Vault 3

Vault 3 is one of the Vault-Tec vaults in the Mojave Wasteland. Except for some flooding in the lower levels, the vault is still mainly intact in 2281 and is now occupied by the Fiends, who killed the vault's original residents.

Background
Vault 3 is one of only three vaults in the Mojave with human inhabitants, the others being Vault 21 and Vault 19. This vault was one of the few control vaults that had no experiment connected with it, and it functioned almost exactly to the residents' expectations. Control vaults were designed to open after 20 years, but the residents of Vault 3 decided to keep it sealed far longer, out of concern for the possible dangers they might face outside the vault. All was going well until an accidental water leak occurred, forcing the residents to open the vault to find help. The original Vault 3 inhabitants opened their doors and began to trade with people outside the vault. For a time, it went well and the inhabitants made a good living. However, this also brought the vault to the attention of the Fiends. The inhabitants hadn't set up any security, so the Fiends found little difficulty in raiding and taking the vault.

In many ways, Vault 3 was the ideal post-apocalyptic community that had all too often evaded Vault-Tec's many experiments. The vault’s isolation didn’t affect the residents. They maintained an orderly, democratic society, and, unlike other vaults (in particular Vault 101), the overseer wasn't a dictator or a megalomaniac. Once again though, as with so many other Vault-Tec designs, the Water Chips failed and by necessity, the community was forced into contact with the Mojave's savage peoples: ultimately their undoing.

Location
The vault is located under a building in the South Vegas Ruins and is the base of operations for a gang known as the Fiends. Its location can be gained from the colonel at Camp McCarran after volunteering to help with the gang problem, from Elder McNamara of the Brotherhood of Steel during the quest Still in the Dark, from Diane during the quest Aba Daba Honeymoon or from Private Ortega in the barracks at NCR Sharecropper Farms.

The vault door, which is opened by the adjacent control panel, is connected directly to the rest of the wasteland and therefore provides no loading point for the vault interior. This explains the lack of a door opening sequence.

Layout
Inside, the entrance is guarded by a female Fiend, who will question you about what you are doing there. If you enter using a Speech check (64) or wearing Great Khan armor, you can navigate the vault without being attacked. You can remove the armor after the initial dialogue with the guard Fiend. If she becomes hostile, note that she levels with the player, giving her an abnormally high amount of hit points at higher levels (a maximum of 260 at player level 30).

None of the doors feature a gold stripe and a number; instead all are marked "No Access". This is also true of Vault 21.

The walls of the vault are covered with graffiti, presumably done by the occupying Fiends. Much of the graffiti in the vault is the same as that which can be found on the Brotherhood's bunkers in Hidden Valley. In one of the toilets, there is graffiti on the wall of a stick man and woman. It's an enlarged version of the one in Hidden Valley.

Overall there are about 5 hackable terminals inside the vault, which contain information about the vault’s history.

Vault 3 consists of 3 areas:
 * Recreation area
 * Living quarters
 * Maintenance wing

Recreation area
Vault 3 seems to have a much larger recreational area than other vaults. The recreation area includes several pool tables and some minor loot. Within the recreation area there is a locked door leading to the maintenance wing.

Living quarters
On the main floor of the living quarters there is a cage holding 3 captives: Rick Lancer, Rachael and Dennis. The cage also holds the body of the fourth captive, Carter, who managed to escape to search the vault for weapons before being caught and subsequently killed.

Daniel, the Fiend who holds the key to the cage can be found in one of the most southern rooms of the living quarters (see the unmarked quest I Love Bananas). Alternatively, the cage door can be picked without Karma loss, and no Fiends will become hostile.

Three of the rooms in the living quarters each have a deceased Fiend on a bed, surrounded by empty syringes, Jet and Psycho.

Around the southern part of the living quarters is a bedroom containing a terminal with an administrator "Billy boy" and a function called "Compose Automated Blast Message". However this does nothing, stating that the system is offline.

The flooded areas are long and difficult to swim through with enough time to return for air before taking drowning damage. In addition, the water is irradiated at 1 rad/sec. It is strongly recommended to have the rebreather equipped when swimming through to loot these areas. Alternatively, you can use turbo to slow down time, which also makes your air last longer.

Maintenance wing
The leader of the Fiends in the vault, Motor-Runner can be found in his throne room in the northern part of the maintenance wing along with his two guard dogs, BoneGnash and GhashBone.

Notable loot
If the Fiends are non-hostile, looting will not make them hostile, nor will it cost Karma.

Recreation area

 * Behind a very easy locked door connected to the main part of the recreation area is a room with a Nuka-Cola Quartz, Nuka-Cola Victory and 20-30 pool cues.
 * Several bobby pins in front of every locked door, lying on the floor. They are barely noticeable due to its size and the low visibility.

Living quarters

 * A Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual on the bookshelf, in the large, carpeted bedroom behind an average terminal locked door immediately opposite the entrance to the living quarters from the recreation area. The book is on a shelf immediately to the right as you enter.
 * Sunset Sarsaparilla star bottle cap on desk in a room next to a bottle of Sunset Sarsaparilla in a south room of the living quarters one floor up from the flooded area. It's in the room across the hall from the room with a terminal that says "Hello Billy boy!" when you open it. A Vault 3 utility jumpsuit is also in the locker here.
 * A pair of binoculars are on the bookshelf outside the overseer's office. Another pair are on the shelf next to the observation window in the overseer's office.

Maintenance wing

 * A chainsaw is carried by Motor-Runner.
 * There are 4 Vault 3 utility jumpsuits behind the average locked door (with terminal) to your left as you enter the maintenance wing.
 * The reverse pulse cleaner for the Brotherhood of Steel quest Still in the Dark can be found in a locker inside Motor-Runner's throne room.

Related quests

 * Still in the Dark
 * Aba Daba Honeymoon
 * I Love Bananas
 * Bounty Killer

Appearances
Vault 3 appears in Fallout: New Vegas.

Behind the scenes

 * Vault 3 was designed by Akil Hooper.
 * One of the rooms in the vault contains graffiti of the name "Germaine" crossed out with the name "Bret" written above. This may be a reference to the musical comedy act "The Flight of Conchords", whose band members' names are Bret and Jemaine.
 * Vault 3 is likely an allusion to Vault 13. In addition to the similarity of their numbers, both are indefinitely-sealed vaults that find themselves confronted by a malfunction of the vault water system. Water rationing is implemented, and, because no replacement parts are available, the vault dwellers choose to open the door and engage with the outside world for the first time. Where the two narrative diverge is that, whereas Vault 13's overseer acts with an excess of caution in engaging the outside world (much to the chagrin of Vault 13's dissidents), Vault 3's overseer acts with an excess of recklessness (again, over the objections of Vault 3's dissidents). In this way, Vault 3 functions to demonstrate how things in Fallout 1 might have been, had things gone just a bit differently. The emotional force of this demonstration is enhanced by the Vault Dweller's conviction (likely shared by the player), that Vault 13's overseer was too cautious: an assessment that the downfall of Vault 3 calls into question.

Bugs

 * When entering the Vault the Fiend will talk to you. If you pass the speech check or are wearing Great Khan clothing, she will tell the other fiends not to attack . Regardless of that happening (even on previous visits) the fiends may still randomly become hostile and attack. This appears to be due to the companion code still highlighting some Fiends as enemies, and happens even if you tell them to wait outside the vault. Instead, send them back to the Lucky 38 and go on completely alone. Note that killing the attacking fiends in the vault does not always cause other fiends to attack you. Usually, the fiends in the entrance room of the vault will never attack if you passed the speech check and you don't attack them. Motor-Runner will also never become hostile unless you attack him.
 * Running to access living quarters and fast-access the door many times, the recreation area fiends will become friendly again, and exit Vault 3 will fix this bug.
 * The entry on the Overseer's terminal that unlocks the two submerged storerooms doesn't always work, and sometimes leaves both doors locked with a Hard lock.
 * Merely entering Vault 3 may corrupt your save and not allow you to load any save created within the vault or after exiting the vault. This problem does not occur if you are connected to Live, and is resolved by connecting to Live.
 * Sometimes, while in the Maintenance Wing, if you simply walk into the main corridor, the game will crash.
 * If you go to the jail cells, look in the cell, and press 'sit bench' you will appear inside the locked cell. To get out either pick the lock or do the same thing on the bench outside the cell.
 * Sometimes the ghoul Dennis will spawn outside of his cell and move freely throughout the vault, or a Fiend will spawn inside the cell with the prisoners.
 * After finding Bryce Anders' body and hacking the computer to open the door, Capt. Curtis walks in the vault and starts talking to you as if you were still in camp.
 * If you pass the speech check to enter Vault 3 and immediately go to talk to Motor-Runner, sometimes if you go to look for Bryce Anders afterwards, he will not be there and the secret door will be open. If you return to Capt. Curtis he will talk to the player as if Anders had been rescued.
 * If you enter the vault peacefully and attack the Fiends in the Living Quarters near Daniel and the other prisoners, before freeing them, the game will freeze three to five seconds after combat started.
 * There are multiple tables you can get stuck on, and not be able to move from until you reload an older save.