Paving the Way

Paving the Way is a quest in the Fallout 3 Operation: Anchorage add-on.

Detailed walkthrough
General Chase congratulates the Lone Wanderer on their success. They are promoted and put in charge of their own strike team (formerly led by the now deceased Patterson). The general explains that 3 tasks have to be completed before the assault on the Chinese headquarters, a refinery, can begin. The player character has to destroy the fuel tanks at the enemy Chimera Armor Depot, clear a Listening Post of all Chinese presence, and disable their Pulse Field. According to Chase, the player character should not try to disable the pulse field before they have completed the other assignments.

Chase then refers the player character to their intelligence officer for this mission, Lieutenant Morgan, for the details. Morgan can be found in the same tent sitting at a computer. He can provide more detailed information on the targets, as well as why they need to be taken out. Morgan also explains that the player character can get equipment by selecting it at the terminal and bringing the resulting requisition holotape to the quartermaster (One can change their choice once by speaking to Lieutenant Morgan).

Leaving the tent and entering the U.S. Army field headquarters, talk to Sergeant Montgomery. The player may give all orders to their team through him, although this is limited to telling them where to wait and whether to attack. The player character may then choose which target to attack first: the Chimera depot or the listening post. Give Montgomery the order to wait outside the desired objective, then talk to the Quartermaster and turn in the requsition holotape. If the player character passes a Speech check, he will also give them a Gauss rifle and ammunition on top of the equipment package they have selected.

When leaving the camp, the path on the left leads to the Chimera depot, the path on the right leads to the listening post. The path in the middle leads to the pulse field and Chinese compound. Alternatively, the player may simply follow Montgomery and the strike force to their assigned location.

Destroy the fuel tanks in the Chimera Depot
The path to the fuel depot is fairly linear. Starting at H.Q., take a left. One will notice an American soldier  executing four Chinese prisoners. Take a quick look at the curved sand bag structure in front of him, and one will find a Chinese commando hat they can pick up and wear next to a static pack of cigarettes. Approach the Ice Camp and enter, clearing all hostiles. Inside the compound, there will be three tents, a west (left), north (straight ahead), and an east (right) tent. Go through the west tent (the one with the health and ammunition) and look north, out the open door to see another tent off in the distance. Inside that tent will be the intel (5/10), which is on top of the table adjacent to the crate.

Follow the path north and fight through Chinese soldiers and spider drones until reaching the depot. Upon entering the Chimera Depot, there is a steel hut to the left (south) with a health pod just visible through the window. The intel (6/10) is in the hut, next to the ham radio on the table. dispose of the enemy soldiers and the Chimera tank. This will be easier if the player character chose the heavy assault pack, with its missile launcher, but frag grenades will work just as well. Rig the fuel tanks with explosive charges and enjoy the fireworks. After both of them are destroyed, the player character is teleported back to the U.S. Army field headquarters.

Secure the Chinese Listening Post
On the way to the Chinese listening post, the player character must pass through an Abandoned Mining Town which is heavily defended by Chinese soldiers. Upon arriving, the player will notice two soldiers crouched behind a railcar. One soldier, McKinney has seen a Chinese sniper on a nearby ridge. MicKinney ignores the concerns of his comrade, and the Sniper shoots McKinney in the head, killing him. After crossing the train tracks there will be a stack of metal containers to the left (with a another sniper on top), and to the right is a sandbag wall and a bombed out building along the small cliff with a Chinese launcher inside. A piece of intel (7/10) is in the northwest corner of the building on top of some wooden crates. Fo3OA intel 5 mining town.jpg There is also an ammunition and a health dispenser in the northeast corner. Continue along the path until you enter another destroyed building with a Chinese inferno unit. In the northeast corner there is a captive American soldier along with an ammunition and a health dispenser. Kill the last Chinese soldiers and the large Chinese flag will fade and turn into the American flag. The player may then speak to Sergeant Montgomery and give the strike team further orders, or request replacement troops should any soldiers have died.

Take the path to the north. The player will enter a small area with four invisible Chinese snipers in positions on crates and a large wall. Eliminate them and follow path north. Talk to Sgt. Montgomery again and he will advise the player that the Listening post is up ahead. Replenish troops as needed and give an order to the strike team. The player must enter the listening post and kill all the soldiers inside, which include more Dragoons and two Chinese technicians. The technicians are unarmed, and will nervously continue to work when the player character approaches. If one of the techs reaches a HAM radio, they will request reinforcements. Upon entering the listening post, go through the door on the left and kill the soldiers inside. Enter the hallway and kill the Chinese sniper hiding behind the barrels to the right. Ahead is a room with a set of metal stairs going up. Beneath the metal stairs is a shelf with the intel (8/10) sitting on it. Continue going through the building and exit via the roof once all soldiers inside have been killed. If a technician was able to reach a radio, a group of Dragoons will attack as the player as they exit. After killing the last soldiers on the roof, the player is teleported back to the U.S. Army field headquarters.

Once both objectives have been completed, this quest ends, and Operation: Anchorage! begins.

Rewards

 * 100 XP

Intel suitcases
Four of the ten Intel suitcases required for gaining the Covert Ops perk can be found during this mission, two on the way, and at the Chimera fuel depot as well as two on the way to or at the listening post. Refer to the main article for their locations.

Behind the scenes
Along the path leading to the Chinese Ice Camp, the Lone Wanderer may find an American soldier executing four Chinese prisoners of war with pistol shots to the head. This may be a reference to the intro cutscene of the orginial Fallout

Bugs

 * During the final part of this quest when one infiltrates and secures the Listening Post, Sergeant Montgomery can get stuck in a loop and the player will be forced to save and reload. Doing so will cause Morgan to run over and initiate the dialogue for the quest to complete. If one has not killed the two cloaked snipers on the roof of the Listening Post, they may not be experiencing a bug.
 * It is possible for the Quartermaster to give the Wanderer the scoped Gauss rifle but nothing else from their equipment package after they have passed the speech check. This will, if not manually asking for the equipment, not remove the requisition holotape from the inventory. It will still be there after leaving the simulation and, because it's a quest item, it won't be removable without the use of console commands.
 * If the player character orders a Mister Gutsy through Sgt. Montgomery in the area before the listening post, it may turn around and hover back up the path one came.