Wasteland Survival Guide (quest)

 is a Fallout 3 quest. It is also a Xbox 360/PC achievement and PlayStation 3 Trophy.

Moira Brown, the owner of the Craterside Supply in Megaton, wants you to do some dangerous research for a book she is writing entitled .

This could be considered to be the longest quest in the game if you were to complete all 9 tasks and optional objectives without lying.

Find food at the Super Duper Mart

 * Main Objective: Find food in the Super-Duper Mart
 * Optional Objective: Find medicine in the Super-Duper Mart.

The mart is nearby Megaton and will appear on your Pip-boy map screen. It is easy to find, but filled with raiders.

At the front of the Mart, opening a refrigerator will trigger the first part of the quest.

Looting the first aid box in the room at the back of the market (next to the Mini Nuke and Protectron) will finish the second part of the quest. But by taking the medicine, you will hear the intercom go off and will be attacked by more raiders.

For more information consult the Super-Duper Mart page.

Moira will reward you with a Food Sanitizer if you complete the optional objective. If you only complete the main objective or if you successfully lie to her, she'll just give you some Iguana Bits. As with all the rewards for this quest that are not unique items, the number of items given is level dependant.

After completing the quest, you can get special conversation paths if certain of your SPECIAL stats are 7 or above. In this case, Endurance, Intelligence, or Charisma if you completed the bonus objective or else Strength, Agility or Intelligence if you didn't. You will always have the option of a standard or snide response in addition to the SPECIAL related options. The conversation path you select at this point will affect the Survival Expert perk you receive at the end of this quest.

Note: Sometime after completing optional objective, choosing conversation path (for Intelligence at least) and receiving Food Sanitizer from Moira quest completes but optional objective may be still marked as uncompleted in quests list - possible bug. After completing all Wasteland Survival quests this optional objective will be marked as completed too.

Contract Radiation Sickness

 * Main Objective: Contract 200 Rads
 * Optional Objective: Contract 600 Rads

Moira wants you to contract radiation sickness in order to test her radiation sickness remedy on you.

The most efficient way to complete the mission is to stand in and drink the water near the nuke in the center of Megaton (1 or 2 rad per second for standing in the water, 18-20 rads obtained each time you drink the water). You can also drink water from the public restrooms, though this may take slightly longer. Alternatively, the radioactive barrels (8 rads per second) underneath the electrical tower behind Springvale School can significantly boost your rads. (Although actually getting the required radiation level may be faster at this location than in Megaton, the overall efficiency of this method is debatable, due to travel and loading times.) After you have reached 600 rads walk back to the Craterside Supply and speak to Moira to complete the mission. The quest can be completed with only 200 rads, but since getting rads is easy there is no reason not to go for the bonus objective.

After you complete the mission, you will have a rad count of 0. Moira will give you some Rad-X and Rad Away and she will also start selling them.

If you achieve the optional objective by contracting 600 rads, Moira remarks that you now have a "teeny, tiny, um, mutation" after curing you. The mutation causes you to gain the Rad Regeneration perk.

After completing the quest and optional objective, you can get special conversation paths if your Endurance, Perception, or Charisma is 7 or better, which will affect the Survival Expert perk you receive at the end of this quest. Getting the Endurance option may be difficult, since you will be suffering Critical Radiation Poisoning (-1 ST, -2 AG, -3 EN) when you complete the quest (Buffout offers +3 EN, which can help... unless you were already in need of it to meet the skill requirements, before the radiation poisoning). There are no conversation paths for high Strength, Intelligence, or Agility.

Alternatively, should you have a high enough Science skill (at least 50), you will be given the option of simply explaining the effects of radiation poisoning. However, you don't get the perk this way. The optional objective still counts as complete towards the quality of the final reward perk.

Traversing a Mine Field

 * Main Objective: Travel to the playground in the center of Minefield.
 * Optional Objective: Retrieve and return a Frag Mine to Moira.

When you reach the town, look carefully at the winding road leading up the hill. There will be small, yellow discs placed on the street. These are Frag Mines so proceed with caution. Either run up to the mines and rapidly tap the Action button or walk up slowly and disarm the mine as soon as your reticule turns red. You must repeat this process until you get to the Playground at the center of the town. Mines may also be shot, causing them to explode prematurely.

Alternative: You can find Frag Mine elsewhere and lie to Moira about visiting Minefield location to complete the quest. This will only give you optional quest credit if you already have a bottlecap mine in your inventory to hand over to moira to examine.

If you already visited Minefield before doing this task, you can tell it to Moira that you've been there. This is also a faster way to finish the task, but you won't be able to finish the optional objective.

If you complete the optional objective: some Frag Grenades and Bottlecap Mine schematics.

After completing the quest and optional objective, you can get special conversation paths if your Endurance, Perception, or Agility is 7 or better, which will affect the Survival Expert perk you receive at the end of this quest. There are no conversation paths for high Strength, Intelligence, or Charisma.

Moira will reward you with some Stimpaks and 100 experience points for finishing the first chapter of. If you completed all of the extra objectives Moira will give you "Two big boxes full of ammo" consisting of seemingly random types of ammo but potentially as many as 510 5mm rounds (Unknown if Scrounger Perk affects this )

Chapter 2
Chapter 2 of the guide centers on dealing with some of the many dangerous creatures that are known to inhabit the wastelands, and also how to handle injuries.

Test the repellent on Mole Rats

 * Main Objective:Test the Mole Rat Repellent on 3 Mole Rats.
 * Optional Objective: Test the repellent on 7 more Mole Rats

This portion of the quest is fairly easy, if tedious, as wild Mole Rats can be found all over the wasteland. The Repellent defeats the rats quickly, so the player should easily accumulate enough kills to report back to Moira. At least 5 Mole Rats can be found around Megaton, so if you're only interested in the Main Objective, you don't have to run far.

However, Moira also adds a map marker for the Tepid Sewers, located near the Anchorage Memorial. Several Mole Rats can be found immediately inside the entrance, so it is a simple matter to smack them with the Repellent and exit.

A much simpler alternative is to go to the RobCo Facility, near Tenpenny Tower. The only creatures inside are Mole Rats and Radroaches, and no plot elements are risked.

A much closer, multiple Mole Rat location without plot elements, is the Jury Street Metro Station (inside the metro station itself), located due west of Vault 101 and due south of Vault 106. (Note that the molerats are actually in the Jury St. Tunnels section inside the Jury Street Metro Station.)

The reward for this quest is some doses of Jet and Psycho. If the optional objective is not completed, Moira will take the Repellent Stick away from you at the end of the quest, but it can be bought back through her store.

Tip: If you missed the Quest completion notice in the heat of combat, your Pipboy will tell if you've got 10 ("Return to Moira"). (You can also hold onto your Molerat Meat - but if you come across situations where others have killed some, the count can be wrong. Check the Quest Notes, to be sure.)

After completing the quest and optional objective, you can get special conversation paths if your Endurance, Intelligence, or Charisma is 7 or better, which will affect the Survival Expert perk you receive at the end of this quest. There are no conversation paths for high Strength, Perception, or Agility.

Place an observer unit inside a Mirelurk nest

 * Main Objective: Place an observer unit (provided by Moira) inside a Mirelurk Egg Clutch in the Anchorage Memorial.
 * Optional Objective: Complete the main objective without killing a Mirelurk.

IMPORTANT NOTES: before beginning the quest, if you head to Anchorage Memorial and kill the Mirelurks inside, this does not stop you completing the optional objective, and also means you can afford to have a good look round and collect the loot inside, including all the different types of mirelurk meat. This is a good way of achieving a lot of caps. though if you do plan on doing this, its a good idea to take a good gun and some frag grenades, as mirelurks do not go down easy, and in large numbers can cause a lot of pain. Also, if you have a follower with you, and you have great confidence in him, you can have him do your dirty work, stand aside and let him kill the Mirelurks. Technically you still finish the optional part of the quest because "you" did not kill any of the Mirelurks, your follower did.

Some easy solutions to complete optional objective include:
 * Fast travel to Tepid Sewers, and cross the river to Anchorage Memorial. The big garage door you see (on the southeastern side) is the door you want. The door requires a lockpick skill of 25. There are three Mirelurks here, however, you can just run in, plant the observer at the nearby clutch of eggs (you have to walk right up to any clutch of eggs and then the option will come up to plant the observer), and rush back outside before they reach you. If you don't want to risk it, prior to starting the quest, go in the entrance and kill the 3 mirelurks, then return to Moira and start the quest. You can now place the Observer without any risk.
 * Enter through underwater tunnel, which is located on the south border of the peninsula. You will spawn near the eggs with no Mirelurks there. After you zone in, swim to the right and you will see the external wall of the memorial. Swim left at the wall and the eggs are at the water line in front of you. Naturally, you will accumulate some radiation from swimming.
 * If you get in through main entrance (the one built into the exterior wall) you can continue until you get to the main room with several stories and jump over the balcony into the floor, containing the nest. Afterward, run and follow the waypoints until you get out. If you have any Stealth Boys, this would be the perfect time to use them, as Moira will give you 2-6 depending on your level as a reward for completing the optional objective. Another alternative is the Dart Gun.
 * It should also be noted that if you have a suitably strong companion with you while doing this quest (such as Fawkes), they can kill all the Mirelurks for you without jeopardizing the optional objective.

You can also come back to the memorial afterwards to kill all the Mirelurks and take all the loot after the quest is complete without any negative effects.

After completing the quest and optional objective, you can get special conversation paths if your Strength, Intelligence, or Charisma is 7 or better, which will affect the Survival Expert perk you receive at the end of this quest. There are no conversation paths for high Endurance, Perception, or Agility.

For completing this optional objective you'll receive some Stealth Boys and a Shady Hat and boxes of .32 ammo.

Bug: There is a bug where your observer disappears. You can get another one after it does,using the console command(press ~ to bring up the console)player.additem 00030663 1.

CAUTION:when using the console, make sure the command ends with 1,or else you are stuck with it forever unless using console again(see console commands)

Injure yourself for more than 50% of your Health

 * Main Objective: Return to Moira with less than 50% of your total health.
 * Optional Objective: Return to Moira with a crippled body part.

Note: This can easily be done by jumping off of the balcony that you see just as you walk outside of Craterside Supply 2-3 times. This will not only cripple you, but also put you below the 50% HP mark.
 * If you choose to take this route, and are still at a low Level, it is likely that the fall will kill you. However, if you move down the walkway, you can jump and (most of the time) will not die.
 * At level 10, jumping once results in less than half health but no crippled limbs. Jumping twice, even using stim-pacs, is likely to kill you. A better result would be to throw a grenade at a corner of your house in Megaton (with a very good chance of crippling at least 1 limb THEN jumping off of the balcony.
 * If you have done the Minefield part, you may still have the damage plus crippled limbs from the mines/Arkansas you won't have to do anything at all.
 * This can also be done by planting a mine from the Minefield (or throw the Frag Grenades that are rewards from the challenge) in your house/ somewhere safe outside.
 * Using a missile from the Missile Launcher to cripple yourself works great, too.
 * Also, if you have Zhu-Rong v418 Chinese Pistol you can just shoot on the ground below you and your legs will cripple and you'll take a lot of damage. Be careful none of the other residents of Megaton are in close proximity, or this could be treated as a hostile act. A safer option to cripple your legs and lower your health at the same time is to go to Moriarty's Saloon and jump off the railing - and for those who destroyed Megaton, there are always the high bridges you can jump from such as Arefu.
 * Don't forget that if you have the mutation effect and advanced radiation sickness your crippled limbs will grow back. You must clear your radiation sickness to be allowed to get crippled.
 * With a high enough Medicine skill you are "a good enough doctor to just explain" about injuries, and you receive credit for the quest and bonus objective. Be aware that this qualifies as a "smart" response and as a result may have an effect on the perk you receive upon completion of the quest as a whole.

The reward for the quest is some doses of Med-X, and an Environment Suit if the optional objective is completed.

After completing the quest and optional objective, you can get special conversation paths if your Endurance, Intelligence, or Charisma is 7 or better, which will affect the Survival Expert perk you receive at the end of this quest. There are no conversation paths for high Strength, Perception, or Agility.

Moira's dialog "Now how would you describe the pain you're feeling? .... And remember this is for posterity." is a reference to the torture scene in the movie "The Princess Bride".

If this was the last objective of this chapter, you get an additional reward of 100 XP and some ammo, the exact quantities depending on luck and if the wanderer has the scrounger perk. If the wanderer is between levels 12 and 15, they will have a chance of receiving various quantities of any of the small arms bullet types.

Chapter 3
Chapter 3 revolves around how towns and cities came to be after the Great War and also dealing with technology from the previous "age".

Research Rivet City's History

 * Main Objective: Find out the history about Rivet City.
 * Optional Objective: Find out Rivet City's true history.

This quest is more difficult than it appears, as almost every citizen of Rivet City is unfamiliar with its history. After speaking to a few people in Rivet City, Bannon will claim that he helped found the city. You can return to Moira at this point for normal completion, or fact check his story for optional completion. You will need to speak to Belle Bonny in the Muddy Rudder bar. She will refuse to help you, but not before pointing you to Pinkerton's location in the broken bow of the ship. If you try to engage Pinkerton in conversation about Rivet City's history before talking to Belle, he will claim to have been one of the founders but you won't complete the optional part of the quest, as he does not care enough to give you proof, but he will allow you to access his terminal which will contain information to complete the optional part of the quest. The Black Widow perk does not give you any extra dialogue options. It requires the dialogue option "Bannon claims to have founded the city" for him to give you the proof. You can also get the proof if you haven't even spoken to Bannon, by getting him to give you the password for his computer terminal, which contains an account of the founding of Rivet City.

Note: There are benefits if you do this quest at the same time as or after The Replicated Man. The directions on that page for getting to Pinkerton are more complete. Once you have gotten Pinkerton's password for his terminal from The Replicated Man quest, the ONLY action you have to take to complete the History mission is look on his terminal. You don't have to talk to anyone, even him.

ALTERNATIVE: Talk to Vera (hotel owner) who will direct you to Seagrave Holmes. He tells you that you might find some stuff in Pinkerton's old place (he also seems to have a crush on Vera). Talk to Pinkerton (described below) and ask him for evidence. Optional objective complete.

To get to Mr. Pinkerton, you have to exit Rivet City proper, and travel to the "other uninhabited half" of the ship, where there is a walkway leading to a door. It is a Very Hard lock (level 100 lockpick), and if you're unable to pick it you must jump into the water to the left of the door and swim alongside the ship until you turn the corner, where you will find a door underwater. There is a long swim (be prepared to use a lot of stimpacks if you get turned around), but fortunately no underwater combat. An alternative to swimming around the corner is to jump off the ship from the marketplace entrance and take a short swim to the underwater doorway. It's much shorter and results in less rads. There are several Mirelurk inside, as well as booby traps set by Mr. Pinkerton.

NOTE: An entertaining and effective way of disposing of the Mirelurks is running past them and luring them into Pinkerton's traps.

Mr. Pinkerton's lab should be on the top level, behind a door that, if you try to open the first time, it will say that it has to be opened from a different terminal. There is a rectangular yellow box in the same room hanging on a wall which you have to activate in order to open the door.

NOTE: You CAN NOT jump from the top of Rivet City to the top of the broken bow. It may look like you can, but the objects are non-clip (You pass through them). You will either get stuck in the side of the ship, or fall through the deck. There are no entrances to the broken bow other than the underwater one and the one at the end of the walkway.

If you go in the main entrance, there is an armed landmine directly to your left on an ammo box, a precursor to the traps ahead. There are two mirelurks downstairs through the first door, which is also a large gas leak. If you disarmed that landmine, drop it in front of the first door, get the mirelurks attention, step back and close the door. The landmine will set off the gas leak, and while they are stunned you can finish them off. You won't have room to run away from the Mirelurks if you don't finish them off quickly.

Note: The Mirelurks DO respawn after 72 hours.

TIP: If you took the underwater route to get to Mr. Pinkerton, you can walk out the Very Hard locked door by activating a switch right next to it (from inside).

A couple of sequencing issues:
 * It is entirely possible to read the original city council minutes on Pinkerton's terminal before you get this quest, but this doesn't count at all - you have to come back after starting the quest. (At least you'll have the bow's front door open, though.)
 * Likewise, once you start the quest, you might be tempted to go straight for Pinkerton's minutes, since they fulfill the Optional part. But it will only count as the regular completion of the quest, if you do it first. To be sure, when you start the quest, talk to one or two people in Rivet City first, then Belle or Vera, and then go read Pinkerton's minutes.(Tested and confirmed on 360 and PS3, however, if you speak to Belle and Bannon to unlock the two optional objectives, and then return to Pinkerton's lab and re-read the minutes, the two optional objectives will be completed, this has been seen to work in most cases.)

If you also have The Replicated Man quest to where you need to speak to Pinkerton, you can complete that objective at the same time as this quest.

At the end of the quest, Moira will reward you with some Mentats, as well as a permanent 10% discount with Rivet City's merchants (if you achieve the bonus conditions).

(NOTE) You can also, as a joke, tell Moira that Rivet City was originally an underwater city. She will then talk about how it might have been part of Atlantis. You will receive Mentats and bad Karma but you wont receive the 10% discount. This option will also worsen the guide, eliminating the chance to get the Guru level perk and make it harder to get the Expert perk (as it reduces the recorded number of completed bonus objectives by one).

RobCo Production Facility Mainframe

 * Main Objective: Install the processor widget in the RobCo production facility mainframe.
 * Optional Objective: Hack the RobCo production facility mainframe

You have (humorous) special dialog options when speaking with Moira for this quest if you previously obtained The Mechanist's Costume.

You must travel to the RobCo Facility and install the processor widget in the mainframe. The mainframe is on the very top level. If you came here previously to complete the Mole Rat Repellent quest, the first area will be really easy because most of the critters will have already been killed.

Warning: The robots, when started, will be hostile. To complete the optional objective, you need a Science skill of at least 50. You have to hack the mainframe you just started up and deactivate the third protocol that makes the robots hostile towards you. Of the other two available protocols, the first orders the robots to clear the area of Radroaches while the second 'stress test' option makes them attack each other (very helpful for landing killing blows on them then looting all the energy weapons ammo they drop).

Tip: If you are unable to hack the terminal, using a Stealth Boy and sneaking past the hostile robots can make for an easy getaway after installing the widget. But if you fire a gun (to kill a robot and farm parts, for example), other robots who see the attack will attack you.

Note: After activating mainframe all corpses of Protectrons in the factory will be refilled with energy cells and scrap metal. Don't activate before looting. Grabbing any inactive Protectron to move it will cause that robot to not become active later, so to maximize loot do not grab any robots before activating the mainframe.

Easy Simple Way If you don't feel like wasting your time with killing or sneaking past all the Protectrons, but want to get the optional quest complete there is a very simple way to do this. You must reprogram the mainframe to become hostile towards you; however, once you have done so you can cease this and any other security tests. This will complete the task and also have the Protectrons friendly towards you.

Alternatively, if you have the Robotics Expert perk, you get the option to just tell Moira about the technology in question, successfully completing the quest AND optional objective immediately, however you must get the perk before you start the quest otherwise you don't get the option and have to do the objectives as normal. Moira will reward you with some Pulse Grenades if you complete the quest, and a Big Book of Science if you complete the optional objective.

After completing the quest and optional objective, you can get special conversation paths if your Strength, Intelligence, or Charisma is 7 or better, which will affect the Survival Expert perk you receive at the end of this quest. There are no conversation paths for high Endurance, Perception, or Agility. Also note that the 'snide' response if the bonus objective is not completed is actually negative - it will reduce the quality of the book / perk. Avoid.

Arlington Public Library

 * Main Objective: Access the card catalog at the Arlington Public Library.
 * Optional Objective: Retrieve complete Library Archive.

The main objective is very easy to complete. Just go to the Library and inside are the Brotherhood of Steel. Scribe Yearling will talk to you, and if you're nice enough, she will let you through. Use the terminal at the front desk and you can get the card catalog. If you want to get the Optional Objective, you have to go through the rest of the Library and fight off Raiders and Radroaches. The terminal used to download the archives can be found on the third floor of the library, in a room just off of a short hallway which can be accessed from the room containing a ceiling turret.

If you want to earn some easy caps, make sure to grab the quest from Scribe Yearling to collect Pre-War Books that are scattered around the library and other places in the wasteland. Sheet Music can also be found here for the bonus reward in Agatha's Song. In the same room as the sheet music (children's side), it looks like a 45 skill in explosives is required for the trap behind the terminal.

Note: Several points in the library will be, as soon as you enter, battles in progress Brotherhood of Steel and Raiders.

NOTE: LOOT SECTION IN PROGRESS - Above the foyer on balcony, near center of long desk is a Stealth Boy. In the Pulowski Preservation Shelter outside 10mm Pistol and ammo, and Guns and Bullets.

Note: If you already travelled in Arlington and found catalog there, main and optional quest seems to be completed, but answers for questions of Moira will be different.

Moira will pay you bottlecaps for completing the quest, and will give you a skill book (Lying, Congressional Style) if the optional objective is completed.

Note: If heading out straight from Megaton, you will pass just west of Grayditch on the way to Arlington. If you have not already completed Those!, it is worth going a little bit out of the way to discover Grayditch for later fast travel.

After completing the quest and optional objective, you can get special conversation paths if your Endurance, Intelligence, or Agility is 7 or better, which will affect the Survival Expert perk you receive at the end of this quest. There are no conversation paths for high Strength, Perception, or Charisma.

Final Reward
The end reward for doing this quest is the Survival Expert perk, a Mini Nuke (as she comments how she planned to use it to dig a well), 100 XP, a small karma boost, and a copy of The Wasteland Survival Guide.

What the Survival Expert perk is giving you depends on your previous answers. See Survival Expert.

Note: After completing the last quest and talking to Moira she immediately gives you the printed book.

Alternative Solution
Instead of completing the chapters of the book you can persuade her into not writing the book at all, granted you have a high enough Speech skill.

As a reward, you will get the Dream Crusher perk, a variable amount of XP (depending on how many chapters have been completed - essentially the quest gives the same amount of reward XP whichever course the player chooses), lowered prices at the Craterside Supply, and the achievement for PC/Xbox 360 or the trophy for the PS3 system. Just remember that the solution not only nets you negative karma, but also precludes you from an arguably more useful perk. Also, you may notice that Moira will have a boost of repair skill to about 75% instead of about 25%. Moira becomes less happy in all further encounters with her.

Bugs
If you return to the Arlington library after completing that portion of the question, you can get another copy of the Card Catalog Holotape and the Media Catalog Holotape, but they just clutter up your inventory (PC)


 * (v1.4) After completing the Rivet City History Quest and its optional objective but before receiving the Survival Expert Perk, if the player asks Pinkerton for proof of Rivet City's history the second time, a glitch will cause Moira's conversation to revert back to the Rivet City History Quest. Since the player has already completed the quest, the only option to continue the Wasteland Survival Guide is to Lie. The player will still be able to receive the Survival Expert Perk (Rank: Survival Expert) upon completion of the quest. However, whether the player can receive the Survival Guru Rank is unclear.

If you find yourself stuck on this stage it is possible to complete the quest with console commands in any order. setstage 14e96 70 setstage 14e96 80 setstage 14e96 90

Note that this will only work if you are on the final chapter stages and is only an alternative way of bypassing the bugged dialogue. It is possible to use extra commands to receive Survival Guru before completing the quest, but the commands to simply add the perk are easier. example: player.addperk 331DD for Guru with +6% Damage and Rad and Poison Resistance

Another thing to note here is that this glitch is caused by a single quest variable being reset by Pinkerton's dialogue script (if anyone from Bethsoft reads this, please put a conditional check in his script). If you feel like being pedantic about keeping your save as unfudged as possible you can create a plugin using the G.E.C.K. which resets this value. It just takes 1 line of script: Set MS03.MS03c1 to 4

This should be added to Moira's on-end script for the dialogue option "I can't get a straight answer out of these folks." Then all you do is load the plugin and choose that dialogue option and it will unglitch your save - then you can re-save, disable the plugin again and continue playing as normal. (Ignore the warning about the save depending on a plugin, since it was such a minor change it doesn't matter, and the warning should go away next time you save). Also note that this plugin will almost certainly break the quest if you aren't already experiencing this bug, so be sure to disable it once you have unglitched your save so that you don't end up breaking your other saves.


 * Finishing the main quest while in the middle of the RobCo Facility subquest may make the RobCo Processor Widget to disappear from your inventory, making it impossible to complete (without lying to Moira). To get it back, write in the console: player.additem 0003D3B4 1

Trivia

 * The Wasteland Survival Guide was the name of the hint and walk through book for the game Wasteland (game), considered the inspiration for the first Fallout game.
 * This guide is also included as booklet with at least some of the retail versions of the game.