The mobile base crawler is a large command vehicle found at Adams Air Force Base in the Fallout 3 add-on, Broken Steel.
Background
It was originally a space shuttle orbiter mobile platform that the Enclave have appropriated with newly developed technology and a huge satellite array. It now serves as a mobile central command center for the Enclave, a location to stash their most valuable technology. It is also used to launch orbital strikes as shown during Death From Above and Who Dares Wins from the Bradley-Hercules satellite. This battle-station is also where the elite Squad Sigma train and deathclaw experimentations continue.
Location and entry
The mobile base crawler is located at Adams Air Force Base, on the eastern side. The crawler can only be entered after the terminal to lower the ramp has been activated; the terminal becomes accessible during the quest, Who Dares Wins.
Layout
The interior consists of 4 parts:
Base floor
The first area is the base floor and is called mobile base crawler. Stiggs, an Enclave engineer who will help the Lone Wanderer if he allowed to live, can be found here. If the alarm sounds Enclave Squad Sigma will appear. There is also a small room behind a pulse field which contains various materials and a workbench. Behind another repulsion field lies an armory which contains several weapons, ammunition and armor.
The repulsion fields around the base can be turned off via nearby control panels. When these panels are activated there will be four options:
- Do nothing: nothing will happen.
- Turn off the repulsion field: requires a Science skill of 80, and will completely turn the field off.
- Set a timed charge: requires an Explosives skill of 50, this will blow the panel up and partially disable the field allowing it to walked through at the cost of minor damage.
- Smash the control panel: this will destroy the panel, causing damage to the Lone Wanderer and partially disabling the field with the same effect as setting a charge.
Launch platform base
The second part is the launch platform base. This consists of a deathclaw research facility, where two deathclaws can be found and the slo-burn flamer on a small platform where two more repulsion fields can be activated. At the deathclaw research facility there is a security terminal that unlocks all doors and a robot control terminal with four options:
- Perform safety shutdown: This will shut down all Enclave robots in the mobile base crawler.
- Scramble robot targeting parameters: This will cause the robots to attack everybody, including the lone Wanderer and any Enclave personnel and soldiers.
- Run robotics diagnostic: This will display the status of the robots.
- Target Enclave: Requires Robotics Expert. This will cause the robots in the mobile base crawler to attack the Enclave Forces.
There is also a medical bay on the launch platform base, in here several rooms with medical facilities, several toilets, the sleeping quarters, dining room and a kitchen can be found. There is also a storage room directly below (down the stairs) from the door to the launch pad. Inside to the right are five missiles hidden in a bucket in the corner on top of a container. There is also an armory, requiring 75 Lockpick skill to enter, where several weapons with ammunition, including the precision Gatling laser and an alien blaster with alien power cells (some in average locked weapon crates), can be found.
Roof
Between the launch platform base and the satellite control tower is the roof. On the roof there are 3 landing pads for vertibirds, on which a vertibird will set down several Enclave soldiers. There are also 2 small huts with some ammunition. There are 5 sentry bots here that can be hacked using an available terminal.
Satellite control tower
The satellite control tower consists of 3 floors, which can be reached through a staircase or by walking up 3 different sets of stairs. Some ammunition boxes can be found here. On the third floor there is a terminal which contains information about an Enclave scientist who hates it there; this terminal will also have a note saying that they have locked all the storage doors to keep in the malfunctioning robots (if they have been set against their masters). There is also a terminal which unlocks all doors. The satellite uplink terminal is also here, which allows control over the orbital satellites. The terminal gives the choice to fire on one of the following targets:
- Citadel: This destroys the Brotherhood of Steel's Capital Wasteland headquarters. This option causes -1000 Karma, equivalent to blowing up Megaton or infecting Project Purity with the FEV virus.
- Project Purity (The Jefferson Memorial): This option will fail and gives message: Satellite not in proper orbit path.
- Megaton: This option also fails and gives the message: Satellite not in proper orbit path.
- Rivet City Carrier: This option also fails and gives the message: Satellite not in proper orbit path.
- Adams Air Force Base Platform: This option blows up the mobile base crawler, giving +1000 Karma, equivalent to sacrificing yourself to activate Project Purity.
After a target has been chosen the Lone Wanderer can go outside where Sentinel Lyons will come to the rescue with a stolen vertibird.
Notable loot
- Alien blaster - Launch platform base, in a Hard locked gun case in the armory which is guarded by the armory master. Along with it is a few alien power cells and three more Average locked boxes containing cells below the gun case.
- Precision Gatling laser - carried by the armory master.
- Composite recon helmet - worn by the armory master.
- Slo-burn flamer - Launch platform base, in the southeast end inside a stasis field behind the sign labeled "Sensitive Electronics".
- 13 combat knives in perfect condition can be found in the storage room, behind a large white crate.
- 17 lead pipes, all in perfect condition, can be found in the storage room, close to one of the middle deck access hatches to the entrance bay.
- 17 knives in perfect condition can be found in the kitchen, on the oven.
Related quest: Who Dares Wins
It is necessary to go inside the mobile base crawler and launch an orbital strike to complete Broken Steel as part of the last main quest of the add-on.
Notes
This gnome had some fun!
- After the end of Broken Steel (If the crawler has been destroyed), Scribe Rothchild will inform the Lone Wanderer that the Brotherhood is reclaiming massive amounts of weapons and technology from the remains of the crawler and surrounding base.
- After completing Who Dares Wins, the mobile base crawler will not be accessible without using console commands.
- There is a drum of Aqua Pura in the satellite control tower as well as a stack of drums beneath the stairs in the southwest corner of the launch platform base.
- Somewhat amusingly, in two of the toilets in the base, there's a length of human intestine.
- Drinking from any of the toilets or sinks in any restroom has no rad penalty.
- A bloody garden gnome with glowing eyes and a deathclaw hand can be found in one of the stalls.
- In between a counter with junk on top, there is a small gap where a garden gnome stands, in front of the gnome is a ball and farther in the gap, is a triangular pattern of milk bottles, which is an obvious reference to bowling.
Bugs
If you exit and re-enter the satellite tower from door on the top floor (leading to the landing pad) all the items on the bodies inside will respawn, you can repeat this over and over for infinite ammunition, Enclave armor, weapons etc. Exiting the tower from the bottom floor and re-entering sometimes causes the bodies to disappear; exiting and re-entering from the top again will restore the bodies. [verified]- Disabling the forcefield that blocks the player from reaching the slo-burn flamer by bashing it, and walking through while over encumbered may cause the player to take continuous damage, regardless of whether they are actually in contact with the field. This leads to a guaranteed death (and the player's body twitching after death, as if still taking damage). Being normally encumbered while going through the field appeared to solve this. [verified]
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