Eye for an Eye (Fallout: New Vegas)

Eye for an Eye is a side quest in Fallout: New Vegas.

Detailed walkthrough
After discovering Cottonwood Cove, First Sergeant Astor (who patrols around Camp Searchlight) asks the player to collect some intel on Legion troop movements and raids from Cottonwood Cove and plant a bug in their radio. The Legion raid intel is in a filing cabinet to the left of buggable radio (left while looking at the radio) on the first floor HQ building (this will give you negative Karma); the intel on Legion troop movements is in the desk on the second floor.

Returning to Astor with the intel provides 500 XP & the player gets the option to wipe out all Legion forces from Cottonwood Cove. This provides NCR fame, 250 caps, Legion infamy (If they spot you in the act) & 1000 XP. When you receive the option to wipe out the Legion fort, Astor calls you crazy but believes you can pull it off. To get the most fame with the NCR, locate the red truck hanging precariously off the cliff at Cottonwood overlook over the Legion camp. Your geiger meter will show radiation leaking from the truck when you get close. Go to the back of the truck, and select the door. The option to open the door becomes available (50 lockpick required), dropping several radioactive barrels into the camp, effectively killing the Legion the same way they killed the NCR forces at Camp Searchlight. Astor is quite pleased with this outcome.

Note: it is best to wait for all the barrels to fall into the camp before fast-traveling to talk to Astor. If you open up the truck but fast-travel to Astor too soon, then the game doesn't realize you've killed the legionaries using the radioactive waste.

Behind the scenes
"Eye for an Eye" is a well known phrase dating from the times of Hammurabi. Known as Hammurabi's Code, the laws dictated an "eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth", meaning that any law broken, or anyone harmed, the offendee would receive the same as punishment.

Also a principle found in the Bible, in Exodus 21:24: "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot".

Bugs
Sometimes dropping the radioactive barrels will not kill all the legionaries. They will remain standing in front of the barrels without ever succumbing to the radiation. Four legionaries line up at the base of the cliff while the barrels roll right through them. However, the objective is still marked as complete in spite of the fact that the survivors can still be killed, targeted through V.A.T.S., and otherwise interacted with.

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