Bethesda Ruins

The Bethesda Ruins are located on the far outskirts of the DC ruins, north east of Vault 101 across the river. The Ruins are actually two office buildings - Bethesda Offices East and West - linked by a catwalk and a monorail entrance. To the northeast area of the Bethesda Offices East you will find an underground passage called Bethesda Underworks, which you can also enter via manhole located to the southwest of Bethesda Ruins West Office.

Locations
Four areas collectively make up the Bethesda Ruins. They are the street level, Bethesda Offices West, Bethesda Offices East, and the Bethesda Underworks. Directly east of Bethesda Ruins, there is The Raid Shack with 5 or 6 Raiders and the unique knife, Stabhappy.

Street Level
The entire area is occupied by well-equipped Raiders. Several use Flamers, while the bulk of the remainder use assault rifles or Chinese Assault Rifles depending upon player level. Additionally, a sniper armed with a .308 sniper rifle roosts in a building shell nearby and another on the bridge linking both east and west offices. The Raiders have barricaded most of the streets leading to the ruins with haste-make structures and derelict vehicles. While this may force a player bent on attacking the Ruins into unfavorable positions at times, methodical attackers can turn the barricades to their own advantage, drawing the Raiders out to attack in ones and twos, rather than attempting to attack a fortified position. These "fighting positions" also house a few ammunition and supply boxes.

Note: If you have the Ghoul Mask, Stealth Boys or the Chinese Stealth Suit, you can "enlist" the support of Feral Ghouls to help clear out the street level. You have to first enter the Bethesda Underworks without officially entering Bethesda Ruins and then put on the Ghoul Mask or sneaking so that the ghouls don't aggro on you. The Feral Ghouls will exit the Underworks and begin attacking the Raiders outside. Make sure you keep any traveling companions away from the area or they might attack the Ghouls, who will then turn on you. This is confirmed on the Xbox 360 console.

The western entrance road into Bethesda Ruins is the trigger point for a random encounter. The encounter location is near the Red Rocket statue. The encounter triggers when approaching this area from the east.

Bethesda Offices West
Mostly reception and office space, Bethesda Offices West is nevertheless home to a considerable number of Raiders. The cramped confines of the building render most hard-hitting long-range weapons ineffective as they become unwieldy when turning corners and investigating small rooms. Raiders are generally well-armed and -armored, making the Chinese Assault Rifle, 10mm SMG, or Scoped .44 Magnum ideal choices for assault weapons. Players with a high Small Guns skill and criticals-enhancing perks may choose to use either a silenced or standard 10mm Pistol.

Players should also keep a keen eye for traps. At least three shotgun traps as well as two grenade cluster traps are located in this building. Players with sufficient Repair skill can disarm and take the weapons (though the two clusters are in a difficult to reach space between floors). All of these traps can be seen in the same room upstairs. Also as an IMPORTANT note, the three shotgun traps are also on the same trap, and are activated by the same pressure plate. The room has a hole in the floor, so before dashing right in, look to the left and see what might have happened, should you fail to see the trap. You can also listen for the radio, as a radio plays in here. The channel is GNR.

Note: An entertaining way of dealing with the grenade clusters is to throw a raider's body down through the hole in the floor. This will set off the grenade traps, damaging or possibly killing the raiders below.

Note: You can also take the wooden crates and pile them on top of each other underneath the two Frag Grenade clusters that are in the hole in the ceiling. If you do it high enough and jump on top you can disarm the two traps, get the experience, and take the six grenades.

Notable Loot

 * On the big curved desk in the main lobby there is a Big Book of Science.
 * On the bottom floor, a Stealth Boy is hidden in a crate on its side next to a water fountain. Far east by the stairs.
 * On the second floor, there are two Pre-War Books on top of some Filing Cabinets. Look for a burning barrel just up a set of stairs.
 * On top floor near deep freezer next to the fridge there is small pile of crates (this is also the room with the traps). Move them to reveal a Mini Nuke
 * On top floor at the bottom of a wooden crate on a desk under some other stuff there is a Dean's Electronics.
 * On top floor, on shelves to the right of the door, there is a Stealth Boy. Also there are some Railway Spikes
 * On top floor, above the rigged shotguns there is a Medical Brace along with a lunchbox for those needing components.
 * On bottom floor, a Cherry Bomb is found in the broken toilet (a reference to the gag). There are multiple bathrooms, so check both.
 * On the bottom floor, in the room with the turret, you can find a nice shelf of supplies away from the doors. These include, but are not limited to, Frag mines, frag grenades, railway spikes, and some other items. These are not in a container, so look for them on a wall shelf.

Bethesda Offices East
Much of the East building is offices, with more cramped fighting conditions. Extensive damage to the building also includes large gaps and holes in the floor, making fighting on the upper floor treacherous in places. The apparent leader of the Bethesda Raiders is here, armed with a flamethrower and carrying a Big Guns skill book in their inventory.

Bethesda East is also one of the possible initiation points for the John's Treasure Box miscellaneous quest. Players may find a wastelander's corpse carrying a note written to his brother. The note points the player to the scrapyard north of the Ruins. In this scrapyard is a bus that has been cut in half. Inside is a container labeled John's Treasure Box which holds skill books (this is a Random Encounter event and the dead wastelander has died from three to four Vicious Dogs).

Notable Loot

 * The Bobblehead - Lockpick is located in Bethesda Offices East on a desk next to the Turret Control System Computer on the second level.
 * A Chinese Army: Spec. Ops. book on the second floor - after entering from the second floor walkway from Bethesda West, a couple rooms in, on a desk with two missiles.
 * You can find a Mini Nuke near the exit to the catwalk, to the north between the two filing cabinets (which can't be opened), on a rubble pile that exposes the sky.
 * On the second story you will find a workbench will many useful components, as well as a Bottlecap Mine.
 * A Flamer, just to the left of the Bobblehead and the right of the Turret Control Terminal.
 * U.S. Army: 30 Handy Flamethrower Recipes book held by the flamethrower raider. The raider who holds this book respawns every 73 hours, so you can retrieve this book an limitless number of times.  Although, she will not return if enslaved with the Mezmetron, as is the case with many other respawning characters.
 * If you are having trouble getting the raider to respawn, try waiting on the walkway outside between the two buildings for 73 hours and re-entering. This is also a good way to build up some caps pretty quickly through collecting the flamers. A good condition flamer is worth about 450 caps. Also don't forget the raiders in the west building also respawn, and one of them has a flamer as well.


 * Note: On this same Raider is a Safe Key which unlocks the safe just above the desk where the Bobblehead - Lockpick is located. The safe contains Pre-War Money as well as Bottle caps and a random weapon.

Bethesda Underworks
A small tunnel system underneath the Bethesda Ruins. The entrance looks like a subway entrance (and is located on the northeast edge of Bethesda Ruins.) Inside the underworks are many Feral Ghouls, including a few Glowing Ones. The Underworks are also a low-radiation area, however given the small size of the tunnel system, any exposure is likely to be brief. There is a second entrance/exit at the bottom of the Underworks, a ladder that takes you back into the ruins. In the Ruins this entrance is marked by a manhole on the sidewalk. The Ghoul Mask comes in handy if you do not wish to fight the ghouls

Notable Loot

 * Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor on a bucket sitting on a bench found right after coming from the tunnel at the entrance. (The bench is upstairs in the main terminal room.) (A)
 * Grognak the Barbarian in a storage room at the bottom of the Underworks. (B)
 * Mini Nuke can be found in this same storage room under a wooden crate (you need to move it manually)
 * A Stealth Boy is in the same storage room, held in the skeleton's hand.
 * Nuka-Cola Quantum in the storage room with the other loot

Glitches
The Raider wielding the flamethrower, (in the East Offices), has the 30 Handy Flamethrower Recipes skill book in his/her inventory. When they repop in three days, the book is in his/her inventory again. You can repeat this to get Big Guns to 100% without ever putting anything into it.

Bugs

 * You may encounter two Raiders armed with a Lead Pipe that can't be killed. The only way to escape is let your companion fight them so you can run away and fast travel, or go to a previous save. This bug has only been reported on the Xbox 360 and PS3 version of the game.
 * In bethesda offices east, if the player attacks Unarmed or with a melee weapon through V.A.T.S. while above the enemy on the ramp to the second level, they may become stuck in the ground and unable to move upon exiting V.A.T.S..