Fallout 76 Servers Implode After Players Simultaneously Launch 3 Nukes
Players in Fallout 76 recently discovered that if you drop a nuke at a fissure site, it creates an end-game event called Scorched Earth, which in turn spawns a gigantic monster called Scorchbeast Queen (and a bunch of other enemies). Those same players decided to follow this up by dropping three nukes at the same time, and rather than summon an even bigger and badder enemy, they seemingly bombed Bethesda's servers instead.
For a brief moment in time, three fiery mushroom clouds rose from the hills of post-apocalyptic West Virginia. It was quite the sight to behold, as captured and uploaded to YouTube by Nickaroo93. However, before any kind of ferocious beast could arise to wreak havoc on Appalachia, the game's servers crashed and the players were disconnected.
This didn't come as a total surprise. At around the 26-second mark in the video above, one of the players states in a matter-of-fact manner, "The servers are gonna crash." He didn't sound wholly confident in his statement, but clearly the possibility of bringing down Bethesda's servers was something he and the rest of the group had considered.
It's too bad it played out the way it did. The level 95 Scorchbeast Queen that had previously emerged after dropping a single nuke on a fissure site was quite the foe, and it would have been interesting to see what kind of creature could be conjured up from dropping three nukes. Would it be three times as big and powerful? And would it be the same beast, or something entirely different?
Those questions will have to wait for another day, assuming Bethesda's servers can handle such an event.
While nukes are a major part of Fallout 76, there are some aspects that Bethesda clearly did not plan for, this being one of them. In addition, there is a software utility making the rounds that allows players to unlock nuke codes by inputting only partial codes. It's still not an easy process, but it is certainly easier and less time consuming than it otherwise would be.
How will Bethesda respond to all of this, in terms of updating the gameplay in Fallout 76? We'll have to wait and see.
