After searching around fervently for ways to watch the ICBM go off at Fort Constantine, I decided it might be a good idea to put a quick guide together for how to enjoy a nuclear experience in Fallout 3. This posting contains some spoilers, so check out some screenshots of other games if you don't want to read ahead.

1. Megaton

The easiest and most obvious one is the big unexploded nuke, sitting in a puddle of irradiated water in Megaton, the first town you run into in the game. You can accept the quest (The Power of Atom) from a man named Burke in the Megaton bar, giving you the necessary component to remote det the nuke. You need an explosives skill of 25 to rig the bomb. Once you do, you'll get to watch Megaton get reduced to an irradiated landfill from the balcony of your sweet new apartment in Tenpenny Towers.

Funny little easter egg, if you go back there, Moira Brown, the supplies shopkeeper is now a ghoul but well and alive.

2. Fort Constantine

Fort Constantine is in the NW top of the map, surrounded by satcom towers. It looks like a burnt out civilian installation with a military truck, but actually contains an ICBM launch facility. To get into Launch Control, you do need a key, and you might as well pick up the T-51b Power Armor while you're in there. Head to Underworld which is in the Museum of Natural History near the Washington Monument and talk to Mister Crowley. He'll give you a quest to asassinate a few people, you can just pickpocket them or talk them out of it. Dig deep on some of them and they'll give you the location of Fort Constantine on your map.

Once you have all three keys, you can head straight up to Fort Constantine and head into the small 1 story house (CO Quarters) near the entrance. Down in the basement is a safe on your left which contains the launch codes for the ICBM. Head into the Launch Control and you'll find a working computer with a one button launch procedure.

Fire away and you'll go through a sequence where everything closes up, electricity sparks from computers and the ground shakes. Now this leads to a mystery. The computer then says "Targeting Navigation Corrupted" and there is no evidence of a nuke going off anywhere. The 2 theories are that since it's an ICBM, it's aimed somewhere off the map or that it does not actually launch/goes off in the launch pad. Email me if you find any different.

3. SatCom Array NW-05a

Just to the West of Fort Constantine is a satellite communications tower called SatCom Array NW-05a. Inside, there is a wastelander with a science coat on carrying activation codes. Head up to the top of the tower and before going up onto the dish, there is a computer. Feed the codes in, jump up onto that dish and watch the mini-nukes rain down.

4. Cars

Just for fun, or if you see an enemy standing beside a car.. or even better.. a bunch of cars, shoot the cars to get them burning. They will explode complete with radiation damage about the size of a mini-nuke. Try it in a car park for radioactive fun.

5. Fat Man and Mini Nukes

The fat man is the mini-nuke launcher you find in the game. There are lots of mini-nukes scattered throughout the game so don't be shy about liberally dishing them out in the Rivet City marketplace.