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 .

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 map. 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.

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.

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, Agility or Perception.

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 mine's 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.

Alternative: You can find Frag Mine elsewhere and lie to Moira about visiting Minefield location to complete the quest. This will not give you optional quest credit.

Note: Instead of using the main road you can travel around to the right of the main road and travel to the playground through the backyards of houses. This path is laden with fewer mines.

Note: A Sniper, Arkansas will shoot at the two cars along the road. When you see one catch fire, run back down and wait for the explosion. Upon reaching the playground, the sniper will be there and will be taking shots at you. You can kill him, but it is recommended to wait until later, as he is a character you get a contract to enslave.

If you complete the optional objective: 4 Frag Grenade and Bottlecap Mine schematic.

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 3 Stimpacks and 100 experience points for finishing the first chapter of.

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. The player can search deeper in the sewers. Push on to discover a ceiling-mounted turret (which can be disabled by computer with a successful 50 Science check), an assorted collection of Raiders, frag mines and the additional Mole Rats. If the player chooses to fully explore the maze, Georgetown West can be discovered in the company of a few Super Mutants. To accomplish the Optional Objective while in the Tepid Sewers, it is recommended to disable the turret and kill the raiders as soon as possible so that the player can attack the Mole Rats before they are killed.

The reward for this quest is 4 doses each of Jet and Psycho. If the optional objective is not completed, Moira will take the Repellant Stick away from you at the end of the quest, but it can be bought back through her store.

Tip: Just hold onto the Molerat Meat if you want to see how close you are to ten. Alternatively, your Pipboy will tell if you've gotten 10 ("Return to Moira"), if you missed the Quest completion notice in the heat of combat.

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 spawning pod located in the Anchorage Memorial.

Optional Objective: Complete the Main Objective without killing a Mirelurk.

Some easy solutions to complete optional objective include:
 * Go inside through service entrance that is located in the southeastern wall near water. The door requires a lockpick skill of 25. There are several 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.
 * 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 give you four as a reward for completing the optional objective. Another alternative is the Dart Gun.
 * You can also go into Anchorage Memorial if you find it before taking on this quest and kill all the Mirelurk before starting it. Then, when you do the quest, you will complete the optional objective. Just make sure you clear out all the Mirelurk before you talk to Moira about starting this quest. This area is beautiful for using up all those landmines you've been accumulating, and you'll need them with how armored the mirelurks are.
 * 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.

--- There is another entrance located underwater, offices, go through here and plant the device in there nearest set of eggs and it will work for the objective also you don't encounter any mirelurks! ---

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 5 Stealth Boys and a Shady Hat. If you choose the Charisma speech option after not killing any Mirelurks you will receive 6 Stealth Boys.

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.

You can also stand facing a corner of your house in Megaton, or in town, and toss frag grenades at yourself.

This is also easy to do by walking outside of Moira's Supply shop, drop a mine and, while standing in its proximity, shoot it with your pistol. This should be enough to both cripple and put you below the 50%. (this may be version specific, but on a PC cripling the Dweller with his own frags did not get credit for the optional - wheras the frag mines in the minefield worked great)

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's 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 tell" Moira about injuries, and you receive credit for the quest (but not the bonus objective).

The reward for the quest is 4 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 your feeling? .... And remember this is for posterity." is a reference to the torture scene in the movie "The Princess Bride".

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".

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 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 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 see 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 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. You save a trip and get 5 Pulse Grenades and a Big Book of Science.

Moira will reward you with 3 Pulse Grenades and a Big Book of Science if you complete the quest, and two more Pulse Grenades (for a total of five) 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.

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. A scribe 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. If you want to earn some easy caps, make sure to grab the quest from the scribe 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.

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.

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), and a copy of The Wasteland Survival Guide.

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

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, XP, lowered prices at the Craterside Supply, and the Xbox 360 and PC achievement. Just remember that the solution not only nets you negative karma, but also precludes you from an arguably more useful perk.