Kings' Gambit

Kings' Gambit is a side quest in Fallout: New Vegas.

Synopsis
Ambassador Crocker is concerned that the New California Republic is merely tolerated in New Vegas; there have been issues between NCR citizens and Freeside locals, and the ambassador seeks an end to it.

Walkthrough

 * 1) Speak to Ambassador Crocker about NCR-Freeside hostilities. There are two options to bring an end to them.
 * 2) Option 1: Assassinate Pacer, who is responsible for the attacks.
 * 3) Frame the Van Graffs by learning of their feud from Rotface.
 * 4) Examine Pacer's drug stash (first room on the left, third floor of The King's School of Impersonation) to learn about the possibility of placing a note there.
 * 5) Talk to Ralph at Mick and Ralph's and request a forged note from Jean-Baptiste Cutting to Pacer. This requires a Speech of 50 or membership in The Kings.
 * 6) Plant the note at the stash and wait for Pacer to check it (he comes to use his stash around 10 PM).
 * 7) Watch him run over to the Silver Rush and get killed by the guards there.
 * 8) Alternatively, one can frame the Van Graffs by planting a plasma grenade or mine on Pacer while he sleeps.
 * 9) Locate Pacer's stash, which will only spawn if Rotface mentioned it or if the Courier steals Pacer's medical record from Julie Farkas's room in the Old Mormon Fort.
 * 10) With a Medicine of 60, one can add some Psycho to Pacer's stash.
 * 11) Wait until 10 PM when he comes to use his stash; he was suffer a fatal heart attack.
 * 12) Option 2: Negotiate with The King to resolve it diplomatically without violence.
 * 13) The simplest way to ease tension is to use The King's favor from G.I. Blues.
 * 14) Failing that, the Courier can gain support from Colonel Cassandra Moore at Hoover Dam. She assigns a squad to them, who will support them while they confront The King. The King will not yield and the confrontation turns into a bloodbath. The quest will fail, but the Courier can then return to Ambassador Crocker for half of the original cap reward and another assignment.
 * 15) Alternatively, the Courier can talk to Colonel James Hsu at Camp McCarran. Like Colonel Moore, he will assign a squad to them and ask them to offer The King some NCR support for his works. Being polite and emphasizing support will convince The King to end hostilities, but being rude results in a bloodbath similar to Colonel Moore's method.
 * 16) Report to Ambassador Crocker. If the King is dead when this quest starts, the player can only report to the Ambassador that the Kings were wiped out.

Behind the scenes

 * "There are two unused endings to King's Gambit. If the player gets the help of either Colonel Cassandra Moore or James Hsu, then Pacer will object and try to stage a coup. Dialogue was recorded for a further scene where the Courier could try to reason with him, and either talk him down with a speech challenge, convince the Kings to shoot him (the only path that can happen on the Hsu route in the finished game), or tell the soldiers to open fire on everyone (essentially what happens on the Moore path). This was presumably cut to make the two different choices more distinct and less redundant. I.e. The player is told Colonel Moore will not tolerate any bullshit, so it makes sense that involving her men leads to unavoidable tragedy for the Kings."
 * In Chess, a King's Gambit is an opening strategy where a pawn is risked for a long term advantage.
 * It was believed that Elvis Presley died of a drug-induced heart attack due to underlying heart problems, much like how Pacer dies if his drug stash is tampered with.

Bugs

 * The stash may fail to spawn even if the conditions are met.
 * To counter it, open the console (~) and type in:, . This will cause the stash to appear.
 * Sometimes the conversation with Crocker fails to recognize quest completion. Apart from reloading to an earlier save, the player can use the reset command to re-set the quest.