Military Base – Fallout Location

In this guide we’ll show you everything there is to know about the Mariposa Military Base, home of the super mutants.

Introduction

When you’re ready for the assault on the Military Base, keep in mind you can ask a few paladins from the Brotherhood to assist for extra (hehe) support.

The Military Base is one of your final objectives of the game. It can be done before or after the Cathedral. It makes no difference since your two main quests form one goal: to end the mutant threat. Since confronting the Master in the Cathedral is perhaps a more dramatic ending, I’ll leave that for last, though it isn’t any more difficult than the Military Base, and actually can be quite a bit easier depending on how you approach it. Yet, by now you’ve got the most powerful weapons and armor (if you’ve followed the walkthrough) and are definitely ready for a base assault.

One thing I’d like you to keep in mind is that there is a less obvious approach to infiltrating the base, ala Splinter Cell and other stealth games. It requires that you wear the purple Robes you may have gotten from either the Children of the Cathedral hospital in the Hub Merchant area, or from the Cathedral itself. For details, I’ll leave that to other walkthroughs, but suffice it to say you wear your Robes most of the time, take the Radio off the courtyard guard, read this walkthrough for at least some advice, and it should unfold for you. With that approach, prey you are good at Speech and/or Sneak.

Military Base Areas

• Entrance: the first place you enter. The courtyard, where you attempt to make it past the guards and inside
• Stronghold Level 1: the 1st level of the base, with shielded areas and several super mutants
• Stronghold Level 2: the 2nd level of the base, the same but with more mutants and an armory
• Vats Level 1: super mutants, shielded areas and traps
• Vats Level 2: super mutants, Lieutenant, CoC members and the Vat Control Room

Military Base Quests

Here is a list of the significant quests in the Military Base, 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.

Gain Entrance

If you scout the Military Base for General Maxson of the Brotherhood, then you’ll be able to convince the Brotherhood elders to send a trio of paladins to help you with a frontal assault. This will make the Entrance map much easier. But the paladins won’t go inside with you, so you’ll have to deal with the interior of the base on your own.

You’ll encounter four super mutants in the Entrance map. You can kill them, sneak past them, or wear Robes while unarmed and talk your way past them. If you have a Radio, then you can pretend to be a patrol under attack and trick three of the super mutants into leaving. This will earn you 1500xp even if the super mutants are already dead. A Radio can also be useful inside the base, so if you didn’t bring one with you, be sure to loot one from the super mutants at the Entrance.

The super mutant closest to the front door of the base will have a battered Tape holodisk with the entrance code 101597 scratched into it. To open the front door, you’ll either need to interact with it after learning this code, or you’ll need to pick it open using an Electronic Lock Pick. The latter approach will earn you 65xp.

Disable the Force Fields

Inside the base, you’ll encounter numerous super mutants. The most lucrative way to deal with them is to kill them, but if you have Robes and a reasonable Speech skill, then they won’t mind your presence. This will work until Vats Level 1. At that point, you’ll need to sneak past super mutants, or sometimes just walk past them when they tell you to leave. You can also kill super mutants while you’re sneaking through the base. As long as the battle doesn’t go more than two rounds, nobody will notice.

You’ll also have to deal with two types of force fields. Red fields will deliver moderate damage to you when you walk through them. Yellow fields (which will turn on when the super mutants realize they’re being attacked) will block you. You can’t do anything about the red fields, but the yellow fields can be disabled.

To disable the yellow force fields, you’ll need to head over to the Field Control Computer on the eastern side of Stronghold Level 1. When you use Science on it, you’ll see that there’s a backdoor in the Recreational Games folder. From there, interacting with the computer will cause you to play blackjack with it, and based on your Gambling skill, you’ll eventually hack into the computer and activate it — and earn 800xp. This will allow you to use your Science skill on the computer again, but regardless of what the game tells you, this option won’t actually do anything. Instead, you’ll need to use your Radio on the computer (either before or after hacking it). This will link your Radio to the computer, which will allow you to toggle the fields on or off. You can also use Repair on the yellow field emitters to disable the fields briefly, or blow up the emitters to knock the fields out permanently.

Another computer on the western side of Stronghold Level 1 will give you some control over the robobrains in the base. If you succeed in using your Science skill on the computer, then you’ll be able to change some of the working parameters of the robots, including changing pest control to large living pests. Doing this will kill off some of the super mutants in the base.

Now that that is over with…

Eavesdrop on the Lieutenant

On the eastern side of Vats Level 2, you’ll discover the super mutant Lieutenant in conversation with a Child of the Cathedral named VanHagan. If you approach them quietly, then you’ll overhear them talking about their plans, including taking over Vault 13. Learning this will earn you 1000xp. If you get too close to the Lieutenant, then he’ll attack you, Robes or no.

The Lieutenant is more powerful than the average super mutant, with better defensive stats and about 50% more hit points. He’ll also be wielding a Gatling Laser, and he’ll have two bodyguards plus VanHagan with him (not that VanHagan will do much). You’ll earn 2445xp for killing the Lieutenant and his cohorts, and you’ll find a another Tape holodisk along with the Gatling Laser on the Lieutenant’s corpse.

Also in the Lieutenant’s room, inside a locked locker, you’ll find a Key. This key might help you inside the Cathedral.

Destroy the Base

The control room for the base is located in the northwestern part of Vats Level 2. If you haven’t set off the alarms, then you’ll be able to walk right into the control room without any issues. But if the alarms are on, then a yellow force field will block the way, and static in the area will prevent you from using your Radio to disable it. To get rid of the field, you’ll have two options: you can blow up the field’s emitter using explosives, or you can interact with the broken Mr. Handy robot to the south. If you use Repair and then Science on the robot, then it will try to finish its last job order — and rush into the force field, destroying it. This will earn you 1000xp.

At the far end of the control room, you’ll find the Vats Control Computer. To operate it, you’ll have two options: you can use Science on it, or you can acquire a Security Card from one of the technicians in the room, and then use the card on the computer. When the computer’s interface pops up, you’ll be allowed to download diaries from Maxson and Richard Grey, but more importantly, you’ll see the security codes that initiate the self-destruct sequence for the base. With enough Science, you can hack the computer to see what each code means. Otherwise, you’ll have to guess. The code you want is “31914-1041-1251514,” which will destroy the base in 3 minutes but not give any sort of warning. If you don’t want to try using the computer, you can also just blow it up with explosives. That will give you a 3-minute countdown as well.

Note: If you kill the Lieutenant before entering the control room, then the technicians there will commit suicide rather than talk to you. This is sort of amusing, but it will make finding the Security Card more difficult. As an alternative, just murder the technicians. You’ll earn 50xp each.

Once you’ve started the countdown, you should exit the the base and move to the world map. If you escape in time, then you’ll earn 10,000xp, and you’ll be treated to a nice FMV — plus the ending, if you’ve already taken care of the Cathedral. Major congratulations, regardless.