Wasteland 3: Yuma County, Liberty Buchanan, and King Cordite

Yuma County Speedway

The mechanic reveals that he’s a spy for the Patriarch — or, rather, Ironclad Cordite will reveal that on his own. This will be your last chance assuming Cordite is with you since you’ve got two choices:

• Kill the mechanic to follow the King Cordite path.
• Kill Cordite and follow the regular path.

With Cordite: Check the mechanic’s corpse to find the SR2000 Argent sniper rifle and the garage key. Cordite will then tell you about his plan to unite Wasteland 3‘s gangs.

Without Cordite: The mechanic sells some high-end weaponry and Cyborg Tech accessories. The mechanic tells you about causing infighting among the gangs to leave Liberty Buchanan defenseless.

Whether the mechanic is dead or alive, go ahead and ransack the place by opening all the chests. The garage has a safe and a container with some more ammo and grenades for you.

With or without Cordite: Enter the demolition derby arena and check for buried items. You’ll find the Arena Helmet and the Yuma County Speedway Race cassette.

Challenging Steel-Trap

With Cordite: Enter the base via the main gate. The guards are afraid of Cordite so they’ll let you pass. If you go to the furthest building to your right, you’ll find Steel-Trap, the man who usurped Cordite’s position as leader of the Scar Collectors. Cordite challenges him to a duel in the demolition derby arena, but Steel-Trap would have none of it.

First, you have to prove that you’re “one of them.” You have a choice between shooting an unarmed prisoner in the cage or having one character volunteer for the Suture-Self Surgery Kiosk.

The latter will automatically give that character the Cyborg Tech perk (letting them equip Cyborg-type accessories). But, they’ll have decreased HP for 60 minutes. Using this on Cordite is wasteful since he already has the perk unlocked, so you’re better off with another trooper taking one for the team.

Speak with Cordite outside Steel-Trap’s hub. He’ll tell you that the other gangs will attack your team if he challenges the Scar Collectors leader now. Instead, you’ll need to find some dirt on Steel-Trap.

Head back inside the Scar Collectors building and talk to Beta Master. He mentions a tape hidden in the mine, something that could incriminate Steel-Trap when dealing with the Payasos.

Slave Pens

Next up, head to the Slave Pens near the base’s entrance. The weapon vendor, Whetstone, is glad that Cordite is here. He mentions that Steel-Trap punished Dee Sharp, a singer who’s popular with the Scar Collectors. The usurper also lied to them about her death. That sounds like more dirt to be levied against your opponent.

Patsy and Not-Yet-Skinned, meanwhile, will tell you about the Godfishers and how to make them leave. It involves speaking with their leader’s wife, Haloed Moon, in order to have her prophecize the gang’s destiny.

You can find Haloed Moon in the Godfishers’ section of the base (next to Steel-Trap’s hub). She’ll tell you to meet her in the Godfisher Windfarm zone.

Bison Encounters and Hangry the Clown

To the west, you can kill a couple of bison mobs. The nearby toaster (Toaster Repair 7) has Bikini Heat 3 VHS which only sells for $100. The exit here leads to the Scar Collector Mines.

To the east, you’ll find some Payasos led by Hangry the Clown. He needs your help with the bison that scared off their slaves.

Note: The bison mobs can drop the Bison Skull ornament for the Kodiak.

When you’ve killed the beasts, speak with the slaves. You can let them go, or you can let the Payasos have them. If you free them, you can use Hard Ass 9 on Hangry the Clown to make him back down.

Anyway, the path to the east leads to the Godfisher Windfarm.

Without Cordite: The progression of this Wasteland 3 main quest will be different. Firstly, attempting to go via the base’s main entrance will lead to a firefight against all the defenders therein. Don’t do that.

Instead, go use the mechanic’s Slave Pens Key to open the side entrance. You’ll learn how to cause some infighting among the gangs by talking to the slaves:

• If you speak with Whetstone, he’ll tell you about Dee Sharp. You’ll need to go to the Scar Collector Mines to follow this lead. Finding the Betamax tape wouldn’t matter.
• If you speak with Patsy and Not-Yet-Skinned, they’ll talk about the Payaso leader’s favorite lieutenant (Cucaracha) who got murdered by the Godfishers. You should go to the Godfisher Windfarm to complete this objective.

Note: The only parts here that won’t change (with or without Cordite) would be the bison and Hangry the Clown encounters.

In any case, go ahead and make your way to either the Scar Collectors Mine or Godfisher Windfarm.