Talk:Hard Luck Blues

Worst Quest Ever.
Awful quest, frustrating and pointless. The direction pointers are useless because of the different levels. I hate mazes. even using this guide it took ages. Ok also, the notes in the article say NO xp is earned, yet at the end it says you DO get XP. Having played through now I can confirm you DO get XP, so Ive removed the bit that says you dont get any. AND after going though all that shit and deciding to save the dwellers, I get to suite 300 at Aerotech and noone is there, seems Ive hit the bug detailed in the article. This game sucks for me now, it could have been amazing, but the bugs and lock ups ruin it. Pile of shit game becaue of that. So many things smack of 'unfinished' and ignoring major problems because of release deadlines.

86.174.209.126 11:21, December 9, 2010 (UTC)

Like the guide says, MAKE SURE YOU BRING LOOOOTS of RadAway. This quest took me 3+ hours of retrying because of not being prepared.
 * Can anyone confirm this? I picked to help NCR, did not get any EXP. (PC, after the Dec. patch).

Yeah take RadAway, Rad-X or any high Rad resistance gear you've got, becuase the radiation will kill you if you don't.--94.171.184.82 23:26, October 22, 2010 (UTC)

I wouldn't call it the worst quest ever, but certainly challenging. I think I went through 20 radaway and got the free radical perk just in here. If the radation worries weren't enough, the sheer number of ghouls, especially glowing ones, in the vault will make you cry. 184.60.20.232 13:46, October 24, 2010 (UTC)

I obtained this quest from inside the vault before going to the pump station from The first of the reactor control terminals below the Overseers office. Also, I did not encounter the 'Two feral ghouls' bug mentioned. They were named and lootable. --Webley 09:26, October 26, 2010 (UTC)

No harder than many others. I had two followers, the space suit, maybe 6 RAD-X and there's plenty of radaway to be found throughout the vault (at least a dozen). 85% rad resistance and stealthy headshots made it perfectly doable. Rex's Search and Mark perk is a timesaver.--GryphonQ 05:25, October 31, 2010 (UTC)

You can also start this quest by going to the west pump station, I never spoke with this 'morgan blake'.

After going around in circles until my head started spinning, I gave up and came to read the article. The vault design doesn't make any damn sense, you have to go to one place to obtain access to another, and the quest marker incorrectly tells you to head to the armory when you don't have access to it. The biggest irritation was the fact that it was pitch dark in both the cave and the vault. A few Catseyes here and there were very helpful, but I didn't have enough for the duration of the trip. As a final insult, the choice in Hard Luck Blues is no choice at all. — Lovable Sociopath 15:59, December 3, 2010 (UTC)

No way to achieve both ends by freeing the Vault dwellers, then using the terminal they had access to to shutdown the reactor?

Can someone look through the GECK files and see if this quest is supposed to end this way? This is probably the only named quest where the quest-giver doesn't even remark on it after it's done. In fact, she still complains about the water, even if you finish both Sharecropper-related quests (White Wash being the other one).

This is one of my favourite quests: 1)completing it is a more interesting puzzle than nearly any other quest 2) it's pretty scary with the ghouls, claustrophobic vault & radiation ticking away at your life 3)the moral choice of family vs the farm is a really difficult one. You just have to suspend your disbelief a bit & it's great fun. 94.14.235.167 22:30, September 12, 2011 (UTC)

Reactor Bug?
So apparently there is some kind of bug when getting to the reactor. It asks for a Master Override password to choose either of the options and I'm sure I've gotten all the passwords. I have 3 total. So unless there's 4 and I'm missing one there seems to be a bug.-No Sneaking By-KILL THE OVERSEER! Password Should be on Him.

I did kill him. I sniped him while hidden. I got his password. It was Sunflowers I think.

What it's telling you to do is to choose the "open reactor door" option. After you do this, the door to the left can be opened, and there's another terminal in there, from which you make the final choice to end the quest. --GryphonQ 05:21, October 31, 2010 (UTC)

Safe with aid
There's a safe on the first floor (average)with 14 rad-x and 11 rad away, should probably be added to the topic as it states lots of rad-x and rad away is needed. --90.220.126.225 02:21, December 30, 2010 (UTC) Just realised it does but it should say it's average and contains what I said inside. Still trying to work out what I need to do to get into the armory (and if I even need to do that).

There is Karma or Advanced Radiation suit as reward.
If you save the dwellers, and will speak with them later (Aerotech Park Suite 300) you can say that you are the one who saved them. If you want reward - Horowitz will give you Advanced Radiation Suit. If you refuse - you will gain karma.

Vault dwellers vs Sharecroppers
Considerations on whether to help the vault dwellers or the sharecroppers is this. By freeing the dwellers you not only poison the water for the sharecroppers, but also the water to Freeside and the diverted water to Westside. This would effect a larger amount of individuals and communities vs the release of five vaultdwellers. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, would apply in this case.Carinth 23:41, July 8, 2011 (UTC)

i'll choose the clean water.those vaultdwellers had the chance to leave that vault beforehand.--Frizstyler 14:59, July 19, 2011 (UTC)

...no they didn't.

They had a choice to leave when the Boomers left for Nellis AFB.

You can always get the radiation off the food/water but you can't bring those vault dwellers back to life so i rather save them.

My strong empathic instinct said save the family, I didn't want that kind of suffering on my conscience. But the numbers of people so starving in freeside and the wasteland that they'll throw themselves against bullets for food... You've got to admit the family would probably end up that starved to death eventually anyway. 94.14.235.167 22:45, September 12, 2011 (UTC)

I tried a Player.MoveTo 0015e9eb before releasing the vault dwellers, and it appears that their location was already in Aerotech Suite 300. It eased my mind - when I sacrificed them - to know that they were at the same state (technically, in the game) before and after I disabled the reactor ^^. (Maybe they are just tricking you into not disabling the reactor.)

I wished I could make Horowitz talk about where they were trapped so I can access the computer they used and disable the reactor by myself afterwards. But he doesn't seem responsive to torture, and his head is not well attached to the rest of his body. That's sad...

Also, by "tcling" my way in Vault 34, I noticed that the Armory that we can see from the Overseer's Office is a dummy one from where you can loot a Minigun (but it would be cheating :p ). There is a double door in there too (why ?). No notable loot in the dummy Overseer's Office when accessed from the Armory. -Boumbh-194.3.247.4 15:17, October 25, 2011 (UTC)

Getting the quest
I got the quest without even talking to the sharecroppers. The terminal inside the Overseer's office in the Vault can assign you the quest without having to go to the Sharecroppers, I got the quest from the terminal. Finchelfanno1