Cottonwood Cove

Cottonwood Cove is a location in the Mojave Wasteland which acts as a staging area for Caesar's Legion in 2281. It is located along the Colorado River, southeast of Ranger station Echo.

Background
Once a small resort, Cottonwood Cove was adopted by the Legion as an outpost, used for trafficking captured people to Arizona for slave processing and as a launching point for all Legion raiding operations in southern Mojave. It has since become the largest single encampment of Legion forces on the western side of the Colorado River and is their foothold into Nevada, using the river to transfer troops and supplies to Fortification Hill on the east bank. This was made possible by the sabotage of Camp Searchlight, organized by Vulpes Inculta. When the camp fell and the NCR's presence in the region waned, an outpost was set up at Cottonwood Cove to handle all Legion operations in the area. All communication to and from Cottonwood Cove is handled via a ham radio.

Centurion Aurelius of Phoenix is stationed here as commander. With just two contubernia at his command (16 legionaries), he managed to kill and capture over four times his own number in NCR soldiers, giving him a very respectable win ratio.

Layout
The Legion camp is concentrated among the former resort buildings on the edge of the bay. Legionaries patrol the area around the buildings and up to the edge of the resort, near the welcome sign (now adorned with the heads of those who crossed the Legion), while lookouts (Legion explorers and a Legion mongrels) cover entry points.

There is a hollowed-out rock to the left of the fast travel point to Cottonwood Cove. The rock will be marked with the phrase "the sun is killing me" and is located in the path between the two crucifixes.

Centurion Aurelius of Phoenix maintains his command post at the headquarters set up in the concrete building overlooking the bay, with legionaries quartered in red tents surrounding it. Most of the resort buildings are boarded off, with the exception of the mess hall. A shack set up by the overlook is used as a supply dump.

The Cove can be a difficult area to storm, due to open lines of sight. However, a crafty sniper can make use of the Cottonwood overlook to pick legionaries off, or dump the radioactive waste from the transport truck from San Onofre onto the hapless legionaries below. This will kill everyone in the camp, including civilians, but will not deny access to the Fort. Cursor Lucullus will simply wear a radiation suit, while the radiation will not be high enough to be lethal to the player character. A Lockpick skill of 50 is required to open up the back.

Craig Boone will warn the player character on approach that he will start shooting anyone wearing Legion red. Actually wiping the camp out with Boone in tow - whether directly or through dumping waste into it - advances Boone's story and puts the player character one step closer to starting I Forgot to Remember to Forget.

Electing to nuke the Legion during Lonesome Road will activate the boat to Dry Wells at the Cove.

Notable loot

 * Grognak the Barbarian - on the nightstand in Aurelius of Phoenix's office.
 * Legion raid plans - in one of the filing cabinets in the headquarters building.
 * Recompense of the Fallen and Legion patrol notes - in the desk in Aurelius of Phoenix's office.
 * Sunset Sarsaparilla star bottle cap - on a shelf inside the women's restroom.

Appearances
Cottonwood Cove appears only in Fallout: New Vegas.

Behind the scenes

 * Cottonwood Cove is based on the real world location of Cottonwood Cove Resort and Marina, located on the Colorado River in Clark County, Nevada. The resort features a similar layout with features that mirror the in-game equivalents.


 * Romanes Eunt Domus (translated in-film as "People called Romanes, they go, the house") is painted on the side of the Cottonwood Cove HQ, a reference to the film Monty Python's Life Of Brian.