate a shitload of time and resources to it, which I don't particularly want to do due to two reasons.

The first is there is already an established facility with the necessary manufacturing equipment for robots situated relatively close by to Undercity 7. Furthermore, the facility is located on the way to Las Vegas and the only thing I would have to do to utilize it is I'll have to repair whatever manufacturing machines need fixing and replace whatever parts that have degraded over the last two centuries since the place was last in use.

Second, assuming I were to allocate a good portion of my time to getting robot production up to the level that I would want it to be at, it would inevitably set me back and slow my progress in other areas. And as a consequence of that, my personal survivability would be lower than if I were to keep myself relatively balanced across a multitude of areas. Thus increasing the danger I would face in the wasteland, which may or may not result in my death, if I'm not careful or just plain unlucky.

For those two reasons, I'd rather not waste my time on building the equipment and machinery required just to be able to get up to a similar level of that plant's production capacity when I can just simply travel to the facility to take control of it, repair it, and have it start pumping out robots.

So supposing I end up deciding to go with option one, I'll increase my stats, gather as much knowledge as I possibly can, and acquire a bunch of equipment and gear over the years for my journey. And when I'm eventually old enough, probably at the age of 18, and have made more preparations than probably necessary for my venture into the wasteland.

I'll leave the comfort and safety of Undercity 7 behind and head out into the wasteland to take over the nearby Cyberdynamics Robotics Facility. Which from what I can recall from memory was specifically a robot manufacturing plant under the Cyberdynamics Corporation prior to the Zetans triggering the all-out nuclear war between the various powers that be back some 200 years ago…

When I got to thinking about the all out nuclear Armageddon that took place my mind began venturing off track again trying to imagine different scenarios that would give me the best chance of fighting and possibly defeating the zetans and preventing myself from having to go through and experience the kind of destruction the people of earth had to go through some 200 years ago.

Well, if I ever get to the point that I gain complete control of Las Vegas and the former state of Nevada, I can think about this further. Until then, I need to think about how I'm going to get to that point. Then again, I got the feeling that I'll survive to that point, hopefully as I'm journeying through the wastes I remember some more important information that could give me a greater edge against them and if not that maybe I'll come across something that could.

Continuing on with my plan again, once I have control of the facility and have repaired it, I'll start production of robots and start acquiring resources with them. As the resources I have available to me increase further and further, I'll fortify the facility, add turrets and other defenses, and make it into my home base for the foreseeable future.

And when I have amassed a decent size army of robots, I'll make my way to Las Vegas to get my cut of the pie before going on to devour the rest of it when I have the ability as well as the forces to accomplish that sort of goal.

I think that's a good enough general plan for Undercity 7, at least for now. I'll probably think of many more things to add on later as I make my way in the world, and in the event that I come across some difficult variables that require me to modify my plans I can make necessary changes as things come my way. Although all of what I came up with is dependent on whether or not I even decide to go with this option.