Forum:Firelance Event Forcing moved from article discussion

Kenny Powers here. I've played F3 hundreds of hours and I've seen Firelance events three times that I knew of.

1. On the road leading away from Raven Rock, on the way to the power station with the schematic.

2. WKML Broadcast Station.

3. On the road near Megaton, near the damaged overpass.

Each time, I brought Dogmeat to find the ammo and the weapon. He's a good dog.

I've never been able to force the event, though I admire the guy who wrote below that he tried to force it 30 times near Rockopolis. Thanks you guys.

Good Luck,

Kenny Powers

All information placed here is from The Vault Firelance discussion page.

More info moved during cleanup
The Firelance appears only in Fallout 3. It can only be obtained through the UFO random encounter.

The random event has a better chance of happening with a higher luck stat. You will hear and see something which looks mostly like an artillery strike, except it explodes in a green explosion before hitting the ground. Then something crashing and skittering across the ground will be heard, similar to knocking over a large object.The explosion looks similar to a plasma rifle shot impacting.


 * The explosion is a random encounter and can happen in a select few locations of the game.

After the explosion, the immediate area will be strewn with Alien Power Cell ammo and the Firelance. Unfortunately, it is in no particular pattern, and the player will have to search the immediate area to find the ammo (there are 24 total) and the Firelance on their own.

The Firelance will need some careful searching for (best by daylight) as it is small and blends in with the surroundings. Dogmeat is incredibly useful for this situation, as he can be told to search for a weapon and he'll fetch the Firelance. Dogmeat can also search for ammo and retrieve the alien power cells. Alternatively, wait until night time and look for the ammo, which glows blue in the dark. It is important to note that if an NPC discovers the Firelance during a combat situation they will pick up and equip the weapon. Confirmed NPC's include Raiders, Enclave and wasteland scavengers. This can be very dangerous, as at low levels a Raider with the Firelance can kill you in a few shots.

The items can sometimes become stuck in the sky, you can turn off clipping (console command: ) to get them.

Unfortunately, the weapon is likely to get stuck on buildings like a water tower in the wasteland. Your best bet is to try and blast it off with explosives, ideally frag grenades. The best place to find the Firelance is the barn by 101 and 106


 * The Firelance Event is a unique encounter limited to one and only one occurence per player-character.


 * Once a random encounter has occurred at a specific random encounter location, a different random encounter will not occur in the same location for the rest of the game. (See Fallout 3 random encounters for more details)


 * It is possible to miss the sound effects or visual clues to indicate that the Firelance has fallen. If you find yourself approaching a random encounter location, there are no creatures on radar, and your Geiger counter starts registering trace amounts of radiation, start looking for the power cells.

Finding the Firelance and power cells

 * Dogmeat (or his puppies) is very helpful for locating both the Firelance and the alien power cells: simply ask him to scavenge for a weapon or ammo in the area where the event triggers. It may be a good idea to follow him closely, however.


 * Star Paladin Cross is helpful too, she can pick it up and you can just take it from her inventory.


 * If you do not find the weapon and all the ammo on PC, and do not have Dogmeat with you: and  console commands can help as some of the cells might be invisible because of their placement. Using  you can find and get those cells too.


 * Using tcl the moment you trigger the event also allows you to float up to the explosion, where there will be a compact area conveniently containing the Firelance and all 24 Cells.


 * The Firelance may be found on NPC's: it has been found on Enclave Soldiers, a Raider in front of Super-Duper Mart, a Raider at Farragut West Metro Station with no ammo, and in perfect condition on a Talon Company Mercenary at Fort Bannister, along with 1 Alien Power Cell. Be careful should this be the case; it could prove deadly should you be attacked, and even a 1-hit-kill if you're a low level (acutally this is typically not the case because a level 2 character can survive 2-3 shots of it, tested at Super-Duper Mart).


 * it can also be obtained by going to Bethesda ruins and going to the wrecked bus,then save.follow the road to the petrol station outside of bethesda ruins and keep your gun aimed at the sky the whole time.if it doesn't occur,then reload the game and do the same thing until it does.(xbox360 confirmed)If you cant find it(ie,it's stuck in a rock or something)the reload the game and keep trying until you get it.(note:there is raiders in bethesda ruins and is not advisable to go if you are low level and when you stop at the petrol station,there could be two giant radscorpions)


 * If by chance the event happens and Dogmeat is either dead or you have not found him yet, and you are having trouble finding the weapon, and you happen to be near a known raider area, or a village/camp/place with several NPCs (as an example, there is a random encounter near Tenpenny Tower), there is a lengthy, yet effective method that can be used. First, find an area where the ammo seems to be most abundant. Mark that spot on the map and save your game. Make any followers you have stand far away from this area, and then head for the raiders or village/camp/town/etc. Find someone who will chase you (i.e. shoot a guard, or approach a raider) and have them follow you back to the location of the ammo. Save again (on a new space) once you arrive. Make sure to kill off any other people who may have followed you leaving just one enemy and then, either attempt to shoot the weapon from their hand, or if you have it, use the Mesmetron and take all their guns. After letting them go they should proceed to try to strike you. Back away until they run off in search of a gun. With luck, the nearest weapon will be the Firelance. If they pick it up, remember EXACTLY where they picked it up, then load your first save (the one right after the event occurred). Go to the location where the enemy picked up the weapon and it should be there. While this may sound complicated, it is actualy fairly simple to accomplish and can save a lot of time.

Triggering the event
See the random encounter list for a complete list of static locations of these random events.


 * With luck, the Firelance can be discovered right after completing Escape!. Behind the entrance of Vault 101 is a small farm with a barn and a silo. The barn itself is a random encounter location and the Firelance can drop there. The benefit to obtaining the Firelance early is self evident, as it eliminates the risk that would be incurred by immediately traveling to Rivet city or the Deathclaw Sanctuary. (I agree; upon leaving Vault 101 with a luck of 8 I was able to get the Firelance here after about 30 tries. It didn't take long to find all 24 cells either.)

Tips
With the right Perks and enough skill in Energy Weapons -- or at least a high number of Action Points -- the Firelance can reduce the usually difficult Super Mutant Behemoths to a smoking pile of dust in a single combat round in VATS.

Star Paladin Cross is likely to pick this weapon up, as she does with most energy weapons.

Comments
And stay here goddammit! Nitty 23:48, September 10, 2009 (UTC)

Thank god! I was sick of that stupid page. IMO I think we should delete and lock the page. SuSpence95 (Talk) 23:57, September 10, 2009 (UTC)
 * Discussion pages never get locked except in the case of vandalism.--Kingclyde 00:03, September 11, 2009 (UTC)

This was helpful! Now I can just fast travel to Vault 101 and go behind it and hope for the UFO! Thanks! --PepterPepper 22:42, September 16, 2009 (UTC)

It's ramdom, get it?

I don't want to mean arrogant or anything like that, please, don't take that way. The event is called random, it cannot be forced (unless you cheat and use the console). I played FO3 countless times from beginning to the end, somewhat 20 times. From this 20 times, only three times the Firelance event has occured. Two times in front of Rockopolis (wich one I counldn't find the weappon, only the ammo) and one when I was heading to Fort Independence via the destroyed road that pass above Vault 101. You will pass a canyon, with a destroyed trailer camp on the bottom, there's a billboard right next to it (and some raiders up ahead, is easy to find, since if you follow the road you will end in Fairfax Ruins). I had to use Dogmeat to find the weapon, since the ammo was easy (it was night), but the Firelance fall along the rocks, I simply couldn't find it!

It was not stuck in anything, it was simply in the middle of a pile of rocks, I see when Dogmeat pick up the weapon, very close to me BTW (the weapon is gray and FO3 colors are grey/brown. Very easy, hun?).

The event is random, but there's places when you have a higher chance that will happen. I read some other people telling about this location and Rockopolis. I think the articles should focus on that, instead on every single location that it happened.

I'm not sure if the high luck stas counts, since the first time I was with Luck = 6, it was my first time playing FO3, i recall that. Yes, my first time playing! Unfortunately this also means I was not aware that the weapon is one of the most powerfull in the game and pretty much left it untouched. :( LOL

If there any grammar errors please excuse me, english is not my primary language. Brfritos 16:25, September 19, 2009 (UTC) Hi, So if I go to all of the different locations it can be found, am I guaranteed to find it? Or if I don't find it, does that mean I can't get it? 86.19.96.66 17:23, December 11, 2009 (UTC)


 * here's what it all boils down to, the odds, in which case there's no saying if it'll happen, odds mean nothing, statistics mean nothing, if there's a 1% chance of getting the firelance event, however unlikely, there's a chance your first event could be firelance event, see the point? it means nothing so there's a 1 in 5 chance you have cancer or something, however unlikely there's a chance that all 5 people you choose have cancer, see my point?Toolazytomakeaaccount 16:49, December 12, 2009 (UTC)
 * I don't think that was his/her question at all. As an example, think of it this way; if there are 100 locations where a random encounter will occur, and there are 100 random encounters, you have a 1 in 100 chance at the first location, 1 in 99 at the second location, so on and so forth. However, I don't believe that to be the case, since there are random encounters that will occur more than once in different locations. The more random encounters you trigger that can only happen once will improve your chances of seeing the Firelance event, but there will always be a chance that you will just not trigger it. Airos the Tiger Talk 05:53, December 14, 2009 (UTC)
 * i have to admit in that situation no, there's no guarantee that if you go to every location you'll get it, i suggest save farming as it were the super duper mart, i did it at the slave temple place, forget the name...regardless, yes, its pretty unlikely if you do all 100 or so locations you'll get the firelance event, its rare and going to all 100 locations is the same as doing one location 100 times, save farming as it were, that's what i do for it.Toolazytomakeaaccount 07:28, December 14, 2009 (UTC)







 Fire Lance / Random Events / Query 


 * Greetings noble citizens of Rockopolis.
 * I realise Fallout 3 is now somewhat redundant, what with New Vegas coming out in a few months. And I see that no one's updated this page for six months, so I guess the chance of anyone responding to this post is minimal. However:
 * I heard about the Firelance by accident. I was listening to the Adventures of Herbert "Daring" Dashwood on Youtube, cos I think they're funny :), and noticed a link to the location of Rockopolis. I then noticed a second link to how to aquire the Firelance.
 * I tried the old, save it at Smith Casey's Garage, walk West toward Rockopolis, and hope for the best, method.
 * I tried it about thirty times before I lost interest and went away to watch the Big Bang Theory. I'll have a few more goes at it tonight.
 * My point: Several different events have occurred outside Rockopolis. After a while the same few events kept repeating themselves. I have encountered:
 * - A wastelander battering a molerat with a tire iron, who compliments you on your writing of the Wasteland Survival Guide.
 * - Two/three wastelanders (gouls) sitting/standing around a flaming oil drum.
 * - Three/four vicious dogs attacking a wastelander.
 * - A yao guai battering two hunters, and then attacking an albino rad-scorpion.
 * - A collection of live frag mines.
 * - A dead scavanger loaded with all sorts of goodies.
 * - An albino rad-scorpin which attacks you.
 * - Three hunters fighting a Mr. Gutsy.
 * - A scavanger with pack brahim and guard dog.
 * - Some guy called Ben (Canning?) who's a bit parched and wants purified water.
 * I encountered each of the above at least twice, but never saw the UFO coming down. I wonder whether I've done something during the game which means I can't get the Firelance? I've completed the main quest and most other quests, along with all of the expansion levels, and I'm at level 30.
 * Shall I keep trying my luck or am I wasting my time?
 * Sub note: Not sure whether this has anything to do with anything, but there is always a small rad-scorpion up on the grassy hill to the right as I walk west from the garage. ..
 * - Three hunters fighting a Mr. Gutsy.
 * - A scavanger with pack brahim and guard dog.
 * - Some guy called Ben (Canning?) who's a bit parched and wants purified water.
 * I encountered each of the above at least twice, but never saw the UFO coming down. I wonder whether I've done something during the game which means I can't get the Firelance? I've completed the main quest and most other quests, along with all of the expansion levels, and I'm at level 30.
 * Shall I keep trying my luck or am I wasting my time?
 * Sub note: Not sure whether this has anything to do with anything, but there is always a small rad-scorpion up on the grassy hill to the right as I walk west from the garage. ..
 * Sub note: Not sure whether this has anything to do with anything, but there is always a small rad-scorpion up on the grassy hill to the right as I walk west from the garage. ..
 * Sub note: Not sure whether this has anything to do with anything, but there is always a small rad-scorpion up on the grassy hill to the right as I walk west from the garage. ..