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. It is also a former American military base and fallout shelter built before the Great War. It is the most northwest location in the Capital Wasteland.

Background
Raven Rock was designed at the beginning of the Cold War as a shelter for top military officials from the effects of a possible nuclear attack on the nation. The special ZAX unit (later known as President John Henry Eden), was installed 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, ZAX began to observe the Enclave force in the Enclave Oil Rig and it gained knowledge with the extensive archives left in its early A.I. data base. Slowly ZAX modeled its own personality.

At some point after gaining self-awareness, John Henry Eden made contact with the Enclave leadership on the West Coast, establishing itself as a Presidential Adviser. Raven Rock came to serve as the central base of operations for the Capital Wasteland Enclave since the retreat of the Enclave force located in the Enclave Oil Rig in 2242, when John Henry Eden took control of the Enclave as the new President after the death of Dick Richardson.

Raven Rock is powered by a General Atomics nuclear reactor and gets its fresh water from deep underground wells and a mini purifier similar to other Vaults. It is also likely that Raven Rock had manufacturing capabilities able to produce Vertibirds, power armor, and weapons. The Satcom defensive array may also have been a part of Raven Rock's defense because the real world Site-R (Raven Rock) has a large number of satellite arrays. This combined with a significant defensive robotic army, probably made Raven Rock the second most powerful Enclave outpost (after the Enclave Oil Rig). After the Lone Wanderer was captured in 2277, a civil war breaks out in Raven Rock between President John Henry Eden's sentry bots and Colonel Augustus Autumn and the Enclave troopers. Raven Rock was eventually destroyed by the Lone Wanderer after their invasion, or by Liberty Prime during the two weeks after the activation of the Project Purity, if the Lone Wanderer didn't previously destroy Raven Rock.

Layout
Raven Rock has three levels, indicated by a number and a letter. Level three is the bottom and level one is the top. Raven Rock can be confusing to navigate, with its many corridors, rooms, and open areas being very similar to each other with few distinguishing differences.

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.
 * Stealth Boy - in a closet adjacent to the dining hall in the first part of the facility visited.

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, while Raven Rock is meant more for important Pentagon employees. Raven Rock is located in the 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.
 * After the base has been destroyed, Enclave troopers will spawn close to Raven Rock and will flee.
 * Your companions seem to be lost after you are captured. Make sure to dismiss them before taking the G.E.C.K.
 * Shooting the door before it has gotten blown off will result in it flying off as it does when it explodes.
 * If you fast travel to Raven Rock after its destruction you may encounter an Enclave soldier with no helmet that will attack you with his fists. One punch will kill him and when you check his body he will have nothing in his inventory. Not even the power armor he's wearing.