metzomagic.com Walkthrough
Fallout 3
Developer/Publisher:  Bethesda Softworks

Walkthrough by Steve Metzler (2009)


Last updated: 11th September, 2010

Introduction
Note: this guide is a work in progress, and will be updated regularly to reflect information on new areas, quests, and NPCs as I encounter them in my travels.

Fallout 3 is, of course, the third in the series of these unique, post-apocalyptic RPGs. But whereas the first two games were produced by Interplay and set in California, the third game is made by Bethesda Softworks and takes place in a devestated Washington D.C. in the year 2277, 30 years after the events of Fallout 2. It is also presented in mind-blowingly detailed 3D, while the first two, having been made 10 years ago, were in 2D utilising a top-down isometric perspective.

Fortunately, little has changed in the RPG mechanics for this new game, which is a good thing because the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. primary stats system coupled with the Skills, Perks, and method of levelling up are the things that make Fallout such a great role-playing experience. More about these in a while.

This guide is quest-oriented, though I've also written much about all the important objects and people that you'll encounter in the various locales, even if they aren't related to completing a specific quest. The quests in this game are referenced by the place where you obtain them. So if I, for instance, mention Downtown Quest 1, you can get information on how to obtain and complete this quest by referring to the Downtown section of the guide.

Before we launch into the game proper, a few tips are in order.

Tips
Rather than wasting valuable Stimpaks to heal after a tough encounter, travel to some place with a bed that you are allowed to sleep in.

You'll be finding lots of keys in this game. Doors that require a key will open for you automatically once you approach them with the correct key. All your keys are kept in one place, the Keyring, which can be accessed via your Pip-Boy 3000 in the Items > Misc section.

To holster your weapon, press and hold the R key. You run faster with your weapon holstered, and it's also nicer to have a conversation with someone when you're not waving something nasty in their face.

Explosives skill (30+) combined with Frag Grenades is handy for getting you out of tight spots when you are outnumbered or outgunned.

Bottlecap Mines are one of the best weapons in the game with damage at 300+. Just drop one in a doorway, then get an enemy to chase you through it and it's usually game over for them. Once you have the schematics (which can be obtained via a quest early on in the game), these can be made with: Lunchbox, Cherry Bomb, Sensor Module, and 10 Bottlecaps.

Fast travel on the World Map to locations you've already visited is really handy. You can't use it when enemies are nearby, but you can usually manage to sneak to a safe spot from where this option is possible.

If you tune into Galaxy News Radio via Data > Radio on your Pip-Boy, you'll hear all about your own exploits as you complete major quests in the game.

You can become addicted to any of the chems such as Buffout, Jet, or Mentats if you take them too often. If you want to stay 'in character' when you become addicted, you can be cured by a doctor (or if you have a very high Medical skill, by yourself). Otherwise, just reload and chances are you won't become addicted the next time you take the chem in question.

If you're into big guns like myself, the Flamer is one of the best weapons going. But always remember to use it in V.A.T.S. mode when you can, or else you tend to hold down the trigger unnecessarily and consume too much of that precious fuel.

Hacking puzzles - a mathematical solution
At first, those hacking puzzles may seem like a fairly daunting guessing game. But of course, there's a trick to solving them ;-) You just have to remember this rule: any word that does not have the same number of letters in common with the number of letters you guessed correctly in the target word may be eliminated. In other words, if you guessed 3 letters correctly, then any word that does not have exactly 3 letters in common (in the same positions) with the word you chose can be crossed out. It's a bit labourious, but the first thing you have to do to use this approach is write down all the possible words on paper, because you need to cross out words you have eliminated, and this is very hard to do mentally when there are like 20 words up there on the screen :-\ This concept is best illustrated by example, so suppose we are faced with the following (theoretical) list of words:

BEAT
WELD
WEST
WEED
BEND
BEST

In this example, the correct password is BEAT, but we start out by guessing WELD. This guess only has 1 letter correct out of 4, so we can cross out any words that don't have exactly 1 letter in common with WELD (I've put the number of letters in common in parentheses next to each word). So now our list looks like this:

BEAT (1)
WELD 1/4
WEST (2)
WEED (3)
BEND (2)
BEST (1)

And you have eliminated 4 out of the 6 possibilities in one shot. It nearly goes without saying that you should save your game before attempting each hacking puzzle for the first time. You won't get the same words again, but at least you get more than one crack at it if you make a mistake. There's one more trick related to these puzzles, and that is... if on any given line on the screen you find 2 square brackets like: [...] with any number of garbage characters in between, if you highlight the whole mess with your cursor and click on it, it will accomplish one of two things, apparently at random: either it will replenish your guess allowance by one, or it will remove one of the 'dud' words.

Well, that's probably enough already with the up-front tips. Time to dig in...

Vault 101
This early part of the game serves as a tutorial to let you get your bearings. But you also choose your primary stats here (S.P.E.C.I.A.L), and tag your three favourite Skills.

Quests

  • 1.  Baby Steps - your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats.
    As a toddler aged just 1 year, you get to select your primary stats from the book you find on the floor outside your playpen. Choose wisely. The most important stats in my mind are Agility (more Action Points in combat) and Intelligence (more Skill points to spend per level). I would crank those up to at least 7 or 8, and leave the rest around 5. Above average Luck is also good for getting a higher critical hit percentage in combat.

  • 2.  Growing Up Fast - Pip-Boy 3000.
    At your 10th birthday party, you acquire the Pip-Boy 3000, which is essentially the game's interface. You also have your first run-in with that bully Butch. After you've spoken with the requisite guests at the party, Dad prompts you to head downstairs to the Reactor Level to meet Jonas. Use the BB Gun to take out the three targets, then get the Radroach (might as well hit V to enter V.A.T.S. mode. This is the first time you can avail of it) for 1 whole XP to boot.

  • 3.  Future Imperfect - Karma points and tagged Skills.
    At age 16 on the way to take the G.O.A.T. test, you have your second encounter with Butch. This one is all about saving Amata's honour. If you have high enough Speech skill, you can try to threaten him with the "I'll tell the Overseer" ploy. But otherwise, this is also a good opportunity to become acquainted with V.A.T.S. Just keep targeting Butch's head, and that should do it. You gain some Karma either way. Then go take the G.O.A.T. and talk to the instructor afterwards. Not to worry, you can override any choices the test made for you. In the end, you have tagged three Skills.

  • 4.  Escape! - 200 XP and Quest 5.
    Amata wakes you up, and it seems your father has left the vault. They've killed Jonas. You'll need to escape the vault yourself, via a secret tunnel in the Overseer's office. OK... important to maintain your presence of mind here. Accept the 10mm Pistol from Amata. Pick up the Baseball Bat, a very useful weapon at this stage whether you have poured any points into Melee or not. Also take the 10 Stimpaks and Med-X from the medical cabinet there. Now venture out into the hallway, and take out the guard that is pre-occupied with the Radroach using the Baseball Bat (remember to use V.A.T.S.). Then take his armour and helmet and put them on. A little further up the hallway, Butch accosts you. He wants you to save his mom from the Radroaches. Follow him to their quarters, open the door, and take out the three Radroaches. You get some Karma points, and Butch gives you his Tunnel Snake Outfit as a reward (though it is virtually useless. But it's the thought that counts). Make sure you scrounge all the weapons and armour off anyone you kill from now on. You can barter the stuff later. Now head up to the Atrium (be sure to take the Vault 101 Utility Jumpsuit off of Floyd Lewis' body in the Computer Room. It adds 5 points to both your Lockpick and Repair skills when worn ;-)

    The Overseer and Officer Mack are giving poor Amata a grilling in the Admin area. Take out Officer Mack and make sure to raid all the lockers here for weapons and ammo. You can kill the Overseer as well if you like. You get a free pass into his office this way, and I wouldn't worry about Amata refusing to talk to you because somehow I don't think we're ever coming back here again. If you don't take him out, then you'll have to pick the lock to his office. No big deal. You'll find Jonas' body just outside the door to the Overseer's office. Make sure you get the Vault Lab Uniform off him as it adds 5 points to your Science skill when worn. Use the terminal in the Overseer's office (you'll probably have to hack it. See tips on hacking above) to open the tunnel, then make your way out of the vault and into the Capital Wasteland. All of this should have resulted in your attaining Level 2.

  • 5.  Following in His Footsteps: Investigate the nearby town of Megaton for information about Dad.
    Once you have escaped the vault you pick up this quest, which I suppose is the central quest of the game. You must find your father, and discover why he left the vault. See Megaton Quest 1 for details on how to progress with this quest.

Capital Wasteland
Head down the hill, and east towards Megaton (there's a mailbox on the way down the hill that contains 3 Frag Grenades, some Jet, and Psycho). There is also a safe (Locked, Very Easy) in the remains of a house just down the hill from the mailbox that contains some caps, and a fair few chems. Might I suggest a slight detour here before venturing into Megaton? When you get to the sign for Megaton, hang a left instead. Be sure to enter the Small Ranch House on your left and talk to Silver. You can get 300 caps off her (400 with good Speech) if you promise to tell this chappie Moriarty that she's disappeared once you get to Megaton (and, of course, you don't have to mention it to Moriarty at all. This many caps is very handy to have gotten for so litttle effort so early in the game ;-)

Fallout 3 screenshot
Area around Vault 101
Anyway... enter the Springvale Elementary School, across the road from Silver's place. Take out all the raiders in there, at ground, upper and basement levels. It's a bit tough going at this stage in the game, but you can do it. You get a Springvale Library Key off one of the bodies (it opens a door upstairs), and a Springvale Basement Key off another. As a bonus, once you've taken care of all the raiders, you can sleep on any of the mattresses you find for a few hours to recover all your HP. You can also go down to the basement and kill the ants there for XP, but I never found a way to get into the 'vault' that was mentioned in the logs, even by using all manner of explosives on various places in the basement. When you're finished here, head for Megaton. The area map to the right shows Vault 101 (the 'gear'), Springvale Elementary School in the north, and Megaton.

Megaton
Talk to Lucas Simms, the sherriff. You get Quest 1 if you enquire about Dad, and also Quest 2 if you offer to disarm the bomb at the town centre.

If you're nice to Gob, the ghoul in Moriarty's pub, you'll get better prices. Cheapest source of Stimpaks in the game.

Talk to Doc Church in the clinic. If you have high enough Medical and/or Speech skill, you can discover that Leo Stahl has a Jet addiction (note: you can also find this out by hacking Moriarty's terminal. See Quest 1). Leo can usually be found hanging around the Brass Lantern. I was able to talk him out of his Jet addiction with Charisma 6/Speech 35. In addition to gaining 100 XP for this, he also hands over the key to his private chem stash at the water processing plant (it's actually in a locked desk in the back room there). If you can't talk him out of his addiction, you can at least agree to meet him at the water processing plant (after dark), where he'll sell you chems at a decent price. Mentats are handy for temporarily increasing your Explosives skill in order to be able to interact with the Megaton bomb.

Talk to Moira in Craterside Supply, halfway up the hill. For starters, you can get a pretty useful Armored Vault 101 Jumpsuit off her once she discovers you're from a vault. Then, offer to help her with her book to get Quest 4 below.

Talk to Lucy West in Moriarty's Saloon to get Quest 6.

Speak to Walter at the water processing plant (up the ramp from Craterside Supply). If you can fix three leaky pipes for him, you'll get 100 XP and 200 caps. You need a Repair skill of 30+ to pull this off. If you scrounged a Vault 101 Utility Suit during your escape, that adds 5 points to Repair. Popping a Mentat also helps. Anyway... the first leaky pipe is located right next to the Craterside Supply sign. Just hop over the railing to access it. The second pipe is next to the steps on the hill leading out of Megaton. The third pipe is next to the steps that lead up the hill from Mr. Burke's house. As an added bonus for completing this unofficial quest, Walter will buy any Scrap Metal you bring him in future at an inflated price of 10 caps.

There's 300 caps in the Stahl's floor safe in the Brass Lantern if you can manage to hack it at night when no one is around.

Jericho, an ex raider, hangs around Moriarty's Saloon. He will join your party, but only if you have negative Karma.

Quests

  • 1.  Following in His Footsteps: Speak to Colin Moriarty about Dad - Quest 3.
    Talk to Lucas Simms and ask about Dad to get this quest. Moriarty's pub is up on the top of the hill to the right from the entrance to Megaton (just up the path from Craterside Supply). Talk to Moriarty to discover that your father and yourself weren't born in Vault 101. Unless you have very high Speech skill, it will cost you 100 caps to learn that Dad has gone to Galaxy News Radio in D.C. to seek out the DJ there named Three Dog (see Quest 3 below). Optionally, you can lockpick the back door of the saloon, open the cabinet, get Moriarty's password, and access his terminal there to get this info, plus some dirt on the locals. But don't let Moriarty catch you at it or you'll lose Karma.

  • 2.  The Power of the Atom: Disarm the Megaton bomb - 100 Caps and your very own house.
    All you need to pull this one off is an Explosives skill of 25 (popping a Mentat to boost your Perception will help if you're short of the 25 mark). As an additional reward, you get your own permanent dwelling in Megaton, just above the Brass Lantern. Just be sure to save your game before going down into the pit to disarm the bomb, because it's a radioactive area and you may need more than one attempt at it. Finishing off the Megaton bomb quest in this manner is not without its drawbacks though. Because you have pissed off Mr. Burke, and ultimately his boss Mr. Tenpenny, several groups of Talon mercenaries are dispatched on contracts in an effort to bump you off. They lurk outside large buildings or metro stations that you have entered, waiting for you to emerge. However, you only have to get through three waves of them before they give up. But be warned - they are tough in the early stages of the game! One benefit of having to take them on is that they are wearing Talon Combat Armor, which I found to be some of the best armour out there in the wasteland ;-)

  • 3.  Following in His Footsteps: Find Galaxy News Radio - 300 XP and Downtown Quest 1.
    Fallout 3 screenshot
    Friendship Heights, GNR Plaza to SW
    Once you've either spoken to Moriarty or hacked the terminal in his back room, you get a marker for Galaxy News Radio put on your World Map. I'd wait until you're about Level 6 or 7 before trekking over there though. Downtown is full of tough Super Mutants and other nasties. Anyway, once you do decide to take this on... get to Farragut West Metro Station, which is the first station you come to on the outskirts of Downtown. Head into the tunnels there, and when you come to a locked gate with Ghouls behind it, you can open this gate with a Metro Utility Gate Key that can be found in a first aid box in a room just before you get to that gate. Alternatively, keep to the north side of D.C. Get to Friendship Heights, and enter the Tenleytown/Friendship metro station. Once you've located the Tenleytown/Friendship metro station using either of the above methods, keep heading south until you get to the next station where you can go upstairs. You come out at Chevy Chase North.

    Head left from the station exit there, and follow the Brotherhood of Steel paladins to the plaza where Galaxy News Radio is located. Help them take out the Super Mutant Behemoth (then raid his corpse for some good stuff). Also be sure to get the Fat Man and Mini Nukes off one of the dead Brotherhood of Steel paladins. Use the intercom to get into GNR. Go upstairs and speak to Three Dog to get Downtown Quest 1.

  • 4.  Wasteland Survival Guide: Find food in the Super-Duper Mart - 3 Iguana Bits.
    Fallout 3 screenshot
    Super-Duper Mart
    Might as well take this one on first. You can use the supplies and the XP. Moira puts the Super-Duper Mart on your World Map. Travel to it, and wait for the commotion in the carpark to subside before entering. There's usually a tough critter in the carpark like a Radscorpion or Mirelurk being beset upon by some raiders. Enter the Super-Duper Mart cautiously, because you'll soon discover that the inside is crawling with raiders too. The food supplies are in a fridge in an open room to the right of the entrance. Moira doesn't give you a whole lot for this, but at least you get to keep the food you scrounged. And while you're there, you might as well do Quest 5.

  • 5.  Wasteland Survival Guide: Find medicine in the Super-Duper Mart - A Food Sanitizer.
    The medical supplies are at the rear of the Super-Duper Mart, in a locked room. You can either hack the terminal, or there's a Super-Duper Mart Pharmacy Key (not to mention one or two Bottlecap Mines :-) in a room all the way at the back. In addition to the medical supplies you find in the cabinet, there's also a Mini Nuke and 4 Frag Grenades. Beware that once you are amongst the medical supplies, a new batch of raiders enters the store, blocking your way to the exit. You can activate the security bot to cause a bit of havoc, but I found you can also sneak past them by going to the left and hugging the wall until you reach the place where the food supplies were. You can hop over the counter there and beat it to the nearest exit. As a reward, you get to keep all the chems you found, plus Moira gives you a Food Sanitizer (minimises the bad side effects of food). Go for contracting radiation sickness next, Quest 7.

  • 6.  Blood Ties: Deliver Lucy's Message - Arefu Quest 1.
    Talk to Lucy West in Moriarty's Saloon, and offer to deliver a message to her family in Arefu (which she puts on your World Map). The few trailers that make up the village of Arefu are located on a broken overpass that extends over what's left of the river there. When you arrive, speak to Evan King. He wants you to check out the trailers. Investigation reveals that the Wests have been murdered (with Medical skill of at least 30, you can determine that the Wests have bite marks in their necks that go to the bone. Hmm). Their son Ian is missing. Speak further with Evan King to get Arefu Quest 1.

  • 7.  Wasteland Survival Guide: Contract more severe radiation sickness (600 rads) - Rad Regeneration Perk, some Rad-X and RadAway.
    Go for the whole hog, 600 rads. Just stand in the pit near the Megaton bomb until your rad meter on the top right of the screen goes over the 600/1000 mark. Moira cures you when you return to her, and you also get 3 Rad-X, a RadAway, and a unique Perk: Rad Regeneration. This allows you to heal a crippled limb, but only if you get enough rads first...

  • 8.  Wasteland Survival Guide: Travel to the playground in Minefield - 100 XP, 3 Frag Grenades, 3 Stimpaks, and Bottlecap Mine Schematics.
    Agree to travel to the town of Minefield to further Moira's research. Once there, disarm as many mines as you can and take them with you. There is a nutcase named Arkansas with a Sniper Rifle in the destroyed tower in the centre of town. Might as well take him out and get his weapon as it's obviously one of the best long range guns in the game. Use the key you find on him to enter the Zane house, at the end of the road. Some Stimpaks in there, and beds you can sleep in if you don't mind sharing them with the former inhabitants :-\

  • 9.  Wasteland Survival Guide: Test the repellent on 3 Mole Rats (10 for bonus points) - Repellent Stick and 2 Jet.
    After you've completed the three quests for Chapter 1 of Moira's guide, you can start working on Chapter 2. I'd take this one first. Moira puts the Tepid Sewers on your World Map. Careful, because in addition to the Molerats there's an automated turret down there, plus a madman with a gun. When you complete the quest, Moira lets you keep the Repellent stick, which is real handy for taking out Molerats without wasting precious ammo.

  • 10.  Wasteland Survival Guide: Place the observer in a spawning pod in the Anchorage War Memorial - 2 Stealth Boys.
    Moira gives you an Observer to plant, and puts the Anchorage War Memorial on your World Map. I tried a few times, but couldn't even get past the first room. Sneaking deep into a Mirelurk lair without killing any of them? You'd need a maxed out Sneak skill plus tons of patience. If you do manage to do this quest, you get 2 Stealth Boys as a reward. But there are other ways you can obtain these a lot easier.

  • 11.  Wasteland Survival Guide: Become seriously injured (50% health or less) - 2 Med-X and Environment Suit.
    Just go outside and drop a Frag Grenade or two right at your feet. That should get you under 50% health, and cripple a limb. Return to Moira then to get stitched up and collect your reward. If you can remember to wear the Environment Suit whenever you are using Stimpaks, you will gain more HP.

  • 12.  The Power of the Atom: Rig the Megaton atomic bomb to explode - 300 XP, 1000 caps, and your own penthouse suite in Tenpenny Tower.
    Speak to Mr. Burke in Moriarty's Saloon, and accept the Fusion Pulse Charge from him (you'd usually only get 500 caps for this quest, but with high enough Charisma/Speech you can get 1000 caps). Obviously, you would want to complete all other Megaton related quests before taking this one. And... it's not gonna do your Karma a whole lot of good either. Then go down into the pit and use the Fusion Pulse Charge to arm the bomb (note: you need Explosives skill of at least 25 to interact with the bomb. Popping a Mentat helps if you're short of the mark). Now you have a rather long trek to Tenpenny Tower on the SW of your World Map. Mention Mr. Burke's name to gain entrance, then take the elevator to the penthouse suites. Mr. Burke and Mr. Tenpenny are waiting for you out on the balcony. Use the detonator to set off the Megaton bomb and then watch the ensuing pyrotechnic display. You've lost a whole ton of Karma, but I suppose you realised that already. As compensation, you've earned at least 500 caps and now have a base of operations in one of the Tenpenny Tower penthouse suites. There are a few other things you can do here, documented in the Tenpenny Tower section below.

Super-Duper Mart
If you return to the Super-Duper mart carpark sometime after you complete the quests for Moira, a young lad named Bryan Wilks should approach you. He wants you to find his father, in a place called Grayditch. See Quest 1.

Quests

  • 1.  Those!: Investigate Marigold Metro Station and remove the source of the Fire Ants - Strength or Perception +1, Lesko's Lab Coat, and 300 XP.
    Those of you who are as old as I am might recall a 1950's sci-fi flick called Them!, which concerned some huge, mutated ants. Well, this quest is somewhat related to that, and concerns some deadly fire ants that are infesting the Grayditch area of D.C., which Bryan Wilks adds to your World Map. He also gives you a Grayditch Dumpster Key. He wants you to locate his father for him. So travel to Grayditch, and find the derelict diner (on the west side of Grayditch). The dumpster you got the key for is right behind it, and contains a Scoped .44 Magnum. Bryan is hiding in a shelter next to the diner, and if you need help finding the house where his father is you can speak to him about it. It's actually the house next to a Recently Built Shack. Uh oh. Bryan's father is dead in there, and you'll have to break the bad news to him. But make sure to get the Shack Key off his body first, and go investigate that Recently Built Shack next door. When you activate the terminal there and start reading, you get this quest. It seems a certain Dr. Lesko had tracked the source of these giant ants to the nearby Marigold Station (in the south of Grayditch). So head there and go down into the metro tunnels...

    Fallout 3 screenshot
    Marigold Station, Grayditch
    Once you get into a service tunnel area, you'll find Grady's Safe Key in a firehose box. That's when you know you're getting close to the source of the fire ants. Soon after that you'll run into Dr. Lesko. Aha. He was trying to reduce the size of the ants when the mutagen he was injecting them with instead turned them into the fire-breathing monsters you are now facing. He wants you to clear the way to his terminal, which is blocked by some rather aggressive Nest Guardians, so he can rectify the mistake he made. In return, he will inject you with a mutagen of your choice that will increase either your Strength or Perception. But first... you have to kill five of these fearsome Nest Guardians without harming the Queen, which he needs to keep intact for further study. OK then, no problem ;-) Go past him then, and through the back door of his lab...

    OK, almost there. All you have to do is take out the 5 Nest Guardians you encounter in the tunnels. Mines are handy to use here. Just drop one and get them to chase you. Once you've taken out all the Guardian ants, return to Lesko for your reward. He gives you his Lab Coat (Rad resistance +20, Science +10), and will also inject you with a serum that boosts either your Strength or Perception by 1. Personally, I'd go with the Perception boost every time. Return to the shelter next to the diner then and talk to Bryan Wilks. He has a sister named Vera in Rivet City that might take him in. Indeed. When in Rivet City, visit the reception of the Weatherley Hotel and speak with Vera Weatherley about Bryan. Then return to Bryan (he might be in the Wilk's family house at this stage), and give him the good news for the 300 XP mentioned above.

Scrapyard
Fallout 3 screenshot
Scrapyard, Minefield to NW
In a place called Scrapyard, just south of Minefield, you can acquire a canine companion called Dogmeat if you save him from some raiders (or not. Dogmeat finishes them off himself if you take too long getting to the correct part of Scrapyard in time). Those of you who are familiar with the Fallout mythos will recall that Dogmeat's ancestor was a handy party member in the first game. Well... he's pretty handy in a fight here too, but difficult to keep alive once you start tangling with Super Mutants and the like. However, you can have him wait behind when you know there's a battle coming up that he's most likely not going to survive. And whenever his health gets low, you get a dialogue option to top him up with a Stimpak. I managed to keep him alive for most of the game, and he's very good at holding enemies at bay while you pick them off using V.A.T.S.

Arefu
After you check out the trailers for Evan King, discover the bodies of the Wests, and speak to all the remaining residents, then report back to King to get Quest 1 here.

Quests

  • 1.  Blood Ties: Locate the Family - 300 XP and Shishkebab Schematics.
    King suggests three places where the Family may be hiding out: Moonbeam Outdoor Cinema, Hamilton's Hideaway, and Northwest Seneca Station. There's nothing at the Cinema. Hamilton's Hideaway (a cave set into the cliff just below a beached boat) contains a few Radscorpions, a Raider with a Combat Shotgun, and some useful supplies including Cherry Bombs; but alas, no sign of the Family. There's also a locked cell in there, but I searched everywhere for the key and coudn't find it.

    Fallout 3 screenshot
    Northwest Seneca Station, Arefu to SW
    Go to Northwest Seneca Station, and talk to the Ghoul named Murphy. He will give you money for Sugar Bombs. There is a tunnel in one of his back rooms that leads to where the Family are located (Meresti Trainyard). Beware, the way there contains Mirelurks, and is heavily trapped. The Family is holed up in the first tunnel off to the north. Don't shoot! Just walk up to Robert and speak with him (be sure to mention the letter from Lucy West), then go talk to Vance in the upstairs area of the station. You can convince him to let you see Ian, once you talk to several of the Family members to learn that they are vampires rather than cannibals (as you thought at first). The key to getting Ian to leave the Family is to reason with him gently, then show him Lucy's letter once that option presents itself. Make a pact with Vance for the Family to protect Arefu in exchange for the residents of Arefu donating blood packs. As a reward for being so civil and patching things up, Vance gives you the schematics for a Shishkebab - a handy melee weapon. Now go speak with Evan King to complete the quest and get the XP. You can sleep in the West's beds now, and if you speak with Karen Schenzy, she puts five new locations on your World Map: Dickerson Tabernacle Chapel, Shalebridge, Five Axles Rest Stop, Rockbreaker's Last Gas, and Fort Bannister.

RobCo Facility
Located just to the NE of Tenpenny Tower. You're likely to encounter it on the way there. There is literally a *ton* of useful stuff in here, and you only have to stave off Radroaches and Molerats to get to it: Stimpacks, Stealth Boys, Energy Cells (off all the defunct Protectrons), Microfusion Cells, assorted junk, and even a workbench you can use to assemble your custom items. Well worth spending the half hour or so it takes to loot the place from top to bottom.

Tenpenny Tower
Fallout 3 screenshot
Tenpenny Tower
You must travel here after arming the bomb in Megaton. It's highly unlikely you would just stumble upon the place otherwise, as Tenpenny Tower is located in the extreme SW on your World Map. The place is inhabited by what's left of the idle, stuck-up rich. All the suites in the tower are open, so you can just walk in and strike up a conversation with whomever you like at any time.

Talk the the head of security, Chief Gustavo, to get Quest 1. He hangs out in the lobby. By the way, he has some really good armaments for sale.

Quests

  • 1.  Tenpenny Tower: Kill Roy Phillips and his followers - 300 XP and 700 caps, plus Chinese Assault Rifle.
    Speak to Chief Gustavo, and offer to solve his Ghoul problem. He offers 500 caps, but you should be able to talk him into an extra 200 caps, and then he also throws in an excellent weapon: a Chinese Assault Rifle. The Ghouls are holed up in the metro tunnels beneath Warrington Station, just to the west of Tenpenny Tower. Use the metal door there to access the tunnels. You have to travel a fair bit through the tunnels and take on quite a few Feral Ghouls before you get to Warrington Station. Roy and his fellow non-feral Ghouls are holed up there. Talk to Michael Masters, and tell him you wish to speak to Roy Phillips. Roy can be found by going through the gate under the stairs, down the tunnel a ways, and then heading to the right through a service door. He wants you to open a door in the basement of Tenpenny Tower so the Ghouls can get access and storm the place. So now there are three ways you can complete this quest:

    1. Kill Roy Phillips and all his followers (I never took this option. Too crude an approach for my liking).
    2. Open the door in the basement of Tenpenny Tower to allow the Ghouls to gain access.
    3. Talk Allistair Tenpenny into allowing the Ghouls to peacefully enter the Tower.

    If you want to go for the peaceful solution to this quest... after speaking to Roy Phillips, go talk to Allistair Tenpenny. He'll let the Ghouls into the tower if you can convince the following residents that it is a good idea. Mind you, I had Charisma 8/Speech 70 when I pulled this off. But with a bit of luck you could probably do it with less. I talked to them in the following order (as you convince each resident that it's a fait accompli that the Ghouls are moving in, and they reluctantly agree to leave the tower, convincing the next resident has a slightly higher chance of success). Be sure you save the game before talking to each of these residents, because you don't get a second chance if you fail to convince them:

    1. Mr. and Mrs. Wellington. Try speaking to Mr. Wellington first. If you can't convince him that the Ghouls are moving in (he says the only way this will happen is over his dead body), then you'll have to resort to Plan B. Find the Love Letter from Edgar Wellington II to another of the residents named Susan. Just show the letter to Millicent Wellington, and she promptly pulls out a gun and shoots her wayward husband. That's them out of the way ;-) If you did talk Wellington into it, then you'll also need to convince Millicent.
    2. Ms. Lancaster. If you talked the Wellingtons into it, then you'll need to talk Ms. Lancaster into it as well. On the other hand, if you showed Millicent Wellington the Love Letter, then depending on where Ms. Lancaster is located at the time... Millicent Wellington either runs from the room immediately after she kills her husband and pumps a few rounds into her too, or you may have to wait several hours for this to happen. In either case, she's also conveniently bumped off Ms. Lancaster for you, who was the 'Susan' referred to in the Love Letter.
    3. Mr. Ling. Runs the New Urban Apparel shop.
    4. Ms. Montenegro. She hangs out in the boutique. Save her for last as she's the toughest to convince.

    Speak to Allistair Tenpenny again after you've convinced them all to leave (or the ones you couldn't convince are dead), and he gives you 500 caps for sorting out the situation for him (actually, when it really comes down to it, you created the situation ;-) Then go speak to Roy Phillips once more and tell him that he has permission from Mr. Tenpenny to enter the Tower. 300 XP for this, plus Roy gives you a Ghoul Mask that will disguise you from Feral Ghouls (if you don't get too close to them). All is not as rosy as it first appeared in this makeshift paradise though. If you wait a few days and come back, Roy Phillips has disposed of Allistair Tenpenny, and all the other non-Ghoul residents and guards have disappeared too. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted. At least now you can go raid all the safes without having to worry about the residents or guards.

    Alternatively, if you want to get access to the basement to let the Ghouls in, speak to Irving Cheng (he has one of the penthouse suites) about it. He recommends that you seek out a chap named Dashwood. Sure enough, Herbert "Daring" Dashwood can be found on the second floor of suites, and it's easy enough to talk him into letting you borrow the key to the basement. Then just go outside and around the back of the Tower to get into the basement. Hack the terminal there to let the Ghouls in. Then meet Roy out front, and he gives you a Ghoul Mask as a disguise to ward off Feral Ghouls. You still get 300 XP for completing the quest this way, but be warned that by letting Ghouls into the Tower 'the back way', not only the peaceful Ghouls but also the Feral Ghoul Roamers and Glowing Ones get access too, and they absolutely *trash* the place and kill all the residents. So you lose a lot of Karma, and you can't collect the 500 Caps from Gustavo. After destroying Megaton, completing this quest by letting the Ghouls into the Tower took my Karma all the way down to Very Evil :-\ Well... the pickin's are quite good back in the Tower once you manage to put down the Feral Ghoul Roamers and Glowing Ones (though you no longer have access to your Tenpenny Tower penthouse suite). Doc Banfield has 20 Stimpaks in his safe, and there are a lot of caps and other assorted goodies on the dead residents and in their safes. Also be sure to raid the Armaments Locker outside with the key you get off Gustavo's body.

Big Town
Big Town is located near the river, directly to the north of Vault 101. You might stumble upon it on your way up to Arefu. Ironically, it's inhabited mostly by, well, little people. Talk to them to learn that some of their brethren have been kidnapped and are being held by Super Mutants. See Quest 1 below.

Quests

  • 1.  Big trouble in Big Town: Rescue the Big Town captives from the Super Mutants - 300 XP.
    By speaking to the Big Town residents, you learn that a few of them have been captured by Super Mutants and are being held in Germantown Police Headquarters, which now appears on your World Map. Beware that you'll need to take out about a half dozen Super Mutants in order to complete this quest, so you'd need to be at least Level 5. You can get into the police HQ via a set of stairs in the back that lead to the top floor. A fella named Shorty is being held in the basement, and Red is in a cell on the ground floor. You can get the key to the cell off the body of the Super Mutant on that floor. When you return with Shorty and Red to Big Town, you get the XP and an unofficial quest to stick around for a bit and protect them from further Super Mutant atttacks. If you agree to help, then sure enough, you can knock off the 4 Super Mutants that arrive in a few minutes time. But you don't seem to get any further reward for doing this.

Fort Bannister
Careful, the place is crawling with Talon Company Mercs, and one of them in a tower at the back has a Missile Launcher. If you have Dogmeat with you, this is one of those places where you might want to have him wait behind a safe distance away. Good source of Talon Combat Armor and other supplies if you can manage to bump them all off. You can also enter the fort proper where there are yet more Mercs and supplies, especially some Stealth Boys in safes (Locked, Average) upstairs.

Downtown
Talk to the DJ at Galaxy News Radio, Three Dog, to get Quest 1 below.

Quests

  • 1.  Galaxy News Radio: Find the Museum of Technology and Retrieve the Communications Relay Dish - Communications Relay Dish and Quest 2.
    Galaxy News Radio needs better range in order for Three Dog's message, Fighting The Good Fight, to be heard all around the Capital Wasteland. His dish atop the Washington Momument has been wrecked, and he needs you to replace it. So... he's heard of a possible replacement in the form of a dish that's kept in one of the exhibits at the Museum of Technology, which of course promptly gets onto your World Map. He also gives you the password that gets you into the Washington Monument ("Renfield"). You can get to the Museum by taking the rear exit from GNR, then heading right to enter the Collapsed Car Tunnel that leads to Dupont Station. From there, defeat the raiders in the tunnels (you can hack a terminal to disable 2 turrets where they are camped out), and then keep heading south through the tunnels until you get to Museum Station. Unfortunately, the arrow on the World Map doesn't reflect your progress through the tunnels. But just keep heading roughly SE according to your compass and you'll eventually arrive at Museum Station (use the Brotherhood of Steel symbols painted on the walls to guide you into the station).

    Exit Museum Station on the east side, and the Mueseum of Technology is just there to your right. Take out the 2 Super Mutants in the atrium, then head upstairs (make sure you take the 2 Stealth Boys from the blocked-off hallway there), go through the vault tour, and then enter the west wing and head downstairs to the planetarium. The terminal in a utility room opens the planetarium exit on the far side. Go down the hallway and be prepared before you open the door at the end. There's a tough Super Mutant Brute in there. Once you take him and his buddy out, you can grab the Virgo II Dish from the exhibit to complete this quest. You now have Quest 2.

  • 2.  Galaxy News Radio: Find the Washington Monument and Repair the Damaged Radio Relay - 400 XP and Quest 3.
    You can get to the Washington Monument by just hanging a left when you exit the Museum of Technology, but there are a lot of Super Mutants blocking the way. So I found it best to go back into Museum Station instead, and take the west-side exit out. Use the terminal at the entrance of the Monument to gain access (Three Dog gave you the password when you accepted his quest to replace the dish). Once inside the Monument, take the elevator to the top and activate the control panel there to install the new dish. Return to GNR and speak with Three Dog to get Quest 3.

  • 3.  Scientific Pursuits: Gain entrance to Rivet City - Rivet City Quest 1.
    After you've installed the new dish in the Washington Monument, speak to Three Dog and he will tell you where Dad has gone: Rivet City. If it's not already on your World Map, Three Dog puts it there. And you also get a photo of a person you need to find there who knows where Dad is, one Doctor Li. I found that the easiest way to get to Rivet City was by hugging the river bank and heading SE. As you get closer to Rivet City though, you'll encounter a lot of Super Mutants. You may want to expend one of those Stealth Boys you've been carrying around for the whole game to complete the last part of the journey without being harrassed. Once you arrive at Rivet City, use the intercom at the top of the stairs opposite the ship. Cross the walkway once they swing it over, then mention Doctor Li to the guard. You'll probably also have to mention Dad. That should do it. Then see Rivet City section below.

  • 4.  Head of State: Find Hannibal Hamlin and the Temple of the Union - Temple of the Union Quest 1.
    The Lincoln Memorial is located on the west side of The Mall. Speak to Silas at the entrance, then follow him down the path and enter the memorial through a maintenance door. Speak to Leroy Walker there. Turns out that Leroy and his gang are slavers in search of runaway slaves that escaped from Paradise Falls. The slavers are holed up here in the Lincoln Memorial, and they expect that these slaves are planning an attack on the memorial. The slaves in question were last seen heading east from Paradise Falls (but that's way north of here, so it means they could be anywhere in the NE part of the wasteland). He wants you to bring him their leader, one Hannibal Hamlin, for which he'll give you 100 caps. See Temple of the Union section below for further details.

Underworld
Underworld is a settlement of non-feral Ghouls. You gain access to it via the Museum of History, which is located in The Mall, just to the NE of the Washington Monument. You'll probably run into Willow who is guarding the entrance to the museum, and she explains things a bit. When you first enter Underworld, a fellow named Winthrop is there to greet you. He'll repair stuff for you, and he's on the lookout for Scrap Metal. For every 5 pieces that you bring him, he'll trade you either a Stimpak, Rad-X, or Rad-Away (as the Ghouls have no need for any of these items).

You can acquire a Ghoul named Charon to assist you in combat, but you need to buy his contract from Ahzrukhal in the Ninth Circle to get him into your party. Alternatively, Ahzrukhal will also offer you Charon's contract if you agree to kill his rival booze supplier, Greta, over at Carol's Place. But you'll need to do it quietly. Otherwise... Charon is going to cost you 2000 caps (there's a conversation choice to offer 1000 caps, but there is no option to influence this choice with Speech, and Ahzrukhal doesn't accept). Well, all you have to do is wait for Greta to be alone in the back room of Carol's place. Stay out of sight of Carol, and bump off Greta with a silent weapon (I used a Laser Rifle). You lose Karma of course, but worth it for saving 2000 caps I think. When you go speak to Ahzrukhal then, he gives you Charon's contract and you can walk over to Charon and accept him into your party. First thing Charon does is pump a few rounds into Ahzrukhal to settle some old scores ;-) Get out of Underworld fast then, before the locals attack Charon and all hell breaks loose. Don't bother to trade weapons or ammo with Charon. He seems to have infinite ammo, and prefers his own Shotgun to any other type you give him, no matter if it's a Combat Shotgun in near-perfect condition. I found Charon to be extremely useful. He just mills through the likes of Radscorpions and Super Mutants as if they weren't even there.

Quests

  • 1.  You Gotta Shoot 'Em in the Head: Kill 4 Ghoul haters - 700 caps or T-51b Power Armor.
    Speak to Mister Crowley in the back room of the Ninth Circle to get this quest. There are 4 prominent members of wasteland society (if you can call it that) who he considers to be Ghoul haters, and he wants you to kill them with a head shot (the way humans kill Ghouls). For each one you assassinate with a head shot, he'll pay 100 caps, but only 25 caps if they die some other way. The 4 people you get contracts, and map markers for, are:

    1. Dave. He's the guy behind The Republic of Dave, located in the extreme NE of your World Map. See corresponding section below.
    2. Ted Strayer. He can be found in the Rivet City Market. Just tell him that Crowley wants him dead, and he'll be scared enough to give you his key.
    3. Dukov. Check out Dukov's Place, just to the SE of the Tepid Sewers (see corresponding section below).
    4. Allistair Tenpenny. You may already have crossed paths with Tenpenny if you blew up Megaton. This was the case with me, and Tenpenny was already dead at the hands of Roy Phillips because I allowed the Ghouls access to Tenpenny Tower. So Crowley only gave me 25 caps for him.

    But wait, not so fast... there's another angle on this, and you can get it by talking to Ahzrukhal behind the bar here. He says that he's met Dukov, and the guy is no Ghoul hater. It would seem that Crowley has a hidden agenda. So, that's a hint that you will lose Karma points for each of these hits, and it's not really a 'good guy' kind of quest. In fact, you can talk the three key holders out of their 'special key' (or steal it off them), and that's enough to get the 100 caps off Crowley for each supposed 'hit' (plus a 100 cap bonus for each special key, because that is what Crowley is really after). But instead of handing the keys to Crowley... there's something way cool you can do once you have these three special keys in your possession. See Fort Constantine section below for details.

Dukov's Place
At first I thought it was a brothel, but Dukov is really just an old lecher who offers protection for these girls so they can permanently... party. At least I think that's what the setup there is. Anyway, it's located just to the SE of the Tepid Sewers entrance. If you hang around a while till one of Dukov's heavies, a Wastelander, appears at the entrance, he'll put Rock Creek Caverns on your map (NE of Friendship Heights metro station). A lot of Mirelurks there, if you're in need of XP.

Dukov is one of the NPCs you're meant to assassinate with a head shot if you took Mister Crowley's quest (see Underworld Quest 1). But you can just steal his key instead.

The Republic of Dave
This place is located in the extreme NE of your World Map. You could have just wandered into it, but you're more likely to have arrived here as a result of Mr. Crowley putting it on your World Map. See Underworld Quest 1.

Follow Rachael from the front gate, and she will lead you to Dave. You'll soon find out that The Republic of Dave is a dictatorship, run by... Dave. Er... Mister President to you! With high enough Speech skill, you can convince him you're an ambassador from the wasteland. Assuming you're on Underworld Quest 1, take one of the dialogue options that mentions Crowley then, and follow the trail from there. You'll discover that Dave was a mercenary on a mission with Crowley, a guy named Strayer, and Dukov in a place called Fort Constantine. You'll have no problem getting him to hand over his 'special key'.

I tried to throw my hat in to run for the presidency, but you apparently need to be a citizen of The Republic of Dave to qualify. And, they're full up on the ol' citizen quota this year, dontcha know. You can gain asylum as a refugee by either paying 250 caps or forking over a Hunting Rifle... but that doesn't make you a citizen. You can go ask all 4 of the the eligible voters to cast their votes, but that only nets you 25 caps from the stingy bastard. Oh, just one other thing. In the Museum of Dave there's a Bobblehead - Perception, which permanently increases your Perception by 1 :-)

Fort Constantine
Fallout 3 screenshot
Fort Constantine
If you've been following Underworld Quest 1, and have secured all three special keys, then you'll be especially interested in paying a visit to Fort Constantine. If you're really hard up for caps, you can hand the special keys to Crowley and he will go himself to Fort Constantine. Then you can wait a few days and kill him for what he is wearing when he returns. But this is not a sure-fire way to go about it, as Crowley could get killed on the long journey to the fort, or get stuck there. Beware that if you carry out the instructions below, it aborts Underworld Quest 1. Then when you talk to Crowley afterwards he mutters something about you taking what rightfully belonged to him, and won't speak to you any longer. But it's definitely worth it, because wait till you see what he was after!

Fort Constantine is located in the far NW on your World Map. See screen shot above. If you go to the north side of the compound, there are two doors to the Bomb Storage facility, but they are both Locked - Very Hard :-\ However, all is not lost. Just go to the CO Quarters on the west side of the compound and head for the basement. You'll find an open safe in the basement with a Bobblehead - Big Guns sitting in it (permanent +10 to Big Guns skill). And there's a door here leading to a Launch Control Bunker. This door can be opened with Ted Strayer's Special Key. All the way at the bottom of the Launch Control Bunker is a door to Bomb Storage, which may be opened with Dukov's Special Key.

Once inside the Bomb Storage facility, you'll find the body of a person named Tara (she was one of the mercs that Tenpenny hired to raid the place). Search her body, and you'll find a Warhead Storage Key. It gets you into another part of the Bomb Storage facility where nuclear warheads are stored. But there's nothing there of much interest so I wouldn't bother using it. The door her body is leaning against can be opened with Dave's Special Key. Use the terminal in the next room to disable the stasis field, and you can now take the T-51b Power Armor and Helmet :-) Also, be sure to grab the 2 Mini-Nukes from the table there, and the Fatman if you don't already have one. You probably won't be able to wear the Power Armor yourself yet, as you'll need to have visited the Brotherhood of Steel HQ and received training in how to wear it. But Charon will wear it. And as a bonus, you don't have to look at his ugly mug for a while.

Canterbury Commons
Fallout 3 screenshot
Canterbury Commons
As you enter Canterbury Commons, you witness a battle between giant ants and robots, overseen by two strange looking characters in costumes. After the battle has run its course, the two characters flee. What passes for the village elder, in the form of "Uncle" Roe, then approaches you and offers you 200 caps (you can get 400 if you pass a Speech check) if you promise to stop these two characters from fighting each other all the time. The female in the ant costume is called the AntAgonizer, and the guy in the machine-like kit is appropriately called the Mechanist. If you ask Roe for a little more info, he suggests you speak with his nephew, Derek. See Quest 1 below for further details.

Quests

  • 1.  The Superhuman Gambit: Find the Mechanist or AntAgonizer, and stop their rivalry - 300 XP, 600 caps, Mechanist's Costume and Helmet or Ant's Sting.
    Speak to Derek upstairs in Ernest "Uncle" Roe's House. You don't come out all the much wiser, but you get a vague idea of where the AntAgonizer and Mechanist lairs might be located. Head behind the diner and you will see a door set into the rocks to the NW. This is where the AntAgonizer hangs out (Canterbury Tunnels). Head all the way to the bottom, speak to her, and offer to go talk to the Mechanist with a view to asking him to cease operations. The Mechanist's place, a Robot Repair Center, is located up on a hill just south of where you entered the town. Much tougher to get through his defenses than the AntAgonizer's, but you can take a shortcut to his Forge if you can pick the Hard lock to his service elevator. You can talk the Mechanist out of his campaign against the AntAgonizer. He leaves behind his Mechanist's Costume and Helmet.

    Take the Mechanist's Costume and Helmet and go speak with the AntAgonizer again. You lose Karma if you let her leave town, because even though she's getting out of Canterbury Commons, she's on a mission to terrorise the rest of the wasteland. However, I found it best to just give her the Mechanist's Costume (it was too heavy for the protection afforded anyway), and in return you get a nice poisoned melee weapon: Ant's Sting. Finally, return to "Uncle" Roe to collect your monetary reward. He gives you a 200 cap bonus if you found a non-violent solution to the quest.

Agatha's House
Fallout 3 screenshot
Agatha's House
It'd be disingenous of me if I didn't tell you that Agatha's House is difficult to find. But the quest she sends you on is well worth the bother, as part of the quest involves finding a particular vault. But in the process of doing that, you can get the locations of all the vaults downloaded to your Pip-Boy!

Agatha's House is located just to the NE of Meresti Trainyard, but it's almost completely surrounded by rocks. The only way in is from the west, via a small footbridge over a ravine. See location on portion of World Map to your right. Speak to Agatha, an unassuming old woman, and offer to help in order to kick off Quest 1 below.

Quests

  • 1.  Agatha's Song: Recover the Soil Stradavarius from Vault 92 - 300 XP, access to Agatha's ammunition box, and... the locations of all the vaults in the Capital Wasteland.
    It seems that Agatha, an accomplished violinist who broadcasts her music over the airwaves in return for traders custom, would have a much easier time of it if only she had a decent violin that would stay in tune. She has learned from one of her long lost relatives that an extremely precious violin called the Soil Stradavarius was preserved in a special hermetically sealed case in Vault 92. But she doesn't know where Vault 92 is located. However, she puts the location of Vault-Tec Headquarters on your World Map, and suggests you begin your search there.

    Fallout 3 screenshot
    Vault-Tec HQ (obscuring Vernon Square North Metro Station)
    As it turns out, Vault-Tec HQ is only a few yards away from the Vernon Square North Metro Station entrance (see map to right). Once inside, keep heading upwards. Lots of Robobrains, Mr. Gutsys, and Protectrons to get through here. On the penultimate floor, there's a terminal you can access which gets you 1/3 of the way to unlocking the door (at the very back of the top floor) that leads to the mainframe. The other two terminals are on the top floor, but unfortunately, so is a tough robot called Masterbrain who is controlling all the other bots. You can also disable Masterbrain by accessing all three terminals, but chances are you'll bump into him before that. Actually, he's not that tough, and once you've got him, you can destroy his upload relay which immediately disables every other bot in the building. Once you've enabled mainframe access from all three terminals, go to the mainframe and download the locations of all the vaults to your Pip-Boy. That's: 87, 92, 106, and 108. Vault 112 didn't show up, but I'm assuming that's because it's location was a secret. Also, I wouldn't bother going to Vault 87 just yet unless you already know about it, as it figures prominently into the plot later on and, well let's just say that the way in to Vault 87 is quite a bit away from it's map location...

    So travel to Vault 92 then, in the far NE. You'll need to exercise extreme caution if you approach it from the east, through a wrecked town called Old Olney. The place is like a holiday destination for Deathclaws. Vault 92 is just to the west of Old Olney, hidden in a rock outcropping. As soon as you get into the vault, you will see three doors. Head through the one to your right (past the Van de Graaff generator thingy), and keep heading straight until you get down to the Living Quarters (you will quickly discover that the place is infested with Mirelurks and Mirelurk Hunters, but I assume by now you have learned how to deal with this). As soon as you get into the Living Quarters, hang an immediate left, and hug the left wall until you can open a door to an open area that is designated as Vault 92. Huh? I thought we were already in Vault 92. Anyway, hug the left wall in the open area (go past a Locked - Average door) and you will find the door to Sound Testing. There's a locked door in there that can only be opened with a key. The 'key' in this instance is a terminal in the room next to it. Once you gain access to the locked room, the Soil Stradavarius is just sitting there on a table :-) There's also a Locked - Very Easy safe in this room that contains a Stealth Boy and a few caps.

    Bring the Soil Stradavarius back to Agatha then to collect your reward, which is... TAH DAH! The frequency of her radio station so you can tune in and listen to her playing. Well, I suppose in a way it is better than having to listen to Three Dog all the time. Of course, you also got some Karma, 300 XP, and access to her late husband's ammunition box, which by the way contains: a Mini Nuke and a Missile, plus assorted ammo.

Temple of the Union
Fallout 3 screenshot
Temple of the Union
The Temple of the Union is located pretty far to the NE on your World Map (see screen shot to right). Be nice, and Simone the guard will let you in. If Leroy Walker sent you there to capture Hannibal Hamlin (see Downtown Quest 4)... well, for one thing, 100 caps isn't even worth me getting out of bed for. And second thing, I just hate slavers, even if I'm playing an evil character. So... let's turn this whole thing on its head and help the slaves. See Quest 1 below.

Quests

  • 1.  Head of State: Kill all the slavers near the Lincoln Memorial - 300 XP and Dart Gun Schematics.
    Speak with Hannibal Hamlin and agree to help him get rid of the slavers at the Lincoln Memorial. So just go there and take them all out. Then I would also make sure you find the item required by Quest 2 before trekking all the way back to the Temple to report your success to Hannibal. After you complete Quest 2 (Hannibal tells you to meet him at 'the site' and that they will leave within the hour), you need to do the following because the rest of this quest, though not strictly bugged, is a bit... particular: walk outside the Temple of the Union, and wait for Hannibal and his people to form a caravan and start walking south. Now you can fast travel to the Lincoln Memorial. But wait for it... he's not actually going to meet you at the Memorial like he said, but rather at the Mall Northwest Metro Station (just NE of the Memorial)! And, you have to wait 24 hours for them to show up. So you can either sleep for the 24 hours in the Memorial if you need to heal, or wait for 24 hours, then head over to the metro station. Once you speak to Hannibal there, he'll present you with the Dart Gun Schematics. If you come back this way a few days later, Lincoln's head will be restored to its proper resting place.

  • 2.  Head of State: Get a picture of the Lincoln Memorial - Essential to completing Quest 1.
    You've no doubt spotted Lincoln's head upstairs in the Temple, and it belongs back in its rightful place in the Lincoln Memorial. But Caleb, who can be found downstairs, tells you that he has no idea what the Lincoln Memorial looked like in pre-apocalypse times and he needs your help in securing a photo, which he believes can be found in the Museum of History. Enter the Lower Halls of the Museum by taking the door to the left of the entrance to Underworld. Once in the Lower Halls, head up the stairs, and through the door at the back that leads to the Museum of History Offices. Open the [Locked, Very Easy] grating there that leads to a room with microfiche machines. At the top of the stairs here on the wall, you'll find what you're looking for - a Lincoln Memorial Poster :-) Grab it, head back to the Temple of the Union, and talk to Caleb. He sees that you have brought him the poster. Now talk to Hannibal, and follow the instructions above carefully to complete Quest 1.

Crashed saucer
Fallout 3 screenshot
Crashed saucer at my cursor tip
What would a Fallout game be without some neat alien tech to get you through those really tough situations? And what better place to find some... there's a crashed saucer located dead north of the MDPL-13 Power Station (it has three distinctive smokestacks if you're trying to identify it as a landmark). The saucer itself is sitting in a depression just where the tip of my cursor is pointing in the screen shot to your right. There's an Alien Blaster there, along with 120 Alien Power Cells scattered around the site. Need to get in and out very quickly though. 4 rads/sec radiation exposure when you get near it. Wouldn't hurt to be parsimonious with those Alien Power Cells, by the way, because they're damn hard to find in the game.

Rivet City
Once you get past the guards at the entrance, you need to find Doctor Li in the Science Lab. Instead of entering the door for the market, take the stairwell entrance on the left. Follow the signs to the Science Lab to get Quest 1 below.

There's a workbench in the Marketplace that you can use to build your custom items.

Quests

  • 1.  Scientific Pursuits: Look for Dad in Project Purity's Control Room - Info concerning Dad's latest whereabouts.
    Speak to Doctor Li to get this quest (incidentally, there's a Bobblehead - Intelligence on the table right behind Doctor Li. Don't forget to take it afterwards. It permanently increases your Intelligence by 1). She'll tell you that the last time she spoke with your father he was headed for Project Purity, which is located in the Jefferson Memorial, just to the west of Rivet City. The easiest way in is to go around the west side and enter via the Gift Shop. You need to find and listen to as many of the holotapes Dad left behind as you can. The key one (Tape No. 10) is located in the Project Purity control room (in the Rotunda), on top of a console. It implies that Dad has gone to Vault 112 in search of some vital technology, and this location now appears on your World Map. See Jefferson Memorial Quest 1 below.

  • 2.  The Replicated Man: Continue to search for clues to the android's identity OR tell Zimmer he's dead - A3-21's Plasma Rifle and/or Wired Reflexes perk or 300 XP and 50 caps.
    Throughout the game, anywhere there's a human settlement, you may have been finding holotapes recorded by an android, telling snippets of a story about how he's thinking about undergoing facial reconstruction and a memory wipe so that he can start a new life (so to speak). When you speak to Dr. Zimmer in the Science Lab, you have finally met the android's creator. It would seem that his prized A3-21 has escaped. This is really not a surprising thing after all, as the more you speak with Dr. Zimmer... the more you get the idea that he seems to be the kind of person who could even bore an android to death. There are quite a few ways you can play this one, which is why the rewards for this quest are full of ands and ors:

    1. The simplest way, but also the least rewarding: you should bump into Victoria Watts somewhere in your travels around Rivet City. She's a member of a group that call themselves 'The Railroad', and their mission is to hide escaped androids (along the same lines as the Underground Railroad that helped escaped slaves during the U.S. civil war). She'll give you an authentic part from the android, and ask you to give it to Zimmer to convince him that the android he is searching for is dead. Showing Zimmer the part doesn't get you much in the way of a reward, but it completes the quest for 300 XP and does wonders for your Karma.

      Fallout 3 screenshot
      Underwater passage into Broken Bow

    2. The other way is more difficult, but also much more rewarding. After speaking to Zimmer, talk to Dr. Preston in the clinic. Ask him about Pinkerton. Hmm. Looks like we need to go investigate the Broken Bow. You'll probably have noted that the only obvious way into the Broken Bow of Rivet City is through a Locked - Very Hard door. But of course, there is another way in. Just jump off the right-hand side of the walkway that leads into Rivet City onto the deck, and go to the end of the deck (behind an old plane). If you look down at the Broken Bow from here, you can just make out a passage under the water that leads into it, as in the screen shot to your right. You can jump into the water from here, swim into the passage, and enter the Broken Bow through an unlocked door. Save your game just before heading underwater, as it's all too easy to drown down there by not finding a place to catch your breath quickly enough :-\ You have to find your way through a few underwater doors before you make it to dry territory. And careful, the place is infested with Mirelurks.

      Once in the Broken Bow, keep heading upwards. You'll eventually find Pinkerton in his lab. By speaking to him, you learn that he performed the facial reconstruction and memory wipe for the android. You get before and after pics from him. Turns out to be Harkness, the security guy who hangs out in the Rivet City Market. Now you can go talk to Harkness (be sure to take the easy way out of the Broken Bow: open the Locked - Very Hard door from the inside to make your way out onto the Broken Bow walkway).

      Harkness will give you his Plasma Rifle (one of the best energy weapons in the game. In fact, it you have any kind of decent Energy Weapons skill, this baby will be your weapon of choice for the rest of the game :-) if you promise to keep mum about him being the android. Then, you have lots of options when talking to Zimmer afterwards. Firstly, you can lie that you discovered the android's corpse. This course of action gets you some Karma, but only nets you 50 caps. Better to rat on Harkness, then Zimmer gives you a combat implant that winds up as a Wired Reflexes perk. It grants you a higher chance to hit when using V.A.T.S. You lose some Karma for shopping the android's identity to Zimmer, but I think the Wired Reflexes perk is worth it. Then either kill Zimmer and his bodyguard, or follow them to the Market where Zimmer confronts Harkness/A3-21. Just when it looks like A3-21 is about to gun him down, Zimmer invokes a phrase that factory resets poor A3-21, and he's back to square one, following Zimmer around again like a lost puppy. So I reckon you come out of this the best by getting A3-21's Plasma Rifle off him, then ratting on him to Zimmer to get the Wired Reflexes perk, then killing the obnoxious Zimmer before he gets to the Market.

  • 3.  Stealing Independence: Retrieve the Declaration of Independence from the National Archives - 300 XP, 500 caps, and Railway Rifle Schematics.
    In the Midships Deck, you should run into Abraham Washington and his collection of memorabilia. He'd like you to retrieve the Declaration of Independence from the National Archives to... round out his collection. The National Archives is crawling with Super Mutants like most places in D.C. are, but this place is so thick with them it's like a Super Mutant factory! Be sure to enlist the aid of Sydney, a merc who is holding off the Super Mutants as you arrive in the lobby. As a return for her services, she wants half a share in the profits you get for retrieving the Declaration of Independence. I'd accept the offer, because she's pretty handy with that custom-made SMG of hers. Like Dogmeat though, you'll have to feed her Stimpaks if she's hurt.

    Make sure you have a lot of Stimpaks on you, and some Pulse Grenades/Mines will really help with the tough bots you encounter in the Archival Secure West Wing. You can take an elevator from the rotunda all the way to the bottom (just access Sydney's terminal where you originally meet her), but I preferred to explore a bit. For instance, I also found the Bill of Rights and some Stealth Boys in a (Locked, Hard) room in the West Wing. Once you've gone as far down as you can go and reach the Archival Strongroom, a Protectron (with a barrister's wig, no less!) named Button Gwinnett confronts you. If you have high enough Speech and a bit of luck (I had Speech of 70 at the time), you can convince him that you're Thomas Jefferson and he'll stand down. Otherwise, you'll have to defeat him and two tough turrets. Then use the terminal there to gain access to a room with three safes, one of which contains the the Declaration of Independence. Return to Abraham Washington in Rivet City to collect your reward. You get 400 caps for the Declaration of Independence, and you can get a further 100 caps for the Bill of Rights. He also gave me schematics for a unique weapon: the Railway Rifle, which puts all those Railway Spikes you've been finding to good use ;-) If Sydney made it all the way through to the end, Abraham gives her half the proceeds. You can ask Sydney to join you permanently then. Don't know if it's just the way she is, but she didn't accept. Could have also been the fact that I already had Charon with me.

  • 4.  The Waters of Life: Join the scientists at Project Purity - Jefferson Memorial Quest 2.
    You need to complete Vault 112 Quest 2 in order to get this quest. Then follow Dad and the other scientists over to the Jefferson Memorial/Project Purity. There's potentially a spot of bother here. If you didn't completely clear the Jefferson Memorial of Super Mutants the first time you visited, you have to do so now to make it safe for your Dad and the scientists to enter (in fact, the game told me that 'Dad is unconscious' when I entered the Memorial with Super Mutants still in there. Scared the hell out of me at first because I thought I might have to play half the game over again. But no, once I got them all, I just walked outside and Dad was there with the other scientists waiting to come in. Phew).

    Once the place is clear of Super Mutants and the scientists agree to follow you in, make your way to the Rotunda and wait for Dad to show up, then speak with him and ask him what needs to be done. Then see Jefferson Memorial Quest 2.

Jefferson Memorial
Also the location of Project Purity, just west of Rivet City. This is where your Dad spends all his quality time... at least he did before you were born.

Quests

  • 1.  Scientific Pursuits: Gain access to Vault 112 - Closer to finding Dad.
    When you locate and listen to holotape no. 10, it gives the location of Vault 112. See section on Vault 112 below for details on how to proceed.

  • 2.  The Waters of Life: Turn on the Flood Control Pump power - Quest 3.
    Once you have escorted Dad and the other scientists safely inside the Jefferson Memorial, speak to Dad in the Rotunda to get this quest. You need to turn on the Flood Control Pump power to gain access to the room containing the mainframe. Head down into the basement and follow the signs that lead to the Flood Control room, then hit the switch on the wall there to activate the pump. Easy one. Return to Dad and ask him about fuses to get Quest 3.

  • 3.  The Waters of Life: Replace the damaged fuses - Quest 4.
    The flood waters have shorted out some of the doors, most notably the one that gives access to the mainframe. Dad gives you three fuses. Head back to the basement again, and follow the signs to Fuse Access A1. Activate the Auxiliary Power Fuse Box there to use the fuses that Dad gave you. Quest 4 next...

  • 4.  The Waters of Life: Boot up the mainframe - Quest 5.
    From the fuse panel, head back up a level to the doors that give access to the mainframe. You can enter now. Activate the Mainframe Power Switch, then speak with Dad on the intercom there to get Quest 5.

  • 5.  The Waters of Life: Drain the intake pipes - Quest 6.
    Now you need to drain the intake pipes (*sigh* why did they wait until this far into the game to hit you with the Fed-Ex quests?). There's a Grate to Pump Control in the hallway directly across from the Gift Shop entrance to the Memorial. Head all the way down to the end, and Activate Pump Control. This triggers an event whereby the Enclave (your nemesis from Fallout 2) arrives in force :-\ Make your way back to the Rotunda via the now unlocked Grate to Sift Pump (another good time to make use of a Stealth Boy, as the place is filling up with Enclave soldiers), only to see poor Dad take his own life rather than turn control of the project over to the Enclave. Quickly, follow Doctor Li out of the Rotunda, and escort her into the Taft Tunnels via a manhole cover not far from the Rotunda door. Once you are safely into the Taft Tunnels with Doctor Li and the other scientists, you get Quest 6.

  • 6.  The Waters of Life: Escort Doctor Li to the evacuation point - 700 XP.
    Technically, in order to complete this quest, you only have to get Doctor Li safely to the other end of the tunnels. The other scientists are 'expendable'. Talk to Doctor Li and suggest that the scientists wait here while you scout ahead. They won't wait for you long enough so that you can reach the other end of the tunnels anyway, but they'll at least wait pretty far behind so that you can clear the tunnels of vermin before they catch up with you. During the journey, Garza requires Stimpaks to help with his heart condition. Some extra Karma points for you if you agree to part with 5 Stimpaks for this purpose. Once you reach the Brotherhood of Steel guards, you're relatively safe. Though... wait for a last-ditch attack on the guard outpost by some Ghouls to dissapate before you go fetch the scientists. Then head up to the surface for the XP. Doctor Li takes over once you get back outside. Then follow her inside the Brotherhood of Steel Citadel once she gets Lyons to open the gate. See section on The Citadel below.

Vault 112
Access to Vault 112 is via Smith Casey's Garage, in the middle of nowhere. I found it safest to sneak up to the garage from the south, as there are no Protectrons in this area. Enter the garage through a door on the west side. Activate switch on wall to open the metal doors in the garage floor.

There's a (Locked, Hard) terminal down in the large room where the vault residents are (they're all in suspension in 'Tranquility Loungers') that grants access to a room full of aid. In addition to an assortment of weapons and chems, you also get the password to the Overseer's Office. But the only thing in there, aside from Dr. Braun in his Tranquility Lounger, is a (Locked, Easy) wall safe with not much in it.

One of the Robobrains will issue you a Vault 112 Jumpsuit if you don't already have a vault suit on you. Then just find the empty Tranquility Lounger in the large room at the bottom of the vault, and hop inside to visit... Tranquility Lane. See Quest 1.

Quests

  • 1.  Tranquility Lane: Exit Tranquility Lane - 600 XP and Quest 2.
    At first I thought this was a trap, and in a way it is, but there *is* a way out of the simulation. Also, exiting the simulation is the only way you can be re-united with Dad. If you haven't already figured it out, 'Betty' is actually Dr. Braun, the Vault 112 Overseer, from whom Dad was looking to obtain essential technology for Project Purity. But now Braun is all wrapped up in his own simulation. Talking to most of the residents here doesn't get you very far, but... if you speak with Old Lady Dithers, she has also figured out that this is a simulation, and that Dr. Braun is manipulating it. She recommends that you check out an abandoned house.

    Sure enough, the Abandoned House is unlike the others, and there are some mighty curious objects in the sitting room. You'll notice that if you interact with most of the objects there, you get a tone followed quickly by a nasty double-beep. But if you interact with the Broken Radio, it just produces a tone. Have you figured it out yet? Right. The trick is to interact with the objects in a certain order, to keep producing tones instead of the dreaded double-beep (which of course indicates that you must start the sequence again from the beginning). It's Dr. Braun's 'password' inside this simulation. The correct order is: Broken Radio, Glass Pitcher, Garden Gnome, Glass Pitcher, Cinder Block, Garden Gnome, Empty Bottle. And now the Failsafe Terminal appears in the room! Access "Chinese Invasion" program, then activate it. That does it. Unfortunately, all the vault residents aside from Dr. Braun die because of this, but it was your only way out. Near Betty/Dr. Braun is a virtual door that is your way out of here. Be sure to talk to Dr. Braun on the way out. He is trapped here forever. Your Dad turns out to be the dog, Doc. And the G.E.C.K. is real. Exit through the virtual door, and Dad walks up to your Tranquility Lounger. 600 XP for completing this quest. And now is as good a time as any to have a chat with Dad, to get filled in on Project Purity. Then agree to follow him back to Rivet City. See Quest 2.

  • 2.  The Waters of Life: Go to the Rivet City Science Lab - Rivet City Quest 4.
    Just head back to Rivet City, and go to the Science Lab. Dad enters into a heated discussion with Doctor Li. Hmm. It seems that we need to locate a G.E.C.K. for Project Purity. Speak with Dad then, and agree to head back over to Project Purity with himself and the other scientists. See Rivet City Quest 4.

The Citadel
This is the Brotherhood of Steel headquarters in the Capital Wasteland. Speak to Elder Lyons once Doctor Li is finished speaking to him. He agrees to let you have Power Armor training. He says you should speak to Gunny. You'll find Gunny near the Great Hall in area A, but you may have to wait a while for him to show up there. Personally, I think Power Armor is overrated. It cuts your Agility by 2 thus reducing your effectiveness in V.A.T.S, and it doesn't really afford a whole lot more protection than, say, Recon Armor or Talon Combat Armor.

You start with Quest 1 here.

Talk to Scribe Jameson in the Archives. She'll give you 100 caps for the Holotag you can get off each fallen Brotherhood of Steel paladin.

The Armory (on the ground floor of the Lab) won't trade with you unless you talk to Elder Lyons first to get permission. They have some pretty good stuff, but it ain't cheap.

Quests

  • 1.  Picking up the Trail: Ask Scribe Rothchild for pre-war computer access - Quest 2.
    Well, we need to find a G.E.C.K. Scribe Rothchild in the Lab puts you onto the track of finding a computer in the Archives that may help you locate a G.E.C.K. Use the Vault-Tec terminal in the Archives to discover that Vault 87 was issued a G.E.C.K. Then talk to Scribe Rothchild again to learn the location of Vault 87 (he shows you a big screen with all known vault locations in the D.C. area. Maybe you could take a screenshot of this and use it to find some of the other vaults ;-) Anyway, you now have Quest 2.

  • 2.  Picking up the Trail: Search Lamplight Caverns for a way into Vault 87.
    See Lamplight Caverns section below.

Lamplight Caverns
The Lamplight Caverns entrance is next to a small shack all the way on the west side of your World Map. Speak to Mayor MacCready, and you may be able to talk your way into Little Lamplight if you have enough Speech/Charisma (or, the Child at Heart perk). If not, then I'm afraid you'll have to undertake Quest 1. Once you get past MacCready, you obtain Quest 2.

Quests

  • 1.  Rescue from Paradise: Escort the children out of Paradise Falls - 900 XP, and entrance to Little Lamplight.
    Some of the Little Lamplight residents have been kidnapped by slavers. MacCready puts Paradise Falls, a place pretty far to the NE of here, on your World Map. You'll need to talk your way past Grouse at the entrance, then speak to Eulogy. He's asking 2000 caps for the three kidnapped Little Lamplighters, but with a bit of Speech/Charisma you can talk him down to 1200. Of course... you can also just wipe out all the slavers ;-)

  • 2.  Picking up the trail: Enter Vault 87 - 800 XP.
    If you have Science skill of 50+, you can seek out Joseph in the Great Chamber (follow 'Spelunkers/Great Chamber' signs). He'll turn the power on for a terminal (Locked, Average) that once hacked, gets you into vault 87 the back way. Otherwise... you'll have to go in the hard way via Murder Pass. Quite a few Super Mutants to get by there. In either case, see section on Vault 87 next.

Vault 87
Quest 1 is really the only thing that matters here.

Quests

  • 1.  Finding the Garden of Eden: Retrieve the G.E.C.K. - 1000 XP and a G.E.C.K.
    Work your way upwards (through a sh#tload of Super Mutants) to the Test Labs. Speak to the imprisoned Super Mutant named Fawkes via the intercom on the outside of his cell. Agree to rescue him by going to the room at the end of the hall and activating the fire alarm. In return, he promises to retrieve the G.E.C.K. for you. It's located in a room that is so irradiated that you would most likely not survive going in there. Anyway, he warns you that setting off the fire alarm will also unlock the cells of all the other dangerous crazies penned up there... but in reality there are only two of them and you can wait until they beat each other nearly senseless before stepping in to finish the remaining one off.

    Once you've freed Fawkes, just follow him while he beats up all the Super Mutants on his way to retrieve the G.E.C.K. Of course, you can pitch in to make things go quicker ;-) Once Fawkes has delivered the G.E.C.K. to you, he decides to part ways and stay there while you make your exit. But once you are close to leaving Vault 87 with your prized G.E.C.K... well, let's just say there's a bit of a surprise in store! See section directly below.

Enclave, Raven Rock
As you awake, Colonel Autumn is interrogating you. Don't let on to him that you know anything useful. Then President Eden intervenes and orders the colonel out of the room. The President also releases your restraints. First thing to do is retrieve your gear from the locker there. Note: Dogmeat is no longer with you, if you had the pooch tagging along. Vault 87 was the last time I ever saw him :-( Anyway, see Quest 1 for instructions on how to proceed from here.

Quests

  • 1.  The American Dream: Meet President Eden in his office - 1100 XP.
    You'll need to defeat three of the Enclave soldiers to make your escape from the cell (unless you have high enough Charisma/Speech to talk your way past the first one that accosts you). Then head left from your cell (shortly after that, the President intervenes again and you are free to roam the corriders for a while) and you wind up at the door that leads to level 2. Go all the way up the stairs there to level 2. Unfortunately, as soon as you arrive at level 2, Colonel Autumn comes over the intercom and contermands the President's orders. You're now to be shot on sight :-\ I would use a Stealth Boy here if you have one, to make it up to level 1. Go through the War Room to get to the Control Room. The bots have been programmed by the President to kill the Enclave soldiers outside the Control Room. Then go all the way to the top of the tower in the Control Room, and speak to President Eden, who is actually... a computer! He wants you to take a vial of the Modified FEV Virus and insert it into the water purifier so that it will wipe out any mutants once they drink the water. Might as well take it (hey, you don't *have* to use it just because you accepted it :-), as the President then makes your exit from the Enclave facility very easy by turning all the automated defenses against the Enclave soldiers. Optionally, with very high Science skill, you can talk the President into self-destructing and taking the Raven Rock facility down with him (though you don't seem to get any XP for accomplishing this, nor does it have any effect on the endgame). Anyway, if you rescued Fawkes, he meets you at the exit. Might as well have him join you as he's very handy in a fight. Then travel back to the Brotherhood of Steel Citadel and speak to Elder Lyons to complete this quest. See below.

The Citadel, Part 2
Speak with Elder Lyons at the bottom of the Lab. This completes Enclave, Raven Rock Quest 1. You now have the game's final quest below.

Quests

  • 1.  Take it Back!: Activate Project Purity! - Endgame.
    Well, they're going to activate this huge bot, as soon as you give the say so. Follow the bot (Liberty Prime) and the Lyon's Pride to the Jefferson Memorial/Project Purity. Easiest to enter via the Gift Shop door, then take out the Enclave soldiers. Enter the Rotunda, have a showdown with Colonel Autumn, and then you are faced with a moral dilemma to end the game. Oddly enough, if Fawkes is still with you he will not enter the irradiated room on your behalf... oh, and if you haven't figured it out already, the code is: 2-1-6 (from the Revelations 21:6 poster, your Mom's favourite quote, that you found in your father's quarters there). And one more thing. You get the option to insert the vial of Modified FEV Virus that President Eden gave you into the console there before you enter the control room. Might as well try it once from a saved game to see how the ending plays out differently... unless you're an inherently evil character, and want that ending anyway ;-)

See the metzomagic.com Review of Fallout 3.

Copyright © Steve Metzler 2009. All rights reserved.