By 2180, nobody's pretending the surface is "home" anymore. You step out of the hatch and it's metal bones, drowned streets, and weeds pushing through concrete like they own the place. Folks down in the shelters talk about the old world the way you talk about a dream you can't fully trust. If you're planning a run, you start with the basics—ammo, medkits, power cells—and, yeah, the economy matters too, which is why people keep an eye on ARC Raiders Coins before they even pick a route. Everything up there costs you something, even if you make it back alive.

How the world actually broke

Most stories blame the machines first, but that's not how it went. The planet cracked before the ARC ever showed its face. Floods took whole coastlines. Fires ate through cities. Quakes folded highways like paper. And when the final alarms started sounding, the wealthy didn't "evacuate" with us—they left us. They launched from Acerra, locked down the gates, and called it survival. The rest of humanity learned a different lesson: when systems fail, you either improvise or you disappear.

Rebuilding, then the first war

Down near the ruins of Italy, people tried to stitch a life together anyway. Calabretta leaned on the Alcantara Dam for power, and hydroponics became the closest thing to a future. You'd hear generators humming and think, maybe this is it, maybe we've turned a corner. Then the ARC came from above. Not marching in. Dropping in. Farms turned into kill zones overnight. Raiders weren't born from ambition; they were drafted by necessity. Somehow, the first push got stopped. We cleared them out and told ourselves we'd won.

What survival looks like now

Peace didn't last, because we didn't know what to do with it. Alliances splintered. People argued over water rights and salvage lines and who got to keep which tunnel. So when the ARC returned—meaner, smarter, built for our mistakes—we weren't ready. The surface became theirs, and we went underground for good: Speranza, Toledo, and other buried cities that feel safe until you remember you're living under rock. Raids now are quick, ugly trips. You might team up with a stranger to drop a walker, then catch them watching your pack a little too closely. Trust lasts about as long as your last magazine.

Planning your next run

If you want to last, you learn to prepare like it's routine, even when your hands are shaking. Don't overstay. Don't get greedy. Mark exits before you shoot. And if you're trying to gear up without wasting days grinding, a lot of players look for reliable shops that deliver fast and don't mess around with sketchy steps; that's where RSVSR comes up in conversation, since it's known for game currency and items that help you get back out there with less downtime.