Sunset Sarsaparilla Headquarters

Sunset Sarsaparilla headquarters is a location in the Mojave Wasteland. It was the headquarters of the Sunset Sarsaparilla Company. It is located north-west of El Rey Motel and directly west of the NCR sharecropper farms.

Background
The old headquarters of the well-known and loved “Beverage of the West Coast, Sunset Sarsaparilla”, this structure features a many-faceted glass bottle of the company's signature drink. Before the Great War, an urban legend circulated that if anyone collected enough bottle caps marked with a star and took them to the Sunset Sarsaparilla headquarters they could receive a prize. Now, this legend has taken on a life of its own; crazed individuals stalk the wasteland searching for “SSSs” (Sunset Sarsaparilla Stars), a fact exacerbated by an automated robotic attendant, Festus, who prompts people with an option to present their Sunset Sarsaparilla Stars. Dare to find out the truth?

Layout
Entering the factory, to the left is Festus; a cowboy robot who asks for Sunset Sarsaparilla star bottle caps. Asking him "Star Info" reveals the contest and triggers the quest The Legend of the Star.

Another terminal activates a maintenance robot, Mr. Janitor, who collects bottle caps around the factory, and then disposes of them in a garbage can by the maintenance office he is found in. He gathers a total of over 550 bottle caps.

There are three Sunset Sarsaparilla Security protectrons, one is initially on the ground floor, another is circling around the restroom section on the second floor, and one on the railings overseeing the bottling area.

On the ground floor, there is a Very Hard locked door. Access requires to go up one staircase and down another. Within that room is some scrap metal, miscellaneous toolbox items, and a terminal with status reports on the plant's various robots. There is also a miniature empty Sunset Sarsaparilla bottle on the shelf behind/inside of the barrel. Oddly, there is a second Very Hard locked door down here, but the door is clearly swung open and would have otherwise lead to a room of rubble. Opening it earns experience, but nothing else.

In the shipping room, there is an Average locked terminal. Activating the terminal reveals a discussion regarding an experimental delivery robot that was reportedly single-handedly running all the distribution in the Vegas area.

In the bottling room, there is a lone surviving bottling robot. When talking to it, it first talks as if the Courier would be its master. But after realizing this is not the case, it becomes hostile and attacks. If a companion discovers it first, it will instantly become hostile.

The furthest room in the back on the 2nd level factory floor has a safe, an Average locked terminal, and a hole in the floor leading to a door which remains locked until Festus is given 50 star bottle caps.

Related quests

 * Pressing Matters
 * The Legend of the Star
 * A Valuable Lesson
 * Classic Inspiration

Appearances
Sunset Sarsaparilla headquarters appears only in Fallout: New Vegas.

Behind the scenes
On a computer terminal on the ground floor, there is an Annual Sales Report which references games in the Fallout series by what area they are set in:
 * Fallout 3: "Northeast continues to be a tough nut to crack."
 * Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel: "Things are shaping up in the North and Midwest."
 * Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout: New Vegas: "As usual, performance in the Southwest is strong."

Bugs

 * For no apparent reason, occasionally Festus will be turned around. On the back of his box there are various tags and stickers.
 * Fast Travelling to this location will occasionally force the game to remain frozen on the loading screen, making it continuously load.