Camp Golf

Deceptive calm

“*Golf sent a scouting force down to Vegas again. Proved what we'd all been thinking. [...]*”
—Entry 3
**Camp Golf** is the center of Royst-Bernard Expedition operations in the Mojave wasteland. It is located north of the 188 Overpass.

## Background

Prior to the second Battle of Hoover Dam, Camp Golf was a communications center for the NCR war effort, as well as a dumping ground for mediocre soldiers.

Shortly after the annexation of the Mojave, Camp Golf was used as an extension of the Royst-Bernard research effort in order to make overtures to tribal remnants of Caesar's Legion, recruiting them for an expedition to the Sierra Madre casino.

After the Fall, the NCR largely abandoned the Mojave, including most of it's major military facilities. This presumably includes Camp Golf.

In the aftermath of the NCR's foray into the Mojave, questions about the research that took place on the Vegas strip began to emerge.

## Areas of interest

* **Main building**
	+ The room opposite of what formerly was Chief Hanlon's office contains lore
	+ One of the NCR military personel carries lore and the key to the strip
	+ The bunk bed area contains a large amount of duffle bags and lockers in addition to crafting materials
	+ The kitchen provides for an exceptional amount of food and drink
	+ The storage room to the left of the entrance keeps (mostly energy) ammunition and some other loot, like a small amount of medical supplies
	+ The upper floor contains a huge amount of crafting materials, chems, a hot plate, minor amounts of ammunition and a Fixin' Things journal.
* **Tents**
	+ The mess hall tent contains a good amount of food and some drink
	+ The infirmary provides lore, and some minor healing items
	+ All other tents provide some crafting materials, ammunition, armor and weaponry, with power fists being one of the seemingly prefered ones

## Tactical Considerations

Camp Golf, being the central base of operations of the Royst-Bernard Expedition, and sporting one of the very last radiation free water sources in the Mojave, is heavily guarded by a host of well-trained forces.

In addition to stationary sentinels, patrols are monitoring parts of the bases outskirts, ready to prevent access to the installation, especially the Golf Reservoir, by deadly force.

Troops are well-equipped, with forces guarding the interior of the building holding exceptional gear like Advanced and Elite Riot Gear and Shoulder Mounted Machine Guns.

A successful breach of these defenses would require finesse, persistence and above all patience. Survivors trying to push forward too hard will likely be stopped hard by a barrage of gunfire.

The amount of supplies, ammunition, weapons, apparel and other materials available in Camp Golf is staggering.

Some NCR will try to retake the installation after a while, though, so it is advisable to stack up once there.

### Exterior and tents

A safe but slow and resource intensive way to successfully take over the camp is to first neutralize all the troops in the exterior using scoped long range guns from a safe distance, before trying to gain access to the tents or the entrance to the main building. As often, throwing spears, while requiring practise and even more careful tactics, can do a remarkably good job, if no proper other weaponry is at hand, or the Survivor lacks ammunition.

The comparably large number of makeshift watchtowers surrounding the camp itself can make it difficult to gain acess without being spotted, so taking all or at least some of them over by neutralizing their personel seems to be required for Survivors unable to sneak past them.

Watchtowers typically are guarded by up to three members of the expedition, including the spotter on top of the tower. Circling the camp, while keeping an eye out for patrols and other hostiles, the personel of the watchtowers can be taken out, while at the same time eliminating most other threats in its exterior.

Some personel may be hard to spot and even harder to aim for. Survivors are advised to take their time, monitor patroling paths, make use of the terrain and above all keenly scan the camp and its main building (as exemplified by a sniper ocassionally hiding on the balcony of the main building) before moving in.

Close quarter combat in the tents may pose a considerable challenge, resorting to V.A.T.S. or use of chems can substantially ease this task.

One must also be aware of the large tunneler pack on the southern side of the camp. There is a large pack consisting of venomous tunnelers, hulking tunnelers, and even a tunneler queen. It is likely that they will attack the player once the southern watchtower forces are taken care of. If they do attack, get up on one of the watchtowers and kill them one by one as they try to climb the ramp to the watchtower.

### Main building

The main building hosts two reasearchers protected by a good number, eight, of exceptionally well armed and armored NCR military personel, including an NCR heavy trooper wearing power armor. Weapons wielded by the defenders include rocket launchers, miniguns, including the shoulder mounted variant, several types of rifles (for example anti-materiel, battle and laser rifles), and hand guns, mostly .45 auto pistols. Note, that the researchers, instead of panicking, may also open fire.

Many of the NCR rangers in the main building wear either Riot Gear, Advanced Riot Gear, or Elite Riot Gear along with their helmets, while others carry medium gear, which can provide for an excellent opportunity to repair higher value items.

While it is possible to enter the building unnoticed, Survivors lacking sneaking skills are almost guaranteed to be immediately noticed and fired upon. Use of a Stealth Boy quite possibly is the only way to gain entrance unnoticed in this case.

Most of the inhabitants can initially be found on the lower floor, but once their attention is gained, they may be joined by some or all of those on the upper floor. Allmost all personel will patrol the building, and is prone to suddenly change positions, including changing floors. This hampers predicting, where exactly they are at any given point in time.

Several strategies can help taking over the building, but once entered (even if left again), personel may have allready started changing positions. As noted above, Survivors lacking sneaking skills are advised to bring a Stealth Boy and activate it right before entering the building.

* After entering, Survivors can move left into the storage area, silently taking out the single NCR ranger guarding it. This establishes a choke point, the furniture will provide cover and hostiles will be forced to cross some distance in the open upon approach, if the Survivor is noticed and attacked. Strategically placed mines can assist in defending this position.
* After entering, Survivors can move right towards the bunk bed area. With any luck, it is unoccupied, as well as the kitchen. Personel to entering the kitchen, but not returning immedieately may have taken a seat, where they may be silently neutralized before they can get up again. This approach may be repeated, until no more hostiles enter the area. If noticed, the Survivor can establish a choke point in the kitchen, and try to take out hostiles approaching from the main hall. Again, mines may be of value for fortifying their position.

If the Survivor stays unnoticed, and has sufficiently thinned out the patrols, silently taking out eventually remaining hostiles in the area of Chief Hanlon's office sould be comparably easy using V.A.T.S.

With hostiles constantly changing their position, it is hard to predict, what threats are left in the upper floor, once the lower floor has been cleared out. Survivors may resort to counting corpses: two researchers, and eight NCR military personel, including the NCR heavy trooper indicate, that the building is now devoid of hostiles.

As the upper floor provides for good cover and many opportunities to catch the defenders off guard, this area lends itself to whatever approach Survivors prefer when taking out hostiles in close quarters.

## Notes

* The reservoir adjacent to Camp Golf is one of the very few sources of radiation free water in Fallout: DUST
* Since the only power armor wearable by Survivors is the NCR salvaged power armor, the scorched power armor worn by the NCR heavy trooper in the main building can not be used
* The strip key is with the same ranger that shares the Reference ID with the base game Chief Hanlon (00106D79).