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This page is about the quest. For the simulated location, see Tranquility Lane simulation. |
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- Tranquility Lane theme
Tranquility Lane is a Fallout 3 main quest, an Xbox 360/PC achievement and a PlayStation 3 trophy. The quest begins immediately after the completion of Scientific Pursuits when the player sits in a Tranquility Lounger in Vault 112. The quest can also be accessed after the completion of Escape! by entering Vault 112 after the Lone Wanderer leaves Vault 101.
Summary
Tranquility Lane is a virtual reality simulation housed in Vault 112, created by Dr. Stanislaus Braun. The player is tasked by Betty with an escalating series of violent tasks ranging from making a child cry to killing residents for Betty's entertainment in order to free the player's father, James, from the simulation. As an alternative to completing the violent tasks, the player may activate the "failsafe". Unlike the murders ordered by Betty (who can revive the residents at will), the failsafe will irrevocably kill everyone. Ironically, this act of mass-murder will grant good Karma instead of bad, due to the fact that it frees Braun's victims from a hellish existence. Both solutions result in the release of the player and his/her father from the simulation.
Residents
The following are the residents that "live" in Tranquility Lane:
Betty's tasks
Betty will ask you to do the following things for "her" entertainment:
- Make Timmy Cry:
- By attacking him physically.
- By convincing him that his parents are divorcing each other because of him, which he will believe after a speech check.
- By giving him the military school pamphlet to fool him into believing his parents are sending him away.
- By killing one (or both) of his parents.
- Break Up The Rockwells' Marriage:
- By telling Mrs. Rockwell that her husband is cheating on her, which she will believe after a speech check.
- By finding the lacy underwear in the Simpson household (upstairs on their bed), placing it on Roger's desk in the Rockwells' basement, then telling Mrs. Rockwell that her husband is either cheating or he is a cross-dresser.
- By reading Mrs. Rockwell's diary upstairs, which indicates that she'd like to kill Mrs. Simpson. Take the rolling pin from the kitchen in the Rockwell house and beat Mrs. Simpson to death with it, then tell Mr. Rockwell about it. Note that reading the diary is optional; skipping that part will not prevent the player from successfully completing the task in this manner.
- Kill Mrs. Henderson: Note that Betty is adamant that you cannot simply beat Mrs. Henderson to death, as that's boring; you must be creative about it. (Betty will just revive Mrs. Henderson if you try.)
- The chandelier above the hallway to the kitchen can be rigged to drop when someone walks under it.
- A roller skate can be moved to the stairs, resulting in Mrs. Henderson falling to her death when she tries to go upstairs.
- Martha Simpson informs you that Mrs Henderson loves cooking. Her oven can be sabotaged to leak natural gas. Ask her to make you a pie; when she lights the stove, the explosion will kill her instantly.
- The security console in the kitchen can be accessed, allowing you to enable security lockdown, locking Mrs. Henderson in the house. Set her robot to "Begin Security Program" mode, and, as it wanders around, disable the "security parameters" data, rendering it unable to determine friend from foe. The robot will also be hostile to you. If you do manage to destroy the robot after it kills Mabel but before deactivating its security mode, you will not be locked in the house, just deactivate the security on the terminal and you can leave.
- Kill Everyone: As Betty says, you'll find the Pint-Sized Slasher gear in the doghouse to the right of the abandoned house. At this point, everyone will become hostile and attempt to flee from you (with the exceptions of Betty and the dog, Doc and the Mister Handy. Hunt down and kill everyone.
After everyone is murdered, Braun thanks you for the entertainment and tells you what you wanted to know most: Doc is actually your father, and has been watching you in horror the entire time. He then opens the exit door, allowing you to leave the simulation.
Alternative "fail safe" solution
Failsafe terminal
Failsafe terminal in color
Fail safe summary
You can skip all of Betty's negative Karma inducing tasks by finding the abandoned house at the beginning of the simulation. Step inside and activate the fail safe using the tones. You can also look at all the other notes written by Braun in here. After activating the fail safe, all the residents will be permanently killed by Chinese Commandos (project "communists on US soil"). You will receive positive Karma, though, because you freed them from their otherwise eternal suffering at Braun's hands. Braun, as Betty, will be kept alive and forced to reside alone, forever. However, you can do all of the tasks for Betty and then activate the fail-safe. You will gain good Karma and the citizens of Tranquility Lane will be revived and killed by the Chinese soldiers.
Fail safe details
- Old Lady Dithers will tell the player that she knows that Tranquility Lane is a simulation, that Betty is really "Braun", and that he uses a "Fail safe terminal". She mentions that the player should go and search the Abandoned House, but mostly babbles.
- Within the abandoned house, the player will find a set of usual objects that make specific musical pitches when activated. If the player enters the proper sequence, the Fail-Safe terminal will reveal itself. In the terminal, selecting "Chinese Invasion" will summon a squad of Chinese soldiers who proceed to murder the residents of Tranquility Lane, with the exception of James (stuck inside Doc the dog), Betty, and the player. According to the notes on the Invasion program, this program disables the fail-safes on most of the pods, meaning that dying in the simulation will kill the real-world person as well.
- The tone sequence is Radio (F), Pitcher (C), Gnome (D), Pitcher (C), Cinder Block (B), Gnome (D), Bottle (A).
- If you can't remember the sequence to activate the terminal, note that each object has a specific tone, and Betty whistles the correct tonal sequence while playing in the center of the lane.
- The solution melody is a cheeky reference to Tranquility Lane's soundtrack. The jolly theme is played multiple times by the marimba and once by the flute: F C D C B D A.
- If you speak to Braun, he will angrily scold you on what you have done and lament that he is now alone and trapped forever within the simulation, something confirmed by his own notes on the Chinese Invasion Plan on the Fail-Safe terminal: the systems in place for his own safety will not allow him to be killed, even if the Invasion program is launched. He will further point out that Doc the dog is actually James, and he will be waiting for you once you leave the simulation.
- Using the Exit Door on the playground will end the simulation.
Outside Tranquility Lane
As soon as the Tranquility Lounger pod opens, James will walk to the player and begin a conversation. He had intended to find some holodisks, memos, or even experiments from Braun related to the G.E.C.K, but what he found is a perfectly alive and insane Braun and got himself duped into Tranquility Lane as a dog. After some dialogue, he says he'll be returning to Rivet City to meet with Dr. Li and resume Project Purity; the player can either immediately go with him or indicate that they've other tasks to attend to. This has no real influence on the plot, and James will leave for Rivet City regardless.
This immediately concludes Tranquility Lane and begins The Waters of Life.
Similar to the Anchorage Simulation, once you have left Tranquility Lane, you cannot return.
Karma
- Making Timmy cry will result in a -50 Karma penalty.
- Breaking up the Rockwells' marriage will result in a -50 Karma penalty, except by killing Mrs. Simpson and blaming it on Mr. Rockwell, which will be a -100 Karma penalty.
- Killing Mrs. Henderson results in a -100 Karma penalty except by using the roller skate, which is a -50 Karma penalty.
- Killing people as the Pint-Sized Slasher causes -50 Karma penalty per person or -400 Karma total for killing everyone.
- Activating the fail-safe rewards +300 Karma.
Quest stages
Notes
- Betty will kill you with electricity if you attack her, even when the fail-safe has been activated, even though she says that she has no control over you.
- It is possible to bypass having to speak with Dr. Li in Rivet City by simply entering Vault 112 and entering Tranquility Lane.
- Your Pip-Boy is removed while in the simulation, replaced by the pip-boy style watch; however V.A.T.S. still works as intended.
- Although interaction with the Chinese soldiers is minimal, it is possible to pickpocket them while they are attacking the townspeople. They each carry 12-14 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition. Most of the time they will catch you, and you will receive negative Karma.
- The background music of Tranquility Lane will become slightly lower in pitch and more depressing after activating each individual thing to access the fail-safe.
- The main musical theme heard in the simulation can be heard as a nursery music box tune during the tutorial quest Baby Steps.
- You can use one of your own weapons while in the simulation. If you hotkey the repellent stick you can still quick-select it while in Tranquility Lane if you don't have the rolling pin or slasher knife.
- If you try to bring out your Pip-Boy 3000, it shows up as a wristwatch with the vault boy's arms as its hands. The time always reads 2:55.
- However the real-world time moves normally in the simulation, and can be checked by hitting the Wait key.
- If you read the Lounger Monitor for your Dad it will read the same when he leaves it.
- The layout of Tranquility lane is slightly similar to the layout of the lounger room in Vault 112. A central hub (the power supply and monitors/the circular park where Betty stays) connected to several smaller nodes in a radiating circular pattern (the tranquility loungers/the houses of the lane).
- Drinking water inside the simulation will restore real-world health.
- After making Timmy Neusbaum cry, he will turn into a garden gnome and appear by the front door of the Neusbaum Residence. The gnome can be activated, but does nothing.
- If you attack Doc the dog, he will occasionally speak in your father James's voice, shouting random battle phrases.
- There are a few items which can be taken and placed in the player's inventory. In basement of the Rockwell's house there are two large cooking pots that can be looted. Taken items can't be used in the simulation, and upon exiting, they are removed from the player's inventory.
- When you leave Tranquility Lane after activating the fail-safe and then read the Resident Status terminals, they all display:
- DISPLAY RESIDENT STATUS
- Pulse: 0 bpm
- BP: 000/00 mmHg
- Temp: 85 F
- Respiratory Rate 0/min
- ***RESIDENT REQUIRES IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ATTENTION***
- DISPLAY RESIDENT STRESS LEVEL
- Stress Level: No Reading
- ***RESIDENT REQUIRES IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ATTENTION***
Bugs
Mrs. Rockwell can skip the argument with her husband if you decide to use the lacy underwear. She will just run away when she's within speaking distance of her former husband. One way to avoid this is to exit the basement before she does and make sure Mr. Rockwell is not too close to the basement door.- Your follower may not return to their original location upon entering the simulation, and instead disappear. Sometimes they can be found in the pod area later on.
- If Mabel Henderson is not in her house, or leaves during the time you are arranging her creative death, she may not return. You may need to disable the security lockdown and find her, you may kill her and Betty will restore her to her house, otherwise you may have to load another save.
- If you become hostile with one of the residents and get a fair distance away from him/her you will hear your character say "I guess it was nothing" in a child's voice.
- When you check your watch in Tranquility Lane, the game may freeze.
- If you start the Chinese invasion while trying to break up the Rockwells' marriage, they will survive because they can't die during that quest.
- If you save your game within the simulation then try loading it, the screenshot in the load options will show Tranquility lane in color.
- In very strange cases the fail-safe will not appear in the abandoned house
Gallery
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