Welcome to our guide for Fallout 3. We're probably crazy for attempting this.

Obviously, with a project this size and scope, there are bound to be options or quests we missed. Feel free to comment on the guide pointing out things that are not included. Fallout 3 is a behemoth, and we did the best we could, but there are undoubtedly gaps. The guide is a constant work in progress, and all of our editors will be happy to hear your suggestions and make necessary alterations.

Please note that this guide was written by users who (for the most part) all played the Xbox 360 version of Fallout 3. Mentions of Downloadable Content and related subjects are relevant only for people with the 360 or PC versions of the game, but Playstation 3 owners will soon be received the DLC.

Special Thanks to Boyce and DualReaver for taking a bunch of screenshots for us.

Recent Edits

  • Table added for Experimental MIRV
  • Proofread edits throughout

Wasteland Maps

Since this guide references a lot of locations without explicitly telling you where they are, here are a few maps from other places (Not our work). Feel free to reference them if you need to find a location.

First Gamespy has a great interactive map (Although it's a bit complex)

And then there's this map I found on the internet. The e-mail address is the only credit I could dig up (Right click-view in new tab or window to get the full version)

Character Creation & Spec

Fallout 3 starts off with you creating your character and determining their stats. Since you can't respec after you leave Vault 101, it's probably a good idea to know what you want. This section is a guide to the S.P.E.C.I.A.L system, the skill system, and the perks you get as you level up.

Stat Breakdown

Your character's basic stats in Fallout 3 are broken up into two categories. S.P.E.C.I.A.L attributes, which govern your basic attributes and specializations, and skills, which allow you to customize your character's abilities and increase their effectiveness. The S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attributes are out of 10, while skills are out of 100.


The S.P.E.C.I.A.L system is Fallout 3 determines your character's basic attributes, which affect both their skills and other factors. You can set you attributes during childhood, and tweak them once more before you leave Vault 101. Due to the fact that every major S.P.E.C.I.A.L. skill is able to be augmented by at least 1 point through the Wasteland's assortment of Bobbleheads, it is recommended that no stat is raised above 9. See the Bobblehead section in the Table of Contents for locations. In addition, by using the Intense Training perk, you can add a S.P.E.C.I.A.L point into any attribute any time you level up. Certain quests also grant a permanent boost to S.P.E.C.I.A.L. ratings. Some equipment and medications will also affect your attributes.

  • Strength- Strength affects a few skills, only one of which is important.
  1. It affects your unarmed skill, which is useless*
  2. It affects your melee weapons skill, which is also useless*.
  3. It affects how much weight your character can carry, which is an extremely important statistic, because if your character becomes overburdened they cannot run or fast-travel between locations. However, as long as you don't spend too long wandering the Wasteland and remember to make regular trips back to cities to sell off or store your loot, a super-high weight limit isn't necessary. Put this skill anywhere from the 2-5 range, depending on how much weight you want to be able to carry, and how badly you want to pump up the other attributes.

*These skills are entirely useless only for characters focused on guns. For maverick or melee-based characters, they are obviously essential.

  • Perception- Perception affects a few skills, as well as an important non-skill ability.
  1. Perception affects the starting skill of Lockpick.
  2. Perception affects the starting skill of Explosives.
  3. Perception affects the starting skill of Energy Weapons.
  4. Perception also determines how far away you can detect enemies as red dots on your 2D compass. This ability is quite useful for knowing where your enemies are when you get ambushed (or are the one doing the ambushing) or if you are trying to sneak past somebody out in the Wasteland.
  • Endurance- Endurance is a decent enough ability, and important if you're going to be making long treks through hazardous areas, as the rad resistance and increased HP are big bonuses. However, if you're only going to be making small sorties out into the Wasteland before returning to a town, the attribute is of little significance.
  1. It affects your maximum hit points.
  2. It affects your poison resistance and your radiation resistance.
  3. It affects the skill levels of Big Guns and Unarmed.
  • Charisma- Charisma directly affects your Speech and you Barter skills. A high Charisma level will grant you special dialogue options in certain cases, allowing you to manipulate people or groups to your liking.
  • Intelligence- Intelligence is a very important attribute, one you should consider pumping up right off the bat.
  1. Most importantly, the higher your intelligence, the more skill points you get each time you level up. This is important because it allows you to raise your skills much higher much quicker, meaning you get to be a badass sooner.
  2. Intelligence affects the starting skill of Repair.
  3. Intelligence affects the starting skill of Medicine.
  4. Intelligence affects the starting skill of Science.
  • Agility- Unlike Oblivion, Fallout does not have a stamina bar- your character won't tire out ever (Although they still can become overencumbered), so Agility is perhaps not as importat as you might think. What agility does do however, is:
  1. Increase the number of Action Points available for VATS.
  2. Determine the starting skill level for Small Guns.
  3. Determine the starting skill level for Sneak.
  • Luck- Luck is an odd attribute. It increases your chances of scoring a critical hit on an enemy by 1% for each point in the attribute. Luck also increases the starting value of all your skills by about half a point for each attribute point invested in it. Luck will also increase the chance of Mysterious Stranger visits if you have that perk, or Paralyzing Palm strikes in you have that perk. Overall, this is an entirely ignorable skill, unless it has other affects we are not aware of. Don't pump it above the starting level of 5, and feel free to remove points if you need them elsewhere.


Skiils go on a scale from 1 to 100 points. Your S.P.E.C.I.A.L attributes determine your starting skills. You also get to mark three skills as your primary skills, which gives you an extra 15-point bonus into those skills at the start of the game. Once you mark your primary skills, you cannot change your mind. It is probably a good idea to take no skill higher than 85-90 just by leveling up, as skill bobbleheads will add 10 points to their respective skils, and many books can be found in the Wasteland which raise skills by 1 point (books give you 2 points to a given skill instead of 1). Once a skill reaches 100, it can no longer be raised.

  • Barter - Barter affects the prices you will get from vendors, as well as the prices you will get when selling items to stores. If you're looking to become a Wasteland magnate or something, perhaps this skill could be useful, but by just looting and completing quests, you'll usually always have enough money to get by. Not worth investing many points into unless you're having a really hard time getting caps.
  • Big Guns - Big Guns affects your skill with, well, big guns. Stuff like the flamethrower, Fat Man, and mini-guns are all governed by your big guns skill. These are fun to use, but very scarce at the beginning of the game, in addition to being hard to find ammo for, and being quite heavy. Worth investing points in towards the end stages of the game to take down some tougher enemies.
  • Energy Weapons - Energy Weapons will determine your skill with laser-based weapons like the laser pistol and plasma rifles. Energy weapons are a bit rare at the beginning of the game, but they're slightly more accurate than small guns. Ammo and weapons will become more commonplace as you proceed with the story, as well as placing more powerful lasers in your hands. You'll want to specialize in either this or Small Guns for certain. Or both.
  • Explosives - This skill represents your proficiency with things that explode. Frag grenades and frag mines will do more damage the higher this skill is, and a higher explosives skill makes it easier to disarm mines. A higher explosives skill will also affect your accuracy with grenades in V.A.T.S. This skill is a big help when you start confronting larger enemies, like Super Mutant Behemoths, or when you're taking on large groups of enemies. Explosives also allows you to disable certain special traps, such as explosives-rigged baby carriages, terminals that have been tampered with, and other similar contraptions.
  • Lockpick - Lockpick affects your proficiency for... well... picking locks, surprisingly enough. There are innumerable locks to pick in Fallout 3, so this is probably a good skill to invest in. Each lock has a minium lockpick value associated with it, and without having your skill above that number, it is impossible to pick the lock. Most locks have a value of 50, so you'll need to pump some points into lockpick. However, keep in mind that picking locks is an evil act and will lose you Karma if the lock is associated with a living character or residence. Lockpicking in bandit strongholds, abandoned areas (Vaults, towns, buildings, etc.) and other such places is perfectly ok. You should consider tagging this skill, as it makes it much easier to obtain supplies.
  • Medicine - The Medicine skill affects how many HP healing items return. Healing items are pretty common, and you can always restore your full health by sleeping in a bed or seeing a doctor, so this skill isn't a prioirty. It may be worth putting some points into if you're going to be doing a lot of exploring and fighting without returning to town, but don't specialize in it.
  • Melee Weapons - Does what the name says it does. Determines you skill with Baseball bats, sledgehammers, and the like. You'll almost always be using guns, so this is a skill you can get by without putting any points into.
  • Repair - Every usable weapon or armor in Fallout 3 has a condition rating, indicating what shape it's in. The higher the condition rating, the more effective and valuable the item is. A high repair skill allows you to increase an item's condition when repaired, allowing you to make easy money off of dropped weapons and armor, or keep your equipment from breaking. Without a good repair skill, you'll need to pay traders to repair your equipment, which can get expensive. There are no traders in the game with a repair skill high enough to make most of their prices worthwhile. This skill is possibly worth specializing in, depending on your play style. Being able to maximize your weapon's damage capabilities or your armor's damage resistance should be one of your highest priorities. This is a skill worth tagging.
  • Science - Your science skill affects how easy it is to hack a computer terminal. This skill works almost exactly like lockpick, with each computer having a minimum science value you need to attempt a hack. Computer's often contain useful information, and backstory, journals, logs, hidden information, or general notes may be found spread across the terminals in the Wasteland. A computer being hacked might not always be as necessary as picking a lock; but oftentimes it is much easier to hack a terminal (and much less wasteful in terms of bobbypins) and unlock a safe or door than it is to lockpick the corresponding door, especially at higher levels.
  • Small Guns - Small Guns is probably the most useful skill in the entire game. It determines your damage and ability with the common, standard weapons like Assault Rifles, Pistols, and Shotguns. These are the most common weapons in the game, and you'll also find the most ammo for these types. In general, Small Guns unique weapons are some of the most powerful in terms of damage to range, and damage per ammo per availability, in the game. Specialize in this or energy weapons is fairly essential for basic survival in the Wasteland.
  • Sneak - A good sneak skill makes it harder for NPC's to spot you while you're crouched, which makes pickpocketing and stealing from people much easier. In addition, if you can attack an enemy without being spotted, you'll get a huge damage bonus. Worth investing in if you want to be a sneaky bastard, although stealth is barely necessary at all for most play-styles.
  • Speech - A skill most people will probably ignore, but speech is actually pretty important. A high speech skill allows you to talk information out of NPCs, and often shortens quests or allows you to convince people to help you when otherwise they would not. It also allows you to convince people to pay you more for doing a certain quest. For example, a quest offering you 200 caps could be raised to 400 caps if you pass a speech check. Think about specializing in this one if you're looking at trying to avoid combat. Specialization in Speech is often not necessary, however, as it is much easier to make a save when you encounter a Speech check and simply re-load the save every time you fail until you succeed. It is a tedious method, but it saves skill points for other, much more practical skills.
  • Unarmed - This affects hand-to-hand combat, and weapons like Brass Knuckles that go on your hands. Similar to melee in that you will never use this skill. You can play the entire game without using this skill- don't invest any points here.

Skill Books

As you wander the Wasteland, you'll happen across certain books that will increase your skills by reading them. Each book you read will increase one skill by one point. Here is a listing of the book titles and the skills they correspond to.

Book NameCorresponding Skill
Tales of a Junktown Jerky VendorBarter
US Army: 30 Handy Flamethrower RecipesBig Guns
Nikolai Tesla and YouEnergy Weapons
Duck and Cover!Explosives
Tumblers TodayLockpick
D.C. Journal of Internal MedicineMedicine
Grognak the BarbarianMelee Weapons
Dean's ElectronicsRepair
Big Book of ScienceScience
Guns and BulletsSmall Guns
Chinese Army: Spec Ops Training ManualSneak
Lying, Congressional StyleSpeech
Pugilism IllustratedUnarmed


Perks in Fallout 3 are special abilities you can choose each time you level up. You may only select one perk each time you level up. Some perks have multiple ranks and can be chosen multiple times at different levels, while others are one-time uses. You get a new set of available perks every two levels. In addition, some perks cannot be obtained by leveling up, and must be received through quests.

Level 2

  • Black Widow/ Lady Killer - Ranks: 1, Requirements: None


  • Daddy's Boy/ Daddy's Girl - Ranks: 3, Requirements: INT 4


  • Gun Nut - Ranks: 3, Requirements: AGL 4 + INT 4


  • Intense Training - Ranks: 10, Requirements: None


  • Little Leaguer - Ranks: 3, Requirements: STR 4


  • Swift Learner - Ranks: 3, Requirements: INT 4


  • Thief - Ranks: 3, Requirements: AGL 4 + PER 4


Level 4

  • Child At Heart - Ranks: 1, Requirements: CHR 4


  • Comprehension - Ranks: 1, Requirements: INT 4


  • Educated - Ranks: 1, Requirements: INT 4


  • Entomologist - Ranks: 1, Requirements: INT 4 + Science 40%


  • Iron Fist - Ranks: 3, Requirements: STR 4


  • Scoundrel - Ranks: 3, Requirements: CHR 4


Level 6

  • Bloody Mess - Ranks: 1. Requirements: None


  • Demolition Expert - Ranks: 3, Requirements: Explosives 50%


  • Fortune Finder - Ranks: 1, Requirements: LCK 5


  • Gunslinger - Ranks: 1, Requirements: None


  • Lead Belly - Ranks: 1, Requirements: END 5


  • Toughness - Ranks: 1, Requirements: END 5


Level 8

  • Commando - Ranks: 1, Requirements: None

While using a rifle (or similar two-handed weapon), your accuracy in V.A.T.S.. is significantly increased.

  • Impartial Mediation - Ranks: 1, Requirements: CHR 5


  • Rad Resistance - Ranks: 1, Requirements: END 5


  • Scrounger - Ranks: 1, Requirements: LCK 5


  • Size Matters - Ranks: 3, Requirements: END 5


  • Strong Back - Ranks: 1, Requirements: STR 5 + END 5


Level 10

  • Animal Friend - Ranks: 2, Requirements: CHR 6

With the first rank of Animal Friend, animals simply won't attack. With the second rank, they'll assist you in combat (but not against another animal)

  • Finesse - Ranks: 1, Requirements: None

With the Finesse perk, your chance to score a critical hit on a foe is increased.

  • Here And Now - Ranks: 1, Requirements: None

With the Here And Now perk, you are immediately pumped with EXP which advances you to the next level, including all of the advantages it brings.

  • Mister Sandman - Ranks: 1, Requirements: Sneak 60%

With Mister Sandman, you can instantly kill any sleeping character you come across and gain XP from it.

  • Mysterious Stranger - Ranks: 1, Requirements: LCK 6

With the Mysterious Stranger, an unknown man will appear in VATS occasionally and kill your opponent with a fully loaded .44 Magnum.

  • Nerd Rage! - Ranks: 1, Requirements: INT 5 + Science 50%

You've been pushed around long enough! With Nerd Rage, your strength is raised to 10 and you gain 50% damage resistance whenever your health drops below 20%

  • Night Person - Ranks: 1, Requirements: None

When the sun is down, you gain +2 to Intelligence and +2 to Perception (up to a maximum of 10).

Level 12

  • Cannibal - Ranks: 1, Requirements: None

With the Cannibal perk, you can eat corpses for health. In order to feed, you must be sneaking, and you lose Karma for doing so.

  • Fast Metabolism - Ranks: 1, Requirements: None

With this perk, you receive 20% more health when using Stimpaks.

  • Life Giver - Ranks: 1, Requirements: END 6

With Life Giver, you gain an addition 30 HP.

  • Pyromaniac - Ranks: 1, Requirements: Explosives 60%

With Pyromaniac, fire-based weapons will cause 50% more damage.

  • Robotics Expert - Ranks: 1, Requirements: Science 50%

With the Robotics perk, you will gain 25% damage against any robot that you are fighting. If you manage to sneak up on a robot, you can shut it down permanently by activating it.

  • Silent Running - Ranks: 1, Requirements: AGL 6 + SNK 50

With Silent Running, sneaking won't produce any noise, making it much easier.

  • Sniper - Ranks: 1, Requirements: PER 6 + AGL 6

With this perkm your chance to hit an opponents head in VATS is increased by 25%.

Level 14

  • Adamantium Skeleton - Ranks: 1, Requirements: None

With the Adamantium Skeleton, your limbs will receive only 50% of the damage they normally would.

  • Chemist - Ranks: 1, Requirements: Medicine 60%

With this perk, any Chem that you take will last twice as long.

  • Contract Killer - Ranks: 1, Requirements: None

This perk allows you to take an ear off the corpse of a good character and sell it to an evil vendor for Caps.

  • Cyborg - Ranks: 1, Requirements: Medicine 60% + Science 60%

The Cyborg perk instantly adds +10% damage resistance, poison resistance, and radiation resistance, plus Energy Weapons skill.

  • Lawbringer - Ranks: 1, Requirements: None

Similar to the Contract Killer perk, the Lawbringer allows you to take a finger off an evil characters corpse and sell it to a good vendor for caps.

  • Light Step - Ranks: 1, Requirements: AGL 6 + PER 6

When you have this perk, you will never set off enemy Traps or Mines.

  • Master Trader - Ranks: 1, Requirements: CHR 6 + Barter 60%

With this perk, prices for items are reduced by 25%.

Level 16

  • Action Boy/Girl - Ranks: 1, Requirements: AGL 6

With this perk, you gain an additional 25 points to use in VATS, equivalent to an extra shot or two with your favorite weapon.

  • Better Criticals - Ranks: 1, Requirements: PER 6 + LCK 6

With Better Criticals, any critical hit you score on an opponent will do 50% more damage.

  • Chem Resistant - Ranks: 1, Requirements: Medicine 60%

With Chem Resistant, you are 50% less likely to get addicted to any Chem you take.

  • Tag! - Ranks: 1, Requirements: None

By selecting the Tag! perk, you are allowed to select a fourth skill to Tag, which instantly raises it by 15 points.

Level 18

  • Computer Whiz - Ranks: 1, Requirements: INT 7 + Science 70%

When you select this perk, you gain the special ability to keep trying to hack a terminal when you've been locked out of it (used up all four guesses)

  • Concentrated Fire - Ranks: 1, Requirements: Small Guns 60% + Energy Weapons 60%

With this perk, you gain an automatic +5% chance of hitting a body part in VATS, and when it's targeted again, the chances are once more increased

  • Infiltrator - Ranks: 1, Requirements: PER 7 + LCK 7

With this perk, you can attempt to pick a lock even after you've broken it by forcing it and failing

  • Paralyzing Palm - Ranks: 1, Requirements: Unarmed 70%

With this perk, a hit with the palm strike paralyzes the enemy for 30 seconds.

Level 20

  • Explorer - Ranks: 1, Requirements: None

When you have the Explorer perk, all every location in the Wasteland that you haven't discovered is put on the map for you to find (square with line through it)

  • Ninja - Ranks: 1, Requirements: Sneak 80% + Melee Weapons 80%

With the Ninja perk, you gain a +15% critical chance on every strike when using a melee weapon or unarmed.

  • Grim Reaper's Sprint - Ranks: 1, Requiremets: None

When you have the Grim Reaper's Sprint, your Action Point are instantly restored after exiting VATS, so long as you kill the enemy.

  • Solar Powered - Ranks: 1, Requirements: END 7

With Solar Powered, you gain 2 points of Strength when in the sunlight, including the ability to slowly regain health.

Level 22

  • Puppies! - Ranks: 1, Requirements: None


  • Deep Sleep - Ranks: 1, Requirements: None

You get the Well Rested benefit of +10 EXP no matter what bed you sleep it.

  • Quantum Chemist - Ranks: 1, Requirements: SCI 70+

Every 10 Nuka-Colas in your inventory are automatically turned into Nuka-Cola Quantums.

Level 24

  • Devil's Highway - Ranks: 1, Requirements: Karma Higher Than Very Evil

Your Karma is automatically set to Very Evil.

  • Karmic Rebalance - Ranks: 1, Requirements: Karma Higher/Lower Than Neutral

Your Karma is automatically set to Neutral.

  • Escalator To Heaven - Ranks: 1, Requirements: Karma Lower Than Very Good

You Karma is automatically set to Very Good

  • No Weakness - Ranks: 1, Requirements: None

All SPECIAL stats lower than 5 are raised to 5

Level 26

  • Nerves Of Steel - Ranks: 1, Requirements: AGI 7+

With the Nerves Of Steel perk, your action points regenerate faster than normal.

  • Rad Tolerance - Ranks: 1, Requirements: END 7+

Minor radiation poisoning has no effect on you.

  • Warmonger - Ranks: 1, Requirements: INT 7+

You gain the ability to create custom weapons without having a schematic for it.

Level 28

  • Party Boy/Party Girl - Ranks: 1, Requirements: None

You no longer suffer from the "withdrawal" effects of being addicted to alcohol.

  • Rad Absorption - Ranks: 1, Requirements: END 7+

You radiation level slowly decreases over time.

Level 30

  • Almost Perfect - Ranks: 1, Requirements: None

All SPECIAL stats lower than 9 are raised to 9.

  • Nuclear Anomoly - Ranks: 1, Requirements: None

Whenever your health drops below 20, you erupt into a nuclear explosion that damages both foes and allies.


Some perks can only be gained through completing specific quests.

  • Wired Reflexes- This perk comes from the Replicated Man Quest- discover the android's identity and then tell Zimmer. He will reward you with the Wired Reflexes perk. It grants a 10% higher chance to hit in VATS.
  • Rad Regeneration- This perk comes from the Wasteland Survival Guide- the radiation study, to be specific. Get over 600 rads when Moira asks you to irradiate yourself, then return to her. She'll heal you and you'll get the perk. When you have over 400 rads, crippled limbs will automatically regenerate.
  • Hematophage- This comes after you complete the Blood Ties quest, but only if you left Vance alive. Talk to Vance about the ways of the vampire, and he'll teach you this perk. It allows you to regain 20 HP from blood packs, as opposed to 1 HP normally.
  • Survival- This perk comes from completing the Wasteland Survival Guide. It varies quite a bit depending on what dialog choices you made with Moira and how many optional objectives you completed. It grants either 2%, 4%, or 6% bonuses to poison and radiation resistance (which one you get depending on how many optional objectives you completed), as well as another bonus determined by your speech choices during the quest.
  • Dream Crusher- Talk Moira out of writing the Survival Guide. Enemies get criticals 50% less often
  • Power Armor Training- Get Elder Lyons' permission first, then go tak to Paladin Gunney at the Citadel. He can teach you to use Power Armor.
  • Barkskin- Kill Harold during the Oasis quest by destroying his heart. This perk provides a 5% bonus to damage resistance.
  • Ant Sight- A perk gained from completing the quest Those! without harming the Fire Ant Queen (or by convincing the scientist that killing her and destroying the mutagen was the right thing to do). It grants +1 Perception.
  • Covert Ops [DLC]- This perk is gained in the Operation Anchorage DLC. It is rewarded if the player discovers all ten intel items, and offers +3 to Science, Lockpick, and Small guns skills

Class/Character Guide: Melee-based Character

Introduction and Thanks

This guide will help you with the tips and tricks to building a strong up-close fighter in Fallout 3. Playing F3 with a melee-based character is not easy, as you'll have to be able to soak up bullets, rockets, and grenades before even getting in range to hit back. And when you hit, you better hit hard or you'll take a beating.

This guide was written based upon Fallout 3 without any of the add-ons, like Operation: Anchorage or Broken Steel.

Thanks to the wiki community at

The Vault

, which helped me build up a monster brawler.


Your attributes cannot go above 10 in any circumstance. However, you might notice that I never tell you to pump an attribute up higher than 9. This is because all attributes have an associated Bobblehead that permanently increases them by 1. In some cases, there are multiple ways to permanently increase your stats, in which case you won't want to pump it up more than 8.

For a melee character, Endurance and Luck are extremely important in all cases, as they give you high health and a better chance for a critical attack, respectively. Agility and Strength may also be of interest to you, depending on whether you're going to use melee weapons and/or VATS.


  • Increasing Strength increases your melee skill, melee damage, and carrying capacity.
  • Increasing Strength has no effect on your unarmed skill.

Strength is certainly a SPECIAL attribute worth looking at when building a melee character. The biggest misconception is that Strength affects the unarmed skill; it doesn't. Strength is only important if you plan to use melee weapons, in which case you'll want to raise it to 8 at character creation (there are two ways to permanently increase your Strength in The Capital Wasteland). This will increase your melee skill, which allows you to do more damage with those weapons, and it also gives you a melee damage bonus of .5 HP per Strength point.

Carrying weight is also derived from Strength, which can play into whether or not you'll want to pump it up. On one hand, you'll be able to go on longer treks through the Wasteland before having to sell off your excess gear. On the other, you won't be carrying around a lot of guns, so you should have some spare carrying capacity anyway.

There aren't any perks that require Strength over 5. If you're going to play as an unarmed character, you will want the Iron Fist perk, meaning that you should make sure that your Strength is at least 4.


  • Keep it at 5.

Perception increases the Lockpick skill and gives you more warning of when enemies are around via the HUD. Your mileage may vary on how useful the red markers are, but generally you'll know about your enemies before they know about you with a Perception of 5.

The Better Criticals perk, which gives you a 50% bonus to critical attack damage, is a wonderful perk to take. It requires a Perception of 6.


  • Pump it up to 9 at character creation.

You will die without a high Endurance, as it affects your base HP. You gain an additional 20 HP for each point of Endurance, so by pumping it up to 9 at character creation you wind up with 40% more health than you would if you left it at 5.

Endurance also affects the unarmed skill, giving your punches more....uh, punch with each point. You'll also be more resistant to radiation and poison, and be able to breathe longer underwater.

You will want to get the Toughness perk when it becomes available at level 6. You'll need an Endurance of 5 to get it.


  • Lower it and pick up some Charismatic gear.

Charisma is generally one of the least useful attributes. It's helpful for speech checks, but a low Charisma can be overcome by drinking alcohol and wearing gear that increases it. You'll generally know when you need to speech check people, since it's usually part of a quest, so you can prepare accordingly.

Depending on your preferences, there tends to be a few levels without any particularly useful perks. You can take Intense Training to increase Charisma at those points.

There aren't any Charisma-based perks that you'll need, so you can safely ignore Charisma.


  • Lower it to 3, maybe 4 if you don't feel like tracking down the skill books.

Intelligence is one attribute that many people assume should be high no matter what. After all, it allows you to increase your skills faster by giving you more points at level up. However, skills are pretty easy to increase if you're willing to put in the work. There are skill books abound in the Capital Wasteland, as well as bobbleheads that automatically give you a ten-point boost to your skills.

Even if you're not interested in scouring the Wasteland for the books, keep in mind that you'll be ignoring Small Guns, Big Guns, Energy Weapons, and Explosives since you won't be using them. So you can use what few points you do have and focus on those that affect your melee skills.


  • At least 5 points, but completely dependent on your VATS use.

Each point of agility gives you an additional 2 points for VATS and 2 points to Sneak. These are good bonuses to have, but you'll probably be better off leaving your Agility at 5 and seeking out the Bobblehead to get it up to 6. Your total AP starts at 65, plus any Agility bonus.

You'll want an agility of 6 because of the associated perks. Unless you plan on wading right into your foes with no regard for stealth, you will absolutely want the Silent Running perk. Silent running makes it much easier to sneak up on enemies. Also, the Action Boy perk grants a whopping 25 VATS points, so a VATS user will want it.


  • Pump it up to 8.

While Luck gives a small boost to all skills, you want it because each point of luck gives you an additional 1% chance to score a critical. As part of the Big Trouble In Big Town questline, you can acquire the Lucky 8 Ball, which increases your Luck by 1 point as long as it's in your inventory. You can also get another Lucky 8 Ball randomly from Megaton villagers if you save the town, but the odds on that are very unlikely.

The Better Criticals perk requires a Luck of 6. Better criticals grants 50% more damage from critical hits, making you a complete monster when you get in range of your foes.


Skills are one of the easiest things to increase in Fallout 3. There are numerous skill books lying around, each skill has a bobblehead that grants a ten-point boost, and there is equipment that increases just about everything.

For a melee-based character, you'll be ignoring every gun-related skill, allowing you to focus on those skills that you absolutely need.


Well, this might be the least surprising skill to focus on for a melee character. The higher your skill, the more damage you'll dish out, and the less damage you'll take when blocking. If you plan on getting the Ninja perk, then you should tag Melee.

In order to get the Ninja Perk, which you will most likely want, you need a Melee skill of 80. The Ninja perk is useful for both unarmed and melee characters. If you want that perk, you should invest in Melee regardless of whether you fight with or without weapons.


The other route for melee-based characters is unarmed. There are several "unarmed weapons" in the game, like brass knuckles and the power fist, which makes Unarmed a viable combat option. Like melee, you can block when unarmed, though blocking doesn't help against guns.

If your unarmed skill is at or above 70, you can - and should - pick up the Paralyzing Palm perk.


One thing is certain about being a melee character; you are going to take a lot of damage. You'll definitely want to pump up Medicine, and find as many D.C. Journals of Internal Medicine that you can find.

The only Medicine-related perk of interest is Cyborg, which gives you 10% damage resistance. You'll need a Medicine skill of 60 to get it.


Science is generally useful to hack computers. However, it's primary interest to you is the Cyborg perk, which requires a Science skill of 60.


There is only one reason why you would need a high explosives score. The shiskebab deals fire damage, which is amplified by the Pyromaniac perk. Pyromaniac requires an Explosives skill of 60. If you plan on specializing in melee, the Shishkebab coupled with the Pyromaniac perk is the best weapon that you can get.


A side-effect of soaking up bullets is that your gear is going to constantly need repairing. While you don't absolutely have to increase Repair, it's worthwhile to invest your spare skill points into it, if only to keep your equipment in better shape.


Sneak will save your hide. Unless you're the type of person who runs into battle, screaming out bloody murder, you'll want to get your sneak skill as high as you can get it to avoid taking unneccesary damage.


To overcome the limitations of close-in fighting, several of Fallout's perks give the brawlers a better chance of kicking ass.

Black Widow/Lady Killer

Black Widow/Lady Killer lets you deal 10% more damage to members of the opposite sex. Typically, you'll run into males so this benefits the ladies a bit more. The extra damage will come in handy, especially in the early stages of the game when you'll need as much help as you can get. The dialogue options that this perk grants are a nice bonus, but not very important in the grand scheme of things.


Since you've likely lowered your Intelligence, you will need to supplement the loss of skill points through reading books. Comprehension gives you two points for every book read. The perk can obtained at Level 2 (aka, right when you leave Vault 101), and will prove its worth as the game goes on.

Iron Fist x3

For those choosing the path of the empty fist, this perk is very useful. With three ranks, your unarmed attacks will do an extra 15 points of damage. So either skip Iron Fist, or take 3 ranks in it.


Toughness grants you 10% damage reduction permanently. You will certainly want this perk as soon as you can get it at level 6.


Finesse gives you a +5% chance to do a critical hit on an enemy, which is a very nice boost. You should definitely take this perk.

Life Giver

You may find yourself without any particularly attractive perks to take at certain levels. The 30 HP boost from Life Giver is not a bad choice for these situations, especially if you're finding yourself close to death quite a bit. If HP is not a huge concern, this can be passed up for Intense Training.


At first, this might seem an odd perk to take. However, the Shiskebab is a fire-based weapon, and its damage is increased by 50% by the Pyromaniac perk. This makes it the most powerful melee weapon in the game.

Silent Running

Silent running will make your life much, much easier. Enemies will rarely detect you, provided that you've been increasing Sneak as you've traveled through the Wasteland.


Cyborg grants you 10% damage resistance, which will be extremely useful in combat. It does have a high requirements, but it's worth upping your Science and Medicine to get it. Besides, Science and Medicine will certainly come in handy anyway.

Action Boy/Girl

This is a great perk to take, provided you use VATS extensively, as it gives you a huge 25 point AP boost. If you're not a VATS user, however, skip it and take something else, like Intense Training or Life Giver.

Better Criticals

You will absolutely want this perk, as it allows you to deal unholy damage with critical strikes.

Paralyzing Palm

Paralyzing Palm gives you about a 1:3 chance to disable your foe if you hit them in VATS with an unarmed attack. If so, they fall over in a heap for 30 seconds, which is more than enough time to dispatch them.


Ninja grants you an extra 15% chance for a critical strike, and an extra 25% damage from a sneak critical hit with unarmed or melee attacks. If you manage to sneak up on your enemy, which you probably will, you're just about guaranteed to kill them.

However, you'll need a very high melee skill to be eligible to take Ninja. If you're an unarmed player, you'll still benefit from Ninja, but you'll have to also train up melee quite a bit.

Grim Reaper's Sprint

If you've been pumping up Stealth and Melee, it's a hard decision on whether you should take this or Ninja. Both are amazing perks. VATS gives you the advantage of being able to close the last dozen feet on your enemy without taking fire, making Grim Reaper's Sprint extremely valuable when you're facing off in tight spaces against groups of foes.


Sometimes the clothes do not make the man, but in Fallout 3 they certainly make a difference.

Weapon: Shishkebab

The Shiskebab is a very good melee weapon on its own, but when coupled with the pyromaniac perk, it becomes one of the most powerful weapons in the game. If you plan on using weapons, this is the one to get.

Weapon: Deathclaw Gauntlet

The Deathclaw Gauntlet is the ultimate "unarmed weapon." If you look at its stats, it might not appear so fearsome. It's damage looks to be equivalent to the Power Fist. However, the Deathclaw Gauntlet ignores target defense. This means that it will do as much damage to a mole rat as it will to a soldier wearing Enclave Power Armor.

Additionally, it increases your chance for a critical hit by 5x, and does an additional 150% damage whenever you perform a critical hit. If you target an enemy with VATS (which increases your critical chance by 15%), there is a very high probability that they will get wiped out by this weapon. If you have the paralyzing palm technique, you'll likely knock the enemy unconscious anyway, even if you can't kill them in one go.

Helmet: Hockey Mask

Ok, primarily the Hockey Mask is great because it looks scary as hell. But it also gives you five points to your unarmed skill. If you run into Goalie Ledoux, as part of the Just For The Taste Of It quest, he has a unique variant that also gives you +25 AP.

The only downside to the Hockey Mask is that you cannot wear any other headgear with it, like sunglasses, helmets, or the Ghoul Mask.

Armor: Ranger Battle Armor

This is given to you as a quest reward, and is probably a better fit for a melee character than Power Armor. For one, it gives a +1 to Luck, increasing your odds of a critical strike and +5 AP for use with VATS. It's also relatively low weight, has pretty good damage resistance, doesn't slow you down when wearing it, doesn't affect enemies detecting you in sneak, and can be repaired easily.

Misc: Lucky Eight Ball

The Lucky Eight Ball can be obtained in Big Town. While you carry it, you automatically receive +1 to Luck. It's also possible that a resident of Megaton will give this to you if you save the town, but it's extremely unlikely.

Combat & The Brawler

A few tips for those who would bring a knife to a gun fight.

Minimizing Damage

As a melee character, it's very hard to avoid damage outright. However, with careful planning, strong equipment, and good use of VATS you can manage the amount of punishment that your soft, fleshy body will take.

Firstly, it's imperative to take every opportunity to increase your natural Damage Resistance. This can be done through perks, like Toughness and Cyborg, or as quest rewards, like Oasis or The Wasteland Survival Guide. When going into a particularly nasty battle, you can give yourself a temporary boost by using Med-X.

Once you've outfitted your character to be able to take a beating, you should focus on your combat strategy. The biggest hurdle that a melee character faces is closing the distance to an enemy that is filling you full of bullets. This is why sneak is so important, and why the Silent Running perk absolutely necessary. It makes getting right up to the enemy a lot easier, as well as allowing you to followup with a nasty critical hit. You should also take advantage of VATS. You can target an enemy in VATS when you're still a few yards away. By targeting the enemy in VATS, which is an automatic hit, you'll instantly close the gap and not take any damage at all.

VATS Pros and Cons

VATS is generally very useful, since you can attack without getting hit back, you can close the last few meters without taking damage, and there's a 15% higher chance for a critical strike. Also, if you have the Paralyzing Palm perk, an unarmed attack has about a 30% of knocking down the enemy.

However, melee attacks cannot target body parts using VATS. In some cases, you might want to knock the gun out of your foe's hands; you'll need to target the gun manually to disarm your foe.

Damage Per Second

You might be impressed by the stats of a Super Sledge. After all, it deals a bunch of damage. Small and quick weapons may do less damage per swing, but they swing much faster, allowing you to do significantly more damage in the same amount of time that it takes to swing that heavy sledgehammer once.

Boss Fight!: The Behemoth

How in the name of all that's holy will you ever take down a Behemoth? It's not an easy task, but it is possible. Before you approach the Behemoth, make sure you save your game.

Your best bet is to soften it up a bit by using the very obvious traps, like the artillery at Takoma Park, or enemies/NPCs. Talon Company mercs, raiders, Regulators, and the Brotherhood of Steel tend to get the behemoths' attention, giving you some time to hide out and let them do a bit of damage to it. Protip: if you free the behemoth at Evergreen Mills and lead it to Jury Street Metro, it will fight the other behemoth there.

You'll also want to fight the behemoth in a spot that has a wrecked building, or a similar structure that you can hide in where the behemoth can't fit. GNR, for instance, has plenty of hideout spots. This is where a stealthy approach comes in handy. You can hide out, then sneak up on the behemoth to get a critical strike in. If you're an unarmed specialist, and have the paralyzing palm attack, a full barrage of VATS strikes should knock the monster out, allowing you to tear it up with the Deathclaw Gauntlet. Because that weapon ignores target defense, it will do pretty good damage to it. If the Behemoth isn't knocked out, then go back into the building and hide again, waiting for it to drop its guard.


Below is a short tutorial on the lockpick and hacking minigames in the game.


Lockpicking is the easiest minigame, and is also the most frequent. You can try to pick locks to many objects found throughout the Wasteland, including doors, ammunition boxes, and more. Your ability to pick locks depends on the Lockpicking skill. The higher it is, the more difficult locks you can attempt to bypass. In order to lockpick, you must have bobby pins in your inventory.

Lockpicking is simple. When you attempt it, the game will pause and an image of the lock will appear along with a bobby pin and a screwdriver (which you always have with you). Using the left stick, you can move the bobby pin around the keyhole. With the right stick, you apply torque to the bobby pin to try and open it. If you are in the right spot, the lock will completely turn. If you are in the wrong spot, the lock will stop and the controller will vibrate. If you continue moving the bobby pin down in the same direction and the lock stops sooner, you are going the wrong way.

For Very Easy locks, all you need to do is spin the lock without moving the bobby pin. For Easy locks, very little positioning is needed. Average locks require more precision, but you can sometimes get lucky and open the lock without having to move the bobby pin at all. Hard locks require lots of precision, and Very Hard locks require you to be spot on in order to have success.


Hacking is less frequent than lockpicking and is a bit more difficult. Computers that must be hacked can contain random information about the Fallout universe or important quest related info.

Terminals are much rarer than locked doors, but thankfully hacking is much easier to do and less risky. The hacking minigame is a bit confusing, so here's an explanation: When you choose an incorrect password, you'll see a fraction on the screen like 2/9 correct. This does not mean that you got two of the letters correct. What that means is you have two of the letters in the correct position. For example: The real password is FALLOUT. You choose the ROLLOUT option. You would have 5/7 correct, because the LLOUT is in the same position in both words. For example, if you typed in EFFECTS, you would have 0/7 correct, because even though FALLOUT and EFFECTS share some of the same letters, they're not in the right positions. A handy tip for hacking terminals - when you get down to 1 guess, just exit the terminal and restart the process. You'll never get locked out this way. Also, there are some groups of characters that start with [ and end in ], and some that start in ( and end in ). If you skim through the terminal and the computer highlights these groups, click on those. The result is that they will either remove an incorrect password from the terminal, or they will replenish your amount of picks. By doing this, you can sometimes narrow down the amount of choices to just one word, allowing you to unlock the computer within a minute.

Main Questline

This here will be your guide to the main storyline of Fallout 3- the missions you need to undertake to beat the game. Of course, there are plenty of diversions, but you can find those in the other sections in the table of contents to your right. This will just guide you down the story missions. Keep in mind however, that once you finish the storyline, you cannot play after you've beaten the game- at least not until the release of the Broken Steel DLC in March. So if there's side stuff you want to do, make sure you do it before starting the last mission.

Vault 101

Your journey in Fallout begins as you are born-- the game literally starts with you sliding out of your mother. As you pop out, you will name our character and determine your appearance- neihter of which really matter too much, since you'll only see your name on the pause screen, and you'll be playing from a first person view, so don't sweat these too much. There will also be opportunities to have facial reconstruction surgery and get haircuts later in the game, so even your appearance isn't final.

Early Childhood

You early childhood is simple enough, with little challenge. It's a series of related vignettes, skipping ahead in time, showing important scenes from your childhood. You'll start out being born- all you can do is press A to cry.

Next, you'll be a baby. Your dad will leave and you need to escape the crib- simply walk out through the gate. after you're out, head over to the book on the ground and activate it. This lets you set your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attributes (Don't worry, you'll have a chance to respec before the true game really starts if you reconsider your choices). After you set your attributes, your dad will come back and talk to you a bit. Follow him out the door, then the scene ends.

It picks up next at your tenth birthday party. There are a bunch of guests- talk to all of them and be social. Butch will pick a fight with you, but Officer Gomez will break it up before anything serious can happen. Eventually, your dad will approach you and ask if you want your present from him. Follow him out of the room and down to Stanley. They'll reveal their present for you- a BB gun. Go practice with the BB Gun, then shoot the Radroach and go take the picture with your father.

Next scene it's time to take your G.O.A.T. Before you leave your father's office, make sure to snag the Medicine Bobblehead off of his desk. Walk to the classroom, dealing with Butch and his gang on the way if you want. Enter the classroom, then sit in an empty desk. The G.O.A.T test is ten questions or so. After you take it, go talk to your teacher by the door. Talk with him about your test results, and leave when you're satisfied.


You're now 19 years old. After being rudely awaken by your best friend Amata, you'll learn about your father's escape from the Vault. Jonas, your dad's assistant, is dead, and Vault 101 has been thrown into chaos. When she offers a 10mm pistol to you, take it. After you're done talking, grab everything from your desk and equip the baseball bat; you'll want to save the pistol and ammo. Also, if you did not take Grognak The Barbarian from Amata during your 10th birthday, it will be in one of your cabinets. Grab it before leaving.

Follow your compass and you should run into Butch. He'll ask you to save his mom from the radroaches. You can either ignore him, give him a weapon, convince him to kill them himself, or go in and do it. If you do save his mom, he'll give you his Tunnel Snakes Jacket. Moving along, follow your compass. You'll run into Officer Gomez. You can either let him live or kill him. Either way, keep moving forward. Eventually, you'll find the Overseer and Officer Mack interrogating Amata. If you didn't take her 10mm, she'll kill Mack herself. Otherwise, you'll have to do it. Talk to the Overseer. Either kill him, much to Amata's dismay, or convince him to give you his password. No matter what you do, keep going. You'll run into Jonas' corspe along the way. Loot it and continue on. When you get to the Overseer's computer, input the password or hack it if you didn't retrieve it. The desk will open up, revealing a hidden passageway. Move through the hallways and you'll come to the Vault 101 entrance. A few guards will come after you, but won't follow. When you get to the wooden door, you have the option of changing anything about your character. When you are done, escape!

Following In His Footsteps

After exiting Vault 101, you'll be confronted with your first view of the Wasteland. It's pretty spectacular. After a bit of observation, your character will ping up to level 2. Upgrade your stats as you wish, then walk forward through the abandoned town. You'll see some signs pointing to Megaton, follow the arrows, and you'll see a large walled area. This is Megaton. At the entrance you'll see a trading caravan near a two-headed cow (Don't bother with them, you have no money), a man on the ground who will ask you for purified water- which you have none of- and a robotic deputy near the entrance. Go past the robot, and enter the Megaton gates.

After entering, you'll be approached by the sheriff of Megaton. He looks kinda like a cowboy. Lucas Simms will tell you about the state of the law in Megaton, and answer any questions you have. He doesn't know anything about your father though, so his usefulness is limited. You can convince him to let you take a look at the bomb in the middle of Megaton though.

Moriarty's Saloon.

The main quest in Megaton has you heading to Moriarty's Saloon. Either go in through the front door and ask Moriarty about your father (it will cost you 100 caps to get the information), or sneak in the back by Moriarty's computer- pick the lock on the door from the outside, or try and sneak around inside. Another way to do it is to agree to do a job for him and get caps from his previous employer named Silver down in Springvale. This is probably the better way to get info, because if you kill her, you can keep a lot of her caps.

Right by the terminal is a cabinet containing Moriarty's password. Log on to his computer, and check out the "visitors" option. From there, select "James (Vault 101)". It contains some information on your father, as well as giving you your next clue.

Apparently he headed off to Galaxy News Radio to get the lay of the (Waste)land. If you ask Nova about Galaxy News Radio, she'll give you some information, and your business in Megaton is finished, for now- although there are plenty of side-quests to take on in this ramshackle town. But if you're after your father, it's time to locate Galaxy News Radio.

*Note: It is recommended at this point (should the player be interested) that you complete the Power of Atomsidequest. This will provide you with a house and storage very early on, allowing you to organize and outfit yourself much better for future Wasteland adventures.*

Galaxy News Radio

If you're in a lazy mood, this portion of the quest can be completely skipped. However, the quest won't count as completed, and you won't receive any related achievements/trophies or EXP. If you want to go on ahead, just head straight to Rivet City without helping Three Dog. If you talk to Dr. Li at Rivet City, then go back and help Three Dog by completing the quest, he will give you the location of a weapons cache of his.

Head back out into the Wasteland from Megaton. Galaxy News Radio is in the ruins of D.C, and quite a trek from Megaton, so make sure you're set on ammo and healing items. If you follow the arrow on your compass, it should lead you to a metro station. Enter the metro station, and keep following your arrow. There are some small pests in the tunnels, but nothing too challenging until you reach the station at the other end of the tunnel. The station is occupied by Super Mutants and Feral Ghouls. This is probably the first time you've run across Super Mutants, and they're beasts. The best way to take on a Super Mutant is to attack from range with a gun, then switch to grenades when they get close, as grenades will take away large chunks of their health, even if you have a low explosives skill. Knocking away their weapon with VATS also greatly helps.

Clear out this station, then head up the stairs and exit out into the D.C ruins. As soon as you leave the metro station, you'll notice a fight is going on. Some Super Mutants are fighting off a Brotherhood of Steel strike squad. Keep your head down and let the Brotherhood do their thing. Once all the Super Mutants are dead, go talk to one of the soldiers. They'll escort you back to the GNR building, but there is heavy resistance on the way, so be ready for a fight. This is the first time you've fought alongside allies, so try not to hit them. The Brotherhood is quite effective, but combat goes quicker with you pitching in as well.

The remains of the Galaxy News Radio building

You'll reach the GNR building, but it's locked against the Super Mutants. You and the Brotherhood have to hold your position against a wave of Super Mutants. After you've defeated those guys, a Super Mutant Behemoth will break out and attack you. Stay near the entrance to GNR, up near the sandbag, and the Behemoth should ignore you. This guy has a ton of health, but the combined firepower of you and the Brotherhood soldiers will take him down. Once the Behemoth is dead, go loot his corpse, then enter the GNR building. Be sure to check around for all of the loot and ammo that can be procured from both the Super Mutant's and the Brotherhood soldier's bodies. A Fat Man tactical nuke launcher and a few mini-nukes are found on Initiate Reddin, several sets of power armor are strewn about, and assault rifles/5.56mm rounds should be prevelant in the area too.

Three Dog is upstairs in his studio, waiting for you. Talk to him about your dad, and he'll reveal he knows where he headed off to, but isn't going to straight up tell you. If you have a high enough speech skill, you can talk the information out of him and skip the second part of this quest. Unless you're in a rush, you might as well do it so you can not only discover some more locations in the DC area but you'll also get plenty of EXP from killing Super Mutants. Otherwise, he'll ask you to retrieve a new satellite dish for him to put on the Washington Monument. Note that, if you have already skipped this part of the story and talked to Doctor Li in Rivet City about your father, Three Dog will reward you with a key to a military arms cache in Hamilton's Hideaway instead.

Museum of Technology

After you've had your chat with Three DAWG (Make sure to ask him for the locations of the Museum and the Washington Monument), exit the GNR building. Follow your quest arrow into a nearby metro station. Follow the metro line until you get to the Museum of Technology- don't worry if you get lost, it happens to all of us. Once you get to the Museum station, head up the stairs and out the exit. The route is crawling with enemies, so make sure to come prepared with plenty of ammo and Stimpacks.

Once you're inside the Museum of Technology, you want to locate the Virgo II Lunar Lander. This is located in the West Wing of the building. In order to access this lander, you'll have to go through the Vault-Tec demonstration. The West Wing is crawling with Super Mutants, so be ready for a tough fight. The Virgo II Lunar Lander is guarded fiercely, by a Super Mutant Master and a few other Super Mutants (Sometimes there will be Brutes here as well). Grenades are recommended to take out these guys, as at such a low level, your guns aren't likely to do much damage.

After you've killed all the Super Mutants, walk up to the Lunar Lander and activate it, which allows you to remove the satellite dish. Take the dish and exit the museum. Look around for the towering Washinton Monument, and head towards it. There is a Brotherhood garisson at the base, so you won't have to worr about enemies. Head to the terminal and punch in the passcode (Which you got at the beginning of the quest) to open the gate. Enter the monument, ride the elevator up to the top, then interact with the broken broadcast equipment to mend it. Return to Three Dog at GNR and talk with him to end the quest.

*Note: Be careful when interacting with terminals throughout the Museum- there are 3 terminals that are linked to the unmarked "Hey Jiggs!" Sidequest, which can easily be lost forever if the player chooses a bad option. Refer to the details in the Sidequest sections below for more information.

Scientific Pursuits

Dr. Li's Science Lab

Three Dog will tell you to go to Rivet City and talk with Doctor Li there. Rivet City is a beached US Navy aircraft carrier in the South-East corner of your map. It's probably already marked on your map if you asked around on Megaton, as someone there (forget who) will tell you the location. You can either travel through the metro tunnels to get there, or you an travel overland through the DC ruins. Traveling above-ground is much faster, as all you need to do is follow the river down (recommended to be done on the West bank of the river), swim across, dodge the Jefferson Memorial, and walk up to Rivet City. This may not be as safe as taking the Metro Tunnels, but it will probably save you a lot of time, and you can easily run from enemies.

Once you reach Rivet City, head to the Science Lab- the signs within the ship should point the way- and talk to Dr. Li. She will immediately go on about how much you look like your father, which should alert you that you're in the right place. Speak to her about your father a bit, and she'll reveal that he was in Rivet City recently, trying to convince her to start work back up on a "Project Purity". She turned him down, and he set off for his old lab, alone, to resume research. If you inquire further, she'll reveal that he's at the Jefferson Memorial.

The Memorial is really quite close to Rivet City (You should have passed it on the way if you followed the river down.), so you may as well saddle up and get ready to head out again- be warned, it's infested with Super Mutants. Follow your quest arrow and it should lead you straight to the memorial. You'll face some Super Mutants, mostly using Nail Boards, but they're quickly dispatched with a shotgun or assault rifle- if you're still using a pistol at this point, it's time to upgrade. Kill the Super Mutants patrolling outside, and you'll enter through the gift shop.

Inside is a Centaur- hit it from long range where it can't reach you. Luckily only one of those monsters in in here, just a bunch of Super Mutants remain. Move through the Memorial, slowly clearing out the Super Mutants. Your goal is the Rotunda in the center of the Memorial. When you reach it, there are several Super Mutants, including a Brute. Kill them, then head up into the control center. Your dad, obviously, is not here. Look around and you'll find three holotapes on top of a computer. Pick them up, listen to them, and you'll know your destination. Vault 112.

Even if you haven't discovered Vault 112, or Evergreen Mills (The locations your father mentions in his diaries), a destination marker will be automatically placed on your map, pointing to Vault 112. It's quite a trip from anywhere you've been to at this point, depending on whether or not you're progressing through the Main Quest without doing many side-activities. If you haven't been exploring, the closest you can get is probably Vault 101. Fast-travel to Vault 101, then head out towards Vault 112. As usual, make sure you're full up on stimpacks and gear. The Raider camp of Evergreen Mills is between Vault 101 and Vault 112. Unless you're spoiling for a fight, I suggest skirting around it and heading straight for the Vault. Vault 112 is hidden inside Smith Casey's Garage, with the hatch to the vault on the floor. Dispatch the mole rats, hit the switch on the wall near the Vault cover, and head down into 112.

One of our commenters has noted that companion characters tend to vanish when you enter Tranquility Lane for quite a long time before reappearing in their original locations. Even though they are not with you, they still count as a character in your party and prevent you from hiring anyone new. According to Muktor, it takes about 2 in-game weeks for your companion to reappear in their starting area. It may be a good idea to fire your companions before entering Tranquility Lane just as a precaution, or tell him/her to wait somewhere.

You'll see a Robobrain which will greet you. Take the outfit it gives you and equip it, then head down the stairs and through the doors. Clamber into the simulation chair, and get ready to experience Tranquility Lane.

Tranquility Lane

Tranquility Lane is a simulated version of 1950's suburban America, with a dark twist.

Once you enter the pod, you'll find yourself in Tranquility Lane, a virtual-reality simulation in which all the residents of the Vault are living. As soon as you start off, you'll be told to go see Betty, on the playground. Betty seems to know who your father is, and she seems to be in control of the situation. However, to learn about your father, you will have to perform a series of escalatingly terrible tasks for Betty. You can do as Betty asks, which will always result in bad Karma, or you can enter an override code to exit the simulation without dealing with Betty.

Betty's Tasks

The tasks Betty will ask you to do are as follows. Betty will allow you to ask her one question after each task, which she will answer completely truthfully. Her tasks are:

  1. Make Timmy Cry: Little Timmy is the kid running the lemonade stand. There are several ways to make him cry. The easiest is to just punch him. You can also speak to him and convince him that his parents are getting a divorce and it's all his fault. Another way is to find the pamphlet for the military school and give it to him, convincing him his parents are sending him away. You can also kill both his parents, then go tell Timmy that they're dead. After you've made Timmy cry, return to Betty.
  2. Break up the Rockwells: This part is fairly easy, with several solutions again. Easiest way is to tell Mrs. Rockwell her husband has been cheating on her, which she believes no problem. You can also take the lingerie from the Simpson household and put it on Mr. Rockwell's desk then tell his wife he is a cross-dresser. The final way to do it is to read Mrs. Rockwell's diary, take the rolling pin from the kitchen, then go beat Mrs. Simpson to death with it, then show it to Mr. Rockwell. Once they've broken up, return to Betty.
  3. Next, Betty will ask you to arrange a creative death for Mrs. Henderson. You cannot beat her to death, as this is "uncreative" and unsuitable for Betty. There are quite a few fun ways to end Mrs Henderson's life within her house. You can fiddle with the chandelier to drop whenever someone walks beneath it. You can place rollerskates on the stairs, which will make Mrs. Henderson fall down the stairs and die. You can also fiddle with the pilot light on the oven, then ask Mrs. Henderson to make you a pie, which results in her dying a fiery death. The other option is to hack her security terminal and set her own security robot against her. Return to Betty.
  4. Finally, Betty wants you become the pint-sized slasher. Go get the gear from the shed, and kill everybody on Tranquility Lane. Once you've completed this task, Betty will reveal your father to you, and allow you to exit the simulation.

Override Code

If you just want to enter the override code, head into the abandoned house. You'll see an assortment of junk which you can "activate". If you hit these in the right order, it will activate the override code. The correct override code is: Radio, Pitcher, Gnome, Pitcher, Cinderblock, Gnome, Bottle. If you put that code in, a security terminal will appear in the house. Go activate it, then activate the Chinese Invasion protocol, which will spawn a bunch of Chinese soldiers in the middle of Tranquility Lane and open the exit from the simulation. Exit through the door next to Betty. However, the stuff Betty asks you to do is pretty fun, although you will lose Karma for following her instructions (and gain Karma for putting the poor citizens of Vault 112 out of their misery).

The Waters of Life

As soon as you pop out of the simulator, you'll get a chance to speak to you father for the first time since he left the Vault. Speak to him about Project Purity, the G.E.C.K, why he left the Vault, whatever you want to know. Your father needs to go back to Rivet City and talk with Dr. Li. He'll ask you to escort him back, but that's absolutely unnecessary, as he can make his way back on his own. Tell him you'll meet him in Rivet City, then go amuse yourself for a while, as he will actually walk in real time back across the Wasteland. If you want to check his location, look at your world map- he'll be marked as a quest arrow (Rivet City is marked as a quest arrow too, when there is only one full quest marker on your map your dad made it). At this point in time, it may be beneficial to explore the entirety of Vault 112 if you haven't already. A supply of weapons, ammo, some extra armor, and a few other supplies can be found in a few of the rooms around the main chamber.

Once your father is back at Rivet City, travel there and head down to the Science Lab. Your dad and Dr. Li are having a conversation, and eventually your dad convinces Dr. Li to help reboot Project Purity. Talk to him, and he'll ask you to meet him and Dr Li's team there. Cowboy up, and travel out to the Jefferson Memorial. The scientists are all outside the gift shop entrance. Your dad will ask you to go inside and clear out the Super Mutants in there, alone. Despite this being a dick move, there is no other way to progress than to do his request.

Likely you already wiped out all the enemies in the Gift Shop and Rotunda on your first visit, so you only need to head to the sub-basement. There are some Super Mutants down there, but not too many. Your quest journal will update when you've eliminated all the Mutants in the facility, so if it doesn't update, there are still Mutants to kill. Return to the scientists and escort them to the control room of Project Purity. If you'd like, you can head to your father's quarters and pick up a bunch of his old Project Purity journals for some nice back-story.

Next, you're apparently expected to act as a janitor. Why did we save this guy again? Your father will ask you to go perform some maintenance.

  1. First you need to activate the Flood Pump in the basement- your quest arrow will lead you to it.
  2. Return to your father, who will give you some new fuses and tell you to go replace some broken fuses. Your quest arrow will just lead you to a locked door- the generator is BELOW the locked door- take the stairs then follow your arrow again.
  3. Head back up through the locked door you just unlocked by powering the fuses, and activate the mainframe in that room. Talk to your dad over the intercom after that, and he'll tell you to go clear some pipes.
  4. Head into the pipes, and activate the little valve. As soon as you do that, you'll see an Enclave Helicopter land, and a bunch of soldiers will pile out. Your dad's voice will come over the intercom, and you need to get back to the control room

Head out the opposite side of the pipe you came from, you'll be in the Memorial basement again. Now, however, you'll have to deal with Enclave Soldiers. These guys are no joke, armed with Power Armor more advanced than the Brotherhood's, and Plasma-based weaponry that will fry you rather quickly. Move through the Memorial, back to the control center. Once you reach the control center, you'll see your dad talking to an Enclave officer. You can't do anything, so just watch the scene unfold.

Once your dad does his thing, you need to help Dr. Li and the other scientists escape. Dr. Li will lead you to a secret escape tunnel. However, none of the scientists can fight, and the tunnel is overrun with Feral Ghouls, so you need to take point. You can arm Daniel Agincourt with a gun if he survived, but ghouls kill him pretty quick usually. Plasma Rifles, if you looted one off the Enclave Soldiers, are especially effective against the Ghouls here. At a point, Dr. Li will demand you stop and deal with Garza, who has a heart condition. You can either give her the five stimpacks she demands, convince him to take some Buffout instead, convince Dr. Li to leave him behind, or just flat-out kill him on the spot. After you've dealt with him, keep moving down the tunnels. You'll reach a large door. Unlock it, and there's a Brotherhood soldier behind it. Quickly run behind his little bunker, and get the civilians to follow you- a large ghoul attack is triggered when you open the door. The Brotherhood soldier has a flamethrower, but he won't hesitate to torch you or the scientists if you get in his way.

Loot whatever the Brotherhood soldier has in case he dies (he does so often if you don't help him with the ghouls). There's a ton of ammo and weapons behind the Brotherhood soldier, so loot those, then head topside to finish the quest and gain entrance to the Citadel.

Picking Up The Trail

As soon as you reach the Citadel, your objective is to obtain a G.E.C.K. Your basic Brotherhood soldiers will know nothing of it, and Dr. Li will direct you towards Scribe Rothchild. Scribe Rothchild knows nothing directly of the G.E.C.K., but he can direct you to an old Vault-Tec computer with listings of all the Vaults in the area. The computer is in A-Ring. Activate it, and look through the Vault listings. As it turns out, Vault 87 was issued a G.E.C.K, so that's your next objective. Go talk to Scribe Rothchild again, and investigate about the Vault. He'll take you to a large map, which reveals the locations of all the Vaults in the Capital Wasteland (Useful if you hadn't found Vault 92 for Agatha's Song yet, or gone to the Vault-Tec HQ).

However, despite knowing the location, according to Rothchild the entrance is inaccessible, because of heavy radiation. He'll suggest going through the nearby Lamplight Caverns to try and find a back entrance. Lamplight Caverns will be marked on your map for you to trek to.

Little Lamplight

Once you enter Lamplight Caverns, you will find that there is a settlement there. Little Lamplight is a town inside the caves, populated solely by children under 16. As you try to enter, the mayor of the town will stop you at the gate. He'll ask what you need in Little Lamplight. At this point, he will refuse to let you in. You have three ways to enter Little Lamplight:

  1. Win the speech challenge against the mayor
  2. Use the Child at Heart perk dialog option to gain entrance
  3. Rescue some Little Lamplighters from Paradise Falls slaving camp (if you haven't already).

If you haven't invested in either speech or Child at Heart, you'll have no choice but to head to Paradise Falls. However, if you do have the speech or Child at Heart, you can entirely skip the Rescue from Paradise.

Rescue From Paradise

This quest is optional, and can be skipped with either the Child at Heart perk, or a speech challenge, either of which will gain you entrance to Little Lamplight. However, if you don't have the Child at Heart perk, and cannot win the speech challenge, you will be forced to do this before you can proceed.

It turns out some Little Lamplighters have been kidnapped by the slavers from Paradise Falls. If you rescue them, you can gain entrance to Little Lamplight. Head off to Paradise Falls. When you arrive, you'll find that you cannot gain entrance diplomatically, unless you can talk Grouse into taking a (rather large) bribe, or by enslaving one of his VIP contracts (Strictly Business quest). If your karma is very bad, you'll be let in for free.

You can always just blast your way in- in the case of Paradise Falls, a complete massacre will actually result in good karma, so keep that in mind. Simply wiping out the whole camp is the easiest way to do the quest, although the slavers do put up fairly heavy resistance.

You have several diplomatic options here after you've gained entrance peacefully. Your first is to simply buy the kids from Eulogy for 2000 caps (1200 with a good enough speech skill). You can set the kids free back to Lamplight, and now you can enter Little Lamplight next time you return.

You can also go talk to the children through the slave pen fence, and they'll ask you to rescue them. They'll first ask you to gun everyone down and let them out. If you balk at that, you can rewire a junction box (Repair 40), or hack Eulogy's computer (Science 50). After doing either of these, you're supposed to go talk to the children again. They'll ask you to distract the guard Forty for them so they can go escape.

Approach Forty and begin talking to him. If you can convince him to see Eulogy Jones about a raise, he'll leave his post. Go back and talk to Sammy and Squirrel and they'll leave through a bathroom drain. However, the other child, Penny, will refuse to go. Talk to her, and she reveals that she won't leave unless you can rescue Rory to, who is locked in the box. At this point, it's possible to convince her to leave without Rory with a high enough speech skill. If you want to rescue Rory, you'll need the key to the Box. You can pickpocket it off either Eulogy or Forty.

If you tried to sneak through without alerting the slavers, at this point you're just fucked. Rory is a grown man, and can't sneak out. Your only option is to blast your way out. All that careful planning and subterfuge, and at the end, you have to go out guns blazing anyways. If you can convince Penny to leave without Rory, or convince the other kids to leave without Penny, you won't piss off Paradise Falls. However, there's no way to rescue Rory without attracting the venom of the slavers.

To complete the quest, talk to the kids outside the gate. They'll thank you and say you're welcome in Little Lamplight anytime, then run off.

Entering Vault 87

After you've gained entrance to Little Lamplight, you need to find your way into Vault 87. You can either convince the mayor to let you in through Murder Pass- which is infested with enemies and is a bit of a struggle, or you can convince Joseph to reconnect a computer, which you can hack to unlock a back door to the Vault. Both options put you in relatively the same place.

Vault 87 marks a bit of a turning point in the story, so it's advisable to clear up any business you want to take care of before you enter it. It's not technically the point of no return, but it is close, and you will be out of action for a bit after entering the Vault.

Finding the Garden of Eden

As soon as you enter Vault 87, Picking Up the Trail will complete, and you'll receive Finding the Garden of Eden. All this quest entails is finding the G.E.C.K. within Vault 87. Whichever entrance you came in, they both put you in the Reactor Chamber.

Vault 87 is swarming with Super Mutants, so it's a good idea to make sure you have a good weapon and armor set- bring a companion with you if possible. Dogmeat generally won't survive unless you babysit him, so it's a smart idea to send him back to Vault 101; however, if you have access to any other followers (Jericho, Charon, Star Paladin Cross, etc.), they are very useful here.

The Garden of Eden Creation Kit

You'll have to fight up from the Reactor Chamber to the Living Quarters. Living Quarters is infested with more Super Mutants, but the G.E.C.K. isn't here so there's little excuse to linger. Fight through living quarters to Test Labs. In Test Labs, you'll see a Super-Mutant locked in an isolation room who asks to talk to you over the intercom. Activate the intercom and you can have a conversation with this unique talking Super Mutant, Fawkes(There's actually another one, called Uncle Leo, who wanders the Wasteland). Fawkes will say she (weird, huh? It's a girl) knows where the G.E.C.K. is, and can retrieve it for you. Releasing Fawkes is optional, as you can reach the G.E.C.K. on your own, using a radiation suit and some Rad-X, but generally releasing him works well. He'll brutalize anyone in her path, and it makes getting the G.E.C.K. much easier.

To release Fawkes, head down the hallway and turn right into the maintenance room. It's full of Super-Mutants who you need to kill. After they're all dead, activate the fire override and all the cells unlock (see note below). This lets out an insane human named Sid, as well as a couple Centaurs. Fight through them and get back to Fawkes. Release him, and he promises to lead you to the G.E.C.K. Just follow him- he'll brutalize anyone in your path and lead you straight to the G.E.C.K. Stop where he tells you to and let him fetch the Garden of Eden Creation Kit. Take it back from him when he returns, and head out of the Vault.

Oh, sorry, you can't. Enclave soldiers will jump you on your way out, and take you to their base, Raven Rock. Any companions you have at this point will automatically return to their starting positions, as if they were fired. They'll also take all the equipment you gave them.

*Note: It may be preferable for you to hack all of the terminals for the cells individually before activating the maintenance terminal, to rack up some hacks for the Achievement/Trophy.*

The American Dream

So now what? What happens next? Now you are in an electric cage, as you can see and Colonel Autumn is now giving you a dumb lecture about why the Enclave is so great. He'll ask for the code to Project Purity. If you play it nice to and give it to him, he'll shoot you. Bummer, huh? Tell him to fuck off instead. President Eden will call up for you to go to his office. You also will have access to get all your stuff back from that locker in your chamber. Go grab your gear and exit the room (make sure to grab all of your gear the first time you open the locker- it only opens once), but don't be startled by the guard that catches you leaving your area. Just keep your ass right there when the President confirms that he let you leave to meet him and you won't get shot by Enclave Soldiers. Make sure he sends the notice to not attack you and then you can waltz right through to the marker on your compass... That is, until Colonel Autumn overrides him and sends all the Enclave soldiers to fight you. What a jerk, right?

At this point, you must fight your way through to get to Eden and you will also get plenty of Laser/Plasma ammo along the way with all the dead Enclave. There are a few useful items that may be lurking in the lockers and crates around you, so be sure to check those out as you keep going. If you haven't already, this is a great time to get yourself some Tesla Armor, which is arguably the best armor in the game in terms of Damage Resistance combined with repair item availability.

Now is a great time to stock up on powerful plasma weapons and Enclave armor

The only things that won't be attacking you (besides the Scientists) are the robot guards to Eden's office, which will actually turn on the Enclave soldiers to help you clear a path. Once you get to the President, you will come realize to an odd reality: President John Henry Eden is a damn computer. He will end up going on and on about his plans until he makes a request for you to add a special ingredient to the Purifier at the Jefferson Memorial that would kill all irradiated humanoids (Ghouls, Supermutants, etc.) along with genetically damaged humans, which would destroy most of the dregs of Civilization in the Wasteland. Deciding to do what he says or not will affect your Karma level later on in the next part of the Main Quest, but he won't let you leave without it. Before you escape him, you will also be given the option to ask Eden to shut down the Enclave operation, something very similar to what you could do at the end of the original Fallout. If your speech level is high enough, he will accept your notion and begin to blow up Raven Rock (this will lower the amount of enemies to fight in the final showdown against the Enclave.) Now take the FEV vial that has popped out of Eden's terminal and get the hell out of there!

If you successfully talked the President into destroying the Enclave, the fight back to the surface will be a little easier, as his robots are joining in to help you. Simple objective: just keep fighting and picking up the ammo and/or gear until you get out of Raven Rock. You will also receive a special surprise when looking down to the left outside. Fawkes is here to assist in cleaning up the mess of remaining soldiers, and with his new toy Gatling Laser. If you have a good karma, you can keep him as a companion. If your Karma rating isn't high enough, he'll lounge around with Willow outside the Museum of History. Looks like your job is done here, so go back to the Citadel to initiate the final assault on the Enclave.

Take It Back!

This is the final quest in the game. Be warned however, that there is no continuing after the story finishes. After you accept this quest, you can no longer roam the Wasteland or complete any quests you left undone, short of loading an earlier save. This is the hard stop for the game, at least until the Broken Steel DLC releases in March.

When you get back to the Citadel, you will find Elder Lyons in the laboratory speaking to his daughter about a final assault on the Enclave to retake Project Purity. You have an option now; give the FEV virus to Elder Lyons or not. Giving it to him will keep the virus from entering the Memorial and award you some good Karma (but I'm pretty sure that you have a choice to use it if you keep it). When that conversation over, If you want to keep exploring the Wasteland, I suggest you to hold off on starting to go anywhere and keep the Brotherhood of Steel waiting. If you don't care, then talk to Sarah Lyons and continue.

When you're ready, tell Sentinel Lyons and your final epic mission will begin. Remember that giant robot that you've seen when you go in and out of the Citadel? His programming was meant to destroy the Communist Chinese invaders in the Battle of Anchorage, but the US Government couldn't solve its power-consumption issues. Thanks the geniuses at the Citadel, you're about to finally see him in action. The goal is simply to get to the Jefferson Memorial while following the giant robot without dying. You could just sit back, watch death, big explosions and Mr. Iron Giant take care of mostly everything. If you don't find yourself especially prone for large-scale combat, just follow behind and pick up all of the excellent loot that drops from the dead Enclave suckers. Fawkes and other high-capacity followers are great assets for carrying your extra stuff here*. Because Liberty Prime is a giant ass robot and there are several small cars and rocks around, it's not uncommon for him to get stuck, so consider saving before executing the assault.

Everything is swell once you bring a giant goddamn robot into the fight

Once you arrive at the Jefferson Memorial, your robot will halt and you may notice a significantly larger number of soldiers protecting the area, but don't worry, Liberty Prime will continue to attack the remaining enemies if you are willing to be patient. Head on into the Gift Shop entrance, keep fighting and enter the Rotunda. You will have a very abrupt meeting with Colonel Autumn. You can try to talk things out, but he seems to have made his decision already to kill you. Instead, you should probably kill him and his guards. If you get the chance, pick up Colonel Autumn's Laser Pistol- a modified laser pistol that fires automatic instead of semi-automatic, does 75 damage, and uses cheap Energy Cells*. After the fight, you will make a decision that will determine the ending: either sacrifice yourself to engage Project Purity (good) or tell Sentinel Lyons to go in by herself (bad). The code for Project Purity is 216 (From your mother's favorite bible passage, Revelations 2:16), in case you wanted to know. Neither choice makes much difference in you continuing to play the game because it will end either way without the DLC available in March.

Now you're done, but the fun doesn't end. Open the last save, have some fun, and use our unusually helpful Sidequest guide!

Vault-Boy says "good job!"
*Note: Although the Main Quest does end at the climax of this quest, the Downloadable Content that is set to arrive in March should allow you to extend your period of play past the ending of the original story, so hoarding all of that high-quality stuff is probably a good idea.*


There's plenty to do off the beaten path in Fallout 3, everything from nuking a town to stealing the Declaration of Independence is available to you. Below is a list of sidequests, sorted by location, as well as instructions on how to complete them and their rewards. If a quest has *Unnamed Quest* at the top, that means it isn't an official quest that will go in your log, but it's still completeable for a reward. Unnamed Quests usually go into your Notes section in your Pip-Boy. Unnamed quests are also denoted with asterisks* in the Table of Contents.


Megaton has a plethora of sidequests available, the most notable of which is the option to detonate the nuclear bomb in the middle of the town, completely destroying it- but also eliminating any other sidequests originating from Megaton- except for Wasteland Survival Guide. That quest will survive the nuking of Megaton.

Power of the Atom

This is the most important sidequest in Megaton, and has a huge impact on both your Karma level, and how the game develops as you move on. It deals with the atomic bomb in the middle of Megaton, which you can either disarm or detonate.

First off, ask Lucas Simms about the bomb in the center of town, and ask him about disarming it. He'll let you take a look at it if you want, saying there's 100 caps in it for you if you disarm the bomb. However, if you head to Moriarty's saloon, there's a man in the corner, Mister Burke, who will try and talk you into detonating the bomb, thus eradicating Megaton.

You can try and sell Burke out to Simms, who will attempt to arrest him, but Burke will kill Lucas Simms and flee town, pledging vengeance against you, so this isn't exactly the best choice. Well, if you want to kill Lucas Simms without actually taking the blame, this is probably the best method for doing it. You also get the sweet Sheriff item set and a Chinese Assault Rifle pretty early on in the game, should you choose to have him eliminated.

You'll need an explosives skill of 25 to either disarm the bomb or plant the charge for Burke, so until your skill is high enough, the quest cannot be completed- although mentats can temporarily increase your skill level and push you over the limit if you are lucky. Saving right before you use the mentats is recommended, so that you don't run the risk of getting addicted or wasting them if they don't work well enough.

If you disarm the bomb, Lucas Sims will give you 100 caps (500 if you convinced him via the speech challenge), and the key to a house in Megaton. Mister Burke will vanish.

If you rig the bomb to explode, meet Burke and Tenpenny at Tenpenny Tower, where you can detonate the bomb and watch the fireworks. You'll recieve 500 caps (1000 if you won the speech challenge aganst Burke), your own Tenpenny suite, and loads of bad Karma. Most of Megaton's residents and the entirety of the town are destroyed. Luckily enough for you, Moira Brown was resilient enough to survive the blast, and will take up shop in Rivet City or Underworld. You can resume the Wasteland Survival Guide from there, if you so choose.

Now THAT'S a Giant Bomb! Ba dum psh!

Blood Ties

If you nuke Megaton, this quest is STILL AVAILABLE, but the part involving Lucy's letter is not. Just head straight to Arefu, and they'll still ask for your help against The Family. You can still do the quest, just not do the parts involving Lucy's letter. Head off to Arefu, and the quest starts there.

This quest starts with Lucy West- you can usually find her hanging out in Moriarty's, or in her home. If you talk to her she'll ask you to take a letter to her parents in a town called Arefu, although she says she has no money to pay you with. If you accept the quest and ask for more information, she'll give you the location of Arefu, which marks it on your map. It's a bit of a trek to the north-west of Megaton, so you should stock up on ammo and healing items before you leave.

After you make it to Arefu, you'll find the town is in a state of lockdown, apparently under threat from some gang of ruffians known as The Family. Talk to the sentry (Evan King), and he'll ask you to check on the three other families living on the bridge. Go into each house and talk with the inhabitants. When you enter the West house, you'll see two corpses, Lucy's parents. If you have a medical skill above 30, you can examine the bodies and notice some deep bite marks on their necks.

Go return to King and inform him of the West's fate. He'll blame The Family, but being the pussy he is he won't go after them himself. Instead, he asks you to go find the West's son, who might still be alive. He'll give you three possible locations for the Family. You only need to head to Northwest Seneca Station. There you'll find a bunch of Molerats, and two Ghouls running some sort of lab. Go into the rooms used by the Ghouls, and look for a small door leading to a enclosed passage blocked off with some barrels of nuclear waste. Go up in front of the barrels, look down, and go through the trapdoor.

Mirelurks. No fun.

The cavern you are in has some highly radioactive areas, so watch out. Also in this cavern are two Mirelurks. If you're still at a low level, Mirelurks will be a bit of a challenge- although they can only attack from close range. If you have any frag mines, place them on the ground between you and the Mirelurks, then draw the monster's attention. If they walk over the mines they should take away large portions of health, allowing you to kill them with a normal weapon. Always shoot Mirelurks in the face. Anyways, after you kill the Mireurks, head for the slope which goes upwards. It's rigged to throw a grenade at you though, so make sure to run up the slope as fast as you can to avoid the grenade. This is the first of many traps that you'll find in the Seneca tunnels. The Family seems to be quite paranoid about visitors.

When you climb up into the tunnels, you'll see a crashed train on your left. Head to the train, and turn left down that corridor. There are some more traps, so be careful. When you reach the end on that tunnel, a sentry will approach you. You can either talk him into letting you into the compound, pay him 100 caps to get in, or just blow his brains out, depending on your disposition. He will also let you in if you say you have a letter from Lucy.

Despite the rather tragic amount of talking, this video does a good job of showing how to get into Meresti from Northwest Seneca Station. There's a bit where he's looking at a train then it skips ahead a bit, head to the train and turn left down the tunnel it crashed in.

The Family is inside Meresti Station. If you talk to some of the members, you'll find out that Vance is the guy you need to talk to. Usually you can find him up on the mezzanine, although he does wander off to other places sometimes. Vance will tell you that Ian joined the family of his own accord; he wasn't kidnapped as the citizens of Arefu assumed. Further investigation will reveal more of Ian's tragic story. If you ask to see him, Vance will say Ian is alone meditating and cannot be disturbed.

Almost any Family member can be convinced to give up the password to Ian's room, by a variety of ways. The fastest method might simply be convincing Vance (who you should have just talked to) to let you in. Head up the stairs and through the hallways to reach Ian's room. Enter the code, and you'll have a chance to talk to Ian. You can convince Ian to either stay with the Family, or head back to Arefu. Vance will accept his decision either way. You are then given a chance to end the fued between the Family and Arefu by talking to Vance, although this is not necessary. Ending the feud will involve convincing Arefu to donate some blood for The Family to drink, in return for The Family's protection. Pursuing this course also links the hostility ratings of each group, so killing The Family off will anger Arefu residents, and vice versa.

Return to Arefu and talk to the sentry. He'll congratulate you and the quest will end (unless you are going the extra mile and mediating the truce). If you left Vance alive, at this point you can return to Meresti Station and ask him to teach you the ways of the vampire, which grants you the Hematophage perk. This is a perk that allows you to regain 20 HP from Blood Packs instead of just 1. You can also sell him blood packs for 15 caps a piece.

Wasteland Survival Guide

*If you nuke Megaton, this quest is STILL AVAILABLE. Moira will become a Ghoul and either move to Rivet City or Underworld. Seek her out there and you can STILL DO the quest*

The Wasteland Survival Guide starts with Moira Brown in Craterside Supply. You can agree to help her with her book; or alternatively, if your speech skill is high enough, you can talk her out of writing the book, which counts as completing the quest and grants you a special perk (You'll also get the achievement). The first time she sees you, she'll ask for a statement about Vault life. After you give her one, you will receive Vault 101 armor, and she'll ask if you want to help with the rest of her book. If you accept, she needs help with three chapters, each of which has three parts:

Chapter 1- Basically an introduction to the various dangers of the Capital Wasteland. You will find yourself confronting hidden explosives, occupied buildings, and incremental radiation doses with this chapter.

Radiation Study

She'll require you to irradiate yourself over 200 rads, with an optional objective of getting 600 rads. The asiest way to do this is just to go chill with Confessor Cromwell in the puddle of irradiated water surrounding the bomb in the center of Megaton and drink from the puddle until your rads get high enough. If you go over 600, your genes will mutate to the point where whenever you have heavy radiation poisoning, and crippled limbs will automatically regenerate. This effect is applied when Moira gives you the reward for going above and beyond the call of duty for her objective.

Food Study

She'll ask you to investigate the nearby Super-Duper Mart, which she will mark the location of on your map. Super Duper Mart is overrun with Raiders, who have set up patrols with wooden planks spanning the aisles so that they can walk along the tops of the display racks. On the far right of the entrance is a room with many supplies in it, including what would probably be the player's first Laser Pistol, a Nuka Cola Quantum (collect these for the Nuka Cola Challenge sidequest later on) and ammo supplies.

In the back of Super Duper Mart there is a supply room. In that supply room are many things you would want to collect yourself, along with the optional objective of finding Medicine and other supplies for Moira. It is adviseable to take the Super Duper Mart Employee Tag on top of the terminal, and then set loose the Protectron. The Protectron will help kill raiders who show up while you are in the back room (this is an always-occuring event.) Be sure to fully explore the Mart to find all of the grenade and ammo boxes along with medical supplies that you can. For players just starting out, collecting these supplies is vital to establishing yourself in the Wasteland.

Landmine Study

Moira will ask you to head to Minefield, an abandoned town north-east of Megaton. Head to Minefield and explore a bit. Moira wants you to disarm a mine and bring it back to her for study. To do this, walk very slowly up to a mine, and put your cursor over it. Hit the action button once to disarm it, then once more to pick it up and put it in your inventory. Be careful while exploring Minefield, as there is an NPC named Arkansas who likes shooting nearby cars with his Sniper Rifle. You can dodge Arkansas by finding the broken office building that he patrols, and sneaking up to where he is (disarming all mines along the way). Killing Arkansas will net you a fairly heavily damaged Sniper Rifle and some ammo. Arkansas also has a good supply of ammo crates around him that you will want to open or lockpick. Note that killing Arkansas could possibly have an effect on the Strictly Business quest, although it is not at all necessary to leave him alive.

Picking up the key on Arkansas' body also allows you access into all of the houses in Minefield, so be sure to explore all of those and pick up the various skill books and other items (bobby pins, medical supplies) that you find. The skill books and bobby pins are incredibly rare to come by, so be sure to do your best to collect as many as possible, since they are some of the most useful items in the game. Return to Moira and report about the mines. She'll give you four frag grenades for completing the main objective, and a Bottlecap mine schematic for completing the optional objective of bringing back a mine.

Chapter 2- in this chapter, you will investigate and chronicle several of the Wasteland's basic threats.

Injury Study

Moira will ask you to go injure yourself severely- below 50% health- with the optional objective of returning with a crippled limb. The easiest way to do this is to go outside of the store, and throw a grenade a couple feet from you. The resulting explosion should both cripple a limb and damage you enough to complete the challenge. Be careful not to harm any citizens of Megaton in the process. Go back inside and describe the pain to Moira. She'll patch you up and give you some stimpacks.

Molerat Study

Fallout's Molerats sure don't look like this

Moira has a new Molerat repellent she needs you to test out before she can put the recipe in her book. She'll ask you to test it out on a couple Molerats, with an optional objective of testing it on more than ten. She'll suggest the Tepid sewers as a place with plenty of Molerats, and mark it on your map for you. The Repellent Stick is a weapon you'll have to equip, it's a mossy, chemical-soaked stick of wood. If you don't want to travel to the Tepid Sewers, there are usually some Molerats hanging out around the walls of Megaton. Just walk the perimeter looking for rats. Whack them once or twice with the stick- it's remarkably efficient*- and the rat should die. Rinse and repeat 3 times for the basic objective, ten times for the optional. Return to Moira and claim your reward- the Mole Rat Repellent stick, and extra chems if you completed the optional objective.

*For some added fun, just whack the Molerats once with the stick, and then run away. They should dawdle for a few seconds, and then their heads will explode.

Mirelurk Study

Next Moira wants you to go research some Mirelurks for her, as they are relatively unknown. She'll ask you to plant an observation module in a Mirelurk nest, with the optional objective of doing it without killing any Mirelurks. The nest she wants you to observe is in the Anchorage War Memorial, which she will mark on your map if you haven't already found it. If you're aiming to complete the secondary objective, it's a good idea to dismiss whatever companion you have currently (if you have one), as they'll automatically attack the Mirelurks.

Head to the south side of the island, where you will see an alternate way in. If you chose the right entrance, there should be a 4-way intersection in front of you, and one Mirelurk in the vicinity. Run past the Mirelurk, head to the right, plant the receiver in the pod very quickly, and run out. This is one of the easiest objectives in the entire quest, yet many people tend to go through the entire memorial because they don't know this trick. Return to Moira. She'll give you a shady hat and five stealth boys if you completed the optional objective. You'll also recieve twenty 10mm rounds for finishing the second chapter.

Chapter 3- this chapter focuses on the recent and not-so-recent history of the Capital Wasteland.

Rivet City Study

Moira wants you to research the true history of Rivet City, to discover how it became so successful. Head off to Rivet City Marketplace, and ask Bannon about the history. He'll give you some info which is obviously wrong, but is still enough for Moira anyways. If you're after the optional objective, ask Seagrave Holmes, who will mention a man named Pinkerton. The optional objective is to learn the real history of Rivet City, which requires a visit to old Pinkerton in the ship's broken bow. If you don't know how to get into the bow, check the "Replicated Man" quest under Rivet City (look slightly under this section in the Table of Contents). Get into the bow and talk with Pinkerton about the city's history. Ask him for evidence, which he will give you, then head back to Moira in Megaton. She'll give you mentats as a reward.

Robot Study

Moira wants you to investigate the old RobCo production plant. You can just tell Moira about the robots if you have the Robotics Expert perk, which allows you to skip this part. Head to the plant marked on your map by Moira, and enter through the front door. All the Robots are deactivated, but the place is infested with Molerats and other vermin. You'll have to fight through to the mainframe, and insert the widget Moira gave you. This will activate all the robots in the area, and make all of them hostile to you. To achieve the secondary objective, you'll need a science skill of 50 or above to hack the terminal near the mainframe and alter the robot's programming- this will also allow you to make them friendly towards you, which causes them to kill all of the remaining pests and greatly eases your escape. Moira will reward you with 3 Pulse grenades and a Big Book of Science, with 2 more Pulse grenades for completing the optional objective.

Library Study

Moira wants you to go investigate a library in the D.C. Ruins. The National Archives are in the Southwest corner of the D.C. Ruins, across the river from Rivet City. The building itself is under the protection of the Brotherhood of Steel, who are clearing out the remaining Raiders when you arrive. To complete the basic goal, you just need to talk to the Brotherhood scribe at the desk, then access the terminal and download the card catalogue. Completing the Optional objective requires you and your Brotherhood comrades to wipe out the rest of the raiders in the vicinity and make your way to the very back of the library. There is a terminal in the center of a very confusingly designed Raider mini-stronghold, which for some odd reason was not erased or destroyed by the Raiders.

Once you've finished everything return to Moira. She'll send the book off to get distributed and give you your rewards. For completing the whole quest, you get:

  • A mini-nuke (Which Moira says she was planning on digging a well with)
  • A copy of The Wasteland Survival Guide, which has no game effect, but can be displayed in your house. The item description in your inventory will reflect the type and caliber of the information you gave Moira.
  • The Survivor perk, which varies quite significantly in effect depending on how you did the quest.

Megaton House*

If you chose to disarm the bomb in the center of Megaton, Lucas Simms will give you the key to the empty house in Megaton. You can now utilize this house as a home base. The house has a bed you can sleep in, several lockers and containers for you to store extra loot it, and a robotic butler named Wadsworth who can give you purified water, cut your hair, or tell you a corny joke on request.

While the basic house is still useful, there are some modifications you can purchase from Moira at Craterside Supply that will improve the place greatly. You can either buy expansions to add new functionality to your house, or buy themes to change the look of your house. In addition to modifying the general aesthetics, all themes will place a number of useful items in your house, which vary depending on the theme.


  • Workbench: This allows you to make weapon schematics in your house. It's not bad, but there's a workbench in Craterside Supply that is free to use, and only a short walk from your house, so you should probably just use that one and save yourself the caps. Later on in the game, when you have more caps than you know what to do with, you should definitely pick this thing up. It's incredibly convenient.
  • Infirmary: This module allows you to restore your HP to full, heal any crippled limbs you may have, and remove all radiation. Wasteland doctors can perform these tasks, but they will charge every time, so this module is pretty useful. It also negates the need to sleep and heal all of your wounds, unless you really want that extra 10% experience gain.
  • Laboratory: This module has two functions. First, it will detox you from any chems you have become addicted to instantly, which is a very useful ability, especially if you use chems a lot. The laboratory will also brew you a random chem, but this takes about one in-game day, and you cannot use the lab to detox while it's making a chem. This is very useful for characters that use a lot of chems.
  • Jukebox: This will play whatever radio station you last tuned into on your Pip-Boy. There's really no point to this except for looks, as your Pip-Boy will play radio inside your house.
  • Nuka-Cola Machine: This adds a sweet looking Nuka-Cola vending Machine to your house, which comes stocked with 8 Ice-Cold Nuka Colas. In addition, you can put any Nuka-Cola's you have in your inventory into the machine and make them ice-cold. Ice-Cold Nuka Cola increases your HP by 20 and your rads by 1, double the healing power and half the rads of a normal Nuka-Cola, so this machine does have an effect on gameplay. You cannot put Nuka-Cola Quantums in the Machine.


  • Vault: This theme reskins your house to look marginally like a Vault-Tec Vault, and comes complete with a large amount of food items
  • Raider: The theme for the sadists among us. This theme comes with a large number of weapons, and is accented by the charming corpse hanging from the ceiling.
  • Wasteland: The Wasteland theme, if possible, makes your house look even more run down. It features a picnic table in the center room and a motorcycle on the second floor. It comes with a lot of alchohol.
  • Science: The science theme makes your house look very much like a laboratory. Lots of computers make up the scenery, and you'll find quite a few chems in your house, in addition to an energy weapons skill book.
  • Pre-War: This theme makes your house look like the nuclear apocalypse never happened. Everything looks much neater and cleaner. This also comes with a lot of food.
  • Love Machine: This turns your house into a bit of a playboy pad. You'll get the same sculpture that is in Dukov's Place hanging from your ceiling, and a heart-shaped bed. In addition you'll get a lot of Vodka and Jet, and a speech book.

House items cannot be sold back to vendors.

Pipe Repair*

A leaking pipe

*Unnamed Quest* [Repeatable]

Find Walter, the guy who runs the Water Processing Plant, and talk to him. Ask him if there's anything you can do to help, and he will mention that the water-delivery infrastructure in Megaton is sorely in need of leak repairs. Accept his request. To repair a leak, you will need a repair skill at or above 30. You can spot the leaks by a visible spout of water coming out of the side of a pipe- to repair it, you simply need to locate the leak and press A. There are three leaks in total to repair:

  • One next to the steps near the entrance gate
  • One on the steps opposite the entrance, leading back up the slope
  • One on the roof of the church of atom- you'll need to jump down here from a higher platform

Once you've repaired all three leaks, talk to Walter back at the plant. He'll congratulate you on your work, and offer to buy any scrap metal you have off of you. In addition, you wlll receive 200 caps. Any scrap metal you bring Walter afterwards will fetch you ten caps per piece, which is by far the best trade-for-value option in the entire game, aside from the weightless Pre-War Money that goes for 7 caps, or Brotherhood Holotags, which go for 100 caps in the Citadel.

Leo's Problem*

*Unnamed Quest*

If you talk to Doc Church in the clinic, and ask him about what's going on in town, he'll rebuff you. Then, if have have a high speech skill, a skill challenge will apear in which you can try and talk the information out of him. Also, if you have a high enough medicine skill, a unique dialog option appears which will convince him to give up the information that Leo Stahl is addicted to chems. Church says he goes to the water treatment plant at night to get high. Go confront Leo about his problem. If you can convince him to give it up, he'll give you the key to his stash- in a desk in the water treatment plant- which contains some caps and a bunch of healing items.

Oddly enough, it is still possible to find Leo sitting by his stash every so often in the middle of the night. The stash (if you cleared it out) will be totally empty, but he'll act suspiciously anyway. This is probably a glitch, because he pretends that he never even met you in the first place when you confront him.

Rivet City

Rivet City is the biggest settlement in the Capital Wasteland, and crawling with things to do.

The Replicated Man

This quest sets you on the trail of a runaway android, who is being hunted by a group of people from something called the Collective. Although it's possible you've picked up holotapes referring to this quest earlier in your travels, the quest proper starts in the Rivet City Science lab. As soon as you enter the science lab, you'll see a doctor and a man in a suit arguing about something. Listen to their conversation, and you'll hear it's an escaped android they're talking about.

Talk to Zimmer after he's done arguing with the doctor, and he'll ask if you're interested in helping him hunt down his android. Accept, and the quest is yours. Zimmer tells you to poke around medical and tech offices for clues. More specifically, what you're looking for are holotapes. If you see a holotape, pick it up, as it contains relevant information. Here are the holotape locations, in no particular order (You can talk a lot of this information out of people too, without having to steal holotapes):

  1. In Doc Church's offices in Megaton.
  2. There's one behind the pulpit in one of Rivet City's churches.
  3. There's one on Moira's desk in Megaton's Craterside supply.
  4. Dr. Preston in Rivet City will give you a tape if you ask.
  5. Red's Clinic in Big Town
  6. There's one in Eulogy's Pad in Paradise Falls
  7. Nathan and Manya's House in Megaton has one
  8. Underworld Outfitters in Underworld has a holotape
  9. The Chop Shop in Underworld has one
  10. There's one in the clinic in Tenpenny Tower
  11. Finally, there is one in the Citadel Labratory.

Eventually, the quest will direct you back to Rivet City, to find a man named Pinkerton. Now, if you ask around, no one seems to have any solid info on Pinkerton. As it turns out, Pinkerton is hiding off in the bow of the ship. There are two ways to reach him. One requires a 100 Lockpick skill, the other for you to swim through quite a lot of irradiated water.

The two paths

Exit Rivet City and walk back to the shore. If you walk south, following the shore, you'll see a spot where the ship is broken in two. Pinkerton is in the broken bow section (not the city section). There's a bridge leading from the shore to the bow, but it ends in a locked door which requires a 100 lockpick skill to attempt. The other way to gain entrance is to swim to the point where the bow and the main ship seperate, and search around on the Bow side for an underwater door. Make sure you go back up for air before going through the door, as there will be quite a bit of swimming after you go through it.

After swimming through or picking the lock, you will encounter quite a few Mirelurks and booby traps. Make your way past those until you reach a room with a door that cannot be opened. Look around at the walls to find the electrical switch, and activate that to go through the door.

Pinkerton is inside the bow, living alone in his laboratory. He'll be a bit cranky that you're disturbing him, but otherwise not hostile. Talk to him, and ask him about the android. He'll feign ignorance, but after one denial, if you press the subject, he'll reveal that the android's name is now Harkness, the Security Chief of Rivet City, and the first person you met when you arrived at the ship. If you press further, Pinkerton will tell you he didn't remove the android's memories, he just buried them. Hankness still has them, and they can be access via an override code, which Pinkerton will give you. Ask him if he has proof, and he says to check his computer. Check the terminal, download the files, and you're ready to finish up the quest.

Pinkerton has some very valuable loot in his labratory, but try not to let him see you stealing anything. He can perform facial reconstruction on you at any time, which allows you to change your appearance, which is a pretty valuable service for those who don't like how their character came out. In addition, you will be required to return to Pinkerton for an optional objective of the Wasteland Survival Guide if you haven't already. However, the stuff is certainly worth stealing, if you have the ability.

Now you have the choice of either turning Harkness in to Zimmer, or telling Harkness he's an android.

If you turn Harkness in to Zimmer, Zimmer will reclaim Harkness as his property, and give you the Wired Reflexes perk as a reward.

Think about Civil Rights Robot while attempting this quest.

If you tell Harkness (who usually hangs out in the Rivet City entrance, if you're trying to find him) that he is an android by using the override code, he will give you A3-21's Plasma Rifle as a reward, and can be convinced to do several different things, depending on our dialog choices. All of his dialogue options are fairly simple, so the player needs no guidance here, and can choose whichever one they like.

It is possible to get both A3-21's Plasma Rifle and the Wired Reflexes perk by playing your cards right. First go reveal to Harkness he's an android by using the override code. Then ask him what he plans to do with Zimmer. Ask him if you could kill Zimmer, and Harkness will agree to authorize an execution warrant. He'll give you his Plasma Rifle, and you will gain Karma. Head to the Rivet City Science Lab and talk to Zimmer. Reveal that the android is Harkness. You'll lose Karma and Zimmer will thank you and give you the Wired Reflexes perk. Back out of the conversation and kill Zimmer and his bodyguard. You now have both the Wired Reflexes perk and A3-21's Plasma Rifle, and the quest counts as completed.

At a random time during this quest, you are likely to be approached by a woman named Victoria Watts, who is a member of an android-rights network. She wlll give you an android component from A3-21 to give to Zimmer to convince him the andrid is destroyed. Doing so will count as completing the quest. You will recieve good karma and 50 caps from Zimmer.

Stealing Independence

This quest starts off at the Capitol Preservation Society, with Abraham Washington (swell name, huh?). Head into his little museum, and talk to him about his collection. He'll say how nice it is, but then mention how it's almost useless without a certain document. Inquire further and he'll tell you he wants the Declaration of Independence, and he wants you to steal it. It's in the National Archives, which he will mark on your map if you ask him to. Inquire further about the history of the document for some hilariously distorted lectures on America's development as a nation.

Exit Rivet City, and hoof it up through the D.C. ruins until you get to the National Archives. If you've already been to the Mall, just fast travel there and make the journey much easier. Enter through the front door of the Archives, and walk into the main lobby. Sydney, the last merc Abraham Washington hired for this job, is holed up in there. She'll tell you to move over to her. You should probably listen. A Super-Mutant attack will be triggered, and it is in your best interests to help Sydney kill them all. After the first group is all dead, don't relax, a second wave comes. There's plenty of cover in the area, so pick them off one by one. If there are any landmines left in the room, they help stop the muties.

Once every Super-Mutant is dead, talk to Sydney. She'll tell you her story, but the most important information she tells you is about the secret elevator in the area. Sydney will also offer to partner up with you for the remainder of your expedition, which you should probably accept, as another gun is never bad news. When you're done talking, activate the terminal behind her to open up the elevator. A floor panel will lift up. There's also an ammunition box next to the computer. When you are ready, get on the raised platform and "open" it.

Button in the Declaration Room

Down here in the catacombs there are a lot of still-active robots and turrets, so be ready for a serious fight to the Declaration. There is a broken door nearby which you can repair with a Science skill of 67 or higher. In here are the power generators for some of the defense turrets, and destroying those will take the turrets offline. Down in the Archives sublevels, there are quite a few gas leaks and explosive items, so be careful with Sydney. This isn't exactly helpful, but we don't really have a strategy for avoiding it, except to save often. On your way to the Declaration room, it is possible to find both the Bill of Rights and the Magna Carta (Why isn't that one in England?), both of which can be sold back to Abraham Washington for extra caps.

After you succeed in fighting through to the Declaration room, you'll be faced with an unexpected challenge. A robot wearing a wig stands in front of you, blocking the path to the Declaration. This is a robot that was used for the museum's re-enactment of the signing of the Declaration, but it appears in the centuries since the bombs fell its programming has been corrupted, and now it really believes itself to be Button Gwinnet, second signer of the Declaration of Indpendence. Button Gwinnet won't willingly let you take the Declaration, so you need to find a way past him. As always, you have some options. After you deal with the robot, use the computer to unlock the Declaration. Here's how you can get Button out of your way:

  • With a high enough speech skill, you can convince Button that you are Thomas Jefferson, here to reclaim the Declaration. You can also persuade Button to shut down if you convince him into thinking you're Jefferson
  • You can blow the robot to pieces, which will give you bad karma
  • Shut him down if you have the Robotics Expert perk
  • You can take his offer to go find him ink to forge a copy of the Declaration, which will prolong the quest. You need to go retrieve the ink from Arlington Library and bring it back to Button, at which point he will present you a forgery you can bring back to Abraham Washington.

After you deal with Button and get either the real Declaration or a copy, head through the utility door, which will take you back through a room full of a bunch of utility pods for Protectrons, and eventually back to the main entrance. The fight from the utility door can get Sydney killed or heavily maimed, so it might be in your best interests just to retrace the already-clear path back the way you came. Take the Declaration and head back to Rivet City. Hand it off to Abraham Washinton, take his reward, and sell him the Bill of Rights and Magna Carta if you picked either of those up. This counts as completing the quest, and will also unlock the dialogue option about Sydney's father, which allows you to do the unnamed quest "Sydney's Father" (Listed under Underworld in the Table of Contents).

Escaped Slave*

*Unnamed Quest*

You'll run across a woman named Mei Wong on the midship deck, usually wandering the corridors. If you talk to her, it turns out she's an escaped slave, scared because she saw a slaver called Sister on the ship. You can give her 25 caps to buy a gun to protect her with, in which case she gives you the location of the slave hideout Temple of the Union, or you can turn her into Sister. You can also turn her into Sister, then tell her that he knows, in which case she kills herself. Sister gives you nothing for helping him, except bad karma

Paulie's Chem Problem*

*Unnamed Quest*

If you ask around, turns out Paulie Cantelli is addicted to psycho. You find him wandering the ship's corridors, feel free to give him some Psycho. He'll overdose and die. Loot his corpse for profit. Paulie's widow will then proceed to become addicted to chems.

City Council Trouble*

*Unnamed Quest*

If you speak to Bannon in the Rivet City Marketplace, and ask him about the council, he will say he's far more influential than Seagrave Holmes. Inquire further, and Bannon will express a desire to find something incriminating in Holme's room to insure the safety of his council seat.

You can either pick the lock to Holmes' room with a high enough lockpick skill, or you can lift the key from him by pickpocketing. Head into Holmes' room. The incriminating evidence is under his bed, leaning against a footlocker. Pick it up, then go talk to Bannon again- he'll ask you to go turn it in to Lana Danvers, but make sure not to mention he told you to do it. You can either incriminate Holmes and say nothing about Bannon, or tell Danvers that Bannon is attempting blackmail.

If you take Bannon's side, he will give you a schematic for a Deathclaw Gauntlet, and a discount at his store.

If you side with Holmes, he will reward you with a discount, as well as buying your items for higher prices. Bannon will jack his prices up for you.

Diego and Angela*

*Unnamed Quest*

Angela wants Diego the acolyte to notice her. She asks you to get some ant phermones for her to use to seduce Diego. From here you have several options:

  1. Lie to Father Clifford and tell him you caught Diego and Angela sleeping together. He'll expel Diego from the priesthood, and Diego and Angela will get engaged.
  2. Get some Ant Queen Phermones and give them to Angela. You can buy them from Cindy Cantelli in Rivet City Marketplace, or you can loot them from the dead body of an ant queen. Diego and Angela will get engaged after this.
  3. If you keep harassing Diego, he will sever all ties with Angela, ending any possibility of a romance.

If you talk to Angela after the couple get engaged, it's possible to witness their wedding.


*Unnamed Quest*

James Hargrave can be convinced via a speech challenge to run away from home. Doing so will cause him to run away, but he will also take C.J. Young with him, which puts the people of Rivet City into a bit of a nervous state. Multiple people will ask if you can find C.J., although it seems no one is too concerned about James.

The two vagabonds didn't make it far though. They're at Anacosta Crossing, the big plaza right down the stairs from Rivet City. Walk away from the ship and their NPC markers should appear. Talk to James, and he'll ask you to take him back home to his mom. Agree, escort him the short distance back to Rivet City, and you'll be rewarded with good Karma. You can also leave James to his own problems and refuse to escort him home.

Childish Theif*

*Unnmarked Quest* [Repeatable]

If you have the Child at Heart perk, you can ask James Hargrave to steal ammo for you. Every couple of days he'll have some free rounds to give to you that he managed to steal from Flak and Shrapnel.

Tenpenny Tower

Tenpenny Tower

The fabulous Tenpenny Tower

As soon as you arrive at Tenpenny Tower, you should see a Ghoul named Roy Phillips arguing with a guard over an intercom. He tries to bribe the guard with caps in order to get in, but fails. Eventually, he walks off. Talk into the intercom to get a rather rude welcome. There are three ways to get into Tenpenny Tower. If you agreed to blow Megaton up, you'll get in for free. If you pass a speech check, you'll get in for free. If none of these work, you'll have to pay to gain access.

Once inside, talk to Chief Gustavo. It appears that they are having a problem with Roy Phillips and his gang of Ghouls. They want inside, but security is not allowing it. He'll tell you that the Ghouls are holed up in the Warrington Tunnels. Agree to deal with the problem in order to start this quest. There are a few ways of solving this, and each will be explained in this section.

Kill Roy Phillips

The easiest but less friendly way of solving this is to kill Roy Phillips and his gang. This is the method that Chief Gustavo wants you to use. Doing so will result in Karma loss. You can either go into Warrington Tunnels and kill them, or you can take out Roy Phillips the "Todd Howard" way, which means killing Phillips while he's talking on the intercom. For the latter, you still have to talk to Gustavo to start the quest.

Warrington Tunnels is located west of Tenpenny Tower. It's impossible to miss. Head inside and start making your way to the Ghouls. You'll run into a good number of Feral Ghouls along the way, but they aren't hard to eliminate. Eventually, you'll run into a Ghoul named Michael Masters, who will let you up and question you. He lets you in pretty easily. All you have to say is that you are going to see Phillips. Below Masters is a gate. Open it and continue through the tunnels. The route can be a bit confusing at times, so be sure to consult your Pip-Boy if you get lost. When you reach him, he'll begin talking to you immediately. Tell him you are going to kill him, then do it. You'll have to shoot him, Michael Masters, and Bessie. When you're done, leave and talk to Chief Gustavo for your reward.

Help The Ghouls Bust Into Tenpenny Tower (Be Warned! This Method Drops Your Karma Down 600 Points)

Another way to do this quest is to allow the Ghouls into Tenpenny Tower by opening an emergency exit. To do this, you need the key to the generator room. There are two keys that you can get. Chief Gustavo and Herbert "Daring" Dashwood both have a copy. If you can persuade Dashwood to give you his, you're all set. Otherwise, you need to pickpocket or shoot Gustavo for his.

Enter the Generator Room located at the back of the Tower and find the Terminal on the wall. You should see the Ghouls waiting through the glass. You can either hack the terminal or shoot the generator. Either way, the Ghouls will be unleashed into the tower. Head back outside to the entrace. Roy Phillips will give you a Ghoul mask. You must wear it so the Feral's don't attack you. What's awesome about this is that you can wear the Ghoul mask under any helmet that you are wearing. It also has 3 Damage Resistance, so why not wear it all the time?

Anyway, head inside and witness the chaos. You can either join in on the fight or stay back and let the Ghouls handle everything. Be sure to loot the dead bodies. In order to secure the entire building, you have to go through each floor and the Ghouls will follow. Eventually, you'll meet with Roy up at the balcony. He'll thank you and the quest will end. If you return to the tower a few days later, everything will look back to norma

Convince Tenpenny To Let The Ghouls In

To do this, Tenpenny will want you to convince certain people in the tower. You can either convince them through a speech check, kill them, or threaten them so that they leave the tower. Once you have convinced Tenpenny, the Ghouls will be let in. Unfortunately, they still kill everyone in the tower, so if there are humans you want to stay alive (Like certain merchants), your only option is to kill the Ghouls.

Tenpenny Suite*

If you nuked Megaton, you will receive the key to a suite at Tenpenny Tower, where you can live. It is much the same as the Megaton house. You have a bed to sleep in, a robotic butler who can provide jokes, purified water, and haircuts.

While the basic suite is still useful, there are some modifications you can purchase from Lydia Montegnegro or Michael Masters (Depending on if you let the ghouls in or not) in he lobby that will improve the place. You can either buy expansions to add new functionality to your house, or buy themes to change the look of your house. In addition, all themes will place a number of useful items in your house, which vary depending on the theme.


  • Workbench: This allows you to make weapon schematics in your house. This is a useful modification, especially since there is no workbench in Tenpenny Tower, and you'll likely be storing weapon components in you home. This enables you to quickly construct custom weapons.
  • Infirmary: This module allows you to restore your HP to full, heal any crippled limbs you may have, and remove all radiation. This module is practically useless, as you can restore your health and fix crippled limbs by sleeping in any bed found around the Wasteland for an hour. Also, Rad-Aways and RadX's are extremely common in the game, making it hard to run out.


  • Vault: This theme reskins your house to look marginally like a Vault-Tec Vault, and comes complete with a large amount of food items. The Tenpenny version includes the Relevations 2:16 passage.
  • Wasteland: The Wasteland theme, if possible, makes your house look even more run down. It comes with some weapons, food, and booze.
  • Science: The science theme makes your house look very much like a laboratory. Lots of computers make up the scenery, and you'll find quite a lot of junk in your suite, in addition to an science skill book.
  • Love Machine: This turns your house into a bit of a playboy pad. You'll get the same sculpture that is in Dukov's Place hanging from your ceiling, and a heart-shaped bed. This comes with a good amount of booze, pre-war outfits, and a speech book.

House items cannot be sold back to vendors.

Dashwood and Argyle*

*Unnamed Quest*

This needs to be done before you deal with the Ghoul situation at Tenpenny Tower, otherwise it is impossible to obtain this quest. Find Dashwood in Tenpenny Tower, and ask him about the ghouls. He'll start reminiscing about Argyle. Go through the conversation, then end it and leave Tenpenny Tower. Head over to Rockopolis- west of Smith Casey's Garage, look for the refrigerator in the middle of nowhere. The entrance to Rockopolis is hidden inside a cliff face, and looks just like a normal rock. If you wait until nightime, you can easily locate the entrance because light is coming out above the entrance. Enter through the secret door. There is only Argyle's corpse, and a bobblehead next to him, as well as a note from some slavers. There's nothing else to see, so pick up the bobblehead, loot Argyle's corpse, and head back to Tenpenny. Tell Dashwood what happened to Argyle, and he'll give you the key to his safe.


Underworld is a Ghoul settlement.

Note: If you talk to Carol and get the copy of Paradise Lost, it is actually just a Lying, Congressional Style. If you drop it it looks like a Lying, Congressional Style, and using it increases your speech skill by 1 point.

You Gotta Shoot 'em in the Head

This quest is received from Mr. Crowley in Underworld, and is quite long and detailed. There are an incredible amount of options for what to do and what order to do them in on this quest. First off, talk to Mr. Crowley, who will offer you an assassination contract on four individuals he claims are Ghoul bigots. If you continue talking to residents of Underworld, and the people with the keys asking for information about him, you'll eventually learn that his real objective is the T-51b Power Armor hidden in Fort Constantine. This is (arguably) the best armor in the game, although it is not repairable except by merchants. So why does he need to keys? Only all four keys will gain you access to the armor storage. With this information, you can either keep the keys and get the armor for yourself, or you can turn them into Crowley and let him get the armor. Of course, you could alwas let Crowley get the armor, then kill him... or give him the keys then pickpocket them off of him....

If you're planning on killing the targets for Crowley, you need to use a sniper rifle on the head for it to count as a headshot. This is an odd glitch, but if you blow someone's head off using another weapon, when you talk to Crowley, the only option will be to say that you didn't kill them all with headshots.


Tenpenny has no key, but Crowley will want him dead anyways. Tenpenny is always alone on his balcony, making killing him an especially easy prospect. However, if you tell Tenpenny Crowley wants him dead, he will make you a counter-offer of 300 caps to go kill Crowley, with 100 up front, 200 when Crowley is dead. If you're planning on just keeping the keys for yourself, accepting Tenpenny's hit on Crowley is a decent way to make some caps.

The Tenpenny hit on Crowley seems a bit buggy


Dukov is easy. Like every target, you can presuade him to give up his key without violence and try to trick Mr. Crowley that you shot him in the head. If you have the Black Widow/Lady Killer perk, you can convince one of the girls to lift the key from him. Alternatively, you can pickpocket him or kill him, as he's very weak and vulnerable due to having no armor and a piss poor Sawed-Off Shotgun. There's also an unnamed sidequest here where you can escort Cherry to freedom at Rivet City.

Ted Strayer

Ted resides in Rivet City. Because the place is crawling with guards, killing him is unwise. Instead, you can either pickpocket it, convince him to give it to you, or threaten him.


You'll find Dave in the Republic Of Dave. Like always, you can kill him or tell him that Mr. Crowley wants him dead, in which he should automatically give you the key. With a high enough speech skill, you can also convince Dave you're an ambassador from the Wasteland, and convince him to give you his key as a show of good faith. Not much to worry about. Killing him isn't difficult, as there are only 4 adults in the whole place.


The last key is on the corpse of Tara, who is dead behind locked doors in Fort Constantine (imagine that). Use the other three keys to get in and retrieve the key.

If you give Mr. Crowley all 3 of the keys, he will begin his trek to Fort Constantine. Giving him the keys counts as completing the quest, but it won't net you the Power Armor. Crowley is invincible during the trek to Fort Constantine if you let him go alone, but if you run with him he can, and will probably die, which makes getting our keys back quite easy.The easiest way, however, is to open all of the doors in Ft. Constantine with the keys yourself-- but DO NOT take the armor, return to Crowley for your reward, then go back and take the armor before he gets to it.

Fort Constantine has seen better days

If you do decide to head to Fort Constantine and go after the armor, it's quite the trek from, well... anywhere really. If you asked around in Underworld and with the people who had the keys, you've probably had the location marked on your map already (If not, check the maps we linked above. It's pretty far North). After you make it to the fort, head into the CO Quarters (which is a seperate building from the actual Fort. It is not inside of it). Head downstairs, loot the safe and grab the Big Guns Bobblehead. There is a door nearby which requires Ted's key to open. Open it and head through. There's another door in there to bunker control. Head through and follow the hallways. The pathway is fairly linear, with only a few robots providing opposition.

You'll want to keep heading down, until you reach a door to Bomb Storage, which you can unlock with one of the keys. Head through the room on the other side of the door- watch out there's a Sentry Bot here. There are two very hard locked doors, which can either be picked or opened through the terminals next to them. There's good loot in both of these, but they're inessential to the quest. On the wall opposite is a locked door, and conveniently, Tara's body right at the base of said door. Loot Tara and take her key, then open the door. Head through the short passage and open the door to the T-51b Power Armor storage. Activate the R&D terminal, deactivate the stasis field, and take the armor to complete the quest. There's also a Fat-Man, two Mini-Nukes, and a D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine on the table, as well as some good loot in the storage lockers nearby.

Reilly's Rangers

There are a couple ways to get this quest, but the easiest is to go see Reilly down in the Chop Shop in Underworld (which you should know is in the Museum of History). Good luck getting her conscious because you either need a really high skill of Medicine to get her out of her coma or a high speech skill to talk the Doctor into waking her up. You're pretty much not going anywhere until you have either of these, but once Reilly is awake, talk to her and she will go crazy about leaving her men behind at the Statesman Hotel where they are hopefully still taking refuge on the roof. She will ask you to help her pull her men out of there (the obvious point is saying yes). She will also ask you to find the ammo stash that was lost with one of her dead comrades, Theo, and let's you have all of it as well as a key to their Ranger Compound in Downtown DC.

Before you go off to the Statesman Hotel, make sure you are well equipped with ammo and Stimpacks (there's a lot in the Ranger Compound) for taking on a ton of Supermutants. That includes the Masters that we all hate fighting. Also, you will need to enter through a sewer if you haven't entered the neck of the woods in Sewerd Square where the hotel is which is also home to Supermutants. If you have good Sneaking and/or Luck, hit those dudes with something quiet, yet powerful (preferably a Supersledge). If not, do what you usually do when fighting them.

The suggested route to avoiding utter death is to travel through Our Lady of Hope Hospital like what Reilly said earlier. As a plus, this gives you a chance to grab a ton of stimpacks lying around and in a locked safe. Go through the final level in the hospital and go outside to cross the bridge to higher floors of the Statesman Hotel. This is a frustrating mission because they really do throw a ton of Supermutants and grenade boobie traps at you (lulz) at you in stairways, so should use those Stimpacks you got! Don't be afraid. Plenty of beds will be found throughout the hotel, too, so whenever your getting low on health and you see on nearby, go sleep on it.... can't imagine what else you'd do with it. On your path out of the mid-level in the starway, the body of Theo will be lying there just waiting for you to retrieve the big box of ammo.

You will know that you are almost to the roof when you get to the room with the elevator. Hop onto that elevator to get to the dudes out of there!... Sorry, that I mislead you on purpose to make an attempt to create ironic comedy. You can't! It doesn't work unless you have a sufficient repair skill, but if you don't, it looks like you're going to have to take a few more steps there via stairs, but it's not very long at all. Get to the Hotel Resturaunt level and you'll enter a big fight with some Muties so get that done. If you go to the Storage Room on the southwest area of this level, you will find a broken Protectron so loot it right now and grab the Fission Battery to lessen the length of this quest a little bit. When you get through the door to the roof, you'll hear some humans yelling and shooting giving you confirmation that they're still alive. Help them out with finishing the Supermutants off on the roof. If you have already fixed the elevator or listened to me before by grabbing that Fission Battery, you can get past doing another stupid part of the quest by giving it to them to fix it themselves. Follow the crew back down the elevator and get ready to fight some more and protect them (kind of vital).

Once you're out of the hotel, you will need to go back to the Ranger Compound to get your award, which is a choice between some Ranger Battle Armor or a unique Minigun. If you want to get some more caps, she gives you an opportunity to receive them when you discover locations in the Wasteland.

Sydney's Father*

*Unnamed Quest*

If you talk to Sydney about her father after completing "Stealing Independence", she'll reveal he went missing. There's nothing you can do immediately. Head off to the Statesman Hotel via Our Lady of Hope Hospital (The same route you have to take for Reiley's Rangers). Sydney's dad is in one of the side rooms. His skeleton is lying on top of a bed, and a holotape is right next to him titled: A Note From Little Moonbeam's Father. Pick up the holotape, then bring it back to Sydney in Underworld. Ask her about her father, then tell her that he didn't desert her and show her the tape. She'll give you her Ultra 10mm SMG as a reward.

There's an exploit that allows you to get infinite copies of her Ultra SMG, see "Sydney's 'Ultra' 10mm SMG" in the unique weapons section below for instructions.

Robot Rampage*

*Unnamed Quest*

If you talk to the robot in Underworld, Cerberus, he will reveal that he hates Ghouls, but has been programmed to protect them. With the Robotics Expert perk, you can reprogram him to go on a killing spree throughout Underworld until he has been destroyed. You will not be held accountable for this by the residents.


Graditch is a small settlement on the outskirts of the D.C ruins. You may hear Three Dog and GNR telling you it's gone dark and stopped communicating. Unsurprisingly, there is trouble.


Can't argue with giant ants

As you approach Grayditch, a panicking child will run up to you (he's also been known to come up to you while standing outside of Super Duper Mart). Calm him down and ask about his situation- it turns out his town has been attacked by mutated ants. The kid asks you to try and find his father, but this quest will also have you tracking down the source of the killer ants. With a high enough speech, you can get him to give you the key to an ammo stash of his father's.

Beware as you move into Grayditch - the ants can breathe fire. However, if you target an ant's antennae in VATS and inflict enough damage, you can frenzy the ant, meaning it will attack friends as well as foes. If you have Dogmeat with you here, it's recommended to either make him hang back, or send him back to Vault 101, as he has a nasty habit of getting barbecued here.

First you need to check on the boy's father. Head inside the house next to the shed (Your quest marker will lead you to the right one), and you'll find Fred Wilks' dead body. Loot it and take the shed key. Exit the house and go enter the shack right next to it. Read Dr. Lesko's computer, and it will reveal the source of the ants. Check in with Brian Wilks and give him the bad news before heading out to find Dr. Lesko in the Marigold Tunnels.

The tunnels are still swarming with the same ants you encountered above, so don't expect a respite. Lesko is holed up deep inside the tunnels, so prepare for a fight. Bringing a follower with you helps greatly here, as they'll absorb some of the damage for you. Fawkes is great due to her tendency to pretty much never die. Follow your quest marker, and you'll find Dr. Lesko holed up in his laboratory, hiding from his ants. He'll ask you to go deal with the Queen's guardians, but not kill the queen.

It's in your best interests to acquiese to Dr. Lesko's request, as he'll grant you a special perk if you leave the Queen unharmed- Ant Sight (+1 Strength, +25% Fire Resistance), or Ant Might (+1 Perception, +25% Fire Resistance). And you can always go back and kill the queen after Lesko gives you your reward. You can kill Lesko too, for good measure. But that perk is worth keeping him alive and following his instructions for a bit.

Head into the Queen's lair. If you have a companion, make them wait at the door, as they will attack the Queen, regardless of what you're doing. There are five guardian ants protecting the queen. Kill all five of these, then go return to Dr. Lesko and claim your reward. He'll show a complete non-willingness to cease his experiments or take responsibility for the destruction of Grayditch, or for the death of Brayn Wilks' father. You may want to kill him and his queen now that you have your perk. Good karma is gained for killing the queen and destroying the mutagen. Slight bad karma is recieved for killing Lesko.

After you've dealt with the situation down in the tunnels, you still need to find orphan Bryan Wilks a home. You have three options:

  1. Talk to Vera Weatherly in Rivet City about letting him stay with her (They're cousins or something)
  2. You can convince the mayor of Little Lamplight to let him move in there
  3. You can tell Eulogy Jones at Paradise Falls you have a kid for sale, and sell Bryan into slavery for 100 or 300 caps

As soon as you find Bryan a home, the quest should complete.

Big Town

Big Town is where the adults from Little Lamplight go. It's come under siege form both Super Mutants and slavers recently, and is direly in need of your help.

Big Trouble in Big Town

Talk to the residents of Big Town and they'll tell you that in one of the Super Mutant attacks, two of their friends were dragged off. They are being held in Germantown police station, north of Big Town. Head there. You'll notice immediately that it's occupied by Super Mutants. Head to the side of the building and locate the door to the upper level. Take that. Follow the hallways, defeating Super Mutants along the way, until you reach the ground floor and the cell area. Red, Big Town's medic, is located in one of the cells. You can either pick the lock, use the key you pick up from one of the Super Mutants, or use the lockup computer with a password that's found upstairs.

Once she's out, she'll thank you and tell you about her friend Shorty, who's somewhere in the station. Rescuing him is optional and gives you good Karma. Before leaving, it's a good idea to explore the HQ a bit. If your lockpicking skill is high enough, you can gain access to some of the armories, one of which has a Fat Man. When you done, leave the HQ and fast travel to Big Town. Red and Shorty (if you rescued him) will come with you. The citizens will rejoice and consider you their hero. Ask Red about a payment and she'll give you some caps. If you're mean, you can convince her to give you the caps she was saving up for medicine for the town, which is about double the normal payment. After that, you'll learn that a Super Mutant attack is inevitable.

You can either agree to help, or leave, much to their dismay. If you help, you'll have to work extra hard at protecting the residents, as they are weak. Defeat the Mutants if you chose to stay to make the town happy. To make the fight easier, consider reverse-pickpocketing the citizens and give them armor and stimpaks.

There are several ways you can help the town besides just killing the Super Mutants:

  • With a small guns skill over 50, you can teach them how to handle guns
  • With an explosives skill over 50, you can teach them to lay a minefield
  • With a science skill over 50, you should be able to teach them to repair robots to protect them. The option for repairing robots on this quest is bugged. The robots do not exist, and selecting that option will make you unable to complete the quest, as the Super-Mutant attack never triggers.
  • With a sneak skill over 50, you can teach them to be stealthy

After the Super Mutants rush the bridge and attack the town, you have to kill them. Once all the Super Mutants are dead, the quest should complete.

Escort to Big Town*

*Unnamed Quest*

When you first arrive in Little Lamplight, you'll see a kid named Sticky who just turned 16 being kicked out. He'll plead to stay, but the other kids won't let him. He'll ask if you want to go to Big Town with him, because he needs an escort. If you accept, he'll join you as a temporary follower, and mark the location of Big Town if you haven't been there yet.

If you have been to Big Town before, just fast-travel and Sticky will come with you

If you haven't been to Big Town yet, it's a bit of a walk, and Sticky will chatter incessantly. If you talk to him, you can get him to shut up. You can also arm Sticky with a weapon to deal with any enemies you run across. When you reach Big Town, Sticky will leave you, and you'll receive Karma and experience.

You can also talk to Sticky and take his birthday hat, if you want to run around looking like a fool.

Reviving Timebomb*

Timebomb is knocked out in Red's clinic. If your medicine skill is above 40, you can heal him (Use mentats if your skill isn't high enough). This revives him and nets you 5 caps. He'll also give you a Lucky 8 Ball (+1 to Luck) if the town survives the Super Mutant attack at the end of the quest, or if you revive him after you finished the quest.

Alternatively, you can "put him out of his misery" which, just like it says, kills him and gives you nothing but negative Karma.

Vault 101

Although you thought you left Vault 101 for good when you escaped after your father, you do have one chance to return. This quest is your only chance to grab the Medicine Bobblehad if you missed when the game first started.

Trouble on the Homefront

That familiar door

After your second trip to the Jefferson Memorial (On the main quest), this quest becomes available to you. Next time your travels take you near Vault 101- just the vicinity, Megaton is close enough- you'll pick up an emergency radio signal from Vault 101. It's directed straight at you, as it seems things have gone downhill quickly since you left.

Head back to Vault 101, and enter. The giant Vault door can now be unlocked with the password form Amata's message. As soon as it opens, you'll be confronted by Officer Gomez. He'll tell you a brief bit about what happened down in the Vault, and offer to escort you to either the Overseer or Amata and the rebels. Make your choice, and follow Gomez.

The rebels want to open the Vault to the outside, in order to have a more varied life, while the Overseer feels that it would conflict with the Vault's mission. To further complicate things, Vault Security on it's own is planning to raid the rebels. However, no one will shoot at you without provocation, unless you go into the sublevels, where Officer Wilkins will try and kill you.

Learn both sides, and make your choice. You can talk either side to the other way of thinking, or you can murder either side. However, murdering both sides will throw the Vault into chaos and fail the quest. You can also just leave and never come back, let the Vault sort out it's own problems. It is also possible to sabotage the Vault's radiator, making it impossible for habitation and forcing all the residents to leave. To sabotage head, head into the sub-levels and mess with the machinery.

It will take a high speech skill to convince either side they're wrong diplomatically. However, if you head to security and hack the computer there, you can learn of a plot by the security chief to raid the rebels. If you reveal the existence of this plot to the Overseer, he will allow the Vault to open. If you can't make the speech challenges or hack the computer, it's time for some shotgun diplomacy.

If you side with Amata and the Rebels, you gain Karma, the Vault will open, but you will never be able to return. In addition, Amata gives you a modified Utility Jumpsuit (Luck + 1, Rad Res +10, Repair +5 DR1 VAL30). Butch will also be available as a companion character later.

If you side with the Overseer, you can take payment in either the form of technology (The same utility jumpsuit Amata gives you), or food and ammo (11 crams and some .44 ammo). The Vault stays closed, but you can't stay, and have to return to the Wasteland.

Temple of the Union

The Temple of the Union is a slave sanctuary up North. You have the location of the Temple marked on your map by helping Mei Wong in Rivet City

Head of State

This quest seems to be notoriously buggy
Temple of the Union

This quest is received from Hannibal Hamlin, at the Temple of the Union (The location of which you can get from Mei Wong at Rivet City by giving her 25 caps to buy a gun). Hannibal Hamlin will ask you to make sure the Lincoln Memorial is free of Super Mutants so that the slaves can move there, and to also procure a drawing of the Memorial in it's pre-war condition, so they can rebuild it when they occupy it. You can get the location of the Lincoln memorial marked on your map by asking around in Underworld.

Good news: the Memorial is free of Super Mutants. The bad news: it's occupied by slavers. The irony. You'll be approached by a man named Silas when you first arrive at the Lincoln Memorial. He'll ask you to go talk to the slaver leader, Leroy Walker, but warn you not to set foot on the Memorial steps, or the slavers will shoot. It's recommended that you tell any followers you have to stay behind, because they may go on the steps and cause the slavers to shoot, thus ruining any chances of talking to Leroy Walker.

At this point you have a few choices:

  1. Massacre the slavers on the steps without warning. This clears out the Memorial for Hannibal's folks to come live in
  2. Talk to Leroy Walker and give up the location of the Temple of the Union, which leads to the slavers raiding the Temple
  3. Go tell Hannibal the Memorial is occupied by slavers, which will lead to Hannibal's motley crew launching an all-out assault on the Memorial with or without your help (Awesome, but usually kills a lot of the slaves)
Lincoln Memorial free of slavers

In addition to the situation at the Memorial, you will also have to retrieve a drawing of the Memorial for Caleb, or a Lincoln artifact for the slavers to destroy. Lincoln Artifacts are located in the Museum of History (same location as Underworld). Enter the museum, but instead of heading to Underworld, turn left and go through the set of doors over there. You'll have to fight through a buffer area infested with Feral Ghouls before you can get where you want. The area you want to be in is the Museum Offices Area. The item you're looking for is the Lincoln Memorial Poster, which is on the second level near a set of stairs, mounted on the wall. There are several other Lincoln objects in this area, including the powerful Lincoln's Repeater, all of which can be sold for profit to Abraham Washington in Rivet City, Hannibal Hamlin, or Leroy Walker (the slave leader). Lincoln's Repeater is arguably one of the best guns in the game, so it's worth picking up while you're around.

After you choose a side and kill all of the enemy, talk to the leader of whichever faction you sided with. They'll give you a reward, and the quest will end. You can also sell Lincoln Artifacts to this person even after the quest is over.

If you chose to do option 1, you can fast travel to the Temple Of The Union and wait for the slavers. However, because they are amazingly slow, you'll have to wait several days before they even show up. They'll be waiting under the overpass. Talk to them, and they'll assault the hideout. The same goes for option 3, where you'll have to wait a few days before the gang actually arrives out of the metro tunnels.

The Citadel

The Citadel is where the Brotherhood of Steel, D.C. Detachment makes it's headquarters. This Brotherhood stronghold has been built around the ruins of The Pentagon, and is where the Brotherhood of Steel leaders reside. Access to this area will be restricted until you reach a certain point in the main quest.

Gallows' Name*

*Unnamed Quest*

Talk to the members of the Lyon's Pride in the Citadel, and ask them about Gallows. One of the guys will revel that there's a betting pool going to discover his real name. After you find out about the betting pool, you can go try and convince Gallows to tell you his real name. If you succeed, you can claim the pool, which is 1000 caps.

Broken Robot*

*Unnamed Quest*

If you run across the medical robot in the Citadel and ask him to heal you, he'll actually hurt you. With either the Robotics Expert perk, or a high enough science, you can fix the robot to actually heal you, instead of hurting you. He will heal you for free after you fix him.

Fallen Brothers*

*Unnamed Quest* [Repeatable]

Scribe Jameson in the Citadel will buy any Brotherhood holotags you have off of you for 100 caps. You can find Brotherhood holotags by looting the corpses of dead Brotherhood soldiers. There's also a holotag on a table in the Lyon's Den in the Citadel. Jameson can be found in the A Ring. She is usually found standing around in the adjoining room to the room with the Vault Tec terminals.

Power Armor Training*

*Unnamed Quest*

The Citadel is the only place in the Capital Wasteland where you can receive training to wear Power Armor. To learn how to wear Power Armor, you must first talk to Elder Lyons and ask him for permission to get the Power Armor training (While you're talking to him, ask him permission to trade also). He will accept, and tell you to go talk to Paladin Gunney. Gunney can usually be found in the Courtyard, training Brotherhood Initiates. Go talk to him and ask him to give you Power Armor Training. He'll accept, the screen will fade to black, and you'll be able to wear any sort of Power Armor.

Broken Brotherhood*

*Unnamed Quest*

If you ask around the Citadel, you can learn about the Brotherhood Outcasts. A contingent within the Brotherhood of Steel that was unhappy with Elder Lyons' leadership broke off from the main detachment and headed further west, with the goal of attaining more powerful technology- a goal more in line with their original directive.

These Brotherhood Outcasts can be found at Fort Independence, to the West of the Fairfax Ruins. You can either kill them, or trade them technology for supplies. There is no way to reunite them with the main Brotherhood garrison.

Paradise Falls

Paradise Falls from afar

Paradise Falls is a slaving camp in the Capital Wasteland. Due to the evil nature of it's inhabitants, going on a killing spree will actually earn you good karma here. The place is run by a man named Eulogy Jones, and is generally a hive of scum and villany. Evil characters can pick up Clover as a companion character here by buying her off of Eulogy. There are a few stores and traders here, so be sure to nose around. There are also five Nuka-Cola Quantums in Eulogy's Pad, which are quite useful for completing the Nuka-Cola Challenge.

Strictly Business

This quest is required to gain entrance to the Paradise Falls slaver camp. The sentry at the gate, Grouse will give you four VIP slaving contracts. If you bring back one you gain entrance to Paradise Falls, but it takes all four to complete the quest. The four marks are:

  • Arkansas, the sniper in Minefield
  • Flak, the owner of Flak and Shrapnel in Rivet City
  • Red, the doctor from Big Town
  • Susan Lancaster from Tenpenny Tower
Grouse at the entrance

This is a quest that can really only be completed one way, which is to bring in the slaves for Grouse. Any of the targets you kill will be automatically removed as someone you need to bring in, but if you kill all four the quest fails. Your only options are to either kill up to three of the targets and enslave the remaining, or just enslave them all. There is no talking anyone out of anything, or any diplomaatic solution for this quest. You can always rescue the captives after you finish the quest, but that will turn all of Paradise Falls hostile against you.

For good characters looking to maintain a high karma who simply want the achievement or trophy, it is recommended you make a save before taking on the quest, complete it by enslaving the targets, unlock the achievement, then reload your save prior to when you took the quest. You have your mark of internet pride, and your character has no adverse karma.

After each slave you take, you'll need to return to Grouse at Paradise Falls to collect you reward and a new slave collar.

Red will present a bit of a challenge, as she is a Super Mutant captive, unless you've already done the "Big Trouble in Big Town" quest. Check that quest for instructions on how to rescue her. You'll be rescuing her just to enslave her again (Then possibly rescuing her again :P). How ironic.

Arkansas is easy enough, as he's all alone, provided you didn't kill him earlier. Just sneak around and make sure to look out for the mines. Also, be sure to disarm or otherwise get rid of most of the mines around the house. When I first enslaved him, he ran out of the house and blew himself up, thus making it impossible to complete the quest.

Susan Lancaster is much more difficult to get alone, as she will almost always alert the Tenpenny Tower guards that you collared her. Using a stealth-boy to get her might be advisable, or you can just blast through the Tenpenny guards, as they don't present much of a challenge.

Flak will be the toughest, because as you know, Rivet City Security is crawling all over that damn boat. Going after him in the marketplace is a very bad idea, as you will always be spotted, and security is really tough there. The suggested way to nab him is to wait in his room, or try and catch him wandering the corridors.

For all of these, it's important to zap the person where no one else can see you, or you'll turn all the nearby NPC's hostile.

Rescue From Paradise


See above in the main quest walkthrough

*Unnamed Quest* [Repeatable]

After talking with Grouse at the gate, he will pay you caps for every slave you bring in to him- not just the VIP's. Zap them with the Mesmetron, then slip a collar on. Whenever you return for your payment, Grouse will give you a new collar.

Child Slaving*

After you visit Little Lamplight, you can ask Eulogy about taking a kid from there. He'll agree, and ask you to lure Bumble out of the caves. Get Bumble to follow you outside, where she'll be snatched by a slaver. Return to Eulogy and he'll give you the Boogeyman's hood.

You can also enslave Brayn Wilks at the end of the THOSE! quest for 100 or 300 caps.

NOTE: Kidnapping Bumble will often cause Eulogy Jones and his bodyguards to disappear completely from Paradise Falls, even post-patches (as of 1/17/09). This will make the companion of Clover inaccessible if you have not already acquired her, complicate the Rescue From Paradise quest, and remove the ability to enslave Brian Wilks after THOSE! You also will not receive the Boogyman's hood, because Eulogy is gone forever. If you're playing on PC, he can be revived using console commands, but there is no fix for console players.

Chinese Violence*

*Unnamed Quest* [Repeatable]

Pronto at the Lock and Load isn't happy with his current inventory. He'll ask you to help him expand his inventory by bringing him 20 Chinese Assault Rifles. Once you've brought these to him, you get a 20% discount at his shop, and a vastly expanded inventory.

Canterbury Commons

Canterbury Commons

Canterbury Commons is a mostly destroyed town to the North East of the Capital Wasteland. You might hear Three Dog talking about it on Galaxy News Radio- he says two costumed kooks are battling for control of it. And he's right. Canterbury commons is home to a few other people, but the two most noticeable are the AntAgonizer, and The Mechanist, two "Superheroes" who constantly fight with each other. Uncle Roe, one of the citizens of Canterbury Commons, will ask you to stop their fights somehow. You can also help Uncle Roe, who used to be a caravan trader, organize the trading caravans and set up an empire.

The Superhuman Gambit

As you approach Canterbury commons, you'll see two crazies in costumes in the street, yelling at each other. One is a lady dressed up like an ant, flanked by two ants, while the other is dressed up like a robot, and accompanied by robots. They'll have a small little fight, then both leave. Note that t's possible to kill them both here, saving you a great deal of trouble if you only plan on murdering these guys for the quest.

The AntAgonizer vs. The Mechanist

Following the fight, you'll be approached by Uncle Roe. He'll apologize for the spectacle, and introduce himself. He'll ask if you can put an end to their fights to help the town out. He says that simply dealing with one of them will end the problem, and he promises to pay you caps for your services. He suggests you go talk to a kid in town about the AntAgonizer and the Mechanist, as he should know more. Go talk to Derek Pacion, who will tell you the location of both hideouts (They'll be marked on your map also).

At this point, you have a plethora of options. The first is obviously to decide which super to go after.

  • The AntAgonizer's lair has a entrance through a door in the rocks, and an entrance that leads directly to her throne room on top of those same rocks (lockpick 50 required). Go in through the entrance on top of the rocks if possible, as it saves you having to fight through her lair.
  • The Mechanist's base is located a bit South of town. It's called the Robot Repair Center. There's an elevator you can ride up to the "throne room", if you can pick the lock (75 lockpick skill). Otherwise, you'll have to fight through his robotic security to reach the Mechanist himself.

The options for talking to each super are roughly the same.

  • You can just blow their heads off (No karma change)
  • You can talk with one and agree to hep defeat their opponent, which will always result in the opponent bursting into the lair (savingyou some effort) and starting a fight
  • You can talk them out of their ways and get them to stop being supers, which results in good karma and their outfit
  • If you already got the other's armor, you can give it to their enemy in return for a unique weapon (Ant's Sting [knife] from the AntAgonizer, Protectron's Gaze [laser pistol] from the Mechanist). This results in bad karma
  • You can enter a lair wearing their opponent's armor, which will cause them to think you aretheir opponent and attack you.

If you deal with one of them, then return to Roe and end the quest, the other automatically vanishes. Be sure to deal with both of them before talking to Roe, as there are some cool unique weapons and costumes on offer in this quest. To finish the quest, just talk to Roe and tell hiim you've dealt with the situation.

Trading Empire*

Talk with Uncle Roe about organizing the trading caravans. He'll be doubtful at first, but he'll warm up to the idea. After you convince him to start managing the caravans, you can pay him caps for the traders to expand their inventories. For each trader (There are four), you can pay Roe 200 caps to expand their inventory, and then 500 caps to expand it even more. The result of this is that the traders in the caravans have a significantly wider array of items.

Investing will also increase the repair skill of the caravaners, and each will give you a gift if you invest the full 700 caps in their inventories.


There are a bunch of people living out in the Wasteland, or in isolated houses that could use your help. These quests originate in towns or areas that really only have ne thing to do in them, or outside of named areas.

Agatha's Song

The real-life Soil Stradivarius. Guess someone at Bethesda is a huge classical music nerd or something. Thing actually exists, and is apparently viewed as one of the best-sounding violins in the world, although I'm sure it's sitting in storage at the moment
Agatha's house

This quest is received from an old lady named Agatha living all alone out in the wastes. She wants a new violin, and you need to go get it for her. Only trouble is, there's only one known violin still in existence. Luckily, Agatha knows that it's inside of Vault-Tec Vault 92. Unfortunately, she has no idea where Vault 92 is. She does, however, know where Vault-Tec Headquarters are, a location she will mark on your map for you. Your primary objective for this quest is to retrieve he violin, with a secondary objective of finding Vault-Tec headquarters. You can just head straight to the Vault if you wish, but the visit to Vault-Tec is worth it.

Alternatively, if you wait until a certain point in the main quest, all the Vault locations in the Wasteland will be automatically marked on your map for you, which makes this quest significantly easier. You can also take the Explorer perk after reaching level 20 to reveal all of the undiscovered locations on your Pip-Boy.

Vault 92 is located in the far north of the map, within the slightly lighter box. Vault 92 is infested with Bloatflies and Mirelurks of all sorts, which are a challenge, especially to lower-level characters. Head into Vault 92, and retrieve the Soil Stradavarius from the Sound Testing area of the Vault. It's on a desk in a silver case. Pick it up and exit the Vault, as there's nothing much else notable, besides some backstory on what happened to the citizens.

Return to Agatha with the Stradavarius. Return it to her and you'll recieve good karma and the frequency of her radio station to listen to. You can also lie and say you couldn't find the violin, but the Stradavarius is completely useless and there's no reward for lying to Agatha. The quest also doesn't count as completed if you lie, so you may as well give the old lady her violin. Also, if you've found any sheet music in your travels (there's a sheet in Vault 92 I believe) you can give it to her in exchange for a unique scoped .44 magnum, the Blackhawk. There is also a sheet in Springvale Elementary School (probably the easiest and quickest one to get). You CANNOT, however, kill her to get the Blackhawk without finding any sheet music. I did this and the weapon was nowhere to be found in her house.


This quest is activated once you reach Oasis, in the far North center of the map. The Treeminders will ask you to participate in some sort of ceremony. Accept their offer and listen to their humbo-jumbo. Once you pass out, you'll wake up next to a talking tree. It's not every day you get to converse with one of those.

I call him Bob- or Herbert... no wait, Bob.

Harold will ask you to find his heart and destroy it, killing him. Exit the area with the tree and walk around Oasis. Make sure to talk to Sapling Yew. Ask her about Harold, and she'll say he tells her what he's afraid of. Now a speech challenge asking her what she's afraid of, and a Child at Heart option (if you have the perk) appear. Successfully asking either of those dialouge options reveals Harold is afraid of fire, and will also make a special reward available later if you choose to not burn Harold down. Also, be sure to walk around until you trigger the conversation between Birch and Laurel. One will ask you to slow Harold's growth, the other will ask you to accelerate it.

At this point, you can either go torch Harold with a flame weapon like the Shikebab or the Flamer. This results in karma loss, turning the Treeminders hostile, and no experience.

The other three options involve going into the tunnels - ask the guard for the key. The tunnels are infested with Mirelurks, and full of irradiated water. Popping a Rad-X and a Med-X before you head into the cavern are good ideas, as you'll be swimming through a lot of irradiated water and fighting a lot of tough Mirelurks.

Fight through to the first circular cavern full of Mirelurks. There is no ground-level exit from this room. Instead, you have to swim through an underwater passage to get to the next area. Head through the door that's past the underwater tunnel. There are more Mirelurks in this next area. Keep fighting through these caverns, until you start hearing a thumping and find Harold's heart. You have to "activate" Harold's heart, and all three options appear.

  • You can kill Harold and recieve the Barkskin perk (5% Damage Resistance)
  • You can accelerate his growth and recieve Linden's Outcast Power Armor
  • You can slow his growth and receive either a Missile Launcher or Maple's garb
  • If you won the speech challenge or used the Child at Heart dialog with Sapling Yew earlier, she will give you Yew's Bear Charm, regardless of your choice. It adds +10 to your speech skill, and can be sold for a value of 50

Now head through the door in the cavern (Not the way you came in). There are a couple Mirelurk Kings on the other side, but also some good loot (Including a Nuka-Cola Quantum, which is useful for the Nuka-Cola Challenge). Kill the Mirelurks, then dive into the pool. There's an underwater door which you can go through to return to Harold's grove. Talk to whoever is by Harold, and the quest completes.

The Nuka Cola Challenge

Nuka-Cola Quantum

Over in Girdershade in the south west corner of the map, you'll meet a woman named Sierra Petrovita. She lives alone in her house full of old Nuka-Cola merchandise. She'll ask if you want to to the tour. Agree, and when she's done she'll tsart going on about Nuka-Cola Quantum, this special Nuka-Cola variant she really wants. She wants 30 bottles of the stuff, and says she'll pay you caps (40) for each bottle you bring her. The other person living in Girdershade, Ronald Laren, will also buy the bottles from you- at double the price if you can convince him via speech, otherwise for the same amout. Giving the bottles to Ronald results in bad Karma however, whereas giving them to Sierra results in good Karma. Nuka-Cola Quantums are easily recognizable by their bright-bluish, purplish glow. They're quite easily spotted, especially next to regular Nuka-Cola's. If you're playing on a PC with low graphics settings however, you won't see the glow. The bottles are still fairly easy to distinguish however,

Nuka-Cola Quantums are pretty rare, appearing in some set places on the map, and a random chance of appearing in a Nuka-Cola vending machine. However, as long as you don't use any or sell them to someone outside of Girdershade, finding 30 sholdn't be too much of a problem.

The Vault wiki has a complete list of Nuka-Cola Quantum locations if you are having trouble.

Sierra will reward you with a Nuka-grenade schematic when you get her all 30 bottles. Ronald will not give you anything special for completing the quest, but he will pay you double the caps for each Quan,complete the quest (For either side), you can bring Sierra Quantum, Flour, and Vodka, and she'll make you a Mississippi Quantum Pie (+1 STR -1INT +20AP +5RAD)

Sugar Bombing Run*

*Unnamed Quest* [Repeatable]

This quest originates at Northwest Seneca Station, near Arefu. Right near the entrance to the station, you'll find two ghouls. The friendlier of them, Murphy, will tell you about his plan to make Ultra-Jet, a super stim. But before he can finish, he says he needs some Sugar Bombs, which he will pay you to retrieve. For each package of Sugar Bombs you bring back to the ghouls, you'll receive 15 caps, 30 if you won the speech challenge against him.

After you bring Murphy a certain number of Sugar-Bombs, he'll start selling Ultra-Jet, which gives you 50 extra AP instead of 30, like normal Jet. Ultra-Jet is also costlier, sadly.

Helping the Brotherhood*

*Unnamed Quest*

When you emerge from one of the metros in the D.C ruins- near Falls Church, you'll come up into the middle up a fight between Super Mutants and Brotherhood soldiers. Help the Brotherhood wipe out the Super Mutants, then talk to Paladin Hoss, who will tell you they're trying to rescue one of their men who got cut off. He's holed up in a building against some Super Mutants, and they could use your help rescuing him. Agree, and the Brotherhood soldiers will tell you to follow them. Do that, and you'll fight your way up to the building where the Initiate is pinned down. You'll have to go in alone and clear out a couple Super Mutants. The Brotherhood soldier is hiding in a room in the back. Find him, mock him, then escort him out of the building to his comrades and claim your reward.

Geomapping for Reilly*

*Unnamed Quest* [Repeatable]

After you complete the "Reilly's Rangers" quest, Reilly will tell you to return to the HQ for your reward. After you claim her reward, talk to her about helping out with their mapping activities. She'll give you a special Geomapping module, which will automatically offload location data from your Pip-Boy 3000. She promises to pay you for any locations you discover.

Right after you accept the quest, be sure to speak with her again so she logs all the map data you've already collected.

Her price is 30 caps for each location you discover.

Republic of Dave Elections*

*Unnamed Quest*

The Republic of Dave

When you enter the Republic Of Dave, you'll learn that the election is coming up. Talk to Dave and offer some help. He'll pay you 25 caps to tell everyone to go vote. When doing this, ask them if they've ever considered running. Rosie and Bob will vote for themselves when you do so. Once you've told everyone to go vote, tell Dave the votes are all in. He'll walk to the ballot box. At his point, you can rig the election. When he unlocks the ballot box, open it yourself and take out all votes, leaving the one for the person you want to win inside. If you cause Dave to lose, he'll get pissed and leave for Old Olney after giving you your 25 caps (regardless of who won). Talk to the person that you had win and they'll give you a key to Dave's safe. Inside is Ol' Painless, a powerful version of the Hunting Rifle. However, taking it from the safe is considered stealing for an unknown reason and you will lose Karma.

Also, Old Olney is a Deathclaw infested town. When Dave leaves for the place, you can find his dead body there and loot it.

Books for the Brotherhood*

*Unnamed Quest* [Repeatable]

Scribe Yearling in the Arlington Library will buy Pre-War books from you for 100 caps a piece.

Companion Characters

Companion Characters are special followers in Fallout 3 who can be convinced to follow you around and help you survive/kill things if persuaded with the right combination of speech/caps/karma ratings. Companion Characters are split up into Evil, Good, Neutral, and Any ratings based on whether or not they'll follow you if you have a certain Karma rank.

Generally you're only supposed to be able to have one companion+ Dogmeat, but due to the generally buggy nature of Fallout, it's certainly possible to end up with more than one. At least one of us was able to recruit two characters at once, and there are plenty of reports on the internet of other exploits.

These characters all come with their own weapons and armor, which will always have infinite ammo and never degrade. Some items, like Fawkes' Super Sledge and Charon's Shotgun, are unique weapons with special properties that are usually better than their normal counterparts. Companions can be dismissed from duty, and doing so will send them back to their original location to await your return and their subsequent rehiring. Some companions will rejoin you regardless of Karma if you've worked with them already, others will refuse you if you have changed too much.

All Human companions possess Power Armor training, and giving non-robot companions Stimpacks will allow them to heal themselves in the thick of battle. If they survive a battle (which they almost always will), their health regenerates rapidly back to full levels. Companions will not heal themselves from damage taken from traps, and they won't use a stimpack outside battle. They should level alongside you, meaning they're roughly the same level as you are.

Companions are able to change their tactics and follow-distances, allowing you to change between close combat, ranged combat, closely followed and loosely followed options respectively. They can also be made to stand in place and wait while you scout ahead further, and crouching will cause them to crouch and sneak with you.

All Companions have a set carrying capacity, and will transport (and often use) any items stored with them for you. This is incredibly useful for collectors and loot whores. However, this capacity is not visible, making it a bit of a guessing game determining how much a given companion can carry.

Evil Karma Required


Location: Megaton

Weapon(s): Chinese Assault Rifle, Nailboard

Requirements: Bad Karma, 1000 caps for "expenses"

Jericho is a former Raider who has found his way into Megaton. He is sarcastic, rude and abrasive, and refuses to join the player unless they possess bad karma. He will also require a full 1000 caps for expenses. After that, he will follow you and primarily attack enemies with his Chinese Assault Rifle, which has unlimited ammunition. He can take incredible amounts of damage (although not as much as someone like Fawkes) and has power armor training.


Location: Paradise Falls

Weapon(s): Chinese Officer's Sword, Sawed-off Shotgun, Dirty Pre-war Spring Outfit

Requirements: Buy her from Eulogy for 1000 caps (500 with a high barter)

Clover is one of the slaves of Paradise Falls, and must be bought from Eulogy Jones. Clover is unique in that she can wear Power Armor, but will not equip weapons that have a lower damage rating than her default Sawed-Off Shotgun. Because of this, she will not use Hunting Rifles, 10mm Pistols, or Laser Pistols.

Clover will also pick up and use weapons that she comes across. While this may seem cool, if she comes across a Fatman, prepare to get a Mini Nuke to the face. It's a good idea to trade with her and take it away before she kills both of you.

Neutral Karma Required


Location: The Muddy Rudder, Rivet City

Weapon(s): 10 mm Pistol, Butch's Toothpick

Requirements: Neutral Karma, Open the Vault during the Trouble on the Homefront quest

Butch is your childhood nemesis, the same kid who bullied you at you tenth birthday party. However, after the role you played in opening the Vault, Butch has come to respect you and perhaps even like you a bit. If you meet him down in Rivet City, he'll buy you a drink, and ask if you want to join his gang. Well, his gang is pretty much just him, and he'll follow you wherever you want. Butch is looking for adventure, and eager to tag along with you.

Butch's starting gear is not very good, so it's a smart idea to equip him with something better right away. He can wear Power Armor, so if you have a spare set he can wear it. His default weapon is the 10 mm pistol, which is almost useless against the stronger threats in the Wasteland. Upgrade him to a 10 mm SMG if you don't want to worry about ammo, otherwise give him something stronger.

Butch will not work with you if your karma isn't neutral even if you have worked with him before. However, he won't care if your karma changes while you have him hired.


Sergeant RL-3

Location: RobCo Factory (Tinker Joe)

Weapons: Plasma Rifle, Flamer

Requirements: Purchase from Tinker Joe for 1000 caps, Neutral Karma

Sergeant RL-3 is a Mr. Gusty robot that must be purchased from Tinker Joe outside of RobCo Factory. When at range, he uses a rather weak Plasma Rifle, but switches to a very effective Flamer when up close. He repairs himself after combat, but is vulnerable to Energy Weapons, Big Guns, and melee attacks from Yao Guai's and Deathclaws. Because of this, it's wise to treat him like Dogmeat. When entering heavy combat with tough opponents, it's a good idea to have him hang back.

Sergeant RL-3 can die, which is a big loss considering the fact that he costs 1000 caps. One last negative feature of him is the fact that he can't sneak, so for characters trying to do so, you will be compromised. He is, however, quite amusing.

Good Karma Required

Star Paladin Cross

Location: The Citadel

Weapon(s): Super Sledge, Laser Pistol

Requirements: Good Karma

Star Paladin Cross is a former colleague of your father's, who would like the honor of escorting and protecting you in your quest to save the Wasteland. She will not follow you if your Karma is Evil or Neutral. Also, if you call your father a selfish asshole, she will get pissed at you and refuse to talk to you, making it so you cannot acquire her. Her main weapon is a Super Sledge, which does not do much damage. Her backup, a Laser Pistol, is a better bet- although she will either pick up ammo herself off of things like dead Enclave soldiers, or you'll have to give it to her. Star Paladin Cross can also use any weapon you give her, as long as ammo is provided in some way. She will occasionally pick up weapons and a bit of ammo off of dead enemy bodies, and equip them herself for use.

Cross' Power Armor is only bested by fully-repaired Enclave, Tesla, Brotherhood Outcast, Medic, or T-51b power armors. She does not have a helmet by default, so it is a good idea to give her an Enclave power helmet or any comparable protection item. The Star Paladin is one of the most durable Followers, along with Fawkes and Charon. Like all followers, she regenerates health after battles, and if you give her stimpacks, she can use them in the field during tight situations.


Location: Vault 87, Raven Rock, Museum Of History

Weapons: Super Sledge, Gatling Laser

Requirements: Completion of "Finding The Garden Of Eden", Good Karma

*There is a long going argument over the gender of Fawkes. In this guide, Fawkes will be referred to as a male.*

The first time you meat Fawkes is in Vault 87 while looking for the G.E.C.K. Let him out, and he'll get it for you. After that, you'll be taken to Raven Rock where you meet up with him one more time when you get out. Fawkes will only come with you if you have Good Karma. If you don't, you can find him by the entrance to Underworld in the Museum Of History.

Fawkes is pretty much your reward for staying good for the entire main quest. He's like a humanoid tank. All you need you know is that he is the best companion in the game, and if you already got all the evil status achievements, go good immediately. Like any other companion, Fawkes can trade equipment with you (minus armor). He deals tons of damage with both default weapons and the only downside that was noticed was that he gets stuck in small areas sometimes. If you aren't too prone to combat in the open Wasteland, take him along. You'll be glad you did.

Any Karma Required


Location: The Scrapyard

Weapon(s): N/A

Requirements: Kill the Raiders in the Scrapyard

Dogmeat can be found in the Scrapyard- once you clear out the Raiders Dogmeat will approach you. The Scrapyard is pretty big, so if he's not coming up to you just walk around for a bit.

Dogmeat will come with you in addition to whatever other companion character you have with you, meaning you can have one human companion and Dogmeat. Dogmeat will fight in combat with you whenever you are attacked, much as any other companion character. However, you can also set Dogmeat to seek out weapons, ammo, or health items for you, which he will lead you to if you follow him. You can also order Dogmeat to return to Vault 101 and wait for you there.

Dogmeat tends to get town up in heavy combat situations, especiall by enemies later in the game. He's best for light exploring and taking on Raiders and Ghouls and the like. If you're planning on assaulting a base and don't want Dogmeat to die, it's a good idea to send him back to Vault 101, or tell him to hang back.


Location: Underworld (Ninth Circle)

Weapon(s): Charon's Shotgun, combat knife, leather armor

Requirements: Pay Ahzrukhal 2000 caps (1000 with a good enough barter skill), or kill Greta at Ahzrukal's request

Charon is the Ghoul bouncer in the Ninth Circle bar. Initially, he will be very unfriendly to you. If you talk to the propietor, Ahzurkal, he will reveal that Charon is unflinchingly loyal to whoever holds his contract. If you inquire about Charon's contract, it is possible to get it for yourself. You can either buy it for 1000 or 2000 caps (depending on barter skill), or you can kill Greta for Ahzurkal. After you have either payed him or killed Greta, he will hand the contract over to you. Go speak to Charon, and tell him you hold his contract now. He'll go over and blow Azhurkal's brains out, then follow you.

Charon, like all other humanoid companions, has Power Armor training, so feel free to throw a suit on him. His default weapon is a special shotgun, which he's quite proficient with- and you won't be able to take it from him, so may as well let him keep it. Charon's a better ranged fighter than close combat, so don't tell him to fight close quarters. His default armor is quite weak, so make sure to replace it with a set of Power or combat armor right away. Charon will use any stimpacks or grenades you give him in combat, although he's rather lousy with thrown grenades

Possible exploit: I had Butch following me, raised my karma from neutral to good, then got Charon's contract, and they were both following me. Presumably you could also bring Dogmeat with you, for a party of 3. At this point I could fire any one follower, the re-hire another to change the makeup of my party.

Multiple Companion Exploits

There are several ways to end up with more than the set number of companions. Here's a guide on how to acquire multiple followers. It's possible that many of these will get patched out, so we can't make any assurances as to how long they'll continue working.

Dogmeat Exploit

Acquire one companion, then go get Dogmeat from the Scrapyard. Now kill your dog. Now you can hire another follower in addition to the one you have. Quite simple. This also works if Dogmeat is killed in combat, you don't need to do it yourself.

Purchased Exploit

This exploit will work for companions which you need to buy to get- Charon is excepted, so this exploit works for Sergeant RL-3 and Clover. Here is a step-by-step guide to the exploit:

  • Get one companion
  • Go to either Paradise Falls (Clover), or the RobCo facility near Tenpenny Tower (RL-3)
  • Walk up to the person you need to buy the companion off of (Eulogy for Clover, Tinker Joe for RL-3)
  • Fire your current companion
  • Talk to the seller (Eulogy or Tinker Joe), and buy the companion off of them
  • Before you talk to the new companion, go re-hire the one you just fired, who should be walking away
  • After re-hiring your old companion, go talk to the companion you just bought. They should join you in addition to your other companion

You can do this exploit with both Clover and RL-3, to get a party of up to 3 extra followers. You can also stack the Dogmeat exploit on top of this to get four followers in addition to yourself, which pretty much gives your your own personal strike team.



Here are the locations of all of the Vault-Tec collectible Bobbleheads found within the game:

Stat Bobbleheads:

Stat bobbleheads each give you a permanent bonus of +1 to a S.P.E.C.I.A.L attribute

  • Strength - Lucas Simms' House in Megaton (must be grabbed before blowing up Megaton)
  • Perception - Museum of Dave in The Republic of Dave
  • Endurance - Deathclaw Sanctuary through the entrance
  • Charisma - Cloning Lab in Vault 108
  • Intelligence - Science Lab in Rivet City
  • Agility - The Office in Greener Pastures Disposal
  • Luck - Arlington House in Arlington Cemetery

Skill Bobbleheads:

Sklll bobbleheads each give you a permanent bonus of +10 to a skill

  • Barter - Market Bazaar in Evergreen Mills
  • Big Guns - CO Quarters in Fort Constantine
  • Energy Weapons - Raven Rock (must be grabbed when leaving Raven Rock)
  • Explosives - Sealed Cistern in the WKML Broadcast Station
  • Lockpick - Bethesda Offices East in Bethesda
  • Medicine - on Dad's Desk in Vault 101(must be grabbed when escaping the Vault or the return in Trouble On The Homefront. It will be moved to the clinic where Andy is when you return.)
  • Melee Weapons - Virulent Underchambers in the Dunwich Building
  • Repair - Evan King's House in Arefu
  • Science - Living Quarters in Vault 106
  • Small Guns - National Guard Armory in the National Guard Depot
  • Sneak - the Yao Gui Den in Yao Gui Tunnels
  • Speech - Eulogy's Pad in Paradise Falls
  • Unarmed - Rockopolis (West of Smith Casey's Garage)

Take care to either grab the Medicine Bobblehead at the very beginning before you leave the Vault, or during the Trouble on the Homefront quest. You'll also have to grab the Energy Weapons Bobblehead before you leave Raven Rock, as you cannot return. The strength one must also be grabbed before nuking Megaton, or it's forever gone.

Weapons Information

Unique Weapons


In addition to the boilerplate weapons found in Fallout 3, there are some one-of-a-kind weapons available too, usually attainable through special quests or exploration. These are generally worth seeking out for some special attribute or another. Here, all the unique weapons are listed, along with their stats, and how to obtain them.

Sorry about the odd tables, GB's table editor is fucked up

A3-21's Plasma Rifle

This weapon is obtained via the Replicated Man quest (See above for instructions on how to complete the quest). To receive A321's Plasma Rifle, you must talk to Harkness and convince him that he is an android. Harkness will give you his rifle in exchange for the information. The rifle is incredibly durable and fairly accurate, which, combined with the ability to turn enemies into glowing green goo quite often, makes A3-21's Plasma Rifle one of the better guns in the game.

Weapon TypePlasma Rifle
Damage TypeEnergy
AmmoMicrofusion Cell
Capacity12 Rounds
Value2198 caps

The Terrible Shotgun

Kill Smiling Jack in the Evergreen Mills Bazaar and loot his corpse. He has The Terrible Shotgun. In addition, if you sell everything in your inventory to him, then kill him, you can keep the caps and reclaim all your loot. There's great potential to exploit Smiling Jack. Killing Smiling Jack nets you no Bad Karma, so don't be scared.

The Terrible Shotgun degrades very quickly, and its accuracy rating is one of the lowest in the game. Best used as a one- or two-shot-one-kill weapon in very close quarters.

Weapon TypeCombat Shotgun
Damage TypeNormal
AmmoShotgun Shell
Capacity12 Rounds
Value250 Caps

The Kneecapper

Ronald Laren in Girdershade has The Kneecapper. You can either kill him and take it from his corpse, or pickpocket it from him while he is sleeping.

Weapon TypeSawed-off Shotgun
Damage TypeNormal
AmmoShotgun Shell
Capacity2 Rounds
Value350 Caps

Wazer Wifle

Biwwy in Little Lamplight has this weapon. He can be found towards the back of the Great Chamber. You can buy it from him for 500 caps (250 with good barter). It can be obtained for free using the Child at Heart perk dialog option.

Weapon TypeLaser Rifle
Damage TypeEnergy
AmmoMicrofusion Cell
Capacity30 Rounds
Value900 caps


This weapon is received from giving Agatha music sheet paper after completing "Agatha's Quest". Give her the music sheet paper, then request a reward and she'll give you the Blackhawk.

Weapon TypeScoped .44 Magnum
Damage TypeProjectile
Ammo.44 Magnum
Capacity6 Rounds
Value500 Caps

Sydney's "Ultra" 10mm SMG

This weapon is owned by Sydney the relic hunter from the "Stealing Independence" quest. You can either obtain it by killing Sydney, pickpocketing her, or by completing the unnmarked quest "Sydney's Father" in Underworld if she survived your expedition in the Archives.

Weapon TypeSMG
Damage TypeNormal
Capacity50 Rounds
Value430 Caps

It is possible to get duplicate copies of this weapon (via a bug) if you do it via the "Sydney's Father" unnamed quest. After you get the gun, do this dialog tree:

  1. Since we're done now, why don't you tell me about yourself
  2. Nice gun, I've never seen one like that
  3. That's all for now, I guess
  4. So whatever happened to your father?
  5. Sydney, I found a note from your father

Following those steps should net you a spare copy of the Ultra SMG. It can be repeatedly endlessly for an infinite amount of Ultra SMGs. The Ultra SMG is pretty valuable, so getting dupe copies and selling them is a very easy way to make quick caps.

Smuggler's End

This weapon can be found in Elder Lyons' personal safe in the Citadel B-Ring. You'll need to pick the lock on the safe to take it (Lockpick 100), or you can override the safe using the terminal on the desk. This is the third most powerful Laser Pistol in the game, with the second most powerful being the Protectron's Gaze and the first most powerful being the Colonol Autumn's Laser Pistol. Its durability is fairly standard, and other than slightly boosted damage, this weapon is a run-of-the-mill Laser Pistol.

Weapon TypeLaser Pistol
Damage TypeEnergy
AmmoEnergy Cell
Capacity30 Rounds
Value450 Caps

Alien Blaster

This weapon is found by the crashed alien ship. If you don't know where said ship is, check the maps we linked above. They show the location. The alien blaster is incredibly deadly, and has a huge critical chance. It will 1-hit kill almost any enemy in the game, but the ammo is extremely limited, so use it with discretion.

Lincoln's Repeater

This weapon is in a sealed display case in the Museum of History, on the upper level. Lincoln's Repeater is one of the strongest guns in the game, although ammo is quite scare. It is the only gun in the game that is 100% accurate outside of VATS, meaning it will shoot exactly where you're aiming all the time. You can sell this gun to Hannibal Hamlin, Abraham Washington, or the Slaver Leader at the Lincoln Memorial, but you probably shouldn't, as it's a very powerful weapon.

Weapon TypeHunting Rifle
Damage TypeNormal
Ammo.44 Magnum
Capacity15 Rounds
Value500 Caps

Ol' Painless

This rifle can be found in the safe in Dave's office in the Republic of Dave. Ol' Painless is a normal hunting rifle with better durability and damage. To open the safe, you'll need Dave's Special Key (Used for the You Gotta Shoot 'em in the Headquest). Another way to obtain it is to help either Bob or Rosie win the elections- you'll receive Ol' Painless as your reward. The rifle must be stolen, so make sure no one sees you opening the safe, even if you do have the key.

Weapon TypeHunting Rifle
Damage TypeProjectile
Capacity5 Rounds
Value250 Caps

Victory Rifle

The victory rifle is hidden inside the locked sniper shack to the West of Rockbreaker's Last Gas. It takes a lockpick skill of 100 to attempt the container in which the Victory Rifle is stored, although some companion have been observed to automatically take it from the safe, regardless of the lock. The Victory Rifle is a unique sniper rifle with great durability, and the special ability to knock foes down with a critical hit.

Weapon TypeSniper Rifle
Damage TypeProjectile
Capacity5 Rounds
Value450 Caps

Experimental MIRV

The Experimental MIRV is a special version of the Fat Man that shoots 8 nukes at one time. No, I'm not even kidding. It's located in the National Guard Depot. To get it, however, you must obtain all of the Keller Family Transcripts located throughout the Wasteland. They aren't that hard to find.

1. Travel to the VAPL-58 Power Station. Inside of it, there's a mini nuke on one of the lights. Why? I don't know. Anyway, head north and follow the power lines. Eventually you'll reach a tower with boards all around it. The first KFT is in there. All of the tapes are from the brother in the family, and this one explains how they are going to try and get into one of the Vaults to "ride the storm out", and if that doesn't work, they have a backup plan, which is the National Guard Depot. Cha ching!

*I've recently learned that this tape is not required for entry to the armory bunker where the MIRV is. However, there is some vaulable loot at this one's location, so get it anyway.

2. Travel to the Hollowed Moors Cemetary (north of Big Town) and enter the church. Expect some resistance if you haven't been here before. There's also a captive here. Anyway, the KFT is inside on top of the podium. You can't miss it. This KFT is from a girl in the family named Tina. She heard from her sister Candace that they couldn't get into any of the Vaults because they were full. However, the brother, Alex (who sent the first transcript) managed to secure the password to an Army bunker and sent each person in the family one of the digits so they would have to be together to get inside. The first digit it "5".

3. Travel to Grisly Diner and head inside. Go out the back and you'll find the KFT on a desk. If you haven't been to Grisly Diner before, prepare to take some damage. The place is littered with traps, hence the name, and Raiders usually attack you when you enter. This KFT is a short one. It's from Candace to the Mom. She can see the mushroom, and says it's "so big". She heads off to one of the Vaults, but not before revealing that her number is "7".

4. Travel to Rockbreaker's Last Gas and look west. There should be a shack on top of the large cliff. Inside is the KFT, as well as the Victory Rifle if you have 100 lockpicking or Dogmeat. This KFT is from the father to the son, Ralphie. They can't get into the Vault without him, so he demands he gets his ass over there. His digit is "4".

5. Your last KFT is North across the river from the Anchorage Memorial. There's an flipped truck and some tents. If this is your first time visiting, there will Super Mutants, Centaurs, and a Wasteland Captive. The KFT is inside one of the tents. This one is from Ralphie. He doesn't care at all for the family. He refuses to go in a Vault, saying he doesn't want to spend "nuclear Armageddon trapped with him in a fucking closet". The "him" is the father. He gives the family his number, which is "6", and leaves to walk into a mushroom. His last words are: "Have a happy Holocaust!" What a nice kid.

Now that you've secured all of the KFT's, it's time to head to the National Guard Depot. Once inside, you will need to get into the Armor by pulling a switch. The location of the switch can be hard the find.* Once your inside, go down the stairs after hitting the switch. You should enter the mother of all supply rooms. There's tons of usefull stuff here, such as armor, ammo, weapons, Chems, and even a Missle Launcher. Hey, what's that on the shelf? Oh, it's a Bobblehead!

Locate the large metal door in the room. Go to the computer and open it using the KFT's. The door should open. Head inside and follow the pathway. You should encounter a Glowing One in here. This is probably the Father, as he often went out in search of supplies. Everyone else in the family died. You should find the Expiremental MIRV on a table with five mini nukes. Congratualtions! You've secured the most powerful weapon in the game!

Weapon TypeFat Man
Damage10+1600 AoE per nuke (according to the Fallout Wiki)
Damage TypeExplosive
AmmoMini Nuke

Vampire's Edge

This unique sword is hidden with the Family, the "vampires" you'll encounter during the "Blood Ties" quest. It's hidden inside Vance's locked sword cabinet in his room. It's locked, requiring a 75 lockpick skill to open. Instead of picking the lock, you can also pickpocket the key off Vance, or kill him and loot the key off his corpse.

Weapon TypeChinese Officer's Sword
Damage TypeMelee
Value100 Caps

Weapons Schematics

Some weapons in Fallout 3 can be built from scratch using a schematic and a workbemch. These schematics are a bit difficult to obtain, so here are all the schematic locations listed. There are several available schematics for each weapon.

Nuka Grenade

  1. One can be found in the Raider Cliffside Cavern, inside the Yao Gui nest
  2. Doc Hoff in the Trading Caravan sells one
  3. If you complete the Nuka-Cola Challenge by collecting Nuka-Cola Quantums, you can get one from Sierra Petrovita

Compnents: Nuka-Cola Quantum, Tin Can, Turpentine, Abraxo Cleaner

Bottlecap Mine

  1. Moira will give you a schematic for bringing her back a landmine from Minefield.
  2. The kid vendor, Knick Knack, in Little Lamplight sells a schematic
  3. Dashwood's safe in Tenpenny Tower hides a Bottlecap Mine schematic- he will give it to you for telling him about Argyle, or you can steal it
  4. Jocko's Pop and Gas Stop has a schematic, in addition to a Nuka-Cola Quantum, and a nearby workbench

Components: Lunchbox, 10 caps, Cherry Bomb, Sensor Module

Deathclaw Gauntlet

  1. Helping Bannon with the City Council Trouble quest will yield a Deatchclaw Gauntlet as a reward
  2. One can be found at F. Scott Key and Campground in the South West corner of the map inside a trailer
  3. One is occasionally found on a random Wasteland Settler

Components: Deathclaw Hand, Medical Brace, Leather Belt, Wonderglue

Rock-it Launcher

  1. You can buy one of these schematics form Moira at Craterside Supply in Megaton
  2. There's one under your mother's favorite bible passage in Vault 101- you can only get this when you return as an adult for the Trouble on the Homefront quest
  3. One can be bought from Crazy Wolfgang in the trading caravan
  4. One can be found in the Rivet City Armory

Components: Vacuum Cleaner, Firehose Nozzle, Leaf Blower, Conductor

Railway Rifle

  1. One can be bought from Tulip in Underworld
  2. Complete the Stealing Independence quest and you're rewarded with this schematic from Abraham Washington
  3. The MDPL-13 Power Station has one

Components: Crutch, Fission Battery, Pressure Cooker, Steam Gauge Assembly


  1. A Shishkebab schematic is a reward for finishing the Blood Ties quest (From Vance- if you kill him it should be on his corpse)
  2. Lucky Harith in the trading caravan sells one

Components: Pilot Light, Motorcycle Gas Tank, Motorcycle Handbrake, Lawnmower Blade

Dart Gun

  1. Reward for finishing the "Head of State" Quest
  2. Lydia Montenegro in Tenpenny Tower sells one (Human)
  3. Michael Masters in Tenpenny Tower sells one (if you let the ghouls take over)
  4. At the MDPL-05 Power station there's a schematic

Components: Radscorpion Poison Gland, Paint Gun, Surgical Tubing, Toy Car


A good portion of the achievements in Fallout 3 are for completing specific quests. Just look at the quest guide above for those. The ones listed here are the achievements you get outside of quests.

Psychotic Prankster


Pickpocket somebody without being detected, go into your inventory and choose a grenade or mine, place it in their inventory and back out. Hilarity ensues. Note that any nearby NPCs will instantly turn hostile.

Keys Are For Cowards


Pick 50 locks (The bobby-pin minigame). An easy achievement, because there are a ton of things to pick open in the game and bobby pins are easy to come by.

Silver-Tounged Devil


Win 50 speech challenges (A speech challenge is when a dialog option has a percentage next to it. If it says SUCCESS you won it). Pump some points into Speech so you have a much better chance of passing the challenge.



Make one of every custom weapon schematic (See the Weapons Schematics section above). You don't need to keep the weapon after you make it.

Yes, I play with Dolls


Collect 10 Bobbleheads (See Bobblehead section for locations). Be sure to pay attention when Bobblehead hunting, because there are a few that can disappear forever if you don't get them in time.

One Man Scouting Party


Discover 100 Locations. This comes naturally from exploring and wandering the Wasteland. In addition, at level 20 you can choose the Explorer perk, which reveals all the locations, although you still need to hike there for it to actually count as "discovered". You can check how many locations you're found in your general stats on the Pip-Boy.

The Bigger They Are..-20G

Kill all five Super Mutant Behemoths. Here's a video showing the locations.

Slayer of Beasts-20G

Killed 300 creatures. Most all of the enemies you'll fight in the Wasteland are classified as creatures, so this one should come to you no problem. Radroaches, Radscorpions, Giant Radscorpions, Deathclaws, Yao Gaui, Feral Ghouls, etc. all count as creatures.

Doesn't Play Well With Others-20G

Killed 300 people. This one is much tougher than Slayer of Beasts. This will come easier to evil characters, as they're more disposed towards murder and mayhem, but it's certainly attainable for good characters too. You'll just need to kill a BUNCH of Raiders and Enclave soldiers on your travels. And, as Three Dog says, (non-Feral) Ghouls are people too, and therefore count towards this achievement.

Vault-Tec C.E.O.-30G

Collect all 20 Bobbleheads. See the Bobblehead section above.

Data Miner-20G

Hack 50 terminals. This one is significantly harder than the lockpick achievement. It's recommended that you create a new character who specializes in Science. Go through the game hacking every terminal you see, and use the tips given above. When I did this, I got the achievement in Vault 87 after meeting Fawkes. There is an extremely helpful guide that gives the locations of enough terminals to give you the achievement. Check it out here.

Karma Achievements

There are achievements for reaching levels 8, 14, and 20 at Evil, Neutral, and Good karma. Now, aside from playing through the game three times, here are some suggestions for obtaining these achievements and changing your karma:

  • Keep a save a little bit before you hit 8, 14, and 20 so you can reload and change your karma before hitting the specified level.
  • The easiest way to gain bad karma is by simply killing innocents- go into a town and murder everyone. If you are close to leveling, it is a lot easier to simply go into empty houses and steal everything inside, which takes quite a bit longer but will ensure that you do not level up before hitting your desired Karma level.
  • The easiest way to gain Good karma is to give purified water to the Beggars outside of towns. There are people asking for purified water outside of Tenpenny Tower, Megaton, and Rivet City.
  • Donating to the Church of Atom in Megaton or the Church of Saint Monica in Rivet City will both also give you Good Karma, to the tune of 1 karma point per cap donated.
  • Going on a killing spree at Paradise Falls will gain you good karma.
  • You can check your current Karma under the general tab in STATS on your PIP-BOY 3000. The Karma ratings are: Very Good, Good, Neutral, Bad, Very Bad. You do not need to reach the very good or very evil extremes to get the achievement, Good, Neutral, and Bad will all do.
  • After installing the Broken Steel DLC, the level cap is raised to 30. The Karma achievements for level 30 can be easily obtained by taking the Here and Now perk to boost up the 30, and then taking the Karma perks and reloading.


So you're really into that 50's music huh? Surprise! All of Fallout 3's music is from 1949 or earlier! Anyway, here's a listing of the licensed soundtrack for Fallout 3, as well as previews for all the songs.

Downloadable Content

Downloadable content is out for the Xbox 360 and PC, and is coming soon to the Playstation 3.

Clearly we have not kept on top of updating this. We are sorry :(

Operation Anchorage

Relive the liberation of Alaska from her Communist oppressors via a simulator. Released January 27th 4-5 hours, 800 MSP

Aiding The Outcasts

After downloading and installing Operation: Anchorage, a message will pop up in game telling you about a mysterious radio message that you've picked up. Follow the compass through a metro and you'll come across some Brotherhood soldiers who will engage in a large fight against an army of Super Mutants and Centaurs. Because the soldiers are packing an impressive amount of heat, it's entirely possible to sit back and let them take care of business. Eventually, you'll reach an elevator. Take it and you'll hear some people talking. Once the elevator stops, follow Sibley to Protector McGraw and get some information about your mission. There are several things to loot in this area also. Once you are ready to head out, talk to Odin by the pod and equip your special suit. Jump in the pod to begin the simulation.

The Guns of Anchorage

You'll begin this by talking to your Sergeant who will be your buddy throughout the entire simulation.

Paving the Way

Operation: Anchorage

The Pitt

Head to Pittsburgh. Released March. 800 MSP

Into The Pitt

Unsafe Working Conditions

Free Labo

Mill Worker

Broken Steel

Join the Brotherhood of Steel, raised level cap, continue the main story. Released May. 800 MSP

Death From Above

Shock Value

Who Dares Wins

Point Lookout

Head to the swamps of Maryland and kill some hillbilly mutants. 800 points.

The Local Flavor

After installing the DLC, you'll get a message onscreen as usual after waiting a minute or so. There is a boat docked on the Potomac River that goes to Point Lookout, and you've decided to investigate. Fast travel to Arlington Library and follow the quest marker till you reach the boat called the Duchess Gambit. You'll be approached by a woman named Catherine, who frantically begs you to find her daughter Nadine who ran off somewhere in Point Lookout. (This is an unmarked quest). To get to Point Lookout, you need to talk to a man named Tobar, who owns the boat.

Walking With Spirits

Hearing Voices

Thought Control

A Meeting Of The Minds

Mothership Zeta

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