The Outcast Collection Agent

The Outcast Collection Agent is an unmarked and repeatable quest in Fallout 3.

You are asked to trade certain pieces of technology such as power armor (power armor marked only as "power armor" or Enclave power armor; you cannot trade Brotherhood power armor), some energy weapons, sensor modules, and scrap metal to Protector Casdin at Fort Independence. In return he will give you your choice of the following, in quantities according to the perceived value of the item:
 * 5.56mm ammunition
 * Frag grenades
 * RadAway
 * Stimpaks

Once the Lone Wanderer has gained 50 "points" (see table below), they are told that they are considered friendly by the Outcasts. This allows for infiltration of Fort Independence without encountering the hostility of the residents. Casdin also stops confiscating any Outcast power armor that the player has.

Value table
1Scrap metal must be traded in groups of two; alien power cells must be traded in groups of twelve.

2Casdin will not take Tesla helmets.

Collecting for caps
You can make a profit from Casdin by reselling the items you trade him. Listed below are the items that the player character can receive, along with values.
 * Stimpaks at base value of 25
 * Frag grenades, value 25.
 * RadAways, value 20.
 * 12 5.56mm rounds, value 12. (12x1)

In any one deal, one can receive an equal number of one of these: stimpaks, frag grenades, or RadAway. Or, one can receive a higher amount of 5.56mm rounds. For the items besides the aforementioned ammunition, the stimpaks and frags are worth more than the RadAway, therefore making stimpaks the most profitable.

The 5.56mm rounds do not scale the same as the other three items. As the number of reward points increase, the better the ratio of bullets to the other rewards. For example, there's a 12:1 ratio at 1 point, but a 24.2:1 ratio (484/20) at 10 points. At the low end, you get 2.083 times the value (sensor module: 1 stimpak = value 25 vs. 12 bullets = value 12). At the high end, stimpaks still barely win at 1.033 the value (alien blaster: 20 stimpaks = 500 vs. 484 bullets). So, stimpaks or frags are always the most profitable choices.

If the items collected are in very good condition, almost none are profitable to "launder" through Casdin. The Barter skill doesn't matter here, because both the original item and the reward are usually subject to Barter, even though Casdin isn't. The only things that at least break even when at 100% repair are:
 * Alien power cells (base value: 120 for 12), which will show a 2.3x return (275 for 11 stimpaks) - but these cells are very rare.

Conversely, if items are in poor condition, Casdin still gives his full reward. This makes them worth considering. For example, if degraded to 25% of their full value: However, Thus the weapons need to be in really bad condition to make a profit from Casdin - plasma weapons should be less than ~20% condition, and laser weapons should be less than ~10%.
 * One would make 4x profit on the alien blaster at 25% repair (value 125 vs. 500 for stimpaks), but again, you'd probably not do it. (Unless pickpocketing Casdin - but that's an entirely different story.)
 * Enclave and regular power helmets (base value 110; 25% value 28) will make a 2.7x profit (3 stimpaks = 75)
 * Tesla power armor makes 1.6x profit and Enclave power armor makes 1.4x when at 25%
 * Regular power armor only makes 1.2x when at 25%
 * The plasma pistol and plasma rifle only get ~.76x (you lose money), and
 * The laser pistol and laser rifle only get ~.52x (you lose half your money), at 25%.

The sensor module is always a bad deal, on a pure profit basis - one would be cashing in something worth 30, for something else worth 25 at best. But they can be accumulated earlier than the other items to meet the point requirement for admission into Fort Independence, in exchange for grenades or ammunition that exist in limited supplies at lower levels. Sensor modules are also an important component of bottlecap mines, which are probably the best early money makers from schematics, and deal 373 damage per mine.

If you have The Pitt, trading for the 5.56 ammunition starts making sense, as the ammo press can convert the 5.56 into other ammunition types. Converting the 5.56 into 5mm at a 1:3 ratio makes it the most profitable (although long-winded) path. For example, converting a low quality laser rifle into 96 5.56mm ammunition with Casdin, then into 288 5mm ammunition at the ammo press will allow the player to then sell them at about 0.6 bottlecaps per round (with middling Barter) or about 170 bottlecaps. As a poor condition laser rifle can be bought in some shops for about 50 bottlecaps, the rate of return is decent.

Some rudimentary mathematics can be done to see which items are best for getting in to Fort Independence cheaply and/or early:
 * Scrap metal, particularly if your Barter is high.
 * Sensor modules, if you want to get into Ft. Independence quick and aren't worried about bottlecap mines.
 * If your Barter is low, give low condition power helmets or power armor, or really low condition plasma weapons, or practically "broken" laser weapons.
 * Low condition laser weapons can be purchased from various vendors and make a profit:
 * Flak and Shrapnel in Rivet City normally stock 2 low quality laser pistols at 25 caps each (With 10% Rivet City Merchant's discount). One laser pistol is worth 2 stimpaks, which at a price of 66 for 2 from vendors, is a great profit.
 * Tulip in the Underworld sells two low condition laser rifles at 52 caps each. Laser rifles are worth 4 points which is 5 stimpaks, 5 RadAway, 5 grenades or 96 5.56 ammunition. This is a great way to make profit.
 * A great way to make money is to collect a large amount of scrap metal (50 - 100) and give it to Casdin, then pickpocket it back. You can collect as much 5.56 ammunition or as many stimpaks as you like (if you can stand clicking through the dialogue for that long), you'll gain enough points to be trusted by the Outcasts, and you can then go give your scrap metal to Walter afterwards to negate the Karma loss due to the pickpocketing.

Bugs

 * Sometimes Protector Casdin can be found dead. On the PC, this can be fixed by using the console commands:, ,

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