Sergeant RL-3

 is a robotic soldier created before the Great War that can become one of your party members in Fallout 3.

Sergeant RL-3 has an experimental soldier personality making him "unstable," meaning he only likes particular characters (thus the neutral requirement). During combat he will also say things like "Another glorious day in this man's army! Hooah!" making him quite a comical follower.

Location
This metal patriot can be purchased from Tinker Joe outside the RobCo Factory for 1000 bottlecaps. The player character can only buy Sergeant RL-3 if his karma is neutral. Otherwise Tinker Joe will just say Sergeant RL-3 "...doesn't like the look of you." (will not follow you if you already have a follower.)

RL-3 can be purchased for 500 caps with a minimum of 70 in Barter skill.

Sergeant RL-3 won't leave if the player's karma later moves away from neutral, but if separated from the player either through firing or through story events, he cannot be re-hired until karma is again neutral. In these circumstances, Sergeant RL-3 will be waiting in Canterbury Commons after a day or two, where he can be re-hired for free. As well, if you want Charon, fire RL-3, hire Charon wait for RL-3 to get to Canterbury Commons, send Dogmeat to Vault 101 and then ask RL-3 to join you.

Upon recruiting him he seems to treat you as his superior.

Equipment
Sergeant RL-3's default equipment consists of special versions of a Plasma Rifle and a Flamer.

RL-3's "storage compartment" provides the second largest storage capacity out of all available followers. Only Fawkes can hold more equipment. RL-3's carrying capacity is 197.5 pounds.

Stats

 * Combat Skill: 50
 * Attack Damage: 23
 * Attack Reach: 96
 * Turning Speed: 150
 * Foot Weight: 3
 * Speed Mult: 110%

RL-3 does not scale to player level like some companions, so he may become outclassed later in the game. With the addition of the Broken Steel add-on, RL-3's level does scale with the player's up to 30.

Robots are considered creatures rather than NPCs and thus has an additional list of stats present for creatures.

Combat
RL-3 uses a weaker version of the Plasma Rifle at long range, and a very effective Flamer at close range. His aim with the plasma gun is actually rather average, and actually somewhat worse than that of a standard Mr. Gutsy model. Like all robots, he is extremely vulnerable to Energy Weapons, Big Guns and strong melee attacks like those from Yao Guais and Deathclaws. He does however appear to be highly resistant to flame attacks, such as those from Fire Ants. Sergeant RL-3 repairs himself automatically after combat. In addition, despite his mechanical nature, if stimpaks are placed in his inventory he will use them to heal himself during a firefight. His best use is in small to moderate party kills, i.e. Raiders, Slavers and the like.

Much like Fawkes, RL-3 does not sneak, and will rush off to battle with any detected enemy, thus he is not recommended for situations where stealth is a necessity.

Unlike the other Fallout 3 followers, RL-3 has fixed stats instead of leveling proportionally with the player. As a result, he's quite strong at low player levels, but can become outclassed at higher levels. If the Broken Steel add-on is installed, his stats and level will level up acoording to the player's level, up to level 30.

Quotes
Sergeant RL-3 is quite the comical fellow, yelling out patriotic and Red Scare slogans to everyone who is close enough to hear them (including the player character, who he usually addresses as "Commander", or "Sir"). The lines he says, however, do not differ much from the ones you can hear from ordinary Mister Gutsy robots.

Combat
 * "Ready to die for your country, you commie son of a bitch?"
 * "Eat hot lead, commie bastard!"
 * "Anyone got a target?" -Searching for enemy
 * "I have a personal message for you from Uncle Sam!"
 * "Is that the best you can do?"
 * "There's nothing I like better than making another poor bastard dying for his country!"
 * "Today's a hell of a day to die, commie!"
 * "Made in the U.S. Army!"
 * "Now you're starting to piss me off."
 * "Kill 'em all, let God sort 'em out!"
 * "There's nothing like the smell of plasma in the morning!"
 * "I'm just getting warmed up! Hooah!"
 * "You're making me angry, you won't like me when I'm angry!" (rarely said)

Greetings and Conversation
 * "Salutations, Commander! Sergeant RL-3, Gutsy-class robotic soldier, reporting for duty!"
 * "RL-3 comes equipped with everything a good soldier needs, but your RL-3 can assist in carrying additional equipment, if needed." -while trading equipment

Post-Combat
 * "Another glorious day in the U.S. army!"
 * "Time to hit the showers!"
 * "Do that again and I'll put my boot so far up your ass you'll cough up boot polish!" -after withdrawing a weapon to forfeit combat
 * "That's how we do things in the U.S. army! Hooah!"

Idle
 * "Sir, I am on the lookout!"
 * "Scanning, Sir"

Telling him to wait
 * "I'll keep this location secured, Sir"

Trivia

 * Unlike most Mr. Gutsy robots, RL-3 has an alpha-numerical designation. This is most likely a subtle reference to actor and former Marine R. Lee Ermey, best known as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman from the movie Full Metal Jacket. Ermey retired from the USMC a staff sergeant, and was later given an honorary promotion to gunnery sergeant. Reading the 3 as an 'e', the robot's name would be 'Sergeant R L-e'. R. Lee Ermey also was the voice of General Simon Barnaky in Fallout: Tactics, which may be a nod to both his past experiences in the Fallout universe and to his career as a whole.
 * When entering dialogue with RL-3, he will occasionally say "By your command, sir!" in reference to the Battlestar Galactica television series.