Liberty Prime is a unique U.S. Army robot found at the Citadel. Liberty Prime was found and brought to working order by the Brotherhood of Steel. Its total restoration was due to the assistance of Dr. Madison Li, who solved Prime's power issues, in the year 2277.
Background
Liberty Prime is a formidable combat robot that is being tinkered with in the Brotherhood of Steel's laboratory. Its original intent was to liberate Anchorage, Alaska, from the Red Chinese during the Sino-American War of 2072. It is programmed to deliver a mixture of patriotic propaganda messages and incredible firepower to ensure victory.[1]
The Citadel laboratory computer terminal located directly in front of Liberty Prime reveals that the project was commissioned by General Constantine Chase as a joint effort between the U.S. Army, General Atomics International and RobCo Industries. However, problems with the power system caused major delays. These delays consumed so much time that Anchorage was ultimately liberated in a much longer and more costly battle using the United States Army's other secret weapon: the T-51b power armor.
Roughly two centuries later, Liberty Prime was finally salvaged and brought into service by the Brotherhood of Steel after they discovered it in the basement of the destroyed Pentagon. The Brotherhood was able to modify Prime's targeting system to perceive Enclave forces and super mutants to be Chinese communists.
Liberty Prime required a tremendous amount of energy to operate. The Brotherhood of Steel was unable to provide the necessary amount of power, even with the advanced technology salvaged from inside the Pentagon. Eventually, with the aid of Dr. Li, the Brotherhood of Steel solved the problem.
Liberty Prime was the Brotherhood's trump card against the Enclave, and was revealed when it marched on Project Purity where it was used to effortlessly destroy the Enclave defenders entrenched there. For two weeks afterward, Liberty Prime helped the Brotherhood prevail in the war against the Enclave, but was eventually destroyed by an orbital warhead bombardment at the Enclave-held satellite relay station. Liberty Prime's remains were recovered by the Brotherhood of Steel and, though it would take months or years to do so, the Brotherhood set about rebuilding and upgrading it.
Gameplay attributes
Liberty Prime fires dual, head-mounted energy beams, which are similar to shots fired from a Tesla cannon. The beams can kill multiple Enclave soldiers with a single shot. Its backpack holds a seemingly inexhaustible supply of explosives that it hurls at enemies with unerring accuracy. These munitions detonate on contact, in a manner very similar to a mini nuke, but with many times the explosive power. Liberty Prime's massive size and strength count as weapons too, as it can crush or rip to shreds anything in its path, if it doesn't blast them to bits first. It can sustain large amounts of damage, and defeat energy barriers by walking into them, although it will sometimes grab them and rip them down. Finally, to inspire its allies and demoralize foes, it constantly spouts anti-communist phrases as well as declaring that "American democracy cannot be defeated". Like most of the robots in the game it seems unaware that any time has passed between 2077 and the present or, more accurately, that any cataclysmic or world-changing events have transpired.
Interactions with the player character
Interactions overview
| Interactions | ||
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This character is essential. Essential characters cannot be killed. | |
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This character is a permanent companion. | |
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This character is a temporary companion. | |
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This character starts quests. |
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This character is involved in quests. | |
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This character is a doctor. |
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This character is a merchant. |  -Sells: - |
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This character can repair items. | Max Repair condition: - |
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This character rents beds. | -.
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This character drops an ear upon death (Contract Killer). | |
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This character drops a finger upon death (Lawbringer). | |
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This character can be enslaved with the Mesmetron. | |
Statistics
| Name (Form ID) | Statistics | Behavior | Abilities | Items | ||||
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| Liberty Prime 0005FD26 |
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| Liberty Prime 00001FCC  |
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Quests
- Take it Back!: The Brotherhood of Steel, with the help of Dr. Li, manages to fix the power issues with the robot. With the pressing need to reclaim Project Purity, Elder Lyons orders Prime deployed without proper testing. Liberty Prime makes its way to the Jefferson Memorial, while destroying Enclave energy barriers, vertibirds and troops. Once there, Liberty Prime assists the Brotherhood in guarding the Memorial's entrance, after taking down the force field surrounding it. The giant robot will then remain there for the duration of the quest.
- Death From Above: Liberty Prime joins the Lone Wanderer in the assault on the Satellite Relay Station, an Enclave base located beyond the Rockland Car Tunnel. After the Enclave hits Prime with an orbital strike, Prime crawls from the wreckage and initiates its self-destruct sequence to prevent being captured by the "communists". Its head, feet and what appears to be a forearm are taken back to the Citadel. Similar to Deputy Weld, its head can be activated, which will cause it to play back some of its anti-communist phrases, although they sound much more garbled than they are during Take it Back!.
- Getting Ready for Prime Time: At the conclusion of Broken Steel's main quest line, Scribe Rothchild vows the Brotherhood of Steel will rebuild Prime, although it may take months, or even years. He then asks for the player character's help in scavenging sensor modules and cameras to assist in the rebuilding process.
Other interactions
- Liberty Prime is first seen in the lab beneath the Citadel in its inactive state. The Lone Wanderer can gain information about the robot, as well as hear some of its dialogue by using a nearby computer terminal to initiate a dialogue test.
Notes
- It is the "technological marvel" mentioned in the Brotherhood's faction profile, and the unknown "super weapon" referenced in the "Development of Super Weapon Confirmed" Capitol Post article that appears in terminals at the Capitol Post building and the Citadel.
- A picture of the Statue of Liberty is carved into the soles of both of its feet.
- There is a heart painted on one side of its head.
- Three Dog will make a news report as a eulogy for it on Galaxy News Radio when it is destroyed.
- In an e-mail from RobCo Industries to the US Army, it is revealed that although there are power management issues, it may still be possible to send Liberty Prime to Anchorage in time for the attack, although it is only possible if the Army were to disable all of Prime's weapon systems. Later in the e-mail, it is proposed that "Maybe he could just step on them?" instead.
- If the Lone Wanderer watches Liberty Prime as it is being lifted out of the Citadel lab, Liberty Prime will hit the wall of the Citadel, subsequently causing a loud "thud" sound and dislodging some pieces of the wall.
- Although the Lone Wanderer can't kill Liberty Prime, it's possible to cause it to turn hostile towards the Lone Wanderer, in which case it will eliminate the player character and their followers in a matter of seconds.
- Although the player character may hear it make comments about the liberation of Anchorage, Liberty Prime never actually appears in, or is mentioned in the Operation: Anchorage add-on, as it was not completed in time.
- Liberty Prime's death animation bears a striking similarity to Frank Horrigan's from Fallout 2.
- After Broken Steel is completed, you can find Liberty Prime's head on the table in the Citadel lab. However, upon returning to the Satellite Relay Station where he was destroyed, you can still find his head there.
- Although it is said that he is programmed to attack super mutants, he will not attack the super mutant companion Fawkes. However, if Fawkes is fired in the area of Liberty Prime, Prime will fire upon the Super Mutant.
- The impact data set for Liberty Prime's weaponry is available as legacy content in Fallout: New Vegas, available for use in the G.E.C.K.
Notable quotes
Many of its quotes give reference to '50s and '60s anti-communist slogans, made to be more specific to China.
Base Game
- "Liberty Prime is online. All systems nominal. Weapons hot. Mission: the destruction of any and all Chinese communists."
- "Voice module online. Audio functionality test initialized. Designation: Liberty Prime. Mission: the liberation of Anchorage, Alaska."
- "Obstruction detected, composition: titanium alloy supplemented by photonic resonance barrier. Probability of mission hindrance: zero percent!"
- "Chairman Cheng will fail: China will fall!"
- "Revised stratagem: Initiate photonic resonance overcharge."
- "Communism is the very definition of failure!"
- "Communist engaged!"
- "Communism is a temporary setback on the road to freedom."
- "Communism is a lie!"
- "Communist target acquired."
- "Communists detected on American soil. Lethal force engaged!"
- "Democracy is non-negotiable."
- "Freedom is the sovereign right of every American."
- "Embrace democracy, or you will be eradicated."
- "Democracy is truth. Communism is death."
- "Democracy will never be defeated!"
- "The last domino falls here!"
- "Established stratagem: Inadequate."
- "Tactical assessment: Red Chinese victory... impossible."
- "Engaging Chinese invader!"
- "Engaging red Chinese aggressors."
- "Commencing tactical assessment: Red Chinese threat detected."
- "We will not fear the red menace!"
- "Initiating directive 7395: destroy all communists!"
- "America will never fall to Communist invasion!"
- "Anchorage will be liberated."
- "Alaska's liberation is imminent!"
- "Warning: Forcible impact alert. Scanning for Chinese artillery."
- "Death is a preferable alternative to Communism!"
Broken Steel
- "Communist threat assessment: Minimal. Scanning defenses..."
- "Structural weakness detected. Exploiting."
- "Satellite Uplink detected. Analysis of Communist transmission pending."
- "Warning! Warning! Red Chinese Orbital Strike Imminent! All personnel should reach minimum safe distance immediately!"
- "Repeat: Red Chinese orbital strike inbound! All U.S. Army personnel must vacate the area immediately! Protection protocols engaged!"
- "Catastrophic... system... failure... Initiating core shutdown as per emergency initiative 2682209... I die, so that democracy may... live..."
- "Freedom is the sovereign right of every American."
- "Death is a preferable alternative to Communism!"
- "Tactical assessment: Red Chinese victory... impossible."
- "America will never fall to Communist invasion!"
Appearances
Liberty Prime appears in Fallout 3, as well as its add-on, Broken Steel.
Behind the scenes
- According to an interview in 1UP, Emil Pagliarulo denied any intentional relation between Liberty Prime and Optimus Prime. Pagliarulo admitted he could have made the reference subconsciously.
- In the early parts of development, Liberty Prime was supposed to be larger than seen in game, and the player character was going to ride inside of its head during the final battle. [2]
- The GECK lists a cut quest called "Infiltration" which was situated between The American Dream and Take it Back! and had the player stealing a power source from Rivet City to power Liberty Prime.
- Liberty Prime throws football-shaped mini-nukes as if it were a quarterback. This pays homage to "The Nuclear Football", which is a term used to refer to the briefcase containing the launch codes for America's nuclear arsenal, with the president as the football's "quarterback".
- Liberty Prime's head design strongly echoes Gort, the powerful robotic protector from the 1951 anti-nuclear-war science-fiction movie The Day the Earth Stood Still. Both robots share a powerful beam attack from their visor-like "eyes".
Bugs
- Liberty Prime often gets stuck. Although the most common places for this glitch is on the left side of the highway when heading to retake the Purifier at the Jefferson Memorial, and on the first large bridge the Lone Wanderer crosses. [verified]
- If all else fails, you may be able to fix this by selecting Liberty Prime in the console and typing "moveto player".
- If you kill Vargas at any point in the game before starting Take it Back!, Liberty Prime will stay immobile, preventing the player from continuing the quest line. [verified]
- The only way to fix this issue is using the console command: player.placeatme 0001d44e 1 to respawn Paladin Vargas and proceed with the quest.
- It is possible to get around this by baiting Liberty Prime into chasing after you by attacking BoS initiates.
- Liberty Prime may launch into the air and remain there. The best way to solve this is to wait (real time). If this fails, the player may need to reload the previous auto save. [verified]
- If the Lone Wanderer manages to get far enough ahead of Prime when it is attacking Enclave forces, it is possible for the player character to be killed by its attacks. [verified]
- If the Lone Wanderer manages to get too far ahead of Liberty Prime before it disables the first "force field", Liberty Prime may stop walking across the first bridge after shutting down the first "force field." [verified]
Gallery
References
- ↑ Fallout 3 Official Game Guide
- ↑ Fallout 3 Afterthoughts:“In the original plan, he was going to be massive, and the player was going to ride in his head, anime style.”— Emil Pagliarulo
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