Big Trouble in Big Town

Big Trouble in Big Town is a side quest in Fallout 3. It is also an achievement on the Xbox 360 and PC; and a bronze trophy on the PlayStation 3.

Detailed walkthrough
Big Town residents have been attacked by Super Mutants, who capture residents and have recently taken them to Germantown police HQ, including Red, the town doctor. The quest can be started by speaking with any of the town's residents, speaking with Sticky in Little Lamplight, or if the player character talks to Red in Germantown police HQ.

Rescue
Germantown police HQ has two possible entrances: the first is using the higher door on the north side. If the player character has 100 Lockpick, the lower door on the west side may also be entered and puts them very close to Red's location. If the former is chosen, some hallways of super mutants and the occasional trap need to be traversed.

Red is located in a jail cell on the ground floor. The cell door can either be picked, opened with a terminal (accessible with a holotape located upstairs) or opened with the Germantown jailors key, found on the toughest super mutant in the station. Beware, as with Broken Steel installed, the toughest super mutant in the station is an overlord armed with a Tri-beam Laser Rifle or a Gatling Laser. When spoken to, Red thanks the player character for rescuing her, granting good Karma and tells the player about her friend Shorty, in the kitchen downstairs. As an optional objective, the player character may go through the basement in order to rescue him. He will be found in the kitchen, in conversation with a super mutant who wishes to eat him. If the conversation goes on long enough (usually only 10–20 seconds), the mutant will start shooting Shorty. Saving him will provide the player character with more good Karma. Note that the type of mutant that Shorty is talking to varies depending on the player character's level, and can be anything from a regular super mutant to an overlord if Broken Steel is installed; however, it will still be labeled "super mutant" in-game.

If Red Dies
If Red dies at any point during the quest, it will not immediately fail. The objectives will update to tell the player character to go to Big Town to explain her death. When the player character speaks with any of the residents and tells them about their friend's demise, they will give the player 200 caps, stating that the town will not be needing it anymore. The quest will fail at this point.

The Attack
Once Red (and Shorty, if the player character chose to help him) have been rescued, return to Big Town and speak to Red to be thanked. One can refuse a reward for good Karma, or request one to receive 300 bottle caps. 200 more can be obtained through a Speech check with accompanying bad Karma. The caps can be returned afterward to gain the Karma back.

While the quest is technically over at this point, Red will immediately warn the player character that super mutants plan to attack the town yet again. Lacking substantial combative skills, Red asks for the player character's help in the town's defense (choose the "I can help you defend yourselves" chat option). Depending on the player character's skill levels, the townspeople may be taught one of a variety of countermeasures in the town's scrapyard, or in the case of mine-laying, by the bridge entrance.
 * With at least 50 in the Small Guns skill, they may be taught how to use conventional firearms, and a makeshift shooting range of bottles and cans appears that the player must shoot at.
 * With at least 50 in the Sneak skill, they may be taught how to effectively hide from the mutants. The player character must go into sneak mode and let the villagers follow them in sneak mode for some time.
 * With at least 50 in the Science skill, they may be taught how to build robots to use as bodyguards. The player must interact with the Sentry Bot and Protectron there to reactivate them. If only one is reactivated, residents will reactivate the other robot themselves. Note that there are a few bugs associated with this option, such as the Protectron not being there at all and/or flying out of the sky to land in random places.
 * With at least 50 in the Explosives skill, they may be taught how to make a minefield. Demonstrate by throwing a mine on the bridge. Note that there is a bug associated with this option.
 * With the Lawbringer perk, they may be told that the Regulators are on the way to help.

Alternatively, the player character may not teach them anything, and either leave them to their fate, or help fight the mutants anyway. Although the residents are weak, weapons, ammunition and armor can be reverse pick-pocketed into their inventories to give them a better chance (especially if the Small Guns option was not chosen). Forcing a loading screen, such as by entering or leaving a building with an interior cell, or fast traveling from and to Big Town is required to get them to equip their new items.

The super mutants, arriving in pairs, are usually armed with anything from nail boards to Miniguns, depending on the player character's level.

Shortly after preparations are made, a number of super mutants (this varies depending on the player's actions as explained below) will attack. If sneak was not chosen, the super mutants must be defeated to complete it. However, if sneak was chosen, two super mutants will enter trying to find the townspeople, and if uninterrupted, eventually leave. They then follow the road north between Hallowed Moors Cemetery and Meresti trainyard back to the Germantown police HQ.

Healing Timebomb
Upon arriving in Big Town, Timebomb can be found wounded inside Red's clinic. He can be healed with a Medicine skill of at least 40. If the player character heals him, then speaks to him after successfully repelling the super mutant attack on Big Town, he will give the player character the Lucky 8-ball.

If Red survives
OR
 * 300 XP
 * 300 caps OR good Karma
 * 500 caps + bad Karma by passing a Speech check
 * With either option, Red will still offer healing services and Pappy will offer repair services.

If Red dies

 * 200 caps

Timebomb healed / super mutant attack repelled

 * Lucky 8-ball

Behind the scenes

 * The title of this quest pays homage to the 1986 film Big Trouble in Little China.

Bugs

 * When presented with the option to defend the town by repairing the damaged robots, the robots will not be in the town, due to the flying creatures and items glitch. This renders this section of the quest unable to be completed. On the PC, entering the console and typing PRID 2d934, kill, resurrect, disable, enable, PRID 2c11b, kill, resurrect, disable, enable should restore the bots. If they fail to appear, you may need to enter one more command: "moveto player". Also, by chance if you walk out of Big town and fast travel back and wait a couple of hours the Protectron MAY appear back, repaired. A party of one or more town residents may leave town to find and repair a missing robot. Some party members may return to town before finding the robot. Not all party members may return to town before the first wave of the mutants' attack. The robot will slowly follow the party back to town and may arrive too late to help against the mutants.
 * If the sentry bot appears but the Protectron does not, the quest can complete at the stage of speaking to Red about your reward - though with no XP. The Big Towners will still speak to you as if the mutant attack is imminent, but it will never arrive. Waiting (tried up to 48hrs) does not help, and the Protectron does not appear. If you then leave Big Town and return, you will find the sentry bot still wandering around, but all the Big Towners will have gone leaving no bodies.
 * If the quest is completed without looking for Shorty in the Germantown police HQ, the player can later return and find Shorty still alive in the basement with 1 super mutant. After killing the super mutant, Shorty will converse with you normally, but no option to cut his bonds and set him free will be presented, forcing the player to walk out, leaving Shorty kneeling on the floor with his hands tied for the remainder of the game.
 * For an unknown reason when leaving the building after saving Red from the super mutants, & freeing her from the cell, she disappears completely. Fast traveling to Big Town will fix this.
 * When returning to Big Town after the rescue is completed, moving items in or out of Red or Shorty's inventory may cause them to stop following you altogether and remain standing still, despite being prompted to follow you. Fast-traveling to a different location and returning to where you left them will cause them to disappear completely, leaving the quest impossible to complete.
 * One possible fix for the missing Protectron problem is to just activate the sentry bot. Once this is done, a resident will be dispatched to activate the Protectron (to practice what you just taught them), and they will hunt it down wherever it may have flown to. Use the Wait option and wait for a few hours, and the Protectron should appear back in town, safe and sound, along with whoever went to look for it. Be careful when waiting: this can also cause the mutants to spawn in the middle of town! Try it one hour at a time to be safe.
 * Another posible fix is that the Protectron is flung to the south east side of Big Town in front of a house that is boarded up.
 * When the quest is completed, Three Dog will have a segment on you about Big Town, stating that you 'could have helped, but didn't' and calling you an asshole, even if you did complete the quest.
 * When talking to Sticky, sometimes it does not activate the quest.
 * The Lone Wanderer can talk to someone in Big Town to activate the quest.
 * After finishing Big Trouble in Big Town and activating the robots to protect the town after rescuing Shorty and Red, when the player returns to Big Town later, all residents are gone, but the robots remain. Also, Sticky will not be found anywhere in the game.
 * It is possible that the residents have left and you have saved the residents as Three Dog will continue to say the report as if they have been saved. Additionally, the scavenger will report that the Big Towners have made a shipment of robots.
 * Choosing to teach the Big Towners anything at all may cause the game to freeze almost immediately, thus, players will need to choose to protect the town themselves. Rebooting the console may not prevent it from happening again. Saving before speaking to Red is advisable. It appears it is bound to happen if Sticky and Timebomb are active in town at the same time.
 * Despite having the required 50 sneak skill and choosing to teach them to hide. The Big Towners will sometimes comment about the player character not teaching them anything, and go back to their routines. Even if they actually followed the player character in sneak mode.
 * Even if you have Red and Shorty waiting somewhere else (like the Megaton Home or Tenpenny Tower suite) the quest may say you have returned them to Big Town if you get too near the town cell. It will definitely happen if you get close to the super mutants in the trailer to the northwest of the town.