Who would have ever thought that granting players in a sandbox game access to nuclear weaponry would be used irresponsibly? Certainly not Bethesda, which now appears to be dealing with a fresh form of griefing in Fallout 76 thanks to the use of radiation poisoning and a duplication bug.
For those who aren’t familiar, PvP engagements in regular Fallout 76 only really happen if you fire back at someone attacking you, and even then there’s a Pacifist mode that effectively flags you out of PvP. However, even Pacifists can be killed by radiation poisoning, and there just so happens to be a nuclear proximity mine item that can be crafted and deployed by griefers that will unleash rads into the area. This is especially handy if said griefer doesn’t feel like outright dropping an entire nuke on someone’s head.
While using nuke mines to troll players would probably be an occasional instance owing to its generally rare crafting components, there was also a duplication bug in Patch 13 that has reportedly led to gobs of these mines getting duped. Put a portable nuclear device in the hands of a bored PvPer who doesn’t have the Survival server anymore and… well… kaboom.
With this all said, it appears that the Bethesda devs are aware of the behavior. “We’ve seen the threads and have been investigating this issue on our end, and are aware of this bug. We will update you as soon as we have more information on this,” reads an official developer response to a PSA posted on Reddit.
