University Point

University Point is the remains of a public research university and once thriving, and strong fishing village in the Commonwealth in 2287.

Background
University Point was a place of higher learning before the Great War, and home to some of the most talented minds in the United States. Although not quite on CIT's level, Massachusetts Bay University was a popular destination for students and had its own fair share of great minds, including Prof. Stuart Campbell. The University could've prospered even more if Dean Alan Patterson wasn't focused on profiteering from its operations and embezzling money. In fact, Campbell was brought on not for academic pursuits, but for his contacts in the private sector and access to research grants. It was a profitable arrangement at first, but what Patterson failed to account for was that Campbell was well aware of that and structured his contract not just to guarantee tenure, but also give him autonomy and independence from Patterson's control and meddling. When the military contacted Campbell regarding his energy research, Campbell wasted no time arranging for a research grant and aid in constructing a laboratory beneath the administration building.

The Dean did not take kindly to this independence and demanded full disclosure from Campbell, especially after construction work started under University buildings, all classified and under Campbell's authority. The Professor, of course, refused to submit to the demands and simply referred him to his liaison, Colonel Rosemont. Of course, since Patterson had no security clearance, he was repeatedly rebuffed, and eventually thrown out of Colonel's military base when he went there to meet him in person. The events further aggravated the conflict between him and the professor. The University was making money, yes, but Campbell's flagrant disrespect for the Dean's authority could not go unpunished. In his desperation to control Campbell, the Dean tried to find leverage, first by trailing him and then enlisting the aid of a suspended student. In return for forging a good GPA, Henry Mitchell provided evidence that suggested Campbell was having an illicit affair with a student, Leslie Mathews. Patterson wasted no time in threatening Campbell.

In truth, Mathews and Campbell were involved - in military research. She and Curtis Marsh were graduate students aiding Prof. Campbell in his energy research. Although originally working under his strict supervision, Campbell eventually gave them unrestricted access to the laboratory to compensate for the Dean's interference. Their work focused on plasmon containment and increasing energy efficiency in nuclear reactors, and they eventually achieved a breakthrough in October, focusing the electron beam down to around 200 nanometers, achieving improved efficiency and grouping. Although the result was ill-suited for reactor containment, it did promise improved energy consumption for industrial applications and weapons.

However, their research would have no effect on the war effort. On October 23, as Mathews and Marsh were presenting their findings to Sergeant Rivera, the team's liaison, the nuclear attack on the United States began. The sergeant left the laboratory to investigate, asking the young researchers to stay behind until it was safe. He did not return - and Campbell, originally scheduled to arrive around noon, never reached the laboratory. The two researchers stayed underground for the next several weeks, ignoring the explosions continuing above ground. To pass the time and preserve their sanity, they focused on their research, tightening the electron beam on the laser using modified parabolic reflectors. The stocks of food and water kept on site by Campbell definitely helped, allowing them to survive for weeks. Finally, several weeks after the Great War, the two managed to tighten the wavelength down to around 75 nanometers and achieving an impressive capture rate and tremendous power capacity for each of their prototypes. At that point, however, they were already out of food and almost out of water, forcing the researchers to abandon the lab, after exchanging marriage vows. They left their creation, prototype UP77 "Limitless Potential", behind in the safe.

Wasteland and the Point
Abandoned by scholars, the secrets of the research team were kept safe by coastal erosion that resulted in parts of the University to sink into the bay and the mirelurks that claimed the abandoned sections as their nesting ground. However ran down it was, University Point gained a second lease on life when it became the heart of Mass State, a major player in Commonwealth politics. Its forces were instrumental to victory in the Battle of Charles River and even after the loss of the CPG, it remained a major trading outpost, trading razorgrain for additional tech like generators (although it limited its exports to 20% of yield in 2285).

However, that good streak wasn't to last: In August 2285, on a scavenging trip into the old building, a young Pointer by the name of Jacqueline Spencer salvaged an old hard drive from Campbell's office. She was the local tech wizard, responsible for reactivating the town's mail relay and enabling citizens to send e-mails to each other. The hard drive was intended as a replacement, but Jacqueline let her curiosity get the better of her and investigated its contents instead of formatting it. When she realized that she discovered Campbell's research on reactor efficiency, she immediately sought out a passing caravan to find a buyer for the information, agreeing to a 25/75 split of the hundreds of caps promised.

Unfortunately, she chose poorly: The trader was an Institute informant and in a time when the organization was looking for reactor research all over the Commonwealth. The hard drive's contents were vital to the Institute and so a synth was sent to demand that the town hand it over, with the implied threat of force if it failed to comply. It also mentioned Jacqueline by name, leading to the town turning on the Spencers. Bert Strickland, mayor of University Point, managed to keep the tensions contained for a while, violence nearly broke out when Perry Owens suggested that Jacqueline be turned over to the Institute and her father, Gerald Spencer, attacked him. He was convinced it was a con to gain the data for free. However, rumors circulated. One of those, started by Martha Cole, implied the Institute demanded children. Another denizen suggested a nuke was hidden in the town to go off if the town doesn't surrender their harvest. The mob was forming and a lynch was just a matter of time, with Owens ready to be the first to grab a pitchfork.

Gerald grounded his daughter for her own protection and Jacqueline obeyed, despite her initial misgivings. However, that did not spare her the hate, as the town used the e-mail relay she restored to flood her inbox with hateful messages. As the atmosphere heated up, Gerald found himself at a loss. The mayor was his friend and he was the one who suggested keeping his daughter inside. However, he also said out loud what Gerald feared: The Spencers were vulnerable at University Point as a result of Jacqueline's actions and if the Institute didn't get to them, then their neighbors would. He suggested getting out of the Commonwealth entirely.

His advice was sound, though Strickland did not anticipate that the Institute would not take kindly to a town not following orders. Synths from the Institute descended on the outpost in late August and wiped the trading post off the map. The denizens put up a fight, but they stood no chance of repulsing the synths. Some chose to take their own lives, rather than await execution. During the fighting, an explosion in the service tunnels under Sedgwick Hall killed many, released a large amount of radioactive material, and caused the building to partly collapse, in a grim monument to the town's fate and the Institute's savagery.

Railroad agent Deacon used to roll with a local gang who operated in the town, known as the UP Deathclaws. Deacon attempted to peacefully leave the gang, but the Deathclaws would later kill Deacon's wife after discovering she was a synth, leading to Deacon killing the majority of their members. Sometime before 2285, settlers from University Point participated in the Battle of Charles River, in which they played a vital role.

By 2285, University Point was resettled and led by Mayor Bert Strickland. The university itself was flooded and infested with mirelurks. One of the settlers, Jacqueline Spencer, scavenged the university's ruins and discovered a hard disk containing Professor Campbell's research on reactor efficiency. Intending to sell this data, Jacqueline passed word with a traveling caravan to find the right dealer. Unfortunately, the news reached the Institute, who sent Conrad Kellogg. In turn, Kellogg threatened Mayor Strickland to turn over the data within 48 hours. This caused an uproar throughout the settlement and some of the settlers considered turning Jacqueline over to the Institute. Reading Jacq's note shows that she may have figured out where the data was, but it was too late as the attacks had already begun. The Minutemen were contacted at some point prior to the attack, but Preston Garvey remarks that they arrived too late to save the settlers and the settlement was wiped out by the Institute synths.

Layout
This area is home to an unmarked quest that will require the player character to visit several of the buildings. Most of the terminals containing clues are in the partially sunken administration building, Sedgwick Hall, on the eastern side of the settlement. By the time the Sole Survivor arrives, the area is swarming with synths belonging to the Institute, as well as mirelurks. The synths may be hostile, depending on the Sole Survivor's relationship with the Institute.

Exterior
The external section is an abandoned settlement, bordered by a thick defensive wall consisting of old buildings patched together with sheet metal walls. Within lie stalls and shacks that once housed the population of the town, now dead or ran off by Institute synths.

To the north and going clockwise, there is: a former armor store, with an armor workbench and cooking stove; a former weapons shop, with a weapons workbench and a cooking station; a liquor store, containing an Expert-locked safe, and a chemistry station on the second floor; Sedgwick Hall; a large cafe with the mayor's terminal on the top floor; and the University Credit Union.

Sedgewick Hall
Most of Sedgwick Hall is restricted by Expert-locked doors on both stories to the east, and a Master-locked door to the south leads to the Dean's office. To the north on the second floor is what used to be a tools shop, on the opposite end is Jacq's terminal, and a stairway that leads up to the third floor is between them. This small home contains a cooking stove and a bedroom.

The Expert-locked doors lead to a flooded lecture hall, and the busted wall to the south leads to another lecture hall. The ground floor of this hall has an Average-locked door to the Dean's office, while a collapsed floor leads to the another part of the second story.

This reception room has a staircase leading up to the third floor classrooms, which are littered with holes in the floor. The only notable rooms are a professors office in the north (where Jacq and her duffel bag are) and a door in the northeast that leads back out to the Commonwealth.

University Credit Union
The front offices a small room partitioned from from the employees area. The employees area is accessed through the adjacent cafe, using the Novice-locked terminal. Stairs in the back of the room lead down to a kitchen and breakroom, as well as the credit union's vault. There is a Master-locked safe against the south wall that reveals a button that, when pressed, reveals Prof. Campbell's secret laboratory containing a weapons workbench and chemistry station.

Exterior

 * Sylvia's holotape - In a red toolbox on the counter of the exterior building with the yellow and blue liquors sign.
 * University Point council meeting holotape - Loaded into the mayor's terminal located on the third floor of the University Credit Union exterior.
 * A Vault-Tec lunchbox - On a toilet at sea level in a partially-collapsed building at the northeast corner behind Sedgwick Hall.
 * Vault-Tec security armor helmet - Located in a clothing store building among helmets and armor.
 * Gerald's vault password - On the mayor's terminal upstairs from the Credit Union terminal, added by reading an entry of the Town Council Logs. Accesses the vault control terminal in the University Credit Union.

Sedgwick Hall

 * Campbell's safe password - From the main double door entrance go through a broken hole in the wall on the right (south), before the corridor. In this small room, on the lefthand side (east) there is a large mainframe style computer. This is the 'Student Records' terminal. Access it then navigate through the file structure until reaching the following entry: Student Directory for 2077-2078, Enrolled Graduates, G-M. The password is added to the inventory only after viewing the dean's terminal entry about Professor Campbell before looking at this terminal entry. The password may not be available until after visiting the professor's terminal. Opens a Master locked safe in University Credit Union's vault, which in turn has a button opening a secret room.
 * Tesla Science Magazine - On the top floor, go through the chained door in the junk wall towards the main entrance and follow the railings into the big room, then through the hole in the wall surrounded by curtains. The magazine is on a small table to the left of the chalkboard. This room is northwest on the map.
 * Jacq's note - In her duffle bag next to the professor's terminal on the third floor.
 * A mini nuke - In the same room as Jacq's note, on the floor behind the desk.
 * A Vault-Tec lunchbox - Found behind a tipped over bench located in a corner to the left of a chalkboard and to the right of the eastern exit on the top floor.
 * Jacq's holotape - Loaded into Jacq's terminal in front of the elevator.
 * Gerald's barricade key - Under a cash register next to Gerald's terminal.

University Credit Union
Prototype UP77 "Limitless Potential", a unique laser gun, can be found in a hidden room in the vault of the University Credit Union. The specific weapon modifications fitted to the gun found are level dependent. In order to access the hidden room, a Master level locked safe in the vault must be picked, or by obtaining Campbell's safe password from the student records terminal in the partially-sunken Sedgwick Hall.

Related quests

 * Variable Removal
 * Randolph Safehouse

Appearances
University Point appears only in Fallout 4.

Behind the scenes

 * University Point is based on the real world location of University of Massachusetts Boston campus.
 * The number "8.9875517873681764x109" is written on the chalkboard next to the Tesla magazine inside the university. This number is Coulomb's constant.

Bugs
Doors to Sedgwick Hall might not function. Save and reload to clear this, or fast travel and return. Alternatively, there is a rear entrance, which can be accessed by going around the south side of the building past the clutches of mirelurk eggs. Another way is to climb to the top in the rear of the broken part of the building, walk over the roof, then drop down to the balcony area. The player character can then enter the blue door at the front of the building near the 2nd story floor.