Chinese radio beacon

 

The Chinese radio beacon is a radio station found in a random encounter in Fallout 3.

CharacteristicsEdit

The radio beacon is tied to a random encounter and its signal will grow stronger as the player character gets closer to the source of the beacon — a dead Chinese commando.

The commando carries a full set of Chinese equipment, including a Chinese pistol, Chinese officer's sword, and a dirty Chinese jumpsuit, all in good repair, as well as assorted medical supplies.

If the dead Chinese commando spawns at a location such as Super-Duper Mart with raiders present, the raiders will loot the commando's body for weapons and equip them. This only applies to weapons, as characters do not collect apparel, only weapons that deal better damage than they already have (and since both the pistol and the sword come repaired, they usually do). If the body appears empty except for the suit, these raiders are usually the culprit.

TranscriptEdit

The message repeats twice, then there is a short pause then the message repeats every few seconds in a loop. The message broadcast over the radio is bǎishèng (百勝), which is Chinese for "to win every battle," and originates from the idiom bǎizhànbǎishèng (百战百胜), which literally means "to fight a hundred battles and win a hundred victories" and is found in Sun Tzu's The Art of War chapter III, verse 2: To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill..

Behind the scenesEdit

If the player character uses the tcl console command or use the console command player.moveto 000a0a4d, they can go underground where they will find a ham radio labeled "Chinese Radio Beacon" underneath the commando. The radio can be spoken to like any non-player character. If interacted with, the player character will hear "Hello?" or "Hey there" in English through the radio, to which the only reply available is "See you later," or "Time for me to go." Upon choosing this, the player character then hears "Bye" or "Later" or "Whatever" in English as the dialogue ends. Unlike other radios, this radio cannot be turned off.

BugsEdit

• PC Playstation 3 If the player character already has a given Chinese object in their inventory, the Commando may spawn without that particular object in his inventory. ^[verified]
• PC Playstation 3 Xbox 360 Sometimes the dead Chinese commando doesn't spawn. The player character can still noclip underground and find the ham radio, but there will be no corpse above it. ^[verified]
  • PC A workaround on the PC is to use the console command player.placeleveledactoratme a0a4c. ^[verified]
• Playstation 3 Xbox 360 Sometimes the beacon will become available only at a far edge of the world-map, indicating the commando's body is somewhere far off-map. ^[verified]

v·d·e Radio stations in Fallout 3 Stations Major Enclave Radio · Galaxy News Radio Minor Agatha's Station · Vault 101 PA System · People's Republic of America Radio · Pitt broadcast · Tenpenny Tower radio Signals Permanent Chinese radio beacon · Recon craft Theta beacon · Signal Alfa Lima · Signal Echo Foxtrot · Signal Kilo Bravo · Signal Oscar Tango · Signal Oscar Zulu · Signal Papa November · Signal Sierra Romeo · Signal Sierra Victor · Signal Yankee Bravo Temporary Ranger emergency frequency · Vault 101 emergency frequency · Outcast distress signal · Wernher's distress signal denote cut content, italics denote stations available through add-ons.