Fallout 4 player mocked 2,000-cap closet in Diamond City compared to free penthouse in Nuka-World – and got plenty of arguments why that home is much better
Role-playing games have always followed their own real estate rules. Saving up for a modest place is almost never worth it: wiping out a couple of gangs and taking over their mansion is cheaper and faster. In the post-apocalypse, the imbalance gets absurd, since the most prestigious apartment goes not to the richest person but to the most bloodthirsty.
Fallout 4 came out in November 2015, but the question of where to live in it is still unsettled. A recent Reddit post brought it back by comparing two options. The first is a house in Diamond City, a cramped place inside a former baseball stadium that costs 2,000 caps. The second is a multi-story penthouse on Fizztop Mountain from the 2016 Nuka-World add-on, which comes free as soon as you become Overboss of the raider gangs.
On paper the choice is obvious, but in practice the penthouse turns out to be a pretty backdrop. The Overboss quarters have no workbench, nothing can be rebuilt, and the place isn't connected to the settlement network. Players get to admire the bar and put up with the amusement park music that the Overboss apparently can't switch off. The neighbors are the cherry on top: the Disciples, who decorate their lair with severed heads, and the Pack with its party animal cult, are both a short walk away.
The stadium house, for all its austerity, offers a different deal. In Survival mode, where fast travel is disabled, the Diamond City home is one of the most convenient bases in the game. Around eight vendors operate right outside the door, including the noodle stand and the army surplus shop, and the interior cell is safe from attacks and pesky settlers. The interior also loads separately from the open world, which is good for the Bethesda engine.
Seen from inside the universe, the deal looks generous. One player put it this way:
In-universe that diamond city apartment is an amazing deal for anyone wealthy enough to afford it. You don't just get the space (which is pretty huge) you get a LIFETIME of protection in a fortified city with a small army of guards, access to clean water, education, and a thriving trade market. Only us player's with a warped sense of danger and value are privileged enough to pursue "just becoming the overboss"
Diamond City still draws fair complaints. Resources from two hundred settlements don't carry over, and a provisioner can't be moved in, even though Piper herself gets the player into the city by passing them off as a trader. Many players skip the purchase entirely and set up in Hangman's Alley in downtown Boston or in the good old Red Rocket near Sanctuary Hills. The latter is free, with its own workbench and a cave of endless loot, and the price of entry is a couple of mole rats.
The raider throne comes with a view from the mountain, but a comfortable life still means heading back to the shed in the stadium.
