Hallo. So I just finished fallout 1 a few days ago (at lvl 12, after turning the difficulty down so I could actually manage to use my science and leave. I couldn't find anymore sidequests)

The thing I wanted to focus on however was not that piece of incompetence but the one that apparently lead the supermutant army to wipe out pretty much every bit of the wasteland besides the brotherhood and junktown.

My ending cinematic was filled with short clips stating that Shady Sands or the Hub essentially got wiped out by the supermutant army. Which bugs the crap out of me cause when I was traveling I saw the random stranger who gives directions and he stated these places were overrun. So I prom ply dashed to Shady sands and discovered.... nothing. The town was fine.

So my question is did I screw up something? I blew up the military base and had the Master blow himself up. Did my game glitch? (annoying but eh) Was I a noob for finishing at lvl 12 and not finding more sidequests?

Such questions haunt me and I hope the illustrious champions of these forums can answer me (or in other words thanks for any answers)

No nothing glitched, it's the game taking in your actions during the course of the game and it's playing out those actions. I'm not completely sure how the game does it, but I do have something that could help you if you ever play it again: [url=http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Portal:Fallout]http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Portal:Fallout[/url]

It has everything you need to know about anything in Fallout 1/2.

I think it's a matter of arriving at those towns within a certain time-frame. I'm not sure if there's any specific quests you have to complete for them to get the good ending (in the Hub's case it certainly wouldn't hurt to find info on the missing caravans right when you get there) but you do have to arrive at most places within 90 days (according to one FAQ) if you want to be on the right path to getting the good ending for everybody. I don't know about Shady Sands with regards to the Supermutants but I do know both cleaning out the Radscorpion cave and rescuing Tandi from the Raiders are both prerequesites to getting the good ending for them.

Only certain places can be visibly seen to be overrun by mutants if you don't arrive in time (Necropolis I know and Vault 13 too I think), others, like the Hub as you mentioned and the Followers you never know until it's too late (i.e. the ending). Kind of an annoyance, but oh well, everything's still very much do-able as long as you know what to do.

I suspect that guy's an artifact of an abandoned development thread. As I understand it, there was going to be an incremental apocalypse until the player finished the game. What remains of it is, more or less, the fall of [insert spoiler here.]

The ending you get depends on what you do during the game, and since you only made it to level 12 I'm going to guess that you missed quite a bit.

While Fallout is an open world game there is a sequence that the programmers expect you to follow. For example when you leave Vault 13 the only location on your map is Vault 15. You don't have to go straight to it, but if you do you discover Shady Sands. You can choose to go to Shady Sands or continue to Vault 15, but you will only be able to explore the top level of the vault unless you have a rope. When you go to Shady Sands make sure to talk to everyone and look at everything, there is rope, a skill book, a companion and a number of quests. Once you fully explore Vault 15 head back to Vault 13 to tell them the bad news. While there, talk to everyone, there are some quests and equipment (like a shotgun) there to be had. Then head back to Shady Sands because the is at least one more quest and there are people there who can give you directions to the next town. When you get to a new town talk to everyone (notice the pattern here) because there are tons of quests in the game but everyone looks the same so you won't know who the quest givers are without talking too them.

Basically, don't go to a town that is not on your map and interact with everything & everyone when you get there. The level cap is 21 and you can hit that well before you have done everything in the game.

So ok what you guys are saying makes sense but can I get something clarified?

Is it going to say going to shady Sands again after X number of days (So I go there at the start and comeback to the town after a huge number of days) or is it taking ages to get there in the first place.

I looked up Shady Sands in the link that champion of justice Muskeato posted and notice I should have gotten a nice ending. I saved Tandi and killed the rad-scorpions. I also in the Hub more or less immediately investigated the caravans (first time I temporarily turned down the difficulty to fight the deathclaw)

If it is returning to a place after X number of days that triggers mutant raids I ask why? Did I get bugged with a tracking device that no-one mentioned. It just really bugged the crap out of me playing essentially a champion of justice that saved the wasteland only for pretty much everywhere to be arbitarily butchered cause I went to a town late game for some shopping.

Though Necropolis burned legit though, took forever to get there.

Bugs in the game, nothing more. :)
Something gets triggered when you enter a town but someone forgot to put in the disaster off trigger.

Good thing is, if you play Fallout 2 next you'll see you did save shady sands afterall..