 | For an overview of Stealth Boy devices in all games, see Stealth Boy. |
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The RobCo Stealth Boy 3001 is a consumable item in Fallout 3.
Background
One of the most interesting technologies developed before the war, the Stealth Boy 3001 is a wrist-mounted device that generates a modulating field that transmits the reflected light from one side of an object to another (called stealth radiation[1]). The end result is practical invisibility, which can range from translucency to near-perfect active camouflage.[2][3]
The underlying principle of bending light to create invisibility wasn't invented by the Americans. Robert Mayflower, the man responsible for creating Stealth Boys under RobCo's aegis, reverse-engineered captured Chinese Hēi Guǐ stealth armor.[4] The technology wasn't perfect, but proven itself reliable enough for military purposes. In fact, it was enough to convince the military to have had these devices mass produced.[5] Even more, work started on a more advanced Stealth Boy mark II prototype.[6] After the Great War, developed by Enclave scientists in Appalachia, the Stealth Boy Mark III was an overall improvement of the Stealth Boy, coming at the cost of reverting back to a specialized canvas holder design rather than a wrist-mounted design.
There are drawbacks to the Stealth Boy, however. Apart from limited battery life, particularly when used at full power to achieve total invisibility, the modulating field can cause permanent neurochemical changes,[7] resulting in the development of mental conditions, such as paranoia, delusions, hallucinations, and even schizophrenia.[8] This is by far most noticeable among the nightkin, former elite members of the Unity and their prolonged Stealth Boy use and apparent increased susceptibility of super mutant physiology to stealth radiation. Nightkin tend to suffer from delusions, anxiety attacks (particularly when deprived of their Stealth Boys), and heightened aggression (particularly when trying to acquire Stealth Boys to cope with their withdrawal symptoms). Treatment is difficult and usually focuses on symptoms, due to the inability to address the underlying cause (yet).[9][10]
Characteristics
The Stealth Boy is a personal stealth device worn on one's wrist. It generates a modulating field that transmits the reflected light from one side of an object to the other, making a person much harder to notice (but not completely invisible). The duration of the effect is 2 minutes, about a standard game hour. If you use an additional Stealth Boy when a previous one is still active, the duration of the stealth effect does not replenish - it 'stacks', so the effect will last two hours.
While sneaking with a Stealth Boy activated, the only ways to be discovered are to fire a loud weapon, be heard by the enemy or physically bump into an enemy.
Locations
- Random locations
All random-loot safes will have a chance of containing a Stealth Boy.
- Fixed locations
| Qty | Closest map marker | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Broadcast tower LP8 | Inside the sewer chamber behind the broadcast tower. |
| 1 | Mason Dixon Salvage | Can be found in a locker in the southern shack. |
| 1 | Hamilton's hideaway | Its found on the shelf in the weapons cache. |
| 1 | Fort Constantine | In the launch control bunker, on a desk in the living quarters, next to a radio and a pre-War book. |
| 1 | Farragut West Metro Station | In an office. |
| 1 | Tepid Sewers | When you first enter to subway. Deal with 3 raiders (1 behind sandbags, other 2 in corridor); enter the corridor, go ahead to the main room. The Stealth Boy will be in the floor safe between 2 beds. |
| 3 | Museum of Technology | On displays. One in the atrium, two more on the upper level. |
| 1 | AntAgonizer's Lair | Canterbury Tunnels toward AntAgonizer's Lair, on a shelf near a mined hallway. |
| 3 | Broken Bow | In Pinkerton's workshop there are three of them. |
| 1 | VAPL-84 Power Station | In the VAPL-84 Power Station. |
| 1 | Tenpenny Tower | You find one in your suites safe. |
| 1 | National Archives | In the sub-basement in the generator room behind a very hard locked gate. |
| 1 | Museum of History | In Ahzrukhal's safe in The Ninth Circle in Underworld |
| 1 | Greener Pastures Disposal | In the back end of a truck in the southwest near a dead scientist. |
| 1 | VAPL-58 power station | Inside the VAPL-58 Power Station on one of the control panels in back. |
| 1 | Super-Duper Mart | In the northeast corner of the Super-Duper Mart, behind the counter. |
| 1 | Megaton | Inside the Megaton armory. |
| 1 | Vault 108 | In Vault 108's entrance hall on a table next to a broken computer. |
| 1 | County sewer mainline | In Gallo's storage closet under an overturned crate. |
| 2 | Bethesda ruins | Two in the Bethesda Ruins West, one on the lower floor in a crate next to the water fountain, and another upstairs on the table. |
| 1 | Bethesda Underworks | In a skeleton's hand in the central storage room. |
| 1 | Vault 92 | In the Overseer's Office of Vault 92, sitting in the center of the desk. |
| 1 | Vault 101 | During the Trouble on the Homefront quest, look on the body of Steve Armstrong, found in Vault 101's entrance. |
| 1 | Georgetown east | La Maison Beauregard at Georgetown East, upstairs on the pool table. |
| 1 | Georgetown | Northeast of the DCTA Tunnel 014-B Potomac, upstairs of a building housing super mutants. |
| 1 | Jalbert Brothers Waste Disposal | In the northern shack of the Wasteland Gypsy Village buildings. |
| 1 | Dupont Station | In the middle of the three abandoned houses guarded by raiders. The Stealth Boy is on the floor next to the shelf case. |
| 1 | Rockbreaker's Last Gas | In the abandoned shack on the cliff west of Rockbreaker's Last Gas. It is in a hole in the first locker. |
| 1 | Arlington Library | In the Talon Company camp south of Arlington Library, on the top of a round table on the highest level. |
| 1 | Megaton | Almost directly south of Megaton, in a hollowed out boulder among the rocks bordering the town, along with a .308 sniper rifle (See hollowed-out rock). |
| 6 | Canterbury Commons | Six are given when a total of 700 caps (or 350 with the Master Trader perk) are invested in Crazy Wolfgang's caravan at Canterbury Commons. You must speak to Crazy Wolfgang to receive the 6 Stealth Boys. |
| 1 | Rivet City | At the entrance to Rivet City, run to the right of Harkness, and when you land on the area under the platform that him and the entrance are on, turn around and run in the opposite direction (Away from the direction of the broken bow) and there's one in a little alcove. |
| 1 | MDPL-05 power station | Directly east of the MDPL-05 Power Station floating inside a boat by a dock with raiders. |
| 1 | Paradise Falls | In Paradise Falls inside a wardrobe in the main building. |
| 1 | Minefield | Outside the Gibson house |
| 1 | Grayditch | In the Outpost in Grayditch. |
| 2 | Chryslus building | On top of a table, next to a telephone, in one of the rooms without a ceiling in the Lower offices. The other one is on top of the large safe in the basement. |
| 4 | RobCo Facility | Found in the offices and cafeteria. 1 on a desk in an office cubicle in the room at the back where the D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine is, 1 in the mainframe room, 1 on a bookshelf in the room where Nikola Tesla and You is found, 1 found in a cubicle left of the entrance in the northwestern most room of the Factory Floor. |
| 3 | Arlington Library | One, on a table in area overlooking the lobby. One in an ammunition box to the right of the entrance. There is also one in a safe, in the media archives area. |
| 1 | Hubris Comics | In the Hubris comics utility tunnel, located on the floor by the northern wall of the northern room, along with the body of its previous user. At the four-way intersection, turn north, then east to reach the room. |
| 1 | Abandoned car fort | In the same spot as the D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine. If the corpse is present, you may need to move it to reveal the Stealth Boy. |
| 5 | Franklin Metro Utility | Accessed through Falls Church/Mason Dst Metro. |
Notes
- The in game appearance of the stealth field generated by the Stealth Boy is identical to that generated by the Chinese Stealth Suit.
- The use of the Stealth Boy while in combat with non-hostile non-player characters and then crouching can cause combat to stop. The non-player characters usually revert to being friendly.
- All three Stealth Boys in the Museum of Technology are larger than regular ones.
- The Geomapper Module has the same in game appearance as the Stealth Boy.
Bugs
There is a glitch wherein activating a Stealth Boy causes the hair mesh of a character not wearing any headgear to appear on the Pip-Boy, or in random other locations near the character, while in 3rd-person view. This does not affect whether enemies will detect you.- There is a glitch where activating a Stealth Boy and then traveling to D.C. ruins on the Duchess Gambit, the effect will still be active as long as 1 in game hour.
Gallery
Screenshot of a barely visible character sneaking with his Stealth Boy on
References
- ↑ The Courier: "I found a chewed up Stealth Boy in the Nightstalker lair."
Henry: "Hmmm... there's still power, but the casing is cracked. I'm astonished that exposure to the stealth radiation could induce mutations so rapidly. More importantly, this explains why my research into this group of Nightstalkers hasn't come up with a cure for the Nightkin. There's only one avenue left for me - I need to run the Mark II test on Lily. It's the only way."
(Henry's dialogue) - ↑ Fallout item description: "{5400}{}{Stealth Boy}"
"{5401}{}{A RobCo Stealth Boy 3001 personal stealth device. Generates a modulating field that transmits the reflected light from one side of an object to the other.}" - ↑ Museum of Technology placard: "This is the RobCo "Stealth Boy" Model 3001 Personal Stealth Device. Developed by Robert Mayflower, the Stealth Boy generates a modulating field that transmits the reflected light from one side of an object to the other making the bearer almost invisible to the untrained eye."
- ↑ Simple armor: "The Chinese solution to invasion by U.S. forces in power armor was its Hei Gui stealth armor, worn by elite Chinese "Black Ghost" counterinsurgency/terror units. Not much was known about this armor, save that it had active camouflage systems as well as technology that enhanced reflexes and heightened perception. Hei Gui technology was the basis for the unstable "Stealth Boy" wrist units developed in the U.S."
Note: While Simple was never properly released, Hei Gui stealth suits are confirmed to have been reverse engineered by the U.S. at Big MT and elsewhere, while the adverse effects (for super mutants) of the Stealth Boy units were canonized by Fallout: New Vegas. - ↑ Availability of Stealth Boys in Fallout 3 and New Vegas
- ↑ The Courier: "What are you working on?"
Henry: "The Nightkin have varying degrees of mental instability due their addiction to Stealth Boy use. I've been trying to come up with a cure. I'm currently investigating the local Nightstalker population since they seem to have developed a natural stealth field. I've also gotten my hands on a working Stealth Boy Mark II prototype, but that experiment is riskier. I'd rather not pursue that research just yet."
(Henry's dialogue - ↑ The Courier: "What makes you think that the Nightstalker mutation isn't natural?"
Henry: "I've compared the brain chemistry of a Nightkin to one of the local Nightstalkers we killed. They both exhibit similar neurochemical changes. Now, I'm not claiming that Nightstalkers are running around wearing Stealth Boys, mind you. I just don't think it's all a coincidence."
(Henry's dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "What's wrong with the Nightkin?"
Marcus: "Nightkin suffer schizophrenia from the Stealth Boys they're always using. One of the reasons I settled Jacobstown was so they could be cured. While they're in town, the Nightkin aren't allowed to have Stealth Boys so their craziness doesn't get worse. Trouble is the Nightkin don't like being visible, either. They don't take being exposed too well."
(Marcus' dialogue) - ↑ Jacobstown
- ↑ The Courier: "Why does Keene want to leave?"
Marcus: "Because of a promise. One I haven't been able to keep. The Nightkin all suffer from schizophrenia. It's the Stealth Boys they use, used to use. Nightkin have a hard time being seen like normal folks. Can't stand it. A few already left to try and find more Stealth Boys. Miserable situation. They either stay here and suffer, or dig up Stealth Boys and lose their minds. Not much of a choice."
(Marcus' dialogue)