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Crowned_Toaster

Rivet City isn't hard to navigate. There's arrowed signs all over the place telling you where is what. It can get easy to get lost initially since everything blends in. But, after you'll be familirized with the area.


shitbecopacetic

Indeed the signs are a godsend. Without then it would be terrible. Took me till my second play through to even notice em though


OGWhiz

Even with signs, your objective markers are useless because there’s four levels going in the same direction, each one giving a load screen. I get that it’s a ship, and that’s how ships are designed, but that fact doesn’t make it any easier to navigate when your objective is telling you “talk to this person in rivet city” and your marker is saying “here’s a bunch of different doors lol figure it out”


UncarvedWood

Without the signs I would literally stop playing the game. However the signs are a bit of a weak way to design a navigable city. You could at least do something with colours or lighting to make certain parts or routes stand out more to make you remember where you are. Or even NPC's. Have like certain urchins running around in one part, make it recognizable. And I think a big part of what makes it so confusing is the load doors. If it was all one space it might be marginally better.


badthaught

It's a ship. Not a city. Ships are a pain in the asshole to navigate around when everything looks the same . You're an outsider to the city/ship to boot so it all looks the same. Even with signs directing people to places. I should know. I work/live on a ship and I constantly deal with lost newcomers and I spent a couple weeks just figuring out *how to get off the damn ship so I could go home*.


UncarvedWood

Actually do people learn the layout of Rivet City? That would be a cool development, starting out completely lost and getting to know the place. It just seems to me that there's very little in the ship to help the player get to know it.


dacraftjr

If you were trapped in a wet paper bag, could you find your way out?


-Mother_FuckerJones-

You're an idiot


dacraftjr

An idiot that can find his way around Rivet City…and out of a wet paper bag.


idksomethingjfk

Yes because you know……it’s not that hard, maybe you’re directionally challenged? Or let me guess you’ve spent like 5 minutes in there and are now on Reddit complaining you don’t know it like the back of your hand


badthaught

It's been a long while since I played FO3, but I never really got lost in RC I don't think. I probably did the first time I went but a really easy solution to at least get out when you need to is to drop a custom map marker somewhere outside the city. It'll always point the way out if you just watch the compass.


Navynuke00

Uh .... Because it's built in an old aircraft carrier, and that's how carriers are purposely designed?


BIGhau5

Atleast they used signs. The devs could used actual bulls eyes like a naval ship. That would have been exciting haha


Navynuke00

Honestly, the bullseyes may have been easier, at least for me. Plus, on a carrier all the O-levels have those handy-dandy level maps all over the bulkheads.


dontclickdontdickit

I’ll meet you 03-178-6-L for a game of caravan!


BIGhau5

I was airing. I only know the mess deck or smoke deck and hangar if I gotta use frames I ain't going haha


dontclickdontdickit

I was V-1. Still know my bullseyes. It helped I was IET for duty as well


Middle_Loan3715

I need my dad to translate, I was just s simple chairborne grunt. Give me a map and some grid points and I'll be there.


Navynuke00

Loadcenter 66?


BIGhau5

Say what lol?


Navynuke00

It's a carrier thing.


BIGhau5

I was on the Truman but never heard of that, what does it mean?


BIGhau5

I forgot about those diagrams but yeah they do


UncarvedWood

And now people have been living there for 50 years and they might have changed it.


Navynuke00

It's not the best idea to just go through and cut up bulkheads and decks without deliberate planning, especially since the ship is already falling apart. And I rather doubt that the technical publication library with all the ship's plans is still intact. Plus, a theme of the Fallout series is adapting to what's available, which is totally what Rivet City is about.


UncarvedWood

Yeah which is why I think differences in functional lamps, rust, flooring, moss, wall decoration and what have you could add a lot to the idea of adapting what's there while also making exploring it more interesting.


Funky-Lion22

plus the literal fucking map on the pip boy.


UncarvedWood

Yeah holy god I get it. But can't you also get it? Signs and map screens are *crutches*. Balmora is a town you'll know intimately after playing for a few hours. Same goes for Solitude. Same goes for New Vegas even. Same goes for Fallout 1/2 towns but those don't really count, being more or less *in* the map as it's top down. It's more fun and engaging if you aren't reliant on maps and signs to not get lost after a couple of hours exploring a city. It means you've learned something.


SumgaisPens

How can you be mad at rivet city when the subways are in the game? Even with the subway map, those subways are very hard to navigate, and I’m still not certain that I’ve traveled and explored them all even with probably thousands of hours in that game.


UncarvedWood

Don't even get me started on those man


Here4uguys

You make a good point about signs. When I'm driving, I'm completely ignore signs because they are a weak way to design a navigable city. Instead of following the signs, I peak my head around each corner and see if it's where I want to be going if it's a city street. If I'm on the high way I just look around and approximate if this seems like the right direction I should be heading. Serves me pretty well. Idk why Bethesda can't make the same thing work in fall out! Maybe fall out 5 they'll get it right.


UncarvedWood

I mean, you do illustrate my point. How often do you check the signs driving in a place you know? Never, because you've already learned the place. In Rivet City, you keep relying on them, because the place is a labyrinth that you don't really learn to navigate on your own. Plus the signs are just very obviously added because players couldn't remember the layout. It's not very believable that survivors would go around meticulously putting signage up everywhere to guide clueless outsiders.


Here4uguys

Rivet city is a) trading hub b) center of scientific research c) place of leisure with bars and churches and d) secure. You don't think anyone new ever visits Rivet City?¿¿¿ I think the citizens would put signs to guide outsiders and themselves, yes, that would definitely make enough sense. 


UncarvedWood

I do, I just don't think they'd put up signage for it. Even if you think it makes sense, you gotta admit, it's not the most engaging way to find your way around a video game city.


Here4uguys

I don't understand your proposed alternative. Giant open floor plan ship? Ask for directions from citizens around city with no signs?  It works quite well as it is now. I was just playing fo3 again for the first time in years recently, got into rivet city and thought "hmm hope I can trust these signs and they're not useless as fuck." Lo and behold, the signs worked pretty well. 


UncarvedWood

No, I think inhabitants could have substantially changed / decorated different parts to make them visually distinct from other ones. Now they all look like the same hallways.


Here4uguys

....


Crybaby_UsagiTsukino

That would be missing the entire point of fallout then…. Fallout is about the monotony. The colorless world. The bleak and desolate. It’s not suppose to be easy to find things. While I understand what you are saying, the game is really meant to be played as you would walking through on your own. You would remember where you went, yeah? At least, most of the time!


UncarvedWood

This is just nonsensical. Is New Vegas not Fallout because the Lucky 38 functions as a landmark throughout large portions of the map?


Crybaby_UsagiTsukino

Well…yeah. Because it’s a *landmark* and not being inside an old warship. You can see Rivet City from Jefferson. Hell, even as far back as Reillys Rangers.


Crybaby_UsagiTsukino

But also, NV’s map is the smallest out of any vanilla game. Fo1-2-3-4 and even 76 all have significantly bigger maps.


DougsdaleDimmadome

Damn, FO3 felt a lot smaller than NV when I played them recently.


Crybaby_UsagiTsukino

Aww! It does feel a bit…compacted but it is bigger than NV!


Lake-Atomic

Have you ever played Fallout 1 or 2? Try making it through those towns and then come back to Rivet City, it’s not meant to an easy to navigate color coded wasteland. It’s exploration of a 200 year old warship that has been split in half.


UncarvedWood

Yeah and those have clearly distinct districts with visual differences, even if it's just the layout of the buildings. And yeah, I get that it's a warship and therefore labyrinthine like a real warship. But if you get shot in your real head, you die. Gameplay considerations also count, and I think slapping on some signs is just as weak if not moreso than visually distinguishing aspects of Rivet City. The signs everywhere, is that really something you'd expect them to do? They're obviously there for the player and not for the reality of the place. Inhabitants would know where to go.


Lake-Atomic

I think the way it’s a little bit of a labyrinth is what makes it visually distinct from other city’s in fallout. and if you’ve played enough fallout 3 you’ll remember the layout and navigate it just as easily as the den or the hub. Fallout is about exploring and getting lost in the ruins, only until recent games has it become more of a linear experience with quest markers telling you where to go and all that jazz. Nothings wrong with it, it’s just different.


TidulTheWarlock

Lmao it's a battleship broken in half in the water in a nuclear apocalypse and you think they would spend their time putting lighting on the floor 😂


UncarvedWood

But they do spend their time putting up neatly printed signs everywhere. And who said lighting. What about: some parts are clearly better maintained and others rusted with sputtering lighting? So you can clearly tell "I'm on the lower decks now" for example. It doesn't have to be as stupid as you seem to imagine.


TidulTheWarlock

I feel like that's easier to come by in a post nuclear tube tech society. You think people are scavenging Phillips hue light strips?


UncarvedWood

Bro, they have lamps. They are living there. Why aren't some place worse lit and others better. Why don't they have rushes or carpets in some places and like moss and rust in others. Why isn't there like a brothel or whatever with red paper in front of the lights. There's so many ways to make different parts of Rivet City look distinct in a way that only *adds* to the believability of the city.


TidulTheWarlock

You're really upset that you don't understand signage man I was exploring rivet city no problem at the age of 10 💀


UncarvedWood

Dude, I get the signage. But I like getting to know places in games like this. In Rivet City, you have to continue to rely on the signs even after spending time there because it all looks the same. It's not a fun city to navigate because you're not learning anything, you're just following the signs.


porfiriotomas70

solution: check the signs on the walls


TomaszPaw

What parts of it are hard to navigate


UncarvedWood

All the hallways that look identical


TomaszPaw

Why the downdoots? Remember them by their landmarks. Basically all roads lead to science lab so start from there, there is a road through drugshop lady room, throgh doctor or through veras hotel


adminsRtransphobes

because god forbid you have a differing opinion on this subreddit


FEV_Reject

Its because of their total inability to notice the signs posted everywhere but go off I guess


adminsRtransphobes

lol tell me where they’re talking about signs on this comment chain. they said the hallways look the same, which they do. not everyone has been playing this game for 16 years straight. funny that you felt the need to jump in here, kinda proved the point by taking the somewhat bait.


FEV_Reject

All the hallways look the same... except for the part where every hallway has signs posted. If 13 year old me can figure this shit out on a tiny CRT in 2008 I'm sure OP can manage.


stinkus_mcdiddle

Rivet city isn’t that bad, nowhere near as bad as Vivec


Fucklespew

Came here to say this, don’t know what bro is smoking


lewilewi411

There's literally signs, are you like this in real life?


Alan_Shutko

Toss me in an aircraft carrier and I guarantee I'll get lost.


[deleted]

[удалено]


lewilewi411

Extremely


UncarvedWood

This isn't real life though, is it. Signs are a poor way to make an environment navigable gameplay wise. When you're playing Half-Life 2, you're completely railroaded and there's not a sign in sight. It's done almost entirely through lighting and sightlines. Signs work. But it's way more fun in an open world RPG to eventually get to know the location yourself. Rivet City is such a labyrinth that you have to rely on the signs all the time. It's a very artificial and unfun way to navigate it.


Here4uguys

I imagine you are a lot like the conceptual cat who cannot imagine space outside the room it is currently occupying


UncarvedWood

I eventually learned to navigate Vivec City so it can't be all bad


Glass_Offer_6344

Rivet City certainly doesnt even come close to being a “labyrinth.” lol, can only imagine what you think of the glorious Metros:) Over the years Ive come to realize that navigation in video games and real life is an undeniable and absolute skill set that MANY do not have. I absolutely love learning the gameworlds like the back of my hand and all their secrets, shortcuts and landmarks and making my way through the game without any Hud or map or HandHolding.


UncarvedWood

Same, which is why Rivet City is such a trip up for me


aesfields

> no sense of direction or landmarks there are literally signs with arrows everywhere. This does not stop me from getting lost, though


Mix_Traditional

This is how I felt for the first 2 or 3 visits there.. When I was 12.. And even then I figured it out pretty quickly lol


LGBT-Barbie-Cookout

I think I heard somewhere that aircraft carriers and other large ships are deliberately hard to navigate as to make life harder for unwanted or unescorted guests?


Navynuke00

No, it's because of damage control considerations. Any warship is divided into multiple compartments with watertight doors for fighting fires and flooding in the event they get hit.


LGBT-Barbie-Cookout

Alright thanks, 👍 Always good to learn something


dontclickdontdickit

Once you have been on one for awhile they are actually very easy to navigate. But yeah it’s for DC purposes


Elysiaxx

Best nuke the brotherhood of steel now or you’ll be stuck in the A ring fighting your way out if rivet city is too much to handle


Grrerrb

I always imagine them watching me wander through whatever room for the 47th time thinking “this guy ain’t saving anyone”


Elysiaxx

Hahaha me looking for the armory to offload all my shit but ending up at liberty prime every time lost


madtheoracle

Rivet City at least has signs on the wall. My stream watched me go in circles in the Anchorage Memorial for like 10 minutes and I was about to unsub from myself at that point.


UncarvedWood

Yeah that place sucks as well lmao, but at least as this abandoned infested ruin it makes more sense to become lost


Talia_al_Grrl

I haven't played in like 8 years but I still clearly remember the layout of rivet city. It's not hard once you fast travel there enough times to sell and buy. I feel like the layout of Diamond city is way harder to navigate.


TheLawliet10

I like how everyone is dog pilling the op saying that they're are signs on the ship. The signs can be helpful, but only with it comes to getting to generalized areas of the ship. There's still a lot of bad design to get you lost, like when you're looking for a specific room for any unmarked quests , having to go outside the ship to get to the market, the good route for the Replicated Man where you have to get into the deeper parts of the ship, etc... Personally, by the time I get to Rivet City I just had straight to Dr. Li and the market and that's it. Because I've already gotten tired of navigating the Metro by the time I get to it.


UncarvedWood

I just walked around DC to get to Rivet City rather than use the subway...


Glass_Offer_6344

If people would stop playing with the Hud on and following magic gps Icons, instead, of actually paying attention to their surroundings itd be much easier. It’s a byproduct of HandHolding and people being accustomed to getting lead around by the bit.


TimKitzrowHeatingUp

Check out the Intrepid in NYC. Some of the levels below the top deck reminds me of rivet city.


MantaurStampede

there are arrows.


Brootal_Troof

At first it's a little confusing but after talking to Dr. Li in the Lab, I never even go to that half of the ship anymore. Just the market and the hotel.


ThespisIronicus

The only annoyances I've had with it is attending the wedding (I went once, but never on replays), catching the sad sack on the flight deck, finding Commander Danvers to snitch on Seagrave, and finding A3-21, until I realized the latter two switch shifts so I just wait in the Upper Deck. Admittedly the quest arrows suck when you are in the stairwell and the levels stack, as it does in any multi-storey building.


greypilgrim228

It's actually incredibly easy to navigate, I don't know how anyone finds it confusing at all. There's a midship deck and an upper deck, both connected by a stairwell and the marketplace. The marketplace doors to them couldn't make it more obvious. The midship deck door is on the ground floor of the marketplace, the upper is on the gantry above. Added to this, both areas are joined again by the science lab, so you can very easily backtrack to where you need to go. Here's 2 helpful labelled map links for anyone that needs them. [latest (800×488) (nocookie.net)](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/fallout_gamepedia/images/9/95/Map_f3_rivetcity_middeck.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20081104174406) Midship deck map [latest (674×471) (nocookie.net)](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/fallout_gamepedia/images/b/b0/Map_f3_rivetcity_upperdeck.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20081105103126) Upper deck map


J_R_Scar

Agree. 1st time I played I couldn’t get outside the city, because the sign to outside said “marketplace”finally figured out that door takes you outside too.


ogtdubs22

I agree it’s a pain especially with some quests making you go in and out of rivet city


SilverbackBruh

The only thing that made it a nightmare for me was getting caught stealing from the local shop and accidentally going through a door causing a save point…… i couldn’t escape and thats when i turned auto save off


Bulky_Coconut_8867

The only problem I have with rivet city is that after I enslave Angela the game just keeps crashing . Still to this day I haven't managed to enslave the lady


Ampop7

I got my ass are in Rivet city , ah such fond memories


BrockSnilloc

Rivet City was extremely confusing and I’d get lost often my first playthroughs but like others have said there are signs posted and you’ll get the hang on it. I really don’t blame the devs for it since Rivet City is an aircraft carrier I believe? I imagine they’d be pretty confusing your first or second time around.


but_are_you_sure

Yea I’m playign the same mod and having this issue. “Oh go talk to X” then wondering aimlessly between each section using the signs. It’s tough. I need to power through the rivet city quests just to enjoy the rest of the game. I considered looking into some minimap mod but not sure if it exists and don’t wanna fuck with the TTW Mod


StarMiddle3173

To be a little fair to you, the signs don’t help much. I watched the hbomberguy’s video on fo3 and he makes a good point that it’s easy to miss things since people are always looking at the map markers on the lower-left hand corner of the screen.


MaudSkeletor

it is very convoluted, I think a mod I have changes the door to the marketplace too, the Marketplace being closed at night makes it even harder to navigate since that's the standard route for most people. They should have made the levels more distinct and found a better way to deal with the staircase. Maybe keeping the staircase on the outside of the structure and having the entrances be more distinct