[quote=@Dinh AaronMk] If the purpose though of these bunkers were to preserve populations than there'd be little point in functioning high-tech military-grade equipment. A simple biohazard suit like those we use today would be more than enough for exploratory purposes. [img]http://www.keepshooting.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/f/i/finnish-military-chemical-suitbig.jpg[/img] I would also be apprehensive to even suggest that these Bunkers be the mad experiments of a company like they were in Fallout. But the pervasive distribution of them would probably mean that no one group dug and built them, so that rules it out (the Vaults of Fallout were a top-secret government and corporate experiment for only America). But even then though, most of the people in the Fallout wasteland aren't or weren't descended from Vault residents either actually. I'm going to openly and dickishly contest the possibility of this statement. The sort of infrastructure needed for a society to produce new technology to the sort we're expecting is beyond the scope of our current non-states. Modern technology already is an international initiative demanding a diverse range of resources not always found evenly spread across the world (computing and the materials in computer chips for instance are largely only found in central Africa). Without this massive international infrastructure anymore I can't see anyone innovating into new areas of research or even accurately continuing post-war initiatives without using already dying devices (how is anyone supposed to ever produce a new CPU for a computer even when one inevitably fails, provided it hasn't been totally fried with an EMP blast which nuclear weapons put out? There's probably a very finite pool of resources for anyone to draw from to keep surviving technology alive). There'd also be the population of appropriately educated individuals who would know enough about a thing to do that thing even if the resources were present. But since we're also talking about stuff on a broader scale than a decked-out Kalashnikov there'd also need to be a very large communications network that doesn't move at the speed of a potato nailed to the floor (remember that statement about modern tech being an international initiative?) So really, if we're discussing stuff like power-suits or even airplanes (I feel) there's a limit that needs to be known beyond it being simply a game thing to keep stuff nerfed so no one can nerf someone else. It's not to say that there wouldn't be groups without access to that, but since it's been a century or more since annihilation that's a lot of years of general wear on these things that would reduce their effectiveness or quality, if there's anything left. The number of people knowledgeable enough to use this equipment would be scant at best. So on that, these groups I feel would be something on the last legs of that tech, even at the last rolls of duct-tape so use of these resources would need to be incredibly measured; even in a defensive situation. A charm of the apocalypse genre is often in just that: apocalyptic. Nothing works for its intended purpose or is run down. Or the quality is shoddy. Humanity is trying to leach of the remains of what was without any appropriate knowledge of what it was. A lot of people might figure out the simple things like smithing guns. And I say that because home-made guns are a pretty major cottage industry in the third-world: see the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khyber_Pass_Copy]Khyber Pass guns[/url]. [/quote]First off, microchipps don't require rare elements as an explicit need. Second, they are found outside of Congo. just like guns many seemingly advanced technologies are relatively easy to produce with sufficient knowledge in less developed environments (though microchips are of course not them). Railguns and carbon-nanotubes are surprisingly among these. The latter was involved in the creation of Damascus Steel, for example. Electromagnetic technology in general benefits from having few complex moving parts. Third, while this is a good excuse for low tech or shizo tech environment nothing really stops people from using something better. Aircraft and pre-war tech is all but endorsed by the OP also things are fine enough that global relations are becoming a thing again. And who said the vault-dwellers just sit around and did nothing during this time. If they wanted to keep their lifestyle developing means to maintain their tech was one step they got to take.