Duty Calls is a main quest in the Fallout 76 update Wastelanders.
Background
The next problem to tackle in terms of storming Vault 79 is the so-called Grim Reaper's Hallway: A hallway chock-full of military grade laser turrets designed to eliminate any attacker who manages to get through passive defenses. Paige suggests reaching out to a group of ex-military operators that has been shadowing the Settlers since their presence in The Pitt, and sends the vault dwellers to the agreed meeting spot, so that they can enlist their aid in the heist.
Walkthrough
To contact the unit, the player must head over to the Valley Galleria, where on the northern side is a small dock with a U.S. flag (the spot is easily identifiable thanks to the nearby power pylon with the words US ARMY stenciled on it). Upon activating the flag and waving the Stars and Stripes, Captain Fields will contact them via radio to state that the signal has been spotted and they are to head due north across the river, to the concrete bunker. Watch out for a few bloodbugs swarming the river as one crosses to the bunker. Some might be diseased and transmit the Parasites disease if they manage to get close enough to attack and suck some blood.
Upon entering the ransacked bunker, they have to head inside the bunker to meet an Army team led by Captain Oliver Fields, gathered around the situation table. Other members of the team include Sergeant Radcliff, Sergeant Thompson, and Private Lucky, a dog.
Captain Fields is skeptical of the plan to steal the gold reserves from Vault 79, especially since he still believes in the United States, despite it being bombed to hell and back a quarter of a century earlier with the Great War. Even when presented with the Overseer's plan to reestablish a common currency, he'll doubt their ability to lead and ask what makes the dwellers so special.
The replies include a Charisma and Strength 6 check (to play on his willingness to follow orders or his hardy character), and additional options depending on completed quests. The player can state their character is special because:
- They're a survivor of Vault 76 on a mission from the overseer
- A fellow soldier, a Private First Class (requires Recruitment Blues)
- A member of the Enclave (requires One of Us)
- Command Appalachia's nuclear arsenal (requires having access to the Whitespring command center)
- The mayor of Watoga (requires Mayor for a Day)
- A Fire Breather (requires Into the Fire)
- A member of the Order of Mysteries (requires The Mistress of Mystery)
- Know what happened to Taggerdy and her Rangers (requires Belly of the Beast)
- Defeated the scorchbeast queen (requires Scorched Earth)
Most replies will have him respond accordingly with a few quips from Thompson and Lucky, but only speaking of being a soldier, a resident of Vault 76, a member of the Firebreathers, or knowing what became of Taggerdy's Army Rangers will have him move on to his final question after hearing some truth and honesty from the player's character.
He appreciates honesty and will ask one final question: The real mission of Vault 76, which allows the player to reveal the orders to seize Appalachia's nuclear arsenal, which Fields angrily mentions that Vault-Tec probably did not run by the Pentagon first before carrying it out. Afterwards, Fields will put forward the matter to his squad, who will decide to trust Paige's new hire. After explaining the challenge, Radcliff will explain that he needs information from RobCo's research facility to get around the defensive turrets.
Radcliff will ask the player to travel to the RobCo Research Center with him. The research center is inhabited by various hostile robots, with more spawning from the fabricators. The goal here is to look for "military projects" in the research wing. These are found in the research labs area, on the desktop terminal just beyond the door, on the desk. Reading the Good news, everyone! entry will reveal that the facility director decided to preserve the collective intelligence of the research staff by forcing them to undergo a de-braining procedure, so that they could be stored in biomed gel and installed in robobrains.
Although surprised at the ruthlessness, Radcliff will decide that you need to construct a robobrain to bypass the security. The next goal is to locate a stored brain and install it into a robobrain.
Three suitable brains are found in the facilities wing, and the choice of brain determines the personality. There are three found in the Robobrain R&D chamber at the southern side of the lowest floor of the Facilities wing. Each can be examined for details using Intelligence 8+:
- Doctor Dorothea Dias, Head of Immobile Weapons Research: "There's an unusual patterning in the frontal lobe. The discoloration around the area of the pineal gland also gives you pause. Doctor Dias might have an... unstable personality."
- Gina (marked as "Gina. Oh, poor Gina"): "If it's possible for a brain to radiate sadness, this one does. The folding of the cerebral cortex is quite complex, however"
- Greg Goldstein, Engineer, Immobile Weapons Research: "This is a truly unremarkable brain, in the best possible sense. Assuming the extraction process didn't traumatize him, Greg Goldstein should be a perfectly normal mind to talk to"
The next step is to prepare the brain for installation at the Robobrain Assembly lab in the research wing. There are several clues around the offices (quickly scrawled notes) that will help with this. The target options are:
- brain temperature should be 41 degrees Celsius.
- brain PH should be 7, and
- the brain timer should be set to 3.
With that information, insert the brain in the container and turn on the machine to prepare the brain.
The next objective is to find a robobrain head dome, also in the facilities wing. Head out of the door on the east side of the preparation room. Turn right and go up the stairs, then progress to the opposite side of the landing to the office with double doors. The head dome will be on the administrator's desk within.
When this is done, the player simply has to return to the robobrain labs and install the brain assembly in the robobrain, which then activates.
Depending on the brain chosen, the robobrain will have a different personality and different interactions, but is functionally the same depending on the interactions (although Radcliff suggests taking the brain of someone on the ground, rather than a leader, due to his experience with people working on the ground):
- Dias is incredibly proud and arrogant, but will relish the opportunity to one up her original work on the turrets by dismantling them.
- Gina is a RobCo intern who committed suicide by electrocuting herself. She can be helped by convincing her to hurt RobCo by helping dismantle the turrets with Charisma 8+ or by adjusting her brain's dopamine and serotonin levels with Intelligence 12+
- Greg is incredibly neurotic and unstable as a result of working under Dias, and will relish the ability to ruin her work. He actually scares Radcliff.
The robobrain will proceed to the workbench at the far end of the wing to manufacture the necessary tools. While it does, more robots will spawn from the assemblies and attack. Eventually, the robobrain finishes the work and leaves them on the toppled memory bank near the bench, and proceeds to dwell on its new existence.
Upon collecting the RobCo tools, the player simply has to return with them to Captain Fields in the ransacked bunker. After thanking for the work, he'll remark on the odd team gathered for the heist, but will not complain. Afterwards, Fields and his team will move to Foundation to avoid having to coordinate from two separate places.
At this point, reporting to Paige completes the quest and starts the next quest Siding with Foundation. Completing this quest also awards the Old Guard's 10mm SMG legendary weapon.
Quest stages
Notes
At the start of this quest, the ransacked bunker is not locked and can be entered before waving the flag to signal Captain Fields' team. However, the bunker will be empty until the signal is given.
Gallery
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