Trouble on the Homefront

 is a Fallout 3 quest. It is also an Xbox 360 and PC achievement and a Playstation 3 trophy.

Objectives and walkthrough
This quest will be activated anytime after completing The Waters of Life quest (which is part of the main storyline) by picking up the Vault 101 Distress Signal on your radio. To pick up the Vault 101 Distress Signal simply wander near Vault 101 (Megaton is close enough). It is a message from Amata asking you to return to Vault 101 to help stop her father, the Overseer. If you killed the original Overseer while escaping from Vault 101, Allen Mack will be the new Overseer and you can still do this quest.

Since you and your father escaped from Vault 101, the Vault has been fractured into two major factions. The faction led by Amata, holed up in your father's Clinic, wants to open the Vault and interact with the outside world. The other faction is led by the Overseer and he wants to keep the vault closed permanently, in accordance with its mission. A few of Amata's rebels, notably Butch, want to abandon the vault entirely and live on the surface; the majority, however, intend to remain living in the vault but want to be able to make excursions into the wasteland when necessary.

One of the most essential reasons for having access to the wasteland and the remainder of humanity, apart from the obvious need for supplies and parts for the vault's aging life support apparatus, is to avoid collapse due to genetic stagnation and inbreeding - the number of vault 101 residents has fallen significantly in the two centuries since it was sealed, implied heavily by various conversations and other means (such as a message encouraging procreation on the text messagers) prior to the lone wanderer's initial escape, and if he successfully persuades the overseer to allow exterior access then the overseer himself will finally accept and openly admit that without external input, the vault's population will not remain genetically viable for more than a generation or so.

Solutions
You have a few options to finish this quest:

 Kill the Overseer. Try sneaking up behind him and shoot him in the head with the railway rifle. His head will stick to the window.


 * Note: Interestingly enough, if you kill the Overseer but don't gloat, Amata's speech to the PC regarding the "tough decision" of asking them to leave the vault is strikingly similar to the speech given to the Vault Dweller at the end of Fallout. See quote below.



Kill Amata if she becomes hostile.

Kill all of the rebels. (not viable if Amata's father is Overseer)

Leave without doing anything (this decision, if you make it, is permanent).

Persuade the Overseer to open the vault with your Speech skill (Only available when the overseer is still Amatas father).(Note: Shooting the Overseer without killing him will automatically make him hostile when you return.)

Persuade Amata to stay in the vault with your Speech skill.

Go to the jail and use the computer there to find out about Security's plans to raid and kill the rebels. The computer is locked; you can hack it with sufficient science skill, or you might be able to find the password simply by searching the lockers in the room, or else you can find it on the hostile Officer Wilkins. Then, talk to the Overseer and tell him about Security's plans. This will have the same effect as if you persuaded him with your speech skill. This only works on Amata's Father, not if Mack is the overseer.

Hack the computer in the sub-basement (75% Science) or steal the Pass Card from Stanley, the maintenance man, who can be found wandering around the cafeteria/dorm level. Go into manual override mode and perform a flush and a purge. This will flush the water chip. Lie to Amata that it was the Overseer's plan. Everyone is forced to evacuate the vault and you will see them spread out in the Wasteland (you lose Karma for this). If you complete part of the quest (kill Amata/Overseer or peace either way) you can still flush the water chip. It will work if Amata's dad is not the Overseer.</li>

Hack the Overseer's computer and discover the attempts by the Enclave to gain entry into Vault 101, and the Overseer's refusal to admit them. Speak to Amata and tell her this and it will convince her to stay in the vault.</li>

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Bugs

 * It has been reported that Butch could appear in the Muddy Rudder in Rivet City even if this quest is resolved in such a way that would preclude his appearance in Rivet City. (This includes convincing the rebels to stay, or even killing the rebels)
 * On the PS3 version many people have experienced the game completely shutdown whilst exploring the vault and exited to the menu. It's a constant bug during that whole section of the world map.
 * On the 360 and PS3 version I have encountered a different bug, I was fooling around and kept going back to a previous save game, when I went to go again I was unable to pickup the frequency, disabling me from getting the password for the vault door which is Amata. This is before patching to 1.10.
 * When you get done talking to Amata she followed me outside the vault. When the door closed she ran against it trying to get in.
 * I spoke with the overseer and convinced him to step down and make Amata the new overseer. He ran down the hall to talk to her, I followed him.  Right after he went through the door, he stopped at the head of the stairs and started speaking to Amata, even though he was nowhere near the clinic yet.  He stood there and recited his entire speech.  I then went to the clinic and spoke to Amata.  After she told me I had to leave the Vault, the overseer ran into the clinic and repeated his speech to her.
 * When officer Gomez tells you to wait where you are, run forward and go to Freddie, behind him there's a door he runs into, but if you follow him it gets blocked up, so run in there before he does. He will get shot at and run into the door where you are, but the then will suddenly disappear. Leave the door and enter again to see that it's been blocked up with lockers and tables
 * I found another bug. When you go see Butch at the Muddy Rudder, if he's behind the locked door in the far corner you can't talk to him. I tried going by going to my last save but it didn't work.
 * If you killed Amata's father and Mack is the Overseer, it is still possible that you may hear her tell Mr. Brotch "My father would never allow it" as he is talking to her in the Clinic.
 * If you convince Amata to stay, get your reward from the overseer, then kill the overseer, it will say caution as if someone seen you. When you leave the vault, it will still say caution and stay like that.
 * You can get stuck in between the power coils in the sub-level of the Vault.
 * In my playthrough I had Dogmeat and Charon stay in my megaton house, I told them to wait there, I did the Trouble on the Homefront quest and when I went back to my house they were both gone, but a few days later it said Dogmeat iswaiting for you outside of Vault 101, and a few days after that it said Charon has returned to the ninth circle
 * If you do not kill Officer Wilkins after he becomes hostile, he will try to find you throughout the Vault. If any Vault citizens see him as a hostile against you, they will also join in the fight to kill you. I discovered this glitch after I let him be. I chose to warn Amata about the Enclave, and she accepted it. I was on my way out when Officer Wilkins started shooting me. Then Butch, and a few other people joined in to kill me.
 * In my game (only in vault 101) during the quest when people were talked to the majority of their dialogue was skipped over as if someone was skipping the dialogue manually, it happened for all residents of vault 101 and upon exiting vault 101 dialouge to characters occurred normally.
 * If you enter the operation anchorage simulation when the signal was available but not activated the quest, the signal will disappear upon exiting the simulation preventing you from ever starting the quest. There was an unusual fix to this however, when exiting The Pitt, the signal becomes available after returning to the capital wasteland.
 * If you convince Amata's father to step down as Overseer while she is asleep, he will run to the rebel base and begin his resignation speech over her sleeping body. She will shout out her lines normally, although will remain unconscious the entire time.  After the Overseer finishes, he will leave, as normal.  Amata will not wake up at this point, unless either her scheduled wake-up time is reached, or if you speak to her.
 * When i picked up the distress signal and turned it on there was no sound. I couldn't open the door because i didn't get the password.
 * If you went to Republic of Dave, the son of Dave, Ralph, will appear in the Vault. He'll be fleeing the time he's there. This is unknown if it's on the PS3, Xbox 360, or PC.