Big Town

Big Town is a medium sized settlement surrounded by a makeshift wall. The town consists of six survivors and four possible additional characters. The town has been ravaged from super mutant and slaver attacks. It is located north of Vault 101 and southeast of the Moonbeam Outdoor Cinema. It is also one of the starting points of the quest Big Trouble in Big Town.

Background
The population of Big Town is mostly comprised of teenagers that were former residents of Little Lamplight, being expelled upon their sixteenth birthday.

Big Town was glorified by those of high authority in Little Lamplight as a safe and comfortable area where "mungos" go to live. In reality, Big Town is constantly besieged by slavers and super mutants, while the demoralized residents can do little to repel the invasions. When the Lone Wanderer arrives in the settlement for the first time, they are informed that some residents were kidnapped by super mutants and taken to the old police station in Germantown, whom the Wanderer can rescue if they so choose. Upon arrival, every resident is seemingly depressed and ready for death. A prime example of this can be observed through dialogue with Bittercup.

Aftermath
After completing the quest "Big Trouble in Big Town" by showing the citizens how to defend themselves, mutant attacks will cease on Big Town and the area turns into a relatively safe place to visit. The quest can also be completed by simply fighting off the mutants and not teaching the citizens anything in the way of knowledge. The effects this may have on the citizens in the future are uncertain, however. The chosen method of handling the problem (or not) will also determine what happens in a certain random encounter with a wasteland merchant. If the player chooses to help Timebomb, the player will receive the Lucky 8-ball and free healing services from Red.

Layout
Big Town is a small town which apparently used to be a sprawl of suburban housing before the Great War. It has since been transformed into a makeshift fortress with walls made of cars, debris, and rubble. The dilapidated homes are fortified with barbed wire and sandbags. The town is only accessible by using a bridge crossing a makeshift moat (located at the north end), as the town is surrounded by barricades.

Buildings

 * Red's clinic
 * Common house
 * Clubhouse
 * Town hall

Inhabitants

 * ¹ After randomly encountering the scavenger who is heading for Big Town, he will remain there indefinitely.
 * ² After completing Happy Birthday to You
 * ³ Only if rescued during Big Trouble in Big Town

Notable loot

 * D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine: In Red's clinic, lying on her kitchen table.
 * Lucky 8-ball: Can be obtained from Timebomb, assuming the player meets the requirements.
 * An oversized green plate can be found next to the radio.

Related quests

 * Big Trouble in Big Town
 * Strictly Business
 * The Replicated Man
 * Happy Birthday to You

Appearances
Big Town appears only in Fallout 3.

Behind the scenes
"Big Town" is the name of a song by Roy Brown, whose songs Butcher Pete and Mighty, Mighty Man are included on the Fallout 3 soundtrack and are heard in-game on Galaxy News Radio.

Bugs

 * The nearby wheels provide a better moving platform as the carts can glitch through the protectron. In order to test one's positioning, one should enter two additional cells in order to trigger the glitch; such as entering red's clinic, then the basement of the clinic, then return to the outside. If done correctly, there should be a longer loading screen with a background image rather than a black screen, and the robot will have attempted to move.
 * The inhabitants may randomly become "hostile" acting as if they are going to shoot but just following the player with weapons drawn and cannot be interacted with. Leaving and waiting a few days seems to fix this.
 * Upon crossing the bridge the ground will become drinkable when crouched and looking straight down, with the associated health gain and radiation, however the reach of this extends only to the Big Town Town Hall. The ground will be drinkable indefinitely.
 * Shooting a resident with the Mesmetron and promptly dispatching them may cause them to be dead in a previous save (meaning that if you kill them and reload a save that was just before you killed them, they'll still be dead). This can be fixed by continually reloading the save until they're alive.