Developed by Micro Forté and published by 14 Degrees East, Fallout Tactics was released on 14 March 2001 for Microsoft Windows.

In 2020, Emil Pagliarulo stated that elements and lore from Fallout Tactics have been used in Bethesda Softworks' subsequent entries in the series.

The bunkers serve as a central point for the Brotherhood, and players can obtain the services of quartermasters, mechanics, personnel yeomen, and medics.

The members of this vault formed the Brotherhood of Steel, an organization dedicated to restoring civilization and reclaiming or developing new and better technologies.

One faction supported allowing tribals (human outsiders) to join the organization to prevent a lack of troops.

As the campaign against the raiders succeeds in dispersing them into the wasteland, the player character is accepted fully into the Brotherhood, and learns the eventual goal of the Brotherhood — a campaign west across the Great Plains towards the Rocky Mountains in search of Vault Zero, the one-time nucleus and command center of the pre-war Vault network, where the most senior government, scientific, and military leaders were housed, and the highest technology available was maintained.

Before the Brotherhood can rest, however, they encounter a new foe as they push into post-war Missouri, an area known as "the Belt": the remnants of the mutant army they were sent to destroy.

A squad dispatched to destroy a munitions manufacturing plant instead finds a laboratory dedicated to curing mutant sterility.

A few days later, at the ghoul town of Gravestone, in the ruins of Kansas City, Brotherhood scouts find an intact nuclear bomb.

The reavers, a cult dedicated to technology worship, is caught between the Brotherhood and the robots as the two armies clash in Kansas.

Although the Reavers try to wage a two-fronted war, they are soon beaten, and seek sanctuary among the Brotherhood in exchange for an electromagnetic pulse weapon.

The Brotherhood agrees, and a squad armed with the new technology destroys a robot repair plant as they push into Colorado, towards Vault Zero.

Evidence uncovered by the Brotherhood points to a catastrophic experiment in the Vault that created the Calculator from a fusion of computers and human brains.

[17] Physical copies included a bonus disc with printable files for the miniature wargame Fallout: Warfare, such as the board and the ruleset.

[16] The upgraded combat system was often applauded, even if the computer AI would typically not react until shot at by the human player.

[citation needed] John Lee reviewed the PC version of the game for Next Generation, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "A treat for Fallout and strategy fans alike.

[29] Forward argues however that despite its reputation within the fandom, Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel deserves a sequel.

[29] As a result, Forward believes a sequel would be commercially viable, so long as the developers place a greater emphasis on the role-playing elements, such as decisions the player can make that would affect the rest of the story.

[30] In October 2004 Bethesda Softworks purchased the rights to develop Fallout 3 from Interplay for $1,175,000 minimum guaranteed advance against royalties.

[30][33] In a pre-release interview, executive producer Todd Howard noted that Bethesda sought to avoid making any connections to the spin-off games.

[35] It would have been set in the Deep South, and the plot revolved around a device known as the Garden of Eden Creation Kit, which contains amenities to reestablish civilization after the nuclear war.

[36][35] Micro Forté was again contracted to work on the sequel, and according to developer Ed Orman, the game would have featured 3D graphics and an isometric perspective.

[37] Micro Forté wanted to further emphasize the combat gameplay, simplify the in-game economy, and expand on the multiplayer mode.

[37] Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel did not sell as well as Interplay had hoped, and only a few months after its release, the sequel was canceled.