Fallout 3 Official Game Guide

The Fallout 3 Prima Official Game Guide is a publication by Prima Games. It contains strategies, maps, and walkthroughs that a player may find useful while playing Fallout 3, as well as some additional background information about the setting and characters not found in the game itself. The guide is localized and published in Europe and Australia by Future Press.

Two Fallout 3 add-on guides have also been released - one for Operation: Anchorage and The Pitt, and the second one for Broken Steel and Point Lookout.

In October 2009, a Game of the Year edition of the guide was published, which includes all the add-on guides and complements the Game of the Year edition of the game itself.

Authors
Its main author is David S.J. Hodgson, with additional writing done by several of the game's developers: Joel Burgess, Erik Caponi, Brian Chapin, John Paul Duvall, Kurt Kuhlmann, Alan Nanes, Bruce Nesmith, Emil Pagliarulo, Fred Zeleny and Nathan Purkeypile. It was edited by Jeff Gardiner and Pete Hines.

Mistakes in the original edition
There are some differences between what is described in the guide and the actual game, most likely stemming from the author of the guide playing an old build of the game, with changes being made after the guide was finished.
 * Many of the edibles have incorrect information, such as incorrect rad effects, and other things like ant nectar giving you +2 IN and +2 CH when in fact they deduct the amount.
 * It mistakenly claims raiders may or may not attack you based on your Karma level. This feature was cut from the game prior to release.
 * It states there are two makeshift gas masks that can be found in Vault 106 when in fact there are not, these were going to be placed in the Vault to null the hallucinations but were removed due to bugs.
 * It states there is a Freeform Quest called 'Looking Out for Lucas' saying when you get the Lawbringer perk new speech options become available with Lucas Simms, this is not true.
 * It states that when you recruit a second follower when you already have one (that isn't Dogmeat) it forces the first to leave, when in fact a message will pop up saying you already have a follower and cannot have anymore.
 * On page 6 of the Guide it states under the Perception section that you need a minimum of 6 Perception to acquire the perks Lawbringer and Contract Killer when you can get these perks with any Perception level.
 * Under the Perks section it states that when you acquire the Explorer perk it shows all the locations and you can fast travel to them, when in fact you cannot fast travel to them unless you have already discovered them.
 * Under the Unarmed section it lists Ninja as a perk requiring you to have a certain level of Unarmed to choose it when you level up, in fact you don't need any level of Unarmed, only a Melee Weapons level of 80.
 * In the Perks section it falsely states in both Lawbringer and Contract Killer that you receive only 5 Caps for turning in both Ear and Finger when the actual amount is 10 Caps for Ears (15 with Very Bad karma) and 5 Caps for Fingers (10 with Very Good karma).
 * Under the Lawbringer section, it states that super mutants will drop fingers when killed. This was scrapped from the game entirely.
 * It says under the Barkskin perk it gives the benefits of +10 Damage Resistance and +1 Endurance, when in-game you only receive +5 Damage Resistance.
 * Throughout the Guide it holds the assumption that you need a repair skill to make weapons at a Work Bench and that you can also repair armor (untrue) at a Work Bench, though having a certain number of Schematics creates the weapon in a determined condition depending on your repair skill you do not have to have a certain level of repair to make a weapon as it is said in the Guide.
 * It states that at Moriarty's Saloon there is an Andale Basement Key and an Andale Shed Key in his cooler, there are no such keys in the cooler.
 * Under the Schematics section of the guide it says when you make a Custom Weapon with just one Schematic the condition of the weapon will be half your repair skill when in fact it will be 75% of your repair skill.
 * Journal of Carrie Delaney is not mentioned.
 * It mentions that with an "impressive Science skill" you can "boost" the GNR signal when you replace the dish on top of the Washington Monument. Actually there is no "boost the signal" option in the game, no matter how high your Science is.
 * The guide incorrectly states in its discussion of Rock-It Launcher ammunition that Small Office Fans can be found as collectible items in some containers. Like roller skates, Small Office Fans appear in many (mainly office) settings but cannot be picked up or interacted with.
 * It states that you only have to give Murphy at Northwest Seneca Station 5 boxes of Sugar Bombs to make ultrajet when in-game you have to give him 8 boxes.
 * The book claims that the Demolition Expert perk will increase the damage of missile launchers, when the perk has no effect on Big Guns.
 * The Antique Lincoln Coin Collection's location is listed incorrectly. It's on the east side of the Museum of History, but is listed as the west.
 * On page 165, under the Those! section, there is a list of people you can send Bryan Wilks to live with, along with pictures. The first option (sending Bryan to live at Rivet City) has a picture of Tammy Hargrave instead of Vera Weatherly.
 * On page 37, under the Health and chems heading, it implies that you can obtain Strange meat from dead human corpses. This is not true.
 * On page 34, under the Small Guns heading, it refers to the Scoped .44 magnum as simply ".44 Magnum", when it is not possible to obtain a non-scoped .44 Magnum in the original game without console commands or add-on DLC.
 * On page 67, it claims that positive Karma will be awarded if Gob is spoken to politely during Following in His Footsteps. No Karma is awarded or lost no matter which way the player talks to him.

Mistakes in the add-on editions

 * In the Broken Steel/Point Lookout guide's picture for the tri-beam laser rifle has a standard laser rifle and labels it laser rifle: tri-beam laser rifle as if it were a unique version of the laser rifle.
 * In the Broken Steel/Point Lookout guide on how to get the fertilizer shovel from Croatoa, it fails to mention that you can use the Child at Heart Perk to automatically claim it from him.

Mistakes in the GotY edition
Errors, omissions, or inaccuracies either newly introduced or unchanged from previous editions of the guide.
 * [p.8] The "Action Points" section incorrectly states that "Attack with any kind of weapon except a Rifle or a Big Gun and it takes 10 AP. &hellip; Firing a Rifle takes 25 AP. Firing a Big Gun with a projectile takes 75 AP."  AP costs listed under for individual weapon are correct.
 * [p.8] The "Carry Weight" section incorrectly indicates that the various temporary and permanent modifiers to Carry Weight have an effect of 20 pounds per point of Strength; the correct value is 10 pounds (as the guide's tables correctly show).
 * [p.9] Under "Melee and Unarmed Damage", it is stated that Unarmed Damage is calculated as 25% of your Unarmed skill; it is actually Unarmed/20+0.5.
 * [p.22] Under the "Power Armor Training" perk, a non-existent armor called "Brotherhood Recon Armor" is listed as being affected by the perk.
 * [p.24] The "Pitt Fighter" perk description states that it increases DR and Rad Resistance by a whopping 25, rather than the correct 3.
 * [p.24] The "Xenotech Expert" perk description states that it affects MPLX Novasurge and the regular plasma pistol, and doesn't affect the shock baton. This is not true.
 * [p.29] Under the heading "Ramifications of Having Evil Karma", it states that Pronto sells a set of dart gun schematics, that are only available to Evil characters. Pronto sells no schematics.
 * [p.29] It is implied by the omission of "Raiders will always attack you" (present for both Neutral and Good Karma) that Evil characters have a chance of not being attacked by raiders. This is not the case.
 * [p.32] Under the "Grenades or Mines" heading, it states that placing grenades around a mine will cause the grenades to detonate when the mine does. There is no way to "place" grenades, and the world models of grenades do not explode.
 * [p.44] It is implied that Enclave Squad Sigma troopers would appear all over the Wasteland, as opposed to just at the Mobile Base Crawler.
 * [p.75] The picture of Grudd Bear is, in fact, that of John.
 * [p.86] Moira Brown's ghoul face is not pictured, whereas Brother Gerard's and Mother Curie III's are.
 * [p.108] The guide does not note that Colonel Autumn's laser pistol is no longer a fully-automatic weapon post-Broken Steel.
 * [p.109] The tri-beam laser rifle's description as "unique" and its lack of proper picture are still present.
 * [p.121] Under the Callahan's magnum section, it states that the weapon does damage over time.
 * [p.1213] The Perforator is listed as being repairable only with Infiltrators. In the game, you can repair the Perforator with regular assault rifles, and you cannot use an Infiltrator to repair any kind of assault rifle.
 * [p.124] The Lever-Action rifle and the Backwater rifle use the image of Lincoln's repeater, rather than their own image. It also states that the backwater rifle can be repaired with either Lever-Action or hunting rifles. The backwater rifle can only be repaired with the Lever-Action type of rifles.
 * [pp.127-8] The entries for all of the various Vault jumpsuits (including the unique Vault 77 jumpsuit) indicate that they boost Melee Weapons and Small Guns by 2. In reality, they boost Melee Weapons and Speech by 2; the 77 suit increases Melee Weapons and Unarmed by 5.
 * [p.131] The winterized medic armor is listed under power armor types, and is described as needing Power Armor Training to be worn. Winterized medic armor is a form of Combat Armor, not Power Armor.
 * [p.135] A non-existent bonus of 5 to Small Guns is listed under the Enclave officer uniform.
 * [p.135] The Small Guns bonus from Eulogy Jones' suit is not mentioned.
 * [p.140] The bonuses from Tenpenny's Suit are not listed.
 * [p.142] The winterized medic helmet displays the image of the winterized T-51b power helmet. Although listed under Power Armor, it does not require Power Armor Training to be worn: as the guide correctly points out "This is a Combat Helmet variant."
 * [p.146] The Takoma Park Little Leaguer Cap's bonuses include a +5 bonus to Melee damage in the guide. In the game, this bonus is only applied to baseball bats.
 * [p.148] The guide says that there are only 3 wigs (one on Griffon, one on a ghoul guard and one in the wig cabinet). There are actually 6 wigs in the cabinet, bringing the total to 8.
 * [p.288-9] An item called "Father's Books" is mentioned as the reward for Trouble on the Homefront. This item does not exist.
 * [p.306 0.21] The unique combat knife Stabhappy, is listed as potentially dropping during any random encounters involving raiders. In actuality it is only found on a specific raider in the unmarked location known as the Raid Shack (as correctly noted on p.114), where the raider and Stabhappy re-spawn an unlimited number of times.
 * [p.344 4.Q] A non-existent "second" alien blaster found at Fort Bannister Ground Zero is still included in the guide.
 * [p.426 13.03] A mini nuke is listed as being present in Takoma Motor, but might not be found in the game. Since the table on p.734 describes the location of #56 as "on the body of the fallen Behemoth", presumably this arises from a misunderstanding that Behemoth loot may randomly spawn a mini-nuke.
 * [p.477] The Operation: Anchorage strike team apparently had a limit on how many reinforcement units could be sent: 10 Strike Team Infantrymen, 5 Strike Team Grenadiers, 2 Strike Team Missile Units, 2 Strike Team Snipers, 2 Mister Gutsies, and 1 sentry bot.
 * [p.497, p.524] In The Pitt, the concealed knife obtained at the start of Into the Pitt is a switchblade, not a combat knife.
 * [p.682 PL5.24D] The key to Homestead Motel room 1G is also to be found in plain sight in the motel office.
 * [pp.733-4 Appendix 4] The guide fails to list all of the guaranteed mini nuke locations.

Mistakes fixed in the GotY edition

 * Barkskin's description now reads "+5 DR" as opposed to "+10 DR, +1 EN".
 * All food and drug effects are corrected.
 * The incorrect PE requirement for Lawbringer and Contract Killer is removed.

Website

 * Prima Games Official Site
 * Fallout 3 Prima Official Guide
 * Fallout 3 Collector's Edition Prima Official Guide