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For an overview of mine models used throughout the Fallout series, see Mine.
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Frag mine
FragMine
Mine icon
Requirements
SkillExplosives
Attack statistics
Dmg/Attack
1 (1.1) + 100 (165) ExplosionIcon explosion
Crit Dmg
0
Crit % Mult
x1
Attacks/Sec
0.5AP35
Other
Weight0.5Value25
Item HP5
Editor ID?
Base ID0000433c
xx003f45 (sim version)
Perk Effects
Perks (dam.)
Demolition Expert
( +60 ExplosionIcon explosion)
Bloody Mess
(+0.1 +5 ExplosionIcon explosion)
 
Gametitle-FO3
Gametitle-FO3

The frag mine is a weapon in Fallout 3.

Characteristics[]

The frag mine looks like a tan shaped disk with a black gear and red button on top. The tan paint is most likely used to camouflage the mine out in the desert covered Capital Wasteland. The frag mine will begin beeping when a target comes within a short distance to it until it is disarmed or it detonates. The time until detonation depends on the Explosives skill of the person setting it off.

Frag mines can be disarmed with an Explosives skill of 1, meaning any player regardless of their statistics will be capable of doing so. If the player has the Light Step perk, the mine will not be triggered at all.

To use a frag mine, you must first equip it like any other weapon. Pressing the fire button arms and drops the mine a short distance ahead of the player. The mine will be triggered when any non-follower non-player character comes within a certain distance. Neither the player nor their companions will trigger it.

To collect a hostile land mine, or one of your own, you have to approach it then use the "activate" button to disarm it. Once disarmed, it can then be collected. In the case of hostile mines, the mine's proximity fuse will trigger as you approach, and your Explosives skill will determine the length of the fuse. Players with a low Explosives skill will find doing this difficult. There appears to be a quirk in the programming so that the mine will detonate based on how close you are to its center regardless of the Z axis (i.e. up and down) while the distance you have to be to interact with it does take the Z axis into account. This means that going downhill or down a set of stairs the landmine will often explode before you're able to get close enough disarm it. Your best bet is to crouch and, if you can, approach from the down hill side so that you're closer to the mine's level on the Z axis. Aiming your crosshair at the mine, glide towards it clicking the activate button as quickly as you can. By switching to a walk instead of running you're also less likely to overshoot the mine and fail to disarm it.

Like a frag grenade, frag mines have a relatively small blast radius and will do damage (from a maximum at point blank range of about 65 at skill level 25 up to 100 at a skill of 100) to any friendly or enemy target (including yourself) within that radius. The further away from the center of the blast the less damage that is done. Mines can also detonate each other if they're set too close together. This can work for you when you're trying to take down a particularly tough opponent by hitting it with several blasts at once. However if you aren't careful in how you lay the mines the first might set off the others before the intended victim is within range of them all (i.e. if you get lazy or rushed and just drop a straight string of them as you're backing away from an oncoming opponent). Disarmed mines will still be detonated by nearby explosions. if you lay a mine, disarm it, and lay another, you can detonate an entire hallway at once with enough mines and time. This is a great way to take out a group of enemies at once, as they often travel in a line.

You should be aware that some creatures that fly/hover like the Mister Handy and Mister Gutsy robots won't detonate land mines themselves (technically, they aren't stepping on them) but will be damaged by the blast from one. If you can manage it, lure them over the landmines then shoot the landmines to detonate them (this can be a little tricky at first) or simply use a grenade in V.A.T.S. to attack the victim and detonate the landmines at the same time.

Like hand grenades, mines can be "reverse pickpocketed" onto a victim, causing them to arm and detonate on their own (this is handy since enemies are more likely to carry grenades than mines—and you cannot perform the trick with an explosive they already possess). You have to be able to stealth in close enough behind the victim to "activate" them, then simply move a bomb from your own inventory to theirs. Unless you have a particularly tough opponent this is usually a guaranteed kill. Note that "vital" non-player characters can't be killed in this manner. The explosive simply will not activate when placed in their inventory.

Variants[]

  • Sim version Operation: AnchorageGametitle-FO3 OA - A version used exclusively in the Anchorage Reclamation simulation, it differs from the standard Fallout 3 variant only in that it cannot be dropped, although it still can be transferred between containers or given to your companions.

Locations[]

  • True to its name, Minefield has over a dozen frag mines strewn about the town.
  • Frag mines are the most common type of mine found in mine boxes. Mine boxes can often be found at military outposts, wasteland encampments and super mutant strongholds.
  • Frag mines are often used as traps in raider encampments, so look on the ground whenever raiders are near.

Notes[]

  • Frag mines are easy to see in darkness, due to their glowing red "armed" light.
  • Once you've spotted a mine, it's arguably better to run up to disarm it, than to creep up on it. This is because the detect radius doesn't always seem to be the same as the disarm radius - and if you move slow, you may start its countdown while you still can't reach it.
  • Beware of uneven terrain and especially things jutting up, like the steel rebar sticking up in the ruined building that Arkansas inhabits in Minefield. It can block your reach, even when very close. Approach mines from an angle that has no protrusions in the way. You can also use hostile mines as weapons because when you disarm it, it becomes friendly.
  • Though rare, some enemies (like Eulogy Jones) have high explosives skill; an non-player character's explosives skill works like your own, and this will affect mines you lay for them: the delay between detection and detonation will be significantly lengthened.
  • Frag mines look very similar to a scaled-down version of the real-life, Russian TM-46 anti-tank mine, the most notable differences between the frag mine and TM-46 being the addition of the light, the replacement of the pressure fuse with an apparent proximity fuse as well as the removal of the secondary fuse on the side of the mine near the carrying handle.
  • Frag mines, like all explosion types, will cause grenades within the blast radius to also explode.
  • You can throw mines at enemies and friendlies at point blank and injure them just by the mine hitting them, however it will not explode upon impact. For some reason this can't be done in V.A.T.S., as it will always say, regardless of distance, "You Have Zero Chance of Hit" (This may be a bug).
  • It appears that non-player characters are flagged as either susceptible or insusceptible to fragmentation mines, as they do not detonate when non-player characters that hover cross over them but they do detonate when placed several feet underneath walking non-player characters. An example of this is when there is a electronically activated floor hatch (pocket door). If you place a mine on the stairs below it, non-player characters walking on the door over the stairs will cause the mine to detonate without damaging them. (This may be a bug.)

Bugs[]

  • If you equip frag mines, drop about 10 of them, and pick them back up, your inventory will show two sets of frag mines, both equipped. If you then take out a melee weapon, it will show up as a frag mine, and you can hit enemies with it. This is a very humorous glitch, as using a Shishkebab will look as if you are lighting them on fire with a frag mine.
  • Xbox 360Icon xbox360 Sometimes, the frag mines on The Pitt Bridge don't work. They simply don't go off when you walk near them. This is good for XP as you can gain XP by disarming mines without worry of setting them off.
  • Xbox 360Icon xbox360 If you equip frag mines, then drop about ten without leaving the Pip-Boy, when you exit you will not be holding anything, just an invisible frag mine.
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