The House Always Wins II

The House Always Wins II is a main quest

Synopsis
Mr. House's Securitrons on the New Vegas Strip may have been upgraded, but there are hundreds of them that lie beneath Fortification Hill that House still requires for the upcoming Second Battle of Hoover Dam.

Option: Play along with Caesar
Whether the player character intends to aid them or not, one way to get into The Fort is to do as the Legion says. Do not bring Craig Boone, as he will shoot members of the Legion on sight unless one is wearing Legion armor. Travel to Cottonwood Cove and meet Cursor Lucullus at the docks. He will take the Courier to the fort. Upon arrival one will be stripped of all "banned" items (all detectable weapons, certain medical supplies, and the Platinum Chip if applicable). A Speech check can be used to keep the medical supplies. The player character's items will be stored in a locked box by the gates, the key to which is held by the guards. Even if one has pickpocketed the key without getting caught, opening the box will turn the Legion hostile on the spot, regardless of how one does it.

The next step is to meet up with Caesar and discuss his wishes. He will ask the Courier to destroy House's bunker and return the Platinum Chip. The bunker is located in a weather monitoring station at the back of the camp. Note that while Caesar asks the player character to destroy the bunker, he will not actually check to see if one followed through or not. The objective for his mission completes regardless of the player's actions. Next one will need to head to the bunker. Here a Legionary will give the Courier their equipment back. Open the doors on the ground inside the weather station using the chip and venture down the stairs to the elevator.

Inside the bunker, one will will encounter Mr. House, who will brief the Courier on the mission. Their goal is to reach the terminal inside the bunker to upgrade the Securitrons to the Securitron Mark II operating system. The entire bunker is mildly radioactive (+1 rads per second) and is inhabited by hostile Protectrons and turrets. A nearby room has terminals which can be used to deactivate the turrets and robots. A Science skill of 50 can disable the turrets, while disabling the robots requires a skill of 75. Upon reaching the end, one can install the chip and upgrade the Securitrons. Caesar will take the large rumble as proof of the bunker's destruction.

If the Courier hasn't killed him yet, Benny will be in Caesar's tent. Caesar will offer the player character the choice of how he is to die; crucifixion or a duel to the death with machetes. One has several options:
 * Kill Benny.
 * Untie Benny. Doing so will turn the Legion hostile and they will probably beat him to death even if the player character survives.
 * Give Benny a Stealth Boy and a bobby pin to let him escape own his own. This will end the same as the second option unless one has snuck along with him. Assuming he escapes, he will disappear and never be seen again.
 * Note that while Benny is still tied up, one can pickpocket Benny's pistol Maria or any other available item in his inventory without him becoming hostile.

Option: Get past Caesar
Even if one's reputation with the Legion is vilified, or one does not wish to help the Legion, it is still possible to complete this quest.

The first option is to disguise oneself as a member of the Legion. Do not bring any companions as the guards will notice and a shootout will ensue. Proceed through Cottonwood Cove to the Fort as normal. Speak to no one but the dock officer and avoid all Legion dogs to avoid getting caught. Continue to the bunker. The guards inside will recognize the Courier, but they can be killed without alerting the rest of the camp as long as long as one remains disguised. Complete the quest as normal and return the way one came.

The second option is to simply kill everything in sight. Instead of speaking to Cursor Lucullus, who will have to be killed, just target and activate the raft to get to the fort. Kill everything between the player character and the bunker and complete the quest as normal. It is not necessary to kill Caesar if the quest is completed this way.

Completion
Once the Securitrons are upgraded, head back to the Lucky 38 and talk to Mr. House. If you just obtained the Platinum Chip, Part I will complete prior to Part III starting.

Quest stages
Part II

Bugs

 * During Part II of the quest when you go up to the elevator to go back to Mr. House, you will be unable to speak to Victor rendering the quest unable to be completed.
 * Bringing a companion inside and talking to them, and then exiting the conversation while standing near Victor can cause the menu to change floors to pop up, thus fixing the glitch.
 * If the player still has The House Always Wins I quest active alongside this one, caused by Benny not being killed at the Tops and escaping, the entire House quest line can become stuck. After retrieving the Platinum Chip from the Fort to upgrade the Strip Securitrons for part I, without activating the Securitron army for part II while there, will result in Mr. House not returning the Platinum Chip item after the basement demonstration before sending the player back to Securitron bunker at the Fort, despite what his dialogue implies. While part I will be completed, this prevents the player from upgrading the army and completing this quest. Retrieving the chip from Benny at the Tops and completing part I before part II begins will not cause this issue and the chip item will be returned as intended following the demonstration.
 * PC players can fix this issue by adding another Platinum Chip to their inventory using the console command "player.additem 1164fb 1".
 * After turning the quest in to Mr. House, it is possible that the option of discussing the Fortification Hill assignment will remain in his dialogue menu, with no way to return to other options other than continuously refusing to help. This carries no negative effects for the rest of the questline, however, as House states that he wants to give the Courier some time to think things over, and resumes normal dialogue if approached later.