Vault 3

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Vault 3 is one of the Vault-Tec Vaults. The Vault is still completely intact in 2281, occupied by the Fiends, who killed the Vault's original occupants.

Background

The original Vault 3 inhabitants opened their doors 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 the Vault. It is not known if any of the original residents survived. This Vault was one of the few Control Vaults that had no experiment connected with it, and functioned exactly to the Dwellers' expectations. While a Control Vault was designed to open after 20 years, the Dwellers kept it sealed far longer. (This was not part of any experiment, it was probably done beacuase the Vault Dwellers were afraid to go outside. All was going well in the Vault until an acciedental water leak had occured, forcing the Dwellers to open the Vault to find help. Unfortunately for them, they found the Fiends instead.

Characters

Fiends

Motor-Runner - leader of the Fiends
Daniel

Vault Dwellers

George Stault - last Overseer
Lincoln Davis - Former Overseer
Michelle Dallian - Leader of scouting team
Janet Kimper
Michael Robinson
Vincent Vanmiller - Maintenance Chief
Jennifer Lawson
William Hayson

Kidnapped Caravaneers

Rick Lancer
Dennis - Ghoul
Rachel
Carter - dead

Layout

Vault 3 consists of 3 areas: a Recreation Area, Living Quarters, and a Maintenance Wing.

It 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.

Vault 3 - Recreation Area

The recreation area is an area for recreation. It includes several pool tables and some minor loot. Within the recreation area one finds a locked door leading to the Maintenance Wing.

Vault 3 - 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 4th 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 - for details see the unmarked quest I Love Bananas.

Vault 3 - 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

Recreation Area

A Today's Physician in the southern part of the Recreation Area's second floor, behind a locked door (hard).

Living Quarters

A Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual in the large, carpeted bedroom behind an average terminal locked door immediately opposite an entrance to the Recreation area. The book is on a shelf immediately to the right as you enter. Also in this room: 3 magazines - Locksmith's Reader, Meeting People and Today's Physician - on a bedside nightstand.
A number of Vault 3 Utility Jumpsuits (Lockpick +5, Repair +5) can be found here as well, in lockers throughout the south side of the Living Quarters right before the flooded area.
Sunset Sarsaparilla star bottle cap on desk in a room next to a bottle of Sarsaparilla in a south room of the Living Quarters one floor up from the flooded area. It's across the hall from the Terminal that says "Hello Billy boy!" when you open it. A Vault 3 Utility Jumpsuit is also in the locker here.
3 magazines - Fixin' Things, Locksmith's Reader and Milsurp Review - in the Living Quarters' flooded area in the southwest. Also in this room: the two gun lockers mentioned on the Overseer's terminal.
On the bottom floor of the Atrium, behind a locked door (very easy), is a Nuka-Cola Quartz, a Nuka-Cola Victory, several Nuka-Colas, 24 Pool Cues (fantastic for Melee Weapons characters with Jury Rigging ) and other minor loot.
A Locksmith's Reader in the flooded section in the shelf.
The Overseer's Office has a Hunting Rifle mounted by the observation window. (About 50% Condition).

Maintenance Wing

A Chainsaw carried by Motor-Runner .
A Locksmith's Reader, behind a locked door (average) on the desk
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, on the 2nd floor.
1 Fixin' Things in the average locked room past the throne room.

General Loot

In general, there are lots of chems, scrap metal and crafting materials everywhere in Vault 3.
Large piles of Bobby pins on the floor near almost every locked door.
All around the vault are Stimpacks, a variety of chems and empty syringes.
Found 5 Locksmith's Reader by the end of this vault. Excellent for getting to those hard safe's a little earlier, even better if you took the perk Comprehension.

Related quests

Notes

The Rebreather is very useful when getting the loot in the two flooded rooms since you cannot make a round trip without running out of air.

If you kill Motor-Runner before finding Ranger Bryce Anders,you will meet him back at Camp McCarran. The dialogue will be the same, as if you would have met him in the Vault.

Sometimes Ranger Anders will spawn dead. The key is in his inventory.

If you're disguised as a Great Khan, the Fiends will become non-hostile towards you again if you remain out of sight for a few seconds after killing Motor-Runner. They will even mention his death to you. Can even be done in neutral armor.

Vault 3 is one of only three fully operational Vaults in the Mojave, the others being Vault 21 and Vault 19.

The vault door is connected directly with the rest of the wasteland and therefore provides no loading point for the vault interior. The lack of a door opening sequence is a result of this limitation.

No doors in the Vault feature a gold stripe and a number, all are marked "No Access", this is also true of Vault 21.

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 purpose and meaning of this is unknown, as this terminal's function must have been removed from the final game.

The Fiends in Vault 3 are quite passive (possibly the result of their chem usage). If one is stealth killed while you are hidden, they will not investigate, nor will they become agitated, even if they are killed close by them in their direct line of sight. You can work your way through the whole vault systematically exterminating them all, except for Motor-Runner before starting any of the quests, making Anders' and Rick Lancers' (and his compatriots') escapes much easier.

The jail door can be pick locked without Karma loss and no Fiends will be hostile.

Two of the rooms in the living quarters have a deceased fiend on a bed, surrounded by empty syringes, jet and psycho.

Much of the graffiti in the vault is the same graffiti as can be found on the brotherhoods bunker in hidden valley like in one of the toilets on the wall there's is a stick picture with a stick man and women thats just an enlarged version of the one in hidden valley.

Bugs

PC 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. The PC version still has this bug (confirmed), (Patched on 360)
PC 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.

(Update 3 fixes corrupt save issue on PC)

Xbox 360When entering the Vault the Fiend will talk to you. If you pass the speech check she will tell the fiends not to attack you. Regardless of that happening the fiends in the diner area (down the hall from the vault entrance) may still attack you.
The Powder Ganger Carter may be found in a room in Vault 3, dead. Carter is usually found at the NCRCF
Xbox 360If you tell your companions to leave or head to the Lucky 38 while in Vault 3, they may become hostile and be killed by the Fiends on the way out (even in regular mode). Both Boone and Rex died when I tried this, and I can assume most companions will die as well upon telling them to leave. I have confirmed this on the 360 December 03, 2010.
If you talk to the Ranger, tell him to stay put and then leave the Vault, Anders sometimes triggers his own mines and dies on the stairs leading to his hiding place.
PC Sometimes, while in the Maintanace Wing, if you simply walk into the main corridor, the game will crash.
If you previously entered Vault 3 during Aba Daba Honeymoon, rendering the Fiends friendly, returning on a separate quest or for exploration will make them hostile again, but only partially. After a few minutes in the Vault killing hostile fiends, the remaining fiends will once again become friendly, for no apparent reason, even if Aba Daba Honeymoon was completed.
Xbox 360If you go to where the jail cells are and 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
Playstation 3Sometimes the ghoul Daniel will spawn outside of his cell and move freely throughout the vault

Behind the scenes

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.

Gallery

Appearances

Vault 3 appears in Fallout: New Vegas. Template:Vaults