Cottonwood Cove

Cottonwood Cove is a location in the Mojave Wasteland which acts as a staging area for Caesar's Legion It is located along the Colorado River, southeast of Ranger Station Echo.

Background
Once a small resort, Cottonwood Cove was adopted by the Legion as an outpost, used for trafficking captured people to Arizona for slave processing and as a launching point for all Legion raiding operations in southern Mojave. It has since become the largest single encampment of Legion forces on the western side of the Colorado River and is their foothold into Nevada, using the river to transfer troops and supplies to Fortification Hill on the east bank.

When Camp Searchlight was destroyed by Vulpes Inculta, the NCR's presence in the region waned and Cottonwood Cove was established. All communication to and from Cottonwood Cove is handled via ham radio. Centurion Aurelius of Phoenix is stationed here as commander. With two contubernia at his command, his forces have killed and captured over four times his own number in NCR soldiers. He describes the camp's presence as modest, but adds that even though it is "a single finger of the Legion reaching across the river's narrows," his forces equate to "an iron knuckle."

Layout
The Legion camp is concentrated among the former resort buildings on the edge of the bay. Legionaries patrol the area around the buildings and up to the edge of the resort, near the welcome sign adorned with heads on pikes, while Legion explorers accompanied by Legion mongrels cover the entry points.

There is a hollowed-out rock to the left of the fast travel point to Cottonwood Cove. The rock will be marked with the phrase "the sun is killing me" and is located in the path between the two crucifixes. Centurion Aurelius of Phoenix maintains his command post at the headquarters set up in the concrete building overlooking the bay, with legionaries quartered in red tents surrounding it. Most of the resort buildings are boarded off, with the exception of the mess hall. A shack set up by the overlook is used as a supply dump.

The Cottonwood overlook overlooks the area, and contains a truck leaning over the cliffside. One can elect to dump the radioactive contents from the transport truck into the camp below, killing all occupants. This action will not deny access to the Fort. Cursor Lucullus will wear a radiation suit, and if he is otherwise dead, the Courier can take the barge independently. A Lockpick skill of 50 is required to open up the back of the truck.

Craig Boone will warn the player character on approach that he will start shooting anyone wearing Legion red. Clearing the camp out with Boone in tow advances Boone's story. Electing to nuke the Legion during Lonesome Road will activate the boat to Dry Wells at the cove.

Loot

 * Grognak the Barbarian - on the nightstand in Aurelius of Phoenix's office.
 * Legion raid plans - in one of the filing cabinets in the headquarters building.
 * Recompense of the Fallen and Legion patrol notes - in the desk in Aurelius of Phoenix's office.
 * Sunset Sarsaparilla star bottle cap - on a shelf inside the women's restroom.

Appearances
Cottonwood Cove appears

Behind the scenes

 * Joshua Sawyer stated that the back story for Camp Searchlight was "guys carrying waste from San Onofre stop in Searchlight when war breaks out, local police tell them to park the trucks in the fire department, one takes off for Cottonwood Cove hoping to get as far away from the blast centers as possible."
 * Cottonwood Cove is a real world location on the Colorado River in Clark County, Nevada.
 * "Romanes Eunt Domus" is painted on the side of the Cottonwood Cove HQ, a reference to the film Monty Python's Life Of Brian.