Wander the desert for two days, then come back and enter the Vault by clicking the computer next to it. Loot the locker on the wall in the foyer for some Flares. The medic will heal you for free if you're hurt.
Get on the elevator and go down to Level 2. Talk to Theresa, on the north side, second room form the left. If your speech isn't high enough to convince her not to leave the Vault, rest until 1700 and some other Vault Dwellers will enter her room. Feel free to interrupt her floating-text speech. Convince her to stay, and you'll get XP for preventing a coup.
Down on Level 3, in the westernmost room there are two floor Computers you can use your Science skill on to gain some XP and increase some of your Skills. Go east and talk to the Overseer. Tell him whatever. Head back west, and you'll see someone guarding a locked door. Ask about who's authorized to get weapons, then say you have a need for weapons, too. He/She will let you in. After looting those lockers, Talk to the Water Guard (if he's there), and ask for permission to take some supplies. Loot the lockers in the water room, but leave the blue flasks with the 13 on them. Now you can leave and head towards Vault 15.
Seth and Katrina will welcome you to the town of Shady Sands, but won't talk to you if you have a weapon in your active slot. Talk to Katrina about everything you can for some XP. Since she mentioned bartering, Barter with her. Keep one Vault 13 Water Flask on you at all times to avoid becoming dehydrated while travelling. Ask Seth what's going on around town. You can Barter with him, too, as well as many people throughout the wastes. Just talk to a person and click the Barter button in the dialog interface.
Barter for things you need, and loot everything in town - unless an NPC asks you not to. Keep an eye out for a Rope. In the building to the east of the entrance is a guy in a leather jacket and blue jeans named Ian. You can get him to join you for 100 caps, or by convincing him with a high Charisma.
In the large house to the south of that is the leader of the town, Aradesh. Tell him you'll take care of the Radscorpion problem. You can talk to his daughter, Tandi, who's either there or wandering all over town. Talk to the very busy cook in the back and compliment her cooking. In the small house to the west of that is Razlo, his wife, and a sick man. Razlo will only talk to you during daylight hours. Ask Razlo about a cure for Radscorpion poison. You can trade with his wife for meds.
Go east and left-click on the green hash transition area to the Garden. Right in front of you is a trader. (be sure not to sell the Rope and Dynamite if you have any) A farmer named Curtis is in the middle of his fields. Tell him about crop rotation if you have a high a Science skill. Loot everything in the area. Go back to Seth and ask him for directions to the Radscorpion Caves. Leave Shady Sands.
Now head to Vault 15, but make sure you have at least one Rope. There's one in the building north of the farm, one in the shed south of the farm, and you can barter for one from Seth.
Every Vault you come across in the Fallout games has a different kind of entrance. This one happens to be a manhole in a shack. Go down. The biggest thing here is a Lesser Mole Rat. Try not to waste your ammo on the normal Rats. Loot the locker in the foyer, and the one in the medical center. Use a Rope on the broken floor of the elevator, and go down to the Living Quarters.
Kill and loot, being sure to pick up the Rope to use on the other elevator.
Kill and loot again in the Command Center. Go towards where the overseer would be and you'll find it's blocked by rocks. You'll get some XP for finding that out. Loot a Dynamite from a standing locker before you leave. There is also an easily missable wall locker in the western room.
Next, go to the Caves, which is now a small circle on your World Map, just west of Shady Sands.
You must kill at least one Radscorpion and take its Radscorpion Tail. Optionally kill all the rest of the Radscorpions. On your way out, right-click so that your cursor is binoculars, and look for a weak spot in the cave wall near the entrance. Make a quicksave in case you're not standing close enough. Open your inventory and Use the Dynamite. I recommend setting the timer to 30 seconds. Then drop the dynamite there and stand near the exit grid until it explodes.
Return to Shady Sands and talk to Razlo, who will make as many Antidotes as you have Radscorpion Tails. Use an Antidote on the sick guy in the back and he'll thank you with some XP. Tell Aradesh you took care of the Radscorpions.
Leave town for a day, then return to Shady Sands. Talk to Aradesh, who will tell you that his daughter Tandi was kidnapped by Raiders. Agree to get her back. If it seems the quest isn't available, leave town for another day and try again. Leave and head south to the Raider Camp.
There are a several of ways to get Tandi back and deal with the Raiders.
I suggest you chose one of the first three options, return Tandi, claim your reward from Aradesh, then come back and kill everyone. They'll be hostile as soon as you walk up to them. Just be sure to not kill the two slave girls, as they're worth more XP if they survive. A good strategy is to pick one of the tents to stand in, then initiate combat yourself and let the enemies come to you one at a time.
When all the bad guys are dead, loot everything. and continue on to Junktown. Remember that your Party Members can carry stuff too, so you can give them all the heavy stuff and Trade it back later.
Inside the bulding just inside the gate, Vasquez, the man in metal armor, can join your Party for 100 caps, but only while you're in Junktown.
In the white building in the northwest of the section is Doc Morbid's place. Go down the manhole in the back and talk to the short guy. Talk to the little guy to learn that his meat comes from people. Don't loot anything or click his cooler twice, otherwise he'll attack you, and then you'll have to kill the doctor and his two guards upstairs as well. You'll lose reputation for each of them that you kill.
Exit north and enter the General Store. Talk to Killian, maybe Barter with him. After the conversation, a guy named Kenji comes in and tries to kill Killian. Help stop the assassin, being sure to not accidentally hit Killian or any of the guards. If this happens, I hope you saved recently. After the assassin is dead, talk to Killian again. He'll ask for your help proving the local crime boss, Gizmo, is behind the attempt. There are a couple of ways to do this. Exit the area to the north and enter the Casino. You'll find Gizmo in the back room.
Just a side note: Killian doesn't seem to have much to trade for on his person, even though he is running a huge store. Search the tables to find more stuff to barter for. You can also rob Killian's store at night. Be sure he's gone home, and pick the lock on his safe in the side room.
Go back to the Casino and loot it and the corpses. To the east of the Casino is Phil and a dog that's causing him some trouble. You can get the dog to join you in one of two ways.
Head back to the middle map and take a room in the Crash House for the night. In the morning, one of the employees, Sinthia will be held hostage. Here are some ways to deal with the situation, should you choose to get involved:
Lars at some point might ask you to help take down the Skulz gang. If he doesn't have that dialog option, come back later in the game, or do one of the following without talking to Lars first. You can't just kill the gang, as this town takes the law very seriously. There are two ways to solve this.
Next stop, The Hub.
Continue south to Downtown. Lots of stuff here. Like Junktown, the police here don't like vigilantes. There are several caravans you can join here, but they only leave on certain days of the month. Given the main quest time limit, I recommend joining up only if they happen to be headed the same place you are, and only if it's just a couple of days away.
In the center part of Downtown are four stores. The northeast shop is a bookstore with an a large supply of very expensive books. The proprietress will also sell you the Vault Records Holodisk. Use it in your inventory, then open your PipBoy and read the Vault Locations entry under Status.
The northwest shop is a general store. Unlike Killian, this guy's tables are empty. The southeast shop is a gun store, only open during daylight hours. The southwest building is The Friendly Lending Company (FLC). You can take out a loan, and then kill them, netting yourself some free money. You'll lose a small amount of Reputation in the process, of course.
West of the shops is Lemmy, who can introduce you to the weapons dealer Vance in Old Town, for a price (but you can just introduce yourself later, too).
Just south of all the stores is Iguana Bob. If you found out where he gets his meat from, you can blackmail Iguana Bob for a reasonable amount and a loss of Reputation. Alternatively, you can turn him hin to the Sheriff by saying that you have a crime to report, and Iguana Bob will disappear off the map. If you ask the Sherriff for a reward, you will lose Reputation. Once the vendor is gone, you can loot his "food" stand.
Go in the Casino. If your gambling skill is high, you can earn a ton of cash here. Talk to Kane next to the bar, and either tell him you want to see Decker, or he'll recognize you from your work in Junktown. The boss will ask you to kill the Hightowers. Agree to do so, then talk to Kane to get your retainer's fee. You now have two chioces:
Talk to the folks at the Far Go Traders in the northeast. Agree to find out what's plaguing the caravans. Talk to Beth in the southeast store about the Deathclaw until she mentions that Harold knows something, and her crazy uncle Slappy keeps mumblilng something about it. Exit east to Old Town.
Immediatly south is a small building housing a bunch of Raiders who will attack you on sight. Kill them all, then free the guy in the back room. You'll get a reward later in the game when you visit his buddies at the Brotherhood of Steel.
South of that is a man wandering around with some loony floating text above his head. Go inside that building and talk to Harold about Slappy, then ask Slappy for directions to the Deathclaw.
Leave town and go to the Deathclaw Lair. You get 800 XP just for going to the cave. Enter the cave and kill the Deathclaw. Loot the dying/dead mutant for his Radio, and read the Mutant Transmissions Holodisk. Return to the Far Go Traders and tell Butch that you killed the Deathclaw, but it was really mutants responsible for the missing caravans. Then give the holodisk to Rutger for your reward.
Go east into Old Town again. There are two merchants in the northwest two buildings with really good stuff. In the northwest corner of the large middle building are some stairs leading down. This is the Thieves' Circle. Work your way past all the Traps on the floors and doors, Lockpick the doors, and talk to the lovely Jasmine and her boss, Loxley. He wants you to Steal a Necklace from the Hightowers in The Heights.
Go back upstairs and west to Downtown. Continue to the southwest and stop just shy of the green exit grid. If you want to skip the next paragraph and its rewards, tell the Sheriff about the Thieves Guild. Loxley will keep his promise and remove his gang from town.
Rest until 1800 (The Hightowers go to bed early!). Now exit to the Heights area. You can convince the one lone guard to let you in, or go to the south end of the building and remain out of the guard's line of sight until he wanders off to talk to his buddy to the north. Enter the building and go in the small room just before the Hightower's bedroom. Disarm the Trap on the safe, then Lockpick it, and take the Necklace. Return to Loxley then Jasmine for your reward, which includes an Electronic Lock Pick.
From Downtown, exit south to the Merchants area. In the northwest is a branch of the Children of the Cathedral. Feel free to talk to everyone. (If you want to kill them, you will lose Reputation, but be sure to talk to the lone child in the area until she leaves, otherwise you'll have to kill her, and you'll be labeled as a Child Killer). Use Sneak, then Lockpick the door in the back, and loot all the cool stuff there. Be sure to get the purple Robes. Hold on to these for the rest of the game.
To the southwest is the Water Merchants. They'll offer to send water to your Vault, but it's expensive and can lead the mutant armies to your home. They also run caravans if you're interested.
[No matter what you do here, the town will be invaded later and wiped out. This happens due to a timer in the game. It's considered canon fate. The only way to avoid this is to skip most of the rest of the content of the game. In my opinion, it's still worth doing all the quests here. If you really want to save Necropolis, reload an earlier save, forget everything you've done since leaving the Vault, and skip to the Military Base and the Cathedral.]
In the first area, labeled Hotel on your PipBoy, approach the groups of ghouls outside and they'll attack you. Feel free to kill them for XP. There are two factions in Necropolis, so if you approach a ghoul who doesn't attack you, don't fight back. Also, avoid looting the shelves and whatnot inside the buildings, but feel free to kill the hostile ghouls outside.
When you're ready, go down one of the manholes to Sewers 1. Kill the resident molerats and loot the corpses. Exit north to Sewers 2.
Talk to the rebel ghoul leader. Ask about a water chip, and agree to fix their water pump. Rest until 2000, then take the ladder in the south. If you take the north ladder, you'll be in a secret back room of the church, where you can loot some stuff.
On the Hall map, again don't kill the indoor ghouls or loot their stuff, but feel free to kill the outdoor mobs. Go north into the church and talk to their leader, Set, who's standing on the stage. Agree to kill some mutants. Go back down the manhole you came up through, then follow the sewers north and exit to Sewers 3. Go up the ladder to the Watershed area.
Again, don't kill the indoor ghouls or loot their stuff. Next to the mutant standing outside is a manhole. Go down it, finding yourself on the other part of Sewers 3. Kill all the rats, and find the water pump parts in a far corner. They're labeled "Junk."
Go back up the ladder you came down, and enter the building to the north. This is the actual Watershed. A dumb mutant will talk to you. If you're smart enough, you can bluff your way past him, but you do want to kill these mutants, so make him angry and he'll try to kill you, so defend yourself and kill all the other mutants, as well. In the northeast corner of this building is some broken machinery. Use the "Junk" you picked up to repair it, then go free the ghoul in a cell to the south. He'll tell you to go down a manhole in the cell to the right if you want the Water Chip.
Clear the caves, and you'll find yourself in Vault 12. On Level 2 you'll find a locker in the northwest corner with some RadX in it. Don't kill anyone you don't have to. On Level 3, the only computer that's currently working is the one with the Water Chip. Take it.
Return to the ghoul rebel leader (from the Watershed, go down the manhole in the building to the southeast, then south). Tell him you've fixed the water pump. Then visit Set to collect your reward for killing the mutants (from the rebel leader, the south ladder). The exit to the world map is opposite the church's front door.
Stop a square or two before arriving and take some Rad-X. Upon arriving, take some more Rad-X, and use the rope on the beam at the western side of the crater. It may be hard to see at night, so consider resting until morning if that's the case. If you see a message about taking radiation, take some more Rad-X.
All you really need here is on Level 1. Make your way around to the northeast side, and loot the Brotherhood Tape holodisk from a body in power armor in the room with the computer. That's all you need to get into the Brotherhood, but if you feel you have enough Rad-X and Rad-Away, feel free to delve into the lower levels. Otherwise, return to the Brotherhood now.
If you use any computer, it'll tell you that power is offline, and the problem is on Level 6. To get down there, you need high Lockpicking and Traps skills, or you need colored keycards. The Yellow Pass Key is found on Level 1 in the northern area, near where you picked up the Brotherhood Tape holodisk. Use it on the elevator in the southwest corner, and go down. You can kill sleeping robots for the same XP as when they're alive (they will be later). The Red Pass Key is in the northeast corner of Level 2. Use the Yellow Pass Key on this level again to get to Level 3. Don't forget to loot everything.
Use the Red Pass Key in the northeast corner and go to Level 4. Search the body in the southwest corner for the Blue Pass Key. Use the console on the large computer in the middle of this level to download all sorts of good info into your PipBoy. You can also play a game of chess, however there is no way to win.
Take the red elevator down to Level 6. Use your Repair Skill on the generator in the southeast room. Use the computer right next to it (or any other computer, for that matter) to restore power to the base. Note that all the defense robots are now active. If you don't feel like destroying them on your way out, use the mainframe computer on Level 4 to deactivate them.
To get to Level 5, use the Blue Pass Key on the elevator with the blue frame. The robots are now active, so I recommend just opening the first door and letting them come to you one at a time. Nothing else to do here after looting all of the lore holotapes, so head back to the Brotherhood of Steel now.
It might be a good idea to stop a few squares away from The Glow and use some Rad-Away to get rid of any residual radiation. If you took any Party Members went with you, inspect them for radiation and use Rad-Away to help them out. You may also want to stop at The Hub to sell your loot. You don't need radiation meds for the rest of the game, unless you decide to come back here for some reason.
Talk to Michael just outside the gym for some free weapons and ammo of your choice, just for joining the Brotherhood. (You can also choose Power Armor, and there's a way to get another set later). Ask him if there's anthing you can do for him, and he'll ask you to deliver some grenades for him. If you want to just keep the grenades, you can, but there's XP to be had.
Head down to Level 2. The doctor in the northern room can cure your radiation, and perform operations to boost most of your SPECIAL Stats. Keep in mind they're expensive ($20,000 for all of them combined) and take a long time to recuperate (11 weeks). Also on this level is Jerry, your roommate. He likes to talk. Feel free to loot all of the lockers on this level.
Go down to Level 3. In the large room in the north is a person standing still. This is who you're supposed to give the grenades to. Do so. Vree, the head librarian, talks to herself as she walks between computers. If you ask her about radiation, she'll give you some free meds. Ask her about how to use holodisks, and she'll lead you to a computer where you'll get a boost to your Science Skill. Also ask her about the autopsy results on mutants, and she'll give you Vree's Experiment Disk with a copy of her notes. You might choose to use this at the end of the game. In the southwest room is Kyle, who is trying to repair some Power Armor. If you get a part for him, he'll give it to you. There are two ways to do this. You can even do both and get two parts, but there's no reason to. Go back up to Level 1
Level 4 is home to General Maxson and the Brotherhood Elders. Talk to the General in the middle room, and he'll ask you to scout a Military Base up north. You can ask him for some weapons, too. Talk to his assistant, Mathia, standing right next to him, for the weapons. Go to the northeast room and talk to the one Elder who will reply. He, too, will ask you to scout the Military Base.
[Assuming enough time has passed, revisit Necropolis.Some mutants have showed up to take revenge on what you did to their buddies. Kill them on every screen. There is one ghoul left alive at Set's church. Talk to him, then loot all the bodies and shelves and whatnot. Once that's taken care of, continue your journey to the Military Base. Just go to the northwest corner of the World Map to get there.]
All you have to do here is walk up towards the guard shack. Remember, all you're doing right now is scouting. Quicksave, then approach the fence one hex at a time, quicksaving every time. When you enter combat, quickload, then make a hard save in a unique slot. If you plan on sneaking in, don't return to the Brotherhood yet, and instead skip down to the next section.
Return to the Brotherhood and tell General Maxson what you saw. If that line of dialog isn't available, reload from your unique Military Base slot, walk a little closer, then try again. The Elders will want you to destroy the base, and you can ask for their help if you want to blast your way in (they'll send 3 Paladins to help clean up the outside, but only two will go in). If you want to Sneak in, don't ask for help.
Kill all of the mutants on Level 1, because you'll be in a hurry when you leave. Level 2 can be skipped, but killing the super mutants is worth a lot of XP. There is probably more loot than you can carry, but search all the containers anyway.
On Level 3, also known as Vats Level 1, if you kill the mutants near the elevator, the human Sarah will be upset. She may even join in the fight and you'll be forced to kill her as well.
On Level 4 (a.k.a Vats Level 2), head to the easternmost room and kill everyone there. Be sure you get the Key from the locker, as you might choose to use it later. Once everything is dead, go to the northwest most room. Loot a Security Card from one of the robed figures, and use it on the middle computer along the wall facing the windows to the vats. You can also use Science to hack in. Choose a countdown time and then high-tail it out of there. If you don't see those options, you can drop some Dynamite or Plastic Explosives in front of the computer after you set its timer. Wait by the elevator until they explode. You'll then have 120 seconds to high-tail it out of there.
Take the only path you can without any force fields. You'll come to a bank of 3 computers. Use the middle one to get some info if you want. Use Science on the last computer here until you get a message about unlocking a file. Manipulate the robot controls so that they target Large Lifeforms. Continue until you come to an elevator blocked by a red force field. Just walk through it and take the damage.
Take the elevator down to Level 3. Talk your way past the mutants to the next elevtor, which you'll take down to Level 4.
Sneak over to the room in the southeast, and loot the locker on the western wall for the Key, which you may choose to use later. Go to the room in the northwest with all the robed figures in it. Steal a Security Card from the figure standing in front of a computer, then use the Security Card on that computer or use Science to hack in to it to set a silent self-destruct timer. Longer is better. Casually make your way back to the surface.
Next stop, LA Boneyard.
Two buildings south is Jon Zimmerman's place. Take his job of revenge. To the south is a guy in a white smock in front of a tent. This is Miles, the town scientist. He'll ask you to get some parts for the town's water pump. He doesn't know where they are, but points you east a couple tents to Samuel, who gives you a hint. In the south east is a guy named Chuck. Save before talking to him, as there's a chance to raise your Luck by 2. If you don't get it after talking to him, reload and try again.
Exit north to Downtown. Talk to the guy in front of the Blades hangout. MacRae will teach you some fighting skills if he thinks you're capable of learning. Inside, in the the southeast room is Razor, the gang leader you're supposed to kill for Jon. She'll tell you she didn't do it, that it was the Regulators. She even provides poroof in the form of a holotape. She needs some help taking down the Regulators, in the form of weapons from the Gun Runners two areas east. Agree to help her. When you exit dialog, read the Regulator Transmission holodisk she gives you.
From the Downtown area, go west to the Library area. Loot some stuff in the back. Be sure to take the Robes if you don't already have a set. Don't talk to Nicole, the local Children of the Cathedral representative. At least, not yet. If you wind up in conversation with a voiced talking head, just excuse yourself for now. Get the female punk, Katya, to join your party. She's the woman with green hair on the west side of the big room in the middle. Ask her about the area, then tell her that you don't plan on sticking around much longer.
Go east two screens to the Warehouse. Kill the Deathclaws, then search the corpse to the east for the Pump Parts. This is also a great place to gain tons of XP. If you leave this area, rest for an hour, then come back, the Deathclaws will have respawned. Repeat as many times as you like. When you're done leveling up off Deathclaws, take the stairs down in the northeast corner of the building in the middle of the Warehouse area. You'll find the Mother Deathclaw and a bunch of eggs in the southeast corner. Be sure to kill all the eggs, then head back up to the surface and east to the Fortress area.
Along the southern edge of the glowing green goo moat is a guard on a plank. Tell him you really need to see his leader, then head north into the building. Zach is the merchant, and will give you a discount if your Intelligence is high enough. Talk to the leader of the Gun Runners next (he's the one in Combat Armor). As a reward for getting rid of the Deathclaws, ask him to supply weapons to your friends the Blades.
Return to Adytum and show the parts to Miles. Take them next to Smitty to have them fixed, then return the fixed up parts to Miles. He'll thank you by telling you he can upgrade Power Armor, but only if he had a certain book from Mrs. Stapleton in the Hub. The brown exit grid to the World Map is just west of the green one at the gate. Go to The Hub, buy the Chemmistry Journals from the lady. The icon is identical to the Big Book of Science, so be very careful not to accidently sell the quest item. Return the books to Miles. Ask him nicely, and Miles will "harden" your Power Armor for you.
Now it's time to deal with the Regulators. Tell Razor you got the weapons for her. There are some ways this can go down, but inevitably, a fight will ensue between the Regulators and the Blades. The townsfolk take the side of the Razors against the Regulators, and can be killed - even the named NPCs are at risk, so I recommend running to help them first. No matter what you do, Jon Zimmerman will die. Save in a new slot on the off chance someone gets killed who you don't want to.
[If you want the good ending for Necropolis, try using a save editor to change the global variable GVAR_NECROPOLIS_WAS_INVADED to 0, and maybe GVAR_NECROPOLIS_INVASION DAYS to something like 10.]
The first level looks like a dead end, but you should notice something strange about the wall in the southeast corner. You can activate the door by using one of the nearby bookshelves, you can blow it open with Dynamite, or you can wait for a purple-robed person to come through and open it. Kill your way all the way down through this vault. On Lair Level 1 is a computer next to the elevator from which you can learn the location of the Military base. On Lair Level 2, be sure to pick up the Psychic Nullifier from Gideon. Free the prisoners, who die anyway. On Lair Level 3, Put the Nullifier in an active slot, then find the Master through a long hallway where the Overseer would normally be.
On Lair Level 1 is a computer next to the elevator from which you can learn the location of the Military base. Be sure to pick up the Psychic Nullifier from Gideon, and free the prisoners on Level 2. Work your way down to Level 3.
Enjoy the ending! Fallout Et Tu adds some ending slides, but some of them may be just a black screen with a voiceover. You can optionally choose to keep playing, but there's nothing to do, and no one will have anything new to say.
last modified 27 February 2026