Bethesda Ruins

The Bethesda Ruins are ruins located north-west of Washington, D.C.. It is inhabited by raiders and ghouls, and has four sections: Bethesda Offices West, Bethesda Offices East, Bethesda underworks, and the raid shack.

Background
Prior to the Great War of 2077, Bethesda was a major city with its own suburbs. A large American corporation, Chryslus Motors, was headquartered there. There was Metro and City Liner service to this city. North of Bethesda, there is a monorail train. As the west-east highway ends in the city, another highway traveling north, passes through the area. The city has a local park, named after the largest employer in this city, where baseball was played.

Exterior
To the north is a small bombed-out building which holds a raider with a sniper rifle and 2 ammo boxes (one locked - Average) with a random amount of .308 caliber rounds in each. You can jump into this building undetected, if you go to the far north end of the area by going around the building west of it, leading to an alley past the rubble. A bit of trick-jumping in the southwest corner of the building with the sniper in it will get you in. This is a good spot to snipe the many raiders in the area, after shooting the sniper from behind, essentially stealing his post.

The raiders have barricaded most of the streets leading to the ruins with crudely constructed structures and derelict vehicles. There are also some mines in a small, grassy area to the south, next to Bethesda Offices East.

In between the two office buildings is a walkway connecting them with a raider carrying a sniper rifle near two ammo boxes containing a random amount of .308 caliber rounds.

Further east (roughly east by south east) is the metro entrance to Bethesda Underworks. Going even further east (again roughly east by southeast) is the raid shack, located in the suburban areas.

West of the entrance to the Bethesda Offices West, at the Red Rocket gas station in the outskirts, there is a random encounter location.

Bethesda Offices West
Mostly reception and office space, Bethesda Offices West is home to a considerable number of raiders. The cramped confines of the building render most hard-hitting long-range weapons ineffective as they become unwieldy when turning corners and investigating small rooms. Raiders are generally well-armed and -armored, making the Chinese assault rifle, 10mm SMG, or scoped .44 magnum ideal choices for assault weapons. Players with a high Small Guns skill and criticals-enhancing perks may choose to use either a silenced or standard 10mm pistol. At the entrance to the offices is a Big Book of Science on the front desk, next to the terminal.

Players should also keep a keen eye for traps. At least three shotgun traps, activated by the same pressure pad, and aimed at the same place, as well as two grenade cluster traps, are located in this building. Players with sufficient Repair skill can disarm and take the weapons (though the two clusters are in a difficult to reach space between floors). All of these traps can be seen in the same room upstairs. The room has a hole in the floor, so before dashing in, look to the left and see what might have happened, should you fail to see the trap. You can also listen for Three Dog, as there's a radio in the trap room tuned to Galaxy News Radio. There is also a copy of Dean's Electronics in the Trap Room in a box on the far side of the room and a mini-nuke hidden under an upturned crate. You may encounter a raider with a flamer sleeping in the bed in this room.

Bethesda Offices East
Much of the East building is offices, with more cramped fighting conditions. Extensive damage to the building also includes large gaps and holes in the floor, making fighting on the upper floor treacherous in places. There is a raider here, armed with a flamer and carrying a U.S. Army: 30 Handy Flamethrower Recipes skill book in his/her inventory, as well as a bobblehead behind him/her. The raider respawns after 73 "game time" hours. There's also a Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual on a desk with a typewriter and 2 missiles.

Bethesda Offices West

 * Big Book of Science on the first floor on the reception desk, near the turret control terminal.
 * A Stealth Boy on the same floor to the east, in a crate near the drinking fountain.
 * Two Pre-War book on top of a filing cabinet on the second floor.
 * Dean's Electronics on the top floor, in the room with the rigged shotguns, in a crate sitting on a desk, hidden under a Steam Gauge Assembly and other miscellaneous items.
 * A mini nuke in that same top-floor room, under some crates next to an open freezer with body parts in it.
 * Another Stealth Boy in that same top-floor room, in the east corner on a shelf.

Bethesda Offices East

 * Bobblehead - Lockpick is located on a desk next to the turret control terminal (second level, SW corner of the room with the turret) next a wall safe. (locked - easy)
 * Chinese Army: Special Op Training Manual in the first cubicle to the left on the second floor, on a desk next to two Missiles and a typewriter.
 * Mini nuke near the exit to the connecting bridge, on a filing cabinet in a pile of rubble from a collapsed ceiling.
 * U.S. Army: 30 Handy Flamethrower Recipes held by a raider wielding a flamer. This raider will respawn with the book every 73 game hours provided the area is left alone, allowing it to be collected an unlimited number of times.

Appearances
Bethesda Ruins appears only in Fallout 3

Bugs

 * You may encounter two raiders armed with lead pipes that can't be killed. The only way to escape is let your companion fight them so you can run away and fast travel, or go to a previous save.
 * All the ghouls in the Underworks may spawn right outside of the tunnel entrance, remaining inactive unless the player engages them.
 * If you put your marker on the Bethesda Ruins, it will lead you southeast of the Bethesda Ruins, instead of going there directly.
 * If you go into the ruins from the south, and then directly east to the pile of rubble there is a chance that if you get too close to it you will get stuck in the wall. Raiders can still hit you, but you can only hit them with grenades and mines. The only way out is to reload a previous save or through the no clipping console command.
 * If you enter the catwalk (for the first time) from the East offices, the sniper does not spawn. Entering and leaving the west tower seems to spawn the sniper, but the sniper may enter the West building and come back to the catwalk repeatedly. The raider will need to be shot in V.A.T.S. to be stopped.
 * Goo piles created from plasma shots may regenerate all items after a few in-game weeks. If the respawning raiders are repeatedly killed with plasma weapons, this leads to a significant amount of loot. Ash Piles, however, become inaccessible. Looting the indoor piles also removes the items from the corresponding body, and vice-versa, could happen in other locations.

Behind the scenes
Bethesda Softworks was founded in Bethesda, Maryland, in 1986. The offices were moved to Rockville, Maryland in 1990.