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Nipton Road Rest Stop¶

After following the road east a ways you should find yourself in the Nipton Road Rest Stop, which consists of several ruined buildings now occupied by Jackal Gang Members. Once they’ve been subdued, search the northern building to find a Mine Box and a Grenade Box [Easy]. As for more obscure loot you can find a Briefcase under a blue car and a Dufflebag in the corner of a building to the south, hidden behind a bush. Grab the loot then press on to the east.

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Jacklyn (left) or Tomas (right)… whichever of the two survives their fight will approach you and claim surprise at the actions of the other. Make sure you leave with the Sunset Sarsaparilla Star Bottle Caps Jacklyn tried to kill Tomas for.

Jacklyn and Tomas¶

Between the Nipton Road Rest Stop and Nipton you can often encounter the quarreling pair of Jacklyn and Tomas, who are locked in deadly combat. Whoever wins will come talk to you and express surprise at the attack by the other. If it’s Tomas who survived the encounter, you can quickly deduce that Jacklyn was after his “lucky charm necklace”, which you can convince Tomas to hand over with a successful [Speech 50] check. Otherwise, Jacklyn will play dumb and ultimately walk off. On her own, Jacklyn has two Sunset Sarsaparilla Star Bottle Caps on her… unless she killed Tomas, in which case she’ll add his necklace - worth seven such Caps - to her inventory. If you don’t convince Tomas to hand his necklace over, you can always kill the survivor and take their Caps, or steal them as they leave.

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Oliver Swanick seems awfully happy that he won some lottery (left). Vulpes Inculta - the leader of the Legion forces that sacked Nipton - will shed light on the town’s demise (right).

A Town of Whores¶

As you approach Nipton, which was once clearly a fairly large and prosperous town, given the size of it, you’ll spot some unsettling signs. The smoke is the most obvious, but the red bull standards flying in the town hint at the smoke’s origin. On the outskirts of town you’ll encounter Oliver Swanick, a Powder Ganger who is high on life after winning some lottery. After he’s done boasting about his dubious accomplishment, he’ll run off, likely to be food for some creature in the Mojave.

Continue east into town where more obvious signs of atrocity start to appear; heads on spikes and crucified people are pretty unambiguous. Turn north past the General Store and approach the town hall to see a group of Legion soldiers led by Vulpes Inculta, who is only too eager to claim responsibility for the massacre in Nipton and tell you why Nipton was destroyed. If you say “What “lessons” did you teach here?” then either “Sounds like they got what was coming to them” or “I admire the purity of the Legion’s justice” you’ll gain Fame with Caesar’s Legion. He will also give you the task of spreading the word; the Legion is west of the Colorado River, they are strong, and the NCR is not safe. This starts the quest Cold, Cold Heart .

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The Legion may have gone, but they’ve left behind dangers in the form of explosives (left) and Legion Mongrels (right).

Nipton Town Hall¶

You have the information Ranger Ghost needs, but since you’re here, you might as well search the town, starting with the Town Hall. Head into the building to find plenty of dead Wastelanders with their losing Lottery Tickets lying around. The Legion left some Legion Mongrels around, but killing them won’t earn you any Infamy. Search behind a counter to the east, being wary of a Frag Mine as you do so, and grab a Worn Key, which will open a locked door to the north [Hard]. Head down the stairs beyond the door to find a small room littered with chems, a Gun Cabinet, a Stash Toolbox, a Refrigerator, a Vending Machine, an Explosives Crate, a First Aid Box and some food. Return upstairs and search the rest of the level… which is pretty uninteresting. When you’re ready to move on, head up some stairs to the north to reach the second floor of the Town Hall.

The second floor is pretty uninteresting as well; kill a pack of Legion Mongrels then search the room to the south to find the body of a Dead Prospector, which is worth looting… at least compared to all the other bodies around here. In the offices to the east you can find a Frag Mine, but otherwise there’s not much to see. Head up some stairs to the west to reach Steyn’s Office.

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Grabbing this Worn Key will allow you to bypass a locked [Hard] door (left). Be sure to grab the Big Book of Science off Mayor Steyn’s desk (right).

On the third floor, loot two Vending Machines to the north and a Refrigerator in the same room while In the bathroom to the east you can find a First Aid Box. When you’ve searched that head south down a hallway and open a locked door [Very Easy] to the west to find an office beyond which is less interesting than the the fact that it was locked in the first place. Through the unlocked door to the east you’ll find the Mayor’s office, which is much more interesting. Mess around with Mayor Steyn’s Terminal to find out more about the less-than-respectable mayor. More interesting is the Big Book of Science on the desk, near which is a box of Mentats and a pair of Programmer’s Digest magazines. In the ruined cabinet behind the desk you can find 40 Energy Cells, a Laser Pistol, a copy of Future Weapons Today and a Bobby Pin. When all that loot is yours, open the locked door [Average] to the east to find a small storage room, wherein you can find a Gun Cabinet, an Armor Case and on a metal shelf rests a 10mm Pistol and 32 10mm Rounds, as well as some food, chems and a Nuka-Cola Victory.

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Boxcars will reveal more about the dubious lottery held by the Legion (left). One paranoid resident of Nipton protected his “Declaration of Vital Essence” with many devious traps (right).

Searching Nipton¶

Leave the Town Hall and turn your attention to the rest of Nipton, which consists of several houses with mundane loot inside which you can explore at your leisure. There are a few buildings more interesting than the rest, however:

• West of the Town Hall you’ll find Nipton Hotel, inside of which lie the bodies of four dead NCR Troopers. No Lottery Tickets for them. There’s also a Cash Register [Easy] which is worth looting.
• In the General Store you’ll find an unfriendly Powder Ganger named Boxcar, who came in second place in the Legion lottery. They allowed him to live, but was hobbled, which is a dubious sort of “win”. He’ll tell you about the fate of the mayor and the other townsfolk, some of whom were enslaved and taken to the east. Learning about this starts the quest Booted . You can also give Boxcar some Med-X to raise your Karma, but you don’t otherwise get anything out of it. If you search the store you can find a Weapon Repair Kit. Grab it and head through a door behind the counter [Easy] and head upstairs to find a Safe with some goodies inside, a Milsurp Review magazine on a carpet.
• In the Nipton House south of the General Store you can find a Sunset Sarsaparilla Start Bottle Cap on a counter in the south-western bedroom.
• South-east of the General Store is a fenced-off trailer park, where you can find a bit of mundane loot in the trailers themselves. There’s also the body of a Wastelander, near which is a Laser Rifle. The Ash Pile nearby suggests that the Wastelander managed to kill a member of Caesar’s Legion before he died.
• West of the General Store you can find a barricaded house, obviously the home of a very paranoid person. Inside you’ll find a cage [Average], inside of which are a trio of Bark Scorpions. There’s a Frag Mine in the south-western corner of the room, and in the doorways leading north and east are Rigged Shotgun traps. There’s another Frag Mine in the kitchen, the bedroom and the bathroom. In the kitchen you’ll find a dead Recruit Legionary, a Cabinet [Average] a Refrigerator [Easy] and a Tool Cabinet, the latter of which contains the note “Declaration of Vital Essence”, which confirms the inhabitant of this house was, indeed, a wacko. In the bedroom you’ll a Cabinet [Easy], a desk [Very Easy] and a pair of Footlockers near the bed. In the doorway to the bathroom is a pressure plate which unlocks the Bark Scorpions, beyond which is a Safe [Very Easy].
• In a Primm House south-east of the Town Hall you’ll be attacked by a Mister Gutsy, which is a push-over. Once the machine is shut down, search under a Workbench to the south-east to find a Plasma Pistol. In the kitchen, under a metal shelf, you can find a hidden 9mm Submachine Gun. The owner of this house really liked hiding guns, eh? Investigate a Terminal to find out that the owner of the house was… well, a sexually frustrated nerd. In the bedroom to the north-west you’ll find a dead Recruit Legionary, a Safe [Average] and a Knife and a suit of Leather Armor in the corner by the bed. The bathroom, on the other hand, only contains a 9 Iron by the sink.

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Ranger Ghost can hardly believe the cause of Nipton’s demise (left) and other, less sturdy NCR soldeirs are shaken to the point of despair (right). Vulpes Inculta’s terror tactics seem to be working.

Cold, Cold Heart¶

When you have searched Nipton to your satisfaction, return to the Mojave Outpost and tell Ranger Ghost about the Legion. She is, suffice to say, not happy with the answer. Oh well. At least she might not be bored too much longer. Leave the roof and talk to Sgt. Kilborn and tell him about the Legion’s attack on Nipton to cause him to spiral into doubt and self-pity, which he promises to spread to the rest of the NCR garrison. This appeases Vulpes Inculta and ends the quest Cold, Cold Heart .

The Legion is more aggressive than word has let on, and perhaps the NCR’s grasp on the land west of the Colorado River isn’t as firm as they would like one to believe. It’s now time to head east past Nipton which will eventually lead you to Nipton… but before you go, you can explore the lands south of Nipton, explore the areas along the train tracks running parallel to I-15, and finally deal with the Powder Gangers. Let’s start out with the latter option first, and set your sights on the NCRCF.