Liberty Prime

Liberty Prime is a unique U.S. Army robot found at the Citadel. 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.

Background
Liberty Prime is a formidable combat robot that is being tinkered with in the Brotherhood of Steel's laboratory. It's original intent was to liberate Anchorage, Alaska, from the Red Chinese during the great war of 2072. It is programmed to deliver a mixture of patriotic propaganda messages and incredible firepower to ensure victory.

The Citadel Laboratory computer terminal stationed 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 fought battles 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.

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.

Quests

 * 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's help in scavenging sensor modules and cameras to assist in the rebuilding process.

Other interactions

 * Liberty Prime is first seen in the lab beneath the Citadel in its inactive state. The player 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, as well as its add-on, Broken Steel.

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.
 * The GECK 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 design and self sacrifice in the face of a nuclear threat bear resemblance to the Iron Giant from the Film The Iron Giant. Such an influence would be consistent with the 1950's retro-futurism that defines the Fallout series.

Bugs

 * 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 you cross.
 * 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 you manage to get far enough ahead of Prime when it is attacking Enclave forces, it is possible for the player to be killed by its attacks.
 * If you manage to get too far ahead of Liberty Prime before he disables the first "force field" he may stop walking across the first bridge after shutting down the first "force field."