Pulowski Preservation shelter



Pulowski Preservation Shelters, also called "portashelters", are coin-operated, one-person fallout shelters found on street corners throughout the more urban areas of the Capital Wasteland. People would ostensibly use them as a last-minute resort in the event of a nuclear attack; however, they have no food or water supplies and may not even have had recyclable air (the fact they have an external vent and tube likely didn't even shield people from radiation), so the customer would have to bring with them anything they thought they would need for survival (and due to the last-minute nature of the booth, most people did not bring very much with them to begin with). The instructions on the inside tell the occupant to "Wait for the radiation levels to drop. Enjoy your stay." before leaving.

The booths were obviously better at placating fears (when first funded) than ensuring survival - almost every one found within the game contains a charred skeleton and a few items that the person brought in with them. The fact that the shelters are coin operated suggest that they where an attempt to cash in on the anxiety within the American psyche during the time peroid, their ineffectiveness with dealing with what they're designed for also supports this. Several contain skeletons and a weapon such as a 10mm pistol or a .32 Pistol as well as ammo for the gun and a blood splatter inside of the Shelter, indicating that many people couldn't deal with the isolation of the shelter and killed themselves. That being said, the shelter does protect one from the initial blast so if one took a radiation suit with them (unlikely but possible) they could survive an attack and travel far enough to be safe from the initial fallout. One even contains a Protectron robot that decided to claim it for itself, but even its fission batteries ran out before the landscape was relatively safe, over one century later.

Though they're terrible for protecting people from nuclear attack, the preservation shelters are at least useful for hiding from enemies; at least one NPC (Bryan Wilks in "Those!") is well-protected by a Pulowski Shelter, and the player may also use them to hide, at least temporarily. The shelters are also used for post-apocalyptic prisons; in Paradise Falls a Pulowski Shelter is used as a small one-man prison for misbehaving slaves, nicknamed "The Box." It has also been modified to use keys, as you find it locked (containing the slave Rory Maclaren.)

The Preservation Shelters can protect whoever is inside from small arms' fire, however explosions (and even radiation) can still cause damage, which is ironic for a shelter meant to shield the occupant from a nuclear weapon. One tactic is to hide in a shelter while being chased by a super mutant. If you're lucky, he'll join you in there, where he's actually going to be too big to hit you or shoot you, as the contact point produced by his attack lies behind you. Proceed to melee him to a slow, painful death. Repeat to create a shelter filled with super mutants, a Fallout 3 version of the old "how many people can fit in a telephone booth" gag.

Another use of the shelter is to actually attract ennemies near it (as seen on the image) and fire a Mini Nuke straight in the air. If you're quick enough, you'll be able to close the shelter before it lands. The shelter will protect you from the explosion, while everything around will be killed (or damaged) by the explosion. Making the Mini Nuke land behind or on top of the shelter will also protect you, but without having to close it.

Shelter locations and contents
There are a total of 20 Pulowski Preservation Shelters located throughout the Capital Wasteland, including "The Box" at Paradise Falls.


 * Arlington Cemetery South: Contains a mannequin, two Shot Glasses, Sexy Sleepwear, and Wine.
 * Arlington Library: Contains a skeleton with 10mm Pistol, two clips 10mm Rounds, and Guns and Bullets.
 * Chevy Chase: Contains one skeleton.
 * Chevy Chase Metro: One Frag Mine in front of hatch, contains three Purified Water, Lead Pipe and a Teddy Bear.
 * Dupont Circle: Contains two skeletons, Stimpack, Vault-Tec Lunchbox, and .32 Pistol. It is possible that a parent and their child were in this shelter.
 * Falls Church: Contains ammo box of .32 Caliber Rounds, ammo box of 5mm Rounds, and two Dirty Waters.
 * Flooded Metro: Contains one skeleton, Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual, a Pulse Grenade and two Stimpacks. A Chinese Remnant possibly occupied this shelter.
 * Georgetown car park: empty
 * Georgetown West: Contains five Beers, three Cherry Bombs, Fancy Lads Snack Cakes, Nuka-Cola Quantum, Railway Spikes, and Sugar Bombs.
 * Grayditch: Contains Bryan Wilks during Those! quest.
 * Hubris Comics HQ: Contains Conductor, Dean's Electronics, Hammer, Motorcycle Gas Tank, two Wrenches. A mechanic possibly occupied this shelter.
 * L'Enfant West: Contains a skeleton, Big Book of Science, Wine, and a pair of Eyeglasses.
 * Paradise Falls: Converted into "The Box" for confinement, contains Rory Maclaren.
 * Pennsylvania Avenue, east of Metro: Contains a deactivated Protectron and ammo box of Small Energy Cell.
 * South of Rivet City: empty
 * Takoma Park: Contains a recently dead Wastelander with random chems and Bobby Pins, ammo box with random ammo.
 * The Capitol Building, outside the east exit: Contains a briefcase, Lying, Congressional Style, and four Pre-War Money. Due to its location and what is inside, it is obvious that a Senator or Representative occupied this one.
 * Vernon Square: Contains a skeleton, Radiation Suit, and Rad-X. A scientist possibly occupied this, or a well-supplied citizen.
 * One unreachable shelter glimpsed from the intro movie (the set for which is actually built in-game) but is empty.

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