REPCONN test site

The REPCONN test site is a former rocket testing facility almost directly west of Novac and just south of Scorpion Gulch.

Background
A pre-War testing facility that was operated by REPCONN Aerospace, it was ran by Steve Reynolds before the War, a corrupt executive. Reynolds was cutting corners to save money, forcing employees to do overtime and when they quit, hiring underqualified, undertrained replacements. It was only a matter of time until an incident took place. And it did, in 2075. As RobCo was negotiating the terms of purchasing the company, REPCONN wanted to demonstrate their technology to gain an advantage in negotiations. However, a disastrous radiation spill happened, contaminating the area for decades, weakening REPCONN's position. When the company was acquired by RobCo, its proprietary plasma propulsion system was repurposed as a weapon.

The test site was abandoned after the Great War and left to the elements and prospectors for over two centuries. Picking the massive facility apart became a source of revenue for many inhabitants living in the area, most importantly the settlers at Novac in the 23rd century. It was taken over around 2279 by the Bright Brotherhood, seeking to return the remaining rockets to functionality and make the Great Journey into space. Unfortunately, they were recently attacked by nightkin under the lead of Davison. After losing nearly half their number, the ghouls holed up in the research laboratories, cornered by Davison's forces, who busied themselves with ripping the basement apart looking for a shipment of Stealth Boys accidentally routed to the test facility by RobCo, and long since gone.

Exterior
The test site is nestled inside a large valley in the southern McCullough Range, accessible through a single canyon, up the road west from Novac. The canyon contains a reinforced checkpoint that was used to clear visitors and employees before the Great War. Though damaged by Novac scavengers, it was sturdy enough to be turned into an outer defensive position by the Bright Brotherhood ghouls, further enhanced with sandbags and a guard post just beyond the checkpoint to allow guards to rest and relax in between shifts.

Unfortunately, it was not enough to deter the nightkin, who punched through the defenses leaving dead Brotherhood members in their wake and letting the feral ghouls, normally kept bottled up below the facility, wander out into the open and towards Novac.

Facility
The interior of the facility is filled with traces of combat, left behind by the Bright Brotherhood and the nightkin. Its corridors are filled with feral ghouls who have made their way out of containment and prowl the halls. The main entrance opens into the reception hall with a dead nightkin and two bathrooms.

The Easy-locked door leads to the upper floor and a corridor that circumnavigates the upper floor. In the center are two locked offices (Easy level locks). The western one contains an Easy-locked safe with lots of loot, with 60 MFC and 24 .308 rounds on top of it, while the eastern has some supplies. The west wing a recreation room and cafeteria on the lower floor, with sleeping quarters, a server room, and two storage closet on the upper floor. There's also the main stairwell in the northwest corner, together with the side entrance.

In the rear are the offices, with lots and lots of cubicles, and another living quarters just above them. The top level contains another administrative section and the office of Steve Reynolds, the launch facility project manager, complete with a safe and message from disappointed employees. Most of the walls and ceilings are collapsed, linking rooms and floors together.

The eastern wing contains the cafeteria on the upper floor and eventually leads to the assembly hall where rockets were prepared and checked for launched. The ground floor is crawling with feral ghouls, but the walkways connect directly to the laboratories where the survivors of the Bright Brotherhood and Jason Bright took shelter. Just by the entrance to the assembly hall is the entrance to the basement, where the nightkin live.

Research laboratories
Located at the top of the facility, the research laboratories are where REPCONN once pioneered its rockets. Now it's the heart of the Bright Brotherhood and their refuge. Chris will immediately accost the player as they enter and direct them to Jason Bright.

The laboratories have two levels, with the lower one containing the primary lab in the center, an adjacent office space converted hastily into a dormitory, and is surrounded by a corridor that connects the exits to the stairwell in the facility and the assembly hall. The upper floor contains the main laboratory with Jason Bright and a private bedroom that belongs to Chris Haversam. There's a stockpile of anti-radiation drugs in his chambers.

Both levels contain a workbench.

Basement
The basement is vast, to say the least. The entrance corridor leads to a workspace where a single nightkin lurks. The corridor beyond branches out. The left-hand side leads directly to the storage room guarded by Harland ahead and Davison and Antler to the right. The door behind Davison's back leads to another room with a console that opens the passageway into tunnels that connect the facility to the launch dome. These eventually lead to a branch, near a chamber with a reloading bench. The branch connects to the control room overlooking the launch chamber (it also contains a workbench) and a ladder that leads to a manhole near the swamp outside REPCONN, providing direct access to the underground.

To find Harland's friend and verify the presence of Stealth Boys for Davison, the player has to navigate the main section of the basement. The first section contains the servers, meeting room, and staff room, with two corridors connecting them together. Another corridor leads away from the staff area to the generator area, which consists of two halls with two levels each. The floors are separated by a chainlink fence, necessitating the use of adjacent stairwells.

The ghoul prisoner, or rather, her body, is found in the second generator hall, first room on the left. The key to the jail that can be used to open the doors has been placed in the desk in the office overlooking the second generator hall.

Platform
The launch observation platform is accessed from the research labs and contains the navigation console and launch control panel used to send rockets into space.

Inhabitants
Its main inhabitants are ghouls, feral ghouls, Bright followers, glowing ones and, in the basement level, nightkin.

Named characters are:
 * Davison, leader of the nightkin
 * Harland, cornered ghoul survivalist
 * Jason Bright, ghoul leader
 * Chris Haversam, human helper and aide to the ghouls.

Notable loot

 * Stealth Boys:
 * In the reception, by the dead nightkin.
 * In the basement, on the table in the mess hall.
 * Two inside an Easy-locked safe in the Easy-locked office on the upper floor of the facility.
 * Hunting revolver: Second floor, next to the Easy-locked safe mentioned above.
 * 10 destroyed party hats: Behind the Very Easy door in the research labs.
 * Space suit and helmet: On a shelf in the control room overlooking the launch pad, where the last steps of the quest are initiated.
 * Bright Brotherhood members found dead will spawn with increasingly powerful weapons depending on the player character's level, starting with laser weapons, but progressing to recharger pistols, Laser RCWs, and Plasma Defenders circa level 8.

Related quests

 * Come Fly With Me

Behind the scenes

 * The incident at REPCONN and the name itself are a reference to the PEPCON disaster, which killed two people and caused chemical fires and explosions to break out in a five-mile radius near Las Vegas.
 * The music played during and after the launch sequence is The Ride of the Valkyries, by Richard Wagner.

Bugs

 * Although the administrator's terminal refers to a safe in the generator room converted to storage in the basement, no safe is present there (as this is the room where Harland is found).

Appearances
The REPCONN test site appears only in Fallout: New Vegas.