Raiders

Raiders are any group of wastelanders who pillage, plunder, murder, or otherwise ruin the day of anyone unfortunate enough to not be one of them. If there were still laws, they'd be outlaws. Raiders tend to organize into loose confederations of gangs in the post-apocalyptic wasteland and are a constant problem, because it's much easier for them to just shoot people for their money, food, and other valuables than to earn an honest living. Raiders typically prey upon travelers and very small towns, leaving more populous areas alone, where they are outnumbered and have no element of surprise.

2160s
Beside a great number of raider gangs encountered throughout the Core Region, there are three distinct raider groups referenced by the first Fallout: Jackals, Vipers, and Khans, although only the latter appear in the actual game. All three groups originated from Vault 15.
 * The Jackals: The first clan, the Jackals, is your typical group of crazies. They have no morals except one: survival. They use group tactics to overmatch their enemies. They are craven cowards, though, and will not attack unless they know they can win. They band together in their hideaway and fight over the spoils.
 * The Vipers: The second clan, the Vipers, are mysterious followers of an ancient religion (or so they claim). They usually only come out at night to hunt for food or to conduct raids. They are very ruthless when it comes to combat. They prefer stealth to strength. They usually carry bone knives dipped in Pit Viper venom. This poison, when in the blood stream, paralyzes the victim. Most victims captured in this way are taken back to their hideout.
 * The Khans: The last group, the Khans, are probably the most dangerous. They live the lifestyles of Mongol warriors, raiding towns, burning what they cannot take and capturing the survivors for use as slaves. They usually travel in small scouting bands, but sometimes they roam as full war parties. The Khans above all else respect strength. They are eager in combat to prove their worthiness to the clan by engaging in hand to hand combat with fists or clubs. The Khans carry very few firearms (since they are for cowards). Anyone showing superior strength is worthy of their respect. The leader of the Khans is so because no one has beaten him in combat... yet!

2240s
There are numerous different groups of raiders in Fallout 2, which are still a common sight in the wasteland, but only a few groups played quite a major role.
 * Bishop's Mercenaries: Operating out of a cave north of Broken Hills, protected by raised plates, falling traps and barbed wire-walls with locked and trapped doors. They are mercenaries hired by the Bishop family of New Reno with arms supplied by the New California Republic to lay pressure on Vault City to force them into becoming annexed by the NCR. They pose as raiders, but that's about the only thing they have in common with them.
 * The New Khans: They are led by the only survivor of the original group, also appear in the second game. They are hiding out inside the secretive corridors of the ruined Vault 15, protected by squatters.
 * Yakuza - Japanese-style raider gangs could be encountered during travels, armed with traditional swords.

Midwest
There are many raider gangs throughout the territory of Chicago. The majority of these raiders are well organized, because of a need to become one faction: the presence of Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel, super mutants and Calculator's robots. They are cruel, sadistic people who are usually found near the eastern part of the region, far from super mutants and robots. There are several notable groups present.
 * The Main Faction: The faction was formed after four major raider leaders of the region (Luke Daniels, Bo Duffy, Daisy-May Gomer, and Jesse Gomer) forged an alliance to become stronger in order to fight their overpowering enemies. Their main base where the leaders hold their meetings is Rock Falls.
 * Gang of Devil's Graveyard: Powerful gang of raiders led by a man known as Gargantua. Their base is a place called Devil's Graveyard.
 * Gang of Macomb: A gang which was formed to assault strangers around Macomb, a town suffering because of famine. These raiders are looking for food and use roofs as cover.
 * Ghoul-haters: This group is actually an extremist party, dedicated to extermination of ghouls. They took over Springfield because the mayor claimed that ghouls are equal to normal, smoothskin people.

Texas
In Texas, only one known gang of raiders exists, but it is very large and powerful, being de facto rulers of the land. However, they have become but puppets to Attis, who use them to capture slaves for him. Their base is an old mill located in the town of Carbon, which is completely under their control. The gang is unique because of its matriarchal rule, with female lieutenants and the main leader known as Jane, Raider Matron. The gang wears a yellow emblem on their clothes to differentiate themselves from outsiders. Aside from normal weapons, the Carbon Raiders are well known to use killer dogs and special flamethrower weaponry.

Capital Wasteland
The raiders of Capital Wasteland are mostly hostile, lawless, chem-addled, anarchistic, criminally insane humans who live out in the wastes of the Washington, DC area. They have little in common with the raider clans of the West Coast, except for the Fiends of the Mojave Wasteland. They are encountered in smaller groups more often at lower levels and are usually armed with a fairly wide range of weaponry. They often carry pistols (.32, 10mm, and Chinese), hunting rifles, sawed-off shotguns as well as melee weapons and grenades. At higher levels, they sometimes begin to carry SMGs, assault rifles, combat shotguns, and even some of the big guns like the missile launcher and flamer.

Very rarely, one may even be found carrying a Gatling laser or a Fat Man, likely taken off a dead Outcast. They can occasionally be found hunting with guard dogs as well. All raiders wear some form of raider armor (though not at raider brothels in places like Evergreen Mills) and have swarthy, dirty skin. At some locations, they are able to equip Enclave power armor.

Raider locations tend to be marked with spray-painted symbols and mutilated bodies hung up with meat hooks on chains. A common symbol is a green-blue circle with the number 21 in the middle. A rarer, humorous symbol is "fuck you" written in blood. Another symbol includes a colorful mushroom cloud. If you see any of these symbols draw your weapon and be cautious. Raider classes tend to have different health variants. For example, the raiders with the melee weapons tend to be able to take more damage than those with ranged weapons.

Raiders have no alliances with other factions and will attack everyone but other raiders or slavers. They appear to be quite cruel, as places they inhabit are usually filled with the mutilated bodies of other raiders and wastelanders, implying that they torture captured enemies and occasionally their own. The raider sadist armor is equipped with several dismembered hands that the raider has kept as trophies. Raiders appear to show no mercy toward even each other; one raider mentions killing one of his own just to make him shut up. Raiders also show very little respect for new recruits, shown by conversations with one another.

Raiders can become allies by using the Mesmetron to daze them and then attaching a slave collar to their neck. If you want, you can arm them with any armor/weapons so long as the DR is higher than their previously worn items and you provide ammo by telling them to "Give me all your stuff!" If your science skill is high enough, you can remove the slave collar from around their neck at the raider's request and he/she will then be allied to the player character. The allied raider will only kill raiders hostile to you, and will not be hostile to you or your party, but will kill members of other factions (i.e. Enclave, Outcasts, Brotherhood of Steel, etc).

Locations
Known locations of raiders in Fallout 3 are Evergreen Mills, Five Axles Rest Stop, The Raid Shack, Cliffside Cavern, Charnel House, Drowned Devil's Crossing, Dupont Circle Station, MDPL Mass Relay Station, Chaste Acres Dairy Farm, Fairfax Ruins, the Grisly Diner, Friendship Heights, Springvale School, the Montgomery County Reservoir, south of Girdershade, and of course The Pitt. Also, in the Bethesda Ruins, there is a larger-sized band of raiders. They can also be found roaming around the Capital Wasteland, usually in groups of 2-3. Raiders also inhabit Wheaton Armory, VAPL-84 Power Station, Scrapyard, Dupont Circle, and Kaelyn's Bed & Breakfast and all of them respawn with different weaponry every day or two. Raiders are also frequently found combating super mutants throughout downtown DC.

The largest band of raiders is at Evergreen Mills, where there are at least 20-30 raiders.

Raider Hazing
In Fallout 3, you may come across a random occurrence of a raider hazing ritual. Four raiders surround a fifth raider initiate standing in his underwear (no armor), each taking a turn in beating him with a melee weapon. The dialogue suggests that he has to take and accept the pain he is receiving. The raider group is close enough together that they can all (or mostly) be taken out by a frag grenade aimed at the raider initiate. When the PC stumbles upon this group of raiders, they can easily be dispatched from a distance, because they do not become hostile, and seem to be unaffected if one of them is killed (but rarely affected by the middle one being killed but this does not happen often). This makes it easy to kill them one by one from a distance. Sometimes the raider can be seen smoking, seemingly ignoring the beating.

Burning Wastelander
Though at higher levels it becomes much more common to find a raider with a flamer, you can encounter a raider armed with a flamer hunting a wastelander at a much lower level, it being a random occurrence. Both the Raider and the Wastelander respawn after 72 hours, and over time the two of them can travel a noticeable distance across the Wasteland.

Wastelander Bombs
In rare occasions, a wastelander may come running up to you, saying that raiders strapped a bomb to them. You are given the option to disarm the bomb. However, Explosives skill does not factor into the chances of disarming it successfully. If you fail to disarm the bomb, the wastelander will run off shortly before dying in an explosion. It should be noted that if the wastelander is killed before he/she talks to the player, the bomb will explode either when the player approaches it or after some time.

Massacred Enclave
If you are past The Waters of Life, Enclave camps will appear throughout the Wasteland. A small few of these camps will be trashed with raider graffiti everywhere, and the Enclave troops will be dead and stripped. 3-4 raiders in Enclave armor are usually nearby. One of these camps can be found southeast of Bethesda Ruins and northeast of Chryslus Building.

Mole Rat Race Track
Slightly west-southwest of Grayditch, a small group of Raiders can be seen holding mole rat races on an abandoned highway. The scene is complete with a pistol shot to start the race. The mole rats then meander back to their cages to begin the process again.

Non-Hostile Raider
West of Tenpenny Tower and north of the Warrington Station, there is a friendly Raider with a missile launcher sitting behind a car. If you talk to her she will just say "I'm not in the mood for you asshole." When the local Brotherhood of Steel water caravan passes by, she'll attack, and other raiders will pop out of hiding!

A second friendly raider with a SMG and an arclight helmet has been witnessed in the Grisly Diner and the camp near Dukov's Place. This raider aimlessly meanders about, and sometimes swims across the Potomac.

Mojave
Isolated bands of bandits and marauders continue to plague the Mojave Wasteland by 2281, despite NCR's continued presence in the area. A raider can be seen in the opening cinematic, getting killed by a sniper guard at New Vegas. The largest and most dangerous raider group in the Mojave are the Fiends.

Once again, the 3 original clans (Jackals, Vipers and Great Khans) are the biggest. Only the Great Khans are not hostile on sight however and can provide quests and alliances with The Courier. The great khans reside in Red Rock Canyon.

Appearances
Raiders appear in all Fallout games.

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