X-8 Research Center

The X-8 research center, or the X-8 Bio-Mechanical Testing Facility, is a location in Big MT in 2281. It is located to the far east of the Think Tank.

Background
A research facility used for experimenting with biomechanical research, the X-8 research center's most recent project involved creating and testing cyberdogs. Dr. Borous became heavily involved in this project, even using his own pet dog Gabe as a test subject; Gabe was eventually turned into a cyberdog and sealed within an area of the facility. A sizable testing area was created within the research center, in the form of a pretend high school (ostensibly based on Borous' old high school American High) which the researchers claimed was for use in infiltration testing - but was actually to test the cyberdogs' ability to detect said infiltrators. The K9000 cyberdog gun was also developed within X-8.

At some point, the facility received a shipment of night stalkers in place of standard dogs. When released, the creatures massacred the facility's shipping department, leaving Skippy as its only survivor and causing the area to be locked down.

Layout
Walking left upon entry will lead to the X-8 splicing facility terminal, where creatures can be spliced. The building also houses its own high school (loosely based on American High) where the sonic emitter EM pulse wave upgrade can be retrieved, allowing the user to disable Big MT force fields.

Notable loot

 * The dog and lobotomite splicing experiment holotape - Can be found on the table next to the X-8 observatory terminal in the testing facility.
 * The dog and robot splicing experiment holotape - Can be found by taking a right from the main entrance then proceeding down the ramp. It lies on a table in the center of the room.
 * The sonic emitter upgrade 'EM pulse wave' is obtained here by completing the basic institutional test. It is then available at the beginning of the advanced institutional test.
 * The upgrade schematics for FIDO - In the kennel by the terminal. The key for the kennel must first be obtained from the X-13 research facility.
 * The robot and nightstalker splicing experiment holotape - Can be found on top of one of the night stalker kennels.
 * Audio Sample - Gabriel's Bark holodisk - In a random digging spot, at the end of the residential test facility. Used to upgrade the emitter to Sonic emitter - Gabriel's bark.

Related quests

 * A Brain's Best Friend
 * Field Research
 * Sonic Emitter Upgrade
 * X-8 Data Retrieval Test
 * X-8: High School Horror!

Appearances
The X-8 research center appears only in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on Old World Blues.

Behind the scenes

 * A terminal on level two mentions Project Burke and Project Hare. Burke and Hare were infamous 19th-century serial killers who murdered people to sell their bodies as cadavers for anatomy classes. Project: Burke and Hare are both regarding the procurement of bodies for scientific experimentation.
 * The created robobrain's short speech is a reference to the whale from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.


 * In the high school area, there is a Wild Wasteland moment where the phrase "Wolverines" is written on the wall. This is a reference to the movie Red Dawn, as the Wolverines is a resistance group composed of highschoolers, taken from the name of their football team, after their school (and America) is invaded by the Russians at the beginning of the movie.
 * In the cyber dog training area, there is another Wild Wasteland moment, where a few cyber dogs will be seen through a window playing poker, with the words "SIT. STAY. KILL." written on the wall above. It refers collectively to a series of sixteen oil paintings by C. M. Coolidge, commissioned in 1903 by Brown & Bigelow to advertise cigars, known in pop culture as just "dogs playing poker" paintings. In between the closest dog on the right and the left is an Ace of Clubs, just like in the painting.
 * It is similar to the Fallout Tactics special encounter Brahmin Poker.

Bugs

 * Splicing a dog and a robot may create a goo pile under Roxie. The goo pile cannot be searched unless Roxie is killed. Trying to search the goo pile while Roxie is alive will trigger her to speak with the player character.
 * Splicing a lobotomite and a dog can result in a bug, creating a lobotomite with no torso and eyes standing over the dead dog and some scattered remains.