Deserted Shack/Mountain Shadows Campground¶

Leave the 188 Trading Post and head north and slightly west to find a Deserted Shack… which isn’t very interesting. Still, it’s XP and a map marker, and it’s on the way, so you might as well discover it. From there head east, north-east to reach the Mountain Shadows Campground, which is another boring area. Grab the Sunset Sarsaparilla Star Bottle Cap off one of the tables, then continue to the east to find Ranger Station Alpha.

Ranger Station Alpha/Boulder Beach Campground¶

This area consists of three tents, the central one possess an Ammo Box [Easy] and a Mine Box [Easy] while the southern-most one has another Ammo Box [Average]. In addition to these treasures you can talk to Ranger Lineholm and Comm Officer Castillo, but neither of them have anything interesting to say. After you loot the camp make your way east through some hills to find the Boulder Beach Campground area on the bank of the Colorado. Other than a handful of Lakelurks, there’s not much to see here.

Follow the nearby road north along the Colorado and, at a sharp bend where the road turns north-west, you’ll be harassed by a pair of Lakelurks. Dispose of them, then head into the water north of where the Lakelurks were prowling and dive to find a submerged Sunset Sarsaparilla truck at the bottom of the river. If you dive down to it you can find some Sunset Sarsaparilla crates (some of which actually have full bottles in them!) and some Sunset Sarsaparilla Star Bottle Caps on the sandy river bottom.

Scavenger Platform¶

From the Sunset Sarsaparilla truck which tried to be a fish and failed, if you swim to the east, north-east you’ll find some pontoon rafts onto which shelters have been erected; the Scavenger Platform can be crawling with Lakelurks, and getting sonic-blasted by several of them at once isn’t fun. It doesn’t help that you have to swim up to the platforms before you can fight back, although if you swim to the northern shore of river you may be able to snipe a few of them. The Gobi comes recommended, as this is definitely a “kill them quickly before they can kill you” moment. Once they’re dead, loot the platforms. There are a few containers to loot, including two Ammo Boxes, but the real prize is a copy of the Wasteland Survival Guide, which is lying on the north-western pontoon between the shelves of a collapsed metal shelf.

Callville Bay¶

You might as well explore the areas around the river while you’re here… it’s a very out-of-the way route to reach REPCONN Headquarters, but there’s some nice loot to be scored along the way. Swim north-east from the Scavenger Platform to find Callville Bay, an old recreational site whose warehouse is now a Cazador nest. There’s an easy way to deal with these bugs, though… yes, it involves getting high-ground and sniping. West of the warehouse are some boxcars, near which is a collapsed yellow crane. Climb onto the collapsed arm and use it as a sniping perch from which you can clearly see - and shoot into - the warehouse. Cheap, but effective.

Once the Cazadores are dead head over to the buildings, the smaller of which is “Captain Dean Boat Rentals”. Inside you’ll find a different sort of vermin; Giant Rats. Not the powerful, mutated ones that infested the Broc Flower Cave, though, so don’t take them too seriously. Once they’re dead, search around to find two Sunset Sarsaparilla Star Bottle Caps (one on the front display counter and one near a Cash Register). There’s also a First Aid Box on the wall and a floor Safe [Average] in the north-eastern corner of the shop.

Bitter Springs Recreation Area¶

North of Callville Bay you’ll find the Bitter Springs Recreation Area, where one lone building oversees the slow decay of numerous trucks and trailers. None of the trailers have anything interesting inside, however, unless you consider a mattress to be attention-worthy. Instead, head inside the Bitter Springs Recreation Office and kill another trio of Giant Rats. On the desk behind the counter in the northern room you can find two Sunset Sarsaparilla Star Bottle Caps, while on a desk in the southern room you’ll find an issue of Tumblers Today . Grab them, loot the safe in the southern room [Average], then leave the office building.

Coyote Tail Ridge/Cap Counterfeiting Shack¶

North of the Bitter Springs Recreation Area you can find Coyote Tail Ridge, which is itself uninteresting, although it’s an area of interest in a later quest. Still, no harm in discovering it now. Unless the Cazadores in the hills to the south-west discover you. Then there might be some harm. Kill the bugs however you can, high ground and sniping works just as well here as ever. On that note, the next destination is to the south-west, where you’ll find a small shack; the Cap Counterfeiting Shack.

In the room you enter into you’ll find three Ammo Boxes, a Varmint Rifle on a metal shelf and a few lockers to loot. After you’ve collected these items go through a cellar door to reach the basement, where the real counterfeiting fun happened. In the first, L-shaped room you’ll find some Vending Machines, Sunset Sarsaparilla Crates, and on some tables, some bottles of Nuka-Cola and Sunset Sarsaparilla… and of course some Bottle Caps, including a Sunset Sarsaparilla Star Bottle Caps. In a smaller room to the south you’ll find a copy of Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor on some suitcases, a Gun Cabinet worth looting, a First Aid Box on the wall near the Gun Cabinet and some Ammo Boxes on a metal shelf.

Fishermans Pride Shack¶

Leave the Cap Counterfeiting Shack and head south, back to the lack. When you leave the shack you may get attacked by more Cazadores, so stay on guard. Also, near the lake there might be some Lakelurks prowling. Two threats to be wary of between these two areas. Near the lake you’ll find the Fisherman’s Pride Shack, inside which you can find a Sunset Sarsaparilla Star Bottle Cap on a table (amongst other, more mundane Caps). In addition there’s a BB Gun and BBs on some metal shelves and a copy of Pugilism Illustrated on a bedside table. That’s four skill books on this trip. Not bad.

Camp Golf¶

Exit the Fisherman’s Pride Shack and head west along the shore of the lake. In the distance you should see a large building on the horizon, which is your next destination; Camp Golf. The area is an NCR base, but since the Legion isn’t terribly close, there’s some questing that can be done here. And looting. Must not forget the looting.

Head into the House Resort building where you’ll find a stupendous amount of loot… if you don’t mind sneaking around the NCR Rangers stationed here and losing Karma. In the room to the south you can find numerous Ammo Boxes on metal shelves and in the room to the north you can find Footlockers, Duffle Bags… even some Combat Armor on a Cabinet to the west. West of the bunk bed-filled room is a kitchen overflowing with food items. If you head west from the main room, past a “Squad Readiness Reports Terminal” on a counter (don’t look at it if you don’t want to gain NCR Infamy) you’ll find a hallway with two rooms branching off it. To the north you’ll find a room with two terminals, another “Squad Readiness Report Terminal” [Hard] and a terminal just called… Terminal [Easy]. If you hack the latter you’ll get the option “Lucky 38 Executive Override”, which does nothing. The “Squad Readiness Report Terminal” in this room will not gain you any Infamy and will detail the poor performance of one “Squad CG554-2, aka the “Misfits”. In the other room across the hall you can find the Lucky 38 VIP Keycard on a desk, which will grant you access to an area you’d otherwise need a [Science 75] score to reach much later on in the game.

Upstairs are multiple rooms with varying loot in them. Dressers full of clothes, chems lying around, the odd Carton of Cigarettes and a few Ammo Boxes. In the north-eastern most room you can find a total of three Sunset Sarsaparilla Star Bottle Caps on two dressers and the south-western most room in the central hallway contains a great deal of chems. One of these Rangers is a junkie, at least.

Finally, head through some doors to the east to reach a balcony overlooking Camp Golf, where you’ll find Chief Hanlon. This rugged old NCR Ranger will tell you about all kinds of things… the rise of Caesar, the fall (literally) of his old legate, the battle of Hoover Dam, and the precariously stretched situation the NCR is currently in. He’s a font of information, even if he’s a bit long-winded.

Flags of Our Foul-Ups¶

Leave the House Resort and head south-west to find an NCR encampment. Start out by looting the ten “Camp Golf Tents”, as the various Footlockers and Duffle Bags have a wealth of ammo and weaponry in them. Once done head to the ninth Camp Golf Tent to the north-east, standing apart from the rest. In or near this tent you should find Sgt. McCredie who will tell you about a particular squad of under-achievers if you talk to him. Offer to help get them into shape to start the quest Flags of Our Foul-Ups . Loot the Ammo Boxes on the metal shelves in the tent if you’re sneaky enough (and don’t care about Karma) then leave the tent.

Go find the four squad-mates, consisting of Razz, Mags, Poindexter and O’Hanrahan, who all have different ideas about how the squad can be improved:

Razz suggests you get them some Psycho by talking to Jack and Red Rock Canyon. Red Rock Canyon is on the western end of the Mojave, and is quite a bit of a detour… even by this guide’s standards. You’ll find Jack at the Red Rock Drug Lab and if you tell him what Razz told you to say you’ll get a “Suspicious Package”. The Psycho does the job well enough, but it’s an awful lot of work for a quest that can be resolved without otherwise having to leave the area.

Mags’ idea is more straightforward; teach the squad how to handle their weapons better. Talk to her and confirm your desire to train them at the range, then, after they all assemble, succeed at a [Guns 25] check, a [Guns 35] check and finally, a [Guns 45] check. After that, talk to her again and help with a grenade test. Same thing as before, after they’re assembled at the range succeed at successive Explosives checks; [Explosives 25], [Explosives 35] then [Explosives 45].

O’Hanrahan’s approach is simple to the point of being risible; he wants to promote basic human kindness in the squad. Through the power of getting along and teamwork… something something profit! To succeed here you merely need to talk to all the squad members who aren’t mentally slow giants of Irish descent and pass some [Speech 40] check. Just talk to them and ask about their squad-mates, then return to O’Hanrahan once they’ve all been talked to.

As for Poindexter… well, he wants you to cheat. Not with performance-enhancing drugs, either, but by hacking the computer and changing their squad’s score. If this is your choice you’ll have to access either of the “Squad Readiness Report Terminals” in the House Resort. These have already been covered, but Poindexter will give you advice anyways. Just remember that unless you can succeed at hacking a [Hard] terminal (Science 75) you’ll gain Infamy for using the unprotected terminal in the lobby, and even that you’ll have to be sneaky and/or patient to access. Once you alter the scores, return to Poindexter to complete the quest.

The reward is the same either way, so which approach is the best? Well… depending on your skills, a combination of O’Hanrahan’s and Mags’. Talk to O’Hanrahan and start following on his suggesting and succeed at all three Speech checks with his squad-mates. Don’t talk to O’Hanrahan afterwards, however, instead talk to Mags and start on her suggestions, completing her six skill checks. You’ll get XP for each skill check along with the quest XP at the end of the quest… That’s 330 XP for the skill checks alone, then 200 XP more for the quest. Not a bad bit of XP there.

Lake Las Vegas/Followers Stronghold¶

Time to leave Camp Golf and finish up this bout of meandering exploration. South-west of Camp Golf you’ll find Lake Las Vegas, which is a fine source of fresh water in the northern part of the Mojave. South-west (most west than south) from here is the Follower’s Outpost, a small, elevated shack occupied by some Followers of the Apocalypse. None of the characters inside are terribly interesting, and this place doesn’t yet have any special significance, but again… it’s worth discovering for the sake of map completion. Other than that, between Camp Golf and the Follower’s Outpost you can find some Bighorners to kill and harvest.

Grub n Gulp Rest Stop¶

For the last leg of this run head north-west to the Grub n’ Gulp Rest Stop, a safe, but uninteresting stop along the outskirts of New Vegas. It’ll make a great staging point for future exploration. As for the area itself… you can talk to Fitz for food and Lopez for water, and a bit of NCR gossip.

Anyways, this bit of exploration is over. Four skill books, a lot of stolen loot and some NCR Fame… not a bad bit of business, all in all. Next up is the REPCONN Headquarters.