Frag Mine (Fallout 3)

The frag mine is a placed weapon in Fallout 3.

Gameplay
The frag mine looks like a tan shaped disk with a black gear and red button on top. The tan paint is most likely used to camouflage the mine out in the desert covered Capital Wasteland. The frag mine will begin beeping when a target comes within a short distance to it until it is disarmed or it detonates. The time until detonation depends on the Explosives skill of the person setting it off.

Frag mines can be disarmed with an Explosives skill of 1, meaning anyone, regardless of their statistics, will be capable of doing so. If the Lone Wanderer has the Light Step perk, the mine will not be triggered at all.

To use a frag mine, it must first be equipped like any other weapon. Firing with it arms and drops the mine a short distance ahead of the miner. The mine will be triggered when any non-follower non-player character comes within a certain distance. Neither the miner nor their companions will trigger it.

To collect a hostile land mine, or one of one's own, they have to approach it then "activate" it to disarm it. Once disarmed, it can then be collected. In the case of hostile mines, the mine's proximity fuse will trigger as a target approaches, and the Explosives skill will determine the length of the fuse. A low Explosives skill will make this difficult. There appears to be a quirk in the programming so that the mine will detonate based on how close the target is to its center regardless of the Z axis (i.e. up and down) while the distance they have to be to interact with it does take the Z axis into account. This means that going downhill or down a set of stairs the landmine will often explode before being able to go close enough and disarm it. The best bet is to crouch and, if possible, approach from the downhill side so as to end up closer to the mine's level on the Z axis. Aiming at the mine, gliding towards it and activating it as quickly as can be done. By walking instead of running also decreases likelihood to overshoot the mine and fail in disarming it.

Frag mines have a relatively small blast radius and will do damage (from a maximum at point blank range of about 65 at skill level 25 up to 100 at a skill of 100) to any friendly or enemy target (including the miner themselves) within that radius. The further away from the center of the blast, the less damage that is done. Mines can also detonate each other if they are set close enough together. This can work in favor when someone tries to take down a particularly tough opponent by hitting it with several blasts at once. However, carelessness in deploying the mines may set the first ones off before the intended victim is within range of them all (i.e. if getting lazy or rushed and just drop a straight string of them while backing away from an oncoming opponent). Disarmed mines will still be detonated by nearby explosions. Laying a mine, disarm it, and laying another, an entire hallway can be detonated once with enough mines and time. This is a great way to take out a group of enemies at once, as they often travel in a line.

It is important to consider that some creatures who fly/hover like the Mister Handy and Mister Gutsy robots will not detonate land mines themselves, (technically, they are not stepping on them) but will be damaged by the blast from one. If possible, they should be lured over the landmines before shooting them to detonate them (this can be a little tricky at first) or simply use a grenade in V.A.T.S. to attack the victim and detonate the landmines at the same time.

Like hand grenades, mines can be "reverse pickpocketed" onto a victim, causing them to arm and detonate on their own (this is handy since enemies are more likely to carry grenades than mines—and the trick cannot be performed with an explosive they already possess). One has to be able to sneak close enough behind the victim to "activate" them, then simply move a bomb from one's own inventory to theirs. Unless the opponent is particularly tough this is usually a guaranteed kill. Note that "vital" non-player characters cannot be killed in this manner. The explosive will simply not activate when placed in their inventory.

Variants

 * Sim version - A version used exclusively in the Anchorage Reclamation simulation, it differs from the standard Fallout 3 variant only in that it cannot be dropped, although it still can be transferred between containers or given to companions.

Locations

 * There are a total of 59 frag mines found scattered around Minefield for the quest Wasteland Survival Guide.
 * 7 are found in Seward Square, in the play yard near The Preacher.
 * 4 under a light set, halfway through the west tunnel in the Tepid sewers.
 * 4 on shelves the National Guard depot armory.
 * 3 can be found in a cupboard at the Meresti raider's dock.
 * 13 can be found on a bridge just west of the Anchorage Memorial fast travel point.

Boxes with frag mines
One frag mine guaranteed, 75% chance of 2 to 6 mines.
 * Three in the Marigold station.
 * Two in Fort Bannister, on a defense position behind sandbags.
 * Two in a blue truck east of the Bethesda ruins.
 * Two in a bookcase to the left when entering the Evergreen Mills foundry.
 * Two on a shelf in the Dunwich Building ground floor, maintenance room near the stairs.

Locked boxes with frag mines
Two frag mines guaranteed, 75% chance of 3 to 12 mines.
 * One in the Scavenger shack.
 * One a shelf in the flooded metro raider camp.
 * Two in the National Archives.
 * One in the Franklin Metro utility, with the Tumblers Today on top of it.
 * One in the Statesman Hotel Mid Level.
 * One in the L.O.B. Enterprises Archives.

Bugs

 * If the player character equips frag mines, drops about 10 of them, and picks them back up, their inventory will show two sets of frag mines, both equipped. If one then take out a melee weapon, it will show up as a frag mine, and the player character can hit enemies with it. This is a very humorous glitch, as using a Shishkebab will look as if one is lighting them on fire with a frag mine.
 * Sometimes, the frag mines on The Pitt bridge don't work. They simply don't go off when the player character walks near them. This is good for XP as one can gain XP by disarming mines without worry of setting them off.
 * If one equips frag mines, then drop about ten without leaving the Pip-Boy, when they exit they will not be holding anything, just an invisible frag mine.