Fallout 3

Fallout 3

73 Achievements

60-80h

PS3
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Keys are for Cowards

Keys are for Cowards

Picked 50 locks

25.4%

How to unlock the Keys are for Cowards achievement in Fallout 3 - Definitive Guide

I figured I'd throw my hat into the ring as far as solutions go. Like the description says, you must PICK 50 locks.

Now, you can do it "legit" on your own, which can be either really easy or really hard, depending on how good you are at the mini-game (I'm terrible), or you can "force" the lock. But be careful, because this may break the lock, and keep you from getting into it, unless you have the Infilitrator perk. And who wants to wait? You want what's in that safe NOW, right?

I tend to always force them. BUT, if you're taking this route, SAVE FIRST. Let me repeat that, SAVE FIRST. It will save you a LOT of time and frustration. If you break the lock, reload and try again. (actually saving first helps with speech challenges and hacking too, don'tcha know?)

Lock values are as such: 25 for easy, 50 for average, 75 for hard, and 100 for Very Hard. (so plan your skill points accordingly)

Also, there's a terminal and a safe in the Farragut West Metro Station (east of the Super Duper mart, and north of Wilhelm's Wharf, across the river from both of them). You can pick the safe, lock it with the terminal, pick the safe, lock it, pick it, rinse, lather repeat. Boring, but it works.

Well, that's my contribution! Hope it helps!
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22 Apr 2009 16:58

7 Comments
works a treat nice one did 30 picks in around 10 mins with picking skill 99 got my achieve real quick
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By nikon82uk on 05 Aug 2010 12:59
note that while saving and reloading is great for speech challenges, it's easier to just bail out of hacking when you reach 3 tries and re-start than it is to constantly load saves for the extra guess.
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By DrLetoPicard on 14 Aug 2010 06:40
I found the safe in the Farragut West Metro Station and used it to get the last 13 or so lock picks I needed. Just thought I should add that you will need to unlock/lock the safe each time with ther terminal, not just lock.
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By Bryce MC on 08 Oct 2010 04:50
If your useing this method:
"Also, there's a terminal and a safe in the Farragut West Metro Station (east of the Super Duper mart, and north of Wilhelm's Wharf, across the river from both of them). You can pick the safe, lock it with the terminal, pick the safe, lock it, pick it, rinse, lather repeat. Boring, but it works."

Just to note, walk straight and in to the last room on the right, down a couple flight of stairs, and up some after that. You will see two or so ghouls on the other side of a fence, turn around and the safe/terminal are in that room.
The safe is an " Average lock" * Requiring level 50. *No skill needed for the terminal*
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By zX KiNGxKoNG Xz on 16 May 2011 04:57
Worked like a charm. Much thanks for pointing me to Metro Station.
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By Sovereign in 4K on 27 May 2012 03:40
thanks for the "out" to help with this at Metro. I'll keep that in mind in case I can't find any more.
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By Shadow XBL on 08 Nov 2013 16:58
I may be late but I found an easier way to get this achievement. First head to the museum of history then go to the lower halls on the left. Next go up the stairs and on the right is a terminal if the door next to it is open simply lock it with the terminal and lock pick the door rinse and repeat :)
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By MetalManZ on 05 Dec 2020 16:26
View all 7 comments Show less comments
Pick 50 locks. Any lock will do as long as you do the little mini-game to open it rather than using the key.

You will need a higher skill to pick harder locks: 50 for average, 75 for hard, and 100 for Very Hard.

Throughout most of the game you will come across Very Easy and Average locks the most. Several ammo containers usually have very easy locks on them so be sure and check them when you come across them for an easy pick.

To successfully pick the lock you will have to complete a little mini-game. You can do two things: you can either force the lock (which will have a % next to it which signifies your success rate), but be careful as if you force it and it doesn't work you wont be able to try again unless you have the Infiltrator perk.

or you can do it the normal way:its sort of trial and error here. push the bobby pin slightly to one side with the left stick then turn the screwdriver with the right stick. if it starts breaking right away then its on the wrong side. move it to the other side and try again, the longer it takes for it to quiver the closer you are getting to the right position, but be careful after three tries the bobby pin will break and you will need another one.

With a little practice this will start to come easily and naturally.
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06 Nov 2008 21:15

1 Comment
Real helpful <_<
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By Abylities on 06 Nov 2008 21:28
Theres a spot in the Broken Steel DLC which is called Aaron Air Force Base. There will be some DeathClaws in a cage. You can pick the lock kill the DeathClaw then hack the terminal and you will be given the option "Close and Lock Door" Choose it then pick the door again and then choose that option. Do that however many times you need to and you will get the achievement. The Terminal and lock level is Hard so you will need about 75 skill points in both for this to work out.
[EDIT] Thanks to Crimson Drifter and ZeroThreshold for telling us the skill points needed for the different difficulties.
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14 Nov 2010 19:14

Well, it's pretty straight forward - pick 50 locks... Those are all around the Wastelands (as well as in pretty much every single add-on apart from Mothership Zeta). There are several quite handy tips for this though, which were not mentioned here before:

a) Every bobby pin has certain durability, it breaks after 3rd unsuccessful try. You can get past it by abandoning the whole attempt (just press B). That way you won't loose any pins. Be aware though this will reset the lock, so next time you attempt to pick it the right spot where the pin should be pointing will be in other place...

b) Sometimes you'll come across safes that can be unlocked either through the access terminal or by picking the lock. You can hack the terminal and NOT open the safe, so you can open it using lockpicking skill (and gain extra XP)

c) The private houses (in Megaton, Rivet City etc.) are re-locked every 72h (wait comes in handy). You'll need 100 skill for that though.
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15 May 2010 20:24

If you go to the broken bow section of rivet city, there is a door that is facing the backside of the jefferson memorial (A makeshift bridge leading straight to it [from the outside durrr]). At first this door will be very hard to unlock but once you have it open, there is a switch next to the door on the inside. this switch is called the lock mechanism switch. all you have to do is flip the switch, the door will lock, and all you have to do from there is pick this now easy lock. you can rinse and repeat until this achievement unlocks. I got this by forcing the lock every time but this may not work for everyone. <--- forcing the lock that is.
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27 Feb 2014 00:37

from the start of the game after you complete the goat it will give you a choice of 3 perks chose lockpick for one of them then when you first level up after you escape from the vault you will be close to 25 lockpick skill every time you level up put all your skill points into lockpick and when the skill is at 100 that will make it easier to unlock doors not matter what difficulty it is
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12 Feb 2013 12:37

A very easy way to farm this achievement if you don't want to unlock it over the course of your playthrough is to travel to the 'Museum of history' located in the DC ruins in the bottom right-hand corner of the map close to the Washington monument.

After heading inside, instead of heading forward to the underground turn left and enter the Museum of history Lower halls (You are required to visit this location for the 'Head of state' quest). Immediately after entering, up the right-hand staircase there will be an open cell door with a turret inside which can be lockpicked at Average difficulty [Lockpick 50] as well as a terminal which can be hacked also at Average difficulty [Science 50] (You can lower the difficulty of terminal hacks and lockpicks by lowering the games difficulty - I was playing on easy)

After hacking the terminal there will be an option to "Secure exhibit" which closes and re-locks the cell door. By simply picking the cells lock then re-locking the door via the terminal you can farm the 50 lockpicks needed for the achievement.

What's even better is that you can use "Force lock" to speed up the process if your lockpick skill is high enough and if it fails causing the lock to break, all you need to do is use the terminal to unlock the door with the "Open exhibit door" option, then re-lock the door again and the lock will be fixed.
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18 Feb 2022 22:51

Possibly MISSABLE

It is possible to miss this trophy because if you break every hackable lock and don't take the Infiltrator Perk, then you can't get this trophy on your current playthrough. Another possible way of missing this trophy is if you don’t raise your Lockpicking Skill to a high enough level to be able to pick most locks.

Providing you successfully pick every lock you come across, you will have this in no time. If you have any of the DLCs, then all the pickable locks within them contribute towards this trophy. See Terminator's Advice Thread here for a Guide on how to pick locks: LINK. Once you've successfully picked your 50th lock, the trophy will unlock.

Rivet City Cabinet Room exploit:

You need to have 75 points or more in the Lockpick Skill before you can use this exploit. You may not even need this trick but if you're stuck for locks to pick then it will be useful. The room in question is here:



Pick the lock on the Cabinet with the "Hard" lock, wait outside Rivet City for 1 in-game hour for it to reset then return and pick it again. This exploit will not award any XP after successfully picking the lock for the first time, also note that it will periodically stop working. If this does stop working then do something else for a few days then it will start working again.

Notes:

  • You can check your progress in the "Stats" section of your Pip-Boy or the statistic sometimes appears at the side on a loading screen.
  • The trophy tile for this shows a picture saying you've picked 100 locks not 50 so don't panic as you've done nothing wrong, it's just a design error.
  • Successfully forcing a lock counts as picking it.
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When attempting to pick a lock, your lockpick will break if you try to pick unsuccessfully three times. To avoid breaking the pick, exit out after two attempts and then re-enter the lockpicking screen. There are hundreds of doors to pick in the game. Putting points into the Lockpicking skill will obviously help for harder locks. For a safe that can be picked and locked indefinitely, head to Farragut West Metro Station. You can pick the safe found here and then lock it via the nearby terminal, then pick it again and repeat until you get the achievement.

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When attempting to pick a lock, your lockpick will break if you try to pick unsuccessfully three times. To avoid breaking the pick, exit out after two attempts and then re-enter the lockpicking screen. There are hundreds of doors to pick in the game. Putting points into the Lockpicking skill will obviously help for harder locks. For a safe that can be picked and locked indefinitely, head to Farragut West Metro Station. You can pick the safe found here and then lock it via the nearby terminal, then pick it again and repeat until you get the achievement.

Note for PC Users: If you don't feel like finding the safe listed above, use the same console command process as for "Data Miner" but instead click on the door/locker/safe you want to lock and subsequently pick. Repeat until unlocked.

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If you can’t hack and don’t want to buy or look for master keys then........... when the master key is almost broken, go out and start breaking the door again (etc.) and the master key is brand new)))
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03 Nov 2011 01:24

The game is full of locked doors, boxes and safes. So as you play the game you will get this achievement. Just don’t forget to replenish your supply of master keys; you can always buy them from merchants.
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13 Jul 2011 10:16