Operation: Anchorage

Operation: Anchorage is the first downloadable content (DLC) pack for Fallout 3, and was released on January 27, 2009 for the Xbox 360 and Windows versions. The DLC costs 800 Microsoft points.

Story
In this DLC pack, the Brotherhood of Steel Outcasts are trying to acquire advanced military tools, and the only way to enter the vault containing these relics is by completing a military simulation only the player can enter. In the simulation the player fights in one of the greatest battles of the Fallout universe: the liberation of Anchorage, Alaska from invading Red Chinese troops. The simulation is set between June 2076, when the T-51b Power Armor was first introduced, and January 2077, when Chinese forces were completely driven out of Alaska.

Once the DLC is downloaded, the quest objective for Operation: Anchorage will be activated by a radio broadcast stating, "This is Defender Morill, any Outcasts listening on this frequency report to sector 7-B, Bailey's Crossroads. This is a high-priority message, backup is needed at our location. Any personnel listening on this frequency please report at once." A marker will appear on the world map but the player cannot immediately fast-travel to the location to begin the simulation. The DLC can be played at any time after the player exits Vault 101 at the beginning of the game. After completing the simulation, new equipment will be unlocked for the player to use in the rest of the game.

In the simulation, the player is stripped of any equipment and weapons and be forced to utilize the resources supplied throughout the simulation's environment. The Chinese Red Army is everywhere, and the player first has to secure the surrounding mountain side and then fight their way into the Chinese base. The player has to use a lot of their standard combat skills, along with several new tools that are only available in the DLC. These include interactive strike teams under the player's command as well as unique armor, weapons, and other exotic gadgets. Throughout the simulation various pieces of intel are also hidden, yielding the Covert Ops perk.

New features
About an hour and a half worth of new game content.

New equipment
Accessible outside the simulation:
 * Gauss Rifle
 * Trench Knife
 * Chinese Stealth Suit
 * Winterized T-51b Power Armor
 * Jingwei's Shock Sword
 * Neural Interface Suit
 * Outcast Specialist Robe

Simulation-only items (ones that don't appear outside the Anchorage simulation without the use of console commands):
 * Winterized Combat Armor
 * General Chase's Uniform (worn by General Constantine Chase)
 * General Jingwei's Uniform (worn by General Jingwei)
 * Army Mechanic Jumpsuit
 * Winterized Chinese Jumspuit
 * Winterized Chinese Hat

New perk

 * Covert Ops

New enemies

 * A Chimera Tank
 * Spider Mines
 * Chinese soldiers in winter garb
 * Crimson Dragoon

New areas

 * Bailey's Crossroads Metro
 * There is a Nuka-Cola machine near the zone-in, and the Metro is full of Feral Ghouls.
 * If you have a follower, they will not be able to accompany you into the zone.
 * Bailey's Crossroads
 * Your followers rejoin you after you leave the Metro. (or at least they did on my game)
 * Outcast Outpost
 * Contains the Anchorage simulation

Playing offline
While Games for Windows Live requires you to be online to in order to play Operation: Anchorage, you can find the DLC files (a main .bsa, a sounds .bsa, and an .esm) in the following folder
 * (Windows XP)
 * (Windows Vista)

If you copy them to your  folder, you will be able to play the DLC without activating Games for Windows Live.

Compatibility Bugs for Xbox 360 NTSC/J (Asian and Japanese) Versions
-- Due to the fact that Bethesda hasn't released the 1.1 patch in Asian regions, players who purchased the DLC (and are playing with an NTSC/J Xbox 360 and Fallout 3) via the Asian Marketplace cannot access the DLC no matter what they do, even though the game will display the "Loading Extra Content" message upon start up and the Download menu in the Main Menu shows Operation: Anchorage being successfully integrated with the game. The radio message to start off the quest chain simply will not come, no matter what is done. To date, there is no fix for it though Bethesda as stated on their official forums that they are looking into things and will make an announcement soon.

Mapping Bugs
-- After reaching the Army base at the beginning of second section of the operation, it is possible to get behind the forcefield and walk freely around the open landscape. You are able to walk on almost all ground. It is also possible to complete the second section of the operation without firing your weapon by simply walking along the pipeline all the way to the Chinese HQ and activating the door from the inside. Though doing this will bypass the other mission objectives so you will not recieve the "Paving the Way" achievement, but you will recieve the other three.

The second half of the DLC in 9 minutes using this bug. > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKQmgel4LYI

-- Upon entering the Chimera compound, the wall to the right hand side is climbable through a series of jumps and by sticking as close to the wall as possible. Once you reach the top you can walk through the forcefield and enjoy the freedom.

-- To the left of the guard tower directly outside of the Chimera compound, you can walk through the rock(only enabling you to see behind it). The same bug can also be found in numerous places on this map. One being the bend along the same wall as before, but earlier in the path. Another is just inside the Chimera compound, follow the right hand wall from the guard tower and the rocks are not solid.

Object Bugs
-- When trying to re enter the simulation pod it, will prompt you to have your neural interface suit regardless of if you have it on. Trying to sit in the chair will yield no action as pressing the use key will not allow you to sit back in it. This is either a bug or you're simply not allowed to re enter the simulation, which hopefully may be fixed in an update, so if you want to relive the adventure, save well before you hop in.

Misc Bugs
-- When in the simulation, placing a marker on the new 'world map' may in fact cause your compass to direct you to a different, unrelated location. When opening your map again, you will see yourself moving away from the marker you placed, despite the on screen compass suggesting you are approaching it.

--Shortly after getting inside of the artillery compound for the first time, after some stairs is a room locked by a terminal, inside the room is a second terminal and a chair. Sitting on the chair will leave the player stuck standing up with no way to exit and return to normal play.

-- If you obtained Colonel Autumn's Laser Pistol (via glitching or console) you can bring it along with you into the simulation unlike the rest of your equipment. However you can't use it as no ammo can be found for it.

--For some odd reason, many trees at the beginning of the level may seem to be elevated to a very high level. Some of the textures on trees later in the game may have their low resolution textures.

--If you equip the Shiskebab previous to entering the pod, the motorcycle tank will be visible on your back until the next 'fade to white' reload.

--Not neccessarily a bug, but very annoying. When escorting the Outcast's to their base, any direct or indirect fire that hits them will turn them hostile to you, completely destroying your quest.

--Any Weapon you equip upon exiting the simulator will be unequipped

--During your fight with the General, Power Armored Soldiers may appear to enter the area as enemy units and begin to shoot at you.

Gallery
 Image:Fallout-3-20081210103254094.jpg|An artillery battery firing Image:Fallout-3-20081210103221985.jpg|General Chase surveying a map Image:Fallout-3-20081210103247375_(1).jpg|Technicians and a soldier in a set of T-51b Power Armor Image:Anchorage_Gauss.jpg|A soldier with a Gauss Rifle Image:Fallout-3-20081210103232438.jpg|The Trans-Alaskan Pipeline Image:Fallout-3-20081210103229031.jpg|A Chimera tank Image:Screen08B.jpg|A Chinese Stealth Suit Image:Chinese Base.jpg|The Chinese base Image:OA Vertibird.jpg|A VB-02 Vertibird Image:OA PA.jpg|Soldiers equipped with T-51b Power Armor and carrying Miniguns Image:OA General Chase.jpg|General Chase addressing the player Image:Screen07B.jpg|A soldier in winter combat gear