Megaton

, is an odd-looking, sprawling settlement, surrounded by thick, impenetrable walls. It features a sliding front gate guarded by a Sniper named Stockholm and a rusty robot named Deputy Weld. You can head in and out as you like, and it is wise to holster your weapon.
 * It's probably the first town the player will encounter after leaving the vault.

Location
Megaton is south of Springvale and west of Grayditch, on the border of the wasteland northwest of the urban DC areas.
 * The easiest way to get here is straight southeast from Vault 101. You can also go east to Springvale, and straight south from there.

Origin and History
Megaton was built by a large group of people who originally planned to seek shelter in Vault 101 but were denied access so without shelter constructed a place to call home out of pieces of metal/aircraft found nearby at a decimated air station. They were aided by the Children of the Atom, who worshipped the unexploded bomb in the crater they were building around.

Related quests

 * Following in His Footsteps The central storyline of Fallout 3.
 * The Power of the Atom - A side-quest in Megaton that revolves around disarming or detonating the bomb landing you your first wasteland house.
 * The Wasteland Survival Guide - Moira Brown, the owner of the local general shop Craterside Supply gives this mission.
 * Treatment - Talk to Walter to start this mini quest.
 * Blood Ties - Lucy West will ask you to deliver a letter to her family in Arefu.
 * Leo's Drug Habit
 * You can start The Replicated Man quest, if you go up to Craterside Supply on a table behind the desk by the door there is a holotape along with a pistol and Radaway. If you sneak into the Megaton Clinic's backroom there is a holotape by a computer there starting the quest as well. The holotape can be also found in Nathan and Manya's House. Sometimes Victoria Watts appears outside Megaton, next to Micky. So you can also start the quest by talking to her.



Notable loot
-- E)
 * Inside Lucas Simms' House, on the desk in the second most bedroom on the second floor is the Bobblehead: Strength (Be sure to collect this before destroying the city if you intend to do so).
 * 4 Pre-War Book in Billy Creel's House
 * A Grognak the Barbarian in Jericho's house.
 * Multiple guns and ammo can be found in the armory, in which you must destroy or deactivate Deputy Steel. You can also deactivate Deputy Weld.
 * A Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual can be found on a shelf in a ruined house at the top of the hill between Megaton and the Super-Duper Mart. The house is next to a big, rusty, domed silo.
 * The Hollowed-Out Rock located off the southwest edge of Megaton contains a Sniper Rifle, ammo, Stealth Boy, Stimpacks and a note from "E" to "S" entitled: "As Requested". (This is a clear Easter Egg relating to Morrowind, as in a "Hollow Treestump" behind Thirsk, there is a "Blood-Stained Note" with this message: S, Here is the equipment I told you about. Remember, the weak deserve no mercy.

Bugs

 * When entering Megaton, the game occasionally places characters in a starting position that is adjacent to (rather than on) the walkways or balconies, causing those characters to fall to their deaths. Walter is particularly prone to this problem, as his starting position is often supposed to be leaning against the railing outside of his workplace.   (The bugs noted below may also be a result of this glitch.)  Characters who die this way can be resurrected using the console (click on the character's body and type 'resurrect').
 * This problem is more likely to occur for players who visit Megaton regularly and thus frequently cause the map to reload. NPC die-off is less likely if you simply visit Megaton less; i.e. if you use Super Duper Mart as your home base instead, and simply visit Megaton for shopping and quests (i.e. The Wasteland Survival Guide).


 * There is a bug where the praying Confessor Cromwell will die unexpectedly. His death does not affect any quests. It's possible that this is intentional, as the water, like all other sources of water in the game, is highly radioactive.


 * There is another bug where Nathan might be found dead in the Radioactive Water. When this happens you will not be able to talk to Manya anymore as all she will do is talk about her missing Nathan.


 * If the player blows up Megaton, he or she will often experience lag if they go back to the ruins. The PS3 version is unaffected, though on the 360 version, this is easily fixed by installing the game to your hardrive (I don't know about the PC version though).

Megaton Bug Fixes (Patch 1.1)

 * As of the December 15th, 2008 (PS3) and January 13th, 2009 (Xbox 360/PC) releases of the Fallout 3 patch, the issues regarding unexpected NPC disappearances and deaths have been fixed. Upon entering Megaton, if they haven't died previously, you should now be able to find all of your missing NPCs including the biggest offenders, Walter, Billy Creel, Colin Moriarty, and Andy Stahl.