188 Trading Post



The 188 trading post is a location in the Mojave Wasteland. The trading post is located on the intersection of Highway 93 and Highway 95, directly north of El Dorado Dry Lake, west-northwest of Boulder City.

Background
The interchange of Highway 95 and Highway 93 has seen high traffic both before and after the Great War, especially after the New California Republic moved into the Mojave around 2274. However, a trading post wasn't established here until September of 2281, when a pair of traders from Primm set up shop here after the NCRCF prison break forced them to flee the city the wave of escaped convicts. Samuel Kerr and his daughter, Michelle, chose this location after realizing just how much traffic was going to flow up Highway 95 to Vegas now that the I-15 was shut down, adding to the usual troop movements between Hoover Dam and Camp McCarran. Capitalizing on their experience in Primm, they established the 188 Slop 'n Shop, offering food, water, supplies and repair services to travelers.

Through 2281, the 188 trading post became a hub of commerce frequented by soldiers, merchants, and NCR citizens either heading to New Vegas with pockets full of caps or returning back home with nothing but the shirts on their backs. Even the Gun Runners took notice and set up shop at the post to coordinate caravans in the field, with an independent arms merchant selling wares out of the back of her truck. It's not known which of the Kerrs came up with the clever name (adding the highway numbers 95 and 93 to equal 188) but the name caught on well.

Layout
The location is a small outpost made up of makeshift shacks and tents on a pre-War overpass, befit with derelict vehicles and barrel fires. There is an arms merchant at the northwest end of the overpass, and Veronica, a recruitable companion, stands near the center by a picnic table. Facing Veronica is the merchant Samuel Kerr and his daughter Michelle who run a small shop cooperatively. Samuel is the bartender and does repairs on customers' equipment.

Underneath the overpass is Alexander, a member of the Gun Runners, his bodyguard, and a young boy named The Forecaster who sits by the wall. Alexander will sell weapons, weapon mods, junk and ammunition to the Courier if a Guns skill check is passed. His offerings are not as broad as the main Gun Runner shop, but he sells items not commonly sold there.

There are a few NCR troops wandering around a tent on the northern side of the overpass. A few beds can be found here and used by the Courier. Later on, at high levels, some of these NCR troopers will be replaced with NCR heavy troopers equipped with various high-level weaponry such as heavy incinerators. The trading post may be attacked by Legionary assassins searching for the Courier when they are in the proximity of the location.

Inhabitants

 * Alexander
 * Arms merchant
 * Ezekiel
 * The Forecaster
 * Gun Runner guard
 * Michelle Kerr
 * Samuel Kerr
 * Veronica Santangelo

Notable loot

 * Sunset Sarsaparilla star bottle cap - Lying on the bar.

Appearances
The 188 trading post appears only in Fallout: New Vegas.

Behind the scenes

 * The 188 trading post is based on the real world location of Railroad Pass Casino in Henderson, Nevada. The original junction of Highway 93 and Highway 95 was once located in front of the property before the present-day interchange between these two routes was constructed about one mile to the east in Boulder City, Nevada.


 * Spare Us the Cutter
 * The 188 features many added, then disabled NPCs and numerous abandoned ideas, consistent with it being one of the earliest locations to be implemented in the game and quickly finished to move on to other ones.
 * Alexander has only one bodyguard in the final game. He was supposed to have at least one more, and their AI packages would cause them to alternate guarding and sleeping so that he has a bodyguard at all times. One works the day shift, the other the night. There are actually two such bodyguards set up for both eventualities (for a total of four altogether), but only one of each kind is actually used in the game (and in the final game the night shift guard is disabled).
 * There are also lots more civilians that were intended to be used here. There are three different NPCs for both "civilianHopeful" and "CivilianUnhappy" dispositions. The different kinds of civilians have different dialogue topics where they either praise or disparage the NCR and Vegas. In the final game, there are only one of each present on the game map at the 188. They are both disabled and can never be seen.
 * The unhappy civilians have a lot of dialogue, including a topic where they have the ability to beg the player character for caps. This dialogue fork has a lot of different options, but it has a tiny chance of ever being seen; it's a random topic like the rest of their dialogue.
 * The merchants here were supposed to have a water brahmin. For some reason, this was placed on the map but disabled.
 * There are two of each kind of NCR trooper (regular or power armor depending on the game's story progression) placed here, but in the final game, only one of each kind is enabled.
 * There are also several out of work mercenary characters killing time here. In the final game, they are disabled.