After the quest Three-Card Bounty is over, the First Recon squad will relocate to Camp Forlorn Hope, where they can be more productive putting holes in Legion soldiers instead of warding off Fiends. You’re almost done in Camp McCarran, too, as many of the named quests in the Terminal building can be resolved in favor of the NCR or the Legion, a decision that’s going to be left for later. That said, there are a few thing you can do to make the NCR happy without angering the Legion… while perhaps scoring a neat weapon along the way.

Camp McCarran Terminal Bulding¶

Head inside the Terminal Building, where you can find more loot to claim, including a Footlocker and an Ammo Box behind a barricade and various other containers with mundane loot inside. Other than that, though, there’s not much you should bother with in here for now. Stay away from the door to the monorail (upstairs and to the east) unless your reputation with the NCR is “Liked”. Also, if your reputation is “Liked” or higher, talk to Col. James Hsu. Don’t engage any of his dialogue options, just start up a conversation and he’ll give you the NCR Safehouse Key and tell you about the location, which you’re now free to use. Score. Exit out of the conversation without starting any silly quests, then return to the entrance and head upstairs, and make your way south through some doors to reach the Concourse.

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Contreras’ side jobs aren’t exactly legal, but he’s willing to cut you in on some action if you’re willing to do some leg-work (left). You can collect a junkyard’s worth of scrap for Isaac… or just pass a Speech or Barter check (right).

Morales in Mourning¶

Immediately upon reach the Concourse, look for a seated soldier near the entrance named Pvt. Christina Morales, who is hoping for some good news regarding her deceased husband, Esteban. Learn the story about her valiant husband’s demise, and the NCR’s cowardly reaction to it, then offer to help her get her husband’s body back… eithe for money, or out of the kindness of your heart.

Time for a little diversion, then. Fast-travel to the REPCONN Headquarters, east of which is now the new map marker “Ranger Esteban’s Corpse”. Lovely. Head to the north to find and NCR barricade along the road, near which you’ll be pestered by an NCR Trooper who will tell you of the dangers ahead. Mines, Fiends, yeah, yeah… Watch and learn, chumps.

Follow the road east, then south over some train tracks. Take out Ratslayer and continue south whilst keeping an eye on the buildings to the east, as Fiends lurk on the roofs, eager to snipe anybody approaching. Unfortunately for them, you should have better weaponry, so stay hidden, keep your distance and pick them off, if you can. Once done head into the enclosure formed by the three buildings to find Ranger Morales lying on the pavement. Before you manipulate his body, explore an alley to the north, north-west, disarm a Rigged Shotgun and the Tripwire it was attached to, then explore to the east, north-east to find some Bear Traps you can spring.

Once done, return to the body and pick it up by pressing down the [R3] button, and slowly drag it back to the NCR barricade. The astonished NCR Troopers will comment on your heroism and tell you to head back to Christina Morales back at Camp McCarran and tell her the news. When you do, you’ll be rewarded for your efforts… or rather, you’ll be thanked. What? No NCR Fame or anything? Oh well… In any event, it’s time to explore the rest of the Concourse.

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The fact that Farber had to bribe a “health inspector” should say much about the quality of food at McCarran (left). You can make the soldier’s meals less unbearable by completing some tasks for Farber (right).

Farbers Food Failure¶

In the Concourse you can find some Footlockers to loot, as well as the odd Armor Case, but the real point of interest is perhaps the NCR’s greatest enemy; Cpl. William Farber, whose cooking skills are legendarily bad. Talk to him and endure his suspicions and complaints, then ask for some food to get him to talk about their limited variety of supplies. The Legion probably just eats whatever they are given, but the special snowflakes in the NCR are grumbling about the bland dishes, so offer to help improve Farber’s supplies. He’ll suggest three things to improve the mood around Camp McCarran; meat, repaired cooking machinery, and spices. Ask about these three things for more information on the tasks you’ll need to complete and you’ll be given the notes “Food Processor Parts List” and “Meat Vendor List”.

First up is the machine that needs fixing, the components for which are numerous and varied. Places like the REPCONN Headquarters and Camp McCarran itself have most of these components laying around (if you don’t mind stealing a bit of it). You can also talk to random merchants, especially Old Lady Gibson at the Gibson Scrapyard also sells a bunch. Or you could just inspect the machine and pass a [Repair 80] check. Now for the meat. Fast-travel to the Crimson Caravan compound and talk to Blake and succeed at either a [Speech 70] or a [Barter 50] check and he’ll agree to deliver the meat and spices. Return to William Farber and tell him the good news. Your reward for all this? A discount when buying food from Farber. Yay…

Contreras¶

While in the Concourse, head south-east down a tunnel to find a door leading to the Camp McCarran Supply Shack, inside of which you’ll find Sgt. Daniel Contreras. Talk to him and question him about his supplies and he’ll prompt you with innuendo, after which pay him 50 Caps or succeed at a [Speech 50] or [Barter 50] check to get him to talk about his expanded inventory… which he’ll offer to allow you to peruse if you do a little legwork for him. Agree and he’ll tell you to seek out a Gun Runner named Isaac and give you the note “McCarran Arms Request”. Why help out Contreras? Well, he’s got a whopping selection of ammunition, including over 1000 rounds of .308 ammo, and an improved selection and a discount aren’t terrible things to have. You can also get a unique weapon for helping him out.

If you don’t care about the improved inventory and want to get the weapon without doing too much running around, however, head upstairs and hack the “NCR Supply Database” terminal [Average] and select the “Download Weapons Manifest” entry to get a note of the same name. Return to the McCarran Terminal building and head through a room to the north-west on the second level to find Lt. Carrie Boyd and tattle on Contreras and you’ll get the weapon This Machine and resolve the quest. Of course, Contreras won’t be around anymore, but… at least you didn’t have to do much work. You also get Fame this way, whereas you won’t when dealing with Contreras. NCR Fame is fine and all, but there will be more than enough ways to get to that lovely “Idolized” status without doing this.

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You can strike a deal with Keller to get Contreras to snitch (left) or you can kill the undercover Ranger to keep Contreras safe (right).

On the other hand, assuming you don’t mind actually playing the game, leave Camp McCarran and fast-travel to the Gun Runners vendortron stall, where there’s a good chance you’ll find Issac messing around on the Reloading Bench. Failing that, head east to find Isaac’s House past the Hostetler House. Wherever he is, talk to Isaac and tell him about Contreras’s request. Either succeed at a [Speech 80] or [Barter 80] check to get him to supply the ammunition, or, failing that, you’ll have to supply him with one hundred pieces of metal (Scrap Metal, Tin Cans) first. This junk metal can be found all over the place, purchased from merchants, or salvaged from robotic enemies, but it can be tedious to gather. Succeeding at one of the skill checks considerably quicker, even if you have to use a magazine to manage it.

Return to Contreras and tell him the news and he’ll give you a bigger job; to get some medical supplies from Blake at the Crimson Caravan company. Fast travel back to the Crimson Caravan and talk to Blake and ask him for the supplies, then optionally ask for more information about the supplies and succeed at a [Science 25] or [Medicine 25] check… mostly just for XP. Pay Contreras another visit and mention that his supplies can be used to make chems, then call him out on his lies to get him to give you 150 Caps in exchange for your silence. After that hand over the Medical Supplies for another 250 Caps.

Contreras has one more job for you; deliver a package to someone named Price, who can be found at Miguel’s Pawn Shop in Westside. He’ll give you back the Medical Supplies and tell you a password, then send you off on your merry way. Westside is north-west of Camp McCarran, just west and slightly north of the South Cistern map marker, which you may have discovered during the quest Heartache by the Number , or due north of the Sunset Sarsaparilla Headquarters. There are two entrances to Westside; one to the south (Westside South Entrance) and to the west (Westside West Entrance). The south entrance will get you near The Thorn map marker, while the west entrance is near Miguel’s Pawn Shop.

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If you become “Liked” by the NCR, Colonel Hsu will give you the NCR Safehouse Key (left). Inside the safehouse you’ll find a splendid collection of goodies (right).

Discover what you will, then make your way into Miguel’s Pawn Shop, where you’ll find Miguel, the proprietor, and Keller. Talk to Keller and ask for Price and you’ll be told that Keller is handling the deliveries in the meantime. You can refuse to trust him or give him the pass-phrase, which he doesn’t respond correctly to. In the latter case there’s a [Perception 7] check which can’t be passed, but if you let him in on the fact that there’s a password at all he’ll try to arrest you for looking for Price, who apparently ran afoul of the law. Succeed at a [Speech 70] check to deflect suspicion, hand over the package, or pick a fight. Handing over the package here, or at any other point is a bad idea, so don’t do it. Alternatively if you return to Contreras without dealing with Keller you can tell him about Keller and pass either a [Speech 80] or a [Barter 70] check to convince Contreras to work with Keller to save his own skin, then return to Keller and succeed at a [Barter 80] check to convince him to go along with it.

None of those routes get you the weapon or the expanded inventory, however, so return to Contreras after talking to Keller and he’ll tell you to eliminate the ranger. You can do this at any stage of the conversation with Keller, whether you return to Contreras first or not. Just be sure to talk to him to find out he’s an under-cover ranger and pick a fight in dialogue. Once Keller is dead return to Contreras to get access to his expanded stock. He’ll also give you the gun This Machine .

That’s all for Camp McCarran and it’s finally time to return to the Brotherhood of Steel with the holotapes salvaged off the bodies of the fallen squad.