Moscow's air

Aside from the fact the bombing of the world was said to have been due to a nuclear bombing, it's possible, but wouldn't that have also killed the animals and other livestock before giving them a chance to mutate?

Besides, if I remember correctly, if you wait long enough, a radiated area will slowly become less radiated, and there ARE some radiated areas in the surface (that's why there are geiger counters, eh?).

 

i have wondered this myself mate.. Hallucinogenic gasses seeping down into the metro would explain some of the strange phenomena down there, as well as a couple of scenes in the game. The Soviet Union was very much prepared for biological and chemical warfare, not just a nuclear conflict. It is thought that chemical weapons may have been used in afghanistan. But gas is an unreliable weapon, dependant on the right weather conditions to keep a dense cloud in one place. There are area affect weapons such as Anthrax, which can be used to contaminate targets:

Scientists concluded after the tests were completed that a large release of anthrax spores would thoroughly pollute German cities, rendering them uninhabitable for decades afterwards.[8] These conclusions were supported by the discovery that initial efforts to decontaminate the island after the biological warfare trials had ended failed due to the high durability of anthrax spores.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gruinard_Island

i guess we have always assumed that the attack on Moscow was a nuclear one (the winter setting of 2033 and the new game footage seems to support this), but in reality a full-scale attack would probably use a number of methods. An enemy may want to capture key tactical positions (such as D6?) intact, and the use of nuclear weapons would destroy these outright.

One of the things that seems to have really changed in the metro world is the plant life.. Maybe very little oxygen is being produced on the surface, and the air is thick with other chemicals...

Personally though, i think the use of the gas mask and no other NBC equipment is a continuation of imagery from games such as STALKER. And its a simplified way of showing a player an area is dangerous, but without going into the more complex procedures that would be necessary in real life.

 

Never actually thought about it, but yeah, this might make the most sense if not for sunbunny's other explanation on D6 and other weaponry wanting to be.

Then again, radiation isn't like a beast that hacks you down. It's a slow and painful process of breaking down your body. The only reason why Artyom dies without the gasmask is probably the toxic air/oxygen lacking air which was previously mentioned. Of course, that would also mean, Artyome doesn't necessarily, but the fact that the mutants are around and he is alone settles it. Unless he gets Raised By Invisible Watchers.

of course bombing for tactics wasn't really the point of the bombing since in the book it was specifically mentioned that the men who pressed buttons did so so they can take the others down with them, not really caring whether or not they actually hit the perpetrators who launched the first nukes.

 

Alpha particles are the same as a helium-4 nucleus (two protons and two neutrons) and travel at speeds in excess of 5% of the speed of light, but they interact with matter very heavily, and thus at their usual velocities only penetrate a few centimeters of air, or a few millimeters of low density material (such as the thin mica material which is specially placed in some Geiger counter tubes to allow alpha particles in). This means that alpha particles from ordinary alpha decay do not penetrate skin and cause no damage to tissues below. Some very high energy alpha particles compose about 10% of cosmic rays, and these are capable of penetrating the body and even thin metal plates. However, they are of danger only to astronauts, since they are deflected by the Earth's magnetic field and then stopped by its atmosphere.

Alpha radiation is dangerous when alpha-emitting radioisotopes are ingested (breathed or swallowed). This brings the radioisotope close enough to tissue for the alpha radiation to damage cells. Per unit of energy, alpha particles are at least 20 times more effective at cell-damage as gamma rays and X-rays. See relative biological effectiveness for a discussion of this. Examples of highly poisonous alpha-emitters are radium, radon, and polonium.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation

Id say this might explain it a bit. although this assumes there is little to none gamma or beta radiation in the air. if so artyom would die pretty quick without a NBC suit. But as i recall hunter tells artyoms stepfather that the air has improved since the bombings and they soon should be able to move back up.

 

Lagtagbag got it about right. There will of course be gamma radiation but maybe it has thinned out a bit.

I think Artyom should still wear a NBC suit though since in the Last Light trailer Pavel says the rain is burning him through his gloves.

 

In the book stalkers need specialized protection suits to withstand the radioactive surface environment. However I do believe that in reality 20+ years after a nuclear war the air would still be mixed with fallout.

Some regions (the craters) would be uninhabitable and trying to reach those zones would most likely make you terribly sick with radiation poisoning.

 

Another thing:

I remember that the bombing also caused the o-zone layer to degrade, therefore destroying our protection from the Ultra-violet rays. But if I also remember correctly, every surface mission is 'night time' on the surface, and therefore, the sun is not there to actively destroy (I remember that's the main reason why Artyom is able to travel with ease on the surface because it is before the break of day).

Therefore, it is easy to conclude the ONLY reason why Artyom is still alive is due to the careful planning of his trips to the surface, for example with Bourbon and Melnik, and due to plain coincedence. If the factors were different, it is likely Artyom would've been stuck in the Market with an imprisoned bourbon and have to look for another way out, or is simply dust left to collect on the surface.

All of which are possible...

And cheaptricks is correct. Stalkers do need their protective suits, but I believe that it was more for practical environmental reasons, because the stalkers, whatever they had on hand, would not have been able to create a suit which would could be mass-produced while also being able to protect themselves from the blasts of the sun that would incinerate them almost immediately and other environmental dangers like the radiated areas and the like, and so would opt to only go out at 'night', where the environmental threats are lower and the light is not all that blinding.

 

So, reviewing this thread....

Wouldn't that mean we only need a gasmask to actually survive outside the metro? I mean, sure dodging the radiated areas, the mutants and the incinerating beams of light is a no-brainer, but you guys get the point, right?

 

Artyom would 100% still need a suit to protect him from radiation... The sun would cook him alive, according to the book the sun will blind you and you will likely be dead in a few hours anyway. That's even with the radiation suit. At night background radiation would still be massive since Moscow was directly hit with Nuclear weapons and there would be plenty of fallout left over from that. The amount of ionizing radiation would be ridiculous. If Artyom only had a gas mask and spent a few hours on the surface I reckon it would be many months before he could go back up there again.

 

True, but then again, there was ever only three times artyom went to the Surface, all of which, he was fully geared up, in the the book. So it's possible that despite the fact that Artyom might not have been fit to return up to the surface, he did so anyway due to him being determined to save his homestation. It's a valid reason for a person who only has one thing in their mind in literature, I guess.

Yes, I know the sun will burn him, but at night, the radiation would be the only constant environmental threat, so that would mean that night time is the most logical time for a stalker to surface. But, it also said in the book that several groups of people (even children) went up to the surface wearing only their clothes and gasmasks without much consequence (other than getting lured in by the Kremlin). So, talking about this sort of thing 'realistically' doesn't have much of a point, seeing as people basically disproved what we were talking about in the metro universe...

 

So you don't mind entirely new species emerging in the span of a few years, but you don't like the fact that the character doesn't spend hours in the chemical shower or waiting for the clothes and equipment to be detoxed.

Or staying on the station for months, contemplating his navel, because he has got way over the annual roentgen dose.

 

Might be so, but the game is based on the book, is it not? And unlike the game, the book gives us more explanation on the basis of the world, the culture inside the metro, and an in depth look into Artyom's mind. So, not talking about the book would only cause mindless speculation that the book has already disproved. And the book explains a lot in the Metro Universe, and to simply cast it aside would be stupid. Let's face it, the game Metro 2033 is set in the book, so whatever rules apply in the book applies in the game itself. Because it is one universe. The only difference is that the game is set to a more action genre whereas the book is more philosophical.

Which brings me back to what I was saying: In the book, during the opening of the botanic gardens, neither Artyom nor his friends were wearing masks. And I seem to have been proven wrong by the book, while being proven right. During a part in the book, fellow stalkers of Artyom entered the surface with their young without much items to carry around with. What I said about the children wearing gasmasks was wrong, because at this point, the children were in the surface wearing only jackets, jeans and beanies.

Also: If you want a reference to the game, during the level 'Child', Sasha was exposed to the surface WITHOUT a gasmask, and so was artyom (unless you played otherwise).

Which is why I was trying to explain that Artyom CAN go up to the surface, though only at the nights.

And I did also mention that though Artyom MIGHT have been over-radiated by the end of the game, it is possible that he survived through sheer determination (a reason now common nowadays in literary and animated works) and luck. How he survived til Last Light however, I'm not so sure...