Colonel Autumn

Colonel Augustus Autumn ( 2222/2277) is the commanding officer of the Enclave Armed Forces in the Capital Wasteland by 2277.

Autumn's father was a high-ranking Enclave scientist. When after the destruction of the Oil Rig he received orders from the new President, John Henry Eden, telling him and all surviving Enclave troops to relocate to the Raven Rock military base on the opposite end of the country, he obeyed the order. Augustus' father gathered his troops and their equipment, and led his men through the post-nuclear United States. Upon the Enclave's arrival to the Capital Wasteland, he was the only one privy to the fact that John Henry Eden is actually a ZAX unit that has achieved self awareness. Prior to his death, he passed that knowledge to his son, who by that time became the leader of the Enclave's military.

Autumn followed Eden's orders as a good soldier, although the Colonel indeed had his occasional disagreements. Autumn overtook Project Purity and seemingly died when James flooded the project's chamber with deadly radiation. However, he managed to survive by injecting himself with a mysterious agent — likely the Enclave's more powerful equivalent of Rad-X or Rad Away.

Colonel Autumn shows no regret over actions such as shooting unarmed captives, as long as it serves the Enclave's ends. He actually executes the player in the event that he or she surrenders the actual code to Project Purity. However he is not completely heartless, as he is able to be reasoned with during a final encounter, and (according to President Eden) actually objected to placing the FEV into Project Purity to kill all contaminated humans in the region.

As opposed to Eden's delusional visions, his main objective seems to be increasing Enclave's power, as he intends to use the purified water as a means to make the people "flock to the Enclave" rather than killing them.

The tension between President Eden and the colonel finally snapped Autumn's loyalty, as he disobeyed the President's orders and usurped command over the human contingent of the Enclave forces and relocated them to the Jefferson Memorial, to make their last stand.

Autumn's Fate
Autumn is confronted by the player at the very end of the game's main quest, just outside the Purifier control room. He is accompanied by his two personal bodyguards, a pair of high-level Enclave soldiers equipped with Tesla Power Armor, one being equipped with a gatling laser, and the other (on the stairs into project purity's control chamber) with a minigun.

Surprisingly for the game's final battle, Autumn himself has fairly average durability, being only marginally more durable than a Talon Company Merc. He does wield an incredibly powerful customized weapon, however, and his two elite Enclave Soldier bodyguards are very tough, being probably the most durable enemies you'll face (outside of Deathclaws, Super Mutant Masters, and unique bosses like Vance, Commander Jabsco, or General Jingwei). Still, with Sarah Lyons and Fawkes (or another companion) backing the player character at this point, the fight should be fairly effortless.

There is more than one way in which Autumn's story ends, which is the player's choice.
 * He might be killed in combat by the Lone Wanderer in late 2277.
 * If the Lone Wanderer so chooses, he may argue with Autumn and let him live (depending on a difficult speech check and whether or not Raven Rock was destroyed), whereupon he and his personal guards will simply leave.
 * If the player's karma is average, Sarah Lyons remarks that the Brotherhood contingent waiting outside will probably kill Autumn and his guards regardless of the player's clemency; whether or not this actually happens is never confirmed.
 * If the player has very high karma, Sarah will remark that (due to the player's Messianic tendencies) she's not surprised that the player chose to spare Autumn. However, she expresses concern that the Colonel may one day return to cause trouble in the future.
 * If the player has very low Karma, Sarah will yell at you, surprised that you of all people would show him mercy.
 * Considering the Lone Wanderer manages to escape from the Purifier via the use of the Taft Tunnels during the Enclave attack. Its likely Col. Autumn could do the same to escape from the brotherhood, although it would be rather foolish as the tunnel exits in front of the Citadel. However Enclave managed to find other access points during the Lone Wanderer's escape in order to fire upon him from high ledges. In theory Col. Autumn could access these and find another way out...

Colonel Autumn does not make an appearance in the Broken Steel add-on expansion to the main quest, even if the player spares his life during the final confrontation at Project Purity.

Equipment
Colonel Autumn wears a tan trench coat over his jet black uniform and uses two weapons, both custom made: an N99 10mm Pistol and an AEP7 Laser Pistol.

It is possible to acquire this equipment before the the final showdown at the purifier or without using cheats if Autumn manages to "glitch" out of the purifier room.

Autumn's trench coat is an average armor, roughly equal in protection to Vault Security armor, and though twice as powerful as a standard 10mm pistol, his custom version is still quite weak. However, his customized Laser Pistol is one of the most powerful weapons in the game; it's almost as damaging as the Alien Blaster (although without the increased critical chance multiplier) and it has also been modified for full-auto fire. It is possible to obtain all of Col. Autumn's special equipment by pickpocketing and reverse pickpocketing late in the game. 'SPOILER ALERT' there is a youtube video detailing how this is accomplished. The video shows SPOILERS for the Playstation 3 version of game and has also been verified for the Xbox 360 and P.C. versions.

On the Xbox 360 version (This is confirmed on the PC edition as well)there is a way to 'kill' Colonel Autumn. While he is in the Project Purity control room annd threatening your father look straight at him. Then go into third person and look left. If done right, you can 'talk' to him. However the only thing that happens is that a wordless black box comes up and the conversation ends quite quickly (This will also speed up the scene causing the Colonel to shoot the scientist straight away). After your father blows up the console and floods the control room with radiation, you should be able to talk him still. He will get up and then die again. If you quickly sneak after talking to him this time, then you can put a mine/grenade in him and will go live this time around. The mine/grenade will explode and the Colonel will 'die'. Somehow he is still resurrected at Vault 87 and is alive for the rest of the game. After 'killing' him you can loot his body and take his trenchcoat and 10mm Gun.


 * NOTE- while your Father is dying you can talk to him. He will begin the conversation that you would normally have before the Enclave came. However he will continue the death action scene. He will usually be on the floor and still be talking. Once you exit the conversation, your father will get up and walk to the console and then die again.
 * NOTE - After patch 1.5, released April 19, 2009, his "Colonel Autumn's Pistol" is no longer stored under quest items, had reduced damage (from 79 to 17) and loses its full auto firing capabilities.

On the PC version it is possible to get the dialogue box open similar to Xbox 360 version. Hug the blocked doorway on the right corner. Go into 3rd person view and scan Colonel Autumn. The 'talk' option will pop up when targetting just behind Autumn. Similarly the 'loot' option will be available after his death.

Appearances
Autumn appears only in Fallout 3.

Videos
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