Sergeant RL-3

 is a robotic soldier created before the Great War that can become one of your party members in Fallout 3.

Sergeant RL-3 has an experimental soldier personality making him "unstable," meaning he only likes particular characters (thus the neutral requirement). During combat he will also say things like "Another glorious day in this man's army! Hooah!" making him quite a comical follower.

Location
This metal patriot can be purchased from Tinker Joe outside the RobCo Factory for 1000 bottlecaps. The player character can only buy Sergeant RL-3 if his karma is neutral. Otherwise Tinker Joe will just say Sergeant RL-3 "...doesn't like the look of you." (will not follow you if you already have a follower.)

RL-3 can be purchased for 500 caps with a minimum of 70 in Barter skill.

Sergeant RL-3 won't leave if the player's karma later moves away from neutral, but if separated from the player either through firing or through story events, he cannot be re-hired until karma is again neutral. In these circumstances, Sergeant RL-3 will be waiting in Canterbury Commons after a day or two, where he can be re-hired for free. As well, if you want Charon, fire RL-3, hire Charon wait for RL-3 to get to Canterbury Commons, send Dogmeat to Vault 101 and then ask RL-3 to join you.

Upon recruiting him he seems to treat you as his superior.

RL-3 is a superb choice for big-guns users for a variety of reasons: -Carrying capacity of 197.5 (2nd only to Fawkes) lets you store your gear on him and allows you to possibly spend no points at all on strength, saving them for other stats. -Because of his built-in plasma and flamer weapons RL-3 is unable to equip any other, even better, weapons and as such there is zero risk of him nailing you in the back of the head with a mini-nuke after snatching one while your back was turned and loading it into the cumbersome Fatman he was so graciously lugging for you. (Other characters, namely Jericho, not only have a poor AI for handling such high blast radius weapons, but seem to intentionally seek out ammo for these weapons, should they be trusted with their handling, upon which the player often finds himself 'accidently' in the follower's line of fire) -The neutral karma requirement fits in well with big-guns usage in that the neutral option of most quests and just gameplay in general often involves receiving alot of money, as opposed to good choices like "You keep the money, you need it more than me" or even evil choices, though often profitable beyond neutral ones, which frequently burn bridges for the player (i.e. nuking megaton removes access to Moira Brown, the best repair merchant available, repairs to about 50% initially, even without boosting her skill with the Dream Crusher perk to around 75% condition) -His only moderately damaging and fairly innacurate plasma weapon prevents him from sniping out every hostile AI that loads in the current cell, allowing the player a chance to do some damage and thus gain exp, while still providing at least some long-range support when it becomes critical in a fight. -The flamer he uses is powerful in contrast to the plasma weapon, and as such he is quite proficient at dispatching fast-moving enemies (wide flame spread) that the player has trouble with using big-guns, as well as provide useful support against high-health, in-your-face melee enemies such as behemoths (flamer can continually burn the enemy).

Equipment
Sergeant RL-3's default equipment consists of special versions of a Plasma Rifle and a Flamer.

RL-3's "storage compartment" provides the second largest storage capacity out of all available followers. Only Fawkes can hold more equipment. RL-3's carrying capacity is 197.5 pounds.

Stats

 * Combat Skill: 50
 * Attack Damage: 23
 * Attack Reach: 96
 * Turning Speed: 150
 * Foot Weight: 3
 * Speed Mult: 110%

RL-3 does not scale to player level like some companions, so he may become outclassed later in the game. With the addition of the Broken Steel add-on, RL-3's level does scale with the player's up to 30.

Robots are considered creatures rather than NPCs and thus has an additional list of stats present for creatures.

Combat
RL-3 uses a weaker version of the Plasma Rifle at long range, and a very effective Flamer at close range. His aim with the plasma gun is actually rather average, and actually somewhat worse than that of a standard Mr. Gutsy model. Like all robots, he is extremely vulnerable to Energy Weapons, Big Guns and strong melee attacks like those from Yao Guais and Deathclaws. He does however appear to be highly resistant to flame attacks, such as those from Fire Ants. Sergeant RL-3 repairs himself automatically after combat. In addition, despite his mechanical nature, if stimpaks are placed in his inventory he will use them to heal himself during a firefight. His best use is in small to moderate party kills, i.e. Raiders, Slavers and the like.

Much like Fawkes, RL-3 does not sneak, and will rush off to battle with any detected enemy, thus he is not recommended for situations where stealth is a necessity.

Unlike the other Fallout 3 followers, RL-3 has fixed stats instead of leveling proportionally with the player. As a result, he's quite strong at low player levels, but can become outclassed at higher levels. If the Broken Steel add-on is installed, his stats and level will level up acording to the player's level, up to level 30.

Bugs

 * Although his ranged weapon is a plasma weapon, the firing sound for it is the same as a Laser Rifle. However when the shot hits a target, the normal plasma sound is used.(Observed 360)


 * If RL-3 enters combat before you have purchased him from Tinker Joe, you may get a message stating that Sergeant RL-3 is unconscious.


 * After the Tranquility lane quest, if not found waiting outside the Lone Wanderer's Tranquility Lounger, he can be found waiting for you with Tinker Joe outside of the RobCo Facility (PS3 confirmed). (Proven wrong on PC)PC found him in Taft Tunnels where the scientist has the heart attack &lt;- Confirmed on XBOX360 - also, Dr. Li and companions will also respawn in the Taft Tunnels when you go looking for RL3 in there, and follow you back to the Citadel, yet again.


 * Sometimes after acquiring RL-3, occasionally no boxes or creatures will display that they are "Empty". This happens on all platforms.


 * If RL-3 becomes lost when he is trying to reach you, you can simply fast travel to a location including your current one and he will return.


 * If you utilize the Robotics Expert Perk to deactivate RL-3 while he is in combat, he will deactivate. While the deactivated robot will not follow you around in each area, when you enter a new area he will appear at door.


 * If RL-3 is fired after you enter the Ninth Circle and acquire Charon, when he kills Ahzrukhal, RL-3 will become hostile to every one in the bar thus attacking them. (confirmed PC, may be an occasional event on 360)


 * If you try to kill Dogmeat in front of RL-3 he will become hostile, but Tinker Joe will not.


 * On the Xbox360, it has been reported that RL-3 is hostile after being captured by the Enclave, and retains stored items as well.


 * If RL-3 is frenzied he will remain freindly while being your follower but, the next time he is fired or you are seperated he will be hostile for the rest of the game. The only way to fix this problem is to reload a previous saved game before he was frenzied. It seems when he repairs himself after battle it does not fix him being frenzied.


 * On a very rare occasion, when you dismiss RL-3 as your companion to return to Canterbury Commons, he will turn hostile to you and everybody around you.


 * Before you recruit him his hp seems to be over 10 thousand due to be able to sustain a hit from the mysterious stranger's magnum.(Modded xbox 360)

PRID 94285 kill resurrect disable enable
 * After Raven Rock RL-3 goes back to Canterburry Commons and becomes hostile. To fix this in the console type (and hit enter after every line):

if you no longer have neutral karma he can't be recruted anymore. to change your karma level in the console type (and hit enter): "Player.rewardkarma -1000" (without the quotes) drops you 1000 karma, place the number that will get YOU to neutral. then type "player.rewardkarma 1000" after you recruit him to gain 1000 karma (again place the number relevent to you).
 * With Broken Steel and having a high PC level he might be able to survive a fatman shot on Very Easy difficulty (360)

Quotes
Sergeant RL-3 is quite the comical fellow, yelling out patriotic and Red Scare slogans to everyone who is close enough to hear them (including the player character, who he usually addresses as "Commander", or "Sir"). The lines he says, however, do not differ much from the ones you can hear from ordinary Mister Gutsy robots.

Combat
 * "Ready to die for your country, you commie son of a bitch?"
 * "Eat hot lead, commie bastard!"
 * "Anyone got a target?" -Searching for enemy
 * "I have a personal message for you from Uncle Sam!"
 * "Is that the best you can do?"
 * "There's nothing I like better than making another poor bastard die for his country!"
 * "Today's a hell of a day to die, commie!"
 * "Made in the U.S. Army!"
 * "Now you're starting to piss me off."
 * "Kill 'em all, let God sort 'em out!"
 * "Kill 'em all! God will understand!" (rare)
 * "There's nothing like the smell of plasma in the morning!"
 * "I'm just getting warmed up! Hooah!"
 * "You're making me angry, you won't like me when I'm angry!" (rarely said)
 * "Pain is just weakness leaving the body!" (when taking damage)

Greetings and Conversation
 * "Salutations, Commander! Sergeant RL-3, Gutsy-class robotic soldier, reporting for duty!"
 * "RL-3 comes equipped with everything a good soldier needs, but your RL-3 can assist in carrying additional equipment, if needed." -while trading equipment

Post-Combat
 * "Another glorious day in this man's army!"
 * "Time to hit the showers!"
 * "Do that again and I'll put my boot so far up your ass you'll cough up boot polish!" -after withdrawing a weapon to forfeit combat
 * "That's how we do things in the U.S. army! Hooah!"

Idle
 * "Sir, I am on the lookout!"
 * "Scanning, Sir"

Telling him to wait Note:He may say "Running will only make the pain last longer" -when an enemy is fleeing battle.
 * "I'll keep this location secured, Sir"

Telling Him Not to Accompany You As He Is Waiting
 * "Old war-bots never die; they just rust away" A Parody of General Douglas MacArthur's famous quote after being fired by the President

Trivia

 * Unlike most Mr. Gutsy robots, RL-3 has an alpha-numerical designation. This is most likely a subtle reference to actor and former Marine R. Lee Ermey, best known as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman from the movie Full Metal Jacket. Ermey retired from the USMC a staff sergeant, and was later given an honorary promotion to gunnery sergeant. Reading the 3 as an 'E', the robot's name would be 'Sergeant R L-E'. R. Lee Ermey also was the voice of General Simon Barnaky in Fallout: Tactics, which may be a nod to both his past experiences in the Fallout universe and to his career as a whole.
 * When entering dialogue with RL-3, he will occasionally say "By your command, sir!" in reference to the Battlestar Galactica television series.
 * When RL-3 says "KIll'em all, let god sort them out," it could be a reference to the DOOM film in which the Rock says the exect same line.