Nuka-Cola Plant (Fallout 3)

The  is a large, three-story factory building at the southern edge of the Capital Wasteland. It is the optional location in The Nuka-Cola Challenge quest and a starting location for the unmarked quest Just for the Taste of It.

The building has four sections: Research and Development, Storage and Mixing Vats, Offices, and Factory Floor.

It is sparsely populated with NukaLurks, Nuka-Cola Company Protectrons (see the Unique Monsters section below) and some Radroaches.

Research and Development
The first section of the factory contains the Research and Development department. The terminals here contain some info on development of the Nuka-Cola Quantum and the difficulties (or rather casualties) that occurred in the process. There is a R&D Safe here, that can be unlocked only with a key that is in possession of Milo, Robotic Foreman. The safe contains the Nuka-Cola Clear Recipe (needed to complete the Just for the Taste of It quest), plus some random minor loot.

Storage and Mixing Vats
The Storage and Mixing Vats section of the factory is partially flooded with blue-glowing liquid resembling Nuka-Cola Quantum. The liquid is slightly radioactive. Several NukaLurks may be encountered here. In the room with two NukaLurks and the suspended Protectron there is a note, "Welcome to the Nuka-Cola Family!," on the desk beside a working Automated Maintenance Terminal. The note is addressed to a new worker Larry and contains his employee ID number that will be useful in the conversation with Milo later. Notice: sometimes the "Welcome to the Nuka-Cola Family!" note clips into the table that it is sitting on. (Xbox 360). There are some elevated catwalks at the western edge of the section which are not connected to any other catwalks. You can get up to them with a little effort, but they don't lead anywhere, and there is no loot.

Offices
In the Offices section of the facility there are several bottles of Nuka-Cola along with 2 skill books. It is also the location where the "Just for the Taste of It" unmarked quest starts. It begins with a note that can be found on the body of Winger Mercier. A Stealth Boy and an Assault Rifle can be found beside the corpse.

Locked Room
There is an Average or Hard locked room here that contains four skeletal corpses and a note entitled, "Help Me." The note is a short diary of a factory worker locked in the closet by Milo as a punishment for prolonging a break time. After a few days another worker had joined the prisoner in his misery, apparently for bathroom misbehavior. Body count shows that more were punished later.

Factory Floor
In the bottom level of the Factory Floor a friendly Mister Handy, named Milo, Shipping Foreman, can be found. He is in possession of R&D Safe Key and the Shipping Computer password. The key and the password can be obtained either by introducing oneself as a new worker Larry and giving Milo his ID number (see "Welcome to the Nuka-Cola Family!" note above), persuading Milo with high enough Speech skill, resetting him with the Robotics Expert perk or simply by killing him (password is recorded on the Holodisk, which causes a "pip05 Error - 26: File Not found for the image).

NOTE: If Milo is confronted before finding Winger Mercier's corpse, he cannot be asked for the R&D Safe Key, unless earlier you succeeded in convincing him you owned the plant. However, killing Milo will automatically result in him dropping the key. (PC, PS3 and Xbox360 confirmed)

NOTE: If a hostile Nuka-Cola security Protectron is in the vicinity, Milo will become hostile towards the player.

The Shipping Computer can be used to mark the locations of the initial Nuka-Cola Quantum delivery sites on your Pip-Boy 3000 map (this is the optional part of "The Nuka-Cola Challenge" quest).

The Packing Computer (Very Easy) is located on the Factory Floor level two rooms before the entrance to the offices. It can be used to manufacture 3 Nuka-Cola Quantums before the bottling line jams permanently.

Notable loot
Factory Floor (Before passing locked door):
 * Dean's Electronics - Factory Floor level, in the cafeteria, as you enter the building, take a right. It is on the corner of the large L-shaped counter in the cafeteria.
 * Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual - In the main entrance, after walking in the door look up and you will see a hole in the roof where a filing cabinet is lying face down. The book is inside the cabinet.

Factory Floor (behind locked door):
 * Tumblers Today - Factory Floor section, north section near entrance to the Office section. Past Milo, through a door you'll find a safe and the book is under the safe.
 * 3 Nuka-Cola Quantum - In the Factory Floor level, use the Packing Terminal to select Quantums, then turn on the bottling line. It jams instantly, but 3 Nuka-Cola Quantums appear on the line.

Offices:
 * Big Book of Science - On the middle floor, western edge of the map, due north of Winger Mercier's corpse, on a table.
 * Lying, Congressional Style - Also on the middle floor, east/northeast part of the map, on top of a safe, right next to a Marketing Terminal.
 * Stealth Boy and Assault Rifle - Beside Winger Mercier's corpse in the Office section.
 * Help Me Note - Found on one of a number of skeletons in a closet telling about the draconian punishments enforced by Milo. The closet can be found on the first floor of the office on the north side. It is locked with a hard lock.

Outside
 * Nuka-Cola Quantum - Behind the Plant at the loading docks inside a truck, with 10 bottles of regular Nuka-Cola to boot.
 * Dean's Electronics - Just NW of the plant, in a truck-trailer on top of a hill. (See Andale).
 * When you are in front of the factory's entrance, go to southeast/south. You'll find the corpse of a wastelander under a bench, with a message titled "Marry Me!".
 * To the north, there is a U.S. Army: 30 Handy Flamethrower Recipes along with some flour inside a Dot's Diner with a few raiders nearby.

Unique Monsters
The Storage and Mixing Vats section of the plant is infested with a mutation of Mirelurk known as NukaLurk. The NukaLurks are blue-tinted, probably as a result of living in the radioactive remnants of Nuka-Cola Quantum. Nukalurks may contain NukaLurk Meat when killed - but not always.

The Protectrons within the Factory also have unique dialogue compared to most other Protectrons. They mention that they are operating under the authority of the Nuka-Cola Corporation as they fire upon a target, with the words "Nuka-Cola!" being enthusiastically spoken by another dubbed-in voice. The Protectrons in the Nuka-Cola Plant also can be identified by the Nuka-Cola-logo that's on their armor.

Related quests

 * The Nuka-Cola Challenge (optional location)
 * Just for the Taste of It

Bugs

 * Seems that door between Offices and Factory Floor sections may not let the companion through. Simply try to quicksave and quickload, the companion should reappear right in front of the door. Otherwise, the companion may be found when going back to previous section. If Fawkes is your companion, it is possible to wait an hour and he will show by your side. (Not tested with other companions.) Do not continue on your way into the offices. Your companion will try to follow you via the OTHER ROUTE to the offices, that is, the Vats. They might be killed by NukaLurks as they try to reach you.
 * While walking down some flights of stairs, it is possible to walk over the railing and get stuck between it and the wall. You are also unable to jump. PC users can type 'tcl' into the console to get out, but console users will have to revert to a previous save point if they want to free themselves. Sometimes you can free yourself from being stuck there, if you turn to the wall and shoot against the wall, e.g. with a laser rifle.
 * There's a "Garage door" opposite to Milo, Shipping Foreman in the same room. It's on top of some machinery where you can land in jumping from the stairs high above. You can click to open or close the door, but it doesn't open at all. It seems to be one of those unfinished works, or maybe it's been a place for something that has been erased before the release of the game.
 * Sometimes the liquid within the Storage and Vats room will have trouble being rendered, possibly pulling off an effect where there were alternating bars of dark and light blue coloring which seem to move. (Xbox 360)

Behind the scenes

 * A "quantum leap" is a term from nuclear physics which, in everyday speech, means "any sudden and significant change, advance, or increase." Thus, "Take a leap... Enjoy a Quantum!" is a doubly fitting marketing slogan, referring both to the radioactive isotope in the product and to the radical newness of the product itself.
 * Nuka-Cola Clear could be a tongue-in-cheek reference to Crystal Pepsi, a clear soda made by PepsiCo from 1992 to 1993 in the United States, Canada, and for a short time in Australia.
 * In the "Stage Three" log of the Marketing Terminal, there are obvious hints suggesting that Pepsi's "Pepsi Challenge" was carried out by hired actors rather than normal store patrons.
 * The name of the side quest "Just for the Taste of It" is the original slogan for Diet Coke.
 * The Password for the factory's shipping manifest "NC-C1864" is a nod to a Star Trek ship registry. While the NCC-1701 is the registry for the U.S.S. Enterprise, the NCC-1864 is for the U.S.S. Reliant.  It is the ship that Khan steals in movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

Appearances
The Nuka-Cola Plant appears only in Fallout 3. Завод Ядер-кола