Fallout 3: Early Game Walkthrough
From Play It Hardcore
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GNR Studios
Work your way back to Three Dog. Listen to his spiel and, big surprised, he want something in return for telling you where dad ran off to. If you have a high enough speech you can skip the next quest, but the guide will assume you can't and must do it.
Museum of Technology
Leave GNR through the door to Dupont Circle that is on this floor. You can hop your way down to an alley below infested with Ghoul Ferals that leads to "Collapsed Car Tunnel". You can burn ammo killing the ghouls down here or just head straight for the quest marker. You'll find yourself in Dupont Circle Station. There are a few Super Mutants here, though odds are they will be poorly armed and not too much of a threat.
Don't exit this area through the doors to the outside. Use the door to the southwest of where the mutants are. You'll find a barricaded area with some Raiders. You know what to do.
Proceed through the tunnels until you see a cave through a door in the distance. Don't approach it just yet. There is a good chunk of Raiders down there along with a turret. If you have the Science for it, watch their movements and try to sneak behind the door then hack the turret. They'll go apeshit on the turret.
How you proceed is up to you. You may want to hurl explosives, you may want to set mines, you may want to hit and run. Your choice. Once you've mopped that up, continue on. You'll encounter a "Utility Gate". with a Raider or two behind it. Right round the corner from him is a Tripwire trap. Be careful. The door beyond leads to Metro Central.
Metro Central
When you enter here you'll hear a melee between Raiders and Ghouls. I would just stand back and hide while they duke it out. Loot the area and continue. There will be a pack of Roamers up ahead. Beyond them will be a tunnel with a train in it with a pack of dogs beyond. Take the route to the right. You'll now be at the Museum Station.
Museum Station
You will be immediately attack by a couple of Feral Ghoul Roamers. Be wary. The switch in the hallway beyond opens the door. Above it are some Raiders. Past them, follow the tunnel South, moving up to the upper level when you see the stairs. There will be a few raiders in this area. Proceed east and you'll find the gate to outside.
Museum of Technology
This area is crawling with Super Mutants. I personally suggest sneaking your way out of there and hugging the buildings to the south, moving towards your goal, which is very close.
Once inside, there will be more Super Mutants. I personally suggest trying to "shoot the weapons out of their hands" approach". The Assault Rifle and Combat Shotgun work nicely here. Proceed through the southeast door, head south and head upstairs. You'll find a turret control terminal and a "Nikola Tesla and You" book. Turn the turret on and watch it go to town on on another turret. Head back downstairs and take out the other turret.
Take the stairs in the lobby on the east side and head up. Two free Stealth Boys will be along one wall. Back in the lobby, head south. You'll discover a vault. Follow it all the way through and you'll encounter the doors to the West Wing of the Museum. If you follow the hallway south you'll come to an area with a few Super Mutant Brutes. Again, I advocate the "target their weapons" approach. At the top of the area with the Rocket is a locked door. Open it up and head down. You'll find more Super Mutants, including a Super Mutant Master down below.
My strategy was to knock the weapon out of the hand of the one up top, which sent him running, then I started hurling Frag Grenades down below. Once he's dealt with, proceed downstairs and snag your objective. You can either explore this area further, encountering more Super Mutants, or you can exit.
Washington Monument
Back outside, it's your choice as to how to approach the monument. I choose to sneak all the way there. Out front are Brotherhood of Steel soliders. Feel safe with them. Open the security gate and head on in
Once you've repaired the relay, since you are already outside, you can fast travel back to GNR. Three Dog will thank you and send you to your next target: Rivet City
Rivet City
Hopefully you've already been here at least once and can just fast-travel. Otherwise, you'll have to head a long-ass way down the river to find your way here.
Once you've arrived, your goal is to locate Doctor Li, who is located in the Science Lab. You can find the Science Lab through the Weatherly Hotel. She'll send you to the "old lab" at the Jefferson Memorial Building. If you have high Speech you can convince her to toss some Stimpacks your way as well by asking for help. I snagged 5 from her (89% chance with 60 Speech)
Before you leave Rivet City you might want to unload extra hardware you've found during the first leg of your journey and get some more ammo. I personally traveled back to Megaton to unload and have Moira repair my Sniper Rifle(I can rarely find spares). Now head for the Jefferson Memorial. I suggest starting from Rivet City.
Jefferson Memorial
The Memorial is really close to Rivet City. It's not a terribly safe walk, as you can encounter Super Mutant Masters with heavy weapons on the way, but if you are stealthy it should be no problem. There'll often be Super Mutants, at least two, outside the memorial proper. The door to the "Museum and Gift Shop" is your destination.
Inside you'll encounter more mutants. There'll be a Brute standing guard just inside. Try to cripple his legs so you can wittle him to death. Inside you'll hear some fighting. This is an ideal place to use up some mines. Follow the halls south then east to find the Rotunda. The Mutant up top should be a Master. At the entrance to the Rotunda will be 3 Holotapes, Journal Entries 5, 8 and 10. You'll learn that your next destination is Vault 112, West of Evergreen Mills, hidden in a garage.
If you want more backstory and more killing, head to the basement. There are more journal entries and mutants down there.
Vault 112
This area is a ways west of Megaton.
The Mill proper is a Raiders camp, nothing to fear. The only note is that there are a *lot* of Raiders. Using stealth to take them on one at a time is suggested. Or, you can just skip past it and proceed towards the vault.
When you reach "Smith Casey's Garage", you've found your target. Inside are Mole Rats. Pull the lever in the garage to open the basement up. Below is the entrance to the vault. Don the Vault Suit the robot gives you once inside. Head downstairs and sit in the "Tranquility Lounger". You'll wake up in Tranquility Lane.
Tranquility Lane
Curiously, you can sleepin the beds here. There's an easy way out of here that is passive, or there is a cruel and evil way. Don't attack Betty here. It just guarantees your death. And yes, a dream-death counts as a real death in hardcore.
Peaceful Way Out
Chat up Old Lady Dithers in the Dithers Residence. She'll tell you all about the nightmare they are living in, here in paradise. As if the wasteland was better.
Go to the abandoned house and "Use" the items in the living room in the following order: Radio, Pitcher, Gnome, Pitcher, Cinder Block, Gnome, Bottle. Doing such will bring up a terminal you can use to read about the experiment. Activate the Chinese Invasion and run back outside. Chat up "Betty" and ask him whatever you want, then leave. Oddly enough, even though everyone is dead, you gain Karma for doing this.
Evil Way Out
Talk to Betty. Agree to make Timmy cry.
When you find Timmy, don't make him cry just yet. Even if you have very high speech, you won't have a very good chance of Speeching him to tears. Just tell him about Betty. Then go inside his house, talk to his mom, and take the brochure from the table. Tell him all about it and watch him burst into tears.
Now go talk to Betty again. Ask him how to get out of here.
Now cause some mayhem. Take the panties from the Simpson Residence and go to the basement of the Rockwell residence and put them on the desk down there. Then tell Janet all about it. Convince her that Roger is cheating on her.
Chat "Betty" up some more and ask him/her some more questions. Talk to Martha Simpson about Mabel. Go find Mabel. She'll blitz to where Martha is. Return to Mabel's house and screw with her stove. Speak to Mabel and ask her to make you a pie. She will burst into flames and die. Joy! Alternatively, you can turn the robot on her, but that's not as safe nor as fun.
Lastly, Betty will want you to slaughter everyone here. Kill everyone EXCEPT the dog and Betty, for obvious reasons. Betty/Braun will let you go and free your dad.
Hi Dad
For entering and exiting Tranquility Lane you will gain a veritable horde of XP. I gained 1100XP total. Your dad will now make a beeline towards Rivet City. Don't bother trying to chase him - spend some time looting the vault.
Now you must return to Rivet City.
Rivet City II
You can either walk with your dad all that way (dangerous), or you can fast travel. If you fast travel, just beeline your way back to the Science Lab and he'll turn up in a minute.
Jefferson Memorial II / Project Purity
After the interlude between him and Doctor Li, you'll be off back to the Jefferson Memorial, with a team of scientists in tow. They think it's cool to just "Saunter" there but we don't have that much time to waste. So just fast-travel there and follow dad into the Rotunda. He'll send you to the access tunnels to reach the Flood Control Pumps.
Head down to the basement and flip the switch, then head back up to dad for some fuses. He'll ask you to replacesome fuses. Head back down to the basement and take a long trek down to the bottom. Now head to the mainframe, marked by the double-wide door in this area you couldn't open before. Power up the mainframe then get on the intercom.
Now you have to head down into Pump Control. Follow the pipe and turn the valve beyond it. You'll now see some Vertibirds land. Uh-oh. You can now only move forward, and will have to hop your way down the next area. You'll find yourself in the sub-basement facing off Enclave Soldiers. You shuld only encounter one at first - and if you get the drop on him with a powerful weapon he should go down easy. On Very Hard I was able to drop him with 3 .44 rounds. Head back upstairs and return to the gift shop - stay hidden.
There will be another Enclave soldier patrolling this area. Try your best to get the drop on him.
Make your way to the Rotunda and listen to the conversation. And say goodbye to dad.
Tunnel Escape
Work your way through the tunnels. Don't worry too much abut the doctors. Li is invulnerable, the rest are expendable. There will be numerous Enclave Soldiers here. Their weapons aren't very ferocious. I found the Feral Ghouls to be more annoying as they had a habit of rushing the scientists.
Make your way to the Taft Tunnel.
At one point Li will ask you to stop because Garza has a heart condition. If you have high enough speech you can convince her to ditch him or give him some Buffout, otherwise she wants to take some stimpacks from you.
When you reach the room with several ramps, there will be several Enclave soldiers on a walkway above you. Be careful you don't get caught facing all of them at once. It's easy to sneak in, kill one, then duck out and hide until they calm down. Beyond this area will be more ferals. You'll find another hallway with a double-wide door and friendlies beyond it - Brotherhood of Steel. If you just rush into the area, several Ferals including a Glowing One will burst in.
You can now move to the surface and the Scientists will make it inside the citadel. Head inside for a nice 700XP bonus.
The Citadel
First things first, get yourself trained in Power Armor and then don whatever you have. Talk to Elder Lyons about Power Armor and he'll give you permission to talk to Gunny.You can take Power Armor from the Citadel itself. Gunny will be in the Courtyard.
You may want to recruit Cross while you are here. At some point speak to Rothchild, in the Labratory, about the GECK. He'll give you access to an old terminal in the A Ring.
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