New Vegas New Vegas , originally known as Las Vegas prior to the Great War in the Wasteland before Robert House revived its reconstruction , is a city built upon the remains of , located in southern Nevada . Unlike the other major cities of the United States , Vegas emerged from the atomic fire of the Great War relatively unscathed , with most of the major damage caused by the downfall of society in general . Background . Vegas ' survival is owed to the actions of Robert House . In 2065 , House predicted that a nuclear exchange between the USA and China would take place within the next 15 years , and decided to put all of his resources into protecting his home city of Las Vegas . He used his considerable intelligence and vast wealth to ensure that when war finally came , he would be prepared . He created an army of securitron s , some to police the strip , but the bulk of them were hidden beneath Fortification Hill for activation at a later date . He also had his own hotel , the Lucky 38 Casino , fitted with radar - jamming systems , missile arrays , a laser defense network , and life - support systems . House calculated that his defenses would see off the majority of missiles bound for Vegas , but at least some damage to outer Vegas and the surrounding towns was unavoidable , and that more was to be done . To this end , he had engineers in Sunnyvale develop the platinum chip , a data storage device that would upgrade his defense systems and securitrons to the Mark II OS , ensuring that Vegas and the surrounding area would be safe . The platinum chip was due for delivery by courier on October 23 , 2077 , the day of the Great War . The attack , however , came 20 hours earlier than House had predicted , and before the platinum chip could leave Sunnyvale , the city was reduced to rubble , the chip buried beneath it . House was forced to make do with his relatively primitive stasis systems and although most of Vegas was saved , he suffered numerous system crashes and was eventually forced into a coma . Little is known of what happened in this period of Vegas ' history , although evidence of riots scar the city even today , and at least one overweight gangster similar to Don Gizmo , was known to have made his mark . In 2138 , House awoke from his coma , but bided his time , watching the city be settled by tribals and raiders . In 2274 , New California Republic ( NCR ) scouts arrived at Hoover Dam , piquing House ' s interest . These were no tribals , these were civilized people - somewhere , out in the wastes , a new society had begun . A society that would no doubt see Las Vegas and its power source , the Dam , as theirs for the taking . House ' s securitrons finally emerged from the Lucky 38 , offering an ultimatum to the raider tribes settled on the Strip : join House and be part of his New Vegas , leave the Strip , or die . Three tribes accepted his offer , the Chairmen , the Omertas and the White Glove Society , becoming known as the Three Families . Only the Kings and the Great Khans refused , with the Kings settling in Freeside while the Great Khans were exiled to Bitter Springs . The Three Families , as well as the securitrons , would be enough to protect the Strip for now , but if the NCR tried to take it by force they would not be able to resist in any meaningful way . Instead , House had members of the three families , as well as a couple of his securitrons occupy the dam . When the main NCR forces arrived to assume control of the dam , House sent a securitron forward to call for a parley between the NCR ' s leaders and himself . Eventually , they reached an agreement in form of the New Vegas treaty whereby the NCR would get 95 % of the Dam ' s power output , McCarran International Airport as a base of operation , and the permission to establish an embassy on the Strip , while the Strip gets the remaining 5 % power output - much more than required to run the place - and immunity from annexation . The treaty also disallowed the NCR from denying their citizens and soldiers to visit the Strip , leading to a boom in New Vegas ' economy , as tourists from all corners of the NCR , as well as stationed troopers on leave , would flock to the Strip and spend their hard earned salaries on gambling , alcohol and prostitutes . Around the same time , on the other side of the Colorado river , Caesar set his eyes on New Vegas . Feeling that the empire he was building lacked a true capital , a place he would be proud to call his Rome , he mobilized Caesar ' s Legion in the hopes of forcing the NCR out of the Mojave Wasteland and taking the city for himself . In 2277 this culminated in First Battle of Hoover Dam , which the Legion lost . Caesar , however , has not given up his plans of taking control of Vegas , and has waited patiently in his headquarters on Fortification Hill ever since his first defeat for an opportunity to strike again . The continuous presence of the Legion has created a delicate power balance in the region . The NCR would have taken the Strip long ago , but the presence of the Legion means that if they attacked the Strip , they would be vulnerable to an attack from the Legion at Hoover Dam . House has grand plans for Vegas - he calculates that on the back of tourism from the NCR , Vegas ' economy will be strong enough to restart the development of new technology within 20 years , put people in orbit within 50 years , and within 100 years , have a colony ready to leave Earth behind and settle a new planet , untouched by war . And that is why he cannot let either side win . House spent over 812 , 545 hiring salvage teams to recover the platinum chip from Sunnyvale in just one year , with countless more spent during other years . Having finally recovered it , House arranged for it to be transported back to him . Fearing , however , that the leader of the Chairmen , Benny , was conspiring against him and would try to steal the chip upon its arrival in the Mojave Wasteland , he had his trusted securitron , , contact the Mojave Express in Primm , to hire six couriers . Five of the couriers were going to carry various novelty items , acting as decoys for the sixth courier , who was given the chip , effectively placing the future of New Vegas in that person ' s hands . Layout . Freeside . Freeside is the main slum of New Vegas . Controlled by the Kings and the Van Graffs , the streets are dangerous and lack the luster of the New Vegas Strip . Many gamblers and tourists would find themselves being attacked by thugs looking for a quick source of caps . Recent tensions between the NCR and the Kings have worsened the situation between both sides as more tourists come under attack . Like the rest of outer Vegas , Freeside shows resentment towards the NCR , but realize they can be put through a tollbooth since it is the only way into the Casinos . Freeside is divided into two sections . The first section is C shaped and comprised of the western , northern , and eastern parts of the district . This section is the first you can enter from the Mojave as it has both of Freeside ' s external gates . Several rough bodyguards stand near the gates , offering their " " services " " on the mean streets for a paltry sum of caps . The second section covers the central and southern parts of the district . This section is reached from the north by passing through a wrecked - vehicle roadblock that divides the two parts of Freeside , or from the north - west through a zone door at the back of a ruin building between the Silver Rush and the Atomic Wrangler casino , or from the south via The Strip North Gate . New Vegas sewers . Located under the New Vegas area is a sewer system with exits to most of the settlements around the city . There are no entrances to the sewers located inside the walls of the Strip or Freeside . The sections of sewer are : the North sewers , the Central sewers , the East central sewers and the sealed sewers . New Vegas Strip . The heart of New Vegas . When entering through The Strip North Gate , Gomorrah is to the right and the Lucky 38 is to the left . Further down the street is a gate to another area of the strip , which contains The Tops casino , the Ultra - Luxe , and the Camp McCarran monorail . Beyond that , through another gate , is Vault 21 , Michael Angelo ' s workshop and the NCR Embassy . North Vegas Square . Like Freeside , North Vegas Square are part of the slums of New Vegas . There is almost nothing of interest and the place is mostly filled with unimportant individuals . Most of the buildings are decrepit and falling apart , more so than other locations in the Mojave Wasteland . The only places of interest here are an apartment building called The Gray and a manhole to the North Sewers . The citizens living in this area are highly independent or some might say xenophobic , they are very suspicious of outsiders and highly reject the presence of the New California Republic . The area is accustomed to almost no law whatsoever besides a few residents such as , protecting the community from Fiends and other bandits . Westside . Though it is one of the poorer residential areas of the city , it houses its own militia and has , unlike every other part of the city , become more or less self - dependent , growing its own food and maintaining its own water supply . The residents often complain of problems with the Fiends , who often harass and even kill them in constant raids . A smaller gang , the Scorpions also have a presence around the southern outskirts . The larger neighborhood , exposed to the Mojave Wasteland , is surrounded by a small network of walls , while the residential and commercial area is walled completely , except for two gates . The Westside ' s services include a food store , a brothel , a liquor store , a pawn shop , and a fighting arena where matches can both be fought and bet upon . Appearances . New Vegas was first mentioned as Las Vegas by Tycho in " Fallout " , and appears only in " " . The in - game iteration of the Fabulous New Vegas sign appears in the " Atomic Command " game in " Fallout 4 " . Behind the scenes . Las Vegas was one of the main and most central cities in " Wasteland " , the predecessor to the " Fallout " series . Like Wasteland ' s Las Vegas , New Vegas wasn ' t heavily damaged by nuclear weapons .