Fallout 3
72 Achievements
1,550
73-98h
The Waters of Life
Completed "The Waters of Life"
20
How to unlock the The Waters of Life achievement in Fallout 3 - Definitive Guide
James will make his way to Rivet City; the player can choose to follow him there or leave him on his own, either way, he will eventually reach the Rivet City Science Lab and wait for the player to meet him there.
You will be told you have to go to the Memorial. At the gift shop Dr. Li and the other scientist will be waiting for you.
Go inside and elliminate all Super mutants.
Once James arrives at the control room, he asks the player to carry out some maintenance tasks to bring the project back online.
Turn on Flood Control Pump Power
The Flood Control Pump is located in the room to the left of the bunk bed area. The switch is beside an Intercom and is illumnated by a floodlight.
Get the Fuses from Dad / Replace Damaged Fuses
Return to James to get new fuses. The fuse box is at the end of the basement area: there are signs on the wall ('Fuse Access A1') to direct the player to the fuse box.
Boot up the mainframe / Speak with Dad over intercom
The door to the mainframe is located on the 'upper level' of the basement, before the stairs down to the bunk bed room. After the fuses are installed, a large green light beside the door will turn on. The player must enter the door and throw the switch on the mainframe, and then speak to James. He will tell the player to return, then change his mind and tell the player to clear out a blockage in an intake pipe.
Now, the player must battle his or her way back to the Rotunda, dispatching any power-armored Enclave soldiers in your path to reach your father.
A stunned Dr. Li informs the player that the only way to escape the Memorial is through a series of underground tunnels that lead to the Brotherhood of Steel stronghold, the Citadel.
She will run to a manhole in the floor of the gift shop, and the player must follow. Once underground she will tell the player that they must keep moving to avoid detection by the Enclave.
Once topside, an exasperated Dr. Li will argue with Paladin Bael for entrance into the Citadel to no avail. She then runs to the intercom and yells at Owyn Lyons to open the godforsaken door at once. The door - quite comically - immediately opens.
Once inside, Owyn Lyons will confront Dr. Li and the surviving science team. Owyn Lyons questions Li for a few minutes on what transpired at the Memorial, and Li breathlessly tells him about James's plan and the Enclave's intervention.
- When you first enter the Memorial, searching info about your daddy (2 missions early), clean immediately all the places from the mutants (don't forget the basements). Doing so, the Memorial is already a safe place for the doctors.
- When you have to bring Dr. Li to the Citadel, you'll have to face several ghouls too. Get the ghoul mask in Tenpenny's Tower mission (please, have a look at my solution if you don't know how to get it) and wear it. You can kill safely all the feral ghouls you'll find throught your way.
Another little suggestion. Completing this mission will reward you with 700 xp. Probably you'll get a new level. This is a great point to get the three karma achievements: in fact the Citadel's doors will open and the doctors will enter, anyway you'll end the mission a few second later. So you have a great occasion to save the game, fast travel to a city (like Megaton, Rivet City, Underground, etc.) and act to change your karma (my suggestion is to get a neutral karma, so it's very easy and quick to increase/decrease karma with just a little donation/murder).
Now fast travel back to the Citadel, you'll see dectors entering. Got che achievement, reload, change karma and so on 3 times untill you got them all.
so if you're on 6th/7th, 12th/13th or 18th/19th level (with the "Here and Now" Perk you can gain one additional experience level), this is a great occasion.
Here are some videos from 'Orcidea' on YouTube, which take you through the quest.
Thanks for reading, hope I helped you out!
After finishing Tranquility Lane your father will ask you to go with him back to Rivet City. You can say no and just meet him there later, doesn't matter which you choose. Once you do go back to the Science Lab there you will have a short conversation and then be asked to meet the scientists back at Project Purity. Head to the Jefferson Memorial to meet them.
Once there, your father will ask you to perform a few simple maintenance tasks to get the facility running. Just as you finish the last one, the Enclave shows up to take over the operations. (Spoiler) Your father then sacrifices himself so you can the other scientists can escape. Leave the Rotunda via the left door and find a sewer grate just to the left of that. Keep moving through the tunnels until you eventually come out the other side to the Brotherhood of Steel Citadel. Once Dr. Li gets you access to the city the quest will end.
See The Waters of Life for more specific info.
Story Related, Unmissable
Once you've left Smith Casey's Garage, either Fast Travel to Rivet City or walk there and escort your Father. Personally we recommend Fast Travelling back and waiting 24 in game hours for your Father to appear in the lab as he's invincible and cannot be killed (just knocked out), it's also a lot faster than walking. After your Father appears, return to Dr. Li in the Science Labs and wait for him to persuade her to reactivate Project Purity. Once everything is agreed, you'll be asked to meet everyone outside the Gift Shop entrance at the Jefferson Memorial.
WARNING: There is a really nasty glitch that can sometimes occur when you try to leave the basement after replacing the Fuses that can cause the game to hard freeze, either on the load screen when leaving the Basement or when trying to enter the Rotunda to go see your Father. All you can really do about this is load a save from before you enter the Basement or from before you even enter the building. If all else fails, you’ll have to start a whole new game.
Before the team can enter, you have to kill all the remaining Super Mutants. If you eradicated the Super Mutants on your previous visit then everyone will have already setup and be preparing to reactivate Project Purity. Your Father will ask you to do 4 things before they can begin, once you've accomplished everything he has asked you to do you'll see a load of Enclave Soldiers arrive in a Vertibird.
The Enclave now stand between you and your Father so make your way quickly to the Rotunda, killing everything that gets in your way. After you’ve returned to the Rotunda and seen and done everything there, you'll be asked to Escort Dr. Li and a few others out of the Memorial, through the Taff Tunnels and out to the Citadel. Be sure to not let any corpses block the manhole cover else you may not be able to open it, if a corpse does fall on it then you can try pulling it off (press and hold the in then move your character in the desired direction) or use grenades/rockets to blast it clear. Ensure Dr. Li enters the tunnels first else you'll have to waste valuable time waiting for her, there is lot of radioactivity down here at times so take some Rad-X before proceeding any further. The tunnels are crawling with Enclave soldiers and Ghouls so ensure you have plenty of health items and ammo. Daniel Agincourt may kick up a fuss at some point about not having a gun so give him one to shut him up if he does.
Once you go through the door marked "Taff Tunnel", Dr. Li will stop you and say the group can't go any further because Graza is ill and needs help. You have 3 options:
1: Pass a Speech Challenge and give him some Buffout (if you have any).
2: Pass a Speech Challenge and persuade Dr. Li to leave him behind.
3: Give him a Stimpak (if you have any).
We recommend option 1 because the group will still listen you and you'll be one step closer to the Silver Tongued Devil trophy. After this pause you will be able to continue your journey so follow the Quest Marker and deal with any enemies you meet.
Once you get to the Citadel, Dr. Li will argue with Paladin Bael outside the gate then with Elder Owyn Lyons over the intercom. The trophy will pop once Elder Owyn Lyons has finished talking and the gate blocking your way is raised.
Note: Once you leave the Jefferson Memorial you will be unable to return until the Quest called "Take it Back!", it will also disappear from the World Map and become inaccessible due to the Force Fields that the Enclave have installed.