“This product is the pinnacle of taste sensation. Seventeen fruit flavors and that signature cola taste blend to form the perfect refreshing soft drink. With its new Strontium additive, it's got that unique kick to keep you on your toes.”— Milo
Drinking a Nuka-Cola Quantum will increase one's Action Points by 20 for 4 minutes and radiation by 10. Mixed in a tin can with Abraxo cleaner and turpentine, it creates a Nuka-grenade, which is much more powerful than normal grenades. Nuka-Cola addict and fanatic Sierra Petrovita has created a recipe in which mixing Nuka-Cola Quantum with flour and vodka makes a delicious pastry.
There are 94 bottles found in the base game and 14 additional bottles included with the add-ons; a total of 108 bottles. See the table below for a full list of locations. Bottles found in vending machines are random and are not included in this list. Bottles sold through a specific random encounter merchant are also not included.
Enter the service entrance at the southeast side of the memorial, take a left and then go to the end of the hall where there is a utility door; the Nuka-Cola Quantum is in that room, the Memorial service entrance utility closet. A Repair skill of 95 or higher is required to enter it.
In an overturned trailer under a highway north of Andale.
AntAgonizer's lair
1
One next to the AntAgonizer's throne. Don't use the main entrance here, just use the sewer system on top of the hill to get straight to the throne room.
East of Arefu is a small wooden dock. Next to the dock is a wooden pole sticking out of the water. The Nuka-Cola Quantum is sitting on top of the pole.
In the Media Archives: in a room on the top floor with two computer terminals, one of which controls a safe. The bottle is on a small round table in the corner, hidden by a wood crate and can be quite difficult to see.
One is to the south inside the bathtub in the irradiated outhouse. Five are just west of the dairy farm in the back of a crashed Nuka-Cola truck near an unmarked gas station. This is the truck that was delivering the shipment from the Nuka-Cola plant.
One is inside the building in a small room filled with debris (in the bottom right corner of the local map) in a crate under a desk on the first floor. The other is at the end of a destroyed highway bridge halfway between the Chryslus Building and the Corvega Factory (approach from the South between the City Liner bus and the Corvega billboard).
In the bazaar. It's behind the first bar on the right, inside a box with empty soda bottles.
Flooded metro
2
One is on a table in the raider camp that is southeast of the metro station. The other is sitting on a gun cabinet inside the metro station, in the same room as The Shocker.
Walking from the DCTA tunnel 014-B Potomac entrance, take the first left into the small area between the tracks where it can be found, along with a few raiders. It is located behind the gate next to the table and machinery.
Near the Foreman's room, next to the terminal controlling the turrets.
Jalbert Brothers waste disposal
2
One is on a desk in the eastern office. The other is northwest of the waste disposal, lying on the ground next to a wrecked Nuka-Cola truck and trailer.
Jocko's Pop & Gas stop
1
There is one in the shop, on a shelf behind the cash register.
After entering the L.O.B. Enterprises building, take a right and then take the hallway left. Keep going west-northwest and there will eventually be a room with a set of stairs going down. Across the stairs (don't actually go down the stairs, just look across), there will be a Nuka-Cola Quantum on a shelf. Closest map marker is Falls Church.
On the highest floor, on a desk with an active terminal in a room in the northeast corner containing a first aid box, a broken door and a Nuka-Cola vending machine.
In the safe with a very hard lock. The terminal (very hard) on the desk can be hacked to open the lock as well.
MDPL-13 power station
1
On the workbench as soon as entering the power substation, directly west of the entrance to the main plant. There is also a schematic for the railway rifle.
Southwest of Minefield is a power sub-station surrounded by a fence with an easy locked gate. One Quantum is on a girder above the sub-station. It has to be shot down from the beam and the locked gate must be picked to get it. Another Quantum is under a nearby power transmission tower across the road to the south. Also under the tower is a BB gun and some ammunition, which is useful as the low power of the BB gun will not send the bottle flying randomly, where it may be lost.
One is located in one of the trucks behind the plant. Three more are at the production line. The machinery must be started by activating it at a computer located in the room next to the production line.
Near where Harold's heart is found, there is a door to a damp cave. Inside the cave is a mirelurk king, mirelurk hunter and a mirelurk. The Quantum is down where the mirelurk king is.
In a room with some bedding. The room is located directly southwest of the lower Old Olney exit on the local map. After entering the sewers, the door leading to this room is to the left. Heading to the right will only lead to a large number of deathclaws.
In Eulogy Jones' pad. Head towards the stairwell, but go into the space next to the stairs and there will be several crates with Nuka-Cola Quantum. There are 5 bottles in all.
In the water due east of the Springvale school map marker. It is below a section of intact highway in the middle of the river with a blue car teetering out over the edge of it. The Quantum is in the water directly below the car. It will often float to the surface with empty and full bottles of Nuka-Cola when approached.
Red Racer factory
1
Very top floor CEO offices, the Surgeon's room. Inside the small room that is lit up in red and has Stefan locked in it.
In the fenced area, on top of a Nuka-Cola machine.
Rock Creek caverns
1
In a wooden crate at B on the local map image. To get to it, walk up the fallen stalactite at A, which rests at an angle against a wall in the first and largest chamber of Rock Creek caverns. At its tip, jump up to where some mushrooms are located. Hugging the wall, walk on the skinny ledge around to B.
In the library, on the eastern-most side of Roosevelt Academy: After walking in, there's a Nuka-Cola Quantum to the left on a desk. This requires a lock pick skill of 100 in order to gain entry. There is also an underground maintenance route one can use to gain access to the Roosevelt Library. This route can be accessed through either Roosevelt Academy or the Athletics Hall.
On top of the giant cage just inside the main entrance (from Vault 101, head northeast and the main entrance is along the road facing west). Upon entry, there is a massive square cage. The bottle is on the far top edge and can either be shot down, obtained by walking around until upstairs and jumping across, or by going to the side of the cage the bottle is on and grabbing it while jumping.
In the pharmacy (the room with the Protectron) there are some boxes containing Nuka-Cola, the 3 Quantums among them. The lock to the pharmacy can be picked or opened with the key found in the Mart.
Go inside the factory using the southwestern door. Once inside, head up the stairs to the left. There are wooden planks on the other side of the railing. Jump over the railing, onto the wooden planks and then onto the small ledge down below. There is a Nuka-Cola Quantum on the other side of the generator.
Tenleytown/Friendship station
1
There is one sitting on top of a bench upstairs in the big room with the bonfire.
VAPL-58 power station
2
Inside the power station on the workbench. In a makeshift shed by the billboard southeast of the power station.
Entrance floor, in a small storage room adjacent to the malfunctioning generator. Behind several yellow metal crates is a metal ladder, the bottle is on top of the ladder.
On a shelf at the westernmost point inside the Vernon East/Takoma Park metro station.
Warrington station
1
In Roy Phillips' room, between a couple of metal boxes on the floor.
Yao guai tunnels
1
Enter the tunnel and go straight until reaching the 4-way intersection. Turn left at the intersection. It is sitting on a table, easily seen. A radio is tuned to GNR nearby.
Abandoned apartments
3
The door to the abandoned apartments is across the road from Haven. In one of the rooms, there is a Nuka-Cola Quantum on the counter in plain sight. Under this counter is another. The third is at the only place on the third floor that is accessible (NW corner of the building).
One is in the air control tower. After opening the ramp in the top chamber, go left and then look underneath the second desk to the left. Another can be found in the storage facility on a table next to two mini nukes.
In the stone basement is a locked cell door. Inside is a bottle of Quantum, along with some ammunition boxes.
Presidential metro
1
After clearing out the ghouls M.A.R.Go.T. warns about, it is in a room down the right of the tracks. "Equipment room" is written next to the door.
Calvert Mansion
1
In the panic room, on a shelf to the left along with 4 other Nuka-Colas. These colas have been made miniature to fit on the shelf.
Flooded sinkhole
2
Floating in the water, among other debris.
Ritual site
1
Hidden in an open casket in the northernmost part of the caves.
Trapper's shack
1
Basement, in the swamplurk enclosure.
Engineering core
3
1 appears in a box with some alien power cells after returning to the engineering core. The other two appear in a box behind a generator after returning once more to the engineering core.
In addition, there is a random encounter on the map in which a traveling salesman will offer to sell a Quantum for 100 caps (or 50 if a Speech check or Barter check is passed). This can happen a theoretically unlimited number of times, but he will only sell one Quantum per encounter.
Random spawns can also be found in Nuka-Cola vending machines. When accessing one of the 178 vending machines scattered indoors and outdoors throughout the Wasteland, there is approximately a 10% random chance of finding a Nuka-Cola Quantum. The contents of a Nuka-Cola vending machine load the first time you enter a cell and never reset. Therefore, to maximize this chance you should save before entering a new cell and travel to the vending machine. If it doesn't contain a Quantum, load and try again. Remember, outdoor cells frequently encompass several map markers.
With this in mind, it should be possible to get approximately 120 extra Nuka-Cola Quantum bottles with extreme dedication. The reason extreme dedication is a prerequisite is that some locations have two vending machines, meaning a 1 percent chance of getting 2 Nuka-Cola Quantums (and a 18 percent chance of getting one). Furthermore, some vending machines are hard to find or are located deep inside an environment, so getting to them to determine the contents takes a lot of time. And to top it off, some locations like the Chryslus Building have 3 or more vending machines in certain cells. You're welcome to try to get 3 or more Quantums, but given the incredibly low probability (0.1 percent for 3 machines, 0.01 for 4 machines), this seems an exercise in futility. Ultimately, ~120 bottles (from vending machines) is a fair estimate of your net haul if you get approximately two bottles at every location with 2 or more Nuka-Cola vending machines and 1 bottle at locations with only 1 Nuka-Cola vending machine. This number should be obtainable even if you make a few careless mistakes (such as blundering into an outdoor cell early in your playthrough and then later realize it contained a Nuka-Cola vending machine).
With the Quantum Chemist perk added by the Broken Steel add-on, every 10 normal (not ice cold) Nuka-Colas that you have in your inventory automatically become one bottle of Quantum. Since Nuka-Cola respawns in several shops with this perk the Quantum count is raised from approximately 211 to an infinite amount. This perk is extremely useful if you have already used too many Nuka-Cola Quantums to complete The Nuka-Cola Challenge quest.
Notes[]
After completing The Nuka-Cola Challenge, if you return to Sierra with 1 Nuka-Cola Quantum, 1 flour and 1 vodka, she can make you a Mississippi Quantum pie. It grants you 20 points to your AP, -1 to your IN and +1 to your ST.
Ronald Laren describes the taste of Quantum as "Drinking a Nuka-Cola, then downing a fistful of sugar, and punching yourself in the head."
You can get addicted to Nuka-Cola Quantum, unlike regular Nuka-Cola. This is hinted at by some of Sierra Petrovita's dialogue. The addiction chance is 10%.
The Nuka-Cola Quantum in Desmond's panic room and the Quantum in the trapper's shack are both half-sized.
Nuka-Cola Quantum will never get "ice cold" by being stored in your pristine Nuka-Cola machine.
Both Ronald Laren and Sierra Petrovita mention that consumption of Nuka-Cola Quantum will cause one's urine to glow and if you complete The Nuka-Cola Challenge, Three Dog will also comment about these effects on Galaxy News Radio.
The Nuka-Cola plant terminal entries tell the story of the final months of the plant, including Quantum's advertising campaign, production, release and distribution. The entries list three locations where Quantum was to be test marketed and two of these three: Paradise Falls and Chaste Acres Dairy Farm, where the Old Olney shipment truck broke down, are the largest caches of Quantum in the game.
In the Point Lookout add-on, Nuka-Cola Quantums appear during the hallucination in the sacred bog. They are found either falling from the sky or rising from the swamp water. When the Lone Wanderer approaches them, they explode and make baby sounds.
For PC players running either on lower-end computers or those who have turned down effects due to FO3 crashing, the rendering of the blue glow of Nuka-Cola Quantum is not clear unless HDR is on. There are a few ways around this:
By looking at the label on the bottle; the regular Nuka-Cola bottle's label is red and its emblem is styled to look like that of a Coca-Cola bottle. The Quantum's label, on the other hand, is brown, although it takes close observation to tell the difference (see the comparison picture in the infobox).
Simply move the crosshairs over the bottle and see if the "Take" option reads "Take Nuka-Cola Quantum".
Nuka-Cola Quantum's bottle cap is red while regular Nuka-Cola's bottle cap is rusty.
Nuka-Cola Quantum's proposed slogan "Take the leap... enjoy a Quantum!" is a pun dealing with the scientific term "quantum leap", which refers to the phenomenon where an electron nearly instantaneously (within a few nanoseconds) leaps from one energy level (aka quantum state) to another.
Nuka-Cola Quantum may be a reference to the short lived Coca-Cola C2 which was advertised as having "half the carbohydrates, sugars and calories" of regular Coca-Cola, an almost opposite of Quantum's advertisement of "twice the calories, twice the carbohydrates, twice the caffeine and twice the taste" of regular Nuka-Cola.
Despite being under the jurisdiction of the PepsiCo company, Quantum's debatable safety concerns can be linked to Pepsi Blue. The dye was a cause for concern regarding allergic reactions in consumers- much like Quantum's sketchy effects on the body.
Strontium-90, the extra additive in Quantum, is in real life a nuisance element in fallout that is particularly problematic due to its similarity to calcium, leading it to concentrate in the teeth and bones.
↑World of Refreshment terminal entries; Beverageer's terminal, Meacham RMNC-0987115
↑World of Refreshment terminal entries; Beverageer's terminal, Meacham RMNC-0987129
↑Kanawha Nuka-Cola plant terminal entries; Current Project Status, Sea Lion
↑Nuka-Cola plant terminal entries; research terminal, Quantum Progress Report 0067
↑Bradberton's office terminal entries; Bradberton's terminal, Outgoing Mail JCB800NWC
↑Lone Wanderer:"Glowing pee? That sounds like dangerous stuff!" Sierra Petrovita: "Oh no! Not at all! Nuka-Cola Quantum was made under the supervision of the Food and Drug Association. They would NEVER let harmful products end up in stores!" (Sierra Petrovita's dialogue)
↑World of Refreshment tour: "Welcome to the Nuka-Cola World of Refreshment, now featuring a river of Nuka-Cola Quantum! Nuka-Cola Quantum: Twice the calories, twice the carbohydrates, twice the caffeine, and twice the taste! And just look at that amazing, patented blue glow! So sit back and enjoy the ride as we take you through the Nuka-Cola World of Refreshment!" (World of Refreshment announcer's dialogue)
↑The Lone Wanderer: "What do you know about Nuka-Cola Quantum?" Milo: "This product is the pinnacle of taste sensation. Seventeen fruit flavors and that signature cola taste blend to form the perfect refreshing soft drink. With its new Strontium additive, its got that unique kick to keep you on your toes." (Milo's dialogue)
↑The Lone Wanderer:"Quantum? Never heard of it before." Sierra Petrovita: "Well, right before the bombs fell, the good folks at Nuka-Cola developed what they hoped was an improvement on the original formula. Calling it Nuka-Cola Quantum, it was said to have 'Twice the calories, twice the carbohydrates, twice the caffeine and twice the taste!'" (Sierra Petrovita's dialogue)
↑The Lone Wanderer: "That stuff sounds absolutely revolting." Sierra Petrovita: "On the contrary! The secret ingredient was an eighteenth fruit flavor which added just a hint of pomegranate. Top that with a specially engineered isotope to boost the energy output and you have the perfect refresher for a hot summer day!" (Sierra Petrovita's dialogue)
↑The Lone Wanderer: "So, what went wrong?" Sierra Petrovita: "Well, the flavor certainly wasn't the issue. The public was just split on the unique feature of the Quantum's appearance. You see, to make it stand out on store shelves and to give it that extra kick, the formula called for a mild isotope. The effect was a drink that not only boosted your energy, but also glowed with a bright blue light!" (Sierra Petrovita's dialogue)
↑Lone Wanderer:"What do you know about the Nuka-Cola Bottling Facility?" Sierra Petrovita: "Well, the D.C. Facility was like their main factory just before the bombs fell. All the research they did was performed there. It was the only facility to ever produce Quantum. They were in a test market mode, and they would have expanded production if the drink caught on. Too bad they didn't, otherwise Quantum would be as plentiful as regular Nuka-Cola." (Sierra Petrovita's dialogue)
↑Nuka-World loading screens: With its unique flavor and distinct bluish glow, Nuka-Cola Quantum was poised to dominate the soft drink market. Unfortunately, it was released to the public on October 23, 2077, the same day that the bombs fell.
