1) Fairfax Ruins

Leave Megaton on foot and turn west. You should spot an elevated highway in the distance. Head over to this highway and follow it south and you should reach our next destination-the Fairfax Ruins. The highway isn’t a perfect guide, as it collapses before reaching Fairfax, but it should still get you in the area. Where the physical road fails, the green line representing it on your Pip-Boy map should suffice. In any event, the Fairfax Ruins are south, south-west of Megaton.

TheFairfax Ruins themselves are crawling with Raiders, from which we can score a good bit of loot and experience. Of note there’s a house on the northern side of town where a Raider with a Missile Launcher lurks, along with a defensive turret. Near the western end of town the Raiders have placed some landmines, and there’s a grenade bouquet that’s triggered by some trip wires. There are also some Utility Tunnels around that have more loot and Raiders in them, as well as the Fairfax Metro which… we might as well explore while we’re here.

2) Fairfax Metro

Book - Chinese Army: Spec. Ops. Training Manual

Head east into the metro, taking care to avoid landmines. Down in the large open metro hub disarm the rigged shotgun in the ticket booth and loot the ammo boxes and first aid boxes inside. Head down the stairs and search the rubble to the south east, where you can find a Chinese Army: Spec. Ops. Training Manual on the ground. Leave the Metro and head west until you find Fort Independence.

3) The Outcast’s Trust

Head down under a bridge. Fort Independence is where the Brotherhood Outcasts are based, and one will yell at you when you approach. You’ll see the Outcast defenses take out some Raiders fairly easily. Defender Morgan will talk to you again. Ask her how to sign up and she’ll let you meet Protector Casdin, whom, if you talk to him, will offer to trade technology for .556 ammo, Grenades, Stimpaks, or Rad-Away. If you break into Fort Independence, you’ll turn all the Outcasts hostile, so we won’t be doing that yet. Gaining access is a work in progress which will be much easier later on in the game, but if you shovel together enough junk you’ll gain admittance. For the sake of continuity we’ll cover Fort Independence in its entirity here.

You don’t want to turn in any Energy Weapons you find, as they’d be better off serving you. Also, you can typically use even the crappiest of energy weapons to repair others. Even a Laser Rifle in lousy condition is worth more sitting in your home rather than being traded. Also you don’t want to trade in Power Armor… for obvious reasons. Trading Outcast Power Armor is an extra bad idea, as they’ll just confiscate it. Once you start dealing with the Enclave and can readily hunt them for their armor and weapons you might consider being more generous-after all, by then what do Caps really matter? Note that when you trade him Enclave Power Armor, he’ll shamelessly equip it right in front of you! The easiest thing to part with (besides Enclave Power Armor, when it becomes abundant) are Sensor Modules, and it also gives the best rate of return for how much they are worth. Below is a list of all the items that Protector Casdin is interested in, and the rewards you’ll get for turning them in:

After you give him enough stuff you’ll earn the trust of the Outcasts, for what it’s worth. After you earn their trust you can steal the “Fort Independence Access” key from Casdin, or pick the locked door [Hard]. You could do this before, but as was previously said, it would turn all the Outcasts hostile. Once their trust has been gained, however, you can break in without them caring too much.

4) Fort Independence

Although the place isn’t as lively as the Citadel, you can still score plenty of components (as could be expected.) In the eastern room you can find two locked safes [Easy], and a ‘Field Reports’ terminal from which you can download the notes “Fort Independence Field Report 1” and “Fort Independence Field Report 2”, which talks about the Outcasts’ feud with the Raiders over in Fairfax. In the central room there’s a Nuka-Cola Quantum, and in the western room there’s not really much notable loot besides a first aid box. Take the stairs down to the Fort Independence Lower Level to get at the real loot.

5) Miss Launcher!

You either have to hack the “Door Terminal” [Hard]… or grab the “Fort Ind. Terminal Access Password” from the nearby desk. Continue down the stairs to the bottom (there’s a door along the way, beyond which is some rather uninspiring loot). Go through a door to the south and eventually the path will split with stairs going up to the left, and stairs going down straight ahead. Upstairs you can find the “Turret Control System’ terminal [Average], which might be handy if you’re assaulting the place. Since we’re not, go down the stairs and enter the room to the west and break into a locked footlocker [Easy] to obtain the “Fort Ind. Storage Key”. The room to the east is an infirmiry, where medical components and drugs can be found. Finally, in the second room to the west you’ll find all the “Research Terminals” you could ever ask for, each of which will give you a note on a specific weapon or another.

Go through the locked door [Hard] to the south which can be alternatively opened with the key we found earlier. Inside you’ll find a Minigun in perfect condition, six ammo boxes (two of which contain Alien Power Cells), three first aid boxes, a Plasma Rifle, a Laser Rifle, two Mini Nukes, and the unique Missile Launcher, Miss Launcher .

6) Andale: Best Town in the USA!

Book - Grognak the Barbarian

Head south from Fort Independence/Fairfax until you find Andale, a nice, quiet little town consisting of three houses, the Smith’s House, the Wilson’s House, and Old Man Harris’ House. Go into the Smith’s House and talk to them. They’re definately weird people… Steal the Andale Basement Key from the bedside table and go explore the Wilson’s House. You’ll find that they are just as weird.

7) Old Man Harris

Take the Andale Shed Key from the bedside table and go bother Old Man Harris. Old Man Harris has a bit of a different take on things… he seems to know what century he lives in, first of all, and tells you to get out of town while you still can, and that the others are cold-blooded killers. Also note he’s the only one that doesn’t have Strange Meat in his fridge. Your spidey senses should be tingling.

8) Skeletons in the Shed

Go explore the Garden Shed and you’ll find quiet a few skeletons inside, along with fridges with more Strange Meat and a selection of Combat Knives. When you leave you’ll be confronted by the adults of Andale. If you succeed at a Speech check they’ll let you go, if not you’ll have to fight them. Kill the cannibals and report to Old Man Harris, who will tell you that he’s taking in the kids. If you want, explore the basement of the Smith’s house to find a scene similar to that of the Wilson’s shed. Make sure to grab the Rippers and the copy of Grognak the Barbarian on the floor of the Smith’s House Basement near some bloodstains before leaving Andale for good.

9) The Overlook Drive-In

Head south through Andale along its road until it bisects another road running east-west. Follow this road uphill to the west and it’ll lead you to our next destination-The Overlook Drive-In. There are several Raiders milling around here, most of whom can be killed off in spectalar style. Just shoot one of the cars parked here until it explodes, which will start a chain reaction that destroys everything. Of course, then you have to search for Raider pieces to loot, but it’s good fun as long as you’re not caught in the blast. Head north-west until you find a Raider Outpost… or rather, a cave. You will have to pick the lock to a gate [Hard] to get in. Failing that, you’ll have to find the unlocked door to the Cliffside Caverns, to the west, but this will be our point of egress, not ingress.

10) Raider Outpost

Book - Grognak the Barbarian

There are plenty of landmines ahead, but fortunately most of them are in plain sight. Go west until the cavern opens up. Keep going west over a wooden bridge to reach the first platform, where you’ll see a generator with some lights pointing at it. Circle around behind the generator to find a copy of Grognak the Barbarian lying on the ground near it. You might be wondering where all the Raiders are. Answer that question by heading north when the paths splint, instead of heading west. You’ll eventually come across a Yao Guai, and later on, an entrance into the Yao Guai Cave.

11) Yao Guai Caves

Schematic - Nuka-Grenade

Head down the tunnel and disarm the Frag Mines that are still there. This is going to work alot like our trek through the Yao Guai Tunnels, sneak around and blast every stupid mutated bear you see with your Combat Shotgun. Maniacal laughter optional, but encouraged. There’s little reason to be down here, but make your way to the ground level and search the north-western corner of the large central chamber to find the Schematic - Nuka-Grenade . Once you’ve gained this item, return to the Raider Outpost and continue on with the western path.

12) The Western Path

Book - Chinese Army: Spec. Ops. Training Manual

Continue west into the lower portions of the cavern. Kill the Raiders you meet in the circular room when you reach the lower level. You’ll now get a fork in the road, one path leading south-east and another heading north east. Take the north path first, as the south just leads back into the Capital Wasteland. You’ll come across a wooden platform with two beds on top, which is guarded by two Raiders, one of which has a Missile Launcher. Kill them and grab the Chinese Army: Spec. Ops. Training Manual that’s on top of the wooden dresser. Try not to let the Missile Launcher guy shoot nearby, as there’s a good chance he’ll blow the book somewhere unreachable.

13) Cliffside Caverns

Follow the tunnel and kill the Raiders until you find a tent filled with loot, the best of which is a Mini Nuke. Now head back the way you came and explore the south eastern route. Stop to grab the Nuka-Cola Quantum on the table near the generators before continuing into a tunnel to the south. These tunnels will eventually lead back to the Capital Wasteland, where you’ll discover the Cliffside Caverns. From here head west, north-west to find the RobCo Facility. Sure, we picked a round-about route to get there, but the important thing is… well, that we got there, eventually.

14) Tinker Joe

NPC - RL-3

Outside of the facility you’ll occasionally find Tinker Joe standing about. He’ll sell a variety of nifty things.. pretty much anything you could find in a tool box. If he has any, you should be keen to buy any Scrap Metal or Bobby Pins off of him. Remember that we trade Scrap Metal in Megaton at a rate of 10 Caps per Scrap Metal, so paying a Cap per Scrap isn’t a bad deal. You can also recruit RL-3 from him if you have the right karma. Anywho, time to head inside the RobCo Facility… we’ve got a widget to install!

15) RobCo Facility

Book - Big Book of Science

Book - Lying, Congressional Style

On the counter directly opposite the door you’ll find a copy of Lying, Congressional Style . Behide that, you’ll find a bookshelf with a Pre-War Book on it. Loot the western half of the level then go through the doors to the east. Go north east through a door near a bookshelf and some metal lockers and take the first east. On a bunch of machinery you’ll find a Big Book of Science and a Pre-War Book. Other than that this level is pretty boring. There are Radroaches and Mole Rats aplenty, and some decent looting, but nothing terribly special. When you’re ready go up the ramps to find the door to the Offices and Cafeteria.

16) Activate the Mainframe

Book - Big Book of Science

Book - D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine

Book - Nikola Tesla and You

Loot your way around to the south and east. Eventually you’ll come to a room on the southern side of the map opposite the entrance to the Factory Floor. On one of the desks in this room you’ll find a Stealth Boy, and on another, near a first aid box you’ll find a D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine . Keep going around the perimeter of the level until you come to a room just west of the room you entered into. On a bookshelf you’ll find another Stealth Boy, and on a table near a filing cabinet you’ll find a copy of Nikola Tesla and You .

Head south and go up some stairs. Once on the higher level go through the door just opposite the stiars. In this room you’ll find a Stealth Boy and a Pre-War Book on a table. You’ll also find the RobCo Production Mainframe, your goal. Activate it and install the processor widget. All the machines and defenses in the facility will activate and turn hostile, so promptly hack the terminal [Average]. Select the “Cease Total Liquidation” command to make the robots friendly, and select the “Initiate Pest Control” option to set the robots and defenses to attack any Radroaches and Mole Rats you may have missed. The “Initiate Stress Testing” command will make the robots attack each other. Either way, you’re done in the RobCo Factory, so book it back to Megaton.

Moira will give you six Pulse Grenades and a Big Book of Science . The last quest before the Wasteland Survival Guide is completed looms ahead… But before that, let’s finish off some quests we previously ignored. Yeah, yeah, we’re ignoring a quest in order to complete more quests. Truth is, Rivet City involves advancing the main story… or at least, it segues into it nicely, the areas we’ve left unfinished are bothering me, and there are a few more Bobbleheads wes should pick up. We’ll start out by heading to poor Arefu… we’ve run circles around this place, but it’s finally time to pay it a visit.