Fort Bannister

Fort Bannister is a pre-war military installation north of Evergreen Mills. When the Great War came in 2077, it was one of the highest profile targets in the area, suffering a number of direct nuclear hits, which obliterated much of its surface facilities, leaving a gaping crater and concrete ruins behind. The nuclear detonation did not destroy the bunker's underground installations, however, which was likely the main reason it was secured by Talon Company mercenaries and used as their primary base.

An interesting thing to note is that missile silo doors reside within a ruined building. As the building has a roughly circular pattern of destruction centered on the silo doors, one can gather that the building itself collapsed when a missile plowed through at the beginning of the Great War.

The bunker itself is extensive and is accessible from the ammunition storage, a manhole inside a lone tent, and a metal door down some steps just to the right when entering Fort Bannister through the South gates.

Enemies
The underground levels of the fort are crawling with Talon Company Mercs who are all very heavily armed. If your combat skills are high enough to clear the place out, the area contains a staggering amount of valuable hardware to scavenge. In the Commanding Officer's Quarters are Commander Jabsco and a Mister Gutsy.

This place is also great to come back to even after clearing it the first time, since the top-side talon company mercs (Dog + Robot included) will eventually respawn here every few days or so. Allowing you to gather XP, assorted ammo and combat armor (Talon company combat armor).

Be warned, fights are tough and running away may get you into more trouble from random encounters, so prepare for a long fight. Going at night will give you better chances of survival as the robot and dog have a lower line of sight. (Like any other enounter in Fallout 3 not involving Behemoths, if you have any reasonably powerful weapon such as the A3-21's Plasma Rifle, backed up by the Alien Blaster, cleaning house is no problem, and you should have gotten those weapons early in the game.)

Hint: Try shooting the missile launchers out of the mercenaries' hands if you're having trouble with them. Mines may also help. This may also be a good time to use up one of your Stealth Boys to get critical hits on the many Mercs.



Note: If possible, avoid fast traveling to this location as you may arrive surrounded by a handful of mercs and a Protectron (or Mr Gutsy) + a guard dog.

Enclave
After The Waters of Life quest, an Enclave research outpost can be found near the massive crater, with a mobile terminal containing their objective in the area (gathering samples).

Items

 * The unique Combat Knife called Occam's Razor is carried by the Talon Company boss, Commander Jabsco.


 * There are 96 Alien Power Cells in a large radioactive crater to the east of the Fort itself and due south of VAPL-58 Power Station ([[Media:Crater_east_of_fort_bannister.png|screenshot]]). There is an overturned military truck in the crater, as well as several barrels of waste. The Alien Power Cells are beneath the truck, as if they spilled out of the bed. Also in the crater, less than 10 meters to the south east of the truck, are a locked safe ( weapon + ammo ) and a locked personal footlocker ( low armor ), both of easy difficulty.


 * A copy of Nikola Tesla and You can be found on a ledge between the stairs in the missile launch room, near an Ammunition Box visible from the stairs.(It's one of the non-evident ones : Enter the commanding Officer's quarters from the wastelands, when you enter the missile silo, walk till you bump in an ammo box on the ground to your left, at the sand bag defence of the mercs you encounter after entering the stairwell. From here face west, then slightly left and down : you'll see another ammo box on the stairs' roof and a ham radio, one floor below. The book is between those). **Save before entering the missle launch room. The book may have flown due to the missle launchers**. You can reach it with an easy well timed jump.


 * A copy of Guns and Bullets is found on top of a gun cabinet (.32 or chinese pistol and some .32 or 10mm ammo inside the cabinet) inside the Bunker Area of Fort Bannister.


 * In an Average locked room at the bottom of the concrete stairs in Fort Bannister Main (which can be entered from the outside area through two (very easy) locked doors - one is directly west of the entrance to Fort Bannister Bunker), there is a copy of Big Book of Science, a Fat Man, and one Mini Nuke.


 * A Nuka-Cola Quantum behind a footlocker under the stairs in the souther-most room of the Commanding Officer's Quarters

Bugs & Glitches

 * After killing two Talon Company Mercs, I began exploring deeper into the bunker. Later on while exiting, they appeared as if resurrected from death, without armour, but with their weapons intact. This is proof that I looted their bodies.

Appearances
Fort Bannister only appears in Fallout 3.