The ammo press is a unique crafting station in the Fallout 3 add-on The Pitt.
Characteristics
A machine consisting of a terminal used to operate it and a materials box at the bottom of the stairs where ammunition or scrap metal are required to be placed. The amount of ammunition received depends on how much ammunition/scrap metal is inserted into the machine.
Any variety of conventional ammunition can be placed in the materials box, from 5mm ammunition to .44 Magnum. Once placed in the materials box, the ammunition inside can be melted down and re-shaped by the ammo press into any other variety of conventional ammunition by the terminal.
The utility of the ammo press comes from taking unwanted early-game ammunition (10mm or .32 caliber, for example) and converting it into more desirable ammunition. It can also make uncommonly used ammunition (for example, 5mm rounds held by a Small Guns-focused character) somewhat more useful than simply selling it.
Except for selling the product for caps, an Energy Weapons-focused character will not directly benefit from using the ammo press as it cannot be used to create energy ammunition, only conventional ballistic ammunition.
Obtaining
The ammo press is found in the Mill, overlooking The Hole and can only be used by the player character after completing Free Labor, with access granted by either Wernher or Lord Ashur.
Crafting
In order to make ammunition, unused ammunition or scrap metal must be loaded into the materials bin. The bin is a rectangular box with a large X located at the front base of the press that is closest to the ammo mill terminal. Once loaded, return to the computer to select the desired ammunition. After selecting one's ammunition of choice, return to the bin and retrieve the new ammunition.
Formula
| Ammunition Type | Press Value | Press/Caps |
|---|---|---|
| 10mm round | 2 | 2 |
| .308 caliber | 15 | 5 |
| .32 caliber round | 5 | 5 |
| .44 Magnum | 15 | 7.5 |
| 5.56mm | 3 | 3 |
| 5mm | 1 | 1 |
| Shotgun shell | 10 | 5 |
| Scrap metal | 20 | -- |
The ammo press calculates the quantity produced as an integer based on the value of the materials entered into the press, divided by the value of the goods required:
- n= Number of units placed into the hopper
- v= Value of individual unit of type that was placed into the hopper
- p= Value of individual unit of the same type as the intended product
- t= Total number of an intended product capable of being made
In a scenario in which multiple types of items are placed into bin at same time use the following formula:
Example: 2 types of items placed in bin would use:
To calculate how much ammunition of a given type the press will produce, use the table above. For every kind of ammunition or scrap metal in the hopper, multiply its quantity by its value in the table, and add the resulting values up to get the total value of the metal in the hopper. Then divide by the value of the type of ammunition you are pressing, rounding down; this is the number of cartridges the press will make.
- Example
Pressing scrap metal into 5.56mm rounds.
- If you have 10 units of scrap metal in the hopper, its value is 10 × 20 = 200 units.
- Pressing this into 5.56mm rounds gives 200 / 3 = 66.7 cartridges, which rounds down to 66. So pressing 10 scrap metal into 5.56mm rounds will make 66 cartridges.
If you wanted to make .44 rounds instead, you could turn the same 10 scrap metal into thirteen .44 rounds, meaning 15 5mm rounds would be transformed into one .44 round and vice versa, however, 14 5mm rounds will provide 0 .44 rounds resulting in a complete loss of 14 cartridges.
Replenish Depleted Ammunition - See the above example. Use debris ammunition to accumulate desired ammunition type:
- First convert undesired ammunition into 5mm ammunition.
- Then, keeping the Press Value in mind, go ahead with the conversion. In the above example, convert 10 scrap into 200 5mm rounds.
- Now, we know .44 costs 15. So, use a multiple of 15 to maximize production. i.e., Press 195 (15*13=195) 5mm rounds to get 13 .44 and have remaining 5 5mm rounds as spare. If you had used scrap to press directly, those five 5mm rounds would have been lost!
Notes
- Any material may be loaded into the bin, but only scrap metal and conventional ammunition will be converted into new ammunition, the rest will simply remain in the bin unused.
- A simpler strategy for calculating the product amount of ammo while preventing a loss of ammo from conversion is to use the 30-3 Rule - only insert ammo in multiples of 30 and scrap metal in multiples of 3. Doing so won't waste any ammo as the press value's lowest common multiple across all ammo types is 30 (with scrap metal the press value's LCM is 60 which requires 3 scrap metal). Following this rule will allow you to change any ammo type into any other type without fear of wasting any potential rounds.
Bugs
When creating any type of ammo, you will return to another page in the terminal and the action of pressing the last round will still be there granting you the possibility to make an infinite amount of rounds. [verified]
