Megaton

Megaton is a sprawling settlement in the Capital Wasteland, set in and around a crater made when a bomber plane crashed, and is mostly built from parts salvaged from that aircraft in the early days, with a Megaton class unexploded nuclear bomb at its center, giving the location its name. The town is protected by large metal walls made from and reinforced by various scavenged materials, primarily the scraps of old pre-War airplanes, which were assembled and reforged together several decades ago by the founders of Megaton in an effort to make the town safer. With 28 named inhabitants and 14 unnamed Megaton settlers, (excluding a varying number of clinic patients) it is rivaled only by Rivet City in population.

Beginnings
Megaton's crater was first settled by a large group of people who either worshiped the undetonated bomb or sought shelter in Vault 101, but were denied access because the vault dwellers were not allowed to leave or let anyone in as part of the vault's experiment. Locked out of the vault, these settlers, including Manya Vargas' great grandfather, simply settled into the crater for protection against dust storms. After the storms died down, some people began to wander the wastes, but would return to the crater to trade their scavenged goods. A generation later, the crater had turned into full on trade hub. Vargas' father became wealthy on these caravan routes and eventually convinced others to build the scrap metal wall surrounding the town to repel raiders.

Construction on the wall started in 2241. Early that year, raiders attacked the town, resulting in the death of the 14 year old Colin Moriarty's father. After the raid, Moriarty inherited his father's wealth and his bar, Moriarty's Saloon.

Over the course of a couple months, the residents of the town built the walls out of necessity; aircraft debris from an air station a few miles from the crater was the only material that remained and was readily available. The bomb in the center of the crater remained there; when the wall was being erected, the settlement needed as much manpower as it could get and removing the bomb would have upset those that worshiped it, pushing them away. That is not to say a lot of other people felt it was best to not disturb it; it was not hurting anything and it could have adverse effects if transferred to another location.

First contact with Vault 101 and raider attack
In February 2241, an expeditionary party of Vault 101, led by Anne Palmer and sent by the Overseer of the Vault, made contact with the residents of Megaton. Initially, the locals were cautious of the strangers before eventually accepting and welcoming them into their settlement. Palmer appointed two vault residents, Agnes Taylor and Lewis, as vault ambassadors to Megaton.

By the time of the expedition, the front gate of Megaton had been completed.

Present day
In 2277, space is limited in the town, forcing many residents to live in the common house, a building that would usually be reserved for meetings and voting. Lucas Simms is the self-appointed town sheriff and does not hesitate to throw anyone out if they cause trouble. On the subject of trouble, Colin Moriarty runs the town saloon and has a less than decent reputation, keeping the drunks drunk and and his employees in servitude. Moriarty has a line on everything that happens in Megaton and it all eventually gets back to him.

In early 2277, a gang of raiders occupied nearby Springvale Elementary School, intending to tunnel from the school basement into Vault 101. A group, led by Boppo, staged a raid on Megaton, but the attack was foiled when Boppo was shot in the head and killed by Lucas Simms. The raiders did not leave the area, though, choosing to remain at the Springvale School. Their mining operation stopped when they opened a nest of giant ants.

Project Purity's activation
In the years following Lyons' Brotherhood's victory over the Enclave and recapture of Project Purity, Megaton prospered immensely. Following the death of Sheriff Lucas Simms, his son Harden took on the role. Moira Brown published and distributed her Wasteland Survival Guide across the expanse of the American wasteland by way of traveling caravans. By October 10, 2297, Brown was working on a new book, a compilation of "the best and most useful tales of the Lone Wanderer for the next generation."

Layout
The city of Megaton has been built in a steep-walled crater around an undetonated atomic bomb which rests in a small puddle of radioactive water at the bottom of the depression. This gives the city two roughly circular levels centered on the bomb. The main gate consists of two old aircraft wings and a jet engine which can be opened and closed to protect the only entrance/exit to the town.

If a visitor follows the entry path to the bottom of the depression, the Megaton Clinic will be on their right and The Brass Lantern on their left. Just past the bomb to the right is the Church of the Children of Atom and past it to the left lies Mister Burke's house. Confessor Cromwell can usually be found here sermonizing from the puddle to random settlers.

If they turn right when they first enter so that they are still on the lip of the crater, the "path" will take them past Lucas Simms' house, around the water processing plant, down to Craterside Supply, then back up to the Men's restroom, Moriarty's Saloon and Billy Creel's house. Going down the ramp from there will take them around Nathan and Manya's house (a bus) and to the Women's restroom. Craterside Supply can also be easily reached by taking the ramp directly to the right of the Megaton Clinic.

When one turns left at the upper lip, they'll find a locked house (which can be acquired by the player if they deactivate the central atomic bomb), followed by Jericho's house. From there, going down will take them to Lucy West's house while going around to the left will get them to the end of the right hand path.

The Megaton armory (very hard lock) can be reached by going up the ramp and around the Church of the Children of Atom to the right or by going down the hill starting from the back door of Moriarty's Saloon. There are strong enemies inside. Prepare with strong weapons and armor before entering.

The common house can be reached by going around the Women's restroom to the right or by passing behind Moriarty's Saloon rather than going around the front past the entrance to the Men's restroom.

In front of the city, outside the walls, there's a caravan stop, Micky the water beggar, and Deputy Weld. Behind the city, near the south west corner is the hollowed-out rock.

Megaton ruins
If player revisits Megaton after blowing it up in The Power of the Atom quest, Deputy Weld's head with an orange (or purple) eye will be nearby, sticking out of a pile of debris. He says, ironically, "Welcome to Megaton. The bomb is perfectly safe. We promise. Please hold," in a garbled voice that sounds broken. The sky will be green, and, if the player started the Wasteland Survival Guide quest, Moira Brown will survive as a ghoul and appear to tell them that she is relocating to Rivet City. If the player has not started the quest, Moira can still be found in Underworld. However, the Strength Bobblehead will be unobtainable if the player detonates the bomb before retrieving it.

Inhabitants

 * ¹ after being released from Paradise Falls

Notable loot

 * Bobblehead - Strength inside Lucas Simms' house, on a desk in a bedroom on the second floor.
 * Grognak the Barbarian and a Chinese officer's sword in Jericho's house, on the floor, between a teddy bear and a red pylon along the right wall.
 * Nikola Tesla and You in your Megaton home after buying the Science Theme from Moira Brown.
 * Lying, Congressional Style in your Megaton home when you buy the Love Machine Theme from Moira Brown.
 * 4 pre-War books in Billy Creel's house (must be stolen) and a scoped .44 magnum in the floor safe.
 * Sniper rifle, Stealth Boy, .308 caliber rounds, 2 stimpaks and the As Requested note in the hollowed-out rock located outside Megaton along its southern wall. Look for the rock with three small trees in a triangular pattern around it.
 * 300-700 bottle caps in The Brass Lantern. A terminal (very easy) unlocks a floor safe which is otherwise locked (average).
 * Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual and an ammunition box can be found in a ruined farmhouse to the east, between Megaton and Super-Duper Mart.
 * A rolling pin, a rather hard-to-find and mostly cosmetic weapon (low-damage) can be found in the water processing plant.

Appearances
Megaton appears only in Fallout 3 and is mentioned in Fallout 4.

Behind the scenes

 * The bomb in the center of the town and the people worshiping it are likely a reference to Beneath The Planet of the Apes, which features a cult worshiping an undetonated nuclear weapon after the modern world has been destroyed.
 * A Megaton is used to measure an explosion equivalent to the force of a million tonnes of TNT- A fitting name to a town with a nuke in the center of the town.
 * In the Japanese version of Fallout 3, Burke is completely gone, and therefore, the quest to blow up Megaton has been completely removed due to its "parallels to real historic events", referring to the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Bugs
2 Enclave soldiers accompanied by an Enclave eyebot have been seen spawning outside megatons front gate not hostile to megatons citizens, the fact that they are only hostile to the player and not the citizens can be explained by the radio broadcasts of colonel autumn stating to stay out of the way of the enclave.
 * Right after leaving Vault 101 the sky and surrounding area may look as if the bomb has already exploded.
 * After Broken Steel is installed, if you pick-up the note from your door, after completing quest Holy Water, the note will respawn every day. This can be very annoying, and it is recommended to achieve the note from a settler.
 * Upon leaving Vault 101 Megaton may not spawn. To fix this, restart your console.
 * Occasionally the player will be shot at by the settlers of Megaton upon first entering, which can be rather troublesome for a low level character.
 * Occasionally upon entering Megaton with Fawkes accompanying you, he will randomly start shooting everyone in sight.
 * In front of Megaton, where merchants are usually standing, if you drop a small item (such as stimpak) it will seem to disappear, but will not fall through the map.
 * Sometimes when entering Craterside Supply, All the people in there will fall through the ground.(including you)