Liberty Prime

Liberty Prime (later Liberty Prime Mark II if rebuilt) is a unique U.S. Army robot found at the Citadel. It stands 40ft tall and is extremely heavily armed, making it a major combat asset.

Liberty Prime was found and brought to working order by the Brotherhood of Steel. Its total restoration was due to the assistance of Dr. Madison Li, who solved Prime's power issues in the year 2277. After its destruction at the Satellite relay station in the same year it remained in disrepair until 2287, where it is then in the process of being restored to assist the Brotherhood division in Boston.

Background
Liberty Prime is a formidable combat robot that is being tinkered with in the Brotherhood of Steel's laboratory. Its original intent was to liberate Anchorage, Alaska, from the Red Chinese during the Sino-American War of 2072. It is programmed to deliver a mixture of patriotic propaganda messages and incredible firepower to ensure victory. However, its combat subroutines weren't online during the war, but it could still have been deployed, though all it would be able to do is step on the Chinese troops.

The Citadel laboratory computer terminal located directly in front of Liberty Prime reveals that the project was commissioned by General Constantine Chase as a joint effort between the U.S. Army, General Atomics International and RobCo Industries. However, problems with the power system caused major delays. These delays consumed so much time that Anchorage was ultimately liberated in a much longer and more costly battle using the United States Army's other secret weapon: the T-51b power armor.

Roughly two centuries later, Liberty Prime was finally salvaged and brought into service by the Brotherhood of Steel after they discovered it in the basement of the destroyed Pentagon. The Brotherhood was able to modify Prime's targeting system to perceive Enclave forces and super mutants to be Chinese communists.

Liberty Prime required a tremendous amount of energy to operate. The Brotherhood of Steel was unable to provide the necessary amount of power, even with the advanced technology salvaged from inside the Pentagon. Eventually, with the aid of Dr. Li, the Brotherhood of Steel solved the problem.

Liberty Prime was the Brotherhood's trump card against the Enclave, and was revealed when it marched on Project Purity where it was used to effortlessly destroy the Enclave defenders entrenched there. For two weeks afterward, Liberty Prime helped the Brotherhood prevail in the war against the Enclave, but was eventually destroyed by an orbital warhead bombardment at the Enclave-held satellite relay station. Liberty Prime's remains were recovered by the Brotherhood of Steel and, though it would take months or years to do so, the Brotherhood set about rebuilding and upgrading it. Meanwhile, Rothchild immediately began work on rebuilding Prime, hoping to restore him to working condition. Ten years later, in 2287 the project was still far from being completed, as the Brotherhood lacked crucial components necessary for him to operate. When Elder Arthur Maxson realized that the Institute can be tracked down and confronted in the Commonwealth, Prime's components were loaded onto the Prydwen and brought along for the campaign. A special gantry was constructed in the ruins of the Boston Airport, to assemble the war machine under Proctor Ingram's orders - as long as the Brotherhood would be able to find the missing parts.

Gameplay attributes
Liberty Prime fires dual, head-mounted energy beams, which are similar to shots fired from a Tesla cannon. The beams can kill multiple Enclave soldiers with a single shot. Its backpack holds a seemingly inexhaustible supply of explosives that it hurls at enemies with unerring accuracy. These munitions detonate on contact, in a manner very similar to a mini nuke, but with many times the explosive power. Liberty Prime's massive size and strength count as weapons too, as it can crush or rip to shreds anything in its path, if it doesn't blast them to bits first. It can sustain large amounts of damage, and defeat energy barriers by walking into them, although it will sometimes grab them and rip them down. Finally, to inspire its allies and demoralize foes, it constantly spouts anti-communist phrases as well as declaring that "American democracy cannot be defeated". Like most of the robots in the game it seems unaware that any time has passed between 2077 and the present or, more accurately, that any cataclysmic or world-changing events have transpired.

When Liberty Prime is brought back online at the Boston Airport in 2287 after his destruction in the line of duty, the Brotherhood of Steel has already implemented several upgrades to his systems, such as improved electromagnetic motivators for his limbs. They have therefore designated him as 'Mk. II', a designation he has willingly accepted into his programming. Other changes include his eye laser - which now fires a single massive red beam instead of a salvo of blue beams - as well as a lifetime supply of more modern Mark 28 nuclear bombs for Prime to hurl at his enemies after completing the quest Liberty Reprimed. The latter he now does with markedly increased frequency to the point where Prime almost completely foregoes the use of his eye laser in favor of his nukes, which he tosses at pretty much anything he considers a target, even if it is just a lonely raider toting a base Pipe pistol. Liberty Prime MK II also demonstrates a significantly greater understanding of battlefield tactics than his predecessor; switching from a land-based route to an amphibious assault during his attack on the Institute whereas before he only demonstrated the capacity to overcome straightforward obstacles such as energy barriers. Prime was also able to correctly deduce that the Institute was a subterranean complex and utilized his laser weapon to bore a tunnel directly into the Institute. However, it is unknown whether Prime was always capable of performing such complex maneuvers or if they were installed by the Brotherhood as part of his MK II refit. Together, these changes easily make Liberty Prime the most powerful NPC in Fallout 4 as he is capable of killing almost any enemy at any level with only one or two attacks. Since he is entirely immune to his own weaponry, and well aware of the fact, he has no qualms about using his nukes at point-blank range, should he find himself faced with enemies milling around his feet. In such a case he displays complete disregard for any collateral damage to his allies, who are therefore advised to maintain a healthy distance from the massive robot at all times. Other than that, not much has changed in Prime's overall behavior - he still believes he is fighting for the liberation of Anchorage from Chinese forces and continues to broadcast anti-communist propaganda slogans in the most thunderous way possible while he carves an irradiated swath through the incinerated remains of his enemies.

Fallout 3

 * Take it Back!: The Brotherhood of Steel, with the help of Dr. Li, manages to fix the power issues with the robot. With the pressing need to reclaim Project Purity, Elder Lyons orders Prime deployed without proper testing. Liberty Prime makes its way to the Jefferson Memorial, while destroying Enclave energy barriers, vertibirds and troops. Once there, Liberty Prime assists the Brotherhood in guarding the Memorial's entrance, after taking down the force field surrounding it. The giant robot will then remain there for the duration of the quest.
 * Death From Above: Liberty Prime joins the Lone Wanderer in the assault on the Satellite Relay Station, an Enclave base located beyond the Rockland Car Tunnel. After the Enclave hits Prime with an orbital strike, Prime crawls from the wreckage and initiates its self-destruct sequence to prevent being captured by the "communists". Its head, feet and what appears to be a forearm are taken back to the Citadel. Similar to Deputy Weld, its head can be activated, which will cause it to play back some of its anti-communist phrases, although they sound much more garbled than they are during Take it Back!.
 * Getting Ready for Prime Time: At the conclusion of Broken Steel's main quest line, Scribe Rothchild vows the Brotherhood of Steel will rebuild Prime, although it may take months, or even years. He then asks for the player character's help in scavenging sensor modules and cameras to assist in the rebuilding process.

Fallout 4

 * Liberty Reprimed: Upon returning to Proctor Ingram after Outside the Wire, it is revealed that the Brotherhood of Steel is reconstructing Liberty Prime, who was destroyed in the war against the Enclave in the Capital Wasteland. The Sole Survivor is asked to help restore Liberty Prime to his former glory, in order to help the Brotherhood fight the Institute.
 * Spoils of War: With Liberty Prime almost ready, the Sole Survivor is tasked with recovering a beryllium agitator in order to power him up. The Sole Survivor is to travel to the Mass Fusion building with Proctor Ingram to get the agitator.
 * Ad Victoriam: With Liberty Prime fully operational, the Brotherhood of Steel is ready to launch their assault on the Institute. The Sole Survivor is to follow Liberty Prime to the C.I.T. ruins, and put an end to the Institute.
 * Airship Down: After the Institute and Sole Survivor has dealt with the Railroad in End of the Line, the Institute will initiate their final assault against the Brotherhood of Steel. To take down the Prydwen, the Institute created a computer virus that will reprogram Liberty Prime's targeting system. After they push back the heavy resistance and the computer virus is uploaded, Liberty Prime will target the Prydwen as an aerial communist incursion and shoot the airship down. The wreckage of the Prydwen subsequently lands on Boston Airport, destroying both the Brotherhood outpost and Liberty Prime.

Other interactions

 * Liberty Prime is first seen in the lab beneath the Citadel in its inactive state. The Lone Wanderer can gain information about the robot, as well as hear some of its dialogue by using a nearby computer terminal to initiate a dialogue test.

Notable quotes
Many of its quotes give reference to '50s and '60s anti-communist slogans, made to be more specific to China.

Appearances
Liberty Prime appears in Fallout 3, its add-on, Broken Steel, Fallout 4 and is mentioned in the Automatron add-on.

Behind the scenes

 * According to an interview in 1UP, Emil Pagliarulo denied any intentional relation between Liberty Prime and Optimus Prime. Pagliarulo admitted he could have made the reference subconsciously.
 * In the early parts of development of Fallout 3, Liberty Prime was supposed to be larger than seen in game, and the player character was going to ride inside of its head during the final battle.
 * The G.E.C.K. lists a cut quest called "Infiltration" which was situated between The American Dream and Take it Back! and had the player stealing a power source from Rivet City to power Liberty Prime.
 * Liberty Prime throws football-shaped mini-nukes as if it were a quarterback. This pays homage to "The Nuclear Football", which is a term used to refer to the briefcase containing the launch codes for America's nuclear arsenal, with the president as the football's "quarterback".
 * Liberty Prime's head design strongly echoes Gort, the powerful robotic protector from the 1951 anti-nuclear-war science-fiction movie The Day the Earth Stood Still. Both robots share a powerful beam attack from their visor-like "eyes".

Fallout 3

 * Liberty Prime often gets stuck. Although the most common places for this glitch is on the left side of the highway when heading to retake the Purifier at the Jefferson Memorial, and on the first large bridge the Lone Wanderer crosses.
 * If all else fails, you may be able to fix this by selecting Liberty Prime in the console and typing "moveto player".
 * If you kill Vargas at any point in the game before starting Take it Back!, Liberty Prime will stay immobile, preventing the player from continuing the quest line.
 * The only way to fix this issue is using the console command: player.placeatme 0001d44e 1 to respawn Paladin Vargas and proceed with the quest.
 * It is possible to get around this by baiting Liberty Prime into chasing after you by attacking BoS initiates.
 * Liberty Prime may launch into the air and remain there. The best way to solve this is to wait (real time). If this fails, the player may need to reload the previous auto save.
 * If the Lone Wanderer manages to get far enough ahead of Prime when it is attacking Enclave forces, it is possible for the player character to be killed by its attacks.
 * If the Lone Wanderer manages to get too far ahead of Liberty Prime before it disables the first "force field", Liberty Prime may stop walking across the first bridge after shutting down the first "force field."

Fallout 4

 * Liberty Prime often stops right before the body of water on the way to the Institute.