Why there are still so many Super Mutants?

[Kain]

No matter how powerful or numerous they were since the Master created them, you would wager that a warmongering sterile race would be all but extinct right now, maybe only stronger and smarter Super Mutants like Marcus or Jericho would still be alive.

I mean the game is almost a 100 years after the first game. I remember that when I played Fallout Tactics - Brotherhood of steel on PC there was a quest to cure the sterility of the super mutants, but that game was considered non canon.

So what gives?

[Locomotive]

Because you need big and scary enemies to kill for the sake of shooting at enemies.

[Jirki88]

Well, wh ois going to wipe them out? Raiders? A confused and often pretty localized BoS? There's not many enemies that can even make an impact on a small Super Mutant compound, so the fact that there's still plenty around isn't that surprising. Pretty much anyone but the Brotherhood also tries to steer clear of those big brutes. :P

[John NoFap_Gaming]

Originally posted by Locomotive:

Because you need big and scary enemies to kill for the sake of shooting at enemies.

[LOUnatic]

Because if there more women raiders in the game, Anita Sarkesian would be even more upset.

[LOUnatic]

You have to consider that the average group of raiders in the game would be wiped out by just 2 super mutants. Not everyone in the fallout universe is a high functioning autistic super god like our characters are.

[Juzt_Lernin]

Because they are rad resistant and can eat whatever dies from radiation poisoning?

[Larsen]

Because that The Institute started experimenting with the FEV as well, creating even more super mutants. Might be the reason why there's no nightkin, 2nd generation super mutants, centaurs etc. in Fallout 4

Edit: Can't answer for NV or FO3, I'm sure there's a reason for those as well.

[WhatsOnTV?]

There we a LOT of super mutants created, They don't age, they eat any thing and they are pretty much impossible to kill if you are an average civilian.
I think the reason there are so many left is because no one has ever really done anything about them.
Also I vaugely remember them being able to create more by using a modified FEV recipe.

[Meadows]

Fallout 3 explained this... They don't need master to survive and super mutants are notorious for kidnapping people. In fallout 3 you can find their lair where they kidnap people and turn them into super mutants. You can read terminals to find out more in detail. The main quest of fallout 3 takes you through this place I think.

[fmalfeas]

Remember, in 3, the East Coast variant was really gung ho about kidnapping people and tossing them into the vats. They made a LOT of troops. And while most super mutants they made are pretty dumb, they aren't so dumb that once the BoS started carving them up with miniguns and plasma rifles that they wouldn't scatter.

And some of them are just a bit dumb, and might have actually claimed some containers of FEV from their vault so they could make more elsewhere.

The West Coast super mutants, however, are very much dying out. There was the initial surge in their numbers when The Master made them (and using his abilities, he made a lot of the Gen 1 of the west coast version quite smart, like Marcus). There was a second surge when the Enclave was fools and excavated Mariposa, giving access to the FEV pools again.

But now, there won't be new ones unless someone digs that place out again.

East coast, the lore implies that Lyon's BoS has been forced to fall back from their large scale patrols due to supply issues. Which also means it may be possible that someone is excavating that vault again. FEV pools obviously can survive buildings being taken out on top of them, as Mariposa showed.

[Angry Nord-Grunge Syndicate]

Danse mentions that supermutants turned his friend into one of them with FEV.
So they can replenish their numbers.

[SIlverblade-T-E]

Because FEV is a ...virus!
it possibly got out, and is responsible for many fo the mutated treatures form super mutans to deathclaws, iirc, but since it's not a normal virus it may nor proporagte well or at all, we don't know. the geckos death claws and super mutants were specially worked on and exposed to pure virus.

FO1 and 3 had areas where super mutants were being made. exposed to pure virus.
IIRC, super mutants regenerate (or at least to an extent) and maybe "Immortal" or at least very long lived
they have 4 not 2 strand DNA and are immune to radiation and only age very very slowly (from what I vaguely recal reading)

so, they could have migrated from west coast and up form Washington?

[Locomotive]

Why do you all not accept the simple explanation that they created so many super mutants just for the player to kill? lol Is it that surprising in a game to create enough enemies for the player? Do we even need to go into all these lore?

[Kotli]

Theres 2 reasons lore wise. 1) supermutants are basically immortal only die when killed.
2) Theres multiple creation events. The vault 87 mutants only appeared 10 years before Fallout 4.

No one knows where the Fallout 4 Mutants came from since I dont believe the game says.

[Kain]

Yeah, there is also the fact that the Brotherhood is always stretched so thinly, you would believe they would try to form a solid force before deciding to explore the wastes, but they only have the capital, other than than they only send a few soldiers to recon. If anything, the Super Mutants should be their priority, there are a few nice ones like Marcus and Grandma, but most deserve to die.