HELIOS One

 is a Poseidon Energy solar plant that can generate and provide energy to the Strip and other places. It also contains the control system for two massive space-based laser weapons, Archimedes I and Archimedes II.

Background
A pre-War installation, Helios was hailed as the "Dawn of a Golden Age" by Poseidon Energy. The Brotherhood of Steel discovered the facility and were actively working on understanding its workings until they were attacked by the NCR and driven away. Before the Brotherhood abandoned the facility, they put it in a nearly inactive state and armed the pre-War security system. Despite the NCR's best efforts, they have had no luck in either bringing the power level up or deactivating the security system.

Characteristics
The facility is not working properly, but the player can get it running and use the power to benefit or hurt a variety of factions around the Mojave. It can also be used to activate a powerful weapon, Archimedes II, which can be controlled using Euclid's C-Finder.

If the Archimedes I plant defense system is activated, killing all the NCR troops at the plant, Caesar's Legion will occupy Helios One two days later, and will hold it through the end of the game. (The ending slides reveal that under certain circumstances the Brotherhood of Steel or NCR will retake it after the events of the main game.)

Layout
See the quest That Lucky Old Sun for more about dealing with the various NPCs in and around the facility and getting it back online.

Main building
At the beginning of the events of Fallout: New Vegas the facility is controlled by the NCR, who have a detachment guarding the facility. At the front entrance is Lt. Haggerty, who must be convinced to allow the player in, or the player can lockpick a side door for entrance.

In the back of the building is a "technician" named Fantastic, who is working on getting the power plant functioning. The room adjacent to Fantastic's contains another scientist, Ignacio Rivas. A nearby door leads to the mirror yard.

Mirror yard
Behind the main building is the solar collection tower and an array of computer-controlled mirrors. There are also two mirror control terminals in small shacks, and several tents set up by the NCR soldiers guarding the facility. The western terminal is guarded by mines and a rigged shotgun, while the eastern terminal is guarded by attack dogs.

Solar collection tower
Inside the solar collection tower, past a small straight path there are three hostile turrets and several (level-dependent) security robots, a mix of Protectrons, Robobrains, Mister Gutsys, and/or Sentry Bots. Going straight ahead leads to an unlocked door to a small room containing several frag mines (both active and inactive) and an easy locked terminal. The terminal can be hacked to shut off the turrets or get them to fire indiscriminately at all targets (including the security robots). Downstairs is a small room with two pulse grenades on a shelf, and an average safe containing more pulse grenades and pulse mines plus miscellaneous loot.

The level continues through a double-wide door and down a sloping corridor guarded by a leveled security bot. The door at the bottom leads into another narrow corridor, leading to another multi-level room with stairways and catwalks, guarded by a Mister Gutsy. At the bottom is a door leading to more corridors and three small rooms. One contains five Protectrons and their charging stations, one contains some desks, skeletons and two Poseidon Energy ID cards, and one has an elevator that leads to the observation level of the tower.

Observation level
The observation level contains the mainframe computer used to activate the plant and direct its power, plus a broken generator that can provide power to the mainframe and a repair robot called Python. See That Lucky Old Sun for more about repairing and using the mainframe. There is a door at the top level that leads to the observation deck.

Observation deck
This is a circular deck all around the top of the solar collection tower. A spiral catwalk leads down from the entrance door. There is a reflector control panel that must be activated to complete the retargeting of the mirrors during That Lucky Old Sun. This location is outside, so the player can fast travel from here, though it is not recommended to do so during the Helios One/Archimedes I startup sequence, as this can cause quest glitches.

Notable Loot

 * D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine upstairs in the main building, lying on a bed in the same room with the east terminal password. (Head to the right from main entrance, through the pool room, and right up the stairs.)
 * Programmer's Digest on the upper level before big doors inside the Solar Collection Tower
 * Fixin' Things on the table in the second flight of stairs after the tunnel in Solar Collection Tower
 * Meeting People on one of the troopers stationed outside the entrance to HELIOS One (can be pick-pocketed)
 * Pulse grenade on the shelves behind the desk in main hall. Also on the first floor of Solar Collection Tower in the room with safe

Related Quests

 * That Lucky Old Sun
 * Sunshine Boogie
 * Classic Inspiration
 * I Could Make You Care

Appearances
appears in Fallout: New Vegas.

Behind the scenes

 * Helios was the Greek god of the sun.
 * This location is based on The Solar Project located in the Mojave Desert.

Bugs

 * Sometimes when leaving the building via the back door, various NPCs, creatures or invisible objects will fall out of the air and will become hostile. These may include Rey, Colmillo, Basura, Old Lady Gibson, Molerats, Radscorpions, barrels and a tin can or a combination of the above. Reloading the autosave made when you exited the door will correct this problem.
 * After exiting via the large metal door, the Lieutenant and accompanying troopers all turned hostile for no apparent reason. Boone and ED-E accompanying at the time. This happens if you entered the Helios plant from the side entrance without talking to the Lieutenant first. Simply exit from the side again and they will no longer be hostile.
 * Floating high above the top of the Solar Collecting Tower there may appear a hostile unnamed turret. It seems not to be targetable, destructible or even visible in normal play. With ED-E's Enhanced Sensor perk however, the turret may be targeted in VATS (appears stealthed) and shot with varying degrees of accuracy (13-20% with Gobi Desert Scout Rifle) although the shots seem to have no effect other than to change the HIDDEN status to CAUTION.

Gallery
Гелиос-1