Covert Ops

Covert Ops is a Fallout 3 perk added in the Operation: Anchorage DLC pack.

How to obtain
Throughout the Anchorage Reclamation simulation you will come across a number of suitcases labelled as "Intel". Activating these will give you a message congratulating you on finding the enclosed intelligence.

There are 10 of these Intel Suitcase in total - most behind 'Easy' and 'Very Easy' locked doors. They are relatively easy to find as the simulation is quite linear. Like all obtainable items in this simulation, you can be aware of the presence of these Intel suitcases by a distinctive electronic noise.

If you manage to find all 10 of these by the end of the simulation, General Chase will congratulate you for finding all of the intelligence. It is important to note that you must find ALL 10 of the Intel Suitcases in the Guns of Anchorage quest before completing that part of the DLC, or you will not be able to receive the perk. You will NOT be able to return to the Guns of Anchorage area once you leave it.

The Covert Ops perk increases your level in Science, Small Guns, and Lockpick by 3 points each. Once the simulation is complete, it will appear in your Pip-Boy 3000 with the message: "You've recovered all of the hidden intel from Operation: Anchorage. Good work, soldier!"

Intel Locations
1. Shortly after Sergeant Benjamin Montgomery swings down from the ceiling and you head outside, you'll walk past a large steel pipe connecting the two mountains. Walk across the pipe and inside the bunker will be a locked door. Inside is the intel, underneath the desk. Montgomery will make a comment about crossing the pipe, and how crazy what you're doing is. If you hear Montgomery comment on how he never wants to see another catwalk again, then you've gone too far. The pipe is a short distance behind you. 2. After Montgomery's comment about how he never wants to see another catwalk again, you should come to a cable bridge. Across that bridge is a locked door in the cliff. Inside the room is the next piece of intel. Again, you'll know that you went too far because Montgomery will make a comment about the objective ahead. The door should be behind you.

3. After entering the artillery outpost, climb the set of stairs in front of you. There should be a guard climbing the stairs when you enter the outpost. You'll enter a room with a Chinese Assault Rifle on a box behind the overturned table. Head east into the hallway, and after you turn the corner there will be a door to your left (west). Inside is the next piece of intel. When you hear Montgomery comment about the Chimera tanks, you have gone too far. Turn around and head south. The hallway will be on your right (west), and the door should be right before you get to the bend.

4. When Montgomery makes his comment about the Chimera tanks, you'll be on a 'cliff' with the drop to your right (east). You'll soon enter into a room with a door on the west side. There is a terminal next to the door, and a table next to the terminal with various goodies. The intel is sitting on the desk in the room behind this door. If you reach the stairs, you've gone too far. The door is directly behind you.


 * This is the breakpoint for the first group of four. If you are planting explosives on targets and do not have already have four intel, you have missed something that you can not come back for.

5. The next piece of intel is in the mining town on the way to the listening post. After you cross the train tracks you will come to a stack of metal crates to your left (with a sniper on top), and a sandbag wall along the small cliff to the right with a Chinese Launcher. When you climb the stairs to get on that cliff you will come to the remains of a building with several wooden crates inside. The crates to the left (east) have ammo and explosives on top. The crates to the right (west), have the intel on them.

6. Inside the listening post you will come to a room with a set of metal stairs. Beneath the metal stairs is a shelf with the intel sitting on it. When you climb the stairs, you should see three fans in the south wall. Climb back down the stairs and look beneath them.

7. On your way to the chimera depot, you will have the opportunity to have your strike team attack an Ice Camp, the Chinese Forward Camp Delta on your world map. In the Ice Camp is your next Intel. You're there when NPC soldier says "Nothing in there worth taking," directly after a firefight. Check the one tent that's by itself. There should be a large red crate inside the tent and behind the tent should be some snowmen. The Intel is on top of the table adjacent to the crate.

8. Just inside the Chimera depot you'll see a dismantled Chimera tank beneath a crane, and there will be a working Chimera tank patrolling the yard, turn to your left. It's inside that makeshift building on the table next to the ham radio.

9. On the way to the Pulse Field, there is a long west-east trench in the artillery-bombarded battlefield which the player enters from the west. In the middle there is an alcove with a health dispenser and a captured American soldier. The intel is on top of the barrel that the captured soldier is facing.

10. At the Pulse Field, this piece of intel is in the Pulse Field's control building, on the crates to the left of the Field's deactivation switch.

[video] 10 Locations in Video

Bugs
Deleting Operation: Anchorage from your Xbox 360 HDD or hard drive after completing the simulation and successfully obtaining the Covert Ops perk will render any saves made afterwards unusable. Deleting the DLC pack and then attempting to load a save in which the character has this perk will cause the game to freeze at the loading screen. On the other hand, a save in which the character has completed the simulation but doesn't have this perk won't cause the game to freeze, however all items obtained from Operation: Anchorage will no longer exist.

Fix (PC): Like any bug relating to removing a mod that has granted your character a perk, this can be avoided by using removeperk from the console before uninstalling the mod. For example: 'player.removeperk XX00BF70' where XX is the Mod Load Index of Operation Anchorage.

Sometimes there will be a lack of notifacation that you have recieved this Perk. You still receive the Perk.

If you take the winterized power armor after completeing the simulation and have "You Gotta Shoot 'Em In The Head" as an open quest, it will mark it as complete.