Fallout 3 Megaguide v1.2

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

You do +10% damage against opponents of the opposite sex. You'll sometimes have access to unique dialogue options when dealing with the opposite sex.

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

Just like dear ol' Dad, you've devoted your time to intellectual pursuits. You gain an additional 5 points to both the Science and Medicine skills.

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

You're obsessed with using and maintaining a wide variety of conventional firearms. With each rank of the Gun Nut perk, you gain an additional 5 points to the Small Guns and Repair skills.

• Intense Training - Ranks: 10, Requirements: None

With the Intense Training perk, you can put a single point into any of your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attributes.

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

Years as the Vault little league MVP have honed your hitting and throwing. With every rank, you gain 5 points of Melee Weapons skill and 5 points of Explosives skill.

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

With each rank in the Swift Learner perk, you gain an additional 10% of total Experience Points whenever Experience Points are earned.

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

With each rank of the Thief perk, you gain an immediate bonus 5 points to both Sneak and Lockpick skills.

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.
• Ant Might- 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 Strength.
• 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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 Atom sidequest. 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.*

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.
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. 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.

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 tat 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.

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.

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.

*READ THIS FIRST*
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.

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.

*READ THIS FIRST*
*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
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.

*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.

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

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.

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.

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.

*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

*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.

*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.

*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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

*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.

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.

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: 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: 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.

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.

*SECTION STILL IN PROGRESS*
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

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 Type	Combat Shotgun
Damage	80
Damage Type	Normal
Ammo	Shotgun Shell
Capacity	12 Rounds
Weight	10
Value	250 Caps

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

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

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

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

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

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-10G 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-20G 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-20G 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.

Weaponsmith-30G 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-10G 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-20G 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.

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

Head to Pittsburgh. Released March. 800 MSP

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