Wasteland 3: Ranger HQ’s vault, Scotchmo, and other incidents

After dealing with the refugee smugglers in The Bizarre, you should now have mechanics for your Kodiak back in Ranger HQ’s garage. This will allow you to purchase upgrades that’ll help you traverse Wasteland 3‘s world map. Still, there are a few incidents and loose ends to deal with — one of those happens to be the Ranger HQ vault.

Note: For more locations or quests, you can head back to our walkthrough’s main page. Alternatively, you can check our Wasteland 3 guides and features hub.

Wasteland 3: Ranger HQ’s vault

Ranger HQ’s vault is locked behind the med bay area and you won’t be able to open it at all. Well, not unless you help a slaver by the name of La Perla.

You’ll find La Perla just by the entrance yard of Ranger HQ. She wants you to find a runaway slave named Hallie (who’s in Colorado Springs). You’ve got a few choices to make:

• You can turn her down immediately and that’s that.
• You can accept her proposal.

If you go to Colorado Springs’ Pillory Square, you’ll find Hallie. Again, you’ve got a few choices:

• You can warn Hallie that a slaver is looking for her. She’ll run away, you’ll get a boost to your Wastelander Refugees reputation, and you’ll need to speak with La Perla again.
• You can lie to Hallie and tell her that her mom’s back in Ranger HQ. She’ll get captured by La Perla.

Assuming you let Hallie go, you can lie to La Perla about it (including using Kiss Ass 3).

You can also attack her troops. Killing La Perla and her goons will net some low-end weapons, but not the Ranger HQ vault code.

However, if you let Hallie get captured and return to Ranger HQ, you’ll realize that La Perla is gone. Instead, one of her underlings gives you the vault code. Use the code to open the Ranger HQ vault. There are two rooms here and they have loads of loot.

There’s the PDA (Nerd Stuff +1) and a full set of tank armor. You’ll also find the Nuclear Knight Helmet, Commandant’s Helmet, Power Armor Helmet, Power Armor Legs, and Power Gauntlet. These are amazing gear pieces to have early on in your Wasteland 3 playthrough.

As far as I know, Hallie doesn’t play an important role in Wasteland 3‘s campaign. If your conscience doesn’t make you feel guilty, you could sacrifice her to La Perla just for the loot.

Note: Handing over Hallie to La Perla results in a -10 reputation hit with the Wastelander Refugees. Thanks to Guido R. for reminding me in the comments section.

The Redds and the bombs

To the left of the yard, you’ll spot a fella named Tom Redd. He tells you that bombs have been strapped on him and his wife Isabelle (who’s found near the entrance doorway). He says that they can’t go near each other or the bombs will go off, so the implication is that you need to split up your squad to defuse the bombs.

Here’s the fun part: if a character has Perception 4, you’ll realize that the bombs are fakes. It looks like these two are here to make a mess of Ranger HQ, so you can go ahead and shoot them ASAP. The Ranger recruits will back you up as well.

You can pick up the Shock Mace and Scourer weapons from their corpses. Funnily enough, it’s as though nothing happened and everything’s back to normal once the fight is over.

This incident seems to lead to a dead end. I’m not sure if this is working as intended or if it’s part of cut content.

Gary “NaCl” Wolfe

To the left of the entrance, you’ll find Gary “NaCl” Wolfe, whom veterans would remember from Wasteland 2 as the guy that required a lot of total charisma just to get recruited. He tells you about several synths that need to be eliminated. They’re all in different locations and this objective is tackled in our Wolfe Hunt sidequest guide.

Refugees vs. Rangers

Once you make your way inside Ranger HQ, Hope Emerson (the brig’s warden) and Del Hackett (the leader of the refugees in your base) are having a heated argument. The Rangers want the refugees to vacate the locker room area, but this was a deal you made with their group (assuming you did just that when you first arrived in Ranger HQ).

You have two choices:

• Side with the Rangers and make the refugees adjust — You have a Kiss Ass 5 or Kiss Ass 6 option (depending on the Wastelander Refugee rep) to smoothen tensions. This will net a minor rep boost with the faction.
• Side with the Wastelander Refugees and let them stay in their designated area — This will net a big boost to the faction’s rep. However, some Rangers will be displeased so you have an opportunity to select several responses as part of your impromptu speech.

Scotchmo

If you go to the mess hall, you’ll find Scotchmo here. Hurray! First Aid 3 lets you discover that he’s got liver problems already, but the ol’ drunkard still wants to go with you on an adventure.

Note: You can learn more about Scotchmo in our companion recruitment guide.

The Kodiak

Now that you have garage mechanics, you can continue upgrading the Kodiak with improved plating and weaponry. The Deliverer Chassis is also available and is an optimal choice at this stage of the game. This gives the Kodiak radiation resistance +2, allowing you to reach new areas in Colorado.

The mechanics will also tell you that they might need a bit of help, and there’s someone in The Bizarre — Randy Gett — who could aid their efforts. That sidequest will take you to the Gett Family Homestead.

What’s next?

We’ll need to go to the Old Survivalist Bunker to rescue Ironclad Cordite. While this is considered a sidequest too, it drastically alters the final 1/3 of your Wasteland 3 campaign. As such, now would be a good time to complete this.