How Much Wear and Roughness is the Right Amount?

[Terry37]

As I was working on my Post Apocalyptic Law Stronghold I started wondering just how much rust and worn affect should be evident on a Post Apocalyptic building or complex. As I was working away I kept thinking that part looks just too clean for the after event or that should have a little more rust, and then started to question why.

I then kept considering my back story, and took the assumption that resources were scant and dwindling, sort of a Mad Max approach, therefore buildings, and barrier walls, etc. might not get the repair they do in today's environment. But still questioned just how much was the right amount of disintegration was the right amount?

Would be interested in others thoughts on this.

Terry

[dadlamassu]

I had similar thoughts when I was creating terrain for our grandsons' zombie games.  It came down to deciding what caused the zombie apocalypse and how long ago it happened.  I looked all over the internet at photos of abandoned places - Chernobyl was useful as the town was evacuated quite quickly 32 years ago.  So if there was no violent event that caused the apocalypse it looks like nature and rot are the main threats to structures.  Rust is likely on unpainted or damaged steel and iron - even more so if the metal has been exposed to wear or fire.

[Daeothar]

It's as Dadlammassu says; first you need to ask yourself how long your setting has been in decline.

Was the apocalypse recent, or did it happen decades ago? And how did it come about? Was it simple abandonment á la Prypyat, or was there a devastating (nuclear?) war or other catastrophy?

I am in the planning stages of modeling my Dropzone Commander table specifically on Prypyat (the town near Chernobyl), both because I'm also a great fan of the S.TA.L.K.E.R. games and as the amount of decline (by now) is exactly right for the setting.

Which is to say, hastily and completely abandoned more than 50 years ago (the Chernobyl incident with 30 years ago being close enough for me, and also because there simply are no comparable sites anywhere else... ).

All in all, I find that, in general, there are many computer games out there that are set in post apocalyptic worlds and which are great source material for this sort of thing.

The developers usually have done their homework, and there is a wide degree of decay to choose from. From the apocalypse happening just days before, to it having happened many centuries ago. I suggest you check some of them out for inspiration too...

[monkeylite]

It's also worth saying, if you're trying to run a piece of machinery after society has broken down, for any decent length of time, even if everything else is in decay, your machine is going to have to be scrupulously looked after and cared for.

[Terry37]

I agree that the cause and lapse of time are the most prominent factors. I was really asking this as just a general question. As I had written a back story for my efforts, I had no trouble deciding how to approach it. The first paragraph of my back story sets it up for me.

"The Wasteland

The apocalypse, yes there was an apocalypse. How long ago had it been now, but more importantly exactly what was it.  Was it radiation from the bombs, or viruses from chemical weapons, or some other overwhelming agent of catastrophe. Those who remained weren’t sure they could remember any more, they just knew there had been an apocalypse. In fact, they couldn’t forget that because for far too long now the world was no longer as it had been before this time. Perhaps as new generations who didn’t know of the world before grew up in these post apocalyptic times a new and more wholesome environment might evolve. But only maybe and only time would tell. "

So for me it's lots of disrepair and abundant rust.  Check out my Law Stronghold and Road Warrior Stronghold under this section to see my approach. A very Mad Max type of approach.

But again, I was just asking in general how others felt.

Terry

[Hupp n at em]

My project is mostly based on Fallout, so it kind of varies.  Fallout tends to go a bit unrealistic (structures still standing that look completely beat to hell and rusted out), but in the end the Post-Apoc label is all about the form rather than the function, right?  Go with what you like the look of and justify it later. 

[dadlamassu]

I like the deliberate vagueness of your setting.  Why? Because it gives a wide canvas to play with - intact, modified and destroyed areas, nuclear chemical and biolocalcontamination, possibility of mutants - and everything in between unpopulated to overpopulated by every variation of loner and society. 

So back to your original post, and having looked at the pictures of your Law Fort, I think that as a well maintained building it is what I might expect from a disciplined force.  Other models might be more rusty, overgrown or delapitated and have a variety of fortifications as you see fit to make them compatible with the story line.  With our grandchildren we play "episodic" games - the groups of survivors centre on a core of characters who are placed in a variety of situations like the old 70s to 90s TV series.

Just make them and let us see them.

[shadowbeast]

Of course, if there is still law and order, there will still be maintenance on the building; but what is available to maintain the building? And, what state was it in before the endtimes?



This building was in this state for some time before being abandoned, only a couple of years ago due to a fire:

In fact, it still looks like this inside:

This place has been abandoned rather recently, too:




Then there's this place, which is still operating:


As is this:

Plus, there are materials to consider. Exposed concrete will stain, causing the horrific dystopian appearance of Brutalist architecture; and exposed metal is going straight to rust, no matter what, unless painted over or plastic-coated.

That house is under the care of the National Trust, but many private houses end up like that around here.




In use, and look at them roofs.
This, however, isn't, and has looked like this since being abandoned... in the 80s... in a tropical seaside city...


This is actually still being maintained as a museum, having only closed finally in the 90s:


https://thoughtengine.deviantart.com/gallery/57244592/Boggo-Road


In short, I think there are so many factors to consider, that any way you want to justify it, just weather what "looks right" for a "post apocalyptic setting" given the public's expectations of such things from the media. If we really have to say that nobody can make resources any more and are losing the ability to invent, then we will have the entire population stuck living in this sort of thing: