Hidden Valley Bunker

The Hidden Valley bunker is a location in the Mojave Wasteland, southeast of Sloan. There are four similar-looking bunkers in close proximity to one another within Hidden Valley, one of which is the entrance to the home of the Brotherhood of Steel.

Exterior
The fast travel location can be distinguished by a hollowed-out rock marked with a heart and "no bomb" graffiti, which is located northwest of the entrance. A small broken tree stump sits directly on top of the dome, which is unique to this bunker, setting it apart from the others nearby. The cement wall around the bunker's door includes graffiti that reads "BAN THE BOMB," "GIVE PEACE A CHANCE!!!" and several other similar sentiments.

Approved, unaccompanied access to the bunker cannot be gained unless at least one of the holotapes is recovered from the two dead Brotherhood of Steel paladins at the REPCONN headquarters, the paladins in Moe's crater near Black Mountain, or the two dead Brotherhood soldiers in a ditch on the artillery-battered area outside Nellis Air Force Base.

If at least one of the holotapes is in the inventory, the option to speak its passphrase into the intercom will be available. Alternately, access can be gained by picking the Very Hard lock, by having Veronica Santangelo as a companion, or by advancing far enough into any storyline to be asked to investigate the Brotherhood. If Veronica is not with the Courier, they will be arraigned, questioned, and forced to begin the Still in the Dark quest.

Interior
The facility is divided into an entrance area and two main levels.

Entrance
After entering the bunker there is a large entry room with a Hard locked door on the opposite side, similar to all the other bunkers in Hidden Valley. On the other side of the locked door is an empty room with open doorways to the left and right, which are guarded by at least two stationary paladins on the opposite wall. They do not appear if Veronica is present. The doorway to the left leads to a small office with a desk and a computer terminal, while the doorway to the right leads a staircase going down to the main section of the first floor.

Hidden Valley bunker, first floor
The first floor contains the personnel quarters, a shooting range, armory, medical bay, and an instruction room where Initiates are trained. After turning right down the set of stairs into the bunker, turn left, then right, until reaching two sets of dorm rooms located one above the other, with a set of descending stairs to the lower room. Each bed has a footlocker with a combination of mid-condition laser pistols, energy cells, and/or microfusion cells.

Hidden Valley bunker, second floor
The second floor contains the command room with living quarters for the Elder and Head Paladin Hardin. Located next to it are an archive/computer room for the scribes, a workshop for the knights to repair and manufacture equipment, and a room containing virtual reality chambers that surround the bunker's main reactor. The second floor features the Brotherhood of Steel emblem on the wall and two paths that go off to the east and to the west.

The west area has the command room with Elder McNamara and another adjoining hallway. Head Paladin Hardin is further down the hall and can be found in either one of the two rooms beyond the first.

The east area contains the archive computer terminals, the machine shop, and the VR pod room. Both Head Scribe Taggart and Apprentice Watkins are located in the VR pod room. It also houses the self-destruct authorization terminal and the self-destruct Very Hard locked terminal. Alternatively, terminals on the same floor of the bunker will provide a password. If the terminal is successfully hacked, or the password is obtained, the Courier can initiate a self-destruct sequence that will immediately vilify them with the Brotherhood of Steel and cause all Brotherhood of Steel members to become hostile. The sequence can be aborted by reactivating the terminal and choosing to abort, however, this has no effect on their hostility.

Appearances
The Hidden Valley bunker appears only in Fallout: New Vegas.

Behind the scenes

 * Hidden Valley is based on the real world location of the same name, within the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area in Clark County, Nevada.
 * The Hidden Valley bunkers closely resemble storage bunkers located at the abandoned Groom Mine in Lincoln County, Nevada. The property on which the mine is located has a view of an airfield known as Area 51. The family who owned the mine had done so for 130 years and refused to sell to the United States Government in 2014. In response to this, the US government seized the mine under eminent domain from its previous owners in 2015.

Bugs

 * When the bunker is first entered and Paladin Ramos is spoken to, he will order the player character to follow him to Elder McNamara, but the player character will be unable to move. Wearing non-faction clothing and/or staying outside of Ramos' office seems to fix this.
 * The paladin sitting at the shooting range may go missing. His reference ID is: To bring him back, use the console command  followed by . Upon returning, he will be wearing his helmet.
 * About three or more Brotherhood paladins may spawn in the same shooting range stall and become stuck there trying to shoot at the target dummy. This may cause one of the paladins to drop their Gauss rifle on the floor next to them. Though the weapon is labeled "steal," it will not have an effect on Karma or status with the Brotherhood, nor will any of the nearby paladins seem to notice the weapon being taken.
 * By closing and re-opening the locker where the player character's belongings are placed in, the locker will be refilled with various ammunition, allowing the collection of an unlimited amount of energy weapon ammunition (by constantly zoning in and out) and converting the ammunition into other types of energy ammunition, or even max charge the ammunition at the workbench on the second level.
 * The merchant may begin to lag when asked to see her wares. The merchant will repeat her lines several times before the item menu appears.
 * Inhabitants may react to the firing exercises on the shooting range as real combat, and be unresponsive to attempts at communication.
 * Veronica may repeat any sentence said on the intercom repeatedly, thus making her unable to converse with. This can be fixed by reloading a save.
 * Occasionally, when visiting the Hidden Valley bunker with Veronica as a companion, the bunker will appear to have been destroyed, and the inner entrances blocked with rubble, even if the self destruct has not been activated. However, if the bunker is visited with Arcade Gannon and ED-E in tow, Brotherhood Paladins will spawn and attack upon exiting fast travel. If the player character wears the Brotherhood power armor and enters the bunker, the entrances will be open and they will be free to move around the bunker and interact. Although, characters may become hostile towards Arcade and ED-E, but will not become hostile, provided they are still wearing a Brotherhood faction outfit and do not engage in combat. They will then be able to operate the self-destruct terminal and destroy the Hidden Valley bunker, as evident by the plumes of black smoke coming from the exhaust vents noticeable upon exiting the bunker.
 * If, after entering the room where the player character is approached and told to give up their weapons, they quickly run up on the side and engage the door, their companions will zone in next to them. This makes it easier to take on all of the guards. It is also possible to go through the conversation, and after giving up all of the equipment and weapons, but before fading completely to black, phase into conversation with the Elder in sneak-mode and open the door. This may interrupt the sequence and phase the player character behind the door with their companions, sometimes with all of their equipment.
 * Rarely, after completing the Brotherhood quest Tend to Your Business and speaking to the Elder (and thus receiving power armor training), the door exiting the first level to the Hidden Valley bunker will be locked and require a key. Though the key is obtained after earlier quests, it will no longer be there. Go to the paladins at the bottom of the stairs, and pickpocket a key from them. This will not have an effect on Karma, and they do not seem to notice anyone reaching under their armor and taking a key right in front of them.
 * Unarmed attacks on characters in the VR room, such as Head Scribe Taggart, may cause them to fall through the floor.
 * On the second level of Hidden Valley Bunker, inside the computer room, there is an electrical panel on the right side of the entrance as you enter the room that is very difficult to interact with. When activated, the option to "Leaver the breakers alone" and "Cut the power to all but three of the terminals" is given.  Cutting the power to the terminals cuts power to all of the terminals except the 4 in the center of the room, but it does not isolate the computer virus in Hidden Valley computer virus to those 4 terminals.