This page is about the location that is home to the Brotherhood of Steel. For the Hidden Valley location, see Hidden Valley. |
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The Hidden Valley bunker is a location in Fallout: New Vegas. It is located in Hidden Valley in the western bunker, identifiable by a tree stump on top, and houses the Mojave Chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel.
Background[]
Once one of the most pristine natural basins in the McCullough Range, Hidden Valley was a destination for hikers wishing to experience the untamed wilds of Nevada. However, with hostilities escalating across the globe and the Sino-American War continuing with no end in sight, it fell prey to the military-industrial complex. The United States Air Force declared it a testing range, surrounding the area with a chain-link fence, forbidding photography, and then completely forgot about it. The secrecy of project likely so buried in bureaucratic red-tape that no one who could've used it knew about it. To the casual observer, it was just a stretch of federal land, cordoned off, abandoned, and covered in graffiti protesting the futility of the Sino-American War.[1] The perception changed little after the Great War, with wastelanders seeing it as little more than a stretch of particularly desolate wasteland, home to derelict bunkers, mute intercoms, and bark scorpion.[2]
Of course, this was all a ruse. The USAF selected the remote Hidden Valley to establish an independent, self-sustaining underground bunker, using the same technology used at Raven Rock. The facility was intended for use by high ranking personnel and other VIPs as a shelter and command center in crisis situations. The bunker was built several hundred feet (over 100 meters) below ground, beneath multiple layers of reinforced materials in order to ensure that nothing short of a direct hit by a bunker-busting megaton nuclear weapon could threaten the installation. Such capacity was believed to be well outside the United States' closest competitors, but the bunker was provided with additional protection in the form of the Dervish camouflage system. This complex network of industrial vents and fans generated an artificial sandstorm using the loose soil within Hidden Valley, which was supplemented by a combination of aluminum and silicates to create what was essentially a giant cloud of chaff, interfering with remote guidance systems. Together with the Black Mountain radar array and its electronic countermeasures, targeting the Hidden Valley bunker network was effectively impossible, assuming its existence was known in the first place.[3]
The bunker itself was furnished with every facility necessary to its continued operation in the event of a catastrophic event, including a variety of living quarters ranging from bunk rooms to individual chambers, a fully stocked clinic capable of carrying out complex surgeries, vast store houses, shooting ranges, workshops, research labs, a virtual reality training system, everything needed for prolonged isolation. In order to ensure longevity, the bunker was fitted with a Candle fusion power system. Powering all the bunker's systems, it was a mature and tested technology. Although newer designs offered a higher power output, the Candle offered reliability and longevity, capable of powering the bunker for an estimated 752 years (until ca. ~2700).[3]
The fact that Hidden valley survived the Great War is a testament to its countermeasures and Robert House's defense of the Mojave. Over the next two centuries, the bunkers were abandoned and fell into disrepair, with large parts of the installation caving in due to lack of structural maintenance, salvaging, or design. It wasn't until the 2260s and the arrival of Elder Elijah at the head of the newly founded Mojave Chapter that it gained a new lease on life, set up as an auxiliary location and fallback point for the chapter, second to Helios One.[4] It was "promoted" to a chapter bunker following the disastrous Operation Sunburst in 2276 when the chapter was routed from its stronghold at Helios and forced to flee into the McCullough Range. The new Elder, Nolan McNamara, instituted a lockdown: All Brotherhood members who made it into the bunker were confined inside, while those outside the bunker were prohibited from returning to prevent the NCR from tracking the chapter down. Only a select few were permitted to leave to procure essential supplies or to patrol the Hidden Valley at nighttime, under cover provided by the Dervish.[5]
Though the Brotherhood prepares its members for extended seclusion through its ascetic training, the situation is slowly deteriorating. Five years after the loss of Helios, many of the Knights and Paladins promoted to fill in the gaps in manpower have no real combat experience, relying on virtual reality simulations and firing range exercises, the chapter is incommunicado to the rest of the Brotherhood, and internal tensions are simmering beneath the surface as Head Paladin Hardin is looking for a way to oust the current Elder and implement his policy.[6] Unbeknownst to all but the Elder and Knight Lorenzo, the bunker itself is slowly failing. The Dervish system was not designed for constant use and the accumulation of enhanced dust in the ventilation system is taking its toll on the bunker's life support systems. Simply put, if the systems are not fixed, the bunkers would become uninhabitable in short order. The Elder attempted to send scouting parties out to retrieve the parts, but a lack of intel (caused by the skewed priorities in the Elijah era) and local hostiles resulted in the loss of all patrols.[7]
Finally, the single biggest threat to Hidden Valley and the Mojave Chapter are the powers that vie for control of the Mojave. Mr. House and Caesar want the Brotherhood removed from the picture, seeing them as a threat to their control of the region, while the Republic is willing to sign a truce in exchange for military aid (if the Courier plays their cards right).[7][8] Hiding is not an option, as even if the life support systems were restored to full functionality, all factions are aware that the Brotherhood is still lurking somewhere in the McCullough Range. After all, it only took House two years to figure it out, after losing a single Securitron per annum in the vicinity of Hidden Valley.[9]
Layout[]
There are four bunkers in the valley and all but one lead into the Brotherhood bunker. The entrance bunker has a small tree stump on top of the entrance and stacked crates in the main hall. There are three ways to gain access beyond the outer halls of the bunker:
- Bring Veronica Santangelo along, found at 188 trading post.
- Retrieve one of the mission holotapes with a passphrase, located on dead Brotherhood of Steel Paladins at REPCONN headquarters, south of Black Mountain, or in a crater outside Nellis Air Force Base. The Black Mountain tapes are closest, located a short way out the large gap in the chain link fence.
- Lockpicking the Very Hard door with 100 Lockpick (less with Locksmith's Reader).
In all but the first instance, the player will be greeted by a squad of five Paladins, starting Still in the Dark.
Level 1[]
The first level of the bunker is accessed through a small security area where two paladins are posted on guard at all times. It joins Paladin Ramos' security post, where he clears all newcomers into the bunker and takes care of security affairs. The Hard terminal in the office can be used to subvert the turrets and direct them against the Brotherhood.
The actual first floor is down another winding staircase. Like the Lost Hills bunker, it is organized around a central corridor, which joins together all the different facilities in the bunker. First floor facilities include the armory and shooting range, staffed by Knight Torres. Right next to the armory is a large two-level dormitory with space for twenty, with the bunker's clinic under the care of Senior Scribe Linda Schuler opposite. Further along the corridor are dormitories of higher ranking members, the Intiate class room, and finally sanitation facilities.
The crawlspace beneath the main corridor connects the chambers in the main area. It contains the lower level of the general dormitory, and several private living quarters of ranking Brotherhood members. The general dorminotyr is a veritable cornucopia of loot, as each bed has a footlocker with a combination of a mid-condition laser pistol, energy cells and/or microfusion cells.
The door leading to the armory via the crawlspace requires a key. It can be stolen off Knight Torres, giving free reign of the armory, including four perfect sets of T-45d power armor and three T-45d power helmets.
Level 2[]
The second level is the heart of the bunker, with two distinct branches. The right hand corridor connects the entryway to the command center and office of Elder McNamara, with the living quarters of the top brass down another corridor.
The left hand accessway leads to the computer archives maintained by Scribe Ibsen, the workshops of Knight Lorenzo and finally the virtual reality training room, responsible for allowing the Brotherhood members to maintain their edge in spite of the lockdown. Head Scribe Lars Taggart and his protege, Apprentice Watkins, work here.
The VR training hub contains the terminal that allows one to trigger the bunker's self-destruct, either by hacking the Very Hard terminal or stealing the self-destruct keys from ranking officers. The player can initiate a self-destruct sequence that will immediately put them at the worst possible reputation with the Brotherhood and cause all Brotherhood members to go hostile. Aborting it is possible, but will not reverse the Brotherhood's stance. It seems they don't like toying with the destroy everything button.
Inhabitants[]
- Level 1
- Paladin Ramos
- Knight Torres
- Senior Scribe Linda Schuler
- Initiate Stanton
- Scribe teacher
- Level 2
- Elder Nolan McNamara
- Head Paladin Edgar Hardin
- Senior Knight Lorenzo
- Head Scribe Lars Taggart
- Scribe Ibsen
- Apprentice Melissa Watkins
- Generic characters
Notable loot[]
- Nikola Tesla and You: White plastic bin by the desk in the clinic.
- T-45d power armor and helmet and super sledge: Half-repaired, located in the Head Paladin's quarters. The power armor is factionless.
- It's possible to steal Gauss rifles at the shooting range if the Paladins practicing there accidentally shoot each other.
- The armory can also be cleared by exploiting NPC pathfinding, making a Paladin walk into the locked door in the crawlspace, by squeezing into the space left of the fortification to grab a suit of power armor using the Z key and dragging it out (also useful to steal Torres' key), or by attacking Torres in VATS using a melee weapon, then yielding.
Related quests[]
Marked quests[]
Unmarked quests[]
Behind the scenes[]
- Veronica will use the following lines to gain entry:
- Veronica: "Hi, I'd like a large atomic shake and a double brahmin burger. And easy on the agave sauce this time."
- Ramos: "Veronica, we gave you a password. It's for your own protection."
- Veronica: "Let me in, Ramos. I know where you live."
- Hidden Valley recycles a good deal of assets from Fallout 3, including the Raven Rock tile set, the Chinese officer's sword and the Mechanist's gears to display the Brotherhood insignia in the command room, and Tranquility Loungers for the VR hub. The textures are unaltered, resulting in artifacts like Tranquility Lane showing on the lounger panels.
Bugs[]
- It's possible for the player to access Hidden Valley again after blowing it up, by exploiting rubble placement in the external bunker and reaching the door, which is not flagged as inaccessible.
- prid 0010A6FF and then moveto player. The Paladin sitting at the shooting range might disappear off the map. He can be brough tback by using the console command
- The Paladins at the gun range may spawn in the same place or use the same shooting position, possibly attacking each other.
Appearances[]
Hidden Valley bunker appears only in Fallout: New Vegas.
References
- ↑ Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Collector's Edition p.401-402: "[5.11] Hidden Valley
Hidden Valley is housed in the remnants of a USAF bunker near the heart of the valley. Abandoned even before the war, the area around the bunker is littered with junk. Signs on the roads and peaks leading into the valley warn that it is a USAF testing range and stretches of drooping wire fences form a pathetic barrier in post-apocalyptic times. Upon entering the outer region of the actual bunkers, surviving Prospectors have reported an eerie feeling, and four bunkers, each with an intercom and complete, almost deafening silence on the other side. Others tell of seeing armored figures exiting the Valley from within a raging sandstorm that seems to arrive every evening and stay for the night. The main entrance is from the south gates, at the end of the side road from Long 95 that passes north of the NCR Correctional Facility [5.15]. There are periodic breaks in the perimeter fence, including a large breach to the north."
(Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Collector's Edition Tour of the Mojave Wasteland) - ↑ Hidden Valley bunker terminals; Terminal, Project Goals: Hidden Valley
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Hidden Valley bunker terminals; Terminal, Systems Overview
- ↑ The Courier: "Do you have any other family in the Brotherhood?"
Veronica Santangelo: "Just my parents, but they haven't been around for a long time. Dad was a Paladin, Mom was a Scribe. They died in the same battle trying to hold off the NCR from... something. I don't remember what it was. Guess it seemed important at the time."
The Courier: "Who was this Father Elijah to you?"
Veronica Santangelo: "I would say he was my tutor, but that doesn't cover it. After my parents passed, he looked after me. The whole Brotherhood brought me up, really, but he made sure of it. I never had a grandfather - not that I knew, anyway - but Elijah was in some ways what I'd imagine a grandfather to be."
(Veronica Santangelo's dialogue) Note: Veronica was born in 2254 and states she was brought up by the Brotherhood, indicating they passed in her early childhood, which pins the earliest known instance of NCR-Brotherhood hostility in the 2250s/2260s range. - ↑ Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Collector's Edition p.43: "Brotherhood of Steel The Brotherhood of Steel is a militant organization devoted to the preservation of pre-war technology and human knowledge. Their professed mission is to preserve pre-war technology and human knowledge for the benefit of future generations. In practice, its definition of technology is strangely selective, ignoring basic but potentially useful technologies (genetic modification of crops and civil engineering, for example) in favor of combat technology such as energy weapons and power armor: and even now, nearly two centuries after the Great War, the Brotherhood zealously restricts the use and knowledge of such technologies to its own membership. The Mojave Brotherhood operated freely amid the Vegas wastes for several years, carrying out many reclamation missions without serious opposition. The balance of power shifted in 2251, when a large contingent of NCR troops entered the region and occupied Hoover Dam. Conflict was inevitable. Nearly two years of guerilla skirmishes culminated in a pitched battle at HELIOS One, a solar energy plant the Brotherhood had been refurbishing for several months with the goals of bringing it back online and activating its hidden offensive capabilities (the ARCHIMEDES II death ray). The battle for HELIOS One (Operation: Sunburst) proved a disaster for the Mojave Brotherhood. More than half its Paladins and Knights were killed. The chapter's leader, Elder Elijah, disappeared without a trace. The Brotherhood was driven from the facility, which suffered extensive damage. Survivors retreated to Hidden Valley. Since that defeat, the chapter's leader, Elder McNamara, has restricted activity outside the bunker to occasional reconnaissance missions and high-value raids. All operations take place at night, and engagement of NCR forces is strictly forbidden. Though the Brotherhood's ascetic lifestyle has prepared its members for a sequestered existence better than most, the passivity of their current situation has proved highly stressful."(Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide faction profiles)
- ↑ The Courier: "One of the few times an Elder was dismissed was due to it."
Edgar Hardin: "I could be wrong, but I think that's a dead end. McNamara's always followed orders, and we've been incommunicado since fleeing HELIOS."
(Edgar Hardin's dialogue) - ↑ 7.0 7.1 Still in the Dark
- ↑ Eyesight to the Blind
- ↑ The Courier: "Where do you want me to start?"
Robert House: "Since 2278, I've lost five roaming Securitrons near Hidden Valley. I didn't receive any clear video of the incidents, but telemetry from the units destroyed indicates they were attacked with energy weapons. It's obvious that the Brotherhood has a base in Hidden Valley or thereabouts. Finding it won't be easy, but getting inside will be the real trick."
(Robert House's dialogue)
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