Gecko – Fallout 2 Location

In this guide we’ll show you everything there is to know about Gecko, a ghoul town with a power plant problem.

Introduction

Once you’ve been to Vault City and completed some of the quests there, you’ll likely have Gecko on your world map. Either way, it’s slightly northeast of Vault City, and is an area that’s filled with mostly friendly ghouls and a few quests for xp worth earning.

Inside the Harp, you’ll meet Wooz. He’ll tell you all about a card game called Tragic the Garnering, and he’ll give you a free Deck of “Tragic” Cards. As long as you have a deck, you can play against Wooz. Your odds of winning are based on your Gambling skill. If you win, then you’ll gain a deck. If you lose, then you’ll lose a deck. The decks only have a value of $50, so there isn’t much point in playing.

Inside the Manager’s Office in the Settlement, you’ll meet Lenny, Harold’s assistant and the town doctor. If you ask him about a GECK and tell him about your grandfather the Vault Dweller, then you’ll be able to recruit him as a companion.

Percy in the Survival/Gear Locker in the Junkyard has some of the cheapest prices in the game. So if you need to stock up on Stimpaks or ammunition, he’s an excellent source. Percy restocks his wares every three days.

Inside the Machine Shop in the Junkyard, you’ll meet a mechanic named Skeeter. He’ll give you a pair of quests (see Get Super Repair Kit for Skeeter and Get 3-Step Plasma Transformer for Skeeter below), and he’ll also upgrade your equipment. These upgrades and their costs are summarized in the table below. Just be aware that you can get these upgrades cheaper in Vault City — and free in New Reno. You can also get one upgrade for free from Skeeter for completing his quests.

Inside the Power Plant, you’ll be allowed to wander around freely, but you’ll need to find a Yellow Pass Key and a Red Pass Key so you can open two of the doors. Luckily, these keys are easy to find:

• Yellow Pass Keys. You can find at least three of these in the Power Plant: one on the ghoul guard at the entrance, another on the ghoul guard by the yellow door, and a third in the locker in the living area east of the Supply Room. You can also find a Yellow Pass Key in a locker in the Survival/Gear Locker in the Junkyard.

• Red Pass Keys. You can find at least three of these in the Power Plant: one on the ghoul guard at the entrance, another on the ghoul guard by the red door, and a third in the bookcase just past the yellow door.

You’ll also find a Blue Pass Key in the Power Plant, but it doesn’t do anything — in the Power Plant. You won’t find a use for it until you reach Navarro.

Finally, there are four skill books in Gecko: a Big Book of Science inside a bookcase in the Manager’s Office in the Settlement, a First Aid Book inside a bookcase in the house closest to the exit in the Junkyard, Deans Electronics inside shelves in the storage room attached to Skeeter’s Machine Shop in the Junkyard, and a second Big Book of Science inside shelves in the Supply Room in the Power Plant.

Quests & Opportunities

Here is a list of some of the quests and other opportunities in Gecko, each with a brief synopsis containing at least one way to solve it. The remaining ways, and possibly other minor quests I will leave up to you.

Help The Brain Take Over the World

If you thoroughly explore the Junkyard, then you’ll find a manhole in the back of the northernmost building. When you take the ladder down, you’ll end up in the Access Tunnels, where you’ll meet numerous ghouls talking about Renewal. You won’t learn what this means until you eventually run into a giant mole rat named The Brain (looking much different than he did in the cartoon).

The Brain will tell you his plan to take over the world, which will begin with him uniting Vault City and Gecko together, and end with him curing — that is, Renewing — the ghouls. For your part in the plan, he’ll want you to take an economic report to Vault City and show them how much they’d benefit by working with Gecko and helping them to repair and optimize their Power Plant. To join The Brain’s cause, you’ll have to accept a Talisman from him. There isn’t any downside to this, and if you refuse it, then The Brain and the ghouls in the Access Tunnels will turn hostile.

To get the economic report, you’ll need to return to the Junkyard and talk to Gordon of Gecko on the eastern side. He’ll tell you that he heard a voice coming to him from the Access Tunnels one night — The Brain’s — revealing how much economic sense it would make for Gecko and Vault City to work together. Gordon will then reveal that he checked the numbers, verifying their accuracy, and put them on a holodisk, which he’ll ask you to deliver Vault City.

To complete this quest, you’ll need to deliver the Gecko Holodisk to Senior Council Member McClure in Vault City — before optimizing the Power Plant here (see Optimize the Powerplant below). If you optimize the Power Plant first, then Gecko and Vault City will already be working together, and there won’t be any need to convince them with the economic data. Delivering the holodisk will earn you 750xp.

Solve the Gecko Powerplant Problem

You’ll meet Harold in the Manager’s Office in the Settlement. When you talk to him, he’ll inform you that Gecko’s Power Plant is leaking radioactive coolant, and that only a Hydroelectric Magnetosphere Regulator can fix it. He’ll then speculate that Vault City might have such a device, and that maybe they’d part with it if someone were to explain to them that fixing the Power Plant here would also clean up the groundwater there, making it a beneficial trade.

Of course, Harold will also mention that the ghouls running the Power Plant aren’t very smart, and he’ll reveal that one of them recently wrote a report saying that the coolant leak could be fixed by shutting down the Power Plant’s coolant tower, when all that would really do is cause the Power Plant to melt down.

So Harold will give you two hints for the quest: one for fixing the Power Plant, and one for destroying it. Both are valid solutions.

Triggering this quest in Gecko will also trigger it in Vault City, and vice versa. The main difference between the two is that First Citizen Lynette in Vault City will ask you to destroy the Power Plant, while Harold here will want you to fix it. But ignore Lynette. She won’t be happy no matter what you decide, and if you destroy the Power Plant, then you’ll have a much tougher time becoming a Citizen of Vault City.

Destroy the Power Plant

There are three ways to shut off the coolant tower in the Power Plant and cause it to melt down:

• The easiest way is to take the Clipboard with the coolant tower report from the desk behind Harold, and hand it to Hank in Power Plant. You’ll find Hank in the Robot Control Room, which is the first room past the yellow and red locked doors (see the Introduction above for the locations of the keys to those doors). Hank will interpret the report as an order, and he’ll enter the Reactor Pit to fulfill it.
  
  When Hank turns the red coolant shutoff valve in the back of the pit, the meltdown sequence will begin, which will earn you 550xp, but all of the ghouls in the Power Plant will turn hostile. There isn’t a timer on the meltdown, so you can take the time to kill all of the ghouls in the Power Plant if you want. Or you can head to the entrance of the Power Plant while Hank is making his way to the valve, and then leave right after he turns it. If you leave before that point, then the Power Plant will still melt down, but you won’t get the 550xp.

• A more complicated way to turn off the coolant tower is to program a maintenance robot to turn the red valve in the Reactor Pit. To do this, you’ll need to go to the Robot Control Room in the Power Plant, but instead of talking to Hank, you’ll need to interact with the terminal there. This will begin a long dialogue where it won’t make much of a difference what you say. Eventually, you’ll be able to Initiate Coolant Maintenance Sequence, and create a program for the robot in the Reactor Pit to follow.
  
  The program should have six commands in the order listed below:
  
  
  • Amplify Plutonium-Gamma Shield.
  • Deharmonize Neptunium Impeller.
  • Calibrate Uranium-Rod Driver.
  • Set Voltage on Saturn-Class Capacitor.
  • Test Jupiter Wave Compiler.
  • Turn Main Coolant Valve — Off.
  
  You can figure out the order of commands by standing at the window in the Robot Control Room and examining the major pieces of machinery in the Reactor Pit. Your goal is to send the robot from the window where it starts to the red valve at the end, stopping at each piece of machinery along the way (to keep the robot from overheating). Each command also contains the name of a planet, and the correct order is to sort the planets from farthest to nearest to Earth.
  
  When you run the program, the robot will head to the red valve and turn it off. This is exactly the same as having Hank turn the valve. That is, when the robot turns the valve, you’ll earn 550xp if you’re still in the Power Plant, but all of the ghouls inside will turn hostile, and so for the easiest escape you should head to the entrance while the robot is in transit.

• The third and worst way to turn off the coolant tower is to enter the Reactor Pit and turn the valve yourself. You’ll take physical and radiation damage while you’re in the pit, and you won’t earn 550xp when you turn the valve. Worse, you won’t be able to race to the Power Plant’s entrance before the valve is turned, so you’ll have to fight your way out.

When you exit the Power Plant after initiating the meltdown, you’ll earn 2500xp but lose 30 karma. The entrance to the Power Plant will collapse, preventing you from going back inside. The ghouls in Gecko won’t attack you unless you talk to them first, and the named ones won’t attack you at all, but all of the ghouls will disappear a day later. So it’s a good idea to complete the quests in the area before taking this approach.

Fix the Power Plant

To repair the Power Plant, you’ll need to head over to Vault City. Only two people there will have dialogue lines regarding the Hydroelectric Magnetosphere Regulator: First Citizen Lynette and Senior Council Member McClure, both of whom can be found in the Central Council Building in the Council Area. Lynette won’t help you; in fact, if you press her she’ll banish you from the city. But McClure will think fixing the Power Plant is a fine idea, and he’ll send you to Randal in the Amenities Office in the Downtown map. Randal will hand over the needed Hydroelectric Part.

Back in Gecko, you’ll need to enter the Power Plant to install the part. To reach the sensitive parts of the plant, you’ll need to pass through locked yellow and red doors. The keys to these doors can be stolen from ghoul guards or looted from containers. See the Introduction for details about where the keys are located. Once you have access to the Control Room, the Robot Control Room, and the Reactor Pit, you’ll have three ways to complete the installation:

• You can convince Festus to install the Hydroelectric Part. You’ll find him just to the east of the Control Room. Convincing Festus will require you to beat a Speech check, but if you’re successful, then you’ll earn 4250xp.

• You can program a maintenance robot to install the Hydroelectric Part. For this you’ll need to enter the Robot Control Room where Hank is stationed and interact with the terminal there. This will begin a long dialogue where it won’t make much of a difference what you say.
  
  Eventually, you’ll come to a menu listing four “sequences.” You should first pick Initiate Repair Sequence, which will allow you to transfer the Hydroelectric Part to the robot. Then you’ll need to select Initiate Coolant Sequence, which will allow you to create a program for the robot to follow. This program is identical to the one for destroying the plant, except for the final line:
  
  
  • Amplify Plutonium-Gamma Shield.
  • Deharmonize Neptunium Impeller.
  • Calibrate Uranium-Rod Driver.
  • Set Voltage on Saturn-Class Capacitor.
  • Test Jupiter Wave Compiler.
  • Install Hydroelectric Magnetosphere Regulator.
  
  Just add commands to the program until it looks like the list above. You can figure out the order by standing at the window in the Robot Control Room and examining the major pieces of machinery in the Reactor Pit. Your goal is to send the robot from the window where it starts to the red coolant valve at the end, stopping at each piece of machinery along the way (to keep the robot from overheating). Each command also contains the name of a planet, and the correct order is to sort the planets from farthest to nearest to Earth.
  
  When you run the program, the robot will install the part, and you’ll earn 4500xp.

• You can install the Hydroelectric Part yourself. This is the worst way, because to make the installation you’ll have to enter the Reactor Pit, where you’ll regularly take physical and radiation damage. Plus, when you reach the red coolant valve at the end, you’ll have to pass a Repair check to install the part. But if you’re successful, then you’ll earn 4000xp.

You’ll receive two nice rewards for fixing the Power Plant. When you return to Harold, if you ask him what he does in town, then he’ll start reminiscing about the Vault Dweller from Fallout, and when you point out your relation, he’ll give you five Stimpaks and three Super Stimpaks. Then when you return to McClure in Vault City, he’ll make you a Citizen. You’ll also receive 50 karma.

Optimize the Powerplant

You’ll receive this quest from Festus after repairing the Power Plant (see Solve the Gecko Powerplant problem above). You’ll find him inside the Power Plant, in the bedroom east of the Control Room.

Festus will tell you that while the Power Plant is running just fine now, it could be optimized to run even better. To that end, he’ll give you a Reactor Holodisk containing the Power Plant’s performance metrics, and he’ll ask you to connect it to Vault City’s Central Computer, which will provide you with the needed optimization data.

Note: Before returning to Vault City, you might want to visit with The Brain in the Access Tunnels beneath the Junkyard and trigger his quest (see Help The Brain Take Over the World above). You can complete his quest while completing this quest and earn 750xp. If you complete this quest first, then you won’t be able to complete The Brain’s quest, or rather you’ll complete his quest without his help, which won’t earn you any xp.

In Vault City, if you’re not yet a Citizen, then you should go talk to Senior Council Member McClure in the Central Council building in the Council Area. He’ll make you a Citizen as a reward for repairing the Power Plant. Being a Citizen means you’ll be allowed to enter the Vault, where you’ll find the Central Computer on Level 3. When you interact with the computer, you’ll be allowed to insert the Reactor Holodisk, and the computer will write the optimization data to it.

When you return to Festus in the Power Plant, he’ll tell you to upload the optimization data to the terminal in the Robot Control Room, which is the room just past the red door. To upload the data, you’ll need to use the Reactor Holodisk on the terminal. This will earn you 2500xp and 20 karma.

Get Super Repair Kit for Skeeter

You’ll meet Skeeter inside the Machine Shop in the Junkyard. If you ask him about cars, then he’ll offer you a deal: you bring him a Super Tool Kit, and he’ll give you a Fuel Cell Controller. You’ll need the controller for Smitty’s quest in the Den (which will reward you with a working car). You can get a Super Tool Kit by completing Valerie’s quest in Vault City. Valerie will also have Super Tool Kits in her inventory after you’ve completed her quest.

When you deliver a Super Tool Kit to Skeeter, he’ll give you the Fuel Cell Controller as promised, and you’ll also earn 250xp.

Get 3-Step Plasma Transformer for Skeeter

After completing Skeeter’s first quest (see Get Super Repair Kit for Skeeter above), if you talk to him while carrying a weapon that he can upgrade (see his upgrade list in the Introduction above), then he’ll ask you to acquire a Plasma Transformer for him. He’ll even tell you exactly how to acquire it — you’ll just need to pick up a Part Requisition Form and show it to Jeremy in the Supply Room in the Power Plant.

There are two Part Requisition Forms. You can take one from the desk behind Harold in the Manager’s Office in the Settlement, or you can get one from Festus east of the Control Room in the Power Plant by bartering for it, stealing it from him, or convincing him to give it to you.

The Supply Room is located on the northern side of the Power Plant. When you visit with Jeremy there, you can show him one of the Part Requisition Forms, or you can just steal the Plasma Transformer from him. Either way, you’ll end up with the transformer. When you deliver it to Skeeter, you’ll receive 350xp, and Skeeter will upgrade one of your weapons for free.

Note: After completing the quest, if you acquire more Plasma Transformers from Jeremy, then you can deliver them to Skeeter as well for the same quest rewards. So if you steal the transformer from Jeremy and use both Part Requisition Forms with him, then you can receive (in total) 1050xp and three free upgrades from Skeeter.

Find Woody

AKA “Find Woody the Ghoul for Percy. Try the Den.”

You’ll meet Percy inside the Survival/Gear Locker in the Junkyard. He’ll tell you about his friend Woody, a ghoul who sleeps a lot and travels a lot, and he’ll ask you to look out for him and make sure he’s okay.

You’ll find Woody sleeping in the Den. He’ll be the mummy attraction at the Great Ananias’ Mysteries of the Netherworld. To see Woody, you’ll need to pay $25, but when Ananias opens the mummy’s coffin, you’ll be able to tell Woody to make a run for it, and he’ll escape. This will earn you 1000xp. Then when you return to Percy, he’ll give you RadAway (x4) and Rad-X (x3).