Van Buren

Fallout 3 side quest
Trouble on the Homefront
Ah, home sweet home.
Location	Vault 101
Given by	Vault 101 distress signal
Rewards	Modified utility jumpsuit Banishment from Vault 101 300 XP Butch DeLoria as a potential follower
Related quests	Escape! The Waters of Life
Technical
Form ID	00014EA3

Fallout 3 achievement
Trouble on the Homefront
Complete Trouble on the Homefront
Bronze
20

 

“Stop right there! I don't know how you got in here, but... Hold on...”— Officer Gomez after seeing the Lone Wanderer enter the vault

Trouble on the Homefront is a side quest in Fallout 3. It is also an Xbox 360 and PC achievement and a PlayStation 3 trophy.

Quick walkthrough

Side Quest: Trouble on the Homefront

Receive the distress signal and reenter Vault 101.

Side with the overseer.

Side with the rebels.

Sabotage the Vault.

Kill Amata.

Persuade Amata.

Kill the overseer.

Persuade the overseer.

Purge the water chip.

Reward: Evil Karma

Reward: Good Karma

Reward: Evil Karma

Reward: Good Karma and modified utility jumpsuit

Reward: Evil Karma

Reward: Modified utility jumpsuit

Butch as possible companion.

Reward: 300 XP

Detailed walkthrough

This quest will be activated anytime after completing The Waters of Life, by picking up the Vault 101 distress signal on your radio. Note that if you go to find the G.E.C.K you may have a bit of trouble picking up the signal. To find it, simply wander near Vault 101. The signal is only active for a limited time; if the quest is not started before the signal stops, the only way to start it is through the console (see the talk page for more information).

It is a message from Amata asking you to return to Vault 101 to help stop her father, the Overseer. If you killed the original Overseer while escaping from Vault 101, Allen Mack will be the new Overseer and you can still do this quest (although the radio message changes to "...the new Overseer is insane. If you can hear this, please stop looking for your dad and help save us.").

Since you and your father escaped from Vault 101, the Vault has been divided into two major factions. The faction led by Amata, holed up in your father's clinic, wants to open the Vault and interact with the outside world. The other faction is led by the Overseer and he wants to keep the vault closed permanently, in accordance with its mission. Butch, however, wishes to abandon the vault entirely and live on the surface; the rest of the rebels simply intend to remain living in the vault but want to be able to make excursions into the wasteland when necessary.

One of the most essential reasons for having access to the wasteland and the remainder of humanity, apart from the obvious need for supplies and parts for the vault's aging life support apparatus, is to avoid collapse due to genetic stagnation and inbreeding. The number of Vault 101 residents has fallen significantly in the two centuries since it was sealed, implied heavily by various conversations and other means (such as a message encouraging procreation on the text messages) prior to the Lone Wanderer's initial escape. If he/she successfully persuades the overseer to allow exterior access, then the overseer himself will finally accept and openly admit that without external input, the vault's population will not remain genetically viable for more than a generation or so.

Solutions

Although there are only three different outcomes, there are plenty of ways to finish each.

Keep the Vault closed

There are essentially two ways to keep the vault closed; one way is to ignore the problem and leave. The downside to this is you will not receive any quest-related rewards.

• Simply ignore the radio message. The signal will cease after a while and you will lose the opportunity to gain XP and the modified utility jumpsuit.
• You can also just enter Vault 101 once, talk to some people and/or take items (such as opening the safe in your father's office) and then exit the vault. After leaving, you will be unable to reenter the vault as it has been locked again.

The other way is to deal with the rebels. This completes the quest and will reward you accordingly.

• Kill the rebels. Killing Amata only should break them up, but you may also have to kill the other rebels as well. You'll gain bad Karma for this even if you're trying to keep the Vault closed. NOTE: if you are spotted, the whole Vault may turn hostile, including the Overseer. If you hide for long enough, they may turn friendly again.
• Persuade Amata to stay in the Vault because the outside is too dangerous (you'll gain good Karma for this). There are two ways to achieve this:
  • Pass a Speech check.
  • Hack the Overseer's computer and discover the attempts by the Enclave to gain entry into Vault 101, and the Overseer's refusal to admit them. This provides proof of the dangers outside and of the Overseer's attempts to protect them, and will allow you to convince Amata without the Speech check.

After dealing with the rebels, you may talk to the Overseer, who will ask you to leave. If you ask him about a G.E.C.K. he will tell you that Vault 101 never had one and will offer you the modified utility jumpsuit instead, whether or not you used violence. Alternatively, you can ask him for food and ammunition and get 13 Cram and 350 5mm rounds in place of the suit.

Open the Vault

• Kill the Overseer.
• Convince him to step down, one of two nonviolent solutions, neither of which work on Allen Mack (the new Overseer if you killed Amata's father in "Escape!"). Any attempts to try to reason with Mack will result in him becoming hostile.
  • Pass a Speech check. The Overseer will realize that the Vault won't survive more than a generation or two no matter how many supplies they may receive.
  • Show that security is planning an assault against the Overseer's orders. Access the computer in the security office either by hacking into it (Average difficulty) or by obtaining the password (either from the body of Officer Wilkins or from a locker on the other side of the room). This will also allow you to free Mr. Brotch (who also knows of the plan) from the jail cell. Telling the Overseer about the assault convinces him he has failed his mission as Overseer, and he'll surrender without the speech check.

If the Overseer is still alive, he will step down, and Amata will take on the role of Overseer. This nets you positive Karma. She will still assume the role of overseer if her father or Allen Mack is killed. Amata will show regret and sorrow if you had to kill the Overseer, or excitement and amazement if you managed to persuade her father to step down without violence. If you talk to her she will then 'ask' you to leave the vault permanently even if you persuaded her father to stand down without violence, and will provide you with the modified utility jumpsuit (only if you didn't use violence). Later, you may randomly encounter Susie Mack in the wasteland. You can talk to her and she will give you purified water but say that you still cannot return. Butch will end up in Rivet City at The Muddy Rudder.

Destroy the Vault

Hack the (hard) computer in the sub-basement or steal the Vault 101 maintenance password from Stanley, the maintenance man, who can be found wandering around the cafeteria/dorm level. Go into manual override mode and perform a flush and a purge. This will flush the water chip, resulting in a catastrophic system failure (if Stanley is performing maintenance on the system, as he tends to do, the resulting explosive malfunction will kill him). Everyone is now forced to evacuate the vault (you lose Karma for this). This is always an option (unless the latest patch 1.1 is installed, see below) - you can even complete the quest with another method and then flush the chip, although this will render anything you did before meaningless from the quest's point of view.

• The passcode only unlocks the terminal and does not enable you to unlock any extra areas of the Vault.
• You can lie to Amata that it was the Overseer's plan, and lie to the Overseer that the rebels did it. In the latter case he will stay where he is, ashamed at what he has caused, which results in his death.
• If Amata finds out you did it, either by telling her or failing the speech check, she will say you're worse than her father and threatens to kill you if she ever sees you again. As she is running out of the Vault, you can attempt to speak to her, but she won't say anything and will instead turn hostile and attack you.
• As of patch 1.1, the option to destroy the Vault is lost after completing the mission through interaction with either Amata or the Overseer. Back at the filtration room computer, the option "Begin Water Chip Service" now returns the message "Service Disabled - See Vendor" when selected. This applies even if Butch has given you the optional task to Sabotage Vault 101.

Obviously, life in the vault is no longer feasible. A random encounter may occur where Amata is being interrogated by the Enclave. If she gives up the location for Vault 101, she will be executed. If you save her life, you can try talking to her, but she will scold you for what you have done. She doesn't have a destination and will eventually be killed by one of the horrors of the wasteland. Butch can be found at The Muddy Rudder bar in Rivet City and can be recruited if you have neutral Karma. In the random encounter Trapped Outside, you'll also find dead residents (provided these residents survived your Vault visit). In order: Freddie Gomez, Pepper Gomez, Herman Gomez. All of the other vault dwellers are not seen again.

Doing this nets no rewards of any kind except bad Karma; if you particularly want a reward then you can complete the quest that way, get the reward, and then destroy the chip. You can, of course, still loot the Vault.You will gain very evil carma

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Failure

Killing the overseer after getting the vault either open or closed results in failure of the quest itself. This also causes the Vault to be left open and you can come and go as you please, but all residents will turn hostile. A message will appear explaining that Vault 101 has been 'thrown into chaos'. If you decide to make it a home-away-from-home, be aware that even after you've killed all the people, the place will become infested with radroaches.

• It's possible for this to happen accidentally - if you convince the rebels to stay and then go to the Overseer when Officer Wilkins is nearby he will cause the Overseer to become hostile as well. This won't instantly cause failure unless the Overseer actually dies.
• If you kill Amata, Vault 101 will still be thrown into chaos.

Glitchy endings

• When you throw the vault into chaos, Butch will disappear and will be waiting at the Muddy Rudder bar in Rivet City. Butch will order you to leave like the vault residents do, but you can still hire him to be a companion.
• It is possible to kill the leaders of both sides without failing the quest. Resolve the situation, killing people if you want, but spare the acting Overseer (whether it is Amata, her dad, or Mack). Attack the Overseer and make them pursue you to the entrance of the vault but don't kill them. After the vault door closes and the quest is deemed completed, you can revel in the joy of slaying the previously "critical" non-player character and getting away with it. You won't receive the message about the vault being thrown into chaos if you achieve this.
• It is also possible to kill the leaders of both sides and more residents of the vault without failing the quest. If the player convinces the overseer that the vault shouldn't remain closed the overseer will then run and tell Amata that she is the new Overseer. Right after that conversation, kill Amata and everyone will want to kill you. Make a run for it and get out of the vault. Head towards the wooden door into the wasteland but don't open it. The quest will be completed, the player will gain the XP, the vault door will close and even with the vault door closed, the residents somehow will get outside the vault and attack you, you can kill them then for XP with Karma loss but the mission will be complete (discovered on Fallout 3 PC version).
• It is also possible to finish the quest and have the vault door stay open indefinitely. Enter the vault and don't talk to anyone - ignoring Officer Gomez, Amata and the Overseer isn't critical but there's no real point in talking to anyone else (except perhaps Butch, to get the optional "Sabotage Vault 101" subquest on your Pip-Boy, but it isn't necessary). Head to the reactor area and purge the water chip. This will cause the vault to evacuate. Wait about 2–3 minutes real-time and then go through the Overseer's tunnel. (If you can't avoid the Overseer here, lie to them.) Leave the vault when it says the quest is completed (when the vault door would normally close). The door will remain open forever, and the vault will be empty of people.
  • You cannot shut the vault door using this method. Method confirmed on Xbox 360.
  • If you avoid the Overseer when leaving they may remain in the vault, alive and with no dialogue options.
  • If you kill the Overseer and then kill Amata when she tells you to leave then the vault door will stay open indefinitely.
  • Note: Waiting does not work.

Quest stages

Side with the rebels

Stage	Status	Description
10		Return to Vault 101.
20		Learn what happened to Vault 101.
30		End Vault 101's troubles.
40		Stop the Overseer.
80		(Optional) Sabotage Vault 101.
90		(Optional) Leave Vault 101 forever.
140		Talk to Amata.
160		Evacuate the Vault
190		Leave Vault 101 forever.

Side with the overseer

Stage	Status	Description
10		Return to Vault 101.
20		Learn what happened to Vault 101.
30		End Vault 101's troubles.
60		Stop the Rebels.
80		(Optional) Sabotage Vault 101.
90		(Optional) Leave Vault 101 forever.
160		Talk to the Overseer.
180		Evacuate the Vault
190		Leave Vault 101 forever.
190		Everyone in Vault 101 has been killed.

Notes

• WARNING: You will not be able to regroup with any companion should you choose to have them wait inside the vault after you have left for good, barring the use of mods or console commands. Your companion will stay inside, and you will never be able to get them out since entry to the vault will be forbidden and there are two ways to do it:
  (1). Use of mods or console commands
  (2). Wait or travel to DLC locations like Pitt and Point Lookout until you receive a message that they came back to their own place such as "Fawkes has returned to the Museum of History."
• Having a companion with you on entry into the vault may lead to no peaceful settlement with the Overseer as your companion may attack him on sight. With all the problems they might cause, it might just be easiest to make them stay outside.
• After getting inside the vault, the first thing you will see is the corpse of Jim Wilkins.
• This is the last time you will be able to grab the Bobblehead - Medicine from your father's office in the clinic if you missed it before. Also, be sure to open the (average) locked safe behind the framed Bible quote in the same room, as it contains a schematic for the Rock-It Launcher and the Home sweet home voice recording from your father, as well as 300 caps.
• Regardless of whether you arranged to have Vault 101 opened, sabotaged, or sealed (which would logically preclude his appearance elsewhere), Butch gets out and will be an available companion.
• If you have activated the purifier, then you might not be able to start this quest.
• If you missed the chance to start the quest and the distress signal is gone, type in the console setstage 00014EA3 10. This will initiate the quest and follow as normal. Going to The Pitt and returning also helps, if you have it installed. Going to other DLC locations (Mothership Zeta, Point Lookout, Operation: Anchorage) may possibly work too, though this hasn't been confirmed. Otherwise you will not be able to complete the quest.
• Killing the Overseer will leave a finger on his corpse and will result in no Karma loss (the latter holds true for Andy as well).
• If you do not kill Officer Wilkins after he becomes hostile, he will try to find you throughout the Vault. If any Vault citizens see him as a hostile against you, they will also join in the fight to kill you.
• The Overseer is nearby and will likely become hostile to you before you have a chance to talk to him, forcing you to kill him. If, however, your sneak skill is high enough, or through use of a Stealth Boy, you can kill Wilkins and then slip away from combat. Remaining hidden long enough will allow the Overseer to become non hostile again, and you can talk to him.
• Wilkins will also appear in the sublevel (where you shot the radroaches with your BB gun as a kid). Killing him here obviously won't make anyone hostile, unless Stanley is there and sees you fighting.
• Here is another chance to obtain a Tunnel Snake jacket from Freddie Gomez (Butch has one too, but it won't show up in his inventory). Be sure to take another item of clothing (raider armor works well) to reverse pick pocket him, leave the area and come back to see him wearing the new armor. Now you can take the Tunnel Snake outfit.
• If you leave any items in any containers inside the vault, be sure to grab them BEFORE leaving the vault for good, you will never get these items back.
• If you can not get the signal which starts this quest, and you have The Pitt installed, once you've finished it, you should get the Vault 101 distress signal when you travel near Vault 101.
• This is the only point in the game where you can obtain Butch's Toothpick, a unique switchblade, by pickpocketing Butch.

Behind the scenes

Fallout reference: Portions of Amata's speech to the Lone Wanderer when he or she leaves are strikingly similar to the speech given to the Vault Dweller at the end of Fallout, even the number of ellipses used in each (bold quotes specifically).

Vault 13 Overseer's speech to the Vault Dweller:
You've done it! That's . . . wonderful. Amazing! I'm so proud of what you've accomplished, what you've endured.
There's no way the people of the Vault can ever thank you enough for what you've done. You've saved all our lives. Who knows, maybe even saved the human race. [The Overseer sighs.] That makes the rest of this even harder.

Everyone will want to talk to you. Every youngster will look up to you, and want to emulate you. And then what?
They'll want to leave. What happens to the Vault if we lose the best of a generation? What if we are the only safe place in the world? You just gave us back all these lives . . . I can't take the chance of losing them.
I've made a lot of tough decisions since I took this position. But none of them harder than this one. You saved us, but you'll kill us. I'm sorry. You're a hero . . . and you have to leave.

Amata's speech to the Lone Wanderer:
Amata: I... I just heard. the Overseer... My father is dead. What's more, some of the people are saying I should be the new Overseer. It's all so sudden.

Lone Wanderer: That's the way these things go. Now do the right thing for your Vault.

Amata: Oh, I will, believe me. We can open up limited trade with nearby settlements and other areas, and see the world we've been missing.
But it's still important that I protect our Vault, and keep the people within it safe from the dangers of the Wasteland. Even when those dangers have helped us in the past. And that makes the rest of this even harder.

Lone Wanderer: I've got a bad feeling I know where this is going.

Amata: You saved us. But that doesn't change the fact that you killed one of us to do it, and I can't let that sort of thing stand here. I guess it's a bit familiar. You've already been forced out of the Vault once before. At least now you know what's out there.
I'm sorry. You're a hero... and you have to leave.

NOTE: The above dialogue appears only if the Lone Wanderer chooses to resolve the problem by killing the Overseer. Resolving the problem diplomatically results in a different dialogue that does not reference the original Fallout.

Bugs

• Xbox 360 If you choose to end the vault troubles by sabotaging the vault, the vault door will remain open, allowing you to come and go as you please. If you inspect the vault for any present dwellers, you will notice that Beatrice Armstrong is no longer present at the surgery table (but Andy is still present), and Mr. Brotch is no longer held up in the jail cell (if you decided not to free him in the quest). The jail cell door remains locked. ^[verified]
• PC When attempting to reason with the Overseer and convince him to step down, he refers to the player as a "young man," regardless of the Lone Wanderer's actual gender. ^[verified]
• PC It is possible that the final objective (Leave Vault 101 forever) will stay marked as unfinished, even after you've completed the quest. ^[verified]
• PC After convincing the Overseer to step down, it is possible to get to Amata before he does. Speaking to Amata will have her talk as though the Overseer has already spoken to her, and after the player finishes talking to her the Overseer will arrive and their conversation will proceed normally. ^[verified]
• PC When you enter the vault and ask Officer Gomez to lead you to Amata, following Freddie into the room he goes in after having been shot at by Officer Taylor will result in him disappearing. ^[verified]
• PC After completing the quest, Butch will travel to the Muddy Rudder but cannot be recruited by the Lone Wanderer. This can happen if the player sides with the Overseer. Since it's irrational that he appears after closing the vault, allowing no one to leave, thus, cause him to have no dialogue. ^[verified]
• Xbox 360 Sometimes you will not get the distress signal, and cannot start the quest.^[verified]

Quests in Fallout 3 Main quests Baby Steps · Growing Up Fast · Future Imperfect · Escape! · Following in His Footsteps · Galaxy News Radio · Scientific Pursuits · Tranquility Lane · The Waters of Life · Picking Up the Trail · Rescue from Paradise · Finding the Garden of Eden · The American Dream · Take it Back! · Project Impurity Side quests Agatha's Song · Big Trouble in Big Town · Blood Ties · Head of State · The Nuka-Cola Challenge · Oasis · The Power of the Atom · Reilly's Rangers · The Replicated Man · Stealing Independence · Strictly Business · The Superhuman Gambit · Those! · Tenpenny Tower · Trouble on the Homefront · Wasteland Survival Guide · You Gotta Shoot 'Em in the Head Unmarked quests A Manhandled Manservant · A Nice Day for a Right Wedding · Happy Birthday to You · Church Donations · Collecting Holotags · Council Seat · Economics of Violence · Election Day · Fungus Deal · Gallows Humor · Geomapping with Reilly · Grady's Package · Hired Help · I Want to Drink Your Blood · Jiggs' Loot · Just for the Taste of It · Keller Family Refuge · Leo's Drug Habit · Lincoln's Profit Margins · Merchant Empire · Mississippi Quantum Pie · Murphy's Bombing Run · Nectar Collecting for Fun and Profit · Our Little Secret · Ryan Brigg's Wonder Meat · Searching for Cheryl · Slave Hunt · Strictly Profitable · The Kid-Kidnapper · The Lost Initiate · The Outcast Collection Agent · This Old House · Treatment · Walter's Scrap Metal · Water Beggars · Yearning for Learning · Zip's Nuka Fix Cut quests Infiltration · Last Rites · MS07 · Matchmaker Add-on quests Operation: Anchorage Aiding the Outcasts · The Guns of Anchorage · Paving the Way · Operation: Anchorage! The Pitt Free Labor · Into The Pitt · Mill Worker · Toys for Tots · Unsafe Working Conditions · Wild Bill's Last Stand · Slave Snitch Broken Steel The Sorrowful Suitor · Blood Brotherhood · Death From Above · Getting Ready for Prime Time · Shock Value · Who Dares Wins · Holy Water · Protecting the Water Way · The Amazing Aqua Cura! · Wastelander Water Request Point Lookout The Local Flavor  · Walking with Spirits · Hearing Voices · Tailing the Tomboy · Thought Control · A Meeting of the Minds · A Spoonful of Whiskey · An Antique Land · Plik's Safari · The Dark Heart of Blackhall · The Velvet Curtain Mothership Zeta Not of This World · Among the Stars · This Galaxy Ain't Big Enough... · The Legend of Zeta

Vault 101 Inhabitants Characters Lone Wanderer · James · Overseer Almodovar · Amata Almodovar · Jonas Palmer · Old Lady Palmer · Allen Mack · Butch DeLoria · Ellen DeLoria · Stevie Mack · Gloria Mack · Wally Mack · Susie Mack · Mr. Brotch · Andy · Officer Gomez · Pepper Gomez · Freddie Gomez · Stanley Armstrong · Beatrice Armstrong · Officer Kendall · Officer O'Brian · Officer Park · Officer Wilkins · Officer Richards · Officer Wolfe · Officer Taylor · Floyd Lewis · Sec. Chief Hannon · Paul Hannon Jr. · Chip Taylor · Tom Holden · Mary Holden · Jim Wilkins · Janice Wilkins · Grandma Taylor Mentioned-only characters Anne Palmer · George · Mary Kendall · Monica Kendall · Joe Palmer · Lewis · Mackay · Vault 101 overseer before Almodovar · Vault 101's first overseer · Vault 101's second overseer Quests Main Baby Steps · Growing Up Fast · Future Imperfect · Escape! Side Trouble on the Homefront