This is an achievement guide for Wasteland 3. As the game just came out, some achievements are presently unclear. Some achievements might be listed in the wrong category until there is more clarification about their context.
Introduction
Due to choices you make in the game that remove some access to items, locations, and characters, you may not be able to get all achievements in a single run, even with saved games.
Also, spoilers! If you think that you won't be spoiled about various plot points over the course of reading this guide, you are kidding yourself. If you don't want to be spoiled, you are in the wrong place. It is what it is. You have been warned.
Story Achievements / Trophies
I'm not 100% clear on some of these but I assume most of these are story related. I could be completely wrong. As to whether they can or cannot be missed, I'm still figuring some of those out. The first six appear in a roughly sequential order from the start of the game but after that I'm not sure about the rest.
On Your Own
Your commanding officer was killed in action. It's your mission now. This takes place at the start of the game when Major Vera Prasad dies. This achievement is unmissable.
Fixer Upper
You found the Kodiak. Right after Major Vera Prasad dies near the start of the game, you'll find a large vehicle that allows you to leave the map and proceed to Colorado Springs. Entering the Kodiak will trigger the achievement. This achievement is unmissable.
The New Law
You established a new Ranger HQ in Colorado. This takes place after you interface with the computer at Ranger HQ and stop the alarms. This achievement is unmissable.
The Needs Of The Many
You saved the shipment of power armor from the Scar Collectors. This takes place during the mission Heads or Tails, during which you are asked to choose between saving the power armor shipment in Arapaho Caravan or saving the people of Hoon Homestead. It will become available the first time you leave the Ranger HQ to head out on the world map in the Kodiak. You cannot save both locations. Head to Arapaho Caravan and meet the Scar Collectors, then save the shipment of power armor. If you want to also get the Hoon Hero and No Time for Distraction achievements, reload a save game prior to entering the Kodiak to enter the world map for the first time. Keep in mind that saving Arapaho Caravan will close off areas of Hoon Homestead. As a result, you will not be able to complete the Book Learnin' or Billy and Jean achievements.
Hoon Hero
You dealt with Erastus Dorsey before he could harm the Hoon family. This takes place during the mission Heads or Tails, during which you are asked to choose between saving the power armor shipment in Arapaho Caravan or saving the people of Hoon Homestead. It will become available the first time you leave the Ranger HQ to head out on the world map in the Kodiak. You cannot save both locations. Head to the Hoon Homestead and save the Hoon family before Erastus Dorsey makes good on his threat. If you're going for the achievements Double the Fun and Book Learnin', you might want to make this choice, as some things for those achievements will be unavailable if you choose to save Arapaho Caravan. If you want to also get the Hoon Hero and No Time for Distraction achievements, reload a save game prior to entering the Kodiak to enter the world map for the first time.
No Time For Distractions
You allowed the Hoons to be murdered and the power armor to be stolen. This takes place during the mission Heads or Tails, during which you are asked to choose between saving the power armor shipment in Arapaho Caravan or saving the people of Hoon Homestead. It will become available the first time you leave the Ranger HQ to head out on the world map in the Kodiak. In this case, don't save the Hoons or save the power armor. You're a big jerk. To get this one to pop, never enter the Arapaho Caravan or Hoon Homestead. Instead, go do quests in other places like Downtown Colorado Springs or the Bizarre. In between each quest, visit the world map to get a complaint from the Hoons or Arapaho Caravan about you not showing up. It'll take awhile to pop but eventually it will. This one was annoying. Keep in mind that failing to save Hoon Homestead will close off areas of it when you return. As a result, you will not be able to complete the Book Learnin' or Billy and Jean achievements.
Everyone Lives
You saved all the hostages in Aspen.
Caged Psycho
You arrested Victory Buchanan.
Victory Over Victory
You killed Victory Buchanan.
Stolen Valor
You arrested Valor Buchanan.
Valor's End
You killed Valor Buchanan.
Un-Lib-erated
You arrested Liberty Buchanan.
Give Me Liberty, Or...
You killed Liberty Buchanan.
Companion Achievements / Trophies
The Marshal
Darius Kwon has offered to join your party. At the start of the game when you first reach Ranger HQ and turn off the alarms, you'll speak with the Patriarch, who will ask you to speak with Sergei Greatski and Marshal Darius Kwon. When you speak to them, Darius will suggest that he join your party.
The Gunslinger
Lucia Wesson has offered to join your party. At the start of the game when you reach Downtown Colorado Springs, you can find her in the Marshals' Station. She won't initially come with you but once you speak to Sheriff Daisy about Lucia, you can return to her and invite her into the party to trigger the achievement.
The Hard-Head
Fish-Lips has offered to join your party.
The Hobo
Scotchmo has offered to join your party.
The Psychopath
Victory Buchanan has offered to join your party.
The Scientist
Pizepi Joren has offered to join your party.
The Warlord
Ironclad Cordite has offered to join your party.
Skill + Upgrade Achievements / Trophies
A New Home
Unlock all the major room upgrades to Ranger HQ.
Body Builder
Get modded, and be able to install cyborg parts.
Chop Shop Champ
Upgrade your vehicle to the highest level.
Mastery
Reach level 25. The level cap is 50.
Mod Master
Install 4 weapon mods on a single weapon.
Toaster Expert
Earn your toaster repair diploma.
Tricked Out
Obtain all vehicle upgrades. This might fall under the category of collection achievements, seeing as there's a separate achievement for upgrading the level of a vehicle. Not sure yet.
Combat Achievements / Trophies
Badda Bing
Blow up 6 enemies with a single explosive attack. I got this one right at the start of the game with a little luck when Major Vera Prasad gave me access to the Kodiak turret. If you ignore enemies and just spend your time Defending behind full cover at the end of your turns, you might get a nice clump of 6 enemies you can target when the Kodiak turret gets fixed. The Kodiak can take them all out with a single shot. Starting the game on a higher difficulty such as Ranger will give you more enemies to work with and Easy difficulty probably won't provide enough targets for this farm to work. This is probably the earliest point to farm this one out but later on there are easier opportunities and the early farm requires some reloading and crossing your fingers to get the right clump of 6, so that can be annoying.
Boomstick
Kill 4 enemies at once with a single shotgun attack. This one is fairly self-explanatory but triggering it (pun intended) can be tricky. If you're looking for a way to farm it up, I was able to by starting a new game on Easy difficulty using the preset characters, Punk Lovers, one of which has a pump shotgun. You'll need some luck (and reloads) but after the first round of combat, you'll hopefully get left with a pack of 4 enemies on your left. With the right positioning, you'll have to get lucky with two 72% chance hits but it's possible. If you use any difficulty above Easy, this won't work, as the pump shotgun won't be able to one-shot enemies.
Cold Reception
Shatter a frozen enemy. To get this one to pop, you'll need to use weapons that have the Frozen modifier. Killing an enemy after throwing a snowball at them to apply the Frozen modifier doesn't count as a "shatter". In my case, I purchased a mod from Snappin' Jimmy Bob in Downtown Colorado Springs called Cryocell Linkage that had a 15% chance to add Frozen. Next, I used Sergei Greatski at Ranger HQ to create a custom character that specialised exclusively in Weapon Modding, then swapped him into the party temporarily to put the mod on a weapon with a high rate of fire like a submachine gun. After that, I went outside and took some shots at the dogs near the Cyborg Chicken and it popped. It took several rounds but eventually it happened. There's a lot to be said about never having Armor and/or Weapon Modding on a character, as it's somewhat pointless. If you can swap in temporary characters that specialise in it, there's no point in investing in that skill on a main character, other than the fact that you can't modify items when you're outside the Ranger HQ. Another way you can get this achievement to pop is if you use items that cause freezing damage that aren't weapons you equip. An example of this would be a deployable Octotron that already comes equipped with freezing damage. That'll count too.
Fire It Up
Kill an enemy with fire damage. This one is really easy and you don't even need anybody on your team with Explosives knowledge. Just hit an explosive barrel with an enemy beside it. Once the enemy is on fire, shoot them some more to weaken them to a point where they're close to death. Leave them alone and they'll eventually die from continued fire damage, which is what triggers the achievement. This can be farmed out early in the game.
Gooification
Liquefy an enemy with energy damage. Basically you need to defeat an enemy with an energy weapon. These aren't incredibly easy to find early on but you'll find some eventually. I was able to farm this out near the start of the game when I first arrived at the Ranger HQ by repairing the Rusted Slicer Dicer in the garage, which initiates a fight with it. It drops a Pulse Gun laser weapon (or at least it did for me the three times in a row I fought it) which you can then equip and use on the dogs near the Cyborg Chicken. If you don't have a character with 3 skill points in Mechanics, save your game and drop a few spare skills points into Mechanics temporarily. If you don't have any spare points, run through the Ambush Site again quickly on Easy difficulty while saving up your skill points before entering the Ranger HQ.
Oops
Accidentally down one of your own squad members. You can farm this out easily by starting a new game on Easy mode, then choosing some default characters and shooting one of your own party members during the opening fight. You'll need to click on the attack icon on your quick access bar to force fire on teammates but it's possible, even with friendly fire turned off. You can also just load up whatever save you're normally using and start force firing on teammates. You don't necessarily have to be in an existing combat situation with enemies to do this achievement.
Roadkill
Give hit-and-run a new meaning. This one is easy to do. Essentially, take the Kodiak and drive over an enemy during a combat encounter. It immediately one shots an enemy. The squishies are real.
Scorpitron Slayer
Take down a Scorpitron, in proud Ranger tradition.
Wasteland Reaper
Kill every living person in Downtown Colorado Springs. This sounds like a lot of work and a lot of lost ammo and time. Would love to know more details about this one. I'm hoping this is a triggered event.
Miscellaneous Achievements / Trophies
Double The Fun
Bring Billy and Jean all the way to the end of the game. Billy and Jean is a two-headed goat at the Hoon Homestead, just outside Colorado Springs. It will become reachable the first time you leave the Ranger HQ to head out on the world map in the Kodiak, during which you'll be presented with the quest Heads or Tails. You must make the choice to save Hoon Homestead in order for Billy and Jean to be available. If you save Arapaho Caravan and then return to Hoon Homestead, Billy and Jean will not be available. If you choose to save Hoon Homestead, Billy and Jean will be in a small pen, just behind the Hoon household, just outside the back door. In order to do this, you (or a companion that travels with you) will need the Animal Whisperer skill to be able to tame animals. All you'll need in order to charm it is Animal Whisperer 1. You'll need to dismiss any existing animals you currently have trained once you get to Billy and Jean so that you can tame the goat. You'll need to keep the goat safe for the rest of the game, which probably won't be easy. This might also make it difficult to complete the Menagerie achievement but I'm not sure. You might be able to dismiss Billy and Jean, temporarily charm a new animal type, then dismiss it and bring Billy and Jean back into the party without messing anything up. Also, if Billy and Jean keep dying in fights, you might be able to dismiss the goat before entering a fight so that it doesn't take part, then add it to the party after the fight. This might affect the achievement but my guess is no, mainly because it asks you to take it to the end of the game and doesn't exclusively ask you to keep it in the party without ever disbanding it.
Heads Up
You threw a snowball at an NPC or party member. You can find snowballs in various snow piles. Dig them up, equip them, and toss them at a party member to apply the Frozen modifier to them. You might need to have friendly fire turned on under your difficulty. You can do this one early on in the game when you first arrive at the Ranger HQ. There's a pile of snowballs just to the right of the path leading to Colorado Springs.
No-Show
You never made it to Colorado Springs. Basically, your entire party gets wiped out. The easiest way to farm this one up is to start a new game on Nightmare difficulty, pick some default characters, and then immediately walk into the area where the Dorsey warbot arrives during the first fight, repeatedly hitting End Turn until your party is wiped out.
Pre-Apocalyptic Tourist
You sat through Quarex' entire museum tour. When you find Simon the Squatch, speak fully with him, then go speak with Quarex and ask him for a tour of the museum.
Quid Agit?!
You found the Provost. The Provost is found in the Prison Block of the Warrens. To gain access to him, you'll require Mechanics 5 to repair the generator that powers a nearby computer. At the computer, activate the temperature controls, then activate the defrost systems. This will defrost the ice around a series of nearby doors. Move to the one just outside the computer room and unlock it using Lockpicking 7 and then you will have access to him.
Restraint
Resist temptation and never open the Mysterious Case. In the Sans Luxe Apartments you'll find Satoshi in a locked room (requires Lockpicking 4). He'll give you a Mysterious Briefcase and ask you not to open it. If you do, you get a bunch of scrap but if you keep it sealed until the end of the game, you can get Nuclear Armor. Specifically, you'll use it much later in the game at the Yuma County Speedway after having dealt with the last of the Patriarch's offspring. After that encounter is done, head to the side of the arena and speak with Satoshi, giving him the case and getting your Nuclear Armor in exchange. Don't get excited though. It's the end of the game and the armor has no use. If you refuse to give him the case, a fight will break out between Satoshi and the party, which is pointless.
What's In This Thing?
Eat a Clown Burger. Clown burgers are purchasable from Masato at Ranger HQ. He must be recruited before he will appear at Ranger HQ and he is found at the Warrens. You need to bring him some Instant Ramen Noodles and then he'll take you up on your recruitment offer. The Instant Ramen Noodles need to be purchased from a vending machine using coins you get from parking meters in the world. You can also hack the vending machine using Nerd Stuff skills. The burgers apply +10% CON but they also apply Poisoned. While you can technically eat them, should you?
Currently Unknown Or Uncategorized Achievements / Trophies
Some of these achievements are unclear to me at the moment. My guess is that some of them are story related and cannot be missed but until somebody clears it up or I see them for myself, I'm not positive about the context surrounding some of these.
Bawk!
You assembled Poultron. Just outside the entrance of Ranger HQ, there's a chicken coup with a Cyborg Chicken beside it. There are also 5 Cyborg Chickens in the game that you need to speak to and bring back to Ranger HQ and drop off with the original chicken. They'll come with you if you have a certain level of Animal Whisperer and you won't need to dismiss an existing pet either. When you ask a Cyborg Chicken to follow you, both it and your pet will follow you simultaneously. Once done, and after you have completed the "Victory" quest, Poultron will be assembled. I haven't found all of them yet but I'll fill in more details about them as I find them. Here's the few I've found so far:
1. Cyborg Chicken #1 (Animal Whisperer 4) - In the Garden of the Gods, this chicken is found near the mass grave site.
Bunker Buster
You set off Morningstar's self-destruct mechanism. Morningstar is a talking vehicle found during the mission Call to Action in Union Station. When you first meet him, he wants to die, so my guess is this involves helping him do that.
Dead Red
You defeated Angela Deth and stopped a coup.
I, Human
You convinced the Machine Commune that humans can be trusted. When you reach the Denver Airport, you need to behave friendly towards the robots you encounter on the way to their leader. You don't need to do everything from the list below but enough that the machines trust you.
- Meeting "Greet-O" in a friendly and non-threatening manner.
- Telling "SAL" that you like her DJ style and listen to her all the time.
- Chatting with "Indigo Rouge" and commending her artwork.
- Getting down and dirty with "Little Sparrow".
- Helping "PICO" with his game (But don't teach him how to win, as this will make him either kill himself or dislike humans).
- Fixing the "Vendomatic", but don't force it to give you a discount.
- Telling "Tinker" that the conflict between Humans and Synths should end.
- Letting "Vivisecto" heal your party once, and buying and using one of his cybernetic control units.
- Finding and rescuing "V.I.C.I", then offering her to come join the Ranger Compound.
Another thing that will factor into whether or not the machine tower will like you is how far you've accepted Gary Wolfe's quest to hunt down synths. If you helped October-11 escape Colorado Springs, you ended the quest early and gain a significant boost to the machine towers disposition to you.
Illuminati
Uncover the darkest of conspiracies. Go to the Warrens beneath the Bizarre and find The Provost (see the "Quid Agit?!" achievement for more details). Keep him alive and bring him to the Snowed Inn Resort where you will find a toaster. Fix it to gain the "Token of Minerva" which will prompt an odd dialogue from The Provost. Leave the area and head to the NorthEast until you find an area called "Heart of the Mountain". Enter this area with the Provost, and you will receive the achievement.
Morningstar
You answered Morningstar's call and gave him a new home. Morningstar is a talking vehicle found during the mission Call to Action in Union Station.
New Colorado Order
You deposed the Patriarch and liberated Colorado from his rule.
November Reigns
Team November and the Rangers have taken over Colorado.
Won One For The Gipper
You overwrote Valor Buchanan's mind with God-President Reagan. Probably falls under story or miscellaneous.
Collection Achievements / Trophies
Answering Machine
Find all the cassette tapes left around Colorado. Apparently there are 54 of these. These are what I've found so far:
Good Luck - Appears during the opening of the game, in a box near where you find Jodie Bell.The Automated Chauffeur - Found in a locker (requires Lockpicking 2) in the garage of the Ranger HQ.Soldier's Note - Found in a container (requires Lockpicking 1) in the South room of Ranger HQ where you first find Del Hackett.New Tour Introduction, Version 1 - Found in a room in the Colorado Heritage Museum in Downtown Colorado Springs. You'll need Lockpicking 3 to unlock the door into the museum and Mechanics 3 to start the generator that opens the door to the room where the cassette is located.An Interrogation - Found in a Large Container in a locked room (requires Lockpicking 4) in the Sheriff's Station in Downtown Colorado Springs.Private Do Not Play - Found in Downtown Colorado Springs, in the Machine Shop during the mission Big Trouble in Little Vegas.Strike Back Pirate Radio with Brad Conway - Found in an ammo box in a Bunker at Arapaho Caravan, just outside Colorado Springs. It will become reachable the first time you leave the Ranger HQ to head out on the world map in the Kodiak, during which you'll be presented with the quest Heads or Tails. The ammo box is behind a locked door that requires Lockpicking 5. In the case of the Double the Fun and Book Learnin' achievements, you must choose Hoon Homestead in order to complete them but in this case, the cassette will be available whether you choose to save Arapaho Caravan or not.
Back In The Sack
You collected all STDs in the Wasteland. You know what, I'm not entirely convinced I want to find out the details on this one but I'm going to, because I respect you as a person. I'll be back when I've got chlamydia and can flesh this achievement out in greater detail.
Book Learnin'
You found every lore book in the game. If this is anything like the Wasteland Historian achievement from Wasteland 2, it sounds like this one might be a giant pain in the butt. At this point, it's unclear how many pieces of lore there are or where they are. Any help with this one would be greatly appreciated because it's probably going to be a mess. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if this achievement gets expanded into it's own section later on. These are what I know of so far:
- "Old Journal" - Found in a locked desk at the start of the game in Ranger HQ where the servitor robots are. You enter this room when you first enter the HQ in an attempt to turn off the alarms. In order to open the desk, you need to have Lockpicking at 2 or higher.
- "Slaver's Note" - Found in the Med Bay (the room just North of the War Room) in the Ranger HQ on a corpse. Specifically it's the corpse just beside the large pile of corpses.
Some pieces of lore are not accessible depending on choices you make in the game. Currently, I'm not sure how this affects this achievement or if certain pieces of lore are not counted as part of the achievement.
- "Survivalist's Diary" - Found in a locked room past the Hoon household on the Hoon Homestead map. It will become reachable the first time you leave the Ranger HQ to head out on the world map in the Kodiak, during which you'll be presented with the quest Heads or Tails. You must make the choice to save Hoon Homestead in order to have access to the area where this lore is found. If you save Arapaho Caravan and then return to Hoon Homestead, the way past the Hoon household to the rooms at the back of the map will be blocked by fallen debris that cannot be passed. If you choose to save Hoon Homestead, there is an area past the Hoon household with a series of interconnected rooms. In order to open doors to the room where the diary is found, you need to have Lockpicking at 6 or higher.
Expedition
Discover every location on the world map.
Menagerie
Tame at least one of every type of animal companion. In order to do this, you (or a companion that travels with you) will need the Animal Whisperer skill. While you can only tame a single animal and have it tag along with you, you can bring more if multiple characters have the Animal Whisperer skill. If you're going for this achievement but you have an animal you're wanting to stick with, dismiss it before you tame an animal, then dismiss the newly tamed animal and ask your favourite pet to continue travelling with you. While I don't know all the animal types, here is what I've seen so far:
Cats - Look out for Major Tomcat (Animal Whisperer 1) at the Ambush Site at the start of the game near Major Vera Persad near the end of the level. If none of the characters you started the game with have Animal Whisperer, you can offer Major Tomcat a cigarette to get him to tag along and then find a companion character later on with the skills to tame additional animals. If you don't have the option of giving him a cigarette, you probably were unlucky in finding one among your junk loot in the Ambush Site map. If you completely miss Major Tomcat, there's a cat wandering around the streets of Downtown Colorado Springs coming up but it requires Animal Whisperer 2 to charm it.Dogs - There's a few dogs (Animal Whisperer 3) just outside Ranger HQ near the Cyborg Chicken.Chickens - There's one at the entrance of Garden of the Gods. They can be charmed with Animal Whisperer 1.Goats - Billy and Jean is a two-headed goat (at least I hope it counts as a goat) at the Hoon Homestead, just outside Colorado Springs. It will become reachable the first time you leave the Ranger HQ to head out on the world map in the Kodiak, during which you'll be presented with the quest Heads or Tails. You must make the choice to save Hoon Homestead in order for Billy and Jean to be available. If you save Arapaho Caravan and then return to Hoon Homestead, Billy and Jean will not be available. If you choose to save Hoon Homestead, Billy and Jean will be in a small pen, just behind the Hoon household, just outside the back door. All you'll need in order to charm it is Animal Whisperer 1.Foxes - I've seen a few of these running around outside Ranger HQ but they run so fast that I'm not sure these are charmable yet.Stags and Does - I've seen a few of these around but haven't found one accessible for taming so maybe this can't be done.
My Pretties
Amass a collection that would terrify a toy shop owner. This involves collecting the 15 creepy doll heads that appear in the game.
"Radical Rachel" (+5.0% Explosive Damage Bonus to all party members) - Located in a container in the NorthWest corner of the Museum (the room just South of the War Room) inside the Ranger HQ."Keen Karen" (+1 Perception to all party members) - Located in the Garden of the Gods in a large snow pile to the left of the mass grave where the Dorsey's dumped all the bodies. If you move your camera, you'll see a way to get under the snow pile and the on the other side you can dig up the dirt pile."Maneater Maury" (+15 CON to all party members) - Located in a duffel bag in the Parking Garage of the Bizarre Exterior."♥♥♥♥in' Fred" (+5% Damage vs. Humans to all party members) - Located in a container in the Makeshift Hospital of the Old Survivalist Bunker."Lethal Lance" (+1 Penetration to all party members) - Located in a duffel bag to the right of the stage in the Screening Room of the Monster Army Bunker."Cruel Cory" (+5% Damage vs. Animals to all party members) - Located in a container in the Western White House of the Denver Ruins."Electric Emmett" (+5.0% Energy Damage Bonus to all party members) - Located in a dirt pile in the East Catwalk of the Machine Commune."Hearty Henry" (+10.0% Healing Bonus to all party members) - Located in a container in the Bunker in Aspen."Ferocious Francesca" (+5.0% Melee Damage Bonus to all party members) - Located in a duffel bag in the guest suites of Little Hell."Zen Zoey" (+2% Hit Chance to all party members) - Located in a dirt pile in the Cabin area of the "Snowed Inn" Resort."Purist Patty" (+5% Damage vs. Mutants to all party members) - Located in the loot of the destroyed machine at the Abandoned Oil Well in Colorado."Quick Quaid" (+5.0% Sneak Attack Damage to all party members) - Located on a corpse at the Knox Bison Ranch."Hyper Heather" (+5% Initiative to all party members) - Located in a locker at the Gang Compound of the Yuma County Speedway."Nervous Nancy" (+0.5 Seconds Detection Time to all party members) - Located in a dirt pile in the Breakroom of the Department of Energy Site."Angry Aaron" (+5% Crit Resistance to all party members) - Located in an armor crate at the Godfisher Shrine Summit section of the Godfisher Windfarm.
Endgame Achievements / Trophies
Rookie
Beat the game on Easy difficulty.
Wastelander
Beat the game on Normal difficulty.
Ranger
Beat the game on Hard difficulty.
Supreme Jerk
Beat the game on Hardest difficulty.
W.I.P.
Source: https://gameplay.tips/guides/8372-wasteland-3.html
More Wasteland 3 guilds
- All Guilds
- 3 / Wasteland 3
- Before you roll out for Colorado - first team building tips
- Tarjan Tokens
- Wasteland 3 Guide 8
- Wasteland 3 Achievements Guide
- Character Creation Guide
- Wasteland 3 - Party Composition Guide (Supreme Jerk Difficulty)
- Wasteland 3 - How to Farm More Cash
- Wasteland 3 - Starter Guide