Ghost Town Gunfight

Ghost Town Gunfight is a side quest in Goodsprings for Fallout: New Vegas.

Detailed walkthrough

 * This quest is first available after completing Back in the Saddle or By a Campfire on the Trail. Sunny Smiles will suggest that the Courier pay a visit to the saloon in Goodsprings, where they learn that the town is being threatened by a group of Powder Gangers because of their conflict with Ringo. Choosing to help the town will begin this quest. Choosing to help the convicts instead will begin the quest Run Goodsprings Run.
 * Enter the Prospector Saloon, where one will find Trudy arguing with Joe Cobb about the whereabouts of Ringo, a trader who is hiding out in the town. Once Cobb leaves, the Courier can question Trudy about the argument and get more information about the Powder Gangers. The Courier should now have access to the previously locked gas station on the edge of town where Ringo is waiting.
 * One can also start this quest by talking to Doc Mitchell, who will mention that there is trouble in town.
 * Head up to the gas station, to the right of Doc Mitchell's house. Ringo will challenge the player character when they enter, but talking to him will give the option to offer their help dealing with Joe Cobb. He will request that the player character attempt to enlist more help from the townsfolk. The Courier can do this by simply asking Sunny Smiles, who will instantly agree to join the fight. She provides the player character with optional objectives to rally more support.
 * Completing the optional objectives will require convincing the Goodsprings inhabitants in question through skill checks in dialogue. If the player character lacks the necessary skills to pass skill checks, there are many skill magazines that can help scattered around town.
 * Skill magazines can be found randomly in mailboxes around Goodsprings and elsewhere, such as nearby Primm. Many merchants sell them on a random basis as well.
 * Convincing Chet to help out requires passing a Barter check of 25, or paying 1000 caps. He will give the Courier a leather armor in ~50% condition, and promises to offer his stock to the town as well (equipping the generic Goodsprings settlers in sets of leather armor).
 * Both Chet and Trudy sell Salesman Weekly, which boosts the Barter skill by 10 (or 20 with Comprehension).
 * There is a Salesman Weekly in the Goodsprings schoolhouse, under the wooden shelves at the back.
 * Convincing Easy Pete to help out requires passing an Explosives check of 25. The Courier will receive five dynamite from Sunny Smiles after reporting back to Ringo.
 * A Patriot's Cookbook, which increases the Explosives skill temporarily by 10 (or 20 with Comprehension), can be found in the NCR Correctional Facility, cell block A, in the back cell. It can also be found as a random loot from mailboxes or the duffle bag in the Goodsprings cave.
 * Convincing Trudy to join in requires passing either a Speech check of 25 or a Sneak check of 25. She will cause an additional Goodsprings settler or two to join the gunfight.
 * Both Chet and Trudy sell Meeting People, which boosts the Speech skill by 10 (or 20 with Comprehension).
 * North of town, behind the Goodsprings General Store, is a white trailer next to a house. There is a Meeting People on the floor under the shelf inside.
 * A Stealth Boy (+100 Sneak) can be used to pass the Sneak check with Trudy. One can usually be found in the Goodsprings schoolhouse inside the locked safe (Lockpick skill of 25 required).
 * Doc Mitchell will give the Courier three stimpaks when asked for help. Passing a Medicine check of 30 nets two doctor's bags in addition.
 * A copy of Today's Physician, which boosts the Medicine skill by 10 (or 20 with Comprehension), can be found inside Mitchell's house, on a desk with a typewriter where the game begins.
 * Despite the 30 Medicine requirement, no XP is given for passing the check, unlike with each of the others involved.
 * The player character can also enlist Victor to join their side in the fight, but he fails to show up. Asking him about this later (before he leaves to Novac), they will find that he was shut down by an unknown person to keep him from fighting (Science check of 25 required). Note: Sometimes when going to enlist Victor, the option to recruit him will be inexplicably missing. This can usually be worked around by talking to one of the other NPCs for the quest and then returning to Victor.
 * A Programmer's Digest, which boosts the Science skill by 10 (or 20 with Comprehension), can be located in Goodsprings schoolhouse near the computer terminal, and there is a second copy on the shelf beside the overturned desks.
 * Even if the Courier does not recruit Easy Pete or Trudy, they will still probably help out in the fight. As will Chet, even though the Courier does not have the option to recruit him. Make sure Sunny Smiles does not die during the fight, as it will make it impossible to carry on the quest - see the Bugs section below for more information.
 * Once the Courier has enlisted all the assistance they wish to, return to Ringo in the gas station and speak to him to start the fight. Sunny Smiles will show up once the Courier commits to being ready. Follow Sunny and Ringo to the scene of the gun fight. Joe Cobb and the other Powder Gangers will approach the Prospector Saloon from the main road. Once all the Powder Gangers are dead, the quest is complete. It is, however, possible for any (or all) of the Goodsprings residents to die in the fight.

Bugs

 * Sunny may die before the Courier talks to her, thus rendering the quest impossible to finish.
 * When returning to the gas station after talking to the townspeople, the door may be locked, requiring a key to open. However, this key does not appear to be obtainable until the mission is over.
 * Upon entering the gas station to report to Ringo, the Courier may find the door unable to be interacted with thus trapping the player character in the gas station.
 * It is possible that the quest may not show up as active in the Pip-Boy, and it will be impossible to progress in it (the non-player character dialogue will not show up).
 * After completing the quest, the inhabitants of the town who assist in the quest disappear. Using the player.moveto console command finds them in the Goodsprings home nearest the schoolhouse.
 * When doing the optional quest to recruit the help of the Goodsprings Locals, Easy Pete may be at Black Mountain for no apparent reason.
 * If the Powder Gangers attack started, but the Courier kills all of them en route, or Joe Cobb is killed by an unrelated NPC or by a mine, being previously weakened by Courier attack - the quest does not complete, making the quest impossible to finish. This can be fixed by re-killing one of the Powder Gangers or respawning Joe and allowing him to walk into the gunfight range:
 * One can spawn a new Powder Ganger with the console command "player.placeleveledactoratme 00104c6a 1", which creates a new Powder Ganger at the Courier's location. However, this may cause savegame bloating.
 * One can also resurrect an already-killed Powder Ganger: Click the corpse of one of the Powder Gangers that showed up for the Ghost Town Gunfight. It is correctly selected if the top of the screen shows the target's name and refID. Use the console command "resurrect".
 * Kill the Powder Ganger again.
 * When the Courier goes to tell Ringo that they are ready to fight, Sunny Smiles will come in and say something along the lines of "I'll be watching the Powder Gangers for when the time comes." Ringo will not go outside but stay in the gas station, and the only way to fix it is to restart.
 * Joe Cobb's corpse never disappears from the game.
 * At random times after completing the quest one may be given it again, everyone will respawn and XP is granted after beating the quest again.
 * If the player character has completed I Fought the Law first (betray Eddie), then return to Goodsprings to take this quest, they will not be able to complete it. The quest will not appear in the Quests log, one will not be able to start the fight.