Fallout 3 random encounters

Throughout gameplay in the world of Fallout 3, the player can encounter random happenings in the Wastelands. There are certain places where random encounters can happen, but once "activated", a random encounter in a particular area will not change unless it is defeated, in the case of NPCs, or looted.

It is advisable to save just outside of such areas, as some encounters are rarer than others, and can offer exclusive items, such as the Firelance, or schematics, or other rewards. This will allow the player to reload and potentially receive different results until gaining the particular set wished for.

It's been speculated that there are special encounters that can only appear in certain areas. For example, the exploding alien ship seems to appear in some locations more often than not, such as the Super Duper Mart, as opposed to another spot northwest of it. I have put hours and hours into reloading saved files and I've discovered only certain locations can have special encounters like the UFO encounter.

I've also discovered that once you find the UFO encounter once, you can't find it again. I've tried for several hours at locations that the UFO encounter appears at and it wouldn't spawn after I've already found it. EDIT: It is possible to get more UFO encounters, but after the first it isn't likely you'll get it anytime soon.

Random Encounter Locations
These are the known locations so far:


 * Barn behind Vault 101 entrance/exit.


 * North-west of the Clifftop Shacks (approximately half-way between the Clifftop Shacks and Oasis on the world map), near an irradiated pool.


 * Meresti Trainyard.


 * In front of MDPL-05 Power Station.


 * On the second road Northwest of the Super-Duper Mart.


 * In front of the Robot Repair Center, south of Canterbury Commons.


 * Behind the ruined house on the road to Germantown, near Paradise Falls.


 * Rockbreaker's Last Gas.


 * In front of Alexandria's Arms. They're only different types of merchants that will sell you a Nuka-Cola Quantum.


 * North of Smith Casey's Garage, by the army camp.

UFO Encounter Locations

 * Fast-travel to Jury Street Metro Station and head Southwest down the road towards the radio tower. From there travel Southwest and you'll run into a small canyon.  In the canyon is where the event spawns.


 * Just outside of the entrance to Rockopolis. Fast-travel to Smith Casey's Garage and from the entrance turn to the West and a tiny-bit North.  It'll take you around 30 seconds to get there.


 * In the parking lot of the Super Duper Mart.


 * The Barn behind vault 101

Different Types of Random Encounters
The following random encounters can occur at the above locations:


 * A Talon Company ambush if you have a Karma rating of Good.
 * A Regulator ambush if you have a Karma rating of Evil.
 * A Wasteland Doctor who will provide healing services.
 * Three Hunters selling various animal foodstuffs.
 * Three Hunters selling Strange Meat.
 * A Wasteland Junkie who sells Chems.
 * A Scavenger with his Brahmin and his dog. He'll offer you a Nuka-Cola Quantum for 100 caps.  You can talk him into reducing the price.
 * Another Scavenger with just his dog who will also sell you a Nuka-Cola Quantum and you can talk him into reducing the price.
 * Another Scavenger with his Brahmin and a trained Yao Guai who you can also barter for his Nuka-Cola Quantum.
 * Two Wasteland Settlers and two Escaped Slaves fighting over a refridgerator of 10 purified water.
 * Two Wastelanders pondering the origin and purpose of a nearby Enclave Eyebot.
 * Several Giant Ants fighting a Giant Radscorpion.
 * Two Hunters attacking a Giant Worker Ant.
 * A Deathclaw with very low health and a dead Wasteland Settler with the schematics for the Deathclaw Gauntlet.
 * An Alien Ship exploding overhead, spilling 24 Alien Power Cells and a Firelance all over the area.
 * Uncle Leo, a friendly Super Mutant. If you tell him you're going to rob him, he'll give you a Dirty Pre-War Businesswear as a present. If you attack him he'll run away instead of fighting.
 * Mel, a modern Highwayman who will demand caps and items from you. You can either utilize speech options, or kill him.
 * Laszlo Radford (He's hostile and will open fire on you with his Railway Rifle).
 * Sam Warrick shooting at a Wastelander (if he kills the Wastelander, he'll turn on you).
 * Five Raiders, four beating the fifth one from all sides, in turns. It seems to be an initiation.
 * Three Raiders and a Wastelander with a time-bomb on him. You can disarm the time-bomb if you have a high enough explosives skill.
 * A Wasteland Merchant. After having a talk with him about the Great One, he'll collapse and die.  You'll find a note on his body about him going to Oasis the next day.
 * Two wastelanders discussing the whereabouts of Oasis.
 * Three Wastelanders with info about Oasis. If you ask them about it they'll turn hostile.
 * A Scavenger and his dog fighting a Protectron. If you go near the Protectron after you kill it and the Scavenger is still alive, he'll attack you.
 * A Scavenger and his dog fighting a Robobrain. If you go near the Robobrain after you kill it and the Scavenger is still alive, he'll attack you.
 * A Scavenger and his dog fighting a Super Mutant. If you go near the Super Mutant after you kill it and the Scavenger is still alive, he'll attack you.
 * Several Mole Rats attacking a Wastelander (if you save her she'll give you a small amount of caps).
 * Several Radscorpions attacking a Wastelander.
 * You'll receive a Chinese Radio Beacon over your Pipboy, and the signal will grow stronger as you come to it's source: A dead Chinese Commando.
 * Two Wastelanders fighting a Giant Radscorpion over a fridge of 8 purified water.
 * Several Giant Ants around a toxic barrel.
 * Four Vicious Dogs attacking a Raider.
 * Two Frag Mines and two Wastelanders, one of whom attempts to disarm them (unsuccessfully).
 * Three Hunters attacking a Vicious Dog.
 * A Giant Soldier Ant fighting a Giant Radscorpion.
 * A Hunter fighting a Yao Guai.
 * Two Hunters fighting a Yao Guai.
 * Four Vicious Dogs attacking a Wastelander.
 * 3 Hunters attacking a Giant Soldier Ant.
 * If you have not recruited Dogmeat, it is possible he will appear during random encounters to come to your aid.
 * A Vertibird getting hit by a missile and crashing near you.
 * Two Brotherhood Outcasts and a Protectron.
 * A small squad of Brotherhood Outcasts being chased by two Deathclaws.
 * Three Wastelanders fighting with a Deathclaw. If you save them they'll give you the location of Rock Creek Caverns.
 * A Scavenger with his malfunctioned Mister Handy. If you repair it, the Scavenger will give you two energy cells.
 * Three Ghoul Wastelanders around a burning barrel.
 * Two Slavers who will shoot you if you fail the speech challenge.
 * Three Slavers with three Slaves. You can remove the collar of one slave with a successful science check, but this seems to turn everyone, slavers and slaves alike hostile (possible bug?). If you fail the science check, the collar (and the slave's head) explodes.
 * A man named Ben Canning. He asks for purified water.
 * A Vicious Dog, two dead Vicious Dogs, and a dead Wastelander. On the Wastelander's body is a key and a note telling you he apologized to his brother and where his treasure is in Scrapyard.  In the box are three skill books.