Rivet City

Rivet City is a city located inside a decaying, beached aircraft carrier in the Washington, D.C. It's the largest, most developed and scientifically-advanced settlement in the Capital Wasteland. Its inhabitants live in individual rooms and enjoy safety and security inside the aircraft carrier. A number of guards rotate 24 hours a day to protect the ship from raiders, super mutants, mirelurks and any other threats to the city and its inhabitants. Rivet City includes a shopping area, as well as an American history museum, science lab, church, clinic, bar, and even a hotel.

Background
Rivet City is located inside of an aircraft carrier which was docked at the Washington Naval Yard during the Great War, and was stranded when the water level in the Anacostia and Potomac rivers dropped. The carrier was inhabited by raiders in the upper decks and mirelurks in the lower decks until remnants of the Naval Research Institute decided to move in because of its strategic importance and its working hydroponics bay, which was used to set up a research lab. The prosperity of the science lab and the relatively safe location of the ship attracted many wastelanders who also settled inside. Super mutants attempted to invade the ship, forcing Seagrave Holmes and other settlers to reinforce and repair part of the carrier to make it defensible and safer. The rest of Rivet City grew up around the lab.

The settlement itself was founded in April 25, 2239, when Horace Pinkerton, Annette Holmes and Brad Danvers decided to form a council to act as a governing body to look after Rivet City and the needs of its people. Many years later, a scientist by the name of Madison Li arrived at Rivet City in 2258 to begin Project Purity, and co-opted Pinkertons' staff. Pinkerton became jealous of Li, left Rivet City and began living in the bow of the ship, which by this point had separated from the rest of the hull. By 2277, Rivet City is the sole supplier of edible, non-irradiated food in the Capital Wasteland, trading it for essential raw materials with other communities.

Location
Rivet City lies in the most south-eastern part of the map, near Anacostia. It is easiest to reach by following the eastern side of the Potomac River, crossing near the Tepid Sewers or at the Citadel, or by swimming across from Arlington Library (If you do not have the Point Lookout DLC add-on, watch out for the mirelurks which reside here). You can also walk from the Jefferson Memorial.

On the steel structure across from the aircraft carrier itself (near Carlos the beggar), there is an intercom box you must use to extend the bridge. After a brief conversation with Harkness, the chief of police, you may enter Rivet City.

The marketplace

 * Flak 'N Shrapnel's
 * Rivet City Supply
 * Gary's Galley
 * A Quick Fix
 * Potomac Attire

Layout
To access Rivet City, climb to the 3rd-story of the tower near the Rivet City map marker (there will usually be a trader waiting on the outside). There is a intercom near Carlos. When activated, a bridge will extend from the ship.

Rivet City contains a large and thriving marketplace, as well as other institutions, such as:
 * A poorly-stocked, yet well-guarded armory.
 * The Capitol Preservation Society with a museum of pre-War historical artifacts and knowledge.
 * The Muddy Rudder bar.
 * The Rivet City science lab.
 * Saint Monica's Church.
 * The Weatherly Hotel.

Fortunately, Rivet City is quite well signposted, unlike the Citadel.

The broken bow of the ship was separated from the main carrier substructure and half-flooded. The lower levels are inhabited by mirelurks or mirelurk hunters (depending on player level), while the upper levels contain Pinkerton's laboratory and home. Players will want to be wary when exploring this area as Pinkerton has set up numerous traps throughout the bow, such as rigged shotguns, frag mines, a gas leak and a rigged terminal placed conveniently near the heavy door to Pinkerton's lab.

On the upper deck you can rent a hotel room for 120 caps from Vera Weatherly, or her robot. After purchasing the hotel room, you can access it for free thereafter. This room comes with a bed, which grants you the Well Rested bonus effect of +10% experience. If you didn't rent the room, you can pick the (very hard) lock without losing Karma. Even though the bed inside is called "My Bed" you can't use it until you've rented the room.

When you get to the upper deck of the carrier, take a good look at the aircraft that still remain. These are the same fighter jets that are used in the Operation: Anchorage add-on and thus, the standard jet aircraft for the U.S military in 2077.

For a player exploring the vessel, when checking out the bridge tower, it is worth going through all the exterior doors. These lead to catwalks on the outside of the tower, most of which have either an ammunition box or a first aid box just lying around. After a while, a pretty impressive collection of ammunition and stimpaks can be amassed by the determined traveler.

Exterior
Northwest of Rivet City is a super mutant camp. There may be super mutants and some times a captive that may be rescued.


 * As a notable item there is a Lying, Congressional Style skill book by some sleeping mats near several boxes of ammunition.


 * South of Rivet City, there is a shipwrecked boat surrounded by radioactive waste. The boat contains ammunition boxes and a locked first aid box.

Inhabitants

 * ¹ After successfully opening Vault 101.
 * ² After successful completion of Those!.
 * ³ After successfully completing the unmarked quest Cherry's Freedom.
 * * After completion of the Replicated Man quest, Pinkerton will not be essential.
 * Note: all traders' stores are re-stocked on Mondays and Thursdays.

Notable loot

 * The Bobblehead - Intelligence is standing on a table in the Science Lab.
 * A copy of Rock-It Launcher schematics in the Bridge tower armory (Very Hard lock).

Appearances
Rivet City appears only in Fallout 3.

Behind the scenes
The Craig Mullins concept art published on May 15, 2007 shows a city with ruined skyscrapers and an aircraft carrier which has run ashore and is connected to one of them by a rudimentary bridge. The aircraft carrier appears to be the USS Oriskany although the image is mirrored thus placing the island on the wrong side of the ship. The picture that was used for reference is located on a website devoted to naval vessels.

Bugs

 * After reaching the end of the Rivet City bridge, and jumping down to the platform below it, there is a place where you can fall through the boat. When jumping off on the right side (or left, but go to the right side) there will be an open "room" with a first aid box and two ammunition boxes. Should you go to the corner past the leftmost ammunition box, you fall through the boat and land in the water. Fast travel to a different location or reload an older save to fix this problem.
 * Dogmeat or his puppies will glitch and land on a cat walk that is inaccessible if you tell it to find anything on the outside of the aircraft carrier.
 * Jumping on the bridge before it stops moving will cause it to clang loudly and move in jumps.
 * Sometimes the entire boat including people will become non collide-able making it impossible to enter the city. To fix this simply save, back out to the main menu, and load the save.
 * Rarely, when you fast-travel to Rivet City, a friendly Enclave soldier will spawn next to you. But will automatically disappear when you enter the city. If you try to speak to them, they will either greet you or threaten you verbally.
 * There is a locker in the mid-deck of Rivet city. It has a hard lock and inside of the locker is one mentats and one physco. Leave by fast-travel or wait outside and return to the locker in Rivet city and it will be locked again and still yeild experience if you unlock it. Inside the locker again is one mentats and one physco. The locker can be returned to and unlocked then looted an infinite amount of times.
 * If Broken Steel is installed the player may experience crashes near Rivet City after completion of the main quest.
 * In the living quarters level of the ship, picking the locks to the rooms owned by NPCs will re-lock themselves upon leaving and re-entering the area. Most of the doors will lock again, normally ranging from Easy (25 lockpick) to Average (50 lockpick), giving you the ability to repeatedly pick the locks and gain XP.