As I play through Fallout 3 the second time, I’m trying to do more of the side-quests. I’m stopping to explore pretty much every area that I find.

Today, I was heading out to Tenpenny Tower and I stumbled on the Nuka Cola Factory. Inside, I found a note on a dead body that started the quest “Finding the Formula.” The note tells you to look for the formula for Nuka Cola on the first floor of the building.

At this, I was a bit confused. I thought the note meant the lowest floor, where there are Nuka-Lurks, and there was certainly some R&D going on. Turns out no.

When you first enter the building, you are on the right floor. The area is called “Factory Floor” on the local map.

The room on your left (full of desks and computers) contains a wall safe that requires a key. That safe holds the formula you’re looking for.

You need to make it to the other side of the factory floor and find a Mr. Handy called Milo the Shipping Foreman to get the key. His location is shown in the map above (the Northeast section of the factory floor).

If you have 100 lock-picking, you can open the door near the main entrance and head straight for the robot. Otherwise, you’ll have to go through the lower level (full of irradiated water and Nuka-Lurks), make your way through the offices, and then deal with the robot.

Don’t waste your time searching through the irradiated water for clues or items. It just connects the two parts of the factory.  Kill the Nuka-Lurks and move through as quickly as possible.

The Fallout 3 wiki page has some more info on what happens when you turn in the quest. My suggestion? Get as many caps as possible, and then kill the crew.