X-13 research facility

The X-13 research facility is the western most facility in Big MT.

Background
The X-13 research facility was a major laboratory facility within the Big MT complex. The facility was, more-or-less progressing in the field of stealth. This however was not its only breakthroughs. When the sonic emitter was developed it was originally intended to be a pulse vertebrae desensitizer, ie a spine anesthesia device. However during its trial run as a medical device, the X-13 facility staff developed a capacitance module capable of emitting a focused electromagnetic pulse from the device. Successfully turning the medical tool into a niche weapon. The now weapon was first successfully test fired by Jenkins, who fired the device at a force field in the laboratory, successfully frying the field's emitter array. During this early testing they discovered that physical impact is minimal and it affected a small range of frequencies. These small frequencies however fell within the range of the company's force fields, creating a major security concern as the entire company relied heavily on their force fields. The weapon was then sent to the X-8 Bio-Mechanical testing facility for further study and development.

The main project of the facility however was Project X-13 - the stealth suit Mk I & II. This device was developed from reverse engineered Chinese Hei Gui stealth armor. The main laboratories were broken into parts for individual development; ie boots, gloves, and torso. While the testing was to be done two fold, a physical, real world example and a virtual reality simulation to test the more extreme possibilities. It was during this project's development that the scientific team's hubris and unprofessional behavior that would lead to their doom. The doom wasn't the project itself, or rather that project, it was Project 'Blue Blood'.

The staff of X-13 operated under Doctor Calis, a rather arrogant supervisor focused primarily on providing results to the other Big MT leads. Although the staff of the facility was not entirely professional, they were all extraordinarily competent in their field(s). Assistant Paris was Calis' primary aide, and an active part in Project 'Blue Blood'. Paris was an amiable researcher and got on well with the suit project team, consisting of researchers Brazos, Redding, Mori and Kael. A separate team was concerned with evaluating the suits performance through testing and consisted of researchers Chayanov, Mendoza, Butz and the under appreciated technicians Skinner and Slough. As a high security location, all coming and goings had to be cleared by a security checkpoint and its chief of security, Captain Hamm.

The X-13 research facility almost completed its work on the aural stealth suit prototype, when it was shut down by disaster. Despite Assistant Paris' insistence on not using cattle prods on nightstalkers (and for good reason, since X-13 was breaching unknown territory in science, and cattle prods could have adverse effects on the stalker chemistry), Doctor Calis entered the nightstalker pen and started beating the creatures to force them to display their freshly developed biological optical camouflage abilities, as he needed results to show. He gravely underestimated the resourcefulness of the hybrids, as they attacked and overwhelmed him and proceeded to slaughter the entire lab. The security teams were unable to respond, as shortly afterwards came the Great War, shutting down Big MT for decades. Nightstalkers eventually broke out of the facility and became a permanent element of the X-66 Hexcrete Archipelago fauna.

Layout
The expansive facility contained primarily workshops where systems for the suit were assembled and its firmware coded, as well as test tracks, both real and virtual, where it was tested. Although Project 'Blue Blood' shared some of the work space it required its own laboratory space.

The first section is comprised of three labs, each containing a part of the stealth suit Mk II. The second section has two levels. the top level is an observation point for researchers and the lower level is a test track for the stealth suit Mk II.

Notable loot

 * The Stealth suit Mk II is placed in your ìnventory after collecting the chest plate, legs and gloves of the suit.
 * A Protonic inversal axe is found in the hard-locked Stealth Test Area #2 (VR Simulation Room).
 * X-8 kennel key in a suitcase in a room with a force field covering the door to your right upon entry.
 * 2 Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manuals: One is in the reward safe upon completion of all the stealth suit tests, and the other is located on the floor, opposite the door in the room where you acquire the chest plate for the sneak suit.
 * The K9000 Mod - Resla roil information is in the bathroom observation area terminal.
 * The K9000 Mod - Mentat Chow information is stored in office 2 observation area terminal.
 * Information about Auto-doc upgrade: Implant Y-7 is stored in the terminal just left upon entering office observation area #1 (not to be confused with office observation area #2). You can find the office observation area #1 by entering the reception observation area, and going straight to the other side of the room, where you will find a door with a sign on the floor reading "office observation area #1".
 * Two bottles of Nuka-Cola Victory; one is located underneath a chemistry set, on the first floor, before the Testing Lab, along with a Nuka-Cola Quartz. The other is found near a hot plate in office 2 observation area.
 * 3 battle brews in a strange cask in the night stalker area of the basement and, in the same room, by looking above where a force field can be seen, disable it with the upgraded sonic emitter, and along with a skeleton, a battle brew, stimpak, super stimpak and a Stealth Boy will drop to the ground.
 * A total of 21 preserved meats can be found in the night stalker observation quarters.
 * The rare Doggie treat can be found in a dog bowl where the night stalkers spawn.
 * Two ¡La Fantoma! Inside lab #1 under a pre-War book next to the terminal and one on a pre-War book in the research area next to the desk to the right when entering this area.
 * Recipes - Lockpick skill book can be found in one of the vents in the X-13 Stealth Testing Lab - the one over the double doors in the reception area. It is possible to reach this vent while standing on the railing in the Reception Observation Area.
 * Recipes - Sneak skill book From the test entrance turn right and go through the left door (the one sharing a wall with the "Hold up, Rocketeers!" poster), go through the door just on your right (the one sharing a wall with the Repconn poster), go through the hole in the wall on the right, go straight through the next hole in the wall, and the skill book is between the two fridges.
 * A LAER can be found on top of the building, which is accessible by jumping of the nearby cliffs onto the roof.

Behind the scenes

 * Kristen Altamirano handled lighting, tileset revisions, asset creation, prop placement, and final level polish for the location.
 * According to Kristen Altamirano's portfolio, the X-13 lab originally had a different appearance. It seems that the test track was originally a VR training course.

Appearances
The X-13 research facility appears in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on Old World Blues.