Broken Hills
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Broken Hills is a small mining town just to the east of New Reno. The trip down here is much quicker if you’ve already acquired the Highwayman. This is an intermediary area with a bit of XP and cash on offer. Marcus is a super mutant and also the sheriff of this town. Once you’ve sorted out all the issues with this town you can ask him to become a member of your party.
The mine is found in the Residential Area on the east side. It’s worked by Super Mutants and produces uranium. Enter the mine will cause damage over time until the mine’s air purifier has been fixed.
1) Fix the mine’s air purifier
Speak with Zaius, the foreman of the mine. You can find him in the office just outside of the mine’s entrance. He’ll tell you that the mine’s air purifier needs to be fixed and asks you to get the parts from Renesco in New Reno.
Travel to New Reno, speak to Renesco in the Commecial District and purchase the parts for $200. Bring them back to Broken Hills and enter the mine. You may want to leave any companions outside the mine because they’ll be taking damage if they enter the mine. Only Power Armor negates the damage. Quickly make your way to the north-eastern room and use the parts to fix the machine.
Return to Zaius for your reward fo $500 if you asked him for money earlier, or the City-Killer Combat Shotgun if you didn’t.
2) Break Manson and Franc out of prison
Enter the jail to find Manson and Franc behind bars. These guys think there’s a conspiracy that the Super Mutants are out to kill the humans. Speak kindly to Manson and don’t upset him. He’ll tell you to speak to Jacob the Chemist. When you talk to Jacob tell him you don’t like Super Mutants and he tells you to break his friends out of jail.
Go back to the jail and wait for the Super Mutant standing guard to wander further away. This will give you a chance to pick the lock and free the two prisoners. You can also risk trying to steal the Key from the guard or convince the guard to give you the key if you have high enough Charisma and Intelligence.
This quest must be completed before you find the missing people for Marcus or they won’t talk to you any more. Completing this quest gives you -5 Karma and 1500 XP.
3) Blow up the mine’s air purifier
If you decided to break Manson and Franc out of jail go back and speak to Jacob. He’ll give you the quest to blow up the mine’s air purifier and gives you a Detonator which you must attach to the air purifier in the north-eastern corner of the mine.
Completing this quest is catastrophic. Every Super Mutant in the town will die and your Karma will drop by 50 points. You will however get 1500 XP and a nice selection of weapons from Jacob. If you don’t want to complete the quest you can tell Marcus about him for 2500 XP.
4) Find the missing people for Marcus
Ask Marcus what’s been going on and he’ll tell you about the missing people. Go to the Residential Area and speak with Dan (optional) in a house in the north-east corner. His wife is also missing. Locate a manhole in an outhouse and head down to the Underground.
These tunnels are filled with Giant Ants but they shouldn’t be any trouble for you at this stage of the game. Make your way to the dead bodies in the north-eastern section. There’s a Note on one of the women that implicates the Super Mutants Zaius and Francis.
Return to Dan and tell him the bad news. You can confront Zaius now and he’ll tell you to speak with Francis. If you confront Francis you can either kill him, in which case the entire town will turn hostile, or persuade him to leave. See Marcus for your reward of $500 if you asked for money or a Scoped Hunting Rifle if you didn’t.
5) Divert more electrical power to Eric’s home
Eric can be found in one of the houses in the Residential Area. He complains about the heat and wants more power diverted to his air conditioning. Head over to the Power Plant and convince Brian, the Power Plant Operator to send Eric more juice. Return to Eric for your reward of Buffout. If you don’t want the pills he’ll give you $150 instead.
6) Defeat the professor’s radscorpion in three challenges
The professor is found in one of the houses in the Residential Area. Speak with him and ask to take the tests. There are three tests against the intelligent Radscorpion, one of Agility, one of Perception and one of Intelligence. Completing each of the tests will give you 500 XP.