In this guide we’ll show you everything there is to know about the Hub, the biggest city in the game and the “trade center for the wastes.”
Introduction
The Hub is accurately named in this game. Its central location to (most) everything you’ll be doing in the mid and late game, as well as its stores and gambling (if you’re into that) make it the place you’ll likely visit most in the game, whether it’s to unload your booty and restock, or to travel with one of the several caravans looking for a bit of xp and more loot.
Your main goal here is to gain further xp, learn of a few new locations if they aren’t already on your map, find or buy some nifty items, and basically prepare your character for the late-middle game. We’re now squarely in the mid-game if you’ve been following the walkthrough. The Hub has several areas. The Entrance is to the north, and south of that is the main Downtown area with several merchants (including a librarian with an unlimited supply of skill books) and gambling. West of Downtown is the Heights (where a quest or two will take you but nothing more than that). East of Downtown is Old Town, with a great but expensive arms merchant named Jacob, a drug dealer, a quest location, the entrance to the Thieves Circle, and more. South of Downtown is the Water Merchants and Children of the Cathedral. You’ll go there if you want to extend the time limit for Vault 13’s quest for finding the water chip.
When you first enter the area at the Entrance, talk to some of the named characters standing around, specifically Mat if you see him. Ask him about the carts, and he’ll add a few areas to your World Map: The Brotherhood of Steel, The Glow, Junktown, Necropolis and Shady Sands (if they aren’t already there).
Hub Areas
- Entrance: the northernmost part of the Hub
- Downtown: south of the entrance and center of activity
- Lair: a separate place you’ll be teleported to from Old Town during a quest
- Heights: Hightower’s “estate,” east of Downtown, related to a couple quests
- Old Town: west of Downtown, an expensive but friendly arms dealer among other things
- Thieves Circle: downstairs from a building in Old Town
- Merchants: more specifically, the water merchants, south of Downtown
Before starting on too many of the quests here, it may be a good idea to consider how powerful your weapons and armor are at this point, as some of the quests can be fatal if you are ill prepared. If you’re still garbed in Leather Armor and carry a Hunting Rifle or a 10mm SMG, you’ll probably want to upgrade before taking on further quests. Fortunately, this is the place to trade up your old items for new ones. If you’re about level 7 or higher and/or have one or two companions, consider doing Irwin’s quest before any other, found in south Downtown. It’s the first one listed for the simple reason that you pick up one of the best small guns in the game, the .223 Pistol, plus Metal Armor.
Before even that, consider stopping at the General Store in Downtown and trading in your extra weapons and armor for caps, and then paying a visit to Old Town and seeing Jacob the arms dealer (inside a north end warehouse). Depending on your character, his prices may seem excessive. My first time there, Combat Armor ran me 20k caps, and the Sniper Rifle 11k.
First, the General Store Downtown. You’ll probably find Lemmy wandering just outside the store saying, “psst… over here.” He’ll rip you off if you bother paying him for information, as nearly all of what he tells you is useless. The proprietor of the General Store, Mitch, is one of the few people in the game who perpetually recirculates his money supply. Every time you exit and re-enter conversation, he’ll have a fresh supply of caps (usually around 1k) waiting to buy one or more of your items. You may or may not take advantage of this to build up a nice supply of caps, ready to purchase something of your own from Jacob the arms dealer. The reason you trade in for caps is that your character probably won’t be able to carry all those heavy weapons at once to trade in for something that costs a lot of money, like the Sniper Rifle. Therefore, the best technique to counter that is to first trade your items in individually for caps, and then use them for one big purchase.
Ideally, after seeing Jacob, you’d have the Sniper Rifle and/or Combat Armor… but go for the Sniper Rifle first. Before you know it, you’ll be swimming in good armor. In fact, if you feel up to it, there’s a Combat Armor in Old Town if you can kill the three tough goons inside the first far west building. It relates to a Brotherhood quest to free a prisoner and counts even if you rescue the prisoner before you receive the quest. You can loot their bodies for Combat Armor and a Combat Shotgun. Just be prepared before you walk through that door.
Finally, the librarian Mrs. Stapleton located in Downtown (east of the General Store) has an unlimited supply of books. They’ll cost you a lot of money of course, but you can essentially build up Science, Repair, Outdoorsman and Small Guns to 91% before they become of no further use. Consider building up your Repair skill to 50% or better before leaving for the Necropolis.
After all the above, consider moving on to Necropolis and finding the water chip, then returning it to Vault 13 before finishing up the Hub quests. Necropolis is usually slightly easier than the Hub and is a good place for xp, especially after you return the Water Chip and finish the Vault 13 quests.
Hub Quests
Here is a list of the significant quests in The Hub, 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.
Irwin’s Farm
Located in the southwest section of Downtown, you’ll find Irwin huddled in a corner of a dilapidated building. He’ll ask that you help him clear the invading Raiders from his farm house. If you agree, he’ll teleport your party directly to the entrance, where once you open the door, the fight will begin.
The Raiders at Irwin’s farm are no harder than the Raiders you’ve dealt with before, and when they’re defeated, search their bodies and the house for Metal Armor and several other items. You can only visit the area once, so be thorough. When you leave via the exit grid, Irwin will reward you a very powerful custom made .223 Pistol, which should be your main firearm unless you use the Sniper Rifle or better. You’ll also receive 500xp for the quest.
The Missing Caravans
Inside the Far Go Traders, on the Downtown map, ask Rutger and then Butch about a job. Butch will tell you that several caravans have gone missing — and that maybe a Deathclaw is responsible. Accept the job, and then head over to Beth in the weapon shop (located to the southwest). When you ask her about Deathclaws, she’ll tell that they’re “20 feet tall with teeth as big as your arm,” and she’ll direct you to Harold and Uncle Slappy in Old Town to learn more about them.
Old Town is located to the east of Downtown. You’ll find Harold and Slappy to the southwest, Harold inside a building and Slappy wandering around outside it. If you give Harold some caps, then he’ll tell you his life story, including a bit about Richard Grey and the Military Base, which will become more relevant later. But you can information about Deathclaws for free. Harold will tell you to aim for their eyes. After talking to Harold, Slappy will reveal that he knows the location of a Deathclaw lair, and having him take you to it will earn you 800xp.
The Deathclaw has well over 200hp and several powerful attacks, so be prepared to use a lot of Stimpaks unless you’re a great shot with the Sniper Rifle and get some fortunate criticals. Apart from the 1000xp you’ll receive for defeating the Deathclaw, you’ll meet a dying mutant in the back of the lair. He’ll give you a Mutant Transmissions holodisk before he dies. The holodisk (which you can read via the Status section of your Pip-Boy) will indicate that mutants have been raiding caravans and kidnapping the people they find.
To complete the quest, first use the holodisk when it’s in your inventory. This will earn you 100xp and allow you to read its messages (via the Status section of your Pip-Boy), which will indicate that mutants have been raiding caravans and kidnapping the people they find. Then take the holodisk to Butch at the Far Go Traders outpost in Downtown. After talking to him, once again talk with Rutger and tell him about the mutants. You’ll give him the holodisk as evidence, and you’ll earn you 800 caps and 1000xp.
Dispose of the Merchant
In the Maltese Falcon casino on the west side of Downtown, find the man in a leather jacket named Kane. If you don’t yet know of Decker, or haven’t yet killed Gizmo (or Killian) in Junktown, you can talk with Beth in the weapon shop in Downtown and ask her who to avoid. Ask Kane to see Decker, and he’ll take you there immediately. Decker will offer you a job to kill the merchant Darren Hightower and his wife, who reside in the Heights area west of Downtown. Accept his job, talk to Kane again upstairs for 500 more caps, and exit the Maltese Falcon. This is a chance to kill two birds with one stone. Now join the Thieves Circle (see below) in Old Town and accept their quest to steal Hightower’s Necklace.
When you’ve joined the Thieves Circle or are ready to kill the Hightowers, enter the Heights and kill everyone there, including Hightower and his wife. You might wish to start from the inside with Hightower himself, but it’s your call. The (trapped) strongbox inside Hightower’s office is where the Necklace from the Thieves Circle quest is. When you return to Kane, you’ll receive 600xp, 2500 caps, and -2 Reputation for completing the quest. Then when you talk to Kane again, he will escort you down to Decker, who will give you the quest to kill Jain (see “Dispose of Jain” below).
Steal Hightower’s Necklace
To get this quest, you must first join the Thieves Circle, located below a building in Old Town, just south of Jacob the arms dealer. Enter the building, and take the stairs to the lower level. You’ll have to pick a couple of doors and avoid a few traps before making it to the southernmost room when in the Thieves Circle. Once you’ve entered the room with the people, go into the back room and talk with Loxley. Ask if you can join the Circle, and take his job to steal a Necklace from HIghtower. You’ll receive 900xp. Talk with Jasmine on your way out to receive Lockpicks and some other items.
If you haven’t already received Decker’s quest to kill the Hightowers, you may want to do that now. If you have, you can simply take the Necklace from the trapped chest in Hightower’s office once they’re all dead. If you decide to take the stealthy approach, wait until night and enter Hightower’s home (the southernmost of the two buildings in the area) when the guard walks away from the door. The locked and trapped strongbox with the Necklace can be found in the small room adjacent to Hightower’s office. Nobody will notice if the trap goes off, so open the strongbox however you can, and loot the Necklace. When you return to Loxley and Jasmine in the Thieves Circle, you’ll receive 500xp, 3000 caps, and a very nice set of Electronic Lockpicks, which can come in handy later.
Dispose of Jain
Decker’s second quest from the Maltese Falcon (see “Dispose of the Merchant” above for the first) is to kill Jain, a high priestess of the Children of the Cathedral (CoC). Accept and head south of Downtown to the Merchants section. The first building on the west side is a hospital for the CoC.
In the original North American version of the game, it was possible to encounter a small girl selling flowers inside the hospital. This could lead to you killing the girl during the firefight with Jain — and becoming a child killer and an enemy of the entire town. To prevent this, talk to the girl and exhaust the conversation topics except for the “sure, I’ll buy a flower” one. Continue entering conversation with her using this same tactic (as needed) until she gets fed up and leaves on her own. Make sure her way is clear.
Next, open the southern door where you’ll see two people, one in robes. That person is Jain. Talk to her, and use any conversation path you like to annoy her, since you’ll be subsequently taking her life (gruesome game isn’t it). Now attack her, her guard, and the rest of the occupants of the hospital except the peasants. Afterward, head on over to the northwest door of the building, and use your Lockpicks to pick it. Inside, be sure to grab the purple CoC Robes off the shelf, plus anything else you find useful there, like the Rad-X and RadAway, and keep the Robes until the end of the game. Return to Kane and Decker for a total of 5000 caps and 700xp but -2 Reputation.
Stop Decker’s Gang
At any time after accepting Decker’s first quest (see “Dispose of the Merchant” above) — including after completing both of his quests — you can turn Decker in to Sheriff Justin Greene at the police station on the eastern side of Downtown. If you’ve been working with Decker, then you might need to convince Greene that what you say is true, which means it’s a good idea to save your game before talking to him.
Greene will decide that it’s finally time to deal with Decker. If you agree to help, then he’ll pay you 300 caps, and you’ll teleport to Decker’s office, where you, Greene and Deputy Fry will take on Decker and his men. Decker’s bodyguard Kane is the most dangerous of the bunch, so focus on him first. Once he and Decker have been killed, the other guards will surrender, ending the battle.
Afterwards, you’ll receive another 1000 caps from Greene, and you’ll earn 1400xp and +5 Reputation for ridding the world of Decker and Kane. Plus, when you loot the bodies in Decker’s office, you’ll find a variety of weapons, ammo, and drugs, including Spiked Knuckles on Kane’s corpse. But with Decker dead, you won’t be able to complete any more of his quests, which means the best time to turn him in is after you’ve killed Hightower and Jain.
Blackmail Iguana Bob
On the Downtown map, you’ll find Bob’s Iguana shack on the southern end. To complete this, you’ll need to have been to Junktown to see Doc Morbid’s operation there inside his hospital on the Entrance map. There is a midget down the ladder of the hospital who will tell you about Morbid’s fascination with human parts if you tell him the Boss sent you, and of his trading operation with Iguana Bob. Now you have the information to blackmail Iguana Bob. Confront him about the operation and you’ll be able to initially extort 50 to 200 caps weekly, which will give you 500xp but will lower your Reputation by a few points. Afterward, you can continue to increase the amount in increments, but Bob might refuse to pay at some point.
There isn’t any way to turn in Iguana Bob to the authorities. That part of the quest was cut from the game before its release.
Extend Vault 13’s Time Limit
On the Merchants map, south of Downtown, head to the southern building, and speak with the Master Merchant. Ask to buy water for Vault 13 for 2000 caps (or less with Barter), and it will extend your time limit another 100 days. However, in the unpatched version of the game, this will cause the mutants to find Vault 13 quicker, which will reduce the time limit for the overall game to 400 days from 500. In the patched version, these two upper limits were removed, giving you unlimited time to solve the mutant threat. Extending the time limit will net you 1000xp.
The Caravan Jobs
- Crimson Caravan (600 caps upon safe return)
They are located on the northwest side of the Downtown map. Talk first to Demetre, and then to Keri when it’s time to leave for the job. They leave on the 3rd and 17th of every month. Their route includes the Brotherhood, Boneyard, Junktown and Necropolis and is the most dangerous. It also is the best for xp, weapons and armor.
- Far Go Traders (400 caps upon safe return)
They are located in central Downtown. Talk with Rutger for the job, and then with the caravan driver in the same building when it’s time to leave for the job. They leave on the 8th, 18th and 28th of every month. Slightly safer than the Crimson Caravan, their route includes the Brotherhood, Boneyards and Junktown.
- Water Merchants (200 caps upon safe return)
They are located on the Merchants map, south of Downtown. Talk with the Master Merchant, then to the driver outside the building when it’s time to leave for the job. They leave on the 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th and 25th of every month. This is a particularly safe and uneventful tour through the Boneyards or Junktown.
