Trouble on the Homefront



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

Detailed walkthrough
This quest will be available 14 days after completing The Waters of Life and is initiated by picking up the Vault 101 distress signal on the radio. Note that if one elects to find the G.E.C.K, there may be issues picking up the signal. To find it, simply wander near Vault 101. The signal is only active for a limited time; if the quest is not started before the signal stops, the only way to start it is through the console.

The radio signal is a repeated a message from Amata asking the Lone Wanderer to return to Vault 101 to help stop her father, the overseer. If Alphonse Almodovar was killed while escaping from Vault 101, Allen Mack will be the new overseer; however, the radio message changes to "...the new Overseer is insane. If you can hear this, please stop looking for your dad and help save us."

Since the player character and their father escaped from Vault 101, the Vault has been divided into two major factions. The faction led by Amata, holed up in the clinic, wants to open the vault and interact with the outside world. The other faction is led by the overseer and he wants to keep the vault closed permanently, in accordance with its mission. Butch, wishes to abandon the vault entirely and live on the surface; however, the rest of the rebels simply intend to remain living in the vault, with the freedom to make excursions into the wasteland when necessary.

One of the essential reasons for having access to the wasteland and the remainder of humanity, apart from the obvious need for supplies and parts for the vault's aging life support apparatus, is to avoid collapse due to genetic stagnation and inbreeding. The number of Vault 101 residents has fallen significantly in the two centuries since it was sealed, implied heavily by various conversations and other means (such as a message encouraging procreation) prior to the Lone Wanderer's initial escape. If they successfully persuade the overseer to allow exterior access, then the overseer himself will finally accept and openly admit that without external input, the vault's population will not remain genetically viable for more than a generation or so.

Solutions
Although there are only three different outcomes, there are plenty of ways to finish each, but regardless of the path the Lone Wanderer chooses they will ultimately be banished from the Vault.

Keep the Vault closed
There are essentially two ways to keep the vault closed; one way is to ignore the problem and leave. The downside to this is no quest-related rewards will be given.
 * Simply ignore the radio message. The signal will cease after a while and the opportunity to gain XP (plus the modified utility jumpsuit) dissipate.
 * Just enter Vault 101 once, talk to some people and/or take items (such as opening the safe in James' office) and then exit the vault. After leaving, it will not be possible to reenter the vault as it has been locked again.
 * Kill the rebels. Killing Amata should break them up; however, the other rebels may have to be killed as well. This gives bad Karma even if the plan is trying to keep the vault closed. If one is seen taking this approach, the whole vault may turn hostile, including the overseer; they may become docile again after hiding for a period of time.
 * Persuade Amata to stay in the vault because the outside is too dangerous (this grants good Karma.) There are two ways to achieve this:
 * Pass a Speech check.
 * Hack the overseer's computer and discover the attempts by the Enclave to gain entry into Vault 101, and the overseer's refusal to admit them. This provides proof of the dangers outside and of the overseer's attempts to protect them and will allow convincing Amata without the Speech check.

After dealing with the rebels, the Lone Wanderer may talk to the overseer, who will ask them to leave. If asked about a G.E.C.K. he will reply that Vault 101 never had one and will offer the modified utility jumpsuit instead, whether or not violence was used. Alternatively, he can be asked for food and ammunition to get 13 Cram and 350 5mm rounds in place of the suit.

Open the Vault

 * Kill the overseer.
 * Convince the overseer to step down, one of two nonviolent solutions, neither of which work on Allen Mack (the new overseer if Amata's father died in Escape!.) Any attempts to try to reason with Mack will only result in combat.
 * Pass a Speech check. The overseer will realize that the vault will not survive more than a generation or two no matter how many supplies they may receive.
 * Show that security is planning an assault against the overseer's orders. Access the computer in the security office either by hacking into it (Average difficulty) or by obtaining the password (either from the body of Officer Wilkins or from a locker on the other side of the room). This will also allow Mr. Brotch (who also knows of the plan) to be freed from the jail cell. Telling the overseer about the assault convinces him he has failed his mission as overseer, and he will surrender without the Speech check.

If the overseer lives, he will step down, and Amata will take on the role of overseer. This nets positive Karma; the same will occur if the overseer dies. Amata will show regret and sorrow if either Alphonse or Allen was killed or excitement and amazement if her father was persuaded to step down without violence. If she is spoken to she will then 'ask' the Wanderer to leave the vault permanently, in which she will echo the famous phrase from Fallout: "I'm sorry...you're a hero and you have to leave." Upon her saying this, the player character will not be able to engage in conversation with anyone else except Officer Taylor on their way to the exit. He will only say "Good riddance. Get out," and will immediately exit dialogue. Attempts to re-enter dialogue will just have him repeat his previous statement.

This result will stay the same even if the overseer was persuaded to stand down peacefully which will provide the modified utility jumpsuit (in the case of peaceful actions.) Later, Susie Mack can be encountered in the wasteland. Speaking to her will provide purified water, however she will say that the player character still cannot return. Butch will end up in Rivet City at The Muddy Rudder.

Destroy the Vault
Hack the (Hard) computer in the sub-basement or steal the Vault 101 maintenance password from Stanley, the maintenance man, who can be found wandering around the cafeteria/dorm level. Go into manual override mode and perform a flush and a purge. This will flush the water chip, resulting in a catastrophic system failure (if Stanley is performing maintenance on the system, as he tends to do, the resulting explosion will kill him.) Everyone is now forced to evacuate the vault (triggering negative Karma.) Unless patch 1.1 is installed, one can even complete the quest with another method and then flush the chip, although this will render anything done prior in the quest meaningless.
 * The passcode only unlocks the terminal and does not enable unlocking any extra areas of the vault.
 * Amata may be lied to that was the overseer's plan and he lied to that the rebels were responsible. In the latter case, he will stay where he is, ashamed at what he has caused, which results in him taking his own life.
 * If Amata finds out the Wanderer did it, either by telling her or failing the Speech check, she will say they are worse than her father and threatens to kill them if she ever sees them again. As she is running out of the Vault, she can be engaged in conversation but will follow through with her threat as promised.
 * As of patch 1.1, the option to destroy the vault is lost after completing the mission through interaction with either Amata or the overseer. Back at the filtration room computer, the option "Begin Water Chip Service" now returns the message "Service Disabled - See Vendor" when selected. This applies even if Butch has given the optional task to Sabotage Vault 101.

Obviously, life in the vault is no longer feasible. A random encounter may occur where Amata is being interrogated by the Enclave. If she gives up the location of Vault 101, she will be executed. If saved, one can try talking to her, but she will scold the player character for what they have done. She does not have a destination and will eventually be killed by one of the horrors of the wasteland. Butch can be found at The Muddy Rudder bar in Rivet City and can be recruited, provided the player character has neutral Karma. In the random encounter Trapped Outside, dead residents can also be found (provided they lived through the vault visit.) In order: Freddie Gomez, Pepper Gomez, Herman Gomez. All of the other vault dwellers are not seen again.

Doing this nets no rewards of any kind except bad Karma.

Failure
Killing the overseer and Amata after getting the vault either open or closed results in failure of the quest itself. This also causes the vault to be left open and one can come and go as they please, however, all residents will be hostile. A message will appear explaining that Vault 101 has been "thrown into chaos." If it is once again returned to, the place will become infested with radroaches if all inhabitants are dead.
 * It is possible for this to happen accidentally - if the rebels are convinced to stay and then the overseer visited when Officer Wilkins is nearby he will make the overseer attack as well because of faction loyalty. This will not instantly cause failure unless the overseer actually dies.

Behind the scenes
Fallout reference: Portions of Amata's speech to the Lone Wanderer when they leave are strikingly similar to the speech given to the Vault Dweller at the end of Fallout, even the number of ellipses used in each (bold quotes specifically).

NOTE: The above dialogue appears only if the overseer is killed as a solution. Resolving the problem diplomatically results in a different dialogue that does not reference the first Fallout.

Bugs

 * If you choose to end the vault troubles by sabotaging the vault, the vault door will remain open, allowing you to come and go as you please. If you inspect the vault for any present dwellers, you will notice that Beatrice Armstrong is no longer present at the surgery table (but Andy is still present), and Mr. Brotch is no longer held up in the jail cell (if you decided not to free him in the quest). The jail cell door remains locked.
 * When attempting to reason with the overseer and convince him to step down, he refers to the player as a "young man," regardless of the Lone Wanderer's actual gender.
 * It is possible that the final objective (Leave Vault 101 forever) will stay marked as unfinished, even after you've completed the quest.
 * After convincing the overseer to step down, it is possible to get to Amata before he does. Speaking to Amata will have her talk as though the overseer has already spoken to her, and after the player finishes talking to her the overseer will arrive and their conversation will proceed normally.
 * When you enter the vault and ask Officer Gomez to lead you to Amata, following Freddie into the room he goes in after having been shot at by Officer Taylor will result in him disappearing.
 * After completing the quest, Butch will travel to the Muddy Rudder but cannot be recruited by the Lone Wanderer. This can happen if the player sides with the overseer. Since it's irrational that he appears after closing the vault, allowing no one to leave, thus, cause him to have no dialogue.
 * Sometimes you will not get the distress signal, and cannot start the quest.
 * If the player character walks into the small shooting range area (where James gave the BB gun and shooting lessons at the beginning of the game) and then positions themselves behind the swing-arm targets, when fired upon, they will spin in the wrong direction.

Endings

 * When you throw the vault into chaos, Butch will disappear and will be waiting at the Muddy Rudder bar in Rivet City. Butch will order you to leave like the vault residents do, but you can still hire him to be a companion.
 * It is possible to kill the leaders of both sides without failing the quest. Resolve the situation, killing people if you want, but spare the acting overseer (whether it is Amata, her dad, or Mack). Attack the overseer and make them pursue you to the entrance of the vault but don't kill them. After the vault door closes and the quest is deemed completed, you can revel in the joy of slaying the previously "critical" non-player character and getting away with it. You won't receive the message about the vault being thrown into chaos if you achieve this.
 * It is also possible to finish the quest and have the vault door stay open indefinitely. Enter the vault and don't talk to anyone - ignoring Officer Gomez, Amata, and the overseer isn't critical but there's no real point in talking to anyone else (except perhaps Butch, to get the optional "Sabotage Vault 101" subquest on your Pip-Boy, but it isn't necessary). Head to the reactor area and purge the water chip. This will cause the vault to evacuate. Wait about 2–3 minutes real-time and then go through the overseer's tunnel. (If you can't avoid the overseer here, lie to them.) Leave the vault when it says the quest is completed (when the vault door would normally close). The door will remain open forever, and the vault will be empty of people.
 * You cannot shut the vault door using this method. Method confirmed on Xbox 360.
 * If you avoid the overseer when leaving they may remain in the vault, alive and with no dialogue options.
 * If you kill the overseer and then kill Amata when she tells you to leave then the vault door will stay open indefinitely.
 * Note: Waiting does not work.
 * If Officer Wilkins is aggressive while on your way to confront the overseer, and you do not kill him, he will follow you into the lower levels of the vault, slowly turning everyone in the vault hostile, including the overseer and Amata, making finishing the quest impossible.
 * If you destroy the Vault without Butch notifying you, Butch will be in the Muddy Rudder but will not be recruitable as a companion.

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