Alien (Fallout 3)

Aliens or Zetans are creatures found aboard Mothership Zeta in 2277.

Characteristics
The aliens, known as Zetans, are relatively small, green yellowish-skinned humanoid beings. Their bodies, elongated with a small chest, are lean. Their legs are shorter and jointed differently than a normal human and their limbs are also proportionally different than a normal humanoid.

Their heads are large in proportion to their bodies. They have very wide mouths and large opaque black eyes with no discernible iris or pupil. Their hands have only three long suction-cupped fingers and no thumbs.

They are responsible for abducting individuals from the earth, including Giles Wolstencroft, who was inspecting the construction of Vault 76 and Morrison Rand, a professor from Banfield College in Humboldt, Oregon. Other known abductees included a U.S.S.A. linguistics specialist, Holly Barrisford, a U.S. senator and someone within the White House. During the Battle of Anchorage, numerous U.S. Army personnel were abducted including a Elliott Tercorien and his unit. After the mysterious disappearance of the USSA space capsule Clarabella 7 and the pilot astronaut Colonel Hartigan suspicions arose, and in 2062 the existence of aliens became internally recognized by the government.

The aliens sometimes have an inertia suppression field that acts as a shield and boosts their Damage Resistance. In combat, they tend to hang back or rush the player character if they are using melee weapons. They carry shock batons, disintegrators and atomizers, and use guardian drones. They possess technologies such as long-term cryostasis, guns, teleportation and holograms.

Alien
Regular aliens wearing the white spacesuit are the most common alien the Lone Wanderer will see aboard Mothership Zeta. They act as the standard enemy of the area and will always be hostile. Aliens have many tiers, depending on the player character's level.

† The inertia suppression fields protection depends on the level of alien using it.

Alien captain
The alien captain is the leader of the alien forces on mothership Zeta, equipped with the Captain's Sidearm.

Alien worker
Alien workers are the working force of the Mothership Zeta. Although displayed as hostile, they will never attack the player character, but will flee or cower in fear instead. Killing one results in a loss of 50 Karma. During the quest Not of This World, when the Lone Wanderer first spots them, Sally will tell the player character not to hurt them because they are harmless.

Related quests

 * Not of This World
 * Among the Stars
 * This Galaxy Ain't Big Enough...

Appearances
Aliens appear in the Fallout 3 add-on Mothership Zeta.

Bugs

 * Sometimes, when alien workers appear to cower in fear in front of the player, they may clip into the floor.
 * Alien workers can cause scripting issues throughout the game. The player's colleagues react differently if one is near, often disrupting scripts. Thus, for example, if there are alien workers in the observation bay area when the Lone Wanderer first enters, when Sally ports through, she may well port straight out again, without opening the doors. If scripting errors occur, it may be advisable to reload to a previous save and kill all the alien workers before trying to trigger a script. This can have a significant impact on your Karma, although a Karma loss can be avoided if another non-player character kills them, such as a friendly drone or abominations.
 * When using VATS, especially with a long VATS session, aliens with shock batons will constantly rush to melee distance and will be striking the player character 2 to 3 times for each 1 time the player's gun fires. This is especially noticeable on Very Hard when fighting against shielded aliens. What's wrong is that the player is moving in slow motion, meaning the alien is moving two or three times faster than it should be as it scores more attacks on the player.