Megaton

Megaton is a fortified settlement in the Capital Wasteland in 2277. It is built around a crater with an undetonated megaton class atomic bomb at its center, after which the town is named. The town of Megaton is protected by large metal walls made from various scavenged materials, primarily the scraps of old pre-War airplanes, which were assembled and reforged together several decades ago by the founders of Megaton in an effort to make the town safer. With 28 named inhabitants, ten unnamed Megaton settlers, and four Children of the Atom, it is surpassed only by Rivet City in terms of population.

Beginnings
Megaton's crater was first settled by a large group of people who either worshiped the undetonated bomb or sought shelter in Vault 101, but was denied access because the vault dwellers were not allowed to leave or let anyone in as part of the vault's experiment. Locked out of the vault, these settlers, including Manya Vargas' great grandfather, simply settled into the crater for protection against dust storms. After the storms died down, some people began to wander the wastes but would return to the crater to trade their scavenged goods. A generation later, the crater had turned into a full-on trade hub. Vargas' father became wealthy on these caravan routes and eventually convinced others to build the scrap metal wall surrounding the town to repel raiders.

Construction on the wall started in 2241. Early that year, raiders attacked the town, resulting in the death of the 14-year-old Colin Moriarty's father. After the raid, Moriarty inherited his father's wealth and his bar, Moriarty's Saloon.

Over the course of a couple of months, the residents of the town built the walls out of necessity; aircraft debris from an air station a few miles from the crater was the only material that remained and was readily available. The bomb in the center of the crater remained there; when the wall was being erected, the settlement needed as much manpower as it could get and removing the bomb would have upset those that worshiped it, pushing them away. That is not to say a lot of other people felt it was best to not disturb it; it was not hurting anything and it could have adverse effects if transferred to another location. Its origins are from a bomber that crashed there, the bomb being and not detonating. The bomber is what caused the crater and supplied some of the first material's for Megaton's wall.

First contact with Vault 101
In February 2241, an expeditionary party of Vault 101, led by Anne Palmer and sent by the overseer of the vault, made contact with the residents of Megaton. Initially, the locals were cautious of the strangers before eventually accepting and welcoming them into their settlement. Palmer appointed two vault residents, Agnes Taylor and Lewis, as vault ambassadors to Megaton.

By the time of the expedition, the front gate of Megaton had been completed.

Present day
In 2277, space is limited in the town, forcing many residents to live in the common house, a building that would usually be reserved for meetings and voting. Lucas Simms is the self-appointed town sheriff and does not hesitate to throw anyone out if they cause trouble. On the subject of trouble, Colin Moriarty runs the town saloon and has a less than decent reputation, keeping the drunks drunk and his employees in servitude. Moriarty has a line on everything that happens in Megaton and it all eventually gets back to him.

In early 2277, a gang of raiders occupied nearby Springvale Elementary School, intending to tunnel from the school basement into Vault 101. A group, led by Boppo, staged a raid on Megaton, but the attack was foiled when Boppo was shot in the head and killed by Lucas Simms. The raiders did not leave the area, though, choosing to remain at the Springvale School. Their mining operation stopped when they opened a nest of giant ants.

The same year, Vault 101 would open, and the Lone Wanderer would stop in Megaton in search of their father James, who himself earlier had come through the town during his own exodus. During their time here, the Lone Wanderer would meet Moira Brown, and start working with her to write the Wasteland Survival Guide.

Project Purity's activation
In the years following Lyons' Brotherhood's victory over the Enclave and recapture of Project Purity, Megaton prospered immensely. Following the death of Sheriff Lucas Simms, his son Harden took on the role. Moira Brown published and distributed her Wasteland Survival Guide across the expanse of the American wasteland by way of traveling caravans. By October 10, 2297, Brown was working on a new book, a compilation of "the best and most useful tales of the Lone Wanderer for the next generation."

Layout
The city of Megaton has been built in a steep-walled crater around an undetonated atomic bomb, which rests in a small pond of radioactive water at the bottom of the depression. This gives the city two roughly circular levels centered on the bomb. The main gate consists of two old aircraft wings and is powered by a jet engine, which can be opened and closed to protect the town's only entrance/exit.

Following the entry path to the bottom of the depression, the Megaton clinic will be on the right and The Brass Lantern on the left. Just past the bomb to the right is the Children of Atom building and past it to the left lies Mister Burke's house. Confessor Cromwell will be found here standing in the puddle and sermonizing to random Megaton settlers.

Turning right immediately upon entering and following the lip of the crater counter-clockwise will lead past Lucas Simms' house, around the water processing plant, down to Craterside Supply, then back up to the men's restroom, Moriarty's Saloon and Billy Creel's house. Going down the ramp from there will lead around Nathan and Manya's house (a blue bus) and to the women's restroom. Craterside Supply can also be easily reached by taking the ramp directly to the right of the Megaton clinic.

Turning left instead of right at the upper lip will lead to a locked house (which is a reward from Lucas Simms for deactivating the central atomic bomb and will subsequently be renamed My Megaton house), followed by Jericho's house. From there, going down will lead to Lucy West's house while going around to the left will lead to the end of the righthand path.

The Megaton armory, only accessible by either picking the very hard lock or with Lucas Simm's key, can be reached by going up the ramp and around the Church of the Children of Atom to the right or by going down the hill starting from the back door of Moriarty's Saloon. Inside, the player character will face a strong opponent, Deputy Steel, a unique Mister Gutsy.

The common house can be reached by going around the women's restroom to the right or passing behind Moriarty's Saloon rather than going around the front past the entrance to the men's restroom. Just look for the couch sitting outside.

In front of the city, outside the walls, is a caravan stop; Micky the water beggar; and Deputy Weld. Behind the city, near the southwest corner, between a group of three scorched trees is the hollowed-out rock.

Megaton ruins
Revisiting Megaton's ruins after blowing it up in The Power of the Atom, the Lone Wanderer will find Deputy Weld's head with an orange (or purple) eye nearby, sticking out of a pile of debris. He says, ironically, "Welcome to Megaton. The bomb is perfectly safe. We promise. Please hold," in a garbled voice that sounds broken. The town will be completely inaccessible, as a high wall surrounds it. The sky will be green.

If the Wasteland Survival Guide quest has been started, Moira Brown will survive as a ghoul and show up to mention that she is relocating to Underworld. If the quest is not started, Moira can still be found in Underworld. If Jericho was hired and is following the player character at the time of the detonation, he will linger around the ruins for later recruitment. Detonating the bomb before retrieving the Strength Bobblehead will render it unobtainable. The area around Megaton will contain progressively higher levels of radiation closer to the town's ruins, up to 11 rads per second. Ground zero (only reachable using ) will count 26 rad/s.

Notable loot

 * Strength bobblehead - Inside Lucas Simms' house, on a desk in the bedroom to the left on the second floor.
 * Grognak the Barbarian - In Jericho's house, on the floor, between a teddy bear and a red pylon along the right wall.
 * Nikola Tesla and You - In one's Megaton house after buying the Science theme from Moira Brown.
 * Lying, Congressional Style - In one's Megaton house after buying the Love machine theme from Moira Brown.
 * Four pre-War books - Can be stolen from Billy Creel's house.
 * A Stealth Boy, sniper rifle and the as requested note in the hollowed-out rock located outside Megaton along its southern wall. It is near a rock with three small trees in a triangular pattern around it.
 * 300-700 bottle caps in The Brass Lantern. A Very Easy locked terminal unlocks a floor safe which otherwise has a Very Hard lock.
 * The sheriff's duster and hat are found being worn by Lucas Simms.
 * There are five boxes of Sugar Bombs: One in the Megaton common house to the right of the entrance on a shelf, two in Craterside Supply on the bottom shelf in the northwest corner, one on a shelf in the upper level of Lucas Simms' house against the northeast wall, and one in Lucy West's house upstairs on a shelf across from the bed.
 * There are four teddy bears in Megaton: One is in Billy Creel's house in a box on the table upstairs, two are in Jericho's house to the right of the entrance and under the bed, and one is in Lucas Simms' house upstairs on a table in the southwest room.
 * Rock-It Launcher schematics - Sold by Moira Brown.
 * Environment suit, armored Vault 101 jumpsuit, shady hat, repellent stick and bottlecap mine schematics - Can all be obtained by helping Moira Brown with the Wasteland Survival Guide quest.

Appearances
Megaton appears in Fallout 3 and is mentioned in Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 4. In Fallout Shelter, it is mentioned in the description for sheriff's duster and as a question in the weekly quest Game Show Gauntlet.

Behind the scenes

 * In the Japanese version of Fallout 3, Burke is completely gone, and therefore, the quest to blow up Megaton has been completely removed due to its parallels to real historic events, referring to the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
 * A "megaton" is a unit used to measure the force of an explosion, equivalent to that of a million tons of TNT.


 * In Beneath The Planet of the Apes, a cult is featured worshiping an undetonated nuclear weapon after the modern world has been destroyed.
 * The bomb in the center of Megaton is said to have come during the Great War. There is some inconsistency with the established lore of the Great War. In the original story itself, it was intercontinental ballistic missiles which created the wasteland, and not bombs. It is possible that the bomb itself is a reference to the several bombs lost during the development of the atomic bomb in the U.S., most notably one which was dropped on a small town in Virginia but did not detonate. Given the EMP pulse from a nuclear explosion, as well as the shockwaves, it's entirely plausible that the bomb was in transit when the apocalypse came and fell from its mounting as the aircraft (which Megaton is made of) crashed to earth.
 * Some of the airplane parts Megaton is built out of appear to have come from a Lockheed L-1011 Tristar.

Bugs

 * After Broken Steel is installed, if you pick up the note from your door, after completing the quest Holy Water, the note will respawn every day. This can be very annoying, and it is recommended to receive the note from a settler.
 * Occasionally, the player will be shot at by the settlers of Megaton upon first entering, which can be rather troublesome for a low level character.
 * Rarely, after you fast travel to Megaton, a Brotherhood soldier may appear in the entrance of the city, a few seconds later he will leave the city.
 * Sometimes after you blow up Megaton, Harden Simms will still be walking around the outside of the ruins, and if you speak to him, he'll talk to you like nothing has happened.
 * Sometimes Megaton settlers refuse to sleep at night, rendering the Mister Sandman perk useless in the city.