The Nahant Oceanological Society is a location in the Commonwealth in 2287.
Layout
This location consists of two buildings: a main building for the society with reception and offices, and a separate laboratory to the south. The society building has two entrance doors, one to the front (west) and one to the rear.
Inside the house there are two floors, with two Mr. Handy robots employed as "Oceanological instructor"s that may list off random facts about marine life. A door on the second floor of the house can be unlocked with Casey's key (which is found in a toolbox in the cabin of the wrecked boat just southeast of the house, along a small spit), behind which is a steamer trunk and wall safe (Advanced). To the rear exterior is a small shed on the decking with a locked door (Novice), with some minor loot inside.
The entrance door to the concrete constructed laboratory opens onto a catwalk level, which has a chemistry station, a locked (Master) steamer trunk, and a ramp leading to the lower level. Downstairs is a power armor station, a safe (Expert, which can be unlocked by the terminal next to it), and a locked first aid box (Novice). Several ammo boxes can also be found around the laboratory. A steel stairway on the west side wraps around a circular pool (empty) and leads up to the flat roof which offers a good sniping position of the numerous mirelurks and nests on the coastal fringe.
Beware of the larger barnacles on the external walls to the ocean side which spray a radioactive cloud if you pass too close.
Notable loot
- A Vault-Tec lunchbox can be found in the kitchen inside the house.
- Wasteland Survival Guide issue #6 can be found in the room with a weapons workbench inside the house, on a desk near a typewriter and a TV.
- Casey's key - found in a toolbox on a semi sunken boat off the coast near Nahant Oceanological Society. Opens door to Casey's office in the Society.
- Bottle message - X marks the spot - on a tiny sand island with picket fencing, just a few paces west of the half-sunken boat.
Notes
- The surrounding shore is home to a number of leveled mirelurks. In particular, going on or near the dock on the south side of the house may cause several of them to leap from hiding places.
- To reach Casey's key on the boat, it is necessary to pass by several mirelurk egg clutches, which will spawn hatchlings.
- Terminal entries here point out the research being conducted into radiation mutations and toxicity, hinted to be from bad business practices from large companies.
- Companions may comment on the Oceanological Instructor robots while in the same building as them.
- Codsworth expresses revulsion at the thought of being stuck on loop for two centuries.
- Preston Garvey says the facts are "actually pretty interesting."
- Strong is annoyed that the metal men won't shut up.
- Cait says "I wish these things would shut up!"
- John Hancock says "The Old State House in Goodneighbor used to have something like this. Best practice dummy we ever had."
- Nick Valentine says "Don't be afraid to dream big, buddy. This isn't all you have to be."
- Paladin Danse says "It appears as though this automated tour guide is unaware of current events."
- X6-88 comments that he's heard these facts "At least a dozen times each."
- Curie will comment that the science robots have inaccurate facts.
- A "hidden" first aid box can be found on the second floor. In the first room you enter from the stairs, face west toward a few filing cabinets. There is a heavily damaged door leading to a collapsed part of the ceiling that appears to be blocked by a downed filing cabinet. Standing on the downed filing cabinet towards the wall corner to avoid the hole in the floor, one can see the first aid kit. Opening the door allows access to the kit, despite the fact that the door's intact bottom clips through the file cabinet on the swing open and shut.
Appearances
The Nahant Oceanological Society only appears in Fallout 4.
Behind the scenes
 | The following is based on unverified behind the scenes information and may be inaccurate. |
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- The Nahant Oceanological Society is likely based on the real world Northeastern University Marine Science Center as both are located on the eastern tip of Nahant. The name suggests it may also be partially inspired by the much larger Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, although this is one hundred miles south of Nahant, and not part of the Fallout 4 game map.
- Interestingly, the real world Marine Science Center is situated on land which housed a Nike-Ajax missile battery during the Cold War, deployed to defend the Boston area against nuclear attack by Soviet bombers.
| End of information based on unverified behind the scenes information |
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Bugs
The two doors leading into the house, as well as the shed door, may not be able to be interacted with, making the Wasteland Survival Guide inaccessible. Saving, quitting, and restarting the game may resolve this issue.[verification overdue]- There may be a severe frame rate drop when looking in certain directions in the laboratory.[verified]
- The Expert locked safe downstairs in the lab building can be re-locked via the adjacent computer, then unlocked an unlimited number of times for the experience points.[verified]
- The Nuka-Cola machine on the ground floor of the house may glitch, causing the bottles to be lodged behind the machine. Due to the refrigerator on the right, it may make the bottles nearly impossible to access without dragging thinner items such as forks or mops to move them closer or else use explosives.[verified]
