Fort Independence

Fort Independence is the headquarters of the Brotherhood Outcasts in the Capital Wasteland, located west of Fairfax Ruins and north of Andale. The Outcasts have adapted the old building to their needs and restored much of its internal facilities. All of the technology they gather is stored within the fort, as are their research findings.

The fort is guarded on the outside by Defender Morgan, Defender Rockfowl, and an automated defense turret. After the Lone Wanderer speaks with Defender Morgan about a job, Protector Casdin will open the perimeter fence's gate and encourage the Lone Wanderer to bring scavenged technology to them in exchange for supplies.

Related quest: The Outcast Collection Agent
By default the Outcasts inside are hostile to any trespassers. If you trade a large amount of scavenged tech with Casdin it is possible to get on friendly terms with the Outcasts. An option to ask about this appears in Casdin's dialogue when enough tech has been traded. The Lone Wanderer needs to trade 50 'points' worth of technology for this to happen - see article for a table showing a points breakdown for tradeable technology.

When you have friendly status, you can enter Fort Independence without being attacked by the Outcasts; however, the door will not open for you. You'll still need to pick the lock (Hard) on either door or pickpocket Casdin for his key in order to get in. Do not let any Outcasts outside see you pick the lock if you want to avoid a firefight with them, even if you have the "friendly" status with them.

Alternatively, it is possible to kill Defender Rockfowl, get his key and enter the lower level.

Notable loot
Once inside Fort Independence there is nearly no notable loot until you reach the lower levels. Down the stairs in the room left of the exit door is the entrance to the Basement. Inside the desk within the first room is the password to the wall terminal (normally Hard Encrypted) which opens the Mag-Door; continue down until you reach a room full of research terminals. Activating them adds notes on various weapons, namely the missile launcher, minigun, Enclave power armor, plasma rifle, pulse grenade, and laser rifle. In this room there is a Hard Locked door (a key to this is available in the bunk-bed-filled room nearby within an Easy locked footlocker). Through the door is the unique Miss Launcher, a minigun, laser rifle, plasma rifle, 6 boxes of ammunition which include quite a number of Alien power cells, and 3 medical boxes along with 3 fission batteries in a crate, as well as 2 mini nukes on one of the shelves near the Miss Launcher. One box has an Easy lock, and another is Very Easy. There is also a medical lab with stimpaks and an abundance of blood packs across the hall from weapons storage.


 * The Miss Launcher is a variant of the missile launcher that doesn't shoot straight, but lobs the missile in an arc like the Fat Man does. It is more powerful than the standard missile launcher.
 * The Minigun is in perfect condition. This is very useful for low-level characters.
 * Strangely enough, Fort Independence has a pretty good supply of Blood Packs - 3 or 4 in the med lab, and more within Weapon Storage - comparable with Our Lady of Hope Hospital.
 * There is a Nuka-Cola Quantum and a Stealth Boy in the central room on the main floor, next to some bunk beds. There are also two safes (Easy Lockpick) found next to desks in the eastern section (the offices) on the main floor.
 * In the same eastern section (the offices) on the main floor there is a computer named "Field reports" with 2 audio logs that can be downloaded (Fort Independence Field Report no.1 and 2). The first audio log speaks about "the increased raider activity in Fairfax Ruins" and the second about "3 entrances into underground utility tunnels and a small weapons cache situated in the SE section of the tunnels". The voice in the first recording seems to be unique (another one is that of Defender Sibley).
 * Alien Power Cells can be obtained from the locked storage room, next to the room with the research terminals.
 * In the medical lab across from the armory where the Miss Launcher is found, there are an assortment of larger than normal medical tools, including two gigantic syringes, a giant pair of forceps, a giant pair of scissors, a giant scalpel, a giant bonesaw, and two pairs of giant tweezers that unfortunately cannot be interacted with. These objects will retain their size after being dropped and picked back up.

Bugs

 * In the lower level of Fort Independence, the turret in the main chamber will be stuck in the ceiling. It will not attack you and cannot be destroyed, even with mini nukes. The problem with this is if you have a follower, they may stay and attack the turret (with no result) and will not follow you. This can be fixed by leaving the fort. The turret can only be destroyed by the Mysterious Stranger in V.A.T.S, a flamer and deactivating it by hacking the computer in front of it (It will be an average hack level).
 * In version 1.6 the turret can be destroyed by shooting at the wall using, for example, a minigun. Just move the cursor around until you find the proper area to fire.
 * It is possible to deactivate the turret by going to the upper level (catwalks) that enclose the lower levels (the ammo room with computers and medical bay), and deactivate the turret on a computer with a chair facing the turret.
 * For characters with a low lockpick skill who want to explore the fort, when you enter the fort and you can't pick the door's lock, wait for an Outcast soldier to walk near the locked door. Your companion(s) should walk to the locked door and automatically open it, allowing you to enter the first level of the fort.
 * After hacking the turret controls under the bridge to remove its targeting system and then disable it, sometimes the turret under the bridge will at first look stretched into the ground and allow you to walk through it, and then if reactivated will appear high above the bridge and be hard to see, even if aiming through a sniper scope.
 * Sometimes an Enclave Vertibird will perform a bombing run and most likely kill Protector Casdin and the other Outcasts guarding Fort Independence, allowing the player to loot the bodies without karma loss. Several large explosions can be heard while traveling near Fort Independence when this happens.
 * Defenders Morgan and Rockfowl will respawn right next to their corpses after you've killed them. This glitch applies to several of the unnamed Outcasts (good for repairing power armor).
 * For some unexplained reason the Fort may just be completely deserted outside and will never have anyone outside ever again.
 * For some reason the outside fort would be deserted, but if you go into the basement you can pass by Outcasts and they will be friendly, you can then use that to go up into the main rooms and only encounter Paladin Casdin, who if talked too will ask why you are there with three dialogue options, one saying that you're just passing by, another saying that you're from the Brotherhood of Steel and the other saying that you made a wrong turn. If you choose the Brotherhood Of Steel one he and every other Outcast will become hostile. If you picked the other options then he will remain friendly, if you talk to him again he will tell you to back off and to stop pestering him, if you then talk to him again he turns hostile and so does every other Outcast, interestingly enough Casdin is the only named Outcast member there. If you leave through the basement again and go to the entrance you will find Casdin and the other two named Outcasts walking out and it turns to how it should be and you can do the mission.
 * If you hack the turret control in the lower level of the fort and remove the targeting information, all of the Outcast soldiers will come running to try and destroy it, which they apparently cannot (this is the same bug the the PC runs into, as outlined above). One will even go as far as opening the armory door, grabbing the minigun, and looting one of the ammo boxes. Once the turret is deactivated, the soldiers will go about their normal business.

Appearances
Fort Independence appears only in Fallout 3.

Fuerte Independence Форт Индепенденс