Operation: Anchorage exploits

Exploits are "holes" in the game programming which allow a player to do something which the developers did not intend and which alter the balance of the game in a way that benefits the player.

Infiniteskills
To do this exploit two hockey masks and the Chinese stealth armor are required.


 * 1) Play through the sim to get the stealth suit, then put it on.
 * 2) Put on a hockey mask.
 * 3) Select the second hockey mask while the first one is still on. Every time the player character tries to select it their unarmed skill goes up by 5 points.


 * Warning: The game lags and freezes frequently with really high skill (30000+).
 * It may not work if the two headgears have the exact same DR.
 * The effect disappears when you remove the headgear.
 * Sometimes the player character's head will disappear. They can usually fix this by removing and re-equipping a hat.

This glitch works with any piece of headgear that increases a skill, such as the Enclave officer hat. However, the unarmed skill is the only one to be confirmed increasing after 100.

"Gary 23 exploit" - bringing simulation items back to the Wasteland
In brief, one must bring a body into the pod with them and position yourself so that it is facing the player character. Upon returning from the simulation, activate the body before the game has fully loaded the real world again. The player character will be able to transfer their simulation inventory to the body. Upon exiting the body-container screen, the game will finish loading and giving one back the real-world inventory. The body will keep the simulation inventory, which can now be looted.


 * Save often when attempting this exploit. It is tricky, and may require several attempts.
 * Also note that the player character should not have started the simulation already. This exploit requires setup prior to entering the simulation. Also note: the player character can just simply delete the Operation: Anchorage add-on, load the save, quit, reinstall, and one will be able to repeat the quest.
 * The exploit will work with any dead body. Gary 23's body is just the one at hand.

How to use the exploit: Notes:
 * 1) After equipping the neural interface suit, open the simulation pod but do not sit down on it yet.
 * 2) Go into the locked room where Gary 23 is (the room is across located next to the simulation room) and then drag his body back into the pod room. Position him in the pod such that he can be interacted with while sitting on the chair.
 * 3) * It is most important here to be looking at the body when the simulation starts - as if it were going to be searched. The option to search it will be unavailable at this time.
 * 4) Play through the add-on. At the end, General Chase will send the player character out of the simulation back to the Outcast Outpost.
 * 5) During the loading screen, keep tapping the activate button while looking down. If it works, the body will be activated like a container, and the simulation inventory is now transferable to the body. If one is too late, the real-world inventory will appear, and one will need to try again.


 * Nearly all weapons and armor from the simulation have extremely high health and thus seem to never degrade. See Talk Page for a comprehensive list of items the can be taken from the sim.


 * If this exploit is to be used largely for cap profit, the best object to take to the real world via this exploit is massive quantities of ammunition. See the section on obtaining unlimited ammunition below.

This exploit has not been patched and has possibly been rectified.

This exploit will still work by pressing a series of buttons all at once such as the triggers, bumpers and face buttons except for B or O. [Verified 9/3/13]

Obtain all requisition weapons
This exploit allows one to get all of the weapons that can possibly be requisitioned from the Quartermaster.


 * 1) Get one of the tapes for a set of weapons, and get the weapons from the Quartermaster.
 * 2) Go back to the command tent and get another tape.
 * 3) Go outside again, drop all weapons and talk to the Quartermaster again. He will give the player character the new set of weapons that were asked for. A message will then appear saying the other set of weapons were removed, but they will still be where they were dropped them earlier.
 * 4) Keep repeating until getting the desired packages/weapons.


 * Talking to any NPC will reset one's inventory and interrupt the exploit. This can be avoided by dropping all weapons and ammo before speaking to the NPC.

Obtain a pre-War Chinese assault rifle
It is possible to obtain a Chinese assault rifle during the Paving the Way quest, after all one's items are removed. In order to do this, the player character will need to obtain the Gauss rifle from the Quartermaster by passing a Speech check. One will also need another weapon, and ammo for it (such as a 10mm Pistol, though any will work). Alternatively, a sufficiently high Sneak skill may make this section a little easier.

Upon acquiring the items, find a Chinese Soldier with a Chinese assault rifle. With the Gauss rifle equipped, enter VATS and target their weapon with a single shot. A Critical Hit will knock the Chinese Soldier down. While he is down, run over to him, crouch, then activate him. (Alternatively, sneak up to the soldier and pickpocket him). One will gain access to his inventory. Take the 5.56mm rounds from him, and place the weapon the player character acquired earlier in his inventory, along with a few rounds of ammo for that weapon. Now, wait for him to get back up. Because he no longer has ammo for his assault rifle, he will switch weapons to whatever he was given. Simply knock him down again, and the Chinese assault rifle will be in his inventory. It can also be taken back to the real world using the Gary 23 exploit.

Note that no enemy will be able to stand up to two direct hits from the Gauss rifle. For the second shot, the player character will need to shoot his gun (that they gave him) in VATS. He will get the knockdown effect but take no damage. It is advised to not do this on the first shot because one will damage the gun (although it has near-unlimited durability, shooting it with the Gauss rifle does damage it noticeably).

Also note that this method can be used on Chinese inferno units to get a Pre-War flamer. Should one manage to get it, Ammo Containers will start giving out 120 flamer fuel.

There is also another way to get it. In the Chinese Forward Station Delta area, there are guard tower enemies that cannot leave their positions. Kill all hostiles except the chosen guard tower, then hide beneath them until one is hidden. Once hidden, go up the ramp and onto the wooden sides not protected by sandbags. If detected, just hide behind the sandbags. The guard has a patrol motion that is difficult to predict, so be careful. Now, go to the front-left or front-right side of the tower and wait for him to get very close to the open area near the front. His gun (or hands) should stick out so that one can pickpocket him of his ammo. Take his ammo. Save again. Attract his attention and jump off. Hide until hidden. Repeat the process to get his rifle.

Obtaining a pre-War Chinese pistol
The Crimson Dragoons with the Chinese assault rifle guarding the outside of the listening post have Chinese pistols in their inventory. Use the Gauss rifle and go into V.A.T.S. Aim for their gun so as not to kill them but knock them down, so they can be pickpocketed. They do not use it so it is very easy to obtain, there are around six or seven Crimson Dragoons and all have the Chinese pistol in their inventory.

Note that the Chinese pistol will be in very poor condition. It still retains the simulation traits of degrading very slowly and having a slightly pre-war look but will require fixing in order to get it to full condition.

Obtaining pre-War flamer
One in poor condition can be taken from an American flamer unit that spawns and helps one raid one of the trench areas and will be accompanied by a rifleman. Once the battle is over he will remain inside of the room he charged into. During this point pickpocket his ammo, he will still have it equipped. Lead any kind of enemy near him, he will unequip his flamer and resort to his fists. Then kill the enemy before he kills the flamer unit. Then he will try to walk back to his scripted area and he will either get back or get stuck walking towards a wall. At this point one can pickpocket his flamer, but might be in low condition.

A second one in full condition can be taken by a power armor trooper with the flamer but will be a little harder to not get caught due to him being accompanied by other power armor troopers. At first they will spawn to assist the player character. Once the enemies are dealt with then they will remain near some sandbags. Do not continue forward or else he will be killed by the pulse field when attempting to cross. At this point, hide behind a broken floor that is standing vertically, it is the only spot one can hide from where he stands. Pickpocket his ammo then hit him a few times to make him hostile. Make sure he un-equips his gun before the player character holsters their weapon. Then hide again behind the floor standing vertically next to the sandbags then pickpocket the flamer.

Note: do not do the steps on getting the fully repaired flamer on the American flamer unit if one plans on getting the fully repaired flamer, or else when hitting the power armor trooper with the flamer he will remain hostile and not return to friendly.

Obtaining all pre-War weaponry
It is possible to obtain Chinese assault rifles, Chinese pistols, flamers, missile launchers, assault rifles, sniper rifles, miniguns and Fat Man launchers, through pickpocketing various NPCs, both hostile and friendly. The easiest method is to sneak up to them and pickpocket their ammo, then engage them in combat so that they unequip their weapon, or enter any building and exit it again (may require loading an auto-save), so that upon returning they have no weapon equipped. Sneak up to them and pickpocket the weapon from them. The miniguns and Fat Man launchers can be pickpocketed from the power-armored soldiers by the pulse field, near the end of the simulation, although it is difficult, it is possible. After having pickpocketed their ammo from them, if they have unequipped their weapon, one can alternatively shoot them with the Gauss rifle (avoid aiming for the head or doing this while hidden) and, provided one gets a critical hit, they will be knocked down and their weapon can be taken from them.

While almost every enemy soldier will carry a Chinese assault rifle, and almost every friendly soldier will carry an assault rifle, the player character must find a Crimson Dragoon (such as in the listening post) in order to obtain Chinese pistols, a Chinese inferno or American inferno unit to obtain a flamer, a Chinese launcher to obtain a missile launcher, a Chinese sniper to gain sniper rifles (one can gain sniper rifles, assault rifles, and missile launchers from the quartermaster using the requisition tape cheat), and the four T-51b power amour soldiers by the pulse field to gain the miniguns and Fat Man launchers. Using this method, combined with the Gary 23 exploit for taking items back to the real world, one can gain virtually unbreakable copies of all these weapons (and others, using the requisition tape cheat with the quartermaster and stealing Jingwei's shocksword in the final battle with him), for use. If one wishes to get Jingwei's shocksword, use the glitch to get a Chinese assault rifle, except when shooting Jingwei's weapon, it will fly out of his hand, allowing it to be picked up.

Obtain three winterized combat armors
It is possible to obtain three copies of the Winterized combat armor by first removing one's armor as soon as the simulation starts (it will need to be 100%), and when getting to the command area reverse pickpocket the armor onto the Quartermaster (one will notice that he now has two sets in his inventory), now kill him and upon searching him do not take them one at a time, use the "take all" option.

Obtaining smoke grenades


Much like the Beta Tesla cannon in the Broken Steel add-on, the smoke grenades cannot be obtained under normal map conditions but can be obtained by doing a series of jumps in between the point where one of the pipes and the rock side meets, as can be seen in this video.

Unlimited ammunition
In order to obtain infinite ammo, first walk up to an ammo dispenser. Use it, then drop every single round in one's inventory. Use the dispenser again, and one will have double the intended ammo. Repeat as many times as desired.
 * The actual maximum number of ammo than can be picked up at once is 32,768. (Binary code is based on powers of 2 and 32,768 is 215 power. The ammo was set up as a 16-bit signed integer, where the high bit (216) controls if the number is positive or negative. So upon reaching 215, the game interprets it as -(215).
 * By dropping ammo in bundles less than 32,768 (and leaving that same amount or higher in one's inventory), the player character can repeat this glitch over and over again. Note that if the player character drops in bundles excessive of 32,768, they are at risk of the ammo being permanently removed when attempted to put it into their inventory.
 * This can be useful with the Gary 23 glitch as one can take back all the ammo and use or sell it. If The Pitt is installed one can take the ammo to the ammo press and get whatever any desired ammo, e.g. 30,000 .308 caliber rounds and change them into 30,000 .44 Magnum ammo, or to 450,000 5mm rounds which sell for around 1 cap each.
 * If the player character picks up an extra weapon of any type that would normally give them extra ammo (for instance a second Chinese assault rifle would be converted into 5.56mm rounds) then all the extra ammo acquired through the glitch will disappear.
 * Note: It is possible that the above-described maximums may not affect the player character until they attempt to remove the ammo from their inventory by dropping it in a stack. If this is the case, one can walk around with 150,000 (or more, and they may do this with each type of ammo) rounds of ammo in their inventory as it is weightless. One will know if they have reached this maximum/glitch because the affected ammunition will suddenly say the player character has a quantity of Negative x several thousand units and the only way to return to a Positive value is to either balance the negative number (costing more ammo) or revert to a save.

During the fight with Jingwei
One can get over 1000 XP per minute on "Very Hard" difficulty.

During the fight with Jingwei in the courtyard, there is a Chinese sniper on some very large metal crates. At the back of those crates are four barrels, two of which are close to the crates. Jump on the barrels then onto the corner of the lower crate. The location will shield the player character on all sides except the one facing a door out of which continually spawn Chinese commandos.

Note that Sergeant Montgomery may be in the area and he will only target Jingwei, thus limiting the time one has to kill soldiers before Montgomery kills Jingwei.

One can kill the Quartermaster in the end and get attacked by Sergeant Montgomery. At this point the entire base will attack Montgomery. Run around the entire base for a full two minutes, making sure everyone that spawns in the base is attacking Sergeant Montgomery, then leave the base. Sergeant Montgomery will stay in the base now killing off everyone and one is free to attack Jingwei for as long as desired. Upon starting a new game one can hit the level cap very quickly, though it requires plenty of ammo. Stay in position and shoot unlimited enemies to receive unlimited XP. Combat shotguns work very well for this as they can still kill the soldiers in two to three shots but have a larger ammo capacity than the sniper rifle.

To get rid of Sergeant Montgomery, send him and the strike team to one of the locations when first speaking to him and then never talk to him again. This will leave him at the base after finishing with one of the two locations. Also, there may be a glitch where the American soldiers will turn hostile if done enough. If this is the case, just move to a position where they cannot see the player character.

Killing your own robot teammates

 * 1) First, one will need to recruit a strike team that has only one robot in it. (Benjamin Montgomery will be in the team by default, but do not assign any other NPCs to the squad while attempting this glitch because they will make it more difficult.)
 * 2) Hide behind Montgomery, and then sneak attack the robot.
 * 3) Once the robot is destroyed one can request another from Montgomery. Within seconds, another will appear nearby. Repeat.

Xbox 360 only
Disconnecting from Xbox Live and clearing your cache causes all items and quest progress specific to Anchorage to be deleted. After completing Anchorage, simply disconnect, reconnect, and replay. Rinse and repeat for as much XP as desired.

Warning! do not earn the Covert Ops perk by collecting all the intel until after using this exploit.