Raven Rock
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Raven Rock, known as Site R before the Great War[1] is the East Coast Enclave's main base of operations in the Capital Wasteland. It is also a former American military base and fallout shelter built before the Great War. It is the most northwest location in the Capital Wasteland.
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[edit] Background
Raven Rock was designed at the beginning of the Cold War as a shelter for top military officials from the effects of a possible nuclear attack on the nation.[1] The special ZAX unit, (later known as President John Henry Eden), was implanted in the site before the Great War to serve as a monitoring system for Raven Rock and tasked with coordinating communications between the many Enclave installations scattered across the country. Many decades after the Great War, ZAX began to observe the Enclave force in the Enclave Oil Rig and it gained knowledge with the extensive archives left in its early A.I. data base. Slowly ZAX modeled its own personality.
At some point after gaining self-awareness, John Henry Eden made contact with the Enclave leadership on the West Coast, establishing itself as a Presidential Adviser. Raven Rock came to serve as the central base of operations for the Capital Wasteland Enclave since the retreat of the Enclave force located in the Enclave Oil Rig in 2242, when John Henry Eden took control of the Enclave as the new President after the death of Dick Richardson.
Raven Rock is powered by a General Atomics nuclear reactor and gets its fresh water from deep underground wells and a mini purifier similar to other vaults. It is also likely that Raven Rock had manufacturing capabilities able to produce vertibirds, power armor, and weapons. The Satcom defensive array may also have been a part of Raven Rock's defense because the real world Site-R (Raven Rock) has a large number of satellite arrays. This combined with a significant defensive robotic army, probably made Raven Rock the second most powerful Enclave outpost (after the Enclave Oil Rig). After the Lone Wanderer was captured in 2277, a civil war breaks out in Raven Rock between President John Henry Eden's sentry bots and Colonel Augustus Autumn and the Enclave troopers. Raven Rock was eventually destroyed by the Lone Wanderer after their invasion, or by Liberty Prime during the two weeks after the activation of the Project Purity, if the Lone Wanderer didn't destroy Raven Rock before.
[edit] Layout
Raven Rock has three levels, indicated by a number and a letter. Level three is the bottom and level one is the top. Raven Rock can be confusing to navigate, with its many corridors, rooms, and open areas being very similar to each other with few distinguishing differences.
[edit] Notable loot
- The Energy Weapons Bobblehead is located near the end of Sector 2C in Colonel Autumn's room, along with the ZAX destruct sequence. If you miss it during your visit to Raven Rock you will be unable to retrieve it later. After opening one of the large metal doors on the second floor, the player will be confronted with two doors, one with two enemies behind it. The bobblehead is behind the western door. The player should not enter the Control Room before retrieving the bobblehead, as the doors will lock permanently.
[edit] Related quests
[edit] Notes
- Depending on the Lone Wanderer's choices throughout the game, a couple of named non-player characters might be found while moving about Raven Rock. Nathan Vargas from Megaton can be found warning the Lone Wanderer that the Enclave "aren't who they say they are" and to "get out while you still can." Anna Holt can also be found in a room near Eden's office. She has gone to work for the Enclave, seduced by their advanced technology and promises to improve the wasteland. She is the one who has let the Enclave know what they need to make the Purifier work (except the access code, which she apparently doesn't know), and is responsible for Autumn's following you to steal the G.E.C.K.. Killing her at this point will still grant negative Karma. Leaving her to be blown up along with Raven Rock will not, however.
- The base itself isn't accessible during free-form play (only the entry door and surrounding compound can be reached from the southeast). You arrive here after Finding the Garden of Eden and escape during The American Dream, after which the entrance seals behind you.
- The player character can destroy Raven Rock through a speech check with President Eden, or by finding his self destruct code on Autumn's terminal.
- If the Lone Wanderer does not destroy Raven Rock himself, then with Broken Steel installed, Liberty Prime will destroy the base.
- When Raven Rock is destroyed, Enclave Radio can no longer be heard.
- The turrets and sentry bots will still be friendly after you put the ZAX into its self-destruct sequence.
- The deathclaw you encounter in the base will become hostile after the Enclave has been wiped out in that area.
[edit] Appearances
Raven Rock only appears in Fallout 3.
[edit] Behind the scenes
- Raven Rock Mountain Complex is a real-world government facility located just north of Pennsylvania's southern border. However, the design of Raven Rock's entrance is visually similar to the Mount Weather complex, another nuclear bunker, which is about 50 miles northwest of Washington DC. Mount Weather is designed to be the President's personal fallout shelter, while Raven Rock is meant more for important Pentagon employees. Raven Rock is located in the upper left-hand corner of the map in Fallout 3, roughly in the area of Travilah, Maryland, and relatively close to Mount Weather.
[edit] Bugs
- The outer hatch can be blown off from the outside by small arms fire (but not grenades). If you enter the complex (before The Waters of Life quest), you will be blocked from further entry by an invisible wall. When you leave, you will trigger the event where Colonel Autumn's vertibirds flee the compound. If you go back and exit one more time, the vertibirds will be stuck to the ground on top of Raven Rock. Just climb up there and you can study them closely. But you can not do anything to them. They still, of course, blow up if a sufficient amount of damage is dealt.
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There is a glitch where if you convinced Eden to self-destruct and you fast travel back to Raven Rock with Fawkes as a follower at a later time, Fawkes will get stuck under the level. You can solve this by moving away until he starts following you and he will re-glitch back onto the surface. This glitch can also occur with Dogmeat, but if you try to re-glitch he will die.
- After the base has been destroyed, Enclave troopers will spawn close to Raven Rock and will flee.
- After the base has been destroyed, from the hatch, go left and around the mountain. When you get to the top, there is a bunch of hovering flames. They cannot be interacted with.
- Your companions seem to be lost after you are captured. Make sure to dismiss them before taking the G.E.C.K.
- It is possible to become stuck under the stair wells.
[edit] Gallery
Entrance
A vertibird bay
War room
A locker room
Colonel Augustus Autumn's room
Entry to John Henry Eden's room
A feral ghoul in cryogenic stasis
A deathclaw in cryogenic stasis
A yao guai in cryogenic stasis
A Vault 87 super mutant in stasis
Robotic research room
Raven Rock destroyed
Lab concept art by Adam Adamowicz
[edit] References
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