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For an overview of this weapon, see Fat Man. |
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The Fat Man is a tactical nuclear catapult in Fallout 3.
Contents
Characteristics
The Fat Man is a pre-War heavy weapon that launches mini nukes. The mini nuke projectile is very heavy, and if simply fired straight ahead, it will travel only a short distance before falling to the ground and detonating (causing one to be caught well within the very damaging mini-nuclear blast). For optimal range, the Fat Man should be fired in V.A.T.S. mode at high skill levels (which automatically compensates for the projectile's downward trajectory), or at an upward angle to catapult the mini nuke further, so that it impacts at a safer distance.
The Fat Man has an estimated range of 150+ yards. The blast zone will be irradiated for a short time after detonation, giving out up to 8 rads per second.
Durability
The Fat Man's condition can wear down surprisingly quickly with frequent use (though its firepower is still devastating at any state of repair). It can fire a total of about 167 mini nukes from full condition before breaking.
Variants
- Experimental MIRV - An incredibly destructive weapon, the MIRV fires eight mini nukes in a single shot.
Sim version - A sim-only version of the weapon, which has the same health.
Comparison
| Legend | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | - Weapon name (melee or unarmed) |  | - Attacks in V.A.T.S. | |
 | - Weapon name (gun, energy or explosive) |  | - Action point cost | |
 | - Damage per attack (damage per projectile) |  | - Damage per action point | |
 | - Damage per second |  | - Weapon spread | |
 | - Area of effect damage |  | - Magazine capacity (shots per reload) | |
 | - Effect damage & duration |  | - Durability (number of attacks before breaking) | |
 | - Bonus effects |  | - Weight | |
 | - Attacks per second |  | - Value in caps | |
 | - Critical chance % multiplier |  | - Value to weight ratio | |
 | - Critical damage |  | - Skill required | |
 | - Critical effect damage & duration |  | - Strength required | |
 | - With all mods attached | |||
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fat Man | 10 | 2542 | 1600 | +10  /12s | 1.58 | x0 | 0 | 65 | 24.8 | 2.0 | 1 | 167 | 30 | 1000 | 33.3 |
| Experimental MIRV | 80 (10x8) | 20336.2 | 12800 | +80 /12s | 1.58 | x0 | 0 | 65 | 198.2 | 13.0 | 8(1) | 63 | 30 | 2498 | 83.3 |
Locations
- Capitol Building, during or after the fight with the super mutant behemoth. One of the Talon mercs is armed with it, as well as a single mini nuke.
- Evergreen Mills - At the top of the foundry in a locked room.
- Fort Bannister - In the main Fort Bannister building in an Average locked room at the bottom of the concrete stairs.
- Fort Constantine - Along with two mini nukes. One will need all three of the special keys from the You Gotta Shoot 'Em in the Head quest to access the room.
- GNR building plaza, on a dead Brotherhood soldier with eight mini nukes, during the quest Following in His Footsteps. The corpse of the Brotherhood soldier will not appear if the normal GNR quest is skipped and Sentinel Lyons is not encountered.
- Germantown police HQ - In the basement armory in an Average locked closet near the firing range.
- Olney sewers - In a small room in the center of the sewer. The same room has three locked safes and a missile launcher.
- White House - In the ruins, near a skeleton. Next to the Fat Man are three mini nukes. The White House can be accessed from a utility manhole at the White House plaza, south of the building on Pennsylvania Ave.
- Flak and Shrapnel in Rivet City sell one.
- The first time one goes to Bannister crater after The Waters of Life, they will encounter an Enclave soldier carrying one, plus a mini nuke.
- In a random encounter, a dead scavenger is carrying a Fat Man and a mini nuke.
- Towards the end of the Operation: Anchorage quest, four American soldiers with T-51b power armor will equip Fat Mans, which can be knocked out of their hands or pickpocketed, and kept using the Gary 23 glitch.
Notes
- Sometimes the Fat Man (or experimental MIRV), is set up such that using it in V.A.T.S. will cause the Lone Wanderer to aim directly at the enemy, without aiming upwards to compensate for the distance. This means that using the Fat Man in V.A.T.S. could result in their death.
- Giving the Fat Man to followers is not recommended, as they may equip it during close-quarter fights if facing high-level opponents such as feral ghoul reavers or deathclaws. While they won't fire it, it will often get them killed before they can equip a more appropriate close-quarter weapon.
- The Fat Man does have a jamming sound but even with a low condition, the weapon doesn't show a jam animation.
- When fired, the Fat Man's mini nukes will make a whistling sound when flying through the air and then detonate when they hit the ground.
Behind the scenes
- Fat Man was the codename for the atomic bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan by the United States on August 9, 1945.
- Because of its relation to the real historic event, the weapon was renamed to the Nuka Launcher in the Japanese version of Fallout 3. It is, however, still referred to as the Fat Man in dialogue.
- The Fat Man itself is modeled after an actual nuke launcher called the M-388 Davy Crockett Tactical Nuclear Recoilless Rifle, which was developed in the 1950s.[1]
- The bell heard after reloading is actually the lunch bell from Bethesda Softworks’ cafeteria.[1]
Sounds
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Gallery
A Fat Man in action`
Fallout 3 Fat Man concept art
Mini nuke
Fat Man concept art by Adam Adamowicz
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Videos
References
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