Fallout 4: Australian survival expert Rich Hungerford shares advice for roaming a real wasteland

IT’S not exactly an immediate threat, but how would you survive in a post-apocalyptic nuclear wasteland (hey, stop those snarky eastern states jokes right there)? We spoke to a survival expert to find out.

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IT’S not exactly an immediate threat, but how would you survive in a post-apocalyptic nuclear wasteland?

In the 1950s and 60s, Cold War kids lived with the imminent possibility of nuclear annihilation. In 2015, they spend their time roaming the wastelands in games like Fallout 4 and The Last of Us.

And now there’s talk of setting up a nuclear industry in South Australia. What could possibly go wrong?

So we spoke to an Australian survival expert with the brilliantly tough name of Rich Hungerford to find out what skills you need to survive armageddon. (Note for The Walking Dead fans: These skills are not necessarily applicable to a zombie apocalypse.)

Warning: Some minor Fallout 4 spoilers ahead.

Hungerford — a former SAS patrol commander — warns that the first threat may actually be our classically laid-back attitude.

“The biggest risk people take is, we tend to have this ‘she’ll be right’ attitude. We don’t actively care for anything that could go wrong until it’s upon us – which is not a great survival strategy.”

“Australia’s quite an adversarial environment,” the senior instructor says.

“We face major threats to humanity just from mother nature, so it’s really easy to get into that kind of headspace.”

Fallout 4, Bethesda’s open-world RPG out this week, uses a character generation system where players divide their points among seven attributes: strength, perception, endurance, charisma, intelligence, agility and luck.

While all are arguably important to survive, Hungerford says one in particular is the most important in the real world.

“Surprising as it may sound, intelligence. Getting their head and heart wired properly to deal with adversarial situations. That ability to keep calm, cool and collected under a great deal of pressure.”

Early on in the game, players are forced to hastily abandon their home as the threat of a nuclear bombing looms. Faced with that situation, what three items should we grab as survival tools?

Don’t forget your dog. Picture: Bethesda.

A cutting tool, a metal container and cordage (rope), Hungerford suggests. Cordage in particular is one of the most undervalued, under-utilised resources – it enables you to build new things.

“Cordage: things like electrical tape, duct tape, wiring … all those things that bind things together are very valuable,” Hungerford says.

He praised Fallout 4’s crafting system for letting players stretch their imagination.

“Look at this, an ordinary random item and we can make that in to a multitude of other things with a use,” he says.

“It’s a pretty diverse resource base to tap into. The developers have done a good job of giving you free rein with that.

“People playing the game are going to realise their imagination and learn a lot about their own resourcefulness.”

Got some duct tape? Bam, a laser rifle. (Some more components required) Picture: Bethesda.

Having these attitudes and tools is a good start, but no one’s going to survive anywhere very long without food and water.

Hungerford says a lot of factors will play into it, but he estimates you’d last maybe three days in an environment not doing much, assuming you’re hydrated to begin with.

With much of the water supply contaminated by radiation in Fallout 4, players will often find themselves seeking a means of purification – or if desperate, suffering the consequences.

“Contaminated water is going to end up causing more loss of hydration,” Hungerford says.

“The brain is essentially water-powered so if we don’t have water coming in, your ability to make sound choices in the most logical manner degrades significantly.”

In a world where very little grows, players are forced to to explore, scavenging meat from wild animals (or giant insects) as well as preserved food from households.

“I think in the world that Fallout portrays, you’re going to have a lot of difficulty growing food so you have to be nomadic, you have to stay on the move,” Hungerford says.

The world is scarred by radiation with little plant life surviving. Picture: Bethesda.

One real-world example: you search a house and find only a can of dog food and a cup of two-minute noodles. Which item is actually better to hoard?

While a true opportunist may simply say “por que no los dos? (why not both)” Hungerford says the dog food will actually be better for us in the long term.

“Your body needs protein to keep functioning in the way it functions. Dog food will have a higher protein value, two-minute noodles is essentially a starch.”

No need to switch your diet to dog food any time soon, but it’s food for thought.

Eventually, you are able to construct your own settlement and grow your own crops.

What little food and water is left would likely become valuable, tradeable commodities in such a world. Fallout 4 uses bottle caps as currency, but Hungerford suspects the worth of coins (or caps) will fade.

“You can’t eat a precious metal so they’re not going to hold their value long term,” he says.

So what would we use as currency?

“Food and water, any type of ammunition or weaponry, or access to security. Anything related to making life easier is something that’s going to have great value.

“Alcohol, for example, as a trading item in the future. That’s something that’s going to be difficult to make, so people will attribute a lot of value to it.”

Build your own set of Power Armor! Or just take clothes. Clothes will have to do. Picture: Bethesda.

Fallout 4 players will initially be stuck with basic clothes, then a Vault-Tec jumpsuit, and eventually get the chance to don a heavy suit of “Power Armor” – an icon of the Fallout series.

If you don’t have one of these sitting around at home, Hungerford says your most important outfit to grab will be long-sleeved, durable clothing to protect against the elements, and sturdy, good quality footwear.

“Once your feet are damaged, your chances of doing anything are down,” he says.

What about weapons?

Toting a minigun is a lot of fun theoretically, but obviously not as practical in the real world.

Ah, the minigun. Fun? Yes. Practical? Probably not. Picture: Bethesda.

Hungerford says a long rifle is always the ultimate to him.

“It’s multi-use, it’s much easier to deal with an opponent at range,” he says.

An optical scope can help keep potential enemies at range too.

“You’re reducing your risk and exposure. You don’t want to be up close and personal in a combat situation when you can keep them at 200-300 metres away and run away if you need to.”

But what if you are forced into a combat situation?

“I’ve been in combat zones for half my adult life and to say that’s never going to happen is living in la-la land,” Hungerford says.

“It comes back to attitude, and being able to draw in deep and get the aggression at the time, to use everything around as a weapon.

“You’re dealing with people that are desperate. The world that Fallout depicts is full of people who do very desperate things.”

Players have multiple choices for dialogue with NPCs, and can be positive or negative. Picture: Bethesda.

With plenty of other survivors around, players have a multitude of interaction options. Ultimately over the course of the game, they have a decision to make.

Do you work together with the other survivors? Or is it every man for himself?

“That is a fantastic question and one of the things I loved about this game,” Hungerford says.

“You can interact with the game in a very negative way and deal with the consequences, or you can build a community.

“I want to play the game this way and I think building a community, building goods and having that sense of camaraderie being established – that’s what survival is about.”

Group size is another thing to consider. While Fallout 4 is a single-player game, you’ll find yourself working with (or against) a multitude of NPCs (non-player characters).

If you were to put together a real team of survivors, is there an ideal number?

“I think between five and 20 is a really good number,” Hungerford suggests. “You’ve got a lot of resources and a variety of information available; a lot of skills; a lot of brainstorming capability.

“Anything beyond that, you’re needing to establish some kind of permanent community.

“Our species works best around the five to 20 mark. It was only about 10,000 years ago we started forming large communities.”

He says people often forget that fundamentally, we’re animals. If an animal is injured on its own, it’s not likely to survive. In such a stripped-back environment such as a nuclear wasteland, we’re reduced to a very basic existence and our chances of surviving alone are significantly reduced.

Hungerford says such isolation would force us - as players or as real survivors - to think about how they’re going to interact with the environment they face.

Humans, monsters, beasts... there’s plenty of potential enemies to keep you on the run. Picture: Bethesda.

It’s been a big year for the post-apocalyptic genre, helped along by the critical success of films such as Mad Max: Fury Road and TV series such as The Walking Dead.

Both franchises have also spawned their own video games.

Fallout 4 has had a cult-like following long before its much-hyped release on Tuesday.

If the real threat of nuclear warfare is rightly concerning for much of the world, why are these post-apocalyptic themes as popular as ever?

“I think if you consider the analogy of a phoenix rising from the ashes, literally starting again - there’s an innate and primal sense of adventure in that,” Hungerford says.

“We sculpt the dimension of humanity. I think we could do a lot of things a lot better than we currently do. That concept of starting from scratch gives you the initiative to do that.

“We can build our community, we can build our world in the way that it should be.”

The game’s landscapes vary from barren wilderness to large cities. Picture: Bethesda.

Finally, how realistic is a future such as that in Fallout 4? Is such a scenario imaginable within our lifetimes?

“I think it’s a real potential outcome. Who knows what the future holds?” Hungerford ponders. “I think the game has got some underlying philosophy: how would I cope with that? Would I be emotionally ready for that situation if it happened? How would I look after my family?”

He says these questions can easily transfer into so many aspects of life, including the risks we face today – comparatively safe next to Fallout, perhaps, but still with its share of dangers.

Today’s world evokes an apocryphal saying sometimes attributed to Confucius, but with no true confirmed origin.

“‘May you live in interesting times’. It’s not a compliment, it’s a curse,” Hungerford says.

“It means your future is uncertain. You’re going to be beset with challenges instead of having a life of luxury and comfort.

“I believe we’re at a critical point in evolutionary history. I think you need to approach that with common sense, balance and reason. We are incredibly capable as a species in terms of adapting to different environments.

“We can do it – but we don’t want to be blindsided by it.”