Watoga

Watoga was a technologically-advanced city in the Cranberry Bog region of Appalachia.
==Background==
left|200px|thumb|Pre-War Watoga.
Watoga was founded by Watoga, Inc. on February 4, 2042,Watoga Municipal Center terminal entries; Mayor's terminal, Selection Committee Letter [Archived] built at the site of an old ghost townFallout 76 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide p. 492: "28. WATOGAThis area was built at the site of an old ghost town. The titans of industry and robotics crafted this shining new center of commerce to be the jewel of southeast Appalachia—a fully autonomous city, where robots catered to your every whim. As the more cynical detractors pointed out at the time, there was likely to be a downside if these robots were to ever malfunction. Now Watoga is abandoned aside from a sizable mechanical population. Exercise extreme caution as you explore the rusting towers of the Cranberry Bog Capital; emotionless automatons and extremely long drops are just the start of the threats that abound in these parts!"(Fallout 76 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide Atlas of Appalachia) in the state of West Virginia. Financed by Atomic Mining Services, the Watoga project aimed to create a "city of the future" and was designed to be fully automated. Civil services and municipal management were handled by a variety of carefully programmed RobCo Industries and General Atomics International robot models (mostly protectrons and Mr. Handies), operating the city cleanly and efficiently.RobCo Research Center terminal entries; receptionist terminalFallout 76 loading screens: "Watoga was built as a joint effort between the federal government, RobCo, and Atomic Mining Services to build a 'city of the future.'"AMS corporate headquarters terminal entries; CEO Kilson's terminal, Partnership Report: RobCo
The only human element in governance was the mayor, chosen by the city's systems for a term of random duration. The system was intended to ensure that the mayor would not be hounded by special interests or bribes from corrupt enterprises. The Watoga Constitution also granted the mayor's executive orders to be the force of law, with the single exception that no such law could directly counteract that authority. As the randomly-selected mayors likely would not have the governmental experience, the Watoga Municipal Center office was outfitted with the Mayoral Artificial Intelligence Assistant, or MAIA, an artificial intelligence intended to provide the mayor with the necessary expertise to help make executive decisions. Mayors in the office could tell MAIA their desires to draft the appropriate legislation or, if confused about a possible course of action, be provided with informative answers from her knowledge database of decades worth of curated news articles, court opinions, and legislature. Despite the founding company's intentions, the system of governance proved to be fundamentally flawed in practice. Mayors often had no regard for the public interest, instead abusing their position for personal gains, such as the banning of rock and roll music.Watoga Municipal Center terminal entries; Mayor's terminal, List of Pertinent Executive Orders
Watoga published its own periodical, the Watoga Times, which had existed by at least 2057. The newspaper advertised the Atomic Lottery, a lottery in which the winner would receive a decade's supply of various foodstuffs, with at least one winner emerging one month before the war, having played the lottery for over 20 years.Survivor story: Willie Mae
The Resource Wars which began in 2052 was known to have put great strain on the city's medical care to the degree that a lack of beds were available and the Watoga Emergency Services were forced to kick patients out before they were ready to leave, particularly as soon as they were ready to half-stand up.Watoga Emergency Services terminal entries
===Operation Free Watoga===
Watoga greatly suffered from elitism, with steep property prices excluding all but the richest Appalachians from purchasing real estate within the city. Residency was also subject to additional approval by corporate overlords: RobCo's management determined which applications were approved, and frequently rejected those submitted by their own full-time employees.RobCo Research Center terminal entries; HR terminal, Watoga Applications The elites had a vested interest in their city, voting against any measures that would endanger their status, including limiting emergency fire services to only the city's major districtsWatoga Emergency Services terminal entries; Emergency report terminal, File Fire Report, Minor Fire Incident and declining additional bus services so that the lowered cost wouldn't bring the "wrong kinds of people" to the city.Watoga Transit Hub terminal entries; Front desk terminal, New Bus Lines Proposal The tide of automation also resulted in a rapid increase in unemployment, driving people out.Watoga Emergency Services terminal entries; Emergency report terminal, File Fire Report, Minor Fire IncidentGoodbye dadWhere now? The dissatisfaction and rejection caused Scott Turner, a RobCo developer, to form the Free Watoga People's Party and sabotage the city and its robotic staff.Abandoned Bog Town terminal entries; Encrypted Message 4.24.77
On October 22, 2077, Turner launched Operation Free Watoga, breaching Watoga's emergency service protocols and causing the city's robots to malfunction.Letter to Jennica To prevent their repair, Turner broke the transmission sequencer and corrupted the software on update terminals throughout the RobCo Research Center, leaving the terminal in his office the only machine capable of creating updates. To restrict access, Turner locked the terminal and prevented any badge other than his own from accessing the office.Operation Free Watoga log 322 While Turner had only planned to evacuate Watoga, the emergency services attacked citizens as they tried to evacuate.Watoga Municipal Center terminal entries; Mayor's terminal, Mayor for a DayLetter to Jennica and Letter from JennicaBarbara Elizabeth: "I've failed. Whoever you are, you're mayor of a dead city. Those I couldn't evacuate have perished. There's no one... nothing left."(Mayor for a Day)Last words
As a precaution in the event of her death, the then-mayor, Barbara Elizabeth, issued an executive order to instate anyone who entered her Watoga Municipal Center office as the new mayor for the day.Vault Dweller: "Did you also become the mayor for a day?"Maram Ayari: "Oh! Made your way up to see MAIA, did you? I'm impressed. Yeah. You can imagine my chagrin when I arrived at the promised robot utopia, only to get laser-beamed from every direction. But I wasn't gonna give up on my dream that easily. So I loaded up on Stealth Boys and scoured the place until I found MAIA. The rest is history."(Maram Ayari's dialogue) Once evacuations were complete, Elizabeth had planned to negotiate a truce with the unknown saboteur, but succumbed to fatal injuries before she could do so. Watoga's robotic emergency services continued to remain hostile after the Great War.Notes 11/77
The next day, the Great War took place. Upon witnessing the nuclear apocalypse, Turner was guilt-ridden, having no idea his plan would take place only a day before the world was destroyed by nuclear weapons and wipe out a majority of the human race. Hoping to atone for his mistakes, and suffering from radiation poisoning, Turner left behind instructions on how to render Watoga's corrupted emergency services passive to anyone passing through Watoga so they would be able to live in the city in peace.
===After the War===
Over 25 years after the Great War in the 22nd century, the city's robots are still functional. There are only a few residents located in the city who are or were once human: Vernon Dodge, Maram Ayari, Frankie Beckett and Vincent May-Lilly. Additionally, Sargento is running a slaver operation at the Watoga Civic Center, while the Hellcat Company took base at the AMS corporate headquarters.
==Layout==
Watoga is an expansive and dense city, featuring tall buildings, shopping plaza, an underground garage, two monorail stations, train station and transit hub. The unique spire of corporate headquarters of Atomic Mining Services towers over all other buildings in the city.
The administrative portion of the town is centralized around the AMS tower and Watoga's municipal and civic centers. The tall buildings connect to those to the southwest, including the Watoga Estates via elevators and sky bridges to and from the topside pool, municipal center rooftops, and monorail station to the northwest. The upper floors of the central buildings are also accessible via stairwells in the southeastern part of town. Across the street from the civic center, Watoga Emergency Services features an open lobby and roof access, containing a helipad and view of downtown Watoga.
The northeastern commercial portion is situated between the headquarters plaza to the west and high school to the south. The businesses of the shopping plaza are located throughout, including Super-Duper Mart, Watoga Real Estate, and Hubris Comics n' Toys store alongside Miller's Appliances and Stuart's Department Store. Along the northern perimeter, a long walkway overlooks the Cranberry Bog region, complete with garden terraces and a bandstand. The southern edge features Fresh Soil Restaurant, Slocum's Joe, Cranberry Heights, and a solitary Drumlin Diner. Circling back towards the center of town, a crashed vertibot and its detritus are scattered across the AMS plaza.
The city is inhabited by several varieties of robots, such as Assaultrons, Eyebots and Protectrons, created continuously via robot fabricators throughout the city. Wrecked vehicles, scorchbeast guano piles, and broken robots litter the roadways. Scorchbeasts have also constructed nests out of accumulations of wreckage, affixed to the walls and roofs of several buildings.
Split-flap display signs are installed throughout the city, actively rotating through their pre-War announcements. The city's roadways are named after the city's tech companies, either by name or by associated verbiage, such as RobCo Boulevard, Innovation East, and AMS West streets.
===Sections===
==Notable loot==
* Enola Walker's story, part 4 - Holotape, behind the red music pavilion, near a trash can.
* Key to Clara's box - In a locked toolbox (opened with the toolbox key) on the rocks at the creek bank just off the sidewalk near Drumlin Diner. Opens a wooden crate inside of the doghouse in Sutton.
* Potential bobblehead - on the Watoga High School roof, by the tent, on the ventilation.
* Three potential magazines:
** Northeast of Watoga High School, inside the transit bus (not any of the nearby school buses), on the seat just to the right of the entrance.
** On the suspended monorail car in the southeast corner of the city, north of Watoga High School. At the front left side of the carriage, near the driver's controls.
** On the Watoga High School Roof, on the Northeast corner, by the toilet.
* Two power armor chassis with T-series armor pieces:
** Next to the crashed vertibot in the central plaza in front of the AMS corporate headquarters.
** On the roof of the building east of the Watoga Civic Center near a vertibird. There are several access routes, one is the fire escapes on the east wall of the civic center.
** There are four more sets in or on: 
*** Watoga Civic Center - In the main arena.
*** Watoga Emergency Services - One on the roof. There are stairs to the roof from the top floor.
*** Watoga High School - One on the roof. There are outside stairs on the south side of the building.
*** Watoga Transit Hub - One inside a Picklock level 3 locked room off the lobby.
* Potential workshop plan - Inside a trailer truck at the southwest corner of Watoga, on (or submerged in) a crate to the left of a dresser.
* Two Stealth Boys:
** Inside a trailer truck at the southwest corner of Watoga, to the right of a dresser.
** Inside a bus to the immediate north of the Watoga High School parked buses, to the left.
* Potential recipe - Inside the Drumlin diner, next to a cooking stove.
==Notes==
* The split-flap display sign at the town's entrance displays population updates in real time based on the number of player characters in the town. 
* After Mayor for a Day is completed, all robots in Watoga will no longer attack the player character, even if attacked first.
* Known post-War Watoga "Mayors for a Day" include the Vault 76 Dwellers,Mayor for a Day Maram Ayari,Vault Dweller: "Did you also become the mayor for a day?"Maram Ayari: "Oh! Made your way up to see MAIA, did you? I'm impressed. Yeah. You can imagine my chagrin when I arrived at the promised robot utopia, only to get laser-beamed from every direction. But I wasn't gonna give up on my dream that easily. So I loaded up on Stealth Boys and scoured the place until I found MAIA. The rest is history."(Maram Ayari's dialogue) and Sergeant Thompson.Vault Dweller: "I'm the mayor of Watoga. The city of robots."Captain Fields: "Oh, yeah. We came through there. Thompson, aren't you the mayor too?"Sergeant Thompson: "Not today, sir. It only lasts for a day."(Oliver Fields' and Thompson's dialogue)
* Watoga is mentioned in the Night of the Moth note Observations, vol. XXVII.
*If a Cargobot begins to utilize its evasive maneuvers after being attacked, it will begin to fly around the top of AMS corporate headquarters and other buildings. This makes it excruciatingly difficult to shoot it down from the ground due to the distance and speed of the cargobot, along with the large buildings obstructing the player's view. The distance will prevent most players from using VATS.
==Appearances==
Watoga appears .
==Behind the scenes==
Watoga being built over an old ghost town is likely a reference to a real world ghost town near the Greenbrier River Trail in southeastern West Virginia. The real-world Watoga, West Virginia, is classified as an unincorporated community in Pocahontas County, as some properties in the area are still privately owned. However, it is considerably smaller than the in-game city of Watoga.
==Gallery==
===Distant views===
FO76 Watoga landview.png
FO76 Faraway Watoga.png
76 BC Watoga from V11.png
76 BC V13 2105.png
FO76 Watoga locomotive warning.png|Watoga, from the nearby railroad
Watoga and station seen from south.png|Watoga and station seen from the south
Watoga With Scorchbeast.png
Watoga3-E3-Fallout76.jpg|Promotional image
Ls powerstation.jpg|Loading screen slide
===Overviews===
F76 Watoga Early Day.png|Watoga at sunrise
FO76 Watoga Highway inters street sign.png|City entrance
Watoga1-E3-Fallout76.jpg|Downtown Watoga
F76 Northern Watoga.png|Northern Watoga
FO76 191020 Monorail Watoga.png|Monorail
FO76 New Watoga 34.png|Watoga rooftops
F76 Watoga Rooftops.png|Rooftops
Fallout76 E3 Watoga.jpg|Promotional image
FO76 Watoga (AMS West St).png|AMS West St.
FO76 Watoga Circuit Road street sign.png|Circuit Rd.
FO76 Watoga (Industry Rd).png|Industry Rd.
FO76 Watoga SP 28.png|City population sign
FO76 Watoga Population Sign.png
FO76 RobCo monorail Watoga.png|RobCo monorail
FO76 191020 Monorail front.png|Monorail
76 Watoga explosion with camera.jpg
FO76 Watoga nuke 2.png
FO76 Watoga nuke 1.png
===Points of interest===
PowerArmor Watoga.png|Power armor location
Enola Walker's story, part 4 pavilion.png|Enola Walker's story, part 4 at the pavilion
FO76 Watoga (Key to Clara's box).png|Key to Clara's box
76 BC Scorched burst beneath Watoga.png|Beneath the highway east of town
===Misc===
FO76 Blue Ridge Tunnel Int 2022216 1.png|Sign in Big Bend Tunnel
F76 Pre-War Watoga.png|Pre-War Watoga
Billboardswatoga01 d1.png|Texture file
Billboardswatoga01 d2.png|Texture file 
Billboardswatoga02 d1.png|Texture file 
Billboardswatoga02 d2.png|Texture file 
F76 Watoga Billboard 5.png|"The evolution of luxury living"
FO76_Watoga_High_School.png
==References==
Non-game
 
es:Watoga
ru:Ватога
zh:瓦托加