Why would anyone in the fallout universe buy a gold bar

[spectrenihlus]

If you didn't know in the new fallout dlc you can get your hands on a number of gold bars and they are worth quite a lot of caps. However what use would a gold bar be in a post apocalyptic society. If i was a shop keeper and someone came in with a gold bar I would think yea ok shiny i'll give you 5 caps for it.

 

[HuntrRose]

Well, it is heavy so you can always use it as a weapon...

 

[NeedAUserName]

Its pretty, thats basically why people buy it now. Vanity.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

If you didn't know in the new fallout dlc you can get your hands on a number of gold bars and they are worth quite a lot of caps. However what use would a gold bar be in a post apocalyptic society. If i was a shop keeper and someone came in with a gold bar I would think yea ok shiny i'll give you 5 caps for it.

Well the economy is on it's way back up. Probing for weapons is probably the best source of income right now, but in the future when the world is slowly coming together again (or apart depending on your views); things like gold, silver and precious stones will probably be pretty sought after.

That with the fact that they see gold and go "Oooooh, cool pre-war artefact!". I mean come on, Mr. House will take Snowglobes off your hands for 2000 caps a pop. The thing is, they're not paying for gold for the same reasons that we do, they're paying because it's 'vintage' and probably like a collectors item.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Gold is probably harder to forge than "bottle caps" and is a more portable store of wealth than a box of assault rifles.

 

[viranimus]

Its a precious metal, its uses even in bronze age tech is invaluable.

Just because we go through an apocalypse does not mean were going to by default loose all of our gained knowledge.

So, gold, If you want to repair certain electronics, gold is good. If you need to repair certain mechanical devices, gold is good, if you need a strong metal that is malleable, gold is good.

 

[Wintermoot]

its rare metal probaly sought after by the BOS or NCR

 

[Korolev]

If people still respected gold, then yeah. But as caps are the agreed upon currency, and there don't appear to be any jewellers in sight, there wouldn't be too much use for gold. Well, actually - if you wanted to repair electronic items, gold would be useful. Certain insulating material uses gold. Gold doesn't tarnish.

But yeah, pretty much the only reason Gold is as important as it is today is due to the perception of it as a valuable material. It's all shiny and doesn't dull and people like to wear it and stuff. It does have some applications, but platinum and other alloys have MORE applications and might even be rarer.

 

[spectrenihlus]

OK you are a scavenger, you have no knowledge about any of the properties of gold and you find a safe. You crack it open and find a plasma rifle with some microfusion cells and a gold bar. You can only carry one which one would you take?

 

[spectrenihlus]

Most likely for its uses as a metal, or maybe because the shopkeepers are emu Wish I could get some gold but apparently it's better to give dlc to just the xbox fags and not us cool as playstation-ers.

You will get it eventually and probably all lumped together.

 

[Seagoon]

methinks gold would rack up a bit more than 5 caps

 

[spectrenihlus]

Also to the people saying it is valuable because gold is used in tech. Well you will need a foundry and a processing plant to turn that gold into parts necessary for your electronics. Places like that aren't exactly down the street in post apocalyptic america.

 

[spectrenihlus]

methinks gold would rack up a bit more than 5 caps

an ashtray is worth 2 caps and it has more use to you as a simple shopkeeper than a bar of this shiny metal. You could probably use it as a paperwight but another guy came in and unloaded some actual paperweights to you already and they were much cheaper to buy.

 

[Bad Jim]

Gold is money. It's been that way from the beginning of history, and it's only recently that we've found practical uses other than looking pretty.

The real question is, why use bottle caps as money? How difficult is it for someone to make a bottle cap factory even in a post apocalyptic wasteland? There's no long term value in them at all.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

Also to the people saying it is valuable because gold is used in tech. Well you will need a foundry and a processing plant to turn that gold into parts necessary for your electronics. Places like that aren't exactly down the street in post apocalyptic america.

Please see my above post:

Snow Globes sell 2000 Caps to a crazed collector.
Remember our crazy Nuka Cola fan girl from Fallout 3?
There are some oddities in the wasteland and given that gold is probably pretty rare (and just plain pretty), common sense would tell the salesman in you that you could dupe someone into buying it (with you yourself not knowing its actual worth).

Gold is money. It's been that way from the beginning of history, and it's only recently that we've found practical uses other than looking pretty.

The real question is, why use bottle caps as money? How difficult is it for someone to make a bottle cap factory even in a post apocalyptic wasteland? There's no long term value in them at all.

Oddly enough there was a sidequest dealing with shutting down a bottle cap press.

 

[Seagoon]

Also to the people saying it is valuable because gold is used in tech. Well you will need a foundry and a processing plant to turn that gold into parts necessary for your electronics. Places like that aren't exactly down the street in post apocalyptic america.

Those traders likely know people, they get supplied tech, they likely have contacts who know how to use the resources.

yeah, but gold is rare and has always been expensive. some merchants or, more likely, scavenger would want it..

 

[ultrachicken]

They could probably find someone else who wants it for electronics purposes, or because they find that treating themselves to some shiny metal helps alleviate some of the stress that comes with living in the wasteland.

Not everything is about pure survival.