Growing Up Fast is the second main quest in Fallout 3. As part of this quest, the player character gains the Vault 101 Citizenship Award which is an achievement for the Xbox 360 and PC, and a bronze trophy on the PlayStation 3. It is guaranteed to be the first earned achievement/trophy in the game.
Quick walkthrough
| Main Quest: Growing Up Fast | |||||
| Enjoy the party and speak with the guests | |||||
| Meet Jonas on the Reactor Level | |||||
| Shoot all 3 targets, and the radroach, with the BB gun | |||||
| Stand next to Dad so that Jonas can take the picture | |||||
| Reward: Pip-Boy 3000, BB gun | |||||
| Leads to: Future Imperfect | |||||
Detailed walkthrough
Have a present
This quest begins immediately after the Baby Steps quest, though it occurs in 2268, at the player character's 10th birthday party. They will be congratulated and be given a Pip-Boy 3000.
Enjoy your party
- Goals:
- Talk to Amata
- Receive: Grognak the Barbarian issue #14
- Talk to Old Lady Palmer
- Receive: sweetroll
- Talk to Amata
- Optional:
- Talk to Stanley
- Text Choice: Any throughout conversation.
- Receive: kid's baseball cap
- Text Choice: Any throughout conversation.
- Talk to Beatrice
- Text Choice: Any throughout conversation.
- Receive: A birthday poem (viewable in the Notes section of your Pip-Boy 3000)
- Text Choice: Any throughout conversation.
- Talk to Stanley
The Lone Wanderer is to speak with the guests to advance the plot. There are really only two that must be spoken with, however. Amata will more than likely be the first to speak with them, with three different dialogue options. Each option except "Um, a date with Christine Kendall/Freddie Gomez" will result in her giving the player character a "Grognak the Barbarian issue #14." comic. Old Lady Palmer will give a sweetroll. Optionally, Stanley, the one responsible for setting the Wanderer up with the Pip-Boy 3000, can also be spoken to for a kid's baseball cap.
After Old Lady Palmer has been spoken with, Andy, a Mister Handy robot, will try to cut the cake, but will accidentally destroy it instead. This will agitate Butch DeLoria, and he will demand the Lone Wanderer's sweetroll as he is hungry. Various dialogue options exist at this point. Most of the time, Butch will end up attacking the Lone Wanderer (no way to fight back), particularly if the sweetroll is not given. Officer Gomez will eventually break up the fight. The situation may be explained to him if this happens. One scenario to note: if the sweetroll was eaten, and the Wanderer calmly explains this to him, he will just sit back down. Also, if the sweetroll was dropped, Butch will sit back down and the sweetroll can be retrieved from where it was dropped. Regardless of what goes down, Amata will approach the Lone Wanderer to see what Butch's outburst was about, and Dad will also ask what happened if he is spoken to.
Shortly after this, Dad will get up and go to the intercom, where he converses with Jonas over it. He will at this point direct the Lone Wanderer to go down to the reactor room for a surprise he and Jonas have been working on.
Armed and in charge
- Goals
- Go down to reactor room
- Shoot the 3 targets
- Kill the radroach
The latest objective is to meet Jonas in the reactor room. Head out the door Dad just opened and turn right; Beatrice will more than likely speak with Wanderer on the way there. She will give them a poem which can be read in the "Notes" section of the Pip-Boy 3000.
Turn left at the "reactor" sign head down the hall and turn right. Go down the stairs and enter the room. Talk to Jonas, and he'll direct you to see Dad, who is just coming down the stairs. When he speaks to you, he'll give you a BB gun. A new objective pops up at this point. Head through the nearby door, and shoot all three targets with the BB gun.
After each target has been shot once, a radroach will come wandering into the area. The player character is tasked to kill it with their new BB gun. After this, Dad wants to capture the moment, and asks Jonas to take a picture. Simply stand next to him at this point to complete the quest. After the "Six Years Later" transition, the Future Imperfect quest will begin at the Lone Wanderer's age of 16.
Quest stages
Notes
- You do not have to read your birthday present, Grognak the Barbarian, right away. It will be in the dresser in your room along with the Vault 101 utility jumpsuit during Escape!.
- During the Lone Wanderer's birthday, one can hear the young Tunnel Snakes talking about their gang, having Wally Mack and Butch argue about the gang's name. Wally replies in one point "You and your snakes and rats" as if the name couldn't be the Tunnel Snakes, but this seems to happen after all. The name "Vault Dwellers" is also suggested and immediately shot down by Butch, who says "Who wants to go around all day being called a Vault Dweller...". The main character from Fallout is referred to as "the Vault Dweller" throughout Fallout 2 and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel.
- Instead of heading downstairs to meet with Jonas, you can head straight forward up the stairs to witness a conversation between Officer Kendall and the Overseer, where the latter states what he really thinks of your party, saying "Bah, I only came because Amata's friends with the brat." Kendall can be pickpocketed for two stimpaks with no Karma loss.
- You find out that your Pip-Boy is a 3000a model; one of the older models, but "reliable" (as Stanley calls it) or just a "piece of junk" (as Wally Mack calls it). It's able to link up with the Stealth Boy 3001 model. Stanley reckons you could "drop a bomb on it and it would still work", then corrects himself by stating "as a matter of fact, I know you could".
- If having run out of BBs, James will resupply the Lone Wanderer with 25 new BBs if spoken to. This also works if the ammunition is dropped, allowing for it to be picked it up again afterward to gain a theoretically unlimited amount of BBs. Regardless of this, there will still only be 50 BB pellets during the Escape! quest.
- Along with "Clear Project Purity of any remaining Mutant Threat" in the quest The Waters of Life, this appears to be one of only two quests which prevents completing Fallout 3 without killing anyone. Once given the BB gun, it is impossible to leave the reactor room area (since the top door has a "Very Hard" lock), and it is impossible to drop the BB gun. Although it is possible to complain to dad that you "didn't want a stupid BB gun" and to say of killing the radroach "I can't do it!", eventually Jonas will not enter dialogue and the only options with dad are to ask for more ammunition or to end the conversation.
- It is possible to avoid getting a birthday poem from Beatrice. Just walk far left as soon as you can. She'll follow you but not past the door to the reactor level.
- Jonas still manages to take a picture of you and your father even if you've shot him unconscious with your BB gun.
- You can kill Officer Gomez and loot his Vault 101 security armor off his body and even equip it. However, once the quest is complete it will be removed from your inventory.
- At the tenth birthday, the Lone Wanderer will receive a sweetroll from Old Lady Palmer, and Butch Deloria will confront the Wanderer and demand it. This is a reference to question nine of the personality quiz that Socucious Ergalla gives you in Morrowind, it is also asked during the start of the Elder Scrolls Arena, both other Bethesda games. The question is as follows: "While in town the baker gives you a sweetroll. Delighted, you take it into an alley to enjoy only to be intercepted by a gang of three other kids your age. The leader demands the sweetroll, or else he and his friends will beat you and take it." The question and the item itself have become a staple of Bethesda games, and in Fallout 4 there is a special Happy Birthday sweet roll that is a reference to this quest.
 | The following is based on Fallout 3 cut content. |
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- Originally, Stevie Mack, Susie Mack and Christine Kendall were going to be part of the birthday party, however this was cut, likely because it would have too many NPCs within the small room.
| End of information based on Fallout 3 cut content |
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Transition quotes
- "You are to mend broken bones, prescribe medications, and see to the health of my residents. These "experiments" are a waste of time!"- The Overseer
- "Don't be a damned fool! We experiment to prepare. We prepare to survive."- Dad
- "What's the matter, teacher's pet? Gonna cry? Awww... Waaahh!"- Butch
- "Your mommy? Oh, sweetie... I... Of course I miss her. I miss her... so much. Each day more than the last."- Dad
Bugs
It is possible that you will receive the Pip-Boy yet not the Vault 101 Citizenship Award trophy. [verified]
After shooting the three targets, when the radroach appears the game may crash while James is speaking to you. This can be fixed by restoring the action mapping to its default keys. [verified]- If Old Lady Palmer is spoken to after the Lone Wanderer is instructed to meet Jonas at the Reactor Level, Butch won't ask for the Sweetroll when she gives it to them.
Gallery
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