Render Unto Caesar

Render Unto Caesar is a main quest in Fallout: New Vegas.

Synopsis
Matthew 22:21 of the Bible instructs those to "render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's"; as Caesar sees it, the Mojave shall be rendered unto him after he allies with or destroys certain tribes around New Vegas.

Detailed walkthrough
Upon arriving at Caesar's camp, the player character will have their weapons removed (with the option to keep holdout weapons). All weapons will be returned upon leaving the camp. With a Speech skill of 35, the player character can ask what items are banned, and keep aid/chems, saying they suffer from a heart problem.

Travel up the hill and enter through the gate to the inner area of the Fort. Here one will find the Legion arena and Caesar's tent. Enter Caesar's tent and talk to him. Caesar will tell the Courier that he has heard a lot about them and will talk about what they have done depending on the Courier's past decisions, he will then tell the Courier that there is a vault underneath the camp with the markings of the Lucky 38 Casino. He asks the player to enter the vault and destroy it. He then returns the Platinum Chip.

If Benny is alive, Caesar will inform the player character they will get to choose his manner of death. At this point, the player character can speak to Benny and decide what they want to do. If the player character releases Benny, the Legion becomes hostile towards the player character and the quest cannot be completed. Leave the tent and head down to the training grounds.

The vault is located within a concrete bunker behind Caesar's tent. Upon entering, a Legionary will return all of one's confiscated items. Putting the Platinum Chip in the computer will provide subterranean access to the irradiated vault.

Once the player character is inside the vault, one will see a large screen on which Mr. House is displayed. In conversation, he will tell the player character the purpose of the chip and of Victor's objectives before asking the player character to finish the job by upgrading the computer's security protocol. One can agree to cooperate or defy him. Either way, he will inform the player character that he has no control over the vault's defenses and that one will have to fight their way to the computer. If House was killed previously, Yes Man will instead be displayed on the screen, though no interactions will be available.

Down the stairs one will encounter a hostile protectron, a door, and the rest of the path. Behind the door one will find three computers, two of which are locked. The difficulty of the locked computers are average and hard respectively, once hacked they can be used to disable the vault's defenses. The average difficulty computer disables the automated turrets, while the hard difficulty computer disables the protectrons. The terminal controlling the sentry bots is broken, and cannot be used. If one is able to hack both, the player character's path is clear, for now.

Head down the hall. If the player character's Repair skill is 60, they can open the door on the right and disable the sentry bots to prevent them from becoming hostile. In the next room, one will encounter two turrets and two protectrons.

The next room is protected by four protectrons. If the player character plans on following Caesar's orders, destroy the three generators located in this room by shooting them. Once they're destroyed, the facility will destabilize and radiation will be released. This option will set off the facility's security system, which at this point should only consist of four sentry bots, unless the player character chose to disable or destroy them.

Before one leaves the bunker, the player character's weapons will once again be taken away from them, with the exception of their holdout weapons if the player character does not wish to be fully disarmed. Go back and talk to Caesar. The player character will then receive 500 XP and Legion Fame.

No matter what the player character has decided, Caesar will not know what they did inside the vault. He will have felt the vibrations from either the blast or the update and assume that the player character did what he asked. If the player character wants to remain friendly to both Mr. House and Caesar, it is best to simply activate the Securitrons using the chip.

Part 2: Mr. House
Caesar orders the player character to kill Mr. House. Make one's way to the Lucky 38. If the player character blew up Mr House's secret bunker, the Securitrons inside the Lucky 38 will be hostile. Use the elevator to go to the penthouse. There are five Securitrons in the main room of the penthouse and they will all be hostile towards the player character. In the same area with Mr. House's big screen on the left there will be a computer tucked behind the stairs, use the computer to open the antechamber and there will be two more Securitrons waiting for the player character. If the player character is not already hostile with Mr. House, opening the antechamber will turn the Securitrons against the player character. The terminal to the rear-right of the antechamber will allow the player character to perform a "Security Override" rendering the Securitrons non-hostile.

On the left wall in the antechamber will be another computer. Use this to access the elevator door next to it and take the elevator down to the control room. Use yet another computer to open Mr. House's medical pod. Talking to Mr. House gives two options:


 * One can kill Mr. House outright.
 * Or one can disconnect him from the mainframe (with the same results as killing him).

Regardless of one's choice, the player character will receive 500 XP and the objectives will update. Return to Caesar for Legion Fame and 100 XP.

If House was killed previously (such as for installing Yes Man onto the Lucky 38's mainframe), this part of the quest will be skipped.

Part 3: Boomers
Caesar wants the Courier to get the Boomers to use their artillery cannons against the NCR when he attacks Hoover Dam. However, the problem lies in that the cannons blast anyone that gets close to their base (if the player character is already idolized with them then this section can be skipped). While heading to their base, George will stop the player character and offer information on how to get past the shells. One can use a Speech check or pay him, but all it boils down to taking a left turn as soon as one sees the houses and following the house line until one reaches the end

Make a beeline for the fence, and once one is close enough, enter the gate. Talk to the Boomers and follow directions until one completes the Boomer questline (see the Volare! article for more details) and have support from the tribe. After all this return to Caesar and let him know that the Boomers are on his side.

If the player character has turned the Boomers hostile, there is also the option to kill their leaders (Pearl, Loyal, and Jack), which will satisfy Caesar and complete this part of the quest. If the Boomers leaders have already been killed, the player character can inform Caesar right away and skip this section.

Part 4: White Glove Society
The player character must bring Caesar's offer of allegiance to the White Glove Society. After learning about the society by talking to Marjorie and Mortimer, one can either tell Caesar they do not want his alliance (which ends this part of the quest) or go to Mortimer after talking to Marjorie and help revert the society to cannibalism (see Beyond the Beef). Once the mission has been completed by either reverting them to cannibals or not, return to Caesar.


 * One may encounter a problem with converting the White Glove Society to cannibalism if the player character has a good Karma rating and/or neutral Strip reputation. Mortimer might tell the player character that one wouldn't have the stomach to help him or one is not well-known enough. To get around this, the player character either needs to have a high enough Speech rating (62 Speech), be a cannibal or have evil Karma and a non-neutral Strip reputation in order to convince him one can help.
 * This mission can be averted altogether if one has foiled Mortimer's plan and rescued Ted Gunderson previously or attacked the White Glove Society. The player character can tell Caesar that the society will not revert to cannibalism, so the plan to blackmail them into an alliance will not work. This seems to have little to no detrimental effects to the Legion actually conquering the Mojave, and although Caesar will berate the player character for their failure, they will not be punished.
 * If one has killed Marjorie and Mortimer, Caesar can be informed that the cannibals in the society are dead. He will warn the player character to do better on their next assignment, and give the next part of the quest. If this was already done prior to receiving Render Unto Caesar, he will say that he planned on asking the player character to forge an alliance with the society, but with their leaders dead they will not be usable in time for the Battle of Hoover Dam. This will skip to the next part of the quest.

Once the player character reports to Caesar, Don't Tread on the Bear! will fail and the NCR will become permanently hostile. Since the NCR controls many places, it will result in loss of quests, merchants, and repairmen. One should prepare themselves before reporting to Caesar.

Part 5: Brotherhood of Steel
Caesar orders the player character to go to the Hidden Valley bunker and enter to destroy the Brotherhood of Steel in the area. If one has not interacted with the Brotherhood, the player character must go through an orientation by convincing a Ranger in an adjacent bunker to leave (which can be avoided if Veronica is in the player character's party). Due to the last quest causing Don't Tread on the Bear! to fail, the Ranger will not talk to the player character and will be hostile. The player character will have no further option than killing him.

The Brotherhood will confiscate the player character's weapons, so it is recommended to carry some holdout weapons before entering. From here, one can decide to destroy the bunker entirely or just kill all the Brotherhood of Steel personnel in and around the bunker. To destroy the bunker, the player character will need 100 Science to destruct the bunker from the terminal. If one does not have 100 Science, one will need to obtain keycards from Edgar Hardin, Lars Taggart and Nolan McNamara by either killing or pickpocketing them. Once the player character has all the keycards, use the terminal next to the Self-Destruct terminal, generate the self-destruct password, go to the Self-Destruct terminal and begin the bunker self-destruct sequence.

There is not an option to let them live. Once completed, return to Caesar.

Part 6: Caesar's Illness
Caesar will now explain that he suffers from painful headaches, caused by a tumor in his brain, and tells the player character he needs them to find a cure. One can either choose to find the cure, attempt surgery themself (which may or may not kill him depending on the player character's Medicine skill level or Luck), or get help from Arcade Gannon to cure Caesar. Be warned; what happens in this quest will greatly affect the ending of the game.

Part 7: President Kimball's Assassination
After completing the previous quest, the player character will learn that the NCR president is making a speech at Hoover Dam. The player character is ordered to meet with Cato Hostilius to plan the assassination. One must now complete the quest Arizona Killer. Failing Arizona Killer will still allow one to complete Render Unto Caesar.

Part 8: Legate's Camp
Report to Legate Lanius, where the player character will be teleported to the Legate's camp automatically. The second battle for Hoover Dam will begin.

Behind the scenes
The name of this quest refers to a Gospel story in which Jesus is asked whether or not the Jews should have to pay taxes to their Roman rulers. Jesus responds by asking whose image is on the denarius. His challenger replies "Caesar's," thus admitting that the Jews are, after all, using Roman money. Jesus then instructs the crowd to "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's."