I was out in the middle of the wasteland, low on health, guns near broken and over-encumbered by a bunch of junk and loot. I had just explored a big building and came out into a pack of radscoprions. They nearly killed me, but I barely got away. Yet more deadly things could appear at any moment. I was screwed. Then I saw a big house with Halloween decorations and turrets. I was saved.
One of the big features of Fallout 76 is player-created camps and homes. These areas are built up using the same settlement building tools first seen in Fallout 4. Players can create elaborate mansions, tiny shacks, compact farms, lovely dream homes or anything else really. If they can imagine it, they can build it. The only limit is space and supplies.
These camps can be placed throughout most of the map of Fallout 76 and because each time you log on new and different players will be on your server with you, there’s always new camps and homes to encounter. This also means that you can randomly stumble upon these places during quests or while exploring an area of the map. And these moments have been among some of my favorite since I started playing Fallout 76 a few weeks ago.
The creativity on display is often impressive and inspiring. Sometimes I see people using props and items in ways I didn’t think about, like a player I found who used a light pole and a statue of the Vault Boy and Vault Girl to create a strip club in various rooms of their two-story house.
These camps can also be very useful, especially for players who are still building up their own camps and resources. Players can store items in vending machines and sell items to players who visit their homes. I’ve found great prices on new weapons, materials, and ammo at various random camps while out exploring.
And I’ve also earned some caps while doing other things when players come to my own store and camp. It helps make the world of Fallout 76 feel more like a community of people working together and rebuilding.
Camps are also great for saving your ass. The number of times I’ve relied on a nearby camp filled with turrets to help fend off an over-aggressive Deathclaw or a pack of deadly robots is much higher than I care to admit. And after each of these close calls, and after I’ve healed up, I always take some time to admire what all you folks have built out there in the Appalachian Wasteland.