Camp Forlorn Hope

Camp Forlorn Hope, also sometimes truncated to simply "the Hope",Ranger Milo: "You're always welcome around the , Courier - least as far as I'm concerned."(Ranger Milo's dialogue) Milo: ""(Ranger Milo's dialogue) is a location in the Mojave Wasteland .
==Background==
Established in 2274 in the midst of the New California Republic's Mojave Campaign, shortly after they secured control of the Hoover Dam, the camp was set up around a water source, the Forlorn Hope Spring, in an effort to quickly secure more of the western shores of the Colorado River downstream from the dam. The haste involved is evident in the mixture of tents, tin shacks, rubble and sandbags that make up the NCR's primary camp in the southeastern Mojave. Neglect and logistical mismanagement have hamstrung the camp's ability to respond to attacks by Caesar's Legion.
When Camp Searchlight fell and the Legion overran the NCR's fledgling outpost at Nelson, Camp Forlorn Hope suddenly found itself on the front line, incapable of effectively securing the river shores they oversee or dislodging the Legion garrison led by Dead Sea from Nelson.Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Collector's Edition pp. 417-418: "[6.02] Camp Forlorn HopeAfter NCR captured Hoover Dam, it took them a while to fully reinforce the river to the south. The first camp that was established was Camp Forlorn Hope; an improvised mess of tin shacks, salvaged rubble from Boulder City, tents, and lots of sandbags, it is the most pathetic-looking of all NCR's camps, but the one that sees the most action. It only exists at all because of the natural spring there (in fact the camp is named for the spring). Recently, Caesar's Legion captured NCR's logistical/planning forces in the ruins of the small, ruined town of Nelson, a disaster that has disrupted Forlorn's Hopes attempts to patrol the western coast of the river.Graveyard of No HopeA nickname some in the camp whisper about the collection of graves of the fallen, on a two-tiered promontory behind the shacks, overlooking the Colorado River. Shoot the Bloatflies in the area for sport. Due to the height disadvantage, attack from here only if you plan to be stealthy."(Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Collector's Edition Tour of the Mojave Wasteland)
The recent shutdown of the I-15 coupled with frequent Legion raids up and down Highway 95 have strained the supply situation. Drinking water is plentiful, but everything else, including food, ammunition and men, is in short supply. Skirmishes in the no man's land between Nelson slowly deplete the ranks of troops stationed at the camp and the armory. Morale is at an all-time low, made worse by the Legion's deliberate maiming of soldiers they fight, who are then left to die in the desert sun, unable to be rescued due to the Legion leaving booby traps nearby and even on them.The Courier: "What's your problem?"Stone: "My problem? My problem is we're all going to die. We're out of food, we're out of men, and we're out of time. The Legion is right outside waiting to kill us all. Today... tomorrow... it doesn't matter, we're all going to die here. So why don't you just leave me alone."(Private Stone's dialogue) Eventually, most NCR troopers around the Mojave have come to consider getting a posting to Camp Forlorn Hope as effectively a death sentence.The Courier: "I wanted to check on the troopers sent from Camp Forlorn Hope."Haggerty: "Yeah, they were here a while ago. Gave them all I could, which wasn't much. But as many problems as we're having here, I know they've got it worse. I've seen soldiers get assigned there. It's like they got told they were gonna die. I wouldn't wish it on anybody. If you're trying to track them down, we put a GPS marker in the supply crate. You can track it with your Pip-Boy. Good luck."(Lt. Haggerty's dialogue)
Major Polatli, the camp's incumbent commander, blames the ineptitude of the army's highest commanders for the mismanagement of the situation at Forlorn Hope.The Courier: "What's your take on the NCR's position here?"Joseph Polatli: "It's no picnic, I'll tell you that much. My troops are out here every day dying for the NCR, but they've left us out to dry. We have no men or supplies and we're stretched too thin trying to guard the entire river. If the brass back home could get their heads out of their asses long enough to send support, we could turn this all around."(Major Polatli's dialogue) However, he doesn't plan to sit idle while a legionary comes to slit his throat, instead planning to take steps to improve the tenuous situation in Forlorn Hope, including increasing his troop numbers, restoring supply lines and getting the camp into fighting shape for the purpose of taking back Nelson and restoring the NCR's position in the area ahead of the impending Second Battle of Hoover Dam.The Courier: "What do you need help with?"Joseph Polatli: "I'm short staffed and I don't have the time to take care of some issues around the camp. I need someone to talk to a few of the officers and help them resolve some of the problems around here."(Major Polatli's dialogue)The Courier: "What do you need help with?"Joseph Polatli: "I've got the Legion at Nelson breathing down my neck and not enough men or supplies to get this camp into fighting shape so we can strike back. I need someone to talk to a few of the officers and help them resolve some of the problems around here. If I can get this place in order, then I can focus our efforts on taking back Nelson from the Legion. And the more that gets done around here, the more resources I'll be able to put into assaulting Nelson."(Major Polatli's dialogue)
==Layout==
Situated northeast of Novac and north of Nelson, the camp is built on a small mesa overlooking Lake Mohave and the Colorado River, around the aforementioned Forlorn Hope Spring. It is a ramshackle collection of tents, shacks and salvaged buses roughly divided into two halves by the freshwater creek emptying into the river below.
The northern half of the camp contains the spring itself, with the main barracks, jail and latrines next to it. The medical center staffed by Dr. Alex Richards is located at the northern entrance and the makeshift guard post and graveyard stretching behind it. Directly next to the medical tent is a shack, with the command center overlooking the river in the southeastern corner of the camp. Major Polatli can be found here along with Tech Sergeant Reyes who coordinates radio communications.
The southern half of the camp is particularly crowded. More improvised housing sits along the western edge together with a single tent, opposite the mess hall. Behind the mess hall is the storage shed with a Very Hard lock. The quartermaster's tent is across the path. The quartermaster, Carl Mayes, is found here. Further south are five more tents squeezed in between the defensive wall and flanked by bunkers. Beyond that are the frontline and the desolate stretch of no man's land leading to Nelson.
==Buildings==
==Inhabitants==
==Notable loot==
* Nine Forlorn Hope letters are found scattered around the camp. 
==Related quests==
==Notes==
* When standing in the graveyard, one will hear ghostly voices. This sound can also be heard at the Goodsprings Cemetery and in the graveyard next to the Bitter Springs refugee camp.
* The ammo boxes found in the back of the tent that Quartermaster Mayes is in will always have either microfusion cells or energy cells instead of conventional ammunition. This ammunition can be taken without being considered stealing.
* If Raul Tejada is an active companion, upon arrival at the camp he may say, "Eesh. These soldiers look how I feel, boss."
* Camp Forlorn Hope may periodically be attacked by a squad of legionaries from Nelson, crossing over the no man's land between the two camps. The squad's size varies. This is triggered by the player character visiting the no man's land area after beginning the quest Restoring Hope. The soldiers at Forlorn Hope will usually be able to repulse the attack, especially if Alpha Team is also present, but some of the named characters inside the camp could potentially die during the assault.
* Unlike many other NCR camps and communities, Camp Forlorn Hope does not have a reputation marker on the world map, but NCR fame is still gained for completing the quests here. The Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide incorrectly states that it does have a reputation marker.
* A palette desaturation effect has been applied to the entire camp, with colors being muted and more sepia-toned. 
* Between Camp Forlorn Hope and Nelson will be a small battlefield littered with dying NCR troopers. Laid near their bodies will be frag mines, traps legionaries have placed should the Courier or other NCR troopers wander too close to help them. Regardless of whether the Courier is able to disarm the mine quickly enough before it damages them and kills the trooper, they are either too weak or too wounded to actually be saved. Attempting to talk to them will only have them ask the Courier to perform a mercy killing. Performing a mercy kill will turn both the other dying troopers in the field and the active NCR troopers within Camp Forlorn Hope hostile (though the dying troopers will still remain on the ground, just marked as hostile). These mutilated soldiers have been removed in later patches (from Dead Money onwards) due to problems with console memory use.
* If We Are Legion is completed, Legion troops will comment that Forlorn Hope has fallen. Despite this, the Legion does not actually take over the camp and generic NCR troops will continue to spawn around it.
* If Camp Forlorn Hope has been overrun by the Legion, Major Dhatri will say that he has heard the camp has been overrun and will keep Alpha Team in McCarran if Driver Nephi has been eliminated as part of Three-Card Bounty.
* Quartermaster Mayes can be asked to play up to five winning games of Caravan.
* The Forlorn Hope letters can be found in the camp as well as on the corpses of NCR troopers in the area, including the area where troopers on a supply run for HELIOS One have been ambushed and killed, or the mutilated soldiers in no man's land.
* The NCR troopers at the camp will often complain about their equipment in comparison to troops stationed at Camp McCarran or HELIOS One. Notably, they are equipped with caravan shotguns rather than the service rifles or occasional hunting rifles that other NCR soldiers have.
* With the exception of Tech Sergeant Reyes, there are no female troopers stationed at the camp which is because, according to the Forlorn Hope mandate, all female troopers were reassigned to Camp McCarran. However, Corporal Betsy will be reassigned to Forlorn Hope after completing part of Three-Card Bounty by killing Driver Nephi.
* Depending on the actions taken during the quests Restoring Hope, Three-Card Bounty and We Are Legion, the NCR emergency radio broadcast will report on the status of Camp Forlorn Hope during the Second Battle of Hoover Dam.NCR Emergency Radio (broadcast): "There is a confirmed report that the Legion mounted a simultaneous assault at Camp Forlorn Hope." The camp will either hold its ground against the Legion assault albeit at the cost of heavy losses,NCR Emergency Radio (broadcast): "Forlorn Hope has sustained heavy casualties, but the fortification stands. We've successfully defended Forlorn Hope." repel the Legion assault with the assistance of Alpha Team, resulting in minimal losses even if Nelson has not been recaptured,NCR Emergency Radio (broadcast): "The troops at Forlorn Hope, assisted by First Recon, have repelled the Legion attack with very few casualties." defeat the Legion and turn the battle into a decisive victory with the assistance of Alpha Team, if Nelson has already been reclaimed,NCR Emergency Radio (broadcast): "The troops at Forlorn Hope, assisted by First Recon, have repelled the Legion in what will surely be the most decisive victory in this entire battle." or will fall to the Legion assault with varying degrees of success.NCR Emergency Radio (broadcast): "Yes, Forlorn Hope has fallen. Some troops managed to pull back, but the fortification is lost."NCR Emergency Radio (broadcast): "I'm not getting any more information from Forlorn Hope. The camp appears to have been totally overrun."NCR Emergency Radio (broadcast): "I'm receiving reports that Forlorn Hope has been totally overrun, and the Legion is killing civilians as far as the township called Novac."
* At higher levels or past a certain point in the main quest, NCR heavy troopers will replace the NCR military police around the camp. The NCR troopers in the towers will also be replaced with NCR Veteran Rangers.
* If the bloatflies at the graveyard are engaged and not killed fast enough, most of the soldiers in the camp will attack them, but some of the named characters such as Major Polatli will flee the camp entirely and may be killed by other, more dangerous creatures in the surrounding area.
* Lieutenant Hayes, Sergeant McGee, Lieutenant Monroe and three NCR officers stationed in the more isolated parts of the map (such as Primm and Boulder City), will relocate to the camp once their respective quests are completed. McGee will only join the camp if he is not chosen to be sheriff for Primm during My Kind of Town.
* If and when Alpha Team arrives at Forlorn Hope after completing Three-Card Bounty, 10 of Spades will be located in the mess hall, Lieutenant Gorobets and Corporal Sterling will be in the command tent, and Betsy and Bitter-Root will be in the barracks.
==Appearances==
Camp Forlorn Hope appears only .
==Behind the scenes==
* The in-game Forlorn Hope Spring is geographically close to a real-world location of the same name in Clark County, Nevada.
* Lead area designer Charles Staples worked on Camp Forlorn Hope, conceiving the location alongside Joshua Sawyer. Staples then did most of the core design work and dialogue for the camp, which took a long time to develop.Fallout: New Vegas 10th Anniversary Charity Stream (reference starts at 2:39:28)Joshua Sawyer: "'How long was spent designing Camp Forlorn Hope?' Uh, quite a while, that was largely Charlie Staples, our lead area designer. Charlie Staples and I conceived it and then Charlie did, I think... almost all the core design work and dialogues in there. Yeah, that was a lot of work."
* "Forlorn hope" is also military slang for a body of troops chosen to take the leading part in a combat operation, such as an assault on a defended position or as defending a hazardous position, where the risk of casualties is high.
==Bugs==
* The first time traveling to Camp Forlorn Hope, if approaching from the south, sometimes a Legion patrol will spawn inside the camp, resulting in a battle between the NCR and Legion - if the Legion patrol kills any quest non-player characters during the battle, their respective quests will fail. Reloading and approaching from a different direction (north or west) seems to prevent the Legion troops from spawning inside the camp.
* After accepting any quest at Camp Forlorn Hope, whenever you're outside, everything appears in a violet haze very similar to that of Camp Searchlight's green haze.
* Members of Alpha Team, after arriving at Camp Forlorn Hope, may continue to speak as if they were still at Camp McCarran, fighting Fiends.
* Soldiers killed here may (re)spawn with more than one dogtag.
* After examining Dr. Richards' patient closest to the door of the medical center, a Powder Ganger and two Great Khan soldiers may enter the tent, attacking Dr. Richards and the player depending on reputation. They stay in the tent and no more can be seen elsewhere in the camp.
* The rangers that spawn in the east-facing and south-facing sniper nests may be unarmed.
* Sometimes, when you fast travel, everyone at the camp will become hostile.
* Just west of the camp where the Courier must find the supplies during the quest Restoring Hope, the same nightkin from the one in Novac might spawn in a rock.
* A section of the graveyard (approx. 61800, -7780, 5400) when fired upon from the southwest (near the tent, approx. 1300, -8900, 5400) will cause splashes of water to be seen and heard. This is because the collision box for the water within the creek lies beneath much of the camp, including that section of the graveyard, where bullets may collide with it and provide appropriate feedback.
==See also==
* Spare Us the Cutter: Camp Forlorn Hope cut content
==References==
Non-game
 
de:Camp Forlorn Hope
es:Campamento Forlorn Hope
it:Camp Forlorn Hope
pl:Camp Forlorn Hope
ru:Лагерь Форлорн-Хоуп
uk:Табір Форлорн-Гоуп
zh:敢死队营地