So, what exactly is a stimpak?

[@zacharyheine4177]

I assume Stimpacks' major function is to give your metabolism a short term super boost, making your body convert proteins and carbohydrates into damaged tissue very quickly This explains the thirst penalty and "stimsickness" debuffs in some of the games since your body needs a lot of water to process protein

[@Vulpes2024]

Not just that but probably some sort of painkiller like Tylenol, Advil, or maybe Hydrocodone

[@Rudevald]

@@Vulpes2024 I actualy subscribe to this theory. Boosted metabolism would require increase in caloric intake.

[@V-T-W]

Maybe the effects of the fauna is accelerated by epinephrine

[@ves5932]

@@Rudevald no it wouldn’t stimpacks were made by guptas in 2017

[@Rudevald]

@@ves5932 Wat?

[@plantainsame2049]

This makes me think that Xander root and bronc flower are genetically modified flowers that went out of control post war due to another people maintaining them and the fact that anyone who knew what they could do probably planted them everywhere so that they could help people

[@wastelesslearning1245]

Or analogies/mutation for real life healing plants like Comfrey or “Boneknit”

[@plantainsame2049]

@@wastelesslearning1245 maybe they're genetically modified out of them but I do think they were made by someone like the Think Tank are the pre-war Institute and they got out like the cazadors or they came from a vault and got out like the spore creatures

[@wastelesslearning1245]

@@plantainsame2049 yeah I can totally see the military commissioning them (maybe like the nernroot in fallout 4, it’s deeds survived a crash or like that plant vault grew out of the lab to spread in the wild). Perhaps it even got FEVed. But a natural explanation like mutated comfrey works just as well for me. Heck even stem cells as a ingredient for make shift stim packs I’m good with. The only thing I don’t like is the nano bot explanation as there isn’t much nano bots besides like that one holographic enemy in new Vegas in all of fallout lore so I find it far fetched nano bots were mass produced to the plentiful-ness of stimpacts but that’s just me.

[@icedirt9658]

Johnny appleseed

[@zigfaust]

Yeah they def are pre-war plants. GMOS that wer in captivity and bred to be hardy and grow well got lose post war and mutated a bit.

[@luciancervantez6534]

Stimpaks might still have some stimulant-like effects. I remember on one of the loading cards for fallout 4 that it mentioned that psycho was a military modified version of a stimpak. The military could have just added the stimulant but if they just did that then why start from a stimpak?

[@Bobby-rq5pe]

I've always thought they were stimulants because stim

[@joaoVictor-jt7uq]

Maybe the stimpack was used for non combat health treatment while psycho could have been used for field medicine, Stimpack could also have been used by civillian doctors for more common treatments so making it chockfull of stimulants could cause some pretty nasty side effects so maybe thats why stimpack as is doesnt have any stimulants edit 1 : to sort of support this idea, maybe thats why the stimpack is one of the few chems we can see can't get you addicted unlike psycho, or otherwise we would see addicts in the fallout series use a lot more often i think

[@luciancervantez6534]

@@joaoVictor-jt7uq It was also stated that psycho was used to boost combat effectiveness. but yeah regular stims would have been used by common doctors.

[@davidfrancisco3502]

@@luciancervantez6534 Also it may be stated psycho wasn't available for the civilian market in pre-war age. There's a terminal in one of the homes on Sanctuary Hills in Fallout 4 that was owned by a drug dealer when he was dealing with a war veteran who wanted to buy psycho however the dealer didn't knew what psycho was and he had to ask to a contact in the US army.

[@luciancervantez6534]

this is one of my most liked comments. so thanks!

[@Kingsly9802]

Honestly, the plants having human compatible stem cells is a lot less crazy than it sounds. IRL we're already working on denaturing and seeding both cells and organ structures. Plus the Mohave has a burst open Vault 22 before the story in New Vegas even kicks off, so we know there are already plant/human hybrids in lore.

[@N_orte]

Didn’t know this. Very interesting, indeed!

[@DogmanOffical]

Aren’t the spore carriers just dead body’s reanimated by a fungus? Like Cordyceps?

[@nathanlevesque7812]

@@DogmanOffical Cordyceps doesn't reanimate dead bodies. They control living hosts, then kill them when it is time to sporulate. But yeah, I think there are Vault 22 notes about patients dying then starting to move again.

[@mikoto7693]

Yeah 9802 is absolutely right. It’s already a bit scary what we can actually achieve in real life with genetics using CRISPR. Many years ago by now, it was routine in my genetics laboratory sessions in university to get a harmless strain of ecoli and basically alter the genetics of following generations to include the jellyfish gene responsible for making certain kinds of jellyfish glow in the dark. It took a few weeks of once weekly lab sessions but most of us got our glow in the dark ecoli. But that was a simple and outdated technique over twenty years ago when I did it and I know that science has moved on a lot since then. I think I read awhile back that they grew a genetically modified pig that either lacked the factors that would make its organs such as the heart be rejected in a human, or those factors were changed to human compatible. Either way a pig heart compatible with the human immune system. That being said I don’t think the volunteer recipient lived very long but it was more than what he’d have otherwise had. Either way it makes the Fallout idea of GM healing plants not too far fetched especially if they got spread from the lab of origin by the Great War.

[@smeeytokenbguy001]

Adults have a form of (i believe lesser in terms of usefulness)stem cells called somatic stem cells as well the maker could be the source .

[@rements4737]

They're something that make you thirsty in survival.

[@saxon7904]

Just like real stims

[@Sleeper-Work]

Thirsty AND sick. It's a two for one. Lol

[@malcolmholmes115]

Don’t drink the water, they put something to make you forget!

[@operationd--msday]

@@malcolmholmes115 I don't even remember how I got here....

[@operationd--msday]

@@malcolmholmes115 ...They're always departing but they never arrive... and the ones that do arrive... they never leave... you never see them go they're always full... no one ever gets on but they're always... they're always departing but they never arrive...

[@camelthegamer7165]

I've heard that surgeons often leave the bullet inside of patients as removing them is more dangerous due to the proximity to nerves or arteries.

[@kudrzyk]

That and might be the case of, when it would be lodged into leg muscle or something , digging it out would carry risk of inflicting damage, and since were thinking america, its expensive.

[@SirEdubardo]

yes, officer uncle has a bullet in his leg, its been there for like 10 years, turns out the bullet is nearby an important artery

[@SirEdubardo]

@@kudrzyk sometimes its not even the price, its just better the bullet stay there, here in brazil healthcare is free

[@amanawolf9166]

Eeyup. You'd have to look, but I believe there was even a case of someone that had a bullet lodged near their spine. It was too risky to remove it because doing so might cause the person to become a para/quad.

[@Sleeper-Work]

@@SirEdubardo health care is free here two if you just stop caring about your debt

[@jonskillings1258]

I'd say there is some process that is common knowledge in the fallout universe that is different from ours that give things this healing property. With the chem station or a fire needed to craft them in the games, it probably involves heat. That's why many things can have a healing effect, such as the daturana from NV, and why we can create stimpacks from different items in different games.

[@catfishvodka6668]

I've always thought they were spent kind of stem cell based medicine, hence why it can fix bullet and stab wounds. I reckon literally rebuilds missing cells for the user.

[@jimbothegymbro7086]

IRL if you healed that fast your cells would literally boil themselves because healing makes heat, you ever notice that one skinny guy you know heals real quick? it's his fast metabolism

[@shorewall]

@real pedroppp I mean, we can already turn skin cells back into stem cells, and your joints produce some stem cells. Embryonic Stem Cells are just more popular because they can be used to justify abortions.

[@____________838]

I figure that traditional Stimpaks are nano-tech, but in any game where you can make new ones, they’re closer to an herbal concoction that somehow copies the effects through the nature of the world, with all the new mutations found in the flora and fauna.

[@SOG312]

Maybe that’s why there are two different recipes. One has blood and metal and the other has plants.

[@montgomeryfortenberry]

Nanomachines!

[@brandonhughes4571]

Interesting idea in my opinion, i like the idea that the stimpaks utilise/utilised biodegradable nanotechnology alot personally. It could explain how the stimpak could repair multiple wounds such as gunshots and broken bones really quickly.

[@stuckinthepaststudios730]

The Fnv crafting recipe is actually expainable as one of the followers of the apocalypse talks about the shortage of stimpacks and how they're trying to find a way to create stimpacks with plants.

[@kudrzyk]

Or the other way around, since 4 and 76 specifically include antiseptic, it just might purge injected area of all the things that would slow healing down. And whomever lives in the wastes, their bodies are naturaly better at healing (natural selection) And as for pre-war, its said to be used in hospitals, where ppl would be in sterile environment , again with would promote healing.

[@mares164]

The problem with this theory is that in 4 the character is a pre war guy so no natural selection and in 76 it happens very close to the bombs and the character comes from a vault so sterile and not very good at stimulating natural healing processes, same for 3 where the character comes from a vault and 1 too if I remember correctly

[@kudrzyk]

@@mares164 valid, still protagonist would not be one for long, id they werent better at default , ye ?

[@JimUK]

In his mod Josh Sawyer replaced a lot of FNV's stimpaks with a homemade variant that was less effective, maybe a sign that he thought they weren't the same as pre-war ones?

[@asonofliberty3662]

Or you were making them at a workbench and not a factory so they are lower quality

[@Aderalls]

I have this old screenshot where people were wondering what the hell Radaway was. One of the conclusions was that since it comes in an IV bag, you could "slurp it down like a Capri-Sun."

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

I'd wager that radaway is probably a mixture of potassium iodide, activated carbon as well as a diuretic to flush whatever you can flush out of the blood stream as quickly as possible.

[@Mady0]

Clearly everyone walks around with an IV in at all times

[@alientitimilk9073]

It might be a steroid-adrenaline penicillin cocktail with some other medicines to help fight infection and the steroid-adrenaline combo pushing your body into overdrive to increase production of antibodies which would help with scraps, bruises and other injuries

[@jimbothegymbro7086]

maybe with an added stimulant like cocaine (it's fallout pre war companies don't care about morals) to boost the metabolism as well as the steroids

[@ClitoridectomyGroyper]

I'd say it's a combination of an amphetamine, human growth hormone, stem cell, and antiseptic

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

My personal guess is that the healing is probably not as fast as it seems. I'd wager it probably is something along the lines of steroids, amino acids and methamphetamine. You'd heal faster than normal, but thanks to the methamphetamine, you'd probably feel like you were healed well before you actually were.

[@GrubbusHubbus]

The way I look at Stimpaks, is that they're definitely packages of Stimulants and Stem Cells. Stimpaks on their own are to be in boxes of them (like in DOOM, where the 10% Health Pick-up is called a Stimpack (which I think means Stimulant Package)), and the healing is the Stem Cells. The Stimulant is there to numb the pain.

[@rockycuro7737]

I always imagined it was a regenerative serum that instantly heals any wounds, the serum probably takes some water out of your body and turns that into muscle and skin tissue

[@cesare_1302]

Shoddycast made a great video about that

[@bloatlord2196]

Raider shooting a hail of bullets at the player: WHY WONT YOU DIE! the player spamming 30 stim packs in 10 seconds: NANOMACHINES SON!

[@DrakeKnight99]

and then proceeds to knock his block off with a fully upgrade Saturinite power fist that's super heated

[@mkepioneet]

Sorry if someone pointed this out already but 3:51 you can make a stimpak in Fallout 2 if you have Myron as a companion and you give him broc flower, xander root, and a syringe

[@kkolbert1]

The idea of stimulating the body's natural healing response using an injection isn't that too far off from one medication used currently: Epoetin Alfa. The drug causes the bone marrow to create more red blood cells. While it certainly isn't an instant effect, it could be the basis for research in the world of Fallout for such stimulation and if mixed in combination with other drugs to improve clotting or tissue growth (certainly stem cells would help) its pretty possible, in theory.

[@wastelesslearning1245]

I would guess a Stimpack is some combination of wound cleaner (fallout 4 antiseptic) concentrated Stem cells and blood transfusion (fallout 4 blood back), healing stimulant like real life Comfrey Plant/ “Boneknit”extract (New Vegas healing plants), and maybe some sort of stimulant chemical to “”refresh some stamina”” (new Vegas turbo plant). The iron can be for syringe or to add bio-available iron and perhaps some other mineral into the syringe to supply the body with enough raw nutrients for healing (76’s steal).

[@BoloH.]

Stimpak is just a brand name for some pre-war healing product, but because it is short and snappy, its being used as a synonym for all healing items that come in a syringe. The contents may vary.

[@borskibot7771]

I've wondered this for a bit and even though there wasn't a definite answer I really liked the theories here!

[@theleviathanslounge5136]

Kinda thought it'd be some stem cells altered in some way, maybe even mutated given fallouts history. And as for the broc flower xander root stimpaks, might be the whole jet fuel, jet argument where it's not actually the same stuff always being called stimpaks.

[@cadenhood]

What's interesting is that stimpaks are in other games too. I always imagined they were stem cells or something like that, because of their general purpose healing abilities.

[@mcpossum]

Austin from Shoddycast it's screaming that someone else is looking into stimpaks* *Screaming in a good way

[@mcpossum]

@@astolfofansunny4047 I can never get, "HEY! IT'S ME! AUSTIN!", outta my head

[@mcpossum]

@@astolfofansunny4047 I love that he owns Shoddycast now. Sad we aren't getting any ST on there. But I've seen him on TK Mantis

[@thejunktownsheriffkilliand4800]

@@mcpossum Ah yes, gotta love him from driving that channel to the ground.

[@L_H_Bruh]

You forgot to mention that Curie, when she becomes human and continues her medical research, gives the sole survivor stimpacks, she even has dialog that implies that stimpacks could be made in different ways. She personally makes them using mutfruit, meaning that mutated plants, fruits or vegetables have some unique components that help regenerate stem cells, just like Brock flowers and Xander root. However this doesn't explain f4s way of crafting a stimpack... could just be some gameplay balancing thing or an oversight from Bethesda

[@swampcooler8332]

My theory is that stimpacks are reverse engineered from zetan biogel recovered by the us military sometime before the great war along with microfusion and plasma technology. We know the pre war government had recovered at least a bit of zetan tech, and it's likely the stimpack was just a human compatible biogel. One way to explain the crafting recipes is that what xander root contains the bio part of the biogel, genetically engineered to host some sort of alien or engineered microbe, that can be distilled into a stimpack, and the blood bag already contains trace amounts of this microbe, and the rest of the fallout 4 recipe is just so the trace microbes can replicate enough to be viable in a stimpack. Due to all populations in the wasteland having either used a stimpack or coming from a place that uses them, most humans by now could have trace amounts of this microbe in their blood stream. It could also explain why blood type doesn't seem to matter when using one, because your not using the blood bag for blood, but for what's in the blood.

[@mikoto7693]

I kinda like that theory. I might be remembering wrong but I think plasma weapons came from reverse engineering Zetan technology. Which reminds me, I haven’t played the Fallout games since I discovered aviation is awesome. I should replay them with this new interest in mind. Already Skylanes 1981 up near Sanctuary looks very different to me now. And I simply must start exploring the overpasses with a power armour jet pack and….. look again at the BoS with their vertibirds.

[@netro.]

Wasn’t just fallout new Vegas 4 and 76 where you could make stimpaks. in fo2 you could give Myron Broc flower, Xander root and an empty hypothermic and he’d make you a stimpak. Doesn’t add a whole lot to the discussion, but that could add a little weight to the second theory.

[@wastelesslearning1245]

Look up Boneknit, or Comfrey. It is a real life plant used in healing salves that accelerated tissue repair in fact so much that it can make wounds close too fast (leaving air pockets if not used properly).

[@iwannaseehowlongyoucanmakethis]

So it causes air embolism? That can kill you. Better read the instructions then.

[@wastelesslearning1245]

@@iwannaseehowlongyoucanmakethis If misapplied it can form a air pocket under your newly grown over skin, so um don’t be a moron and know what your doing and the inherent risks of every action you do. This is my Symantecs: but Air embolism is when a air bubble is in the blood stream NOT quite the same thing. Though it is technically possible for air pocket in the tissue to lead air embolism (a pocket in the blood vessel) the more likely cause of a air pocket in the blood is any misapplied injection (ie any syringe with baubles in it). What your thinking of is more caused from injecting baubles into the blood with any syringe with baubles in it. It’s good not to confuse terms but admittedly for most people it will be useless knowledge. Like many other real life things, most medical techniques can be especially dangerous if mishandled. For much of human history (ancient Roman times and back) comfrey was the only tissue repair accelerator you could get your hands on (before stem cells and especially before nano bots) so likely in the nuclear apocalypse, there will be destitute places where that’s all the people can use once again like the New Vegas dessert. Hell in the back when times the syringe itself and surgery is risk for infections. Which can kill you. 🤷‍♂️ People may have forgotten the inherent risks of anything with antibiotics being everywhere but there was a time not too long ago where playing outside and pricking your finger on a rose thorn was enough to kill you from infection. You can find real life instances of this.

[@SPFLDAngler]

Maybe not that fast, but it does help. It is also incredibly carcinogenic and can cause liver disease, lung damage, and are also hepatotoxic and mutagenic. So…

[@SPFLDAngler]

It’s also not available in the U.S and the UK for purchase.

[@wastelesslearning1245]

@@SPFLDAngler I don’t expect miracles. Accelerating healing is all weather it’s slower doesn’t matter to me just that it’s real. Ngl if your scared of those side effects (which didn’t stop the Romans form using it) you really don’t want to look at our pharmaceutical side effects especially those for heart heart medication. Dose makes the poison and it utility passed the test of time. All I’m sayin in the nuclear the apocalypse I wouldn’t be surprised of people used it. Lung damage is if you eat it smoke it (not wound dressing). The sun, meat, and everything in California is a mutagen but yes if you take to much too quickly, liver damage but so can every pharma pill and alcohol. In the apocalypse I imagine if your caught healing your dead so anything that narrows the healing time between when your down and when your fit to defend yourself again is a irl god send and no doubt will be used if a apocalypse occurs. Comfrey grows like weeds and you can easily get it.

[@thibaultquillery4513]

Xander root and broc flower is a super old recipe dating back to as far as fallout 2, I'm pretty sure the crafting recipe in NV was just meant to reference that Still, if I had to formulate a lore friendly explanation, I'd say that considering both are fantasy plants, they were probably bioengineered by pre-war america pharmaceutical industry in order to produce stimpacks, and just kept on growing everywhere after the war

[@wastelesslearning1245]

Comfrey aka “Boneknit” is a real world plant that accelerated healing. In fact it accelerates tissue repair almost too fast, as if used incorrectly, the wound will heal closed too fast leaving a air pocket underneath.

[@thibaultquillery4513]

@@wastelesslearning1245 Damn

[@wastelesslearning1245]

@@thibaultquillery4513 nature is crazy 😜

[@christopherthegreat3896]

The chemical properties of a certain part of the broc flower and xander root could form the same type of chemical use in prewar stimpaks.

[@mikoto7693]

To be fair that’s pretty much what I think. In the centuries before society became scientifically and technologically advanced, humanity had discovered the healing properties of xander root and broc flower and used them in healing medicine. Eventually making concentrated extracts before eventually learning the chemical nature and formula to make it artificially for stimpaks. Post war on the west coast the original herbal origin base was rediscovered and it that variant used in FONV.

[@JURASSICLEGO777]

It is the fuel in auto docs and is like a adrenaline shot. But the true question is where are those healing machines in operation anchorage.

[@MasterRandy199]

You make super good videos. As someone who got a Xbox 360 around 2009-2010 and didn’t get fallout 3 for awhile after. I got it used and sold it and actually thought about the game cause I didn’t understand stand it so I got rid of it but now 10+ years later these videos are very interesting so someone in their mid twenties

[@tyler1250]

I was seriously thinking about this the past couple days. Then I thought, well it can’t be a pain reliever like an opioid, because fallout already has those. You cannot get addicted to stimpaks also. I look forward to your hypothesis.

[@masterzoroark6664]

So, thing we know but somewhat were ignored in later games: 1. Stimpack in lore was used to heal minor injuries and was also used in post-surgery recovery 2. Stimpacks are adictive- at least in both Fallout and Fallout 2 you can develop Stimpack adiction and in Fallout 4 the drug leaflet you find in confirmed drug den talks about a delivery of Stimpacks to an adict in the suburbs where player character used to live 3. In game Stimpacks can be used both as overall minor heal or specificly per injury- it's mostly in Fallouts 3, NV and 4. This goes along side the first point, but seems like you can "aim" at injury with it (sry for abriviations)

[@shorewall]

I think the delivery of stimpacks for number 2 was implied to be for some kind of BDSM, to heal kinky injuries.

[@masterzoroark6664]

@@shorewall Hmm... I don't remember the full leaflet, but maybe

[@fred5406]

I always kind if imagined that a stimpak was like a shot of adrenaline to carry you through the rest of a fight.

[@somm150]

I feel like that’s what Med-X does

[@Jet_IsntBorne]

1:46 he walked by two fans without picking them up instantly, regardless of weight or amount of resources, not a real fallout player

[@arguekayes]

Honestly i think it’s a mixture between a painkiller(probably Med-x), some type of stimulant like Adrenaline and forsure Antibiotics. Maybe there’s something else that speeds up healing time too but who knows

[@N_orte]

Yeah, just a bit mixture of everything. Ignore pain, stop infection, and keep the blood pumping. Sounds solid

[@eandf81]

I really appreciate the way you talk and construct your videos

[@christopherarnold352]

The stimpack is an injection that “activates” the already present nanobots. The nanotechnology needs to be dormant for the majority of the time or else they would multiply and “overwork” inside of your body. To restrict functionality they introduced a trigger mechanism that would allow the bots to operate for a set time. The rapid boost to healing then the set amount over time could be explained by this. The stimpack should be injected close to the injury which would activate the nearest nanobots to rapidly repair the most damaged area. Then as the injection runs it’s course throughout your system it activates other nanobots.

[@iBullyDemons]

How the hell can a universe that doesn't even have processor chips make nano tech?

[@christopherarnold352]

@@iBullyDemons they have robotics and AI…

[@ForTheFREEMAN]

I'm thirsty for that good old content

[@fariszakimy]

I feel like I remember seeing a video talking about this but i can't remember, i only know something about it being super pressurised and blowing your entire arm off

[@Jaysin412]

Austin from the now defunct Shoddycast channel did that video. I just posted about it above. Lol. And yeah. It would probably do more damage than it would heal

[@Notenum_]

Someone else did that and deduced that maybe the pressure isn’t calculated in psi, and was some other measurement I can’t remember the name of.

[@evanchismark3092]

@@Notenum_ pascals?

[@Notenum_]

@@evanchismark3092 I think, all I remember was that the number was more realistic. But was still high since the stimpak sends the fluid into your body super quick to rapidly heal.

[@WarriorPNG]

my idea for the xander root and broc flower stem cell thing is when mixed together somehow it creates some bootleg cell that somehow works

[@stoneylonesome4062]

Jet is supposed to be Amphetamine. I figured that Psycho would be a mix of things, namely something like PCP.

[@Mr-qt4xr]

It requires fertiliser to make in fo4 and it's an inhaler so I always thought it was jenkem lol

[@hl_scientist1964]

Stimpacks are mostlikely a mix of vitamins, Sugars and/or pure ATP, some sort of cellular signaling chemicals, and painkillers. Due to fallout having a time scale diffrence, its safe to say the stims take way longer to take affect the body.

[@comingstorm275]

It could be that the properties of xander root / broc flower convert blood to raw, compatible materials that allow faster healing and the 'anticeptic' used is just a stand in for a fine form of those chemicals. Remember that all pencils count as 1 lead and 1 wood so their... resource conversion isnt exactly physics accurate either

[@jacktheflying]

love the idea that our player character is just running around, rattling full of bullets that she just never got taken out

[@lordtachanka903]

I agree with you mostly except for when you said “the bullet would have to be removed first” sometimes irl (and also presumably in fallout) surgeons choose to leave the bullet inside someone forever because it would cause more damage removing it. Great video though I love deep dives into fallout lore.

[@jamestherockwilson3931]

I remember in the Institute, someone tells you that the surface dwellers' DNA kinda mutated and were unfit for their research. What if, that is why the New Vegas recipe works? Because they (the plants' DNA and the humans' DNA) evolved or devolved into a similar gene? In the movie Annihilation, everything in the dome/bubble starts to exchange their DNA and makes some things seem akin to what Fallout's radiation does. Just throwing that movie out there because it has interesting concepts that I'd like to see more of, it has cosmic horror and Oscar Isaac!

[@russelldupont2801]

I think stimpaks are closer to nano tech that work in conjunction with the pipboy and vault suits. If someone without a pipboy or vault suit takes an injection it is a general healer. With a pipboy and vault suit the pipboy tells the nanites where to go and what injury needs repaired.

[@parcirecords]

that would be a cool idea for the next fallout.. but i don't remember getting any boosts when wearing the vault suit while using a stimpack..

[@MARVSplace]

I have always wondered about this. Thank you for the insight!

[@Nitron.Picarla]

i am unreasonably proud of being able to instantly recognize the mostly covered divinity original sin 2 potion in the thumbnail

[@differentbutsimilar7893]

Dude I'm loving this music selection. At certain moments it reminds me a little of the stock music version of Boards of Canada's "Tomorrow's Harvest," an album which also has a lot of elements of that older dark ambient stuff with simpler pads in independent layers - it has that decayed, apocalyptic vibe that classic dark analog custom synths offer. That album always makes me want to play Fallout. Crazy how that converges in a video about Fallout 4. It is for me, anyway. If yall like chill but heavy apocalyptic vibes, I'd highly recommend that album regardless. Sometimes I put it on while I play lol

[@Max-rn3eb]

geogaddi reminds me of being in a bath tub in the dark on quite a lot of cough syrup

[@differentbutsimilar7893]

@@Max-rn3eb LMAO I remember reading where people had gathered all of the reviews from listeners who were disturbed by this great evil they sensed in Geogaddi, which I found just made me love it more. I couldn't believe anyone got that freaked out by it. It's just weird. I love Geogaddi - I think it's more strange in an Alice-In-Wonderland sort of way. I think your analogy is spot on. Let's discuss this notion of Geogaddi, cough syrup, and bathtubs in dark rooms though. I think that might be part of how Geogaddi was made. The thing is, I think with the album already being there to hear, you probably don't *need* the OTC dissociative drugs and the whole celestial bath setup... but I think it probably helps to combine the 3. I think I can recommend that. Transcribe the lexicon in the numbers.

[@Mr-qt4xr]

I think stimpaks whatever they are made from would mainly stop bleeding kind of like tourniqets but maybe works for the whole body or at least in the generalised area you inject with the syringe . That is how someone is most likely to die from a serious injury, blood loss. Anything that can staunch bleeding is probably going to save your life over anything else like adrenaline, regeneration etc.

[@Standalor]

Considering just how dark and twisted the pre war fallout world was, I don't think I'd want to know what's truly in a stimpak...

[@wyattkefauver2055]

I might be wrong but are hit points a construct of the video game I always thought that was just how the pipboy could scan your body and tell how healthy you are

[@shorewall]

That's still a construct of the video game.

[@INITIALGTMR2]

This is the question I never knew I needed an answer to. Thank you!

[@zachjones8085]

I've always thought they were stem cells and/or a compound that caused the body to create its own stem cells. I think there are a few things that all together explain the post war crafted ones. There are compounds found in stimpacks that also help produce stem cells and these compounds can be found in many medical products and basic versions/ parts of the compounds in plants in nature. So the post war ones are partly using what can be found to replicate the effects of post war stimpacks, Partly finding whatever can be found to make healing concoctions, and partly using knowledge of how a stimpack works to find those components naturally.

[@cevdetzurtoglu]

Fallout have laser weapons, plasma, teleportation and many other advance tech that we don't have even today. So yea it could be something very advanced that we don't even know.

[@der_Alptraum]

Nice video. Thanks for explaining it as much as you could. What about RadAways? What could possibly get radiation out of your system?

[@DaddyMouse]

Fallout stimpacks are still not as whack as stimpacks in rust where you literally inject animal fat into your blodstream

[@asimpleman5660]

I like these longer videos

[@josedorsaith5261]

I always assumed they contained a sci-fi collection of fibrin, platelets and stem cells

[@neilclerk2579]

I like the idea that the protagonist of each Fallout game is running around with a shit ton of bullets in them until they get to a doctor to patch them up

[@ChrissieBear]

Fallout isn't "50s locked", Fallout 1 had the Desert Eagle and Fallout 2 had MANY guns from the 80s and 90s, posters for more modern movies, and terminals running video games.

[@michaelarkell5437]

Exactly, it's an alternate universe in the 2050s+ and not 1950s, and most technology is styled in the way of old retro technology but with modern and futuristic/ science fiction combined.

[@GldnClaw]

Stimpack: Stem Cells + Protein Matrix for supply + Accelerant. Causes the user to physically heat up and require more water. Super Stimpacks have it draw water from the muscles for better healing, but results in the "debuff". A Xander root provides the Protein Matrix and the Brock Flower has the similar stem-cell structure to humanity's, hence the compatibility. Since it is usually mixed by campfire and turned into a snortable powder form, it passes the blood-brain barrier but negatively affects one's Perception.

[@stevenclark2188]

I was thinking maybe it could be a chem that tweaked gene expression to re-enable pre-historic genes for regeneration temporarily.

[@speakertomeat]

Centella asiatica (gotu Kola) helps speed up/trigger cicatrization. The two plants in fallout new Vegas could have this effect on overdrive (from mutations). Or they could help trigger regeneration, an alternative system to cicatrization which several animals utilize and which we could in theory be modified to use (that's been some research into this). In either case these processes would both require resources to repair so you'd be ravenous pretty quickly at these operational speeds

[@ColiasPalaeno]

I'd like to add that somehow, food in the fallout universe is incredibly effective at healing almost any type of wound, so i'd propose a new theory: Stimpaks are just soup. This sorta handwaves and explains the New Vegas recipe as specially in that game, food items that you can craft can be extremelly powerful healing items as any survival player can tell you, the food of the wasteland is somehow incredibly healing, this means that a stimpak is basically broc flower and xander root soup injected into your blood stream, while healing powder is basically just the two ingredients after being crushed into a powder and inhaled, which provides a similar effect but also causes some side effects as seen in gam, and also let's not forget that the health points we see in-game are provided by the Pip-Boy, so perhaps HP is just a digested measure of your vital signs. However this does not explain the Fallout 4 stimpak at all, to which i am inclined to offer a separate theory, mainly because the two games are so distinct in gameplay and such, the fallout 4 stimpak is blood soup and your character is a vampire... i kid, the stimpak is basically just a self administering blood bag, and let's not forget that each in-game minute takes about 2 seconds irl, so the blood bag would be admnistered in 3 minutes which is still rather fast, the anti sceptic is basically just there to sterilize the reclaimed steel so it can be used as a syringe, now that makes a lot less sense considering that food still heals quite a bit in fallout 4, but not nearly to the extent as it does in New Vegas, so i am inclined to believe that the more medicine-y blood bag is actually an ok idea, also i am pretty sure that when you heal using a blood bag alone you're just drinking it straight.... like a vampire... There's also that whole theory where the Sole Survivor is actually a Synth with the memories and personality of Nate/Nora but that sounds less cool than the SS being a vampire.

[@deedle6073]

In Starcraft lore, the Stimpack is basically adrenaline and endorphines and some other painkillers.

[@Cozy-000]

I do like the Stem Cell theory, probably its not just stem cells but Chems that accelerate the Stem cells regeneration. It would have to be a short and fast reaction because if it's active for too long, a build up of excess cells would form and you'd have a new problem

[@wearle87]

With the more modern games using blood packs in their recipes I always thought of it like Blood Doping. Basically, injecting super oxygenated blood (possibly artificial blood) into your system which would boost cell regeneration/healing/recovery like in the real world, just obviously not instant near death recovery like in the games. The blood packs could also include an abundance of white blood cells which again would help in healing and whatnot and is used in real world medicine.

[@yusifyusif1629]

it's nice to see this after a long road trip

[@haydenTenno-]

I think they’re a mixture of globally compatible blood and chemicals not only that temporarily makes the body less prone to violent rejection, but also increases the rate that your skin heals somehow

[@awolgamming7793]

quick tip for you those gun traps can be disarmed without picking up the gun by clicking on the silver piece of metal that sticks out from there side it has a small hit box to click on but is nice when you don't wana drop stuff

[@thaipankatima658]

I love that in FO 2 the first healing item you get is the healing powder and stimpack became quite rare. It became a valuable commodity and used onlu for extreme injuries. If they make another fallout, they should makr it scarce or at least harder to make. I find it weird that the world would have a magical cureall.

[@alternateenergy9685]

I always figured they were made with stem cells and the crafting recipes in 4/76 created stimpack LIKE medicine. Obviously you're not getting stem cells from xander/broc or anti-septic/blood packs, and it's a bit unreasonable to think that either of those combos could make a super bone mending wound closing juice, but hey, radiation is wacky stuff I guess.

[@wastelesslearning1245]

Funny you mention bone mending becuase there is a real life plant used for that and folk healing salves called “boneknit” aka Comfrey Plant. It accelerates healing and if improperly used can close the wound before the body is ready leaving a air pocket underneath. Still it’s not instant healing but it’s is faster.

[@tomsketches445]

Shoddycast go into "THE SCIENCE" of stimpacks and explains that they would be entirely impossible and would actually kill the user as opposed to heal them

[@awfulmuffin]

cool atmosphere w the music in the vid !!

[@berzerkbankie1342]

The blood pack makes sense in fallout 4 kind of if you remember that the vampires from Masarati in FO 3 can give you a perk that allows blood packs to heal you for 50 hp instead of 1. I think it's 50.

[@peterprime2140]

20 I think.

[@Jaysin412]

Austin, from Shoddycast did a video on what a stimpack is and does a few years ago before the channel went defunct

[@Aware_Bear]

I always figured it was a combination of antibiotics, adrenaline, and a stem-cell solution.

[@jimbothegymbro7086]

there'd need to be some sci fi drug in there to either make your cells more heat resistant or cool them down at a controlled rate though because if you healed that fast you'd sizzle like a titan in attack on titan

[@Aware_Bear]

@@jimbothegymbro7086 must be unobtainium. Lol

[@dr.ludwig8189]

Game Theory's video on Call of Duty healing also provides some possible sci-fi explanations for the typical fast healing mechanics in video games

[@NaqrSeranvis]

I may have another explanation for the second theory - nanobots already are in most individuals, but they are dormant. Plants are mutated and are specifically good at extracting two specific rare isotopes from soil. And those isotopes are used as fusion fuel for the nanobots. So they can repair many injuries, but they need power and that's what stimpak is - sanitized, refined extract from the plants, which contains both isotopes in useful quantities.

[@drinkinbuddy8264]

Now that vault 111 theory is something. All could be a combine vid of creepiness for Halloween lol

[@GymBossAniki]

Likely is just metabolism accelerating and assisting chemical agents or something akin to horse shoe crab blood where colagulation is honed so well that both open wounds and bacteria are sealed off and isolated respectively to help healing and reduce blood loss. With FNV: im leaning on a combination of both as Fallout 2 describes healing powder as both replenishing the body and clouding the mind (likely being used as a wound sealer and cleaner akin to Honey irl with overwhelming and undiluted pain surpressant when not put into a liquid solution like a stim pack). Ultimately when it comes to healing in a video game: in the moment wound sealing/cleaning and pain relief is what acts as the factors that help stave off mortal or untreated wounds/exhaustive pain shock that results in a game over. How much damage someone can take however is usually beyond explanation.

[@Conndalf]

im fairly sure we have created a injectable medicine of some kind that promotes regrowth of nerves and other stuff, its still not commercially available though because they have only used it in a laboratory setting. it is going to be used to help people that have had a broken spine from a car crash/other traumatic experience have a chance to walk again, when they surgically severed 2 rats spines (1 control 1 test) the one that was injected in the severed area regained almost 80% dexterity and was able to walk and run again but the one that wasnt injected was paralyzed.

[@andrewbunner3591]

My guess would be that Stimpaks have some sort of chemical, perhaps being lipid based, that trigger RNA within the body's cells to active more and help produce more proteins, along within expediting the amount of time between mitosis stages for said cells to help the body heal faster.

[@shawncarnes9471]

The thing most video essays don’t consider is the looking at Stimpack healing in relation to the two other primary avenues of healing; food and sleep. When you consider an hour of sleep or eating a good meal heals as much as a Stimmy, then you can start to better assess the Stimpack’s contents and function from a clearer perspective. An hours sleep or eating a steak isn’t going to heal a gunshot wound [ IRW ]. What they might do is help you get past the initial shock and pain of being shot. When you get shot [ IRW ], if it doesn’t outright kill you, you fall to ground in agony or at best limp away slowly fading due to blood loss, but tomorrow you might manage to get up and face the new day on your feet ( assuming you get some medical attention ). This equates in-game to sleeping in a bed, eating a bit, or just drinking some water. Therefore, it can be surmised that a Stimpack isn’t instantly healing wounds, but is just helping you get past the pain and back on your feet. What could do this? Well, stimulants could. Like those from something called a “Stimpack”. Just because there are other products with amphetamine effects doesn’t preclude another stimulant cocktail designed for frequent non-addictive use. Stimpacks would also undoubtedly include strong painkillers and analgesics. They may also include steroids and nutrients to kickstart the actual healing process. If my supposition is true, then when you inject a Stimpack, you’re not really healing yourself. You just don’t feel the injury anymore so you can soldier on.

[@Dor_27]

A stimpack is McDonald's sprite injected directly into your veins

[@marcolinosalgarone9442]

Morphine, they can't name it like that because of censure reason and it became a staple of the series

[@andyocto25]

I thought Med-X was the morphine

[@Bobby-rq5pe]

Morphine is an opiate not even a stimulant so it wouldn't make sense

[@thejunktownsheriffkilliand4800]

med-x is censored morphine.

[@tycrane2539]

menats are based off of the over the counter amphetamine salts you used to be able to buy at any pharmacy back in the day. It’s funny to look back at all the ways it was sold prior to its regulation. I would say Psycho is closer to meth than amphetamines

[@Paweł-uwu]

You can also make a stimpak in fallout 2 with 1 broc flower 1 xander root and a empty syringe

[@5959Luc]

I don't know if this helps but, Chitosan It is made by treating the chitin shells of shrimp and other crustaceans with an alkaline substance, such as sodium hydroxide. Chitosan hemostatic agents are salts made from mixing chitosan with an organic acid (such as succinic or lactic acid). The hemostatic agent works by an interaction between the cell membrane of erythrocytes (negative charge) and the protonated chitosan (positive charge) leading to involvement of platelets and rapid thrombus formation. There's also microbots and xenobots that can explain.

[@thesweetone]

a concoction of cocaine, LSD, sugar, vodka, and steroids is what I believe they are made of.

[@thesweetone]

lol

[@thesweetone]

they can be made in 76 as well

[@viktorkolaric4156]

I believe in nanite explenation, furthermore different recipes are simple to explain, if you imagine that nanites can reproduce. All you need is a substrate (which is a concoction of xander root and broc flower in NV and blood in FO4) and a starter culture. You could imagine needles in FNV have a small dose of nanites still in them, as for FO4, maybe you just squeeze out a minuscule ammount from whichever stimpack you have on hand.

[@autisonm]

Guys I'm not a doctor but I'm pretty sure stimpaks do 2-3 things. 1. create more blood either by using a drug to tell your body to do so or simply by injecting more blood. 2-3. I'm guessing the anti-septic is used to suggest that there is some manner of bacterial infection protection being applied (2) but I wouldnt be surprised if it also made your blood thicker which would help it clot and seal up wounds easier. (3) These effects would make sense as a sort of stabilizer used after various traumas and surgeries (assuming the blood clotting and potentially increased blood pressure wouldnt cause issues) to get someone who likely lost a lot of blood to a more stable/healthy condition. As some people have mentioned Stimpaks cause a "thirst penalty" which would make sense in the context of your body creating more blood and using already ingested water to do so.

[@DueRag]

well I think the interesting thing about them is that they are constantly being made even after the war so maybe each stimpak has a variation of chemicals making all of these theories possible?

[@randsom144]

It could be an antifibrinolytic which promotes blood clotting, an antiseptic, and painkiller sense it’s supposed to be used in post operative care so broken bones, fractures, and small wounds would probably be set or covered making to body even more willing to heal the damage

[@siouk4979]

For the longest time I thought stimpacks were stem cells cause stim and stem were pretty close words, however from your theories i think its better to say that there are stimpack "types" maybe its hinted gameplay wise stimpacks in 3 heal you right away while in 4 they take some time and in 1,2 and NV it varies from instantly to taking a bit