Boulder City Train Station¶

From the 188 Trading Post head east, south-east and follow a road to reach the outskirts of Boulder City. North of the city you can find the humble Boulder City Train Station building, in which you’ll encounter a wayward Bark Scorpion. Smash it, then hack a Terminal [Average] which can open a Safe [Hard]… or do both. Leave the train station and head north to find an elevated mining shack with a ramp leading up to it along the western side. Climb this ramp and you’ll find a Duffle Bag filled with loot. Yum.

Big Horn Saloon¶

Follow some train tracks east until you find a road to the south, which leads to Boulder City. Enter the first house to the east and climb the stairs to find plenty of skeletons. On the floor near what used to be windows you’ll find a Service Rifle and a “Ranger Holodisk”. To the south lies the actual city of Boulder City, but avoid it for now the continue west down a road to find the Big Horn Saloon. Inside you can talk to the proprietor, Ike, and he’ll tell you about Quarry Junction, near Sloan. You can loot a table near the entrance to find a Sunset Sarsaparilla Star Bottle Cap, and in the back room you can loot a Refrigerator, numerous Crates, Sunset Sarsaparilla Crates and a Footlocker [Easy] behind the bed. There’s always a Lever-Action Shotgun and some 20 Gauge Rounds on a crate.

Boulder City Showdown¶

Leave the saloon and return east down the road until you reach an intersection, at which point continue south past a barricade to find Lieutenant Monroe, who will tell you about a little problem the NCR is having right now. Let him explain the situation to you, then you can pick between two options; sneak in and try to free the hostages, or negotiate with the Khans. If you want to kill the Great Khans pick the option to sneak in there and try to free the hostages. Alternatively, if you care about Infamy and might want to work for the Great Khans at some point, offer to negotiate with them. Both routes will be covered below.

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You can sneak into Boulder City and free the NCR hostages (left) or go in guns blazing (figuratively) and kill the Great Khans (right).

Killing the Great Khans¶

Continue south and enter the Boulder City Ruins, where you’ll find five NCR Troopers keeping watch on the Great Khans to the west. You can run up and go tackle the Great Khans head-on, but there’s a safer, more subtle approach. Make your way south along the debris and car cluttered road, then turn west when rubble blocks your path to find two houses. Continue west through either house and make your way upstairs to the back of a brick building. Pick a locked door [Very Easy] to find the NCR captives, whom you can free or leave tied up as you wish. In the room ahead of you is one Great Khan, while another lurks upstairs and three more can be found outside the building. Kill them all, then head into the nearby Great Khan Hideout building to the west.

In the hideout you’ll find Jessup and another Great Khan. Put them both down and loot Jessup to obtain the note “Chairman Job Offer” and an “Engraved Cigarette Lighter”. Killing all the Great Khans will end the quest Boulder City Showdown , which will earn you NCR Fame and a variable (but usually hefty) amount of Great Khan Infamy. Picking up the note “Chairman Job Offer” will complete the quest They Went That-a-Way . Skip to the text under the “Finishing Up Boulder City” header to continue.

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If you take a more diplomatic approach, however, you can get the Khans to release their hostages (left) after which you’ll need to convince Lieutenant Monroe to live up to his end of the bargain (right).

Negotiating with the Great Khans¶

Enter the Boulder City Ruins and continue south, then west past some NCR Troopers. If you told Lieutenant Monroe you wanted to negotiate, the Great Khans will be neutral towards you. Walk up to them by heading west and enter the Great Khan Hideout building. Once inside, Jessup will be spooked by your appearance, and rightly so. Stay civil and ask about the Platinum chip and he’ll tell you that the checker-suited man is named Benny, and continued on to the New Vegas strip. Learning this will complete the quest They Went That-a-Way . Ask more questions about Benny, the Platinum Chip and Benny’s betrayal to learn a bit more… it’s all flavor, but useful flavor.

Next discuss dealing with the NCR and, if you say “I’m willing to hear other suggestions” Jessup will plant the idea of bribing Lieutenant Monroe. If you return to Lieutenant Monroe you can try to bribe him, after which he’ll set his price at 500 Cap (400 Caps if you succeed at a [Barter 45] check). You can also just decide to kill all the NCR Troopers, then tell Jessup he’s in the clear. The best route, however, is to succeed at a [Speech 45] check to convince Jessup to make a show of good faith by freeing the captives. Afterwards, return to Lieutenant Monroe and he’ll give you a complication; you can let him go back on his word and kill the Great Khans, but it’s more rewarding to tell him to honor the deal and disobey orders. However you resolve things with Jessup, he’ll give you Benny’s “Engraved Cigarette Lighter”, which will come in handy later, so keep it with you… not that you can drop it or anything. Skip to the text under the “Finishing Up Boulder City” header to continue.

Finishing Up Boulder City¶

No matter how you completed the quest, be sure to get the “Engraved Cigarette Lighter”. The quest Ring-a-Ding-Ding! will also begin, directing you to the New Vegas Strip, where your shooter can be confronted. It’ll be a while before that’s covered, as there’s still plenty of things to do in the Mojave. In fact, there’s still a bit left to do in Boulder City still, namely to loot the place, and now that the Great Khans are gone, there shouldn’t be any distractions.

There are two houses to the south-east (which you may have sneaked through earlier). In the southern-most one you can find a 10mm Submachine Gun, some 10mm Round and a bottle of Buffout in a tub. Upstairs you can find an Ammo Box and a Grenade Box [Average]. In the northern of the two houses, on the ground floor, you can find some Jet in a toilet and an issue of ¡La Fantoma! on the floor near a chair. Upstairs you’ll find a bookshelf on which rests some Spiked Knuckles and an issue of True Police Stories. Next explore the Great Khan Hideout where you can find food, ammo and chems in the first room, and in a smaller room to the west you’ll find the body of the Great Khan McMurphy along with two Ammo Boxes.

You’re now done with Boulder City. Your shooter, Benny, is a Chairman, a member of the tribe that runs The Tops casino in New Vegas. Before you go the New Vegas, however, you should do as many quests and explore as many locations as possible in the Mojave. To that end, the Brotherhood of Steel has been awaiting you at RECONN Headquarters for a while now, so let’s start out by seeking them… albeit through an incredibly round-about route. This will ultimately give you an excuse to tackle some of the areas in the center of the map that you probably weren’t strong or established enough to handle earlier. Now, however, you should have quite a few levels under your belt, plenty of access to .308 Rounds at the 188 Trading Post (from Alexander and the Arms Dealer) and, of course, the Gobi Campaign Scout Rifle.