Raven Rock

Raven Rock, known as Site R before the Great War is the East Coast Enclave's main base of operations in the Capital Wasteland and a former American military base and fallout shelter built before the Great War.

Background
Raven Rock was designed at the beginning of the Cold War (1946-1991) as a shelter for top military officials from the effects of a nuclear attack on the nation. The special ZAX unity in Raven Rock, later know as President John Henry Eden, was implanted in the site before the Great War to serve as a monitoring system for Raven Rock and tasked with coordinating communications between the many Enclave installations scattered across the country. Many decades after the Great War, it began to observe the Enclave force in the Enclave Oil Rig and learning with the extensive archives left to it, slowly became and modeled its own personality. At some point after gaining self-awareness, Eden made contact with the Enclave leadership on the West Coast and established itself as a Presidential Advisor. Raven Rock become to served as the central base of operations in the Capital Wasteland for the Enclave since the retreat of the Enclave force located in the Enclave Oil Rig in 2242, thanks to the order given by John Henry Eden, now president of the Enclave after the death of Dick Richardson.

Raven Rock is powered by a General Atomics nuclear reactor and gets it's fresh water from deep underground wells and a mini purifier similar to vaults. It is also likely that Raven Rock had manufacturing capabilities able to produce vertibirds, power armors, and weapons. This combined with a significant defensive robotic army, probably made Raven Rock the second most powerful Enclave outpost (after the oil rig). After the Lone Wanderer capture, a civil war breaks out between Eden and his Sentry bots and Colonel Autumn and his Enclave troopers. Colonel Autumn and the human forces evacuate from Raven Rock and settle at Adams Air Force Base and at Project Purity. This massive loss of personnel probably contributed to the ease at which Liberty Prime was able to destroy Raven rock (If that option was taken). Raven Rock was eventually destroyed by the Lone Wanderer in 2278, or by Liberty Prime during the two weeks after the activation of the Project Purity, if the Lone Wanderer didn't have destroy Raven Rock before.

Layout
Only a small portion of the Raven Rock facility is visitable. This is confirmed by the vertibird hangers which are unreachable, the locked archives, and the inaccessible hallway that is directly across from Eden's office upon leaving it. It is likely that Raven Rock houses a significant Barracks, as well as a hanger, a power reactor, and a food supply (ie. hydroponics, etc.)

Notable loot

 * The Energy Weapons Bobblehead is located near the end of Sector 2C in Colonel Autumn's room, along with the ZAX destruct sequence. If you miss it during your visit to Raven Rock you will be unable to retrieve it later. After opening one of the large metal doors on the second floor, the player will be confronted with two doors, one with two enemies behind it. The bobblehead is behind the western door. The player should not enter the Control Room before retrieving the bobblehead, as the doors will lock permanently.

Related quests

 * Finding the Garden of Eden
 * The American Dream

Appearances
Raven Rock only appears in Fallout 3.

Behind the scenes

 * Raven Rock Mountain Complex is a real-world government facility located just north of Pennsylvania's southern border. However, the design of Raven Rock's entrance is visually similar to the Mount Weather complex, another nuclear bunker, which is about 50 miles northwest of Washington, DC. Mount Weather is designed to be the President's personal fallout shelter. Raven Rock is located in upper left-hand corner of the map in Fallout 3, roughly in the area of Travilah, Maryland, and relatively close to Mount Weather.

Bugs

 * All glitches have been moved to the discussion page.
 * The outer hatch can be blown off from the outside by small arms fire (but not grenades). If you enter the complex (before The Waters of Life quest), you will be blocked from further entry by an invisible wall. When you leave, you will trigger the event where Colonel Autumn's Vertibirds flee the compound. If you go back and exit one more time, the Vertibirds will be stuck to the ground on top of Raven Rock. Just climb up there and you can study them closely. But you can not do anything to them. They still, of course, blow up if a sufficient amount of damage is dealt.
 * There is a glitch where if you convinced Eden to self-destruct and you fast travel back to Raven Rock with Fawkes as a follower at a later time, Fawkes will get stuck under the level. You can solve this by moving away until he starts following you and he will re-glitch back onto the surface. This glitch can also occur with Dogmeat, but if you try to re-glitch he will die.
 * After the base has been destroyed, Enclave troopers will spawn close to Raven Rock and will flee. They will also respawn every time you fast-travel back to the location. When killed, their bodies are empty even though they are clearly wearing armor.
 * After the base has been destroyed, from the hatch, go left and around the mountain. When you get to the top, there is a bunch of hovering flames. They cannot be interacted with.
 * Killing either of the two sentry bots guarding the entrance to Eden's office will cause loss of karma.
 * Your companions seem to be lost after you are captured. Make sure to dismiss them before taking the G.E.C.K.