Bloomfield Space Center design document/1

This is part 1 of the Bloomfield Space Center design document for Van Buren, the cancelled Fallout 3 by Black Isle Studios.

Overview
Bloomfield Space Center, surprisingly enough, survived the atomic war – well, for the most part. Thanks to its very remote location in southwest Arizona, the only real damage that the space center received was from time and weather – and also the current occupants.

The current occupants in question are the Rusty Hooks, as they like to be called. Comprised of two-dozen raiders, the Rusty Hooks came upon the remains of the Bloomfield Space Center about one year ago, drawn to the sight by tall, pointed structures (two space rockets) that could be seen on the horizon (however, by the time the PC arrives at Bloomfield, Dr. Presper and his NCR guys have already taken the other space rocket to B.O.M.B.-001). The leader, Kyle "the Hook," knew they found a special location and decreed among his faithful that this facility would be their permanent residence and base of operations. The raiders then took up occupancy in the building that was once used for flight operations and communications. From there they managed to get the sub-reactor working (barely) to power the building and the rest of the grounds. However, the Rusty Hooks found out the hard way that the five high powered turrets surrounding the launch pad and the space rockets were active and had no connection to the sub-reactor they worked on (two of the Rusty Hooks found out the bloody way that the turrets were active and deadly). Suffice it to say that the members of the Rusty Hooks kept a respectful distance from the launch pad and the well preserved, twin space rockets, but that situation didn't bother them. All they needed was located right in the building they called home; a healthy weapons and ammo cache stored in the security block of the Operations and Communications building.

The Rusty Hooks are known to make regular raids on caravans from the tribes in the area – the area being pretty much all of Arizona. Raids have been known to last upwards of a month or so. Just about anything is fair game to them, and they are willing to trade with anyone who does not have a problem with where they get their merchandise – though very few people in the wasteland know about the Bloomfield Space Center or how to get there. However, the Launch Pad and the twin space rockets are very visible from the horizon, so those who have seen it usually wander to Bloomfield in curiosity. Unfortunately, those who do happen to find the facility rarely lives long enough to go and tell anyone else, thanks to the turrets guarding the Launch Pad's perimeter. Should someone be lucky enough to live after finding the Bloomfield Space Center, they would find that there is a touch of dissent within the ranks. Bear, Kyle's super mutant bodyguard and right-hand man, seems obviously more intelligent than Kyle and seems to be the one who dishes out better ideas to help the Rusty Hooks. However, Bear also seems somewhat content being the voice behind the man in power, and no one else would dare to usurp Kyle's authority with Bear backing him up.

If the player has completed his quest of returning all the prisoners to the Big MT, then by the time the player arrives at Bloomfield, Dr. Presper and some of his NCR buddies have taken the other space rocket, Hermes-14, and launched to dock with B.O.M.B.-001. Four NCR guys stayed behind to guard the remaining space rocket, in addition to coming to an agreement with the Rusty Hooks. The Rusty Hooks would stay away from the launch pad and the NCR guards wouldn't kill them. Also, the Rusty Hooks would provide them with food and such and the NCR guys would provide additional protection should the need arise (NCR tech is much higher than the Rusty Hooks).



The Area is composed of three maps


 * 1) Entrance: (Small Map) A broken asphalt road leads to an almost entirely collapsed multi-level parking structure. A beaten path leads through the debris, but this path is riddled with traps of various primitive make. Some traps are nothing more than deep holes covered with tarp and dirt, some are spears attached to bent rebar waiting to be released, while others are grenades attached to trip wires. A player with a good trap skill could find and disable the myriad traps. Passed the parking structure and to the west is a weather beaten sidewalk that leads to an oval, one-story building with a main entrance facing the parking structure. This oval building is the Bloomfield Space Museum, housing broken objects of a space program long forgotten. Here the player will meet up with four Rusty Hooks. Dialogues would ensue and results may vary depending upon player attitude. The player may also get a bit of space history from the broken museum objects and one or two functional holo-dics (the Rusty Hooks are too ignorant to know how to use the holo-disc). There is an exit from the museum that leads to the northern exit grid.
 * 2) Control Center: (Medium Map) The entrance to this map is smack dab in the middle of the rocket transport road – a seventy-five foot wide road used to transport a completed space rocket to the launch pad – and directly east of the Rocket Assembly Building. The player will find a smattering of Rusty Hooks guards walking to and fro outside of the building. Inside the Rocket Assembly Building the player will find Sid, the Rusty Hooks' best version of a mechanic/scientist/Mr. Fixit. I say "best" version because their original mechanic-type was abducted less than a year ago by a prison security robot. Jillian McKinley, one of the escaped prisoners from the Big MT, and one of the escaped prisoners the player must take back to the Big MT, is a member of the Rusty Hooks and was their very competent mechanic/weapons smith during her years with the raiders. However, during her absence, Sid was elected new mechanic/weapons smith expert, whether he had skill or not (more not). The player will find Sid shuffling through the vast deposits of parts and debris littering the building's spacious work floor – a floor that resembles the inside of a large airplane hanger. He is trying to put together parts to make weapons, vehicles, traps, and what-not to not only help his tribe of raiders, but further solidify his worth. It seems that Kyle "the Hook" is getting tired of Sid always barely making things work (which always, eventually, breaks down), and would like to find someone a bit more mechanically inclined. Kyle has given Sid a deadline to get the area's sub-reactor working at a higher efficiency, as well as figure out how to turn off the turrets guarding the Space Rocket (not to mention eliminate the four patrolling security robots and NCR guards on the Launch Pad). If Sid fails, Kyle will volunteer Sid as a target practice dummy. As the player heads north from the Rocket Assembly Building, he will pass a very large satellite dish to his left and a small, caved-in observation building to his right. Straight ahead, the player will run into the Operations and Communications Building. However, about halfway upon approach to the Operations and Communications Building, two sentry security bots will activate from their previously dormant state and attack the player (latent robot attack). These will be pretty tough, bipedal security bots equipped with twin gattling guns for arms. The Rusty Hooks will get freaked out by the bots all-of-a-sudden coming to life and help the player destroy the bots. The completion of this scene will bring Bear, Kyle's super mutant bodyguard and second in command, up to the player to thank the player for helping destroy the bots (it's not apparent that the player is the target since the bots will respond to other threats shooting at them). This dialogue will put the player in the position of gaining information about the Rusty Hooks, the growing dissent in the ranks, what, exactly, Sid has been able to fix/activate, and launch the player into figuring out how to get the remaining Space Rocket working. In addition, the player could figure out how to get the communications satellite dish working to further his cause. Also, the player may get the opportunity to not only participate in raids against caravans, but possibly get Bear to overtake Kyle, or have the player overtake and control the Rusty Hooks (the player would get the opportunity to rename the raiders to whatever he wants and the raiders would refer to themselves by that new name).
 * 3) Launch Pad: (Medium Map) This bad boy is the WOW! factor of the area. It is comprised of a very large launch platform superstructure with a very tall space rocket in the center. Surrounding the launch platform is a tall barbwire fence and five very large, and active, gattling gun turrets at each corner of the wall, as well as two at the main, gated entrance. Since the gattling guns are active, there is not a living thing in this area. The player must secure the security codes, or deactivate through hacking (or some other means), to disable the gun turrets. Once that is accomplished, the player may access the catwalk which leads to the platform elevator. The elevator will take the player to the top of the space rocket where the cockpit is. The door to the cockpit is locked and requires an access code, or the player may use a very high lock pick skill combined with an electronic lock pick. Inside the cockpit the player will see seats for four passengers. Playing around with the controls will do nothing since the interior needs to be activated from mission control, thus creating the need of someone competent calling the shots at the mission control terminals (BOS scientist type, NCR scientist type, Reservation scientist type, Dr. Huxley, or a scientific CNPC). Since the space rocket's navigation is automated, all the player needs to do is sit back and enjoy the ride (BITCHIN' LAUNCH CUT-SCENE CGI MOVIE THING – ZOOM! POW! BANG!). Next stop; B.O.M.B.-001 nuclear missile satellite (of course this comes VERY late in the game since this is pretty much part of the end-game scenario – Hey let's rain down nuclear death on everyone! YAY!).



Map Flowchart & Layout for Bloomfield Space Center


Legend

Area Background
2073 was a turbulent year. Nuclear proliferation reached an all time high. As a reaction to possible nuclear threats, the U.S. government completed a space station/satellite that housed two-dozen nuclear missiles each carrying four warheads. Named the Ballistic Orbital Missile Base, or the B.O.M.B.-001, it was considered the ultimate offensive weapon. The only things missing were the main power reactor and launch instructions and codes. However, since all other space and rocket facilities already used up their resources constructing the missiles for the station, and launching the cargo rockets to carry them to the base, the U.S. needed to scramble to get the much needed codes and a power reactor to the station. Their answer was to use the new Bloomfield Space Center, which was in the process of building a rocket that would go to Mars, and convert the Mars rocket into the vehicle that would carry the codes and reactor to the base. The conversion started in 2074.

So, in August, 2076, the Hermes–13 space rocket was completed and ready to launch at Bloomfield. Unfortunately, by October, 2076, funding for the rocket and Bloomfield had to be drastically cut and diverted to vault technology, thanks in large part to the rising world tensions and imminent threat of nuclear war – the launch of Hermes-13 had to be put on hold. All personnel, except for a skeleton maintenance crew, were reassigned to other locations. Bloomfield, B.O.M.B.-001, and Hermes-13 were essentially mothballed. In November, 2076, the Enclave seized control of Bloomfield Space Center. They knew nuclear war was just around the corner, so they tried to refit the Hermes-13 and convert it into a vehicle that would take selected personnel (mainly themselves) off-planet, destination yet to be determined.

Unfortunately for the Enclave, the bombs started dropping less than a year later. All were either relocated to "hot-spots," or took cover away from Bloomfield. The last people to leave shut down the sub-reactor to Bloomfield and abandoned the facility, letting Hermes-13 and Bloomfield to brave the elements. For whatever reason, the facility never succumbed to nuclear attack. Only time and weather beat on the facility for almost two-hundred years, and neither was very kind. However, Hermes-13 managed to stand proud through the centuries, perhaps in hope that one day it would be allowed to carry out its mission.

The ruined grounds, dark, cold, and dirty buildings, and rusted launch platform super-structure might have laid dormant forever if it weren't for the wandering and greedy spirits of the Rusty Hooks; a band of raiders who wandered the wasteland. In the scorching summer heat of 2252, the Rusty Hooks came upon the remote base of Bloomfield. Kyle "the Hook", the raider leader, knew they had stumbled upon a great potential home. There were plenty of defensible areas, a potential for a rich cache of materials, and that giant pointy thing (Hermes-13) must be a source of great power. With the eloquence of a junior-high drama student pretending to know and quote the great works of Shakespeare, Kyle declared the Bloomfield Space Center the Rusty Hooks' new base of operations.

One of the first things Kyle wanted to do was find out if the facility had a power source. He ordered Sid, the apprehensive mechanic/scientist of the group, to seek out and find a power source, and find a way to get power running. After about two weeks of swearing, threats on Sid's life, and a few deep bruises, Sid managed to not only find the sub-reactor, but he got the thing running – albeit at only forty-five percent efficiency. However, even by bringing this sub-reactor online, the turrets surrounding Hermes-13 ended up killing two Rusty Hooks who ventured too close. It seems the turrets were running on a different power source and operations computer. It was bad enough that no one in the group could cut through the titanium fencing surrounding the Launch Pad, or climb over ten feet of titanium barb wire, but the gattling turrets mounted high on thorned posts exacerbated the giant pointy thing's (Hermes-13) inaccessibility. Kyle ordered that the power be shut down so they could figure out a way to disable the turrets (not really being able to figure out that the turrets were on a different power source and computer – I told you he wasn't that smart), but it seems that once power was turned back on, even if it was not at full efficiency, it could not be turned off without using the proper "security access codes" - whatever those things might be. So, in a flood of cascading wisdom, Kyle decreed the area near the giant pointy thing off limits.

Since then, Kyle and his band organized several raids on caravans throughout Arizona, as well as doing some trade with assorted scum of the wastelands. Sid was tasked with figuring out a way to make the sub-reactor more efficient, as well as scavenge the grounds and create something useful – what that something could be, no one ever explained to poor Sid.