This will get you
TONS of stuff so be sure to read the whole thing.
NOTE: I can't spell and my gramar blows, SORRY
Intelligence affects how many points you get to assign to skills when you level up level 10 intelligence giving you 20 points. and if you get the educated perk it maxes out at 23.
In the vault raise your intelligence to 9 then leave the vault and head east and jump into the river and head south to rivet city. it's okay for you to get irradiated I will fix it. talk to the guard and get on the boat. once inside head down the stairs and to left, enter the door behind the sandbags. once inside there use the signs on the wall to find the science lab. on the left of the huge desk is the intelligence bobblehead. there you go max intelligence. and don't forget the educated perk. and if it bothers you that you didn't raise any of your other s.p.e.c.i.a.l. then just use intense training till you get your special skills to where you want them. But remember you don't want to raise any of them above 9 becasue you can get the bobblehead to max them out.
Now free stuff. don't worry about karma your quest (if the good ending is chosen) will negate the small amount of bad karma you will receive.
Head back to the market in rivet city. now that your here take a look at all the weapons, meds, and clothes that could be yours but the bastard shop keeper is there don't worry heres what you do. now I don't know what your playing on so IDK how you would do it but use the grab button to pick up the stuff at the stores then carry it away to a hidden area then pick it up. there you go now start cleaning out those shops. you should get something like a few assault rifles, some pistols, a knife, a bat, about 8 sets of clothes, and more than enough meds to start your adventure. just remember at about 10 rivet city will close and you will be trespassing, at that point all the npc's will follow you telling you to get the hell out of their city making it impossible to get your goddies. just leave the city and wait till 9AM then head back in and continue looting.
once you get everything you are probably over encumbered but don't wory just sell your loot to the various people you stole from. I'm not sure if they can tell that you stole their crap so you might want to save first and see what their reaction is to get a gun that was on their display table 2 minutes ago.
Taking care of your radiation.
Just head to Megaton like you were supposed to at the beginning of the game and talk to moira brown...i think thats her name, at craterside supply. she will talk about a book help her with the intro and she givves you armored vault 101 suit. talk to her again about working on the book and say you want to do the radiation bit be careful not to say you are a lil radiated because you will most likely not be radiated enough to get the optional goal of 600 rads. once you tell her you'll get irradiated just head out and drink water by the bomb until a message pops up telling you that you reached your goal of 600 rads. head back to craterside supply and she will cure you of all your radiation.
NOTE: lucas sims lives in the house directly to your right when you enter megaton. if you enter it go up the stairs then enter the door directly to your left you will find the strength bobblehead.
More free stuff. IN MEGATON!!! once again it will affect your karma.
First talk to to the sherrif about disarming the bomb so you will get the quest.
NOTE:he will give you a reward of 500 caps instead of 100 if you used speech and succeeded. save before talking to him and you can just keep loading up your game until you succeed.
now you may or may not have raised your explosives to the required 25 but don't worry head to the hospital and talk to the doctor about patients he will say no but if your medicine is high enough (which it is from all the intelligence) he will tell you about a junkie that shoots up in the water plant. So head over to the water plant enter and go to the back room and wait till about 10 or until leo stahl shows up. SAVE YOUR GAME HERE!!! you will be using speech to convice him to stop doing drugs if you succeed he will give you the key to his stash which has a lot of meds and some bottle caps. if you fail just load up your save and try again till you do succeed. in his stash will be mentats if you take them they will raise your explosive skill to the required 25 to disarm the bomb, BUT DON'T DO IT YET!!!
go to moriarty's saloon then go talk to mr burke, he will be all BLAH BLAH BLAH BLOW UP MEGATON BLAH BLAH. accept to do this or not then go talk to the sherriff he will say omg lets go f*** up berke. go with the sherriff to the saloon and confront mr burke he will follow sheriff sims but OH NOS!!! he has murdered the sheriff he will tell you you f***ed up and that you should watch your back. just pull out a gun or a bat or whatever and kill him loot both their bodies you will get a silenced pistol a chinese assault rifle their clothes and the MEGATON ARMORY KEY which means MORE GUNS!!!!!
To get to the armory. head to the bomb in the center then look for a ramp up that has like a bus body for the bottom part head up there and you should reach the armory..if not just check your local map and I'm pretty sure it should be marked by now on the map. inside the armory is a dick robot so depending on your level you should change the game difficulty to very easy or save just outside the armory in case you die. don't leave if he starts kicking your ass he will follow you and so won't the rest of the town for messing with their robot..but not if you kill him before leaving which is weird. merc the robot then loot the place, lots of guns.
Disarming the bomb
Just pop some mentats then press...whatever to intereact with the bomb then select attempt to disarm bomb...pretty cut and dry.
A HOUSE!!!!
once you disarm the bomb go talk to lucas sim's son who will be all boo hoo about his dad dying but he will reward you with 100 caps, or 500 if you succeeded at the speech thing with lucas and a key to a house!!!!!! muahahahahahaha. your house is located left of the entrance of megaton.
NOTE: Ive heard that the locker directly left when you enter your house is the only "safe" locker. if you put your stuff in other ones sometimes it will dissapear, but I haven't had any problems yet.
There you go a house, clothes, max intelligence, tons of meds, and enough guns to arm a small army...ENJOY!!!
I also know where to get tons of special weapons. just ask and i'll tell you ^_^