I have been playing this game for a few weeks now and enjoy it very much. There are a couple things I am not clear about. Hoping someone can answer these questions ...

1. Twice now, when fighting creatures, I have been set on fire and knocked down. When this happens the perspective switches to 3rd person and I lose control of my character. I see myself writhing on the ground in flames, then I get up and regain control in 1st person mode. The first time was fighting a fire ant, the 2nd was when I shot a roach in some sewer somewhere. When I shot him, he exploded in flames and so did I. He died, I did not. There may have been a gas pipe nearby. Why was I knocked down?

2. Today I was fighting some bandits from across the river. When I went over the river to search them, I was attacked by Talon thugs. I killed them and tried to search their bodies.

At that time, from across the river where i had just been, a super mutant fired a rocket at me and barely missed. I saw him and he looked like he was trapped inside a wall. I turned around to search the Talon thugs, but something yelled at me from behind. It was the super mutant, but this time he had a gatling gun. I have no idea where he came from. He started attacking me and I ran for my life. I ran into a subway system. Surprisingly, he did not follow me.

I have had angry citizens follow me into my house before, so I thought the same would happen, but no. I seem to be safe in there for the moment. I'm afraid to go back outside though. The super mutant will probably be waiting for me.

The same thing happened to me in Megaton with an enclave soldier. One of them followed me to Megaton and chased me inside. I figured if I waited a solar day, he'd leave, but no, he was right there waiting for me. Deputy Weld died that day, as did Micky the begger and Stockholm.

Anyway, my question is ... can super mutants teleport? This guy just appeared out of nowhere.

Thanks for any response.

First of all, welcome to the forums and have a http://i.imgur.com/DoGVX3q.jpg. It’s some kinda tradition dating to the wayback times.

It sounds as if you are far along in your game if you have Enclave showing up, but be that as it may, most of what you describe as unusual events are just that: unusual things that do happen from time to time.

1. If you were using VATS the perspective does change as the shot plays out.

2. That was probably the Farragut West Metro area. There are Raiders on that side of the river and two super mutes on the other side. Also, another Mutant will spawn at Farragut West on later visits. If your karma is in the good range the Talon Mercs can appear at the least expected time to try to kill your character. I have had that happen at Farragut West. It makes for some interesting fights. Just kill ’em all.

My first character had three Raiders that would spawn inside Megaton every time she fast traveled back there. They killed off most everybody in the town but finally stopped spawning when my character advance the main quest. The bodies are still piled up next to the main gate after many years.

I don’t think that Super Mutants can ‘teleport’. But then again, I don’t think anything is impossible in FO3.

Thank you for the Fishy Stick, tmar.

About point #1, no I was not in VATS. It's like the game took control of my character for a few seconds, then gave it back to me. Weird.

About point #2, yes you are right, I was at Farragut West Metro. I snuck back outside and could hear the super mutant run away. I went a little further and saw across the river, two super mutants, one with a minigun, the other with a rocket launcher. I have no idea where they've been all this time. This is the first time they've showed up there. I thought that area was safe, but now I'm going to have to be careful around there. Anyway, I ate some pills then headshotted both mutants with the sniper rifle in sneak mode. One shot kills. I was surprised. Anyway, the world seems to be getting more dangerous now that I'm increasing in levels. I am level 10 now.

About the enclave soldier, no I was not far in the game when he appeared at one of the burned out houses east of Megaton. He started hurting me bad, so I ran to Megaton thinking he would surely be killed by Stockholm and Deputy Weld. The opposite happened, he killed everyone outside, very easily in fact. Micky tried to run but was hit and turned to ash. I got so mad I ran up to the soldier and shot him in the head several times with the shotgun at point blank range, killing him. I thought I was gonna die. The enclave soldier keeps respawning every few days. I never know if the Megaton entrance is going to be "hot" or not. Fortunately, the merchants seem to be able to hold their own against him.

Well, thanks for the answers.

That's normal. You will be knocked down with a gas explosion, which is what happened to you with the Radroach at any rate. There was indeed a gas pipe nearby that was leaking. And I believe the Fire Ants use the same animations when they burn you. There's also one area with Fire Ants where there's a gas leak, which might be what you encountered.


And it won't be the last. There's a spawn trigger in that area which causes them to appear out of nowhere, and once they do they will keep respawning every few days. There's also a random encounter trigger nearby, which would probably explain the Talon mercs. That whole area can get rather lively at times. If you do it right, you can use all those events to your advantage. I'd give you some clues but this is the General Discussion forum and not the Cheats and Hints.


That's actually a bug in the Broken Steel add-on. He's not supposed to appear there until much later in the game. There's another one that appears when it's not supposed to, but since this is General Discussions I can't really mention where you might find him. If you're playing on the PC, you can fix it with the Unofficial Patch, with the Broken Steel addition. You might try dragging his body away from Megaton so he doesn't keep causing trouble when he respawns. If he has no immediate targets, he'll head back and hang around that burned out house where you first met him. Later in the game you'll know why he was in that area in the first place.

Thanks for the explanations, Nicho. It all makes sense now.