Robot assembly

Robot assembly is a location on board Mothership Zeta.

Background
Robot assembly is, as one would suspect, where support and guardian drones are assembled. It is also the location of one of the generators that must be destroyed during the quest Among The Stars.

Layout
The Robot assembly entrance is directly west of the engineering core. The area is U shaped with two floors, with three areas separated by hallway corridors. Most of the second floor is initially inaccessible to the player and is used by the non-player character Somah during the Among the Stars quest. The entire Robot assembly area of the ship is occupied by many Support drones and guardian drones with drone cannons, and also their alien masters.

The first area contains some drones, a few alien workers, and an assembly line containing unfinished robot drones. The workers pose no danger and will flee if they detect danger, leaving the player to contend with the drones. Somah will appear on the balcony above providing limited support. The player must traverse this area following the assembly line to a corridor which connects to the second area. There is a matching access corridor on the second floor for Somah.

The second section contains more active drones and alien guards. The inactive support drones on the the assembly line appear all but completed. A section of the assembly line in the second large area(B) must be destroyed to gain access to the generator(A). (The teleport to the balcony located here is also inaccessible until the assembly line is disabled). To destroy the assembly line section, go to the end of the assembly line furthest from where you first entered. There are a pair of sentry guns on the ceiling there, one of which can be destroyed via an activatable control panel(which can also be set to explode as a proximity mine). At the end of the line there is a unique panel switch accessible when facing east. It is marked by a small line hologram of a drone being assembled in front of it. Use the panel to overload and detonate the assembly line. CAUTION: Move back immediately after you press the button, as the resulting explosion is strong enough to knock the player off their feet. If Somah was taken as backup, she will use a teleporter at the beginning of the area and will reconnect with the player, shortly after the assembly line is blown up. Once the force shield in the second area is deactivated, the teleporter beyond it enables the player to access the second floor balcony above it to explore it for minor loot.

The third section of the robot assembly line contains the end of the line and several drone pods, some of which are empty. One of the aliens in this area carries the drone control device. There is a small balcony, and a lower section containing the generator and and force shielded teleporter. Once the generator is destroyed, the force field that blocks the teleporter pad leading back to the first area of the assembly are also disabled.

Notable loot

 * The drone control device can be looted from the first alien you see in the area beyond the assembly line that Somah tells you to blow up.
 * 44 alien power cells can be found on/near a corner shelf in the first downstairs chamber, near a small container, opposite the robot escalator.
 * 100+ alien power modules on the middle shelf, in the same area as power cells.
 * 5-8 alien epoxy can be found on various shelves and containers in the area as well.

Appearances
Robot assembly only appears in the Fallout 3 add-on Mothership Zeta.

Bugs

 * At the part where you have to overload the assembly line, the panel will sometimes not do anything, making the only way to continue is to use console commands, the alien with the Drone Control Device will not appear, reloading will not solve the problem. If the panel is unusable, use the console, click on the panel and write "activate", it will use the panel and blow up the wall.
 * You can get stuck in one of the drone pods by going inside of one, then closing it and activating a drone.
 * If you have the Robotics Expert perk, do not deactivate the robot pod drones. The game only checks if a drone is dead before allowing you to activate another pod. Since deactivated drones are technically considered unconscious and not dead, the game will not allow you to activate a pod. Since all drones have the same name "guardian drone," you may accidentally deactivate the drone that would become friendly after pickpocketing or otherwise obtaining the Drone Control Device (there are four free-roaming active drones next to the alien with the Drone Control Device, one of which will become allied with the player when he obtains the drone control device). Until this particular drone is destroyed, no pods will open, because the game assumes that the drone is still active. Please refer to the Discussion page for technical details.
 * You can fall through the floor if you are too close to a pod while in sneak mode and attacking something in V.A.T.S..
 * After destroying the generator in this room, a Brotherhood of Steel paladin may spawn near the assembly line.