1) Centuries after apocalypse Bostonians still speak with Bostonian accents (and Bostonian self-importance, that’s a detail they got really good), the robot Takahashi’s Japanese speech is a subject of discussion, arrivals from outside the Commonwealth are big news, but no one makes note of the Longs’ Chinese or the Bobrovs’ Russian accents.

2) And somewhat related, people have re(invented/discovered) windmills, there are waterways everywhere*, traders and trade routes are the backbone of civilization** but under constant bandit threat, the USS Constitution is right fucking there, but no one thinks to go sailing.

*unlike the desert of 1 and 2, where they had an excuse

**this is why I did what’s apparently unthinkable around here and sided with the Legion in New Vegas - what the Wasteland needs most of all right now is a force to pacify the roads and allow a traders’ empire to consolidate; “imitate the Roman Empire” is not a bad approach; NCR city-state federalism doesn’t scale and would fall to infighting; Yes Man’s Free City New Vegas sounded tempting but not if the opportunity cost is rebuilding civilization.