Operation: Anchorage



Operation: Anchorage is the first downloadable content (DLC) pack for Fallout 3, and was released on January 27, 2009 for the Xbox 360 and Windows versions. The DLC costs 800 Microsoft points.

Story
In this DLC pack, the Brotherhood of Steel Outcasts are trying to acquire advanced military tools, and the only way to enter the vault containing these relics is by completing a military virtual reality simulation only the player can enter. In the simulation the player fights in one of the greatest battles of the Fallout universe: the liberation of Anchorage, Alaska from invading Red Chinese troops. The simulation is set between June 2076, when the T-51b Power Armor was first introduced, and January 2077, when Chinese forces were completely driven out of Alaska.

Once the DLC is downloaded, the quest objective for Operation: Anchorage will be activated by a radio broadcast stating, "This is Defender Morrill, any Outcasts listening on this frequency report to sector 7-B, Bailey's Crossroads. This is a high-priority message, backup is needed at our location. Any personnel listening on this frequency please report at once." A marker will appear on the world map but the player cannot immediately fast-travel to the location to begin the simulation. The DLC can be played at any time after the player exits Vault 101 at the beginning of the game. After completing the simulation, new equipment will be unlocked for the player to use in the rest of the game.

In the simulation, the player is stripped of any equipment and weapons (excluding quest items) and forced to utilize the resources supplied throughout the simulation's environment. The Chinese Red Army is everywhere, and the player first has to secure the surrounding mountain side and then fight their way into the Chinese base. The player has to use a lot of their standard combat skills, along with several new tools that are only available in the DLC. These include interactive strike teams under the player's command as well as unique armor, weapons, and other exotic gadgets. Throughout the simulation various pieces of intel are also hidden, yielding the Covert Ops perk.

New equipment
Accessible outside the simulation:
 * Gauss Rifle
 * Trench Knife
 * Chinese Stealth Armor
 * Winterized T-51b Power Armor
 * Jingwei's Shock Sword
 * Neural Interface Suit
 * Outcast Specialist Robe

Simulation-only items (ones that don't appear outside the Anchorage simulation without the use of Glitches or console commands):
 * Winterized Combat Armor (can be equipped outside simulation with glitch, see below)
 * General Chase's Uniform (worn by General Constantine Chase)
 * General Jingwei's Uniform (worn by General Jingwei)
 * Army Mechanic Jumpsuit (can be equipped outside simulation via glitch.)
 * Winterized Chinese Jumpsuit
 * Winterized Chinese Hat

New perk

 * Covert Ops

New allied NPCs

 * Benjamin Montgomery
 * General Constantine Chase
 * Lieutenant Morgan
 * Doctor Adami
 * Quartermaster (Fallout 3)
 * Strike Team
 * American Soldiers
 * American Grease Monkeys
 * American War Correspondent

New enemies

 * Chimera Tanks
 * Spider Drones
 * Chinese Soldiers
 * Crimson Dragoons
 * Chinese Inferno Units
 * Chinese Launchers
 * Chinese Snipers
 * Chinese Technicians
 * General Jingwei

Pickpocketing Enemies
It is possible to pickpocket the enemies in the simulation, ammo and Chinese assault rifles can be found. It should be noted that if you do manage to pickpocket them you will lose Karma, it is unknown if this is a bug or not. It should be noted that a few Powered Armored soldiers carrying a Fat Man at the end of the simulation yielded Miniguns when pickpocketed. And when you see the Powered Armored Soldiers with Miniguns out, you can pickpocket them for a Fat Man.

Intel
Throughout the anchorage simulation, you will come across "Intel", and the game states that there are 10 of them throughout the Simulation. There is no achievement for finding all 10 of these but you receive the Covert Ops perk collecting all 10.

New areas

 * Bailey's Crossroads Metro
 * There is a Nuka-Cola machine near the zone-in, and the Metro is full of Feral Ghouls.
 * Bailey's Crossroads
 * Your followers may rejoin you after you leave the Metro.
 * Dogmeat will wait for you at Vault 101
 * Outcast Outpost
 * Contains the Anchorage Reclamation simulation
 * If you have a follower, they will not be able to accompany you into the zone.

Glitches/Exploits
Getting The Winterized Combat Armor from Operation: Anchorage Xbox360 fRYHo-gZefc

Keep your simulation Inventory:

 * - It is possible to keep your inventory from the simulation. This means that you can keep your Winterized Combat Armor, Gauss Rifle, Jingwei's Shock Sword and whatever weapons you got from the Quartermaster (ie:Trench Knife, Assault Rifle, Combat Shotgun, etc.) and then receive your reward from the VSS Armory in the Outcast Outpost.


 * This is possible by exploiting an inventory glitch where the player's inventory from the simulation is not removed until after the player returns to the Outpost. To perform this glitch, do the following steps in order and remember to save before performing the glitch because it will take several attempts to achieve this. Also note that that the player should not have started the simulation already, otherwise it is impossible to do and I would suggest loading a previous save if you really want to keep you simulation items.

1. - To set this glitch up, the player needs to talk to Protector McGraw and then to Specialist Olin to get the Neural Interface Suit. After you equip the suit, open the simulation pod but DO NOT sit down on it.

2. - Go into the locked room where Gary 23 is and then drag his body back into the pod room. Lift his body into the pod in a way that his body will be in front of you when you sit down. Make sure that it is close enough to search him. Once you sit down, you will not be able to search him so you are going to have to guess if he is close enough. There are certain areas such as under the footstool where it will be hard to reach him so be careful. Now that you have him positioned and you think he will be close enough to search, save the game. Get in the pod and start the simulation, if he happens to move too much and gets out of searching distance, revert to this last save. You will be able to see if this happens right before the simulation starts.

3. - Enter the simulation and play through to Paving the Way. From this point on everything in your inventory will be taken out of the simulation, so remember to get your weapons package and Gauss Rifle from the Quartermaster and to pick up all the ammo found along the way. It is recommended to also perform the All Requisition Weapons/Ammunition glitch in order to maximize the amount of weapons and ammo you "bring home". Continue playing up to Operation: Anchorage (quest).

4. - Play through the quest, disabling the pulse field and make your way to the doors of the Chinese Compound. At this point make sure you have a save before going in. Once you enter, pick the speech option 'I'm going to kill you SO MUCH'. Shoot the Shock Sword out of General Jingwei's hand. Pick up the Shock Sword and then kill him. Make sure you are not in the southern end of the compound because General Chase may catch you in a speech and send you back to the Outpost without making another save. As soon as you kill General Jingwei, run North toward the Chinese Soldiers and turn around to find where General Chase is and then make another save (you can overwrite your last save if you want).

5. - Now talk to General Chase and he will send you back to the Outpost (remember how you positioned the Gary 23's body in step 1) During the loading screen start to press A (search button) rapidly. If done properly, you will be able to search his body (normally happens in the black screen, but not always) and at this point put all your items on his body. Exit, talk to Protector McGraw, and then search Gary 23's body to retrieve your weapons from the simulation. Combined with the following two bugs, a player can leave the simulation with tens of thousands of bottlecaps worth of ammo.
 * - This part is hard and may take several attempts to achieve it. Try several different methods such as rapidly pressing A or tapping A at a slower rate (changing the rate at which you press it helps), using third person, looking down (or down to left or right), or even trying a mixture of them.
 * - Also Most Weapons & Armor taken from within the Simulation will result in them never losing CND. However, weapons such as the Fat Man, Super Sledge, and Chinese Officer Sword will lose condition.

All Requisition Weapons/Ammunition:

 * This glitch allows you to get all of the weapons that you requisition from the Quartermaster, and is quite simple. All you do is get one of the tapes for a set weapons (ie: Close Combat, Fire Team, etc.) then get the weapons from the Quartermaster. After you do that, go back to the command tent and get another tape. Go outside again, drop your guns and talk to the Quartermaster again. He will give you the new set of weapons that you ask for. A message will then appear saying your other set of weapons were removed, but they will still be where you dropped them earlier. Keep repeating until you get the desired packages/weapons. If you use this with the other glitch (keeping the weapons from simulation), you can make a fast couple of caps once you sell the items, quickly build an arsenal if you are a low level, or simply get to keep weapons with unique/new skins.
 * Note: Attempting to talk to a stealthed Chinese Stealth Dragoon may somehow cause your equipment to reset to what you're supposed to have. Same thing will happen upon conversation with a soldier equipped with Power Armour, and possibly just any NPC.


 * It is also possible to drop your ammo replenish and then pick your original ammunition up again, bypassing the simulation's built in ammo cap. This allows for infinite ammo as long as the player is willing to repeat the process.
 * Note: There is the possibility of a glitch (tested on the 360) After doing the above for an extended period of time the 556mm ammo suddenly disappeared. Looking at the weapons screen it can be seen that the player has -32176 556mm rounds (last known amount 33120 before drawing 240 from the ammo dispenser). This is due to an integer overflow (the game designers didn't expect you to have that much ammo and thus there is no safeguard) Update: The integer in question seems to be the ammo on the ground as once 33000+ 5.56mm bullets were collected in the inventory then dropped the number switched to a negative. But if stopped at a lower number (say 28000) the bullets remained fine and the glitching could continue (example: Gained 28000 bullets then dropped them out of the way and worked up another 28000. The result when picking up the first set was a combined 56000 with no negatives) It can be assumed that this can be repeated so long as no one item on the ground has more than 30000 bullets in it. Interestingly enough when doing the Gary-trade at the end of the simulation the amout of ammo jumped from 52000 to 65000.. then to 78000 a bit later.

Unlimited Experience points
1. - First, you will need to recruit a Strike Team that has only one robot in it, either a Mister Gutsy or the Sentry Bot. Benjamin Montgomery will be in your team by default, but do not assign any other NPCs to your squad while attempting this glitch because they will make it more difficult.
 * You can gain unlimited EXP during the quest Paving the Way, specifically when securing the Listening Post and destroying the fuel tanks in the Chimera Depot. It is recommended that you save your game between each EXP boost to ensure that you don't lose any of your hard work.

2. - Now, you will need to requisition a weapons package from the Quartermaster. Any weapons package will do, but the Fire Team package is recommended. Your ammo will need to be refilled quite frequently from the nearest ammo supply station depending on how long you want to do this (this can be done indefinitely), however, if you just want it gain quick exp and not spend much time on it, then obtain some hard hitting weapons such as grenades, mines, a missile launcher or a Gauss Rifle. To save time on getting ammo, use the ammo glitch (see above).

3. - Then tell your team go to the Listening Post or the Chimera Depot or have them follow you to a secluded area. If you head to the Listening Post or the Chimera Depot, clearing the enemies from the area first is recommended.

4. - Now to actually do the glitch, put the robot between yourself and Benjamin Montgomery and then start attacking the robot. You should try to remain between the robot and Benjamin Montgomery for the duration of the glitch because there is a chance that Benjamin Montgomery will start attacking you when he sees what you are doing, then again there is a chance that he will attack the robot as well (same goes for any other NPCs you might have put in your group). Also if you use VATs and have the Mysterious Stranger Perk, there is a chance that he will appear and you will not get credit for the kill.

5. - Once the robot is destroyed you can request another from Benjamin Montgomery. Within seconds, another will appear nearby. Repeat step 4 as many times as you want to gain EXP.

Playing offline
While Games for Windows Live requires you to be online to in order to play Operation: Anchorage, you can find the DLC files (a main .bsa, a sounds .bsa, and an .esm) in the following folder
 * (Windows XP)
 * (Windows Vista)

If you move them to your  folder, you will be able to play the DLC without activating Games for Windows Live.

Remember to load through the Fallout 3 launcher then click on "Data Files" and check the box next to "Anchorage" before running the game. Keep in mind that this workaround is not officially supported.

And please remember if you are using your Windows search function to search "hidden folders" in order to find these files.

A latent problem with playing OA offline has emerged. The DLC insists upon updating achievements as you play - crashing the game on both PC and Xbox. There is a PC mod to correct this.

General Bugs

 * Unable to finish the "Put on the Neural Interface Suit" part of the quest. The game doesn't seem to react when you put on the suit given by Specialist Olin. Simulation Pod will eventually open (indicating that you DO actually wear Neural Interface Suit), but you will not be able to take a seat (Olin says her line about frying the circuits) thus you won't be able to enter the VR and play any further. Confirmed on PC with no mods running.

Mapping Bugs

 * Before you cross the bridge to reach the second "Field Storage", head up the stairs and jump onto the rocks nearby. If you follow them along you will find a footholds in the cliff for jumping higher up it. After climbing for a short time you will reach a hole in the cliff allowing you to go behind the stone. Video can be seen here.


 * You can climb onto the top of the mountains by jumping up to the left of the second "Field Storage" door and then making your way up and right, passing over the Field Storage door, though it is difficult. From here you can reach most of the geometry in the cliffs part of the level, including the distant plain and mountains and the bottom of the ravine. If you walk all the way back to start of the level on the top of the mountains on the other side of the ravine, you can see your parachute stuck in some trees on top of the mountain above the level start. There is no know way of getting there; it is the highest mountain in the level and all of the approaches to the peak are apparently too steep to scale. Also there is a "Chinese Radio Beacon" radio station centered in some trees near where the ravine meets the outer plain, but nothing has been found there.


 * After crossing the bridge to reach the Chinese bunker, if you turn directly right and start climbing the cliffs it is simple to reach the top with basic jumping.


 * After reaching the U.S. Army Field Headquarters at the beginning of second section of the operation, it is possible to get behind the forcefield and walk freely around the open landscape. You are able to walk on almost all ground. It is also possible to complete the second section of the operation without firing your weapon by simply walking along the pipeline all the way to the Chinese HQ and activating the door from the inside. Though doing this will bypass the other mission objectives so you will not receive the "Paving the Way" achievement, but you will receive the other three. Video can be seen here.


 * Upon entering the Chimera compound, the wall to the right hand side is climbable through a series of jumps and by sticking as close to the wall as possible. Once you reach the top you can walk through the forcefield and explore freely.


 * To the left of the guard tower directly outside of the Chimera compound, you can walk through the rock (enabling you to see behind it). The same bug can also be found in numerous places on this map. One being the bend along the same wall as before, but earlier in the path.

Object Bugs

 * When trying to re enter the simulation pod, it will prompt you to have your neural interface suit regardless of if you have it on. Trying to sit in the chair will yield no action as pressing the use key will not allow you to sit back in it.  This is either a bug or you're simply not allowed to re enter the simulation, which hopefully may be fixed in an update, so if you want to relive the adventure, save before you enter.


 * When wearing the Chinese stealth suit you are able to equip multiple hats or helmets. You do not get the DR bonuses for more than one hat/helmet,except for the metal helmet stacked with other helmets/hats, but you do get the other bonuses such as extra points to skills and stats. You can also first put on the chinese stealth suit, equip multiple head gear, then change your armor and still wear multiple head gear.


 * Any equipment glitched out of the simulation will have permanent 100% condition.

Misc Bugs
WARNING: follower death. Leave followers behind at your house before starting this quest or they could be killed: the game does not permit followers inside the Outcast Outpost. Also, sometimes all of the items a follower was carrying disappear after exiting the Outcast's bunker upon completion of the simulation.


 * Xbox 360 Version: In the first part of the simulation in a bunker it appears as if the doors are blocked with rubble, although they can still be passed through


 * Outcasts will randomly turn hostile.


 * There are several items that, if in your inventory when you enter the pod, stay in your inventory, but offer no advantage. These include:  The Slave Collar, the Repellent Stick, Colonel Autumn's Laser Pistol (If obtained Via glitching) ,any house theme decorations and all quest items you have in your inventory.


 * When in the simulation, placing a marker on the new 'world map' may in fact cause your compass to direct you to a different, unrelated location. When opening your map again, you will see yourself moving away from the marker you placed, despite the on screen compass suggesting you are approaching it.


 * Shortly after getting inside of the artillery compound for the first time, after some stairs is a room locked by a terminal, inside the room is a second terminal and a chair. Sitting on the chair will leave the player stuck standing up with no way to exit and return to normal play.


 * For some reason, many trees at the beginning of the level may seem to be elevated to a very high level. Some of the textures on trees later in the game may have their low resolution textures.


 * If you equip the Shishkebab before entering the pod, the motorcycle tank will be visible on your back until the next 'fade to white' reload.


 * There will be two Winterized T-51b Power Armor soldiers wielding a Fat Man. When they blow up the wall leading to General Jingwei there will be radiation from the explosion. If you are being radiated when entering the base, the radiation sound will keep playing even when you are outside the the simulation. If this happens reload your save right before the base.


 * Not necessarily a bug, but very annoying. When escorting the Outcast's to their base, any direct or indirect fire that hits them will turn them hostile to you, you can yield to them by holstering your weapon.


 * During your fight with the General, Power Armored Soldiers may appear to enter the area as enemy units and begin to shoot at you. To avoid this, after speaking with Jingwei, immediately run to the northeastern area of the refinery behind the large steel crates. Montgomery may also follow you and assist you in your fight by shooting at Jingwei.


 * If you attack an enemy in VATS right before fading to white after blowing up the artillery guns, when you fade into the CP Tent you will be stuck punching the air until the General talks to you, which then, afterward, you return to normal play.


 * When trying to re-enter the Outcast Outpost after having completed the DLC Quests, the lift/elevator can freeze with no way of exiting. If this happens to you, try turning around and hitting the switch on the lift. When this works, you'll see the elevator doors close (on the already closed elevator doors, no less), and the lift will rise, sending you back out to Bailey's Crossroads. (You may have to reload the autosave for this to work, though.)


 * If you have the Cannibal perk, it is possible to feed on the fallen Chinese troops and Stealth Dragoons if you can get to them before they disappear from the simulation. Eating the Dragoons may cause the game to crash (PC), so it's advisable not to consume them.


 * If you have the Robotics Expert perk, you can use it to put the Chimera Tanks at the Chimera Depot into a permanent shutdown state. However, walking around the front or sides of the shutdown tanks (near the blades) will still knock you to the ground for several seconds.


 * After completing the simulation and obtaining the Winterized T-51b Power Armor, if you have not yet completed You Gotta Shoot 'Em in the Head and are currently doing that quest you will automatically complete it and receive the Xbox 360 or PC achievement. Since the quest is complete, you can not continue or finish it. If you have not picked up any keys from the targets, then the keys may no longer be attainable. http://www.xfire.com/video/6debc/


 * Just inside the first door to the listening post, you are able to pick up 3 pieces of Scrap Metal. The room looks like a garage. These misc. items can be picked up while all others can not.


 * You might encounter a bug where Benjamin Montgomery becomes frozen in place. This will disable you from using your strike team throughout the rest of your simulation. Although your strike team will appear at the camp after every mission, Benjamin Montgomery will not. The best thing to do is to do the missions without them or go to the last save.


 * During the scripted sequence which occurs immediately when arriving at the pulse field, it is possible to initiate a dialogue with the power-armored soldier that wanders into the field before he is killed. The dialogue interface, including the black background box for the dialogue text, appears, but no text. Pressing a key exits this dialogue and normal gameplay resumes.


 * The loading screen while leaving the outcast outpost lift may freeze forcing you to restart you console. This normally only happens to people running the game from the hard drive.(Xbox 360)


 * Sometimes you may get a message in the top-left corner of your screen saying that Sergeant Montgomery is unconscious after the simulation.


 * If you die while fighting General Jingwei and load your last Auto-save, the initiate cut scene and dialogue won't happen, leaving you stuck until you exit and restart the game.


 * In the final battle with General Jingwei, it is possible for his sword to be shot from his hands due to the flurry of bullets all around. If this happens, Jingwei will continue to engage you in unarmed combat, though his punches will continue to deliver the electric shock of his sword. (PC) This does not occur if the player chooses to shoot the sword from his hand using V.A.T.S.


 * If you get a requisition holotape but don't use it after the simulation it will be in your miscellaneous inventory


 * A player who has already exploited the requisition glitch can actually have the items taken away by a soldier in power armor if they talk to one trapped in the pulse field. Though it will initiate dialogue only a black box appears and the script runs as if you had just talked to the requisition officer to swap your kit.


 * Xbox 360 Version: The elevator to the underground facility can sometimes get stuck in the shaft; the doors will not open to let you out and the activation button will not take you to the surface. The elevator can also be activated with the button on the support beam or "opened" if position your indicator near the shaft. If you "open" as opposed to "activating" the elevator then you stand a better chance of getting stuck in the shaft. Save before you go down below.


 * Xbox 360 Version (Apparently only for Italian Language version; similar bug reported for German PC version): The weapons choice terminal in the General's tent doesn't work properly, because you can actually choose only the "Assault Pack", the "Close Assault Pack" and the "Heavy Pack". When you try to get the "Sniper Pack", a message tells you that "You're using this pack" ("Stai usando questo pacchetto"). Furthermore, all the terminal selectable items seems to have something wrong: for example there are only explanations for "Heavy Pack" and "Sniper Pack" and – when you click on "Sniper Pack" to choose it – will appear the explanation for the "Close Assault Pack".


 * If you kill the Quartermaster, instead of his body disappearing, his body will stay there and you can take what was on his body instead of the simulation restricting you from doing so


 * The Chimera tank respawned next to the player after reloading a quicksave.


 * (only confirmed on one machine so far) After finishing the simulation, you may end up stuck in the pod, unable to get out. To work around this, create a quicksave after Jingwei is dead, before talking to General Chase, open the console and warp somewhere (example: coc megatonclinic) and then travel back to the outpost, you'll get your equipment back and the quest update upon re-entering the outpost.


 * On some occasions, when you are warped to the U.S HQ and send your strike team to either target, low quality trees will either be in the air or on the path when you exit the base. These trees can be walked through, this may have something to do with the high trees behind you on the Cliffs at the start of the simulation

Trivia

 * The quest title "The Guns of Anchorage" is probably cribbed from thriller author Alistair MacLean's "The Guns of Navarone", where a small, elite group of Allied commandos are tasked with destroying a series of Nazi gun emplacements.
 * The Trans-Alaskan pipeline actually doesn't empty at Anchorage it actually ends at Valdez Alaska. The map shown by General Chase when he given out missions, the topography confirms you are located near Valdez which is east of Anchorage.

Gallery
 Image:Fallout-3-20081210103254094.jpg|An artillery battery firing Image:Fallout-3-20081210103221985.jpg|General Chase surveying a map Image:Fallout-3-20081210103247375_(1).jpg|American Grease Monkeys and a soldier in a set of Winterized T-51b Power Armor Image:Anchorage_Gauss.jpg|An American Soldier with a Scoped Gauss Rifle Image:Fallout-3-20081210103232438.jpg|The Trans-Alaskan Pipeline Image:Fallout-3-20081210103229031.jpg|A Chimera tank Image:Screen08B.jpg|A Chinese Stealth Suit Image:Chinese Base.jpg|The Chinese Listening Post Image:OA Vertibird.jpg|A VB-02 Vertibird Image:OA PA.jpg|Soldiers equipped with Winterized T-51b Power Armor and carrying Miniguns Image:OA General Chase.jpg|General Chase addressing the player Image:Screen07B.jpg|The Lone Wanderer in Winterized Combat Armor