Fallout 76 is Bethesda Game Studios' online Fallout, launched on 14 November 2018. Vault 76 opens on Reclamation Day, 23 October 2102, twenty-five years after the Great War, and you step into Appalachia while the rest of the series is still ahead of you. Ridge Dispatch is an unofficial fan desk for that live world: region walks, build notes, public-event rhythm, and patch breakdowns. We are not Bethesda or ZeniMax, we do not sell the game, and nothing here grants Atoms, items, or account perks.

The day-to-day loop is exploration, C.A.M.P. building, and events such as Scorched Earth, Eviction Notice, Radiation Rumble, and Moonshine Jamboree. Human neighbours arrived with Wastelanders in April 2020: Paige at Foundation, Meg at the Crater, and the Overseer finally in person after years of holotapes. Steel Dawn and Steel Reign returned the Brotherhood to Fort Atlas. Expeditions opened The Pitt and Atlantic City. Skyline Valley added Vault 63 in 2024, playable ghouls followed in 2025, and 2026 brought cryptid ambushes, Infestations, and the rolling Slasher story.

Notes on this desk stay specific. A bloodied commando and a full-health heavy gunner do not share a perk loadout. Excavator, Union, and Hellcat power armor solve different problems. Rumors stay labeled as rumors. When the studio publishes a director letter or release notes, we summarise what actually changed, and we keep a bright line between the live game and guesses still circulating on datamine boards.